Anti-Semitic...Homophobic...Racist -- Whither the Church?
Sermon given by The Rev. Frank Johnson
Jeremiah 31:31-34
I. A passion play in New Jersey cast a black man as Jesus, prompting protests and boycotts of the production. After a Marmonte League soccer game racial epithets were directed to a black coach. Are these isolated incidents, or do they represent a widespread racism that still exists in this country? Keep this question in mind as we take a look at the prophet Jeremiah.
II. The ministry of the prophet (remember that in biblical terms a prophet is not a predicter of the future but a commentator on the present in light of the covenant between God and the people) Jeremiah took place in the last years of the nation Judah before they were carried off into Babylonian exile. The northern kingdom of Israel had been defeated by the Assyrians a century before Jeremiah began his ministry. The essence of his message was: keep the covenant or the same thing will happen to us as happened to our northern brothers and sisters. He saw the people going through the motions of being religious but not putting the walk with the talk. Hear these words from chapter 7: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.' For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly with one another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever." (vv. 3-7)
Jeremiah saw his people trying to live out the impossibility of separating their religion from their behavior. Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners, remembers, during his youth in Detroit, raising questions at his church about Detroit's obvious racism and its divided churches, and receiving the answer from an elder in the church: "Christianity has nothing to do with racism." What Wallis says about this now is that the vast majority of white evangelicals were wrong about the race issue, and on the wrong side of the truth, the bible and the gospel. That's what Jeremiah was saying: our spirituality and our justice-making are one. If we divide them we are lost.
III. Eugene Rivers is a modern day Jeremiah, speaking to us from Dorchester, a black area of Boston, where he is pastor of a pentecostal base community founded by black students from Harvard and MIT. In a Sojourners article entitled "The Idol of White Supremacy" he argues that the demonic ideology of white supremacy is the dominant principle governing American culture. An idol, as you know, is a biblical term that means something that replaces God. Our sense of white superiority has become our God, he argues, and he challenges us: you are going to have to choose between being the church or being white. Our pride in our whiteness, he says, is atheistic, against God in its essence. He maintains that only a radical conversion to biblical faith frees us from this demonic spirit.
The papers have carried the story of the murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G. Citing drugs and violence, many have responded, "Good riddance." There was a similar response to the death of Tupac Shakur about six months ago. But listen to some of his story, related by his pastor at the memorial service. When Tupac joined the church at age 10 Pastor Daughtry asked him what he wanted to be. A revolutionary, Tupac answered. At age 10. He already knew that change was needed in our society. They had many conversations about religion and society over the years. Here are Tupac's words: "it's hard for me to believe in the same book as the white man. This system which beats you, me, and my people, which does all kinds of evil things all over the world, and claims the Bible as its book--how can I believe in the same book?" Pastor Daughtry told Tupac some of what he had learned, that blackness is the origin of civilization, that the major religions have black roots, that the Bible stands for supporting oppressed peoples. "I didn't know that," Tupac said. "I know. This truth has been kept from us by both white folks and blacks who benefited from our ignorance." But his story did not have a happy ending, as we know. As Pastor Daughtry said, "I will weep for Tupac...the victim of racial forces...he reflected the very society he hated...I will weep for victims and victimizers...for the mothers of the slain, mothers of the slayers...for rebels, some whom we like, some whom we don't...I will weep until our tears turn into indignation, our indignation turns into determination, our determination into action, and our action into a better society, until the Tupacs need rebel no more."
IV. There are other Jeremiahs amongst us, and the issue is not always white and black, but the demon of superiority is still part of the picture. A gentle, almost apologetic Jeremiah named Rabbi Michelle Paskow spoke to us Wednesday night about some of the roots of anti-semitism in the New Testament. Even the designations "Old" and "New" imply a superiority which the people of the Hebrew Scriptures feel. I found myself tempted to speak up and say, "No, that's not what it means!" I am not anti-semitic! She took one of my favorite stories (The Good Samaritan and if the Samaritan was "good" what do you suppose we were expected to believe about the two Jews [the priest and the levite]?) and made it anti-semitic, and I didn't want to believe it! If a part of my spirituality is based on making myself superior to the Jews (or anyone else), what kind of spirituality is that?
Another Jeremiah is Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, who recently called for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered priests to come out: say who you are, be proud of who you are, and share your gifts with the church. A spokesperson for Cardinal Adam Maida, Detroit's archbishop, pointed out that the archbishop had not seen the text of Gumbleton's remarks, and added: "He speaks for Bishop Gumbleton and he does not speak for Cardinal Maida or the archdiocese." We remember that the original Jeremiah was jailed for speaking the truth on behalf of God. And we know, too, that church hierarchies, as well as the public, can be homophobic, or, to use a longer word, heterosexist. Consider Jamie Nabozny, an openly gay high school student from Wisconsin, who was harrassed, ridiculed and even beaten by fellow students, and who sued the school district for not providing protection, and won. But it is a dangerous vocation that Jeremiah Gumbleton and Jeremiah Nabozny are calling us to.
And they are calling us to stretch our commitment to justice. It is not enough to be proud that the UCC is the first denomination to ordain women, when it has taken us nearly 150 years to begin to see women as called pastors. It is not enough to be proud that the UCC is the first denomination to ordain openly gay people, when it took Bill Johnson, that first person, 18 years to get a job in the United Church of Christ. It is not enough for the United Church of Christ to declare that Christianity does not replace Judaism and affirm that we are part of the same covenant, when I deny my complicity in Christian superiority. We are called by God to examine ourselves and to make our religious profession and our actions one.
V. And how does God do this? This is the subject of today's reading
from Jeremiah. He has made it clear what the judgment is. But he doesn't stop
there. He has pointed out that the people in their unfaithfulness have broken
the covenant. But he adds that a new covenant will be offered. All through the
Hebrew Scriptures we have this theme: the people disappoint God (break the
covenant), they pay the consequences, and God does not give up on them
(us). God offers a fresh start. And the nature of this covenant is different
from the other one. This time God says, "I will put my law within them; I will
write it on their hearts." This is not a set of rules and regulations; this is a
relationship that God is talking about. This is not a legal contract.
This is creating a family. This is not God as someone out there who is watching
us; this is God within us. Written on our hearts. This is not describing a bunch
of righteous people who obey; this is talking about a bunch of people who love
each other and forgive each other. This is not reading about God from a book;
this is experiencing God. This is not just a social issues kind of
theology; this is spirituality at its deepest, touching our hearts, making us
different. It is this difference that can make us radically inclusive and
not need to feel superior to any other group. It is this difference that gives
us the power to choose to be the church and be that community that knows
God and welcomes others to share that wonderful experience.