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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