Interactive Sermon in City Park

Revelation 21:1-6 and 22:1-5

Sunday, June 21, 2015  

First Congregational United Church of Christ – Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

All month, we’ve been following the book of Revelation. We’ve tried to understand why it was written and to whom it was written. This past Thursday morning, many of us awoke to the news of the terrorist act at Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina. By noon, many of us were gathered together in our sanctuary with people from other congregations and the wider community. We observed silence for 10 minutes while our tower chimes rang.

For nine minutes, we lit a candle for each person who died on Wednesday evening. Now that we know their names, it is important that we say them out loud, remembering that each of these names represents an entire life – an entire universe – taken from us in an act of hate:

The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton

Cynthia Hurd

Susie Jackson

Ethel Lance

Depayne Middleton Doctor

The Rev. Clementa Pinckney

Tywanza Sanders

The Rev. Daniel Simmons

Myra Thompson

For the 10^th minute, we spent time in individual prayer. Many of us made confession for our participation in the death-dealing systems of our nation. Several of us knelt in the front of our sanctuary together, bowing ourselves low and begging for God’s help. We heard the words from Ecclesiastes earlier today, reminding us that there is a time for everything. And if there is, then when is the time for our nation to move past our original sin of white supremacy? When, O God? How long?

Towards the end of the service, a young woman named Jessica, who is a member of Bethel AME, said she felt led by the Spirit to share some words with us. And when she got up into the pulpit and opened her Bible, the words she shared were from the beginning of the Book of Revelation.

Revelation was written to bring comfort to a people who were oppressed, afflicted, persecuted, terrorized. God knows, people of color in our nation today need these words of comfort and hope. The majority of the book is filled with violence, which is part of the reason most of us don’t read it often in worship. But the other reason, I think is this: the people who created the Revised Common Lectionary mostly look like me. They are mostly white, middle-to-upper-class Protestants. What do they know of terrorist acts aimed squarely at their loved ones? Not much. And it is clear in Revelation that God is on the side of the oppressed, not the oppressors. It is hard to find a word of hope in this book if you know you are more closely allied with the oppressors than the oppressed.

But even those of us with white skin have some choice. We were born into a racist society, but we can choose to actively work alongside people of color in exposing and dismantling racism.

Today, we hear John’s final words of hope in the Book of Revelation. Just as the Bible begins in paradise, it ends in paradise. After all the terror, the violence, the horror…..John paints a picture of hope. From the 21^st chapter: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’”

This morning, I want to invite you to live into God’s call to be co-creators of this new heaven and new earth. There are three stations set up around the shelter. You may wish to visit all three or just one or two. As you move about, I ask that you keep silence.

The first station is a hand-washing station. This is a place for confession. For many of us here today, repentance is the first step to repair. If we are to be about the work of building the Beloved Community, we must begin by recognizing our own sins. If you wish to confess, you might want to simply wash your hands or sit for a while by the water. There are also markers – you might want to write your confessions on your hand and then wash them off.

The second station is for building. You can use the sand to create land and then make a river through the New Jerusalem. As you do so, please spend time meditating on our foundation in Christ. What holds us up, keeps us steady, and is the very ground of our being in the midst of evil and pain?

The third station is the Tree of Life which spans the river in the center of the city. John says, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Using the leaves and permanent markers, write a word or two of hope, or draw a picture. You may want to take your leaf home as a reminder or you may want to set it free in the park so someone else will find it.

Come, let us work together to build a new heaven and new earth.

STATION ONE: Confession

In the New Jerusalem:

“Nothing accursed will be found there any more….And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light.”

As you confess your own sins and our communal sins, you may wish to wash your hands.

There are markers if you’d like to write or draw pictures on your hands before your wash them.

You may also wish to sit silently by the water.

STATION TWO: Building

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.”

Working silently together, use the sand to create a solid foundation for the New Jerusalem. You can add water to make the sand firm.

As you mold the sand, reflect silently on our foundation in Christ: What holds us up, keeps us steady, and is the very ground of our being in the midst of evil and pain?

Once the sand is formed, please make a river in the center of the city.

STATION THREE: Leaves of Healing

“On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Using the permanent markers and working silently, write a few words of blessing or draw a picture of hope on a leaf.

You may wish to take the leaf home or give it to a friend who is not here. Or you may want to take it out into the park and leave it so someone else will find it.

