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August 23rd, 2020
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- It is Food Pantry Sunday! Please remember to give to the Baltimore Area Food Pantry.
- Thank you for continuing to tithe.
- Next week we will be online as cases are still rising in our areas.
- The summer is getting long! Share something on our private FB page about what you’ve been up to this summer; and something you’re looking forward to this fall.
- No current prayer requests, but always open for more!
- I ran out of ink… ordered the wrong one… got the right one… printed 3 pages… and broke my printer. Please know the home editions of these sermons is coming! Right now, the new printer is in New York… held up in USPS shipping delays. But it uses the same ink I have on hand – so won’t have to get more.
CENTERING
~ from the Lenten series Journey into Wholeness written by Christine Sine. Published in 2009 by Mustard Seed Associates.
God, we believe you have called us to unity,
but often we have isolated ourselves from others,
God, forgive us for the times we have turned our backs
on those who are different.
God, we believe you have called us
to live together as one body,
God, forgive us for the times we have created division
within your worldwide church.
God, we believe you ask us to look, listen,
and learn from others,
God, forgive us for the times we have ridiculed and attacked
those with different viewpoints.
God, we believe you ask us to accept and seek to understand
all who are called by your name,
Forgive us for the times we have offended you
by failing to love others as we do ourselves.
God, we believe you call us to be one
even as you are one,
Forgive us for the disunity we have harbored
and make us one.
Give our nation unity. Give our community unity. Give our church unity. Give our world unity. Let us value we are One made of many individuals – all different, and together, more than our sum.
God and Creator of all humankind,
your son Jesus Christ prayed that your church might be one
even as you our God are one.
May you renew our minds and rekindle your love in our hearts,
so that by the power of the Spirit,
we might find the Oneness that you intend for us.
God, may we see in your Oneness
our need for unity,
God, may we see in your Three-ness
our need for community
God, may we see in your creativity
our need for diversity,
God, may we see in your Self
our need to love each other.
Amen.
SCRIPTURE
Before today’s reading, Jesus has warned his disciples about the teachings of the religious authorities and how a little bit of their yeast has big results in the dough of people. After today’s reading, Jesus will tell his disciples how he is to die and Peter will rebuke Jesus… who returns the favor.
…
Paul has been making a long case against idols, and against proclaiming any particular spot is THE only spot you can worship God. He’s also been making the case that all people, regardless of how they come to Jesus, are equals. There’s no smartest, bestest, most talented Christian – new to the faith and old to the faith, strange in the faith and orthodox in the faith – are all equals. Today he ties these together – the body we make together, the Body of Christ, is where we worship. WE are the church. Not places. WE are the church. Not me or you. WE.
These are the words about God for the people of God. Thanks be to God!
SERMON: Identity Politics
Last week we spoke about the peer pressure of Jesus. And the readings continue on this theme. Jesus asks his disciples– who do YOU say that I am? Not what does your political stance say, your pastor say, your church say, your country say, your news station say, but who do YOU say? Who am I?
And only Peter has the nerve to answer.
Paul writes to the conflicted Roman church who is arguing among themselves about who they are. Each “side” — the Gentile converts and the Jewish Jesus followers — and then them together against the Rome itself — they’re each in conflict about who they are and who Jesus is.
Paul’s answer is… your identity is Jesus. Nothing more. Nothing less.
These arguments Paul has been making about whether or not to circumcise; and Jesus’ arguments about whether or not to wash our hands — these arguments seem… kinda silly nowadays. What do these things really matter? Neither affect following Jesus.
But when we move these arguments into today’s issues… it’s BIG BIG things.
Should a baker be required to serve all customers – or can they exclude gays?
Should a restaurant be required to serve all customers – or can they exclude blacks?
Should a store be required to serve all customers – or can they exclude those who refuse to mask?
Should a government represent all its people – or only those of a particular political party?
