Psalm 1:1-3
God’s blessings await you at every turn:
when you don’t follow the advice of those who delight in appalling schemes,
When you don’t follow the ways of the wicked,
when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse.
For you, God’s Word is your happiness.
It is your focus—from dusk to dawn.
You are like a tree,
planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry.
Your fruit ripens in its time;
your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun.
Today is the last Sunday in Easter season for 2018. In trying to decide what to speak on today I felt I should be saying something profound to “wrap up” the Easter experience – Jesus’ death and resurrection, his multiple appearances to various disciples, his last good-byes, the ascension – all setting us up for Pentecost next week. At first I thought I was missing the mark entirely because all I could think about was the present day, but then I finally realized that everything Jesus ever said or did when he lived among us was to teach us how to live in the present, in this moment in time.
So, today is the last Sunday in Easter season. It is also Mother’s Day. It is also the day before the kick-off of the New Poor People’s Campaign in California and the rest of the nation.
We are in a place that feels comfortable for many of us who are not personally impacted by current policies where we have separated “Politics” and “Religion” into two entities that have nothing to do with each other, with the result that politics in our country has become totally unhinged from morality.
Now, I am in entire agreement with separating politics and religion – I don’t want any one religion having political influence, but politics and morality – now there is a different issue. Morality must be part and parcel of everything we do in our lives. We do not get to separate morality and everything else into two separate boxes.
I alluded earlier to the Poor People’s campaign. This was a movement initially begun by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. just shortly before his murder. It sought to give the powerless a voice in the halls of power. Although it continued after his death, and did have many positive results, the movement lost much of its impetus and never really had the public impact it should have had.
Its newer incarnation has grown out of the Moral Monday movement, led by Disciples pastor Dr. William Barber. This movement consists of clergy of various denominations and faiths, gathering in statehouses to pray for moral responses to political questions. It is nothing less than a national call for Moral Revival.
“We must transform the moral narrative in this country. [says Dr. Barber] We went through the most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history in 2016 without a single serious discussion of poverty and systemic racism. Now we are witnessing an emboldened attack on the poor and an exacerbation of systemic racism that demands a response.”
Rev. Eddie Anderson, Disciples pastor from southern California and one of the leaders of the California branch of the movement breaks it down like this: “the California Campaign will be coordinating with the national campaign around [addressing] the four main pillars of racism, militarism, environmental degradation, and poverty.” While this is an ecumenical movement, much of the leadership and passion here comes from our very own Disciples of Christ denomination.
Policy decisions on a political level, tell us clearly what is viewed as important and valuable – and obviously, money and power are the most important things by this standard. The Poor People's movement insists that people are more important than corporations or Wall Street or tax breaks for our billionaires. People – the welfare of ALL people – all God’s children -- should determine our policies. This is our moral obligation as Jesus people.
Jesus made no secret of his feelings about wealth and power and their ability to separate their holders from basic human understandings. He continually rebuked those who sought to hold onto the wealth and comforts at the cost of their shared humanity – those who used their power to keep others down. The new campaign will seek to oblige every political discussion of racism, militarism, environmental degradation, and poverty to include honest consideration of their moral implications. We will no longer tolerate claims that political actions require no moral discussion.
It’s a complicated time in which we live. But I don’t believe we are given a pass to say, “oh, it’s hard,” and shrug our shoulders.
This quote was on the UCC page where I get my lectionary notes. I’ve never heard of the speaker here, but he makes me think: "Don't ask for directions if you're not going to start the car." (Rob Liano)
If we are going to claim to follow Jesus, then we need to pay attention to what Jesus tells us, rather than the talking heads on TV. And then we need to act - we have to actually start that car.
My husband reminded me this week of a conversation we’d had earlier about the difference between ethics and morality – the upshot being that morality is how you interact with the people nearest you – family, friends, neighbors – and ethics is how you interact with those at a distance, with whom you may never come in direct contact.
Think again about what I shared earlier about separating children from their mothers – and think of that whole scenario in the context of Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ point in telling that story was to bring everyone – even hated Samaritans -- in from the realm of ethics – out there -- into that of morality – right here. Everyone is our neighbor – no one is outside that boundary.
So, in the words of our reading from Psalms: don’t follow the advice of those who delight in appalling schemes, don’t follow the ways of the wicked – instead be like a tree planted by the water of God’s word – and you shall not be moved.
And the only commandment we need is this: love one another as I have loved you.
So, today is the last Sunday in Easter season. It is also Mother’s Day. It is also the day before the kick-off of the New Poor People’s Campaign in California and the rest of the nation.
