August 30, 2020 - Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Been There, Done That, Now Doing This

Former Bishop of the Oregon Synod, Pastor Dave Brauer Rieke gave today's sermon - In his words a sermon on Romans 12, Black Lives Matter, and other vulnerabilities revealed in the age of COVID-19. He started with words that sound like an incantation in a foreign language which quickly became recognizable as names, saying the lives that have been lost to violence and lives that are being remembered. This was an important part of now doing this.

Currently Pastor Dave is an ELCA Region 1 Consultant working with Lutheran Disaster Response. He talked about how disasters bring us face to face with our vulnerabilities both social and personal. He addressed the personal vulnerabilities first by asking the question that becomes harder to keep asking time after time "How are you doing?"

Personally he is riding his bike in the video he shared. He takes us through a bike ride as he gives his sermon and says the names. He observes the people who are living in tents along the bike way he is following are growing and our government is choosing not to address that at the moment. With this his personal observations become social. My wife observed Pastor Dave's sermon today served as a great counterpoint to the holding up of a Bible for a photo op.

Mary's statement captured the impact of Pastor Dave's message perfectly. this sermon moved into an uncomfortable but powerful territory of my heart. With the list of the lost lives constantly being intoned and with the video of bike ride while we moved deeper into Pastor Dave's reflections, the Romans 12 verses were not necessarily central to his sermon until the end. His breathing was not recorded for the audio but I could imagine the beating of his heart and the taking of each breath moving in sync with the names that were being read.

He preached about zoom apnea, which I had never heard of before. Apparently researchers have found that when we text or email we, at times, forget to breathe. They find the same is true for zoom meetings. He stressed this is important. When we forget to breathe we get exhausted. The personal and social vulnerabilities he was talking about joined together with this description of exhaustion. None of us can breathe freely right now. That causes us to feel sick and depressed. In the middle of his message Pastor Dave invited us to breath, pray, be mindful, get out and get grounded.

Pastor Dave recorded this 94 days into the Portland protest. He observed there has been violence. Yesterday someone was killed. We have seen protesters chant "No justice, no peace". Yes, we have been here and done this before. The people who want the violence to stop are not confined to a particular political ideology. And we have also seen protesters in the past taking to the streets that become too exhausted to continue to pursue the peace they are looking for. 

The vision of what can change is elusive and too hard to articulate and make real. What is trying to be done may also be frightening because it means doing something new. Perhaps some think that what exhausts us now must be declared unlawful. Things can be made peaceful with tear gas, intimidation and arrests. Push the perimeters back at all costs. Yes, we have been there and done that. Now some are doing this.

The sermon ended at a white kiosk which serves as a memorial to Black Lives Matter. He talked about the opportunity to address the deep woundedness in our country. And in this context he read Paul's words in Romans "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.? 

Let us persevere in prayer.  

We are now doing this.