“See, I Am Making All Things New - Called to Continual Transformation: We’re in this Together” was preached at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA on September 13, 2020. You can hear/watch this sermon here, starting at 37:05.
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Exodus 15:1-11, 20-21
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this
song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has
triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast
into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in
power—
your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you
overthrew your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters
piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will
overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind, the sea
covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like you, O Lord, among the
gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?”
20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s
sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her
with tambourines and with dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed
gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the
sea.”
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Romans 14:1-12
1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but
not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating
anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise
those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who
eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of
another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be
upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 Some judge one day to be better than
another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in
their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord.
Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God;
while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do
not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die
to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9
For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both
the dead and the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your
brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we
will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee
shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
12 So then, each of us will be accountable
to God.
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Friday marked nineteen years since the
lives of Americans were shaken to our core. As planes were flown into the Twin
Towers and the Pentagon as well as the one that was crashed into a field, our
entire country reacted as one as the single deadliest terrorist attack in human
history hit our land the morning of September 11, 2001. Even today we remember
the 3000 lives lost and the tens of thousands injured and the millions affected
by the aftermath. Let us hold them in prayer through a moment of silence now.
…
That morning, nineteen years ago, our
entire country – our people – us – reacted to a tragic and traumatic attack.
And most of us remember that day with every detail. Whether we were at home or
school or work, we remember that moment. Whether we heard it from a friend or
the tv or the radio, we remember that moment. And whether we reacted in shock,
sadness, horror, disbelief, or anger; we remember that moment.
I could ask any of you and most of you
would remember where you were, how you heard about the attacks, and how you
reacted. This painful moment is seared into the hearts and minds of our
country. Think about that for a moment. What were you doing? How did you hear
about 9/11? How did you react? The memories, no matter what they look like, are
valid.
But I’ll confess something. I don’t
remember the morning of 9/11 besides a few foggy, fleeting images here and
there. I have a theory as to why that is but I’ll explain that later.
I do remember September 12, 2001 though. That
day and the days that followed, our country came together in support of one
another. People grieved with one another. A sense of togetherness surged
through us. People who were angry were told their anger was valid. People who were
sad were told their sadness was valid. People who were afraid were told their
fear was valid. For a moment, people could be who they were and react however
they reacted and yet we found unity and love for one another. The thing I
remember most is that following September 11 was we were told we were in this
together. We were told we weren’t alone. And I think for a moment in time, we
fully believed that.
A harsh, humbling reality is great tragedy
and trauma bring people together. Not always at first; but somehow, in a moment
to follow, people; through hope, peace, love, and understanding; share in the
unity as one community where everyone and all of their baggage is welcomed.
Our Exodus passage lifts up a moment of
unity for our Israelites. Today we heard this song that they sang together!
First led by Moses and then by Miriam! We all know the story of the Israelites
as told in the book of Exodus. They were once slaves in Egypt. Moses, after
being approached by God through a burning bush, takes up the call to free God’s
people from their captors. Following miracles and plagues, Pharaoh decides to
let the Israelites go from their servitude. But as the Israelites are
approaching the red sea following their release, Pharaoh changes his mind and
sends his entire army after them. Riders and horses, chariots and warriors
pursued the Israelites. And when things looked most dire for the Israelites,
God parts the great red sea, and the Israelites, led by Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam, cross the dry land. Pharaoh and his army also then try to cross the
parted sea... but while surrounded by water, God brings the water back crashing
down and the entire army is destroyed. And the moment the Israelites are safe,
they burst out in a united song. Before this moment, they felt afraid and angry
and sad and in shock… and as we recount the stories of the Israelites as they
wander in the wilderness, we know they will feel afraid and angry and sad and
in shock again… but here, in this moment, they needed to remember that they
were together; that they weren’t alone; that they were one community.
As I said, tragedy can bring people
together. We saw it following 9/11. We saw it in the Israelites following the
great fear as they crossed the red sea.
Pastors often see it within families when
a loved one is approaching death. You probably know one I’m talking about. One
person is angry while another is sad; someone is nervously laughing while
another can’t say a word. I’ve seen stress and grief divide families in those
moments, but then, most of the time, they come back together as one family for
the funeral. This has happened in my own family; I’m sure you’ve experienced
this as well. Do you know what I’m talking about? Eventually people come back
together.
I’ve been emphasizing this point of
togetherness because, well, that’s the point of this sermon. We are called to
be together, to be united together, especially following tragedy. And in this
togetherness, everyone and all of their baggage is welcomed. No one is meant to
be alone.
This togetherness is a beautiful and holy
thing… and yet extremely difficult to accomplish. For some reason, our natural
inclination is to divide ourselves, to disagree and to judge; to hold malice
instead of mercy and resentment instead of forgiveness. Sure, we’re brought
together following great tragedy but normally a tragedy has to happen first
before that the togetherness happens, and no one prays for another tragedy so
that we will be brought together, and rightfully so! So this togetherness can
be difficult to accomplish.
