July 20, 2024 – Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

“Christ … is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the … hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross … you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God” (Eph 2:14-19, selections).

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear of Jesus being swarmed by throngs of people who went wherever he was. He never had a chance to be alone. People followed him to ask questions or to try to just touch him to be healed. Those of you who are parents may really get a sense of just what this means, especially the part about being asked questions over and over. <wink, wink>

But let’s talk about those people who came to see him. Where did they come from? They may have been locals. AND they may have come from other towns or countries. They may have been the town’s rulers. BUT they were also those from the edges of society – the outcasts and those who had been shunned.

The society of Jesus’ time wasn’t unlike ours. People founded the nation of Israel on brilliant ideas. And together, the people lived out their future with a shared history and what was intended to be a common future. That shared history and common future involved valuing some people more than others. Their shared history and common future involved devaluing those who joined them and hadn’t lived with them. And their society allowed people into the country on the terms that the society set.

Paul tells us that Jesus came to break down that system in which others were worth more. Jesus came to join together the strangers and aliens into one set of citizens with the saints, who are members of the household of God.

I want to wade – just lightly – into what we see happening in America today and point out a few similarities. We see a trend that is trying to merge American and Christian identities – a trend that is suggesting that true Christians hold specific political beliefs. And that true Americans are united as Christians. We don’t hear Jesus say THAT in the readings. We see Jesus tell us that all are members of the household of God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Jesus tells us that we are united in peace with a singular mission – to love one another.

As Americans, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our constitutional democracy. As Christians, our faith teaches us that everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. These are not incompatible ideas, but as Christians, we are bound to Christ by faith. We believe that people of all faiths AND no faith have the right and responsibility to engage constructively in discussion with one another. America’s historic commitment to religious pluralism enables different faiths to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing our theological convictions.

Our shared history – like that of the Israelites – includes terrible events. We’ve shunned people <blacks and colored people>, just like the Israelites. We’ve attacked groups of people <blacks, Japanese, Native Americans and indigenous, LGBTQ>, just like the Israelites. We’ve devalued the contributions and worth of people <women who were the property of men>, just like the Israelites. And we’ve kept newcomers out, just like the Israelites. Today, I think we need to be thankful that we and our ancestors were allowed in. Conflating religious authority with political authority often leads to oppression of others.

We might have been allowed in due to the color of our skin. Or our nationality. Or for many other reasons. But because of others’ beliefs, we and our ancestors WERE allowed to come here. And together, they helped to build this nation that we call our home. Whether we worship at a church, mosque, synagogue, or temple, America has no second-class faiths. All are equal under the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, this makes our lives harder. We must stand up to and speak out against Christians who perpetrate oppression, especially when it inspires acts of violence and intimidation—including vandalism, bomb threats, arson, hate crimes, and attacks on houses of worship—against religious communities at home and abroad. We must speak in one voice condemning these acts as a distortion of the gospel of Jesus and a threat to American democracy. No identity is more or less in God’s image, and no identity has the right to claim superiority; all people are created in God’s image, regardless of religion, race, nationality, gender, sexuality or other form of identity. Together, Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12) show how God created diversity and continues to be encountered in diversity.

The passage from Samuel begs the question: Can God choose to be more fully present in some places than others? It is good to have a special place for the Holy One. But is the erection of a temple or any other sacred space a potential impediment to experiencing God in the everyday and domestic moments of life? In locating God primarily in one place, do we freeze God, creating a dichotomy of sacred and profane? It is imperative in this rapidly changing time in which more and more people declare themselves as “nones” or “spiritual but not religious” that we do not restrict our faith to our sanctuaries, that we do not discount their beliefs and experiences, but create sanctuaries without walls. Wherever we are, God is with us, being revealed, even if SOME places more dynamically speak God’s presence to us than others.

My friends, Jesus’ commandment to us is clear: love one another. Through the disagreement. Through the differences in how we believe and experience God. Through the rhetoric of politics. In fact, IN SPITE OF these things. “Love one another…. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-5).