This past week has been tumultuous in America, and that’s no secret.
Presidential Inauguration & MLK Jr Day, a myriad of presidential celebrations, a litany of executive orders that have struck both rejoicing and deep fear, and a prayer gathering where Bishop Budde asked the president for mercy toward those who are scared now.
I admit of all the week's events, I connected with the bishop. A woman preacher who is a pastor to ALL who are both confident in the government outcomes, and to all who are scared now: the immigrant families who work at our nearby poultry & egg farm, our nearby beef plant and cookie factories, the asylum families who have fled from war or religious persecution. Each of these bring their giftedness and inspiring stories. Even our black and brown friends who carry the stories we need to hear about slavery in our town of Wright City – reminding us of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. And those of all ages whose sexuality and sexual orientation is not the societal mainline – but were born this way. I am a pastor to ALL.
In my preparation for this sermon in Luke 4:14-30, I realized like Bishop Budde, Jesus had done the same thing as he stood to read from the scroll in Isaiah 61:1-2. Looking closer at the prophet Isaiah’s words, he was painting a picture of God THE KING restoring the people after their earthly kings had their way with them.
Remember 1 Samuel 6 from our Samuel sermon series in much of 2024? The people cried for a king like all the other nations…Samuel the priest discouraged the people from asking God for an earthly king by revealing the heartache of earthly kings. Relentless, they demanded an earthly king and God gave them what they wanted. Every one of their kings was a disappointment…yes, even David. But God kept a promise that the Messiah would come through this lineage. This meant the Messiah would come from a horrible family tree. God happens to have an affection for horrible messes. So, if your family tree is a horrific mess, know that Jesus gets you. Indeed, Jesus was born of the line of David and Bathsheba (a wife acquired through rape and murder), Abraham and Sarah (who forced a pregnancy through their slave girl), Boaz & Ruth (Moab undocumented immigrant), even Rahab the prostitute is in the family tree (a Canaanite living in the wall of Jericho. And don’t even get me started on why Israelite men would visit a prostitute. Hmmm. They were undocumented immigrants that she welcomed).
This Jesus, who the hometown locals know has a sketchy lineage, has the guts to teach them the connection that love, justice, and mercy are not just things we talk about, but it IS what we DO.
After reading Isaiah’s words from the scroll Jesus takes a chair. All the congregation is focused on him. He says “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He also perceives they want him to perform great miracles that have made him famous, but he chooses not to display power for power’s sake. In the previous chapter, Luke 3, he just came out of that temptation to earthly power by resisting the devil’s request to throw himself down from the pinnacle in Jerusalem so the angels would catch him in a display of power. Nope. Jesus replies, don’t put the Lord your God to the test.
Since Jesus won’t display the earthly Messiah power they were hoping for, he reminds them that the prophet is not accepted in their hometown.
Then Jesus offers two stories to dig at the crowd. One story recalls a horrible drought in Israel when Elijah was not called to the poor widows of Israel, but to a widow in Sidon. The other story recalls there were many lepers in Israel but Elisha was approached by Naaman from Syria. Both stories specifically pointed to the hated foreign enemy as the kind of people who were open to receive God’s healing, mercy, and restoration. The crowd loses their ever-loving mind that Jesus would imply their hated enemies are loved by God.
What does this have to do with DOING the work of love, mercy, and justice? Our church’s German Evangelical immigrant ancestors and Reinhold Niebuhr showed us HOW with their lives to take the prophets seriously in our present context of struggle. We should strive to live out the words of the prophet Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
I remember well, Dr Gary Kremer among other panelists, at the Warren County Historical Society symposium in Fall 2023, shared historical findings of the German and African American connection to anti-slavery efforts right here, on this ground we stand on in Warren County. When I publicly stood up during Q&A and asked Dr Kremer if this was just any German in Warren County, he said NO. It was the German Evangelicals who immigrated here and settled along the Missouri River. In this new land they had immigrated to they could not stand to hear their enslaved neighbors crying out in pain. They were stubborn. They refused to just go back home to Germany. They refused to give up their German language for English until well into the 1900s. They defiantly kept making and drinking their beers to counter those who did not drink, or drank secretly, who enslaved humans on their farms. They owned the only printing press in South Warren County and refused to print bills of sale with humans listed. They were NOT having it. German Evangelical immigrants were not liked, nor much cared for, in this Confederate state of Missouri. They were set apart and they paid dearly for it. Massive fines. Death threats. Convicted and sentenced to do time in the horrific State Penn in Jeff City for two to three years. Immanuel, you are descendants of these ancestors by birth or adoption through church membership.