Each one of these are theological issues. Theology – what we believe about God and who God is – affects all parts of our lives. If we believe God mandates we stand against pressure, and that God hates gays, then we’re mandated to not serve gays. But if we believe God mandates we stand against pressure, and that God loves all people, then we’re mandated to serve all people.
The same with blacks – does the color we’re born reflect our ancestors’ sins? For some Christians, it does.
The same with masking. Is this a violation of individual liberty and an affront against God, saying God will not protect us from COVID — or is this a violation of civil duty and a affront against God by denying we are to love and care for others?
Is God a Democrat or is God a Republican?
You scoff. God is neither! Clearly. And yet… this really is something we debate. Something that politicians use. Our faith in Christ is a weapon used to badger others. We are being used. We are being lied to. We are simply tools to some politicians. A way to get votes.
These debates raise our blood pressure and make us uneasy. Paul and Jesus’ debates on circumcision and hand washing did the same.
Don’t think this is a modern phenomenon. The Civil War had pastors arguing that Paul sent home the slave Onesimus, so clearly, slaves should stick by their masters. And it also had pastors arguing God made all humanity and died to free all, so clearly, there ought to be no slavery of humans.
That’s theological. That’s political.
Scripture is a political tool. And how we use it, and apply it, to our lives is theology. It is taking the words of God and teachings of our ancestors and applying them, and our understanding of God, to our lives today.
What’s different about our USA now, than our USA of a few decades ago, is how identities are formed along political lines. I’m not going to say it’s radically new and never happened before — that’s false. We had a freaking civil war! We were willing to kill each other! That takes some intense identity. No… it’s new to living memory.
In living memory, we don’t recall a time politics have been this divided. And it has to do with several important factors. Once, all people in office were white men. Once, all people running our cities and towns were white men. In general, they all had fairly similar backgrounds. A parent or grandparent who was an immigrant maybe; had families at home of a wife and kids; had some education… and although they differed in how to rule a country, they were much more similar to one another than different.
Over time, the diversity of who is in politics have changed. Over time, what political parties stand for have changed. Over time, the average US citizen has changed. Now we’re in a tumultuous time when we cannot assume our leader will be a white, straight, man. We cannot white is default. We cannot assume male is default. We cannot even assume straight is default. This means people feel threatened. This means people don’t know what will come next because it hasn’t come before in the past.
And if the future for white, straight, men looks like the past for blacks, gays, or women… then it’s not a good future.
Anxiety. Fear. Threat to survival. This gets our blood boiling and our reptilian, ancient brain moving us out of rational thought and into fight or flight or freeze.
Suddenly… we need to know real quick where everyone stands — are they an enemy or a friend?
This old part of our brain used to help us survive. I mean, it’s REAL important to know if someone is part of your tribe or not. If they’re not, they could legitimately be here to kill you. It’s REAL important to stick with your tribe. They keep you safe from all those outsiders who would gladly kill you and take your food and cave shelter. And if your tribe kicks you out for not being enough like them… it’s death. You can’t take a wooly mammoth down by yourself!
Conform! Attack anything that looks different! Stick together!
We see this in animals all the time. My poor silkies NEVER had beards because the other chickens didn’t, and they pecked off those strange beards. The shy goat was constantly kicked out of the group and on her own because she was too shy and didn’t act like the others. I have to remind my toddler daughter not to exclude the kids who look different, or have accents. And she repeatedly picks kids who look identical to herself as her best friends.
That amygdala… it’s strong. It’s most active when we feel threatened. And the good Lord knows how threatened we all feel — this was before economic collapse and a deadly virus and not able to meet in person and …
So the amygdala tells us to judge everyone — friend or foe? And tells us to cling to the identity of our group.
And our media, our politicians, and our corporations hire psychologists to help them press their brand. Their brand is very successful if more and more people identify with it. This leads to more money, more power, and more people. The psychologists help make the amydala active so we identity with the winning team. Who is the winning team? Obviously the people who hire the psychologists! They also claim more and more land.
Get rid of neutral zones. Get rid of the ability to disagree with your group. Claim more land, more dollars, more votes.
