Blind Justice
October 16 , 2005
Luke 6:32-38
James 4:11-12
Blind Justice…Today we are reminded from James that there is only one Judge. And, it is one of those texts of terror we so often encounter. So we must dig deeper…what’s going on here? Why does the text say Love your neighbor as yourself as God Loves you and then relate that God to a judge, evoking a white guy, with a long beard, sitting in the courtroom with gavel in hand, our lives in the balance? Just as Jesus as King is a deep metaphor of hope for the least of these, I believe this statement from James today is hope for the least of these, the despised, the hated, the ignored and the invisible that a wider justice can be and is known by the Greatest Lover of All, God.
James reminds that when we speak evil of another, when we slander another, when we use our words in secret hostility against another we are not loving our neighbor. In fact when we slander in this matter, speaking maliciously and in secret about another, we are dismantling what James considers the Law of Christianity, what we call “the gospel message”, Loving our neighbors as ourselves and Loving as God loves us. When we speak maliciously and in secret, it always involves a negative judgment of another, a condemnation of another which leads to our superiority over the other. Once we make this move from one trying to live within the Law, to Judge over the Law, we make ourselves the Judge of ourselves and another. James reminds in this sense, we only have one who gives and destroys life, and this is the only Judge we need. So we learn from doing this work, it is not a living of right and wrong, it is a living of Loving oneself, one’s neighbor and God as a reflection of that Creator.
I want to read you an email that came Friday morning from Ron Buford. Ron is the man who has spearheaded the “God is Still Speaking” Campaign for the UCC. He is an African American man. He goes to Pilgrim UCC in Cleveland. He’s a smart dresser. He’s got white hair. He’s passionate about his faith and the progressive, radical welcome the UCC provides. He’s incredibly intelligent. And, he’s the kind of person who can get two known enemies to sit down, dialogue and find common ground. He’s the kind of man who comes to you after hours at work with a new idea that lights up everyone in the room with the inexhaustible Spirit. He quietly goes about what he does, with intention, reflection, and prayer. Any chance you have the opportunity to hear him speak, it is well worth your time. Ron writes:
Stillspeaking Friends --
We will not be silenced
It is not yet official, but it is likely that CBS will reject our new ad - again. We await final word from NBC and CBS, but CBS says our ad is an "advocacy ad."
With our ad agency partners, Gotham, I met with high-level CBS executives at their New York offices recently. We told them that the United Church of Christ commercial was not advocating anything; rather, we are letting people know that no matter who they are, or where they are on life's journey, they are welcome.
Having reached an impasse, we tried a different approach. I asked, "What has to change for the United Church of Christ ad to be acceptable, to not be considered an "advocacy ad?" The executive said that it would have to become commonplace across the US for churches to welcome gays and lesbians.
If this door becomes absolutely closed to us, we will advertise on cable television only. We will also consider the possibility of radio to supplement the TV ad buy so we can reach remote communities and people without access to cable.
Sound familiar? It should. In 1700, it was slaves. In 1785, it was an African-American person seeking ordination. In 1839, it was the Amistad captives seeking freedom. In 1853, it was the first woman seeking ordination. In 1893, persons with mental retardation and epilepsy would find a kind, hospitable place to live, learn, and thrive in Emmaus Homes. During WWII, it was Japanese- and German-Americans who were unjustly imprisoned. In the 1950s, it was opposing southern TV station owners who blocked network news about the civil rights movement and African-American candidates for public office. In 1972, it was the first gay person seeking ordination.
These issues were not cut and dried for our forebears. Neither did they cut and run. Perhaps the Good News of Jesus Christ is advocacy. If it is, then call me an advocate. How about you?
Since the Advent ad run last December, there have been more than 5 million visits to Stillspeaking.com and ucc.org. Of those, more than 521,000 have taken the next step and entered a city name or zip code to find a church near them. We don't yet know how many, but many of them have found a home among us – straight, gay, all races, all ages, all abilities, agnostics, believers, democrats and republicans. I'm an advocate. How about you?
Forget about divisive issues. See the needs of the spiritually homeless of our time - all kinds of people who don't know a church like ours exists. People who ask, "Where have you been?"