"Beastly Idolatry"

Revelation 13:1-18

Sunday, June 7, 2015  

First Congregational United Church of Christ – Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

Earlier this week I heard an interview on Morning Edition about violence in Baltimore. Ari Shapiro was interviewing former Deputy Police Commissioner John Skinner about a recent spike in the rate of violent crime in Baltimore.[1] When asked to comment on what the root causes might be, Skinner mentioned several possibilities. First, it’s summer and violent crime often rises in the warmer months. Second, when several murders happen, there are often aftershocks from retaliatory violence. And third, he named the recent uprising in Baltimore as a cause. He said that he felt that the “criminal element” in Baltimore felt empowered by the “riots.” And since police are now scared to do their jobs, they are dialing back. It was 30-60 seconds of radio that highlighted so much of the fear we deal with in our nation these days.

We are a nation that is absolutely terrified of crime. If you’ve not yet read Michelle Alexander’s groundbreaking work, The New Jim Crow, you absolutely must. She does a solid job of showing how our desire to be “tough on crime” has led to all kind of negative effects for people of color, particularly black men, who have been portrayed as “criminals” in the media for so long, they are practically synonymous with the concept. It’s horrifying to realize what we have allowed to happen to entire groups of people because we have mostly bought the lie that they are “criminals.”

Of course, the fear of crime goes beyond the complications of race. Even without those issues, we are a nation all tied up in our fear of criminals of every race. Last Sunday, David and I went out to Milford Nature Center with our kids. While we were at the playground we saw a man there with a woman and several children. He was open-carrying a gun. I posted a sarcastic status update to Facebook saying, “Nothing makes you feel safer than running into a stranger open-carrying while you’re at the playground with your kids.”

Most of my friends were horrified – those who live in states with stricter laws governing guns can’t even imagine the world we live in here in Kansas. But one of my friends from childhood defended the man, saying she carries a gun to protect her children and that there is nothing inherently frightening about a person with a gun at a playground. Instead, what she is worried about is a stranger abducting her children at the playground…and that’s why she carries a gun.

I walked away from that conversation feeling sad. I can’t honestly imaging living in such fear that I would feel like I need a gun on me at all times. I mean, yes, bad things can happen to our children. They are, of course, more likely to be killed by gun violence, or hurt in a car crash, or abused by a family member, than abducted by a stranger at the playground. There is no shortage of things to worry about when you’re a parent. I guess we all just focus our worries on different things.

Today we continue our journey through John’s Revelation and heaven knows there are all kinds of monsters and Bogeymen in this book. Since we’re skipping around a bit in Revelation, a couple of brief notes about the structure of this book. On either side of the book – at the beginning and end – are exhortations to the readers to be faithful. Just inside those brackets we have a grand drama unfolding. Near the beginning we have some visions of God as Creator and Redeemer. Near the end we have that vision of a New Heaven and New Earth. In the very middle of the sandwich we have a whole lotta visions of destruction and chaos.[2] And that’s where we are today, right in the middle of the destruction and chaos.

The two beasts in Chapter 13 are generally recognized by scholars as not-very-well-disguised Roman Emperors. The beasts represent Empire, power, political authority. Good news for us: we do not need to be on the lookout for a ruler with the number 666 who is coming to ruin the entire world. The guy already lived and died and his name was probably Nero.

Although this passage, like all of Revelation, was written about a specific time and place and for a specific group of people living under oppressive conditions, I think there are still lessons here for us today. This passage is all about allegiances. Who do you follow? In whom or what do you put your trust? Who is your ultimate ruler?

None of these questions are foreign to us. After all, we are still people and just like people living at the end of the first century, we are still prone to idolatry. Now before your brain goes right to a Golden Calf and thinks, “Well, that’s an antiquated idea!” let’s get on the same page about what idolatry might mean.

I like how Paul Tillich spoke of idolatry. Tillich defined God as “the Ground of Being,” as in our ultimate foundation and Source. For Tillich, then, anything that we elevate into that Ground of Being position becomes our god. So there’s only one thing that should be our absolute foundation and source: God. Anytime we elevate anything else to that level of importance, we are making an idol. Doesn’t have to look like a Golden Calf. Doesn’t have to have a physical representation at all, actually. So let’s ponder this for a minute: what are some things we have seen made into idols in our world today? (Pause for answers)

I have this thought that’s been with me recently that one of our biggest idols here in the United States is safety. We actually have it written into our founding documents in a way: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” To say that we value our lives above all else and that we are deserving of our lives as an inalienable right is to say that we place a very high value on safety.

