Shahar Caren Weaver, M.Div delivered this sermon on January 25, 2009, the Third Sunday After the Epiphany, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Chicago Illinois
Partners In Change: Jesus, Barack, You and Me
Mark 1:14-20
Let us pray. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and Redeemer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Good morning!
Like most of you, I have been glued to my television for the past two years, watching every move our brother, Barack Obama, has made. From that morning in Springfield when he announced his decision to answer his call, until the Neighborhood Inauguration Ball where Beyonce crooned as Barack led Michelle in their first dance as President and First Lady. I don’t know about you, but that dance still brings tears to my eyes. At last, my love has come along… Michelle and Barack showed such a genuine love for each other. And, when she placed both arms around his neck, as his hands held her waist close to him, I reminisced of the days in high school when we passionately “slow dragged” with the one we “thought” we loved so much. But this love, this covenant to serve each other, this covenant to serve an entire nation of people, an entire globe… this covenant to lovingly serve with God…gives me hope that Jesus, Barack, you, and me, can truly partner to change our troubled world. I’m excited!
When Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” his new disciples immediately dropped what they were doing, left behind their belongings and previous professions, and followed the one who called them to enter into unknown territory. That kind of commitment takes a whole lot of faith. In the King James Version of the Bible, a more familiar scripture reads, “I will make you fishers of men.” Well, as we are now conscious of using gender inclusive language, we’ll say “fishers of people.” So, what does that really mean? I believe that Jesus was calling ordinary workers to embark on a journey to undertake an extraordinary and most important task. Jesus was offering them the opportunity to become partners in a revolutionary action. He called them to become community organizers, in other words, to “fish for people” to help him make changes on a grass roots level. Sound familiar?
Like Simon, Andrew, James, and John, we have historically been offered difficult opportunities to make improvements in our living conditions. Most of us here, in this church, have ancestors who were kidnapped African slaves brought across the Middle Passage to toil to build the New World. Stripped of their identities, cultures, language and family structures, generations of African people used their creativity to devise ways to buck the system and steal away to worship their saving God, educate themselves, and even sojourn to freedom with the help of leaders like Harriet Tubman through the Underground Railroad. Devoted servants like Absalom Jones and Richard Allen made a way, out of no way to worship their God with self-determination and dignity. When they walked out of that segregated church that pulled them from their knees in the middle of their prayers for not moving to the balcony that had been designated for Negroes, they took advantage of a difficult situation, and made it into an opportunity to begin their own churches.
It certainly does take a great deal of faith and love to undertake revolutionary actions for the betterment of our common good. I believe that one must have the capability to love…I mean truly love our neighbors, to give up the comfort of what is familiar and secure to follow when we hear Jesus’ call. Both Barack and Michelle knew that their lives, and those of their family’s would be changed forever. It takes a lot to give up the anonymity of being able to simply walk down the street, or visit the local barbershop without the accompaniment of secret service agents and a motorcade. It takes a lot of love to place one’s self in the position where haters will attempt to discredit, disgrace, harm or even kill you. It takes a lot of love…
It takes faith to consistently believe that God will see us through the dangerous times, and will equip us to do the unimaginable work ahead of us. With the economy plummeting, and our security blankets torn away, leaving us unsure and unsettled, one might wonder how it is even possible to answer our President’s call for us to organize our communities to make America a better place. The success of President Obama winning the election is only the beginning. We have now been given an opportunity to continue the same efforts we worked toward during the campaign. The work is far from over, as we identify the issues that need to be addressed, and begin seeking solutions that can solve our problems.
Know that God’s unswerving love for us is empowering and energizing. One of the first things I learned in seminary after hearing God’s call for me to enter into the fiery furnace of ministry (remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?) is that God does not always call people who are already prepared and qualified to do the work, but God lovingly empowers us, all along the way to accomplish what is needed. God takes us just as we are, flaws and all, then, works in and through us to make the necessary transformations. God also gives us an energy that we couldn’t have thought possible. The author of the gospel song, “I Ain’t No Ways Tired” was surely singing about that strength that can only come from our Creator.
Do you remember all the pitfalls that brother Barack encountered along the way to the White House? I smile when I hear political analysts attempt to explain how a relatively unknown, African American first term junior senator from the south Side of Chicago, belonging to an unapologetically Christian and unashamedly Black church, could become elected by a country that had disallowed African Americans the right to vote only a generation ago. The results of this election have been against all odds. It’s not as though prejudice and racism in our government had taken a recent leap and bound, causing us to expect the possibility of a Black man being elected into the nation’s highest office. It’s not as though the U.S. senate had become equally represented with people of color elected to serve America. Sure, many accomplishments have been made since Martin Luther King made his famous “mountain top” speech, but we are far from fulfilling his dream.
On the very day of the Presidential election, children in predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods were encapsulated in depressing, run-down classrooms with inferior supplies, books and equipment that paled in comparison to the encouraging techno schools in the neighborhoods of privileged white children.
On the very day of the Presidential election, Latino and Asian immigrants were working for slave wages in fields and sweatshops that feed the U.S. economy and make corporations wealthy.
On the very day of the Presidential election, Muslims in the U.S. were victimized by hate crimes in a country that supposedly prides itself for its accepting diversity.
On the very day of the Presidential election, 1.8 million prison inmates (50% of whom are Black in a country where we are 13% of the population)… on the very day of the Presidential election… black men and women sang plantation work songs in one of the U.S.A.’s fastest growing industries…the prison system…a private sector system that collectively generated over $30 billion last year from prison slave labor, creating millionaires with a vested interest in filling more cells with new incarcerated employees. Think about that… We are still a ways from the Promised Land.
