Choose Love

Sermon 6-21-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

So, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in finding today’s quotes from Jesus very uncomfortable. After telling the disciples what NOT to pack last week, Jesus informs his followers – and us - of some bad news. Following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, does not always lead to a life of peace and harmony, Frappuccinos and cupcakes. In fact, most of the time, it WILL be the cause of conflict.

Following Jesus means that we don’t follow other things. Following Jesus means that we have priorities that seems strange to the world. Following Jesus means that the world will make us pick a side.

Jesus was putting the pressure on the primary source of identity at the time and NOW – the family unit. Your family was your security, your social status, your comfort zone, your whole world. When Jesus throws a wrench in that system, both then and now, he sends shock waves across society that causes divisions across even families – daughter against mother, father against son, people who grew up in the same house.

But the Prince of Peace who brings a sword isn’t the oxymoron that it seems to be. Jesus doesn’t bring division for the sake of division. Jesus causes division because of OUR LACK of UNITY. 

The world makes us choose sides. Or really, the world tries its hardest makes us choose THEIR side. The world tells us daily and even hourly that some types of people are worth more than others - that some should be hated and feared because of the color of their skin, because of what part of the world they come from, because of the name they call God, because of the kind of people they love and want to marry.

The world tells us constantly that buying more stuff will make us happy, and to blind ourselves to the high cost to creation, and to people.  The world is trying to convince us that just because SOME parts of our society are “open,” that means normalcy is back. It’s not. The world tells us that making money and going back to our “normal” routines of dining out, cross country travel, and driving our economy is more important than keeping vulnerable lives safe.

But let me tell you about Jesus’s side, what we call the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it is harder to see, because the works of this kingdom don’t often make the news. This kingdom tells us that all people, regardless of country of origin, skin color, orientation, gender, economic status, ability or disability is a beloved child of God created beautiful and worthy of being treated with dignity and love. The kingdom of God is for righting the wrong, freeing the oppressed, healing bodies and relationships, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, resurrecting what has become dead, and losing our lives for the sake of others…. which is especially important as we navigate new realities in the age of the Corona virus.

Every moment of our lives now will have some sort of increased risk. But the questions we must ask ourselves now are these: am I being careful and engaging in behavior that is considerate of others? Am I minimizing my contact or the time I spend in order to keep people safe? Are the activities I DO choose to engage in necessary, or for the benefit of others…. or will it possibly expose others just so that I can have a sense of routine?

The hard part is that no two states, cities, families, or even individual people within families completely agree. And these disagreements right now are fraught with rhetoric and anger. For example, some who speak of the joy of gathering in large groups at Peace Valley Park or for Memorial Day with extended family or serving dinner in homes in one breath, then go on to question or condemn those who seek to correct racial injustice, who exercise their constitutional right to peaceful and unarmed protests because of the risk.

However, as Minnesota Epidemiologist Michael Osterholmstated just this week in NPR, the Black Lives Matter protests did not result in the types of spikes that some expected.  

Another host of NPR stated also: “In other words, perhaps the better question is not, will the demonstrators cause a spike in COVID-19 infections? But rather will all of us … behave in a way that keeps the reproduction number low and ensures that these marches and any improvements to racial equality they achieve don't come at a price of many more COVID-19 deaths.”

I can imagine Jesus asking similar questions of us, as his followers. We as people of faith cling to what Jesus has taught us and modeled for us – living as if we love God with our whole being, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Sometimes, that will mean we have to draw a line, or “pick a side.” And the side we’re supposed to pick might lead us down a road of misunderstanding at best, and outright hostility at worst.

The world has much more power, more funding, is more stealthy and crafty, has more support, and is better equipped and armed than we are. The odds seem overwhelming to us, especially when even Jesus did not escape their wrath.

The world rejected Jesus when he picked God’s side. They even nailed him on a cross for the audacity of his choice.  How dare he choose love over things like “family” and “freedom”?

We know that Love IS family. It’s belonging to a family built on our unconditional worthiness, and not limited to blood, or success, or perfection.

We know that Love IS freedom. Luther wrote that we are freed FROM sin and death so that we are freed TO SERVE our neighbor and act in the world with their best interests in mind.

God is love. And God created us to love. Jesus is the love of God with skin on, literally love fully fleshed out. God’s love for us has always been and will always be the same: limitless and unwavering. We know this because he sent his own son into the world to change everything.

Choosing love is never the wrong choice. We may – no, we WILL make mistakes in how we live this out. Love is hard. It calls us to do difficult things. Love asks us for our words and our deeds to be life-giving, not life-limiting. Love calls us to walk the path of who we were created and called to be: no more and no less than beloved and brave Children of God. And love will, and does, win. Thanks be to God, amen.