Sunday, May 21, 2017

Biblical Text:  Galations 2

There is a killer that has been set loose in our world. He takes many prisoners and leaves many of our lives in a million pieces—whenever there is something of a life is to be left. He arrests our hearts and causes them to beat for the wrong reasons. He conspires with our minds and lures us into becoming a self that even our spouses and closest friends can hardly recognize. He is no respecter of persons; he will mess with the young and old. He is no respecter of ethnicity; he will mess with black, white, brown and everything in between. It does not matter is you are rich or poor, sick or well.

There is a killer that has been set loose in our world. He takes many prisoners and wreaks too much havoc in our lives. He kills jobs. He suffocates relationships. He murders marriages, destroy churches and is know to be a debtor to profiteering, abuse, favoritism, and discrimination in its varied forms

There is a killer that has been set loose in the world—no in our neighborhood, no within each and everyone of us and if we are not careful—I mean careful to the point where we guard our life as the precious treasure that Scripture tells us it is—we might find ourselves prey to this killer’s schemes and ploys, plots and plans….

The killer is ego. It is selfishness and pride. It is hubris and excessive ambition.

The killer is thinking too much of one’s self.   It is what the African Bishop St. Augustine in the fourth century called, “the big head” and its circular focus on how some blessing we sow into someone else’s life will eventually turn around line our back pockets.

The killer is ego.

And in today’s scripture reading we find Brother Paul, in this letter to the Church at Galatia, responding to the ego that has driven Peter, James, Bartholomew, and the brothers who represent the church in Jerusalem and all the other missionaries who are spread throughout Galatia—who share the same religious, cultural and ethnic background, them being Jewish—to find their way to Paul’s doorstep to complain about the way he continues to sit at table with those who not Jewish.

The problem of their pride and ego, is not however the problem that is explicitly named in the text. What the text tells us is that they were having decorum problems and issues at a certain table. Earlier in the text we found Jesus addressing his disciples as they struggled with issues at the table—in Galatians we return once again to the issue.

When we begin to think back over the gospels we can count innumerous stories that disciple encounter while at table with Jesus—and none of them are really the table—they speak in someway to need to rein in one’s pride and tamp down one’s ego.

Jesus tells his followers this story in the gospel of Luke—about a man at table needing to address his issues of pride and hubris:

            “When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host…but when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher” then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humble, and all those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The table serves as reference point—it words that Jesus speaks invites us to think less and less about self, to become more and more humble.

In our text Peter, James, Bartholomew and the delegation from Jerusalem, and the missionaries in Galatia—were doing a whole lot of pride-filled thinking about themselves. And this thinking came to life around the concerns they had about who was and who was not gathered around tables where Christ was proclaimed.

The table—the place where all divisions are to be broken;

The table —the place where all boundaries are to fail;

The table —the place where partitions are to destroyed;

The table —the place where walls are to leveled;

The table —the place where splits are to be healed;

The table —the place where divisions are to be united.

It was at the table—where there was suppose to love and peace and agreement, that Peter, James and Bartholomew and delegation where systematically separating believers from another. The lines of division that they had erected were based on the length of time that they had been part of God’s plan—the length of time that they were grafted into the story of God—whether or not they were considered legally to be Jewish or not.

They said, “If you are Jewish—you can not eat there with them.”

They said, “If your mother kept Kosher— you can not eat there with them.”

They said, “If you were circumcised on the 8^th day— you can not eat there with them.”

They said, “If you keep the Torah Law— you can not eat there with them.”

Everybody else, must eat over there.

Everybody else, must fellowship over there.

Everybody else, must worship over there.

Everybody else, must study over there.

They super religous had concerned themselves, with themselves.

They had no regard for the feelings of those they pushed to margins of their gathering—the Gentiles.   They were so concerned with keeping the law all in the name of keeping the law they they were actually hurting the body of Christ. They were so concerned more about themselves than they were about others.