So, how did Barack Obama become elected leader of the free world? Some believe that his hard work, education and determination gained him such inordinate status. Well, he certainly wouldn’t be able to do the job unless he had made all the necessary preparations. But, in these economically murky days, many well-educated and determined African Americans are unemployed, and are even losing their homes. The new mantra for children is “Yes I can become anything I want.” And, I love seeing those eager little faces filled with hope and dreams. But you know that mantra makes me a little uncomfortable. Something is missing…something has been forgotten. Education is certainly the key, along with hard work and determination, but I believe that it is also through our faith and partnership with both community and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we are empowered to become anything God wants us to become.
Just as Moses parted the sea for his people to cross into freedom, a sea of hatred, jealousy, racism…you name it…was parted for Barack Obama to cross into a position in partnership with Jesus, our greatest revolutionary. Our President waded through the slush of degrading comments that referred to him as an “elitist” with opponents fanning the flames of some White peoples’ prejudices. I admit I’m still having a hard time forgiving the Clintons for that sneaky move. Michelle Obama was severely chastised for thoughtfully stating that, “For the first time (she) was really proud of her country.” But the most amazing thing that happens when one perseveres with the partnership of Jesus, is that the stings and arrows fail to permanently maim us. The Obamas continue with a grace and coolness that appears unruffled by the stones that have been thrown toward them.
President Theodore Roosevelt said to “walk softly and carry a big stick.” So, by no means am I suggesting that African Americans, or any body of people who have a history of oppression and disenfranchisement should simply forget the past and reconcile without first obtaining freedom and sanctification. But, we need to be careful that we do not allow the injustices of our past to spiritually cripple us from continuing in our quest for true equality. This is a time for seriously discerning and strategizing, while not allowing our resentment to blind our eyes with bloody anger. We can surely follow the lead of our President who chose to exercise grace and strength when faced with conflicts and opposition.
Now when Jesus called his new followers to fish for people, Jesus’ predecessor, John the Baptist had just been arrested by the Roman authorities. Here in the scriptures, we are reminded of the consequences of standing up to an unjust society, right off the bat, but are in store for a message that helps us with the fear of doing something excitingly courageous and outrageous. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest in length, and moves very quickly with a sense of urgency that starts with Jesus being baptized in the Spirit, and then a brief time for reflection in the wilderness, and then off to action. Mark shows us an activist Jesus who gathered his friends quickly because there wasn’t time to consider whether he should respond to injustice and marginalization. From the beginning of this Gospel, Jesus acts as though he somehow knows of his ultimate fate. His time is short, and his subversive message that shakes the foundation of the reigning government is quickly gaining him enemies. Unfortunately, Jesus had no secret service agents to protect him from clear and present danger on this earth. Yes, we already know the tragic outcome, but we also know that God our Father resurrects us into a Kingdom of Eternal Life.
I know some African Americans who hesitated in voting in Barack Obama, for fear that this beautiful man would only fall at the hands of an assassin, like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, John and Robert Kennedy, and of course Abraham Lincoln. You know, I only live a few blocks from the Obama family, there in Hyde Park, and even witnessed the motorcade on the day Barack left our neighborhood for Washington, D.C. I was once again reminded of the seriousness of his safety as the flashing lights of about 15 Chicago police cars led the way for another 8 or so ominous black sports utility vehicles. Oh, how fragile is our life? It seems as though wherever there is goodness, evil is lurking around every corner. Just ask the mothers of the numerous children slain in gun violence this year, in our city of Chicago.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for God is with me…
So, time is always of the essence in fighting the good fight, and doing the work of our Savior. We have no time to decide if we will do our part in helping our country survive under these severely bleak times. We must act swiftly in joining and organizing service projects that will help our neighbors…for when we help the “least of these” we are helping ourselves, through our communion with Christ.
We have a new President who is has clearly been selected by God, and in his inauguration speech has gathered us together to remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians, to “abandon our childish ways.” To do that, we must first abandon our selfishness, jealousy, and hard-heartedness toward our sisters and brothers who may be different from us. We must then abandon the excesses in our lives that make us complacent and self-indulgent. In essence, we must abandon anything that separates us from the love of our friends, families, neighbors, and our Savior.
Today’s Epistle reads, “to lead the life that the Lord has assigned.” Barack Obama has begun his office by “hitting the ground running” but surely cannot accomplish this without our assistance. Fortunately, in this parish we have already committed to a life of service. We have been blessed with the leadership of Father Fulton Porter who has sustained the service already begun by St. Thomas, and has envisioned new and innovative ways for us to fulfill our Baptismal Covenants. Let us begin our service by using the unique gifts that God has bestowed upon us, by taking the time and opening our minds to learn something new at all times, and by making each day a day of service…even in the smallest of ways.
When Beyonce was interviewed back stage after her touching rendition of “At Last,” she tearfully expressed such a heartfelt gratitude for being given an opportunity to participate in this historical time. She also said that President Obama’s love and commitment had inspired her to learn more and do more.
So, I challenge you, beloved servants of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. At last, our love has come along. Our Lord has come along… and is calling to us serve people of all ethnicities, genders, classes, physical abilities, and sexual preferences. “Follow me,” he says… so we can become “Partners in Change: Jesus, Barack, you, and me.”