Perhaps you have uncertain feelings about the variety of people who are coming to our churches. If you do, I invite you to look up, see redemption becoming real for the wide variety of people who have heard our message of welcome. There are millions more like them. Your decision to be an advocate for a movement that brings grace and hope is having a strong impact in the lives of real people and our churches.
Thank you for all you have done, for what you will do, and thanks be to God for this moment.
In the name of the Christ, our advocate, whose extravagant welcome and radical hospitality we extend, will you be an advocate today?
AMEN.
Ron Buford
I was devastated when I received this email Friday morning. I cried, I prayed, I thought about moving to Canada, I wondered about Justice. I imagined the quiet, intentional, passionate Ron sitting in some swanky NY office while another human being said these things to him. And I wondered, what is the Kingdom we’re building here? What kind of world is it that we are committed to building when we can advertise for processed food, drugs, characters who play lives on TV but when it comes to advertising about a place, an actual location where everyone is welcome, when it comes to saying there is a place that no matter where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome, that message is so radical it can not be accepted on our public airwaves. I wondered who is the judge, who are the judged and what will we reflect as the children of God?
This Sunday is Children’s Sabbath Sunday. The Sunday we take time each year to celebrate our children and youth. To celebrate the global community of children and youth. To make a commitment to seeking justice for our children and youth. It has not been a good year for children, 2005. Every time the economy falls, when people do not make a living wage, children suffer the worst brunt of the damage. They will eat less, stunting their physical, emotional and mental growth. They will not receive their immunizations and receive medications for preventable life-threatening diseases. They will not go to school. They will not have clean water. They will not have parents who are available and in many cases, living. Children’s Sabbath Sunday I wonder every year, who is the judge? And what will we reflect as the children of God on the children of our earth?
Sometimes people have said to me, “Don’t you get tired talking about the gay thing?” Sometimes people have said to me, “You’re just looking out for yourself.” Behind my back people have said, “You’re just trying to be the gayest girl in Tucson.” Behind my back people have said, “That dyke doesn’t know her place!” Behind my back people have said, “She can’t be a member because she’s on her way to seminary and God hates gays.”
But, I remember seeing the films at the 40th anniversary celebration of Brown vs Board of Education while sitting in Central High School’s Auditorium in Little Rock, Arkansas. I remember seeing the hatred and disgust in the eyes of the people on the sidewalk in front of the school. I remember the little delegation of children surrounded by all national guardsmen and the determination in their steps as people spit on them, screamed and shouted at them and cursed their existence in the name of God. I remember thinking about another kind of justice. One of those girls was a woman all grown up who was at that school that day. She was there on the stage to tell us what she remembered. And she spoke of a different kind of justice for a new day in a new age.
People often wonder why we have to talk about the gay thing so often. We must because this is the civil rights issue of our time. Our children are learning their lessons from us. We are teaching them how we live our lives. We had a breakout session after the speakers finished in Little Rock and formed small groups. Cathy and I were in a group with an older couple. We were instructed to share what we remembered or where we were when this was happening. And, the woman in our group said, she didn’t know. She was a young mother raising her kids at the time and she didn’t know anything about it. She didn’t have anything to do with it. I think about her often. For I want our world to be filled with the reflection of the love of God for our neighbors. I want our world to be filled with the justice of love, hope, peace, compassion and mercy. I want our parents to all have what they need that we all might be teaching our children about a new kind of justice. I want our world to be a place where all have the opportunity to be oblivious to hatred. This Children’s Sabbath, let’s make a commitment to do everything in our power this year, to share justice based on love, to be blind to the judgment of the world and instead to commit to being the children of God. Fostering a new world, a new day, a new love for all of God’s children. This Children’s Sabbath let’s make a commitment to be advocates of a new kind of justice, that no matter who or where you are on life’s journey God is still speaking within you, and you are welcome here.
Let us pray. Dear God we thank you for the precious children in our midst. We thank you for the responsibility of showing them a wider love, a deeper compassion, an unending mercy. We thank you for the challenge of changing our world that it might support all of your children. We thank you for the reminder that we were and continue to be your children and that each of us is precious in your sight. Help us this year to find and grow a new justice that reaches beyond any limit Amen.