Peace, But Don't Be Still
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Mark 4:35-41; Micah 6:6-8
June 24, 2018
Tuesday afternoon I joined a thousand other siblings
of our Presbyterian family engaging in civil disobedience as we blocked traffic
walking a mile or so through the streets of St. Louis from the convention
center to the city’s justice center to deliver $47,000 to pay the bail of dozens
of folks jailed on nonviolent offenses and unable to pay bail themselves.
We were decent, but we were decidedly out of civil
order as we took to the streets. We were seeking the peace of the city, but we
could not be still.
Wednesday afternoon, the assembly approved – on its
consent agenda (which means support was so overwhelming that it was
noncontroversial) – an overture affirming and celebrating the full dignity and
humanity of persons of all gender identities. A young adult advisory delegate
led the assembly to understand and add “asexual and intersex” to the “LGBTQIA+”
that amended all assembly references. One of the newly elected co-moderators
explained the plus noting that there’s still a great deal we don’t know about
gender expression so we are open to more. We are seeking the peace of the city,
and we cannot be still.
Thursday morning, the assembly condemned President
Trump’s executive order – issued Wednesday – “that further criminalized
migration through the expansion of family detention on military bases and other
government property, potentially indefinitely.” We are seeking the peace of the
city, and we cannot be still.
I was at GA all week advocating on behalf of overtures
demanding that the Presbyterian Foundation divest its holdings in fossil fuel
companies who continue to profit from the pillage of the planet. Though the
assembly did not adopt the strategy that those of us in the Presbyterian Peace
Fellowship/Fossil Free PCUSA coalition continue to advocate, it was abundantly
clear that the choice was strategic and simply a difference of opinion on how
best to address a crisis that we all agree must be addressed with urgency. We
are seeking the peace of the city, and we cannot be still.
You see, a great storm has arisen and its ill winds
are blowing in too many directions to count across our country these days. If
we remain still amidst this storm, who will still the winds?
The Spirit is speaking powerfully these days in and
through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I have certainly had my fair share
and then some of disagreements and disappointments in the church that I have
walked with for almost 60 years, but last week in St. Louis, I was proud to be
a Presbyterian.
As I was walking with the church down the middle of
Washington Avenue toward the justice center, my friend, and former moderator,
Bruce Reyes-Chow received a tweet that read:
“Hello! I live on Washington Avenue in St. Louis. I
am used to conventions happening down here, but I am not used to being moved to
tears by members of the groups. The message of that march was beautiful. I am
not used to seeing a religion actually live out messages in the way you guys
did today. Thank you for opening my mind, eyes, and heart to both the problem
of cash bail and to the Presbyterians of the USA.”
Truth be told, most of us Presbyterians of the USA
are probably not used to that either.
There was a moment in a committee room, when the
committee that had been asked to recommend passage of an overture that
commended Martin Luther King’s Letter from the Birmingham City Jail and called
for creating study materials, instead initiated the process that could lead in
the next several years to that prophetic text’s ultimate inclusion in our Book
of Confessions. This is as close to adding a document to the canon as we
Reformed Christians come, so this was a really big deal.
There was another moment on the first night of
plenary sessions when a young adult advisory delegate came to the mic to speak
up in support of adding the letters “IA” to an assembly reference. He said,
“dad, if you’re watching on the live stream, I just want to say, ‘I’m
bisexual.’” That he chose to come out on the floor of the general assembly of
the Presbyterian Church says something powerful about who we are becoming as
church.
We say we are the body of Christ in the world, and
we are. But we are also just a small boat full of frightened disciples caught
in the midst of a mighty storm on an endless sea. If we are to embody Jesus for
one another, then the Christ in each of us must say to the wind, “be still,”
and the Christ in each of us must say to one another, “don’t be afraid.”
Don’t be afraid. For, in life and in death, we
belong to God. Of course, the shadow of the death of our dear Peg cast its pall
over the week. The waters of grief are endless as the sea, and though its waves
will calm its tide will tug at us until, like Peg, our baptisms are complete in
death.
Peg and I flew out together, and on our flight we talked
about what was just before us: the work of both the larger church at general
assembly and our wee part of it at Clarendon. She was brimming with optimism
and full of hope for both the assembly and for Clarendon.
She was, a half dozen years ago, part of the
staffing model discernment team that helped us live into our mission of feeding
and fellowship of the table. That mission, adopted back in 2012, served us well
as we set out and became a more vibrant congregation focused on welcoming
everyone to this fellowship.
But as the discernment team met over the past six
months, it became increasingly clear to us that as we listened to the
congregation, the community, and the Spirit of God speaking to us, our emerging
call was not so much on welcoming folks in as it is on being sent out. Thus we
drafted, and session adopted, a new mission statement, printed along with the
older one in the bulletin this morning.
Of course we still believe the words we proclaimed
in 2012, and we are still claimed by them. We do gather at this table. We do
welcome everyone.
But the Spirit is calling the church: go into the
world, get in that small boat and set out on the teaming sea. Seek peace. Pray
for it. But don’t be still.
Trust that we are not alone, and seek companions for
the journey. Out there none too distant from us, there are refugee children
shackled and in jail: go forth and liberate them. Out there in some cold
jailhouse, there are poor folks whose debt literally imprisons them. Liberate
them as well. Out there in some school house there is a transgender child who
just wants to find some rest in the restroom. Go forth, o church, and do
justice for that child. Out there in some coastal town the waves of an angry
and rising sea are washing away memory and history while fossil fuel companies
continue to mine profit from a depleted earth. Go forth, o church, and love
mercy for those communities on the front lines of climate change. Out there in
some immigrant community a child of God is bowing in prayer facing Mecca, but keeping
one eye out for those who would do her violence because of the scarf she wears
over her head. Go forth, walking humbly with God, to stand in solidarity with
her community as it lays its own claim to the founding vision of this country
we share. Go forth, in deep humility, to stand in solidarity with native
peoples whose country we inhabit as immigrants.
Understand, through it all, that, as Dr. King wrote
from that jail in Birmingham, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere, for we are all bound together in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever effects one directly, effects us all indirectly. So, go forth, o
church, and make peace. Make peace, but don’t be still. As long as we have
breath and the Spirit breathes within us, do not be still. Amen.
And here's the text for the hymn we opened with (with its missing Oxford commas and all):
Come
live your days in faith.
And here's the text for the hymn we opened with (with its missing Oxford commas and all):
Come Live Your Days!
Come
live your days in faith.
Be people of the way.
As salt and light give life to all
you meet this day.
Now hear God’s
call:
let justice,
mercy and Christ’s love be shared with all!
Come live your
days in hope.
Be people of the light.
For prisoners blinded by their
fears, lift up new sight.
Now hear God’s
call:
let justice,
mercy and Christ’s love be shared with all!
Come live your
days in love.
Be people filled with grace.
Bring outcasts, orphans and the poor
unto this place.
Now hear God’s
call:
let justice,
mercy and Christ’s love be shared with all!
Come live your
days in power.
Be people filled with fire.
On eagles’ wings you’re lifted up so
you’ll not tire.
Now hear God’s
call:
let justice,
mercy and Christ’s love be shared with all!
Tune: Darwall’s
148th, c. D. Ensign, 2003
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