In this very German Evangelical congregation, your ancestors birthed Reinhold Niebuhr while his Dad pastored here. Reinhold later became a theologian-advisor to US presidents during his time regarding public policy and society’s morality. He didn’t have rosy words for the presidents. His words were far more critical than Bishop Budde. He wrote a book, Moral Man and Immoral Society, which was a deep critique of Woodrow Wilson and the formation of the League of Nations. Niebuhr said it was naive of the president to lead the world to believe that war was avoidable by constructing a supernatural group to dominate the opposing powers. He demanded honesty, humility, and a dose of reality. On the other hand, Niebuhr challenged the president and leaders that we should never give up on building a moral world because it is incredibly hard work. For Niebuhr, to give up and do nothing is worse. Doing nothing is morally unacceptable in light of the Bible’s prophetic justice, such as Isaiah 61.
The prophet Isaiah’s power at these crosshair moments with resistant earthly power is in the spirit’s anointing. Luke 4:18-19,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor is jubilee, the release of all debts every 50th year. Jubilee! Have you heard that the Roman Catholic Church is celebrating its Jubilee this year? They claim to have celebrated every year since Jesus was incarnate, born into humanity, God with us. Every 50 years means this is a once in a lifetime celebration! I looked at the Vatican's schedule and in Rome they are welcoming all kinds of people to the Vatican to celebrate throughout the year. I noticed there is a week for all kinds of people to be welcomed. Especially times for the poor, imprisoned, disabled, and marginalized, among many others. Their theme: “Pilgrims of Hope.” I’d say right now is the perfect time for a Jubilee with Pilgrims of Hope.
I will be watching and listening to how the Catholic Jubilee will turn out. I’m sure there will be glorious stories and there will be strained stories. When the justice of God breaks in not everyone is thrilled about it. Some would say it is just too overboard. Weird. Offensive. And will be angry. As the Spirit leads these Pilgrims of Hope, I imagine they will experience miracles of passing through the midst of the unknown and angry crowds to continue their work of doing Jubilee.
Could you join me in asking the Spirit for courage and mercy, like our German Evangelical ancestors and like Pilgrims of Hope at Jubilee, to DO something to restore justice when you hear your neighbor is suffering?
I remember when the Spirit asked me to DO something in May 2020 when the George Floyd protests were happening during the pandemic. Ahead of the Spirit's nudge, in prayer I made myself available to the Spirit to DO something, and the Spirit took me up on my availability. On a Sunday afternoon I got a few calls that Black Lives Matter was on the Exit 200 bridge. Oh brother. I knew it was more likely local black and brown friends that I knew. I went right away. It certainly was our neighbors. They were scared and they were grieving. I stood with them, sang with them, and they found a sign for me to hold. We ate dinner here on the church lawn together and prayed. Most of all I listened. They shared their grief of excessive force used on a black man whose crime didn’t equate the severity of death. I learned a lot that week because I asked the Spirit to lead me in how to show up. Love, mercy, and justice was breaking in. Jubilee.
Will you dare to let the Spirit anoint you and use you at a time like this? The path the Spirit will lead you will likely look different than mine. That is the beauty and reach of the Spirit’s work in us. You cannot DO this apart from God. Well, I guess you can. Reinhold’s atheist friends said they could come to the same realist conclusions as Reinhold without all that religious stuff. Reinhold stayed tethered to the guiding light of the prophets, and the theological commitment to love, mercy, justice, and a vision of a restored world community in Revelation 21:1-5, 22-27 where all things are made new.
Today I offer anointing oil and healing prayers to all. Listen to the Spirit and what this anointing oil represents for you. This oil could be the anointing of the Spirit to make you available to do God’s work of mercy in our aching world right now. You may receive oil for healing. Healing of yourself, or on behalf of another. What is the Spirit speaking?
(Congregants that wished to receive anointing oil and healing prayer came forward to receive. We concluded with the Lord’s Prayer. Our benediction was the Serenity Prayer penned by Reinhold Niebuhr.)
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven:
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil;
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as He did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that He will make all things right,
If I surrender to His will,
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.
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