“Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.” ― Thomas Merton
"The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence."
--- Sylvia Plath
Former Creator member Teresa wrote in response to the Sylvia Plath quote, "Speaking our truth is much better than antidepressants. Our workplaces need it. Our homes need it. We need it."
Pastor Michelle today preached about a great gulf between the existing reality of this world and the still-unfolding plan for the Kingdom of God.
This is a moment where the unfolding seems to be slipping away. We have had moments of what some would see as moves towards inclusivity and overcoming fear, moments of joy and happiness for some, disappointment for others. Yet moments are just moments. And when you have a moment of real happiness, it's really a most lamentable tragedy indeed to suffocate what joy could be there with wishing that it would never go away. Because it will go away.
Pastor Michelle preached about the perfect king - a servant of God, who will judge the people with righteousness and justice. Not a perfect king of this world however. Any government power defending the poor and helping the needy is suspect of promoting something other than the work of lifting yourself by your own bootstraps.
John the Baptist has seen God's power at work. He will have no truck with "the brood of vipers" and sees the urgency of a moment he is living in. As Pastor Michelle said in her sermon, "John pulls no punches in calling for radical repentance and speaking truth to power. He spoke hard truth to hardhearted people: to call out those who use their power to oppress and to empower those who are oppressed." She continued "Prophets are called to do this, because only God’s truth has the power to crack the hardness of human hearts"
John has a different understanding of power than Jesus. He prepares the way with justified action and a knowledge of the truth. There is an escalation and one of the "trap doors" I wrote about on October 23.
Patti Smith captured the trap door beautifully when she wrote these lyrics to Birdland, a song on her album Horses:
The sun, the sign, the cross,
Like the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured woman,
The mother standing in the doorway letting her sons
No longer presidents but prophets
They're all dreaming they're gonna bear the prophet
She captures is a pride and an inherent assumption about power, that politics is inferior to a Christian vision of true power in the world.
Compare this to what Pastor Michelle said about Paul's letter to the Romans, "Paul calls on Christians to welcome others as Christ has welcomed them[1]: with love that has no condition and knows no end. In addition, Paul makes it quite clear that God’s salvation is for all people, as he writes, “[L]et all the peoples praise [the Lord].”[2] With this in mind, it’s important that you and I become more aware of what’s happening around us and that we become more intentional about reaching out to show support for our neighbors who are feeling vulnerable, because that’s an important part of who God calls us to be…
This is how Pastor Michelle's sermon concluded:
"Dear friends in Christ, holy Scripture and human history both bear witness that in every age God has raised ordinary people up to be messengers of God’s truth. Yet these courageous individuals have often met with a lot of pushback from other people of faith. This was true in Isaiah’s time, it was true in Jesus’ day, and it’s true today….
Sadly, you and I don’t have to look very far to find evidence of the church choosing either to collaborate or to cooperate with the powers-that-be, while dismissing the prophets as worry warts or crybabies or delusional kooks…. As a result, there’ve been too many times when members of the church have looked the other way and failed to stand up and speak out in the face of grave threats to our neighbors…. My friends, that is NOT what God calls us to be and to do! As members of Christ’s church, you and I ARE the Body of Christ here on earth in this time between the first and second coming of our Lord, and God has vital work for us to do today…. The church in our day cannot afford to be a “non-prophet” institution! We cannot afford to sit in silence, watching as the darkness of xenophobia and “post-truth” creep up on us…. Like it or not, you and I are the reluctant prophets who are made for this age….
In this “post-truth” time, we’re called to speak the truth—even when—especially when–it’s hard to do so! And the truth we’re called to speak is this: Our God has created all people and all things out of love and for love, so no one has the right to think he or she is better than anyone else, and no one has the right to harm or destroy anything that God has created in love…. As children of God, all human beings are part of something much greater than ourselves: We’re part of God’s great plan for the still-unfolding new creation: and THAT, dear friends, is the ultimate truth!… The Good News for today is that in this post-truth world human words don’t get the last word!… Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and his never-ending love for this whole world is the Word that will stand forever. Thanks be to God! Amen."
[1] Romans 15:7a.
[2] Romans 15:11.
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