And of course we do. Most of us love life and would do almost anything to hold on to it. Of course, there is a noticeable tension between this love of our own lives and the person of Jesus, who died at the hands of the government. We lift him up as a hero, but most of us have very little interest in taking up our own crosses. I’m not saying I want to, either, or even that I could find the strength to do what Jesus did. I’m just noticing that tension…between our love of our own lives and our desire to follow the One who took death upon himself to show us how to live.

It’s a very privileged thing to believe we have an inalienable right to be safe. The vast majority of people who have ever lived on this planet would find the idea laughable.

For most of history and, still today in many places in our world, safety is elusive. There are too many diseases, famines, wars, and real Bogeymen to do anything much but wish for safety. The idea that we can somehow making all of the right choices to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe? That’s a very privileged concept.

As conversations about privilege and race have unfolded over the past year, professional and amateur sociologists have noticed something fascinating about how those in the privileged group often react when they are forced to grapple with their own privilege. When those of us who are privileged are poked, we often say we feel “unsafe.” You’ve probably witnessed this yourself. Bring up race and racism in a large group and some White people will start squirming in their seats. Keep talking about it long enough and someone is likely to say, “This conversation is making me feel unsafe.”

I think what they really mean, of course, is that they feel uncomfortable. Goodness! Yes, it’s uncomfortable to talk about racism and all kinds of systemic evils. Uncomfortable? Absolutely. Unsafe? No, probably not. Those of us who are White are not likely to experience actual violence or risk our lives in any significant way by talking about difficult issues. We are still safe in those moments – but we may feel uncomfortable.

But those three words, “I feel unsafe,” hold a massive amount of power in our culture.

Because we seem to believe everyone has the right to feel safe, to be safe. And that right should not be infringed upon. That’s why we allow people to carry guns on playgrounds. Because people should have a right to protect their families. To feel safe. That’s why have poured billions of dollars into the ever-growing prison-industrial complex. Because if we can be “tough on crime” we can be safe.

Perhaps we should rebrand ourselves as the “land of the free and the home of the safe.”

Except, of course, freedom and safety are often in conflict. Right after that NPR story about crime in Baltimore, there was another short piece about recent federal legislation that governs how telecom companies track and share information about our phone calls with the government. Since 2001, we have given up more and more of our freedom in hopes of attaining safety. I feel so many conflicting emotions about this and I’m sure many of you do, too.

And then there’s Caitlyn Jenner, who made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair this past week. That’s another story about safety versus freedom, isn't it? When she lived as a man, Bruce Jenner spent so much of her life trying to stay safe. She didn’t want to rock the boat, cause harm, make waves. She thought if he could just keep her secrets, she would be safe.

But an early-morning phone call from TMZ a few years ago shattered that illusion. The media knew about medical procedures Jenner had undergone as a part of having her true gender affirmed….and the media was about to leak that information to the world. Once Jenner lost that faith in her ability to live a safe existence, she was thrown into a world where freedom seemed more attractive.

In the Vanity Fair interview, Ms. Jenner says, “Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie. Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets. Soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I’m free.” I had a chance to read the whole article and I thought that one of the most touching moments was when Jenner was looking at her 1976 Olympic Gold medal and told the interviewer that that day back in 1976 was pretty great, but that the best days of her life had been the time spent in her own home being photographed for Vanity Fair.

Freedom is glorious. And freedom and safety are often in conflict.

We, of course, worship a God who promises us freedom. We are set free in Christ to love and to serve. We are named and claimed as beloved children of the God of Grace and Love. We all have idols. We are all tugged this way and that. The various powers and principalities of our day compete for our allegiances. We buy lies. We sell lies. We are, none of us, perfect.

And yet, in all that imperfection, even when we are bowed low before the idols of our lives, the Holy One of Moses and Esther, Naomi and Jonathan, Mary and Martha and Lazarus…the Holy One who is the very Ground and Source of all our being, reaches out to us again and again. Calling us away from the illusions, the lies, and idols. Gathering us in and bringing us back to our source and our very essence.

We were not created for safety.

We were created to live into the freedom that is only possible when we remember each and every day that we are children of God, beloved in Christ, set free to be agents of healing and transformation for the whole world.

Even when it’s not the safest route to take. Amen.

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[1] http://www.npr.org/2015/06/04/411917421/cycle-of-retaliation-could-increase-baltimore-s-violence

[2] With thanks to Ronald L. Farmer, Revelation (Chalice Commentaries for Today) for the structure.