SERMON FOR NOVEMBER 30, 2014
First Sunday in Advent
Rev. Amy Welin:
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.
Today we begin Advent, the first season of the church year, which is dedicated to our spiritual preparation for the coming of God. We wait – and we wait actively, not passively. We are supposed to cast away the works of darkness and use the armor of light to transform ourselves and the world. It is difficult for me to consider new beginnings without also considering what we need to leave behind. And there is a lot that we need to leave behind, because our lives depend on it! We live in times when the fragile light of our shared humanity seems to be disappearing in works of darkness.
I cannot reflect on the things that are happening in our country without thinking about our own young men and women. We love you. You are part of us. We are watching you grow up and we are proud of you. I wonder who will protect you when you walk on the street or through the mall, when you go off to college, when you are in a strange place. I wonder what sort of world we are leaving to you. I see a world that is riddled with war, and fear, and violence against women and people of color.
The recent events in Charlottesville, VA, and in Ferguson, MO, are really much bigger than each particular local story. They reflect what is bubbling up around the world. The epidemic of rape and abuse of young women infects rural Pakistan and Africa as well as suburban CT and elite college campuses. The epidemic of violence against young men of minority groups extends from Ferguson to Chicago, New York, and New Haven, and across the ocean to Palestine.
Around the world we have seen a response from young people that embodies both a rage at injustice and, at the same time, a deep cry for healing and peace.
As believers, we say that we want to work for the peace of the Reign of God. But a precursor for peace and reconciliation is truth-telling. Forgiveness may be given unilaterally. Reconciliation is dependent upon the acknowledgement of grievances and acts of injustice.
So it is time to tell the truth to power. It is time for powerful people to listen to other people’s truths.
The truth is that people’s daughters and sisters and mothers are being abused and then blamed for the actions of criminals. Rape is a crime of violence and the only people who get a thrill out of it are dangerously unhealthy. A woman’s poor taste in attire, naiveté, or even past bad behavior cannot be used to justify a criminal assault.
The truth is that some parents’ children are dead because they went to the wrong place, or wore a hoodie, or did something stupid. Do you know that young black men are 21 times as likely to be shot dead by the police as young white men? (www.propublica.org ) Shoplifting, trespassing, intoxication can not be used to justify shooting to death an unarmed person. (Waterbury cops could tell us that).
The truth is that the forces of evil seek to divide us in every possible way, including along lines of race, gender, and social status. The call of God is always to find unity, even in our diversity.
The truth is that we can do something about it.
There is an outcry from our young people to recognize the humanity of the victims, and to say the abuse or killing of another human being is wrong. They envision a world that is not divided and dangerous. They are not foolish nor are they innocent any more. Our world has robbed them of that. They demand a path forward, into a new era of peace and reconciliation. With our silence, We have fed them with the bread of tears; * We have given them bowls of tears to drink. We can do better.
The church and Christians, and all people who are part of the life of God, have both a responsibility and a spiritual vocation to respond to issues of race, justice, equality, and peace. It is time for church people to wake up to the power we have. This is an opportunity to speak up and to work for change that will benefit our children. Remember the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the movement for women’s equality in the 1970s? The churches were instrumental in advancing the cause of equality and justice for all. We need to do several things to finish the work. And we can start here.
First: Be willing to listen to the stories of those who are oppressed. Listen to the experiences of people who are black. Listen to the stories women tell of harassment and abuse. Listen for points of intersection with your life. Listen without suspicion or judgment, and try to hear their pain.
Second: If you are a man, or identify as “white” or European, be aware of your own privilege and power. Work conscientiously to dismantle assumptions about race or gender, within yourself and around you. Disparaging remarks and hostile acts could impact your daughter or someone she loves. Take a stand and work against prejudice.
Third: Recognize that laboring for justice is part of our spiritual work as Christians. Justice and equality, mercy and reconciliation are what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. If we worry more about things like property instead of people we have allowed ourselves to be sucked in to the vortex of injustice. People are always more important than things.
In a parish as diverse as this, in a city as diverse as Waterbury, it would be fairly easy to choose to develop relationships across the boundaries that we often allow to separate us. Greet someone different before the service. Walk over to someone you do not usually talk with during the coffee hour. Make a new friend, and see Christ in that person. Bring that friendship with you into the world, which is both increasingly diverse and increasingly polarized.
The Gospel invites us to bring the armor of light into the world, to disarm the enemies of God. As people who follow Jesus, we can’t afford to look away while young women are suffering, and while disproportionate numbers of young men of color are dying. In the big picture, it is not all about Ferguson or about UVA. It is about how we can use the accident of privilege to address issues of justice. It is about how we live and work with other people, who are both different from us and the same as us. It is all about what Jesus would expect us to do.
Jesus urges his followers to keep awake, so they can see the signs of new life as they emerge. Wake up and see the need for action. Seize the moment!