Let’s play a little game to explore this…
Where do the following go? Left, or Right? When you put one in a column, write its opposite in the other column.
| Left | Right | |
| Blue | ||
| Support for gay marriage | ||
| Pregnancy is not a choice | ||
| Black lives matter | ||
| Socialist | ||
| Taxation is good | ||
| Health care for all | ||
| Police lives matter | ||
| Use the death penalty | ||
| Community responsibility | ||
| Individual liberty | ||
| Feminism | ||
| Environmental stewardship | ||
| Welcome immigrants | ||
| Right to bear firearms | ||
| Approve of war | ||
| Fascists | ||
| Family is valued | ||
| Republican |
Most of those weren’t too hard. If the right identifies itself with red, then the left identifies itself with blue. Some of those were harder… if the left is the home of feminists, does that mean I cannot be a feminist right-winger? If I want fire arms responsibly owned… do I go in the category with the right to bear arms or not?
The rest of this identity game only gets harder from here. Where do these go?
| Left | Right | |
| Pizza | ||
| 4-H | ||
| Trucks | ||
| Evil | ||
| Purple | ||
| Christian | ||
| KKK | ||
| American | ||
| Me |
This game isn’t so much fun anymore. The more associations that get claimed, the easier it is to divide up more associations. So pretty soon you end up with things like the only way to be GOOD is to also be… (look at your list. Which side did you put EVIL on)
The only way to be CHRISTIAN and GOOD and AMERICAN is to be… which political party?
That means our enemies are against Christ, are evil, are not ‘us’ and are everything we do not want.
This is identity politics. This is how our identities are played with. Once, it was okay if your political party didn’t win because all of who we identified as was not tied to one party. Most of our life was pizza. It wasn’t tied to one party or another. Now, many, many things are “owned” by one party or another.
It means it is harder and harder to find common ground. Harder and harder to embrace that we are not binaries. We cannot be easily split into two opposites. We are complex.
Jesus is our liberator. Christ the Liberator refuses these two broad ways. Refuses to listen to pundits, or corporations, or political parties. Jesus sets us free. Sets us free to be nothing more and nothing less than Christian.
Jesus takes these categories and shuffles them up. He, the Good, the Christ, chooses to sit with the Bad, the Sinful, just to drive the point home that these silly human categories are harmful.
There is one category. Beloved. God loves us. God loves all these identities, and more.
Does that mean we cannot bring these categories into God?
Oh no! As Paul points out, we are each gifted differently. We are not identical. We come as a Black Christian Man. We come as a White Poor Gay Woman. We come as… as ourselves. With our plethora of experiences and realities. And we join the Body of Christ. One Body. One Identity. Made of many parts, many experiences, many realities.
To renew our minds is to release ourselves to embracing others in the diversity of themselves. Embracing ourselves with our own identities that may, or may not, align with the left-right polarization. To renew ourselves is to break these associations so it’s okay to be a conservative gay. It’s okay to be a liberal farmer. It’s okay and not a contradiction because our identity is Jesus and the Body of Christ. These experiences we bring along are lesser associations, lesser identities. The number one is… beloved of God.
What we loosen is loosed. What we tighten is tight. So loosen those associations. Allow yourselves and others around you to be themselves. Allow them to be “contradictory.” Tighten the identity of One Body, Many Members. Tighten the identity of One Nation, Many People. Tighten the identity that we are not each other’s enemies. The Enemy is Sin. Is separation. Is isolation. Is being lost and feeling alienated from our fellow humans, and from the love of God.
Are you feeling threatened? What can you name about your enemy you share in common?
Are you feeling alone? Who else is feeling lonely?
Are you feeling the world has gone to Hell in a hand basket? Where can you see God active this very moment?
You have been given the keys. You can choose what to tighten and what to loosen. Choose wisely and be renewed. Tighten the identity of we have way more in common than we have in differences.
May God bless the spaces among us and between us until we meet in person again.
Amen.
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 