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.
If
you are a fan of the reality TV show Queer Eye – as I am – you may have noticed
that the first episode of this new season (which is set in Philly, by the way)
features an ELCA pastor. If you are NOT familiar with this show, I’ll clue you in.
Five Fabulous gay men travel the country “making over” people’s lives. The
council members of Atonement Lutheran in Fishtown nominated their beloved
pastor, and last summer Pastor Noah spent a week being showered with love.
Seriously, get the free promotional
month of Netflix and watch it as soon as you can… and get ready to cry.
But
actually I want to focus on the 2nd episode in this season. Rianna is an
African American businesswoman who lives in Norristown. Over three years ago
she had started her own dog grooming business, but she was barely staying
afloat amid many challenges. In typical Queer Eye fashion, the Fab 5 gave her a
wardrobe, provided business know-how, and of course, outfitted her with a brand
new “Doggy Grooming Mobile Vehicle.”
As
an African American business woman in this country, Rianna was less likely to
have access to the resources necessary to make her business successful by
herself – it is well-documented that persons of color have less access and
fewer resources at their disposal, whether we’re talking small business loans,
generational wealth, or access to knowledge and role models. In other words, in
this country, based on the color of her skin, she has been given fewer things
in her “bag” to travel this road we call life than a white person who is the
same age and born in the same location.
We
like to think that when we are born, we all start out equal. After all, every
one of us arrive into this work with literally “nothing.” But in reality, we
all inherit things – the skin color of our parents, a particular economic
status, generational trauma… all which can help or hinder us in our path in
life. It’s not unlike being given a bag for the beach but not having sunscreen,
or shoes to protect your feet from the hot sand – without being provided some
basic necessary things, you are not going to be ready for your summer beach
vacation.
Of
course, life is not quite the same as enjoying some time “down the shore” as
they say. Right now, we are we at the
beginning of the summer season, when normally we would all disperse to the four
winds and we wouldn’t see some of you until September. But we are also at the
start of a new season in the Church year. This is “Ordinary Time,” or the “Time
after Pentecost.” – or the Big Long Green Season. The season of major events –
Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, is behind us, and the weeks of
counting the seemingly hundreds of Sundays after Pentecost has begun.
We
have jumped back into the middle of the Gospel of Matthew, back to the start of
Jesus’ ministry in Palestine. Jesus realize that this whole “Preaching the
Gospel” thing is bigger than just one person can do, so he calls on the twelve
disciples and gives them their marching orders.
Jesus
given them detailed instructions on what to DO, but not on what to PACK. Or
rather, he is very specific on what NOT to pack. All the disciples going out
were to enter each town exactly the same: no bag, no change of close, no money,
no extra snacks… instead of being the “Fab 5” (as much as I love them), the
disciples were to be the RECIPIENTS of grace, not just providers or suppliers
of it. Life is not a one way street, and a person can and should both give and
receive with our God-given humility. An empty bag reminded the disciples of
that as they traveled.
But
it’s not just “summer season” or just “the season after Pentecost.” We have
also entered into another type of season…its Pride Month… but also a season of
tragedy and lament, especially for the ELCA. On June 17th, 2015, five years
ago, we remember and lament that a white man attended a Bible study at Mother
Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He opened fire and killed
nine people, including their pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney. Reverend Pinckney
had graduated with his masters of divinity from an ELCA seminary with a friend
of mine. And the shooter, Dylan Roof, a self-admitted white supremacist, had
been brought up in an ELCA church.
Two
days after June 17th, on June 19th is a holiday
called Juneteenth. Before President Lincoln signed the emancipation
Proclamation, it was legal for human beings to be enslaved on southern
plantations, generating wealth for free for their white owners. However, in yet
another perversion of justice, the news of their freedom took two and a half
years to reach many of these enslaved human beings. They did not find out until
June 19th, 1865.
Tragically,
every year (both before and since) has brought more violence around this time:
The shooting at the Pulse in Orlando, being just one example. As I went back to
all my sermons for the last five years, ever time I have mentioned Dylann Roof
and the martyred Emmanuel 9, I have always mentioned some other tragic event
that just happened. Why are we like this? Why do we have this legacy we have
inherited, where we say our baptismal vows out of one side of our mouths .....and
raise up and teach Dylann Roofs with the other side?
We
certainly have a long way to go in our own journeys as disciples following
Jesus’s directions. And the way seems overwhelming at times. But once we listen
to Jesus and follow his packing list, I think we may find the way to be a
little easier. We have to do more unpacking than packing. So, we leave behind
our fear, our hate, our apathy, our white privilege, our need to be needed.
When we let go of those things, we’ll find that our hands are empty… and open.
THIS is the type of “open carry” that Jesus approves of and calls us to
duplicate.
WE
CARRY OPEN HANDS, so that we can reach out to our
neighbors in welcome: our black neighbor, our white neighbor, our police
neighbor and our military neighbor, or Jewish and our Muslim neighbor. Our
brothers and our sisters, transgender, straight, gay, rich, poor, citizen, and
immigrant neighbor.
WE
CARRY one another, so that we never have to carry our
burdens alone. And through it all, GOD CARRIES US. Always. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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