There is a killer at loose…and if we are not careful that killer will wreak havoc in our live, suffocate relationships, murder ministries—and choke the church until it is a debtor to profiteering, abuse, favoritism, and discrimination in its varied forms. It tried to kill the church long ago—and it still trying to kill the church today.

Killer Ego rode in on the wind in Galatia, and found itself standing at Paul’s door—occupying the bodies of Peter, the delegation from Jerusalem and several of the other missionaries in Galatia….

Killer Ego got close to Paul and said,

“Now, Paul—you are like us. You are chosen! You have the right kind blood pumping through your veins. You have the right kind of heart beating in your chest. You have the right skin, the right intellect, the right strength and the right spirit.”

“Now, Paul—you are like us. You need to stop having table fellowship with them…”

Now, Paul—you are like us. You need to stop sitting down with those Gentiles…”

Now, Paul—you are like us. They are not…they are different than us…

Paul, you know they are not like us—we have to protect what we have…

Paul, you know they are not like us—we have to guard against infection…

Paul, you know they are not like us—we speak the lingua franca…

Paul, you know they are not like us—we went to the synagogues and schools

Paul—They are different than us:

                                    So stop befriending them: They are foreigners among us

                                    So stop supporting them: They are strangers among us

                                    So stop looking after them: They are newcomers among us.

                                    So stop caring about them: They are immigrants among us

                                    So stop loving them them: They are refugees among us.=

And by all means, stop sitting down and eating with them because it is making US look bad.

But Paul had this encounter with Jesus. This encounter that radically changed his life…it helped him to place others before himself–to learn the power of setting aside self.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Biblical Text: Luke 7:11-17

The funeral had already been underway. The community had gathered to pay there respects, and hear the a word from the religious leader about having hope even as warm tears stream down the faces of a people made sad by the weight of their grief.

They had said goodbye to the young son.

A young man

• somewhere between the ages of 24-40;
• who no doubt had his whole life before him;
• unmarried and without children;
• who carried the responsibilities of the household when daddy left;

And here they were, headed to the gravesite—

• the place where they would lay the young man,
• the place where they would come to remember his life,
• the place where cry countless,
• the place where he would be at rest until the Messiah came in power & glory,

From New York City, to Ferguson to Chicago to Phoenix to El Cajon…we know all too well this story of young men being taken away from families. We know all too well this story of young men, with lives full and robust before being wiped away—and leaving a community of grieving black women—a gathering of women who Sabrina Martin as simply called “A CIRCLE OF MOTHERS” to carry on their lives with the void. With her son’s dead body being carried out of the city to the graveyard, the widowed woman was being welcomed not only the “Circle of Mothers” even while she already in the “Circle of Wives.”

With the help of good biblical scholars, we know with the death of her husband left her in difficult position. In societies that are rooted and anchored in patriarchy, that is when men have power over women and often construct positions and policies to keep women from being able to be independent, there would have been little to nothing left for women like the widow we find here in the text. If her husband was blessed enough to have acquired some form of wealth, it would not have been passed on her, but it would have been passed on her first born son—and if there were no son, the family wealth and estate would have been returned to the husband’s family of origin. What good biblical scholars help us to identify here in the text is that the tears that the woman’s shed are indeed wrapped in the frustrating pain, sorrow and weight of grief—they too are comingled with hopelessness for the future. What would she do?   Where would she go? How would she survive? Who would extend a kind hand of compassion and welcome her in…

—-

Can I be real for a moment?

And can I really talk about what happens before our public displays of grief?

 

The greater majority of families have difficult with grief.

They fight

They hang up on each other.

They curse one another out

They turn their backs on one another

They forget that they are family.

 

And Lord, if there is something left….

They fight over nickels and dimes.

They fight over diamonds and pearls.

They fight over scarves and dresses

They fight over sports jerseys and bow-ties

And Jesus hold the mule if there is a car or a house……

 

And I ask the family—-tell me, Brother Brian’s favorite scripture…

And I ask the family—-tell me, Sister Cynthia’s favorite hymn….

