Each other's flourishing

 

Mark 9: 38-50
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
September 29, 2024

B&W photo of a young Black person standing in front of the U.S. Capitol holding a large sign that reads "I want YOU to stop being afraid of other Americans, of other religions, of other classes, of other nations, of speaking out. You're Americans. Act like it! If you don't get it, ask an American who does."

Today, hundreds of clergy and worship leaders across multiple Christian traditions in over 40 states have signed up for the event “Preach and Pray Against Christian Nationalism” and I’m one of them. Once again, it should not be political, it should not be partisan to want to save democracy from the grip of fascist White Christian nationalism. The Church does not rise from the dead by conquering the world but by serving the world. And yet Jesus did not rise from the dead to save democracy.



But there are many who are ready and willing to usurp power and wield it as a political tool. The Rev. William J. Barber II, founding director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy, wrote, “If faith were not so powerful, people in power would not invest so much to manipulate it for their own interests.” White Christian nationalism has nothing to do with Christianity or following Christian principles. It is a political ideology used as a means to gain power, much the way civil rights, abortion rights, and LGBTQ rights were used as a wedge by the Moral Majority and the Tea Party to vote people in and get power.



The thing of it is, I don’t think billionaires give two hoots about White Christian nationalism, as long as it gets people in Congress, on the Supreme Court, and in the White House who will legislate, make decisions, and create policy that enshrines their rapacious capitalism and creates enough strife to distract the rest of us, no matter who suffers. I mean, why else would you buy a social media platform or a newspaper or a communication corporation if not to influence the masses that it’s the immigrant or the trans person or the Muslim or the liberal OR the so-called “deplorables” who are the problem?



To be sure, White Christian nationalism, White supremacy, authoritarianism and those who support them are dire threats to not only democracy but to humanity and the environment. But this has been with us long before the current threat, long before the Moral Majority. Ever since Christianity joined hands with empire and became the state religion under Emperor Theodosius I in 380 CE, while some nations flourished, the rest of the world suffered Christianity’s mandate to make disciples of all nations, so every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Even after what became a series of reformations, many Christian schisms were part and parcel of quests for power, land, and wealth.



In the early beginnings of this country, Congregationalism was the state religion up until about the Second Great Awakening in the late 18th to the early 19th century, which allowed other Protestant denominations such as the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists—to thrive and spread the gospel to the South, Midwest, and the Western frontier through revivals and camp meetings. These gatherings wielded enormous emotional power, emphasizing the individual’s sins and need for repentance, to return to Christ who would restore us to salvation. Or if you were a Calvinist, you were a damn mess with no hope of salvation, save for God’s electing grace. And church membership was a high mark of good social standing.



These were no fringe movements. These were predecessors to current mainline Protestant denominations, to which many of us have previously belonged. Even the United Church of Christ, which I have heard described as “basically Democrats that worship”, has its painful history of the Congregational missionaries’ efforts to colonize and Christianize the island nation of Hawai’i in the early 1800s. It wasn’t until 1993, then President of the UCC, the Rev. Paul Sherry, gave a formal public apology to the native Hawai’ian people and initiated a process of reconciliation between the UCC and native Hawai’ians. Three years ago at General Synod 33 delegates took a second vote and gained the supermajority necessary to call upon the United States “to recognize its own presence in Hawai’i as an ‘illegal occupation’ according to international law” and its war crimes against the Hawai’ian Kingdom.



Similar efforts have been made earlier this year by U.S. Catholic bishops regarding the trauma inflicted on Indigenous peoples and communities through the practice of taking native children and forcing assimilation by placing them in boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. All of this is to say, the ingredients of White Christian nationalism are baked into this country and into the Church. It's not just out there, it's in here. In his Liberty Medal acceptance speech Thurgood Marshall said, “We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.”



Jesus instructs his disciples to do better by not sowing division amongst those who are striving to do good in the world, who do deeds of power that help others. For too long the Protestant church has set itself up for failure by competing against itself. I love that in Newark we have not only an ecumenical group but an interfaith group of folks who want to share in ministry, worship, and social justice advocacy. I love that every year the New Ark hosts the Sikh Coalition’s Peace Walk, other mission partners and those working for peace come and speak about what they are doing in our communities. I love that in Newark, we work at our relationships, that we strive for the value that we are for each other.



Jesus then teaches his disciples what today we would call projection. If your hand causes you to stumble, don’t blame it on what you long to grasp; rather deal with what it is you lack or you think you lack. If your foot causes you to stumble, don’t blame it on the path you are on; rather deal with the direction you’re going in. If your eye causes you to stumble, don’t blame it on who or what you desire; rather deal with it within yourself where most troubles begin. When we worship power, what creeps in is that we would rather punish others for their sins than clean our own house. White Christian nationalism is the idolatrous worship of power.



A colleague on Twitter, the Rev. Benjamin Cremer, writes, “When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like sins. When you worship power, cruelty toward your ‘enemies’ will look like truthfulness and righteousness. When you worship power, tyrants and bullies will look like your saviors.” And my addition to this, when you worship power, hate and violence feel good and right. When you worship power, lies will not matter to you.



Those who think power will save them are only pawns and tools for those who seek power, control, and wealth. Those who think power will save them have allowed their faith to be weaponized. A prophetic faith is one that is not obsessed with belief or behavior, but one that is deeply concerned with whether or not their neighbor has enough to eat, can exist safely in public space, has enough not only to live but to flourish. And not only our neighbor but also our perceived enemy. Hearts and minds will not be changed by insults and mockery but by lifting up the vulnerable and marginalized no matter who they are.



Jesus would rather we use our power for each other’s flourishing. Jesus would rather we use our power for the sharing of abundance rather than fomenting hate and the fear of scarcity. Jesus would rather we use our power to repair and heal the harm that has been done than engage in denial, hubris, and pointing fingers. Jesus would rather we not only be anti-fascist, salty against evil but salty for each other. Jesus would rather we be radical not by normalizing violence but by normalizing life, health, peace, repair, and well-being. For everyone.


May it be so. Amen.

Benediction


Go forth into the world in peace.
Be of good courage
Hold fast to that which is good
and render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the faint-hearted;
support the weak; help the afflicted.
Honor all people.
Love and serve God,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The grace of our Savior Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.