November 23, 2024 – Last Sunday after Pentecost (Reign of Christ)

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 305

Today’s sermon needs a nod to Bruce Epperly. Today’s scriptures invite us to consider God’s relationship to politics and culture as well as our own personal lives. If we are under Christ’s “reign”, what does that mean in our daily life and everyday decisions? How can we model our personal and corporate lives after Christ’s way of life? Should we ask our representatives to follow Jesus’ way in national and local policy? While we do not want a nationally established religion, we can advocate for policies that embrace diversity, welcome strangers, support the vulnerable, and affirm the care of creation and pathways to peace.

We Episcopalians are generally NOT a conservative Christian sect. The God of conservative Christianity – an authoritarian God – produces authoritarian religion and politics, the politics of exclusion and control. In the wake of the election, many of us are concerned that we will go back to the days of patriarchy, harassment of persons of color, and intimidation of members of the LGBTQ+ community. There are some in power who call for our nation to return to what they believe to be Christian values. They are clear that expanded health care, contraception and abortion care, teaching science in schools, marriage equality, support of transgender people, hospitality to undocumented persons, and diversity go against God’s plan for the United States and must be legally prohibited. In contrast, there are others who affirm a variety of views AND also want the best of faith values, not necessarily just Christian values, to motivate the quest for liberty and justice for all and care for the planet. Is there a way to be true to God’s way while recognizing the limitations of our own viewpoints and still pressing forward to achieve the peace of God that passes all understanding?

Today’s reading from 2nd Samuel records David’s last will and testament. He asserts that God is speaking through him to the people and the words he is channeling involve God’s covenant with the house of David and his descendants. God has made an “everlasting covenant” with David’s descendants, which will never be broken. We may wonder what such a covenant means: Does it involve solidarity with the state of Israel and allowing Israel to wage war in Gaza and Lebanon, and appropriate West Bank land? Does it suggest, as the apostle Paul asserts, that God’s spiritual covenant with the Jewish people is eternal and that God’s salvation belongs to Jews as well as followers of Jesus in terms of the Jewish tradition but not necessarily the State of Israel? The notion of divine anointing can be dangerous.  People have claimed that if God anoints you, then your enemies deserve any retribution they deserve, for simply challenging your authority. Anointing cannot be an invitation to persecution or ostracism.

Psalm 132 continues the theme of God’s covenant with David, and counsels the people to be faithful to God’s promises to David. God has chosen the Temple in Jerusalem as God’s holy place, and it shall not be moved. But it is clear that neither Samuel nor Psalm 132 gives an unrestrained right to persecute. Righteousness is demanded of those who follow in David’s footsteps, for God’s covenant is intended for service not domination.

The Book of Revelation describes Christ as universal, the alpha and omega, the origin and goal of all creation. The cosmic Christ encompasses all humanity and Christ’s sovereignty may lead to regret and grief but ultimately to the salvation of humankind. Christ’s power trumps political powers. Political windbags from all parties will come and go, but God’s realm endures forever.

Interrogated by Pilate, Jesus proclaims that his realm is not of this world. Jesus’ words challenge us to a type of relativity in relationship to culture, economics, and culture, born of the recognition that no cultural system fully reflects or will ever fully reflect God’s peace. We must take history and politics seriously but not as the ultimate answer. Our calling is to promote God’s realm on earth as it is in heaven, and this means being involved in our society. We can seek to transform the world toward God’s peace without claiming ultimacy for our position.

In our rapid-paced interdependent world, we are even more connected with one another – perhaps connected with one another more loosely, but connected with more, nonetheless. There is no place to run or hide from political decisions or our complicity in injustice. It is also clear that the biblical tradition, especially the prophets and covenantal are profoundly political and economic in orientation. What happens in the marketplace matters because our decisions shape the destinies of God’s beloved children. Politics matters because it limits or expands the spiritual opportunities of our most vulnerable companions. Economics matters because it influences the fate of the earth and the spread of the gospel.

Three weeks after the election, our question is not whether to abandon the world, but how to be involved in the world without submitting to incivility, divisiveness, violence, greed, and individualism. Paul asserts, “be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rm 12:2). Our world has much good, but it is also polarizing. It exudes exclusivity, perpetuates racism and sexism, and reinforces a status of being in or out of certain groups. This polarized world prefers opposition to celebrating differences and looks toward extremes rather than the common ground. We must advocate for our vision of the future and our highest social and political ideals without demonizing our opponents. We must take our own position, recognize its limits, and treat it as dependent upon the world WE view, while looking for value in those who oppose us. We must be inspired to treat those who oppose us with the same care that we treat those for whom we advocate. And yet, we cannot passively resist the evils we deplore.

EVERYTHING we view is subject to our self-interest. But we can and MUST work to transform our society to be a better reflection of God’s love for the world and God’s desire that every child in creation has sufficient housing, a healthy diet, quality education, and a safe place to grow. We MUST seek to find in one another that which was created by God, cherish it, and serve all persons as we love one another as we love ourselves.