Imagine together

 

Mark 12: 38-44
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 10, 2024 – Stewardship Sunday

Graphic of the UCC stewardship theme "Imagine Together". The word "imagine" is Impact font with a different face in each letter, different skin colors, different genders. The word "together" is much smaller in a solid mustard color. The background is a sunset or sunrise sky in blue, lilac, indigo, peach, pink, and mauve.

Although you may have heard this history before, knowing our history always bears repeating, especially now.



Tomorrow, November 11, is the anniversary of the end of World War I, but today I want to remember another important day. Twenty years after the end of WWI, November 9 marked the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, an act of state terrorism against Jews throughout Nazi Germany. This act of evil did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from antisemitism, from feelings of loss, resentment, anger, fear, hatred, and the desire to control, to affix blame, and exact retribution.



November 9 also marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Again, this act of restoration did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from feelings of tension, conflict, hope, courage, connection, and the desire for struggles that give birth to freedom, interdependence, and justice.



The devastating results of the election we just lived through did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from our nation’s long history of racism, misogyny, greed and avarice, from unhealed pain and festering resentment, anger, fear, hatred, and the desire to control, to sow division and disconnection, and execute revenge.



The future will not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, decisions and choices that we make now, the courage and fears that we hold onto now, what we tolerate and what we reject now, the hope and the hopelessness we embrace now, the values and vision we imagine now.



The other day I heard author Brian McLaren say that an election is a mirror. Evil can sneak up on us because often it’s dressed up to look like us and our way of life. Evil can sneak up on us in soothing lies, propaganda, and disinformation. Evil can sneak up on us because we discount and dismiss the small steps toward the slope of destruction. Evil can sneak up on us because it has been there all along, and we shielded ourselves from it. But evil doesn’t catch up with us because we were hopeful things could be different, that we could change, but it does if we’re naïve about it. Everyone else has had to live with the pain of White supremacy and Christian nationalism for a long time. If we are straight, White, and cisgender, it didn’t really affect us negatively, but now it has finally come home to roost with White Christians.



Venice Williams, director of Milwaukee’s oldest farmer’s market, wrote these words after the election:



You are awakening to the
same country you fell asleep to.
The very same country.

Pull yourself together.

And,
when you see me,
do not ask me
"What do we do now?
How do we get through the next four years?"

Some of my Ancestors dealt with
at least 400 years of this
under worse conditions.

Continue to do the good work.
Continue to build bridges not walls.
Continue to lead with compassion.
Continue the demanding work
of liberation for all.
Continue to dismantle broken systems,
large and small.
Continue to set the best example
for the children.
Continue to be a vessel of nourishing joy.

Continue right where you are.
Right where you live into your days.

Do so in the name of
The Creator who expects
nothing less from each of us.

And if you are not "continuing"
ALL of the above,
in community, partnership, collaboration?
What is it you have been doing?
What is it you are waiting for?



I understand why this time of the year is when the veil feels thin between us and our loved ones, our ancestors who have passed on. When the future feels uncertain. When the earth is not yet asleep, when there is still some golden light before the shadows descend, we hear them call out to us that they are still near. That the dead are not lost to us. Or is it that we call them forth, we imagine them to be with us so that we can do what we do not want to do alone? To have them with us, to give us strength before the winter comes.



Humanity needs to own its power to imagine, to envision, to make real that which is good for all. For quite some time we have been witnessing our capacity for evil, the power of greed for a few, comfort and safety for some, and destruction for everyone else. We have yet to turn our backs on that power and instead own our power to imagine, envision, to make real: compassion, justice, wholeness, holiness, not just for ourselves but for those who suffer the most.



We call an unimaginable, unattainable goal a moonshot, because we actually went to the moon more than once, only because we made up our minds to go. Affordable housing could be this church’s moonshot.



The Church has lifted up the poor woman giving her pennies like inspiration porn, turning the generosity of the impoverished into something that makes us feel good rather than questioning our part in the existence of poverty. Brazilian Archbishop Hélder Câmara said, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” When we give to the church, we feel good. But we also need to ask, why are we Church? Why are we here and what are we doing about the problems in our midst?



As we imagine together the future of this church, both short and long term, let us remember that our future will not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, decisions and choices that we make now, the courage and fears that we hold onto now, the hope and the hopelessness we embrace now, the values and vision we imagine now.



The rich gave what they would not miss; their hope was in themselves. The widow gave all she had to live on; though she gave out of her poverty she was not poor in spirit but rich in the hope of community. When we receive our pledge cards, whether in the mail or in worship next week, I invite us to hold that card in prayer and to pledge what we can, whatever it is, and imagine we are rich in hope.



Hope that it is the many small choices as well as the large ones that make a difference in this world.


Hope that it is kindness and compassion that have the power to restore justice.


Hope that goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, truth is stronger than lies. Amen.

Benediction – adapted from The Mishnah and the prophet Micah

Do not be daunted
by the enormity of the world’s grief.
[Let us] do justly, now.
[Let us] love mercy, now.
[Let us] walk humbly, now.
[We] are not obligated to complete the work.
Neither are [we] free to abandon it.