All of this is stirring inside the widow and childless woman, who is bent over and weeping bitterly by the life that has been strung together before her…

 

And yet my sister and brothers there is another crowd that is moving: A crowd that is filled with joy and anticipation; a crowd that has been following Jesus on what might amount to a day-long journey where he has been teaching and healing folks of all manner of dis-ease. This crowd is rugged group of Jesus groupies—who have very little in common other than the fact that they believe in Jesus. They are a mixed bag racially ethnically and cultural—yet they are altogether on accord believing in Jesus for their future and relying on God clothed in humanity who stands before them today….

 

Following Jesus from this healing of this centurion’s servant.

Following Jesus from his message on the plain

Following Jesus from his message about not judging others

Following Jesus from his message about not condemning others.

Following Jesus from his teaching about loving enemies.

Following Jesus as he taught about true discipleship

Taking the plank of our own eye, before removing speak in somebody else.

 

This rag-tag group has been following Jesus and excitedly they reach the city gate where they encounter this group who had been made sad by their sorrow.

Jesus could have ignored the women.

Jesus could have even her empty platitude.

Jesus could have simply quote scripture and kept his joy-filled crowd moving.

 

“Death represents the limit of human autonomy and control over life and poses for everyone a reminder of the frailty and brevity of life.”[1]

In the face of this family’s grieve Jesus could’ve stepped aside and kept silence.

But, as R. Allen Culpepper suggest, if our “religious has nothing to say to this grieving widow” it has nothing to say at all!

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, this widows sorrow…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, her reluctance about the future…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, her fears…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, her hesitancy…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, the needs of homeless…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, the needs of refugees…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, the needs of the immigrant…

If our faith cannot meet with compassion, the needs of orphans….

If our “religious has nothing to say to this grieving widow”[2]

it has nothing to say at all

 

….but thank God our faith speaks to this woman:  “Do not grieve”

Thank God our faith speaks to things are dead, and give life in place of death

 

Rise, and take breath in your body

Rise, and hold your mother

Rise, and witness to the power of God.

Rise, and give testimony of what God is able to do.

Rise, and tell somebody about God’s unfailing—love

Rise!

[1] R. Allen Culpepper, New Interpreters Bible Commentary, 158.

[2] Ibid., 159.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Biblical Text: Luke 3:21-22

 

Story:  Hiddenness of the baptismal pool growing up

Underneath the pulpit

 

Story:  Positioning of the baptism font in worship this morning

St Paul’s Episcopal Church,

Amistad Chapel UCC

The Riverside Church…

From the child just born to the decrepit old man, so none is to be prohibited from Baptism, so none is there who does not die to sin in Baptism

• St. Augustine, the 4^th Century African Bishop
• At whatever time we are baptized, we are at once for all washing and purged for our whole life, John Calvin, Institutes, 1536

Baptism is always a community-wide event—the gracious gift that is given in baptism is not something that is to be privitaized, but is to be made public—communal, for all to see and find themselves reminded.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ is not be seen, or understood as something that is private, or to be kept under a bushel—no faith in Jesus, commitment to Christ is the daring to be a church that dares to dream—a people who live out God’s limitless embrace!

——

For many decades our folks have gathered in churches across this country and have sang of their faith as a ship passing through the waters. And it is has been with each round that a call for the community, those who have stand upon the shores of great faith in Jesus—and those who have wandered away from the ship—to join those who are aboard the ship on a heaven-bound journey to freedom and liberation.

Yet in order to join the community there is a commitment that must be made, which requires simply a repentant heart—aware of God’s love, aware of the Spirit’s presence, and water—-in some religious traditions lots and lots of water, in other religions traditions just little—but water nonetheless.   And while our folks sang this spiritual about this ship, full of the faithful, passing through the waters of life—issuing a with each verse a call for those standing upon the shoreline to get on board—I am led this morning to question—the lack of danger in the water.

James Cone, the father of Black Liberation Theology, in his book The Spirituals and Blues, suggests that in order to understand the Spirituals (and blues for that matter), that