We are in a place that feels comfortable for many of us who are not personally impacted by current policies where we have separated “Politics” and “Religion” into two entities that have nothing to do with each other, with the result that politics in our country has become totally unhinged from morality.
Now, I am in entire agreement with separating politics and religion – I don’t want any one religion having political influence, but politics and morality – now there is a different issue. Morality must be part and parcel of everything we do in our lives. We do not get to separate morality and everything else into two separate boxes.
- Right now in our own country, the people of Flint, Michigan, have gone four years without drinkable water. For four years they have been given water that has been proven to contain amounts of lead that cause brain damage in children who drink it. This situation was cause by political decisions – that it has been allowed to continue is a moral issue.
- Just this week in Louisiana close to 40,000 of the state’s most vulnerable people – the elderly and the developmentally disabled -- are threatened with losing their Medicaid and facing eviction from the care homes in which they live because the state legislature made some politically motivated drastic cuts in their tax base and now can’t afford to care for its own people. Even if this does not eventually pass, the stress on these already fragile people right now is intolerable. Again, caused by political decisions – but decidedly a moral issue.
- The Dept. of Homeland Security has just this week implemented a program that separates children from their mothers if caught crossing the border illegally. This applies even if the parent has a legal case to apply for asylum. Whatever your thoughts on illegal entering may be, these are, in the current cases, largely women who are fleeing from rape and abuse in their own countries, seeking a safer place to raise their children, and to have their already terrified children taken from them and handed over to anonymous keepers is only another form of abuse and because this is being done in our name, we are complicit in these actions. The irony of this decision being implemented the same week as Mother’s Day is too bizarre to be believed. This is a moral issue.
I alluded earlier to the Poor People’s campaign. This was a movement initially begun by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. just shortly before his murder. It sought to give the powerless a voice in the halls of power. Although it continued after his death, and did have many positive results, the movement lost much of its impetus and never really had the public impact it should have had.
Its newer incarnation has grown out of the Moral Monday movement, led by Disciples pastor Dr. William Barber. This movement consists of clergy of various denominations and faiths, gathering in statehouses to pray for moral responses to political questions. It is nothing less than a national call for Moral Revival.
“We must transform the moral narrative in this country. [says Dr. Barber] We went through the most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history in 2016 without a single serious discussion of poverty and systemic racism. Now we are witnessing an emboldened attack on the poor and an exacerbation of systemic racism that demands a response.”
Rev. Eddie Anderson, Disciples pastor from southern California and one of the leaders of the California branch of the movement breaks it down like this: “the California Campaign will be coordinating with the national campaign around [addressing] the four main pillars of racism, militarism, environmental degradation, and poverty.” While this is an ecumenical movement, much of the leadership and passion here comes from our very own Disciples of Christ denomination.
Policy decisions on a political level, tell us clearly what is viewed as important and valuable – and obviously, money and power are the most important things by this standard. The Poor People's movement insists that people are more important than corporations or Wall Street or tax breaks for our billionaires. People – the welfare of ALL people – all God’s children -- should determine our policies. This is our moral obligation as Jesus people.
Jesus made no secret of his feelings about wealth and power and their ability to separate their holders from basic human understandings. He continually rebuked those who sought to hold onto the wealth and comforts at the cost of their shared humanity – those who used their power to keep others down. The new campaign will seek to oblige every political discussion of racism, militarism, environmental degradation, and poverty to include honest consideration of their moral implications. We will no longer tolerate claims that political actions require no moral discussion.
It’s a complicated time in which we live. But I don’t believe we are given a pass to say, “oh, it’s hard,” and shrug our shoulders.
This quote was on the UCC page where I get my lectionary notes. I’ve never heard of the speaker here, but he makes me think: "Don't ask for directions if you're not going to start the car." (Rob Liano)
If we are going to claim to follow Jesus, then we need to pay attention to what Jesus tells us, rather than the talking heads on TV. And then we need to act - we have to actually start that car.
My husband reminded me this week of a conversation we’d had earlier about the difference between ethics and morality – the upshot being that morality is how you interact with the people nearest you – family, friends, neighbors – and ethics is how you interact with those at a distance, with whom you may never come in direct contact.
Think again about what I shared earlier about separating children from their mothers – and think of that whole scenario in the context of Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ point in telling that story was to bring everyone – even hated Samaritans -- in from the realm of ethics – out there -- into that of morality – right here. Everyone is our neighbor – no one is outside that boundary.
So, in the words of our reading from Psalms: don’t follow the advice of those who delight in appalling schemes, don’t follow the ways of the wicked – instead be like a tree planted by the water of God’s word – and you shall not be moved.
And the only commandment we need is this: love one another as I have loved you.
RSS Feed