I said earlier that I don’t remember the morning of September 11, 2001. I don’t know why; I just don’t. But I remember another tragedy from that year. Five months later, on January 18, 2002, Minot, North Dakota had a train derailment that caused ammonia gas to cover the city. I along with my family along with 40000 other residents had to emergently evacuate the city in the middle of the night. I remember that with full detail; every detail. But once again, I also remember that when it was safe to return, the community came together as one. No one was alone. We fully believed that we were in this together. Everyone and all of their baggage, including their baggage that happened because of this traumatic accident, was welcomed.
And Minot recently just made the news again. Last week Minot, for the very first
time, flew a rainbow flag in support of the LGBTQ+ community from city hall
underneath the American flag and the North Dakotan flag. However, the rainbow
flag was mistakenly larger than the other two flags and that caused some
problems. The rainbow flag, because it was out of code, was immediately taken
down… but it was the fact that the rainbow flag was even displayed that opened
a can of worms.
At a city council meeting following this,
residents of Minot were allowed to voice their concerns for the size of the
flag, but apparently no one in fact cared about the size. They cared about the
flag. For over an hour, the city council and those tuning into the livestream
listened to “concerned” residents because Minot’s rainbow flag meant soon that
God’s wrath would come, that a person’s genitalia were being improperly
glorified, that pedophilia would soon be legal, that the gay agenda was being
forced on them, that this means we should also allow confederate flags and
swastikas; that the rainbow flag harmed them; just to name a few examples.
But following that, I’ve seen my straight
and cisgender friends and family who are residents of Minot speak in support of
the LGBTQ+ community because that tragedy brought them together. They made sure
members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community were not alone; that they too were
in this together. And that the baggage of being publicly hated on for an hour
during a government meeting was valid and they were still welcome in a safe,
supportive community.
But the question is: why must a tragedy be
the thing the calls us together in the name of something good? And the rest of
the time we would rather be divided. Like why not live everyday like September
12th or every day as united survivors or every day as a welcoming
community.
Roman Christians, like us, divided their community through arguments, judgements, and quarrels. They failed at the very thing they were called to be, which was a community. It was easier and more natural for all of them to bring each other down than to lift one another up. They judged one another; they ranked one another. They put each other on a pedestal of who was the better Christian, and those who were not “the most faithful” were shamed and brought even lower. It was the idea that someone’s faith could be made stronger if someone’s else faith was made weaker.
And as I said, the Roman Christians are just like us… or we’re just like them. We live in a “me first” society. For some reason, our human nature tells us to talk about own rights than our responsibilities to our neighbors. And not only that, even as Christians, we sometimes naturally believe and act that our neighbor’s responsibility should be in care for us so that we can exercise our rights. But that is not the identity of a community in Christ.
Last week we talked about everything we do
should be done in the love for our neighbor. And if we do that and do it well,
then we find our identity as a community. When we think of our neighbor, we
open our community wider. When we welcome our neighbor, our community become
bigger. And when our neighbor finds a place within our community, it more
closely represents the body of Christ and the kingdom of God here on earth.
Now specifically, Paul addresses those who
are strong in their faith to welcome those who are “weaker.” And it’s not to fix
“the weaker” or change them or strengthen them, but rather, it’s to fix and
change and strengthen the community that those who were “weaker” were not
originally a part of. Because community of Christ is not one of certainty and
exclusivity but rather one of diversity and inclusivity and a community that
welcomes the “weaker” moves in that direction.
But I want to be clear on something as we
talk about communities of diversity and inclusivity. While the love of God for
God’s people has no limits, communities who lift up holy togetherness do have
limits.
We can disagree within holy, inclusive,
diverse communities. For example, some of us might disagree if we should be
worshiping together in-person or online… and that’s okay because we’re all
still worshipping our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
But if the disagreement is over our
neighbor’s well-being, or rather, oppresses and compromises our neighbor’s
well-being; then the Lord will graciously erect a limit to our own selfishness.
For example, if a community hates a person or persons outside of their
community, such as hating people of color or the LGBTQ+ community, God will
bring a new community of togetherness that affirms these oppressed, beloved
children. And this new community inclusive, diverse community will be the
community with the identity of Christ.
In those moments, when new communities are
raised and others are transformed, we turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance. The
Spirit will be the light that shows the path to follow God’s desire for the
good of others. After all, as God’s children and by God’s amazing grace, not
only do we belong to God but also to one another. This is the heart of
community; belonging to one another.
I’d like to think that over this summer,
for many different reasons including some tragedy, our community has been
transformed. And we’ll continue to be transformed. Are we more inclusive and
diverse than we have been? Have we put our neighbor’s well-being before our
own? And by our neighbor, I mean the people outside our community that we would
love to welcome in to strengthen our own community? I’d like to think so!
But also, let’s not always have tragedy be
the thing that brings us together and transform us into a stronger, more united
community. Let’s lift this up at all times! We’re in this together. No one is
alone. We are a community. We are meant to be together.
This message of togetherness is for us.
Because we have all strengths and we all have weaknesses. And we remember that
our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, lived, died, and rose again for each of us.
That right there is our call to be a community. So let’s be together; let’s do
this together. Let’s open our doors, arms open wide to togetherness, community,
the body of Christ, and the kingdom of God here on earth for all.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirt; One God; Mother of us all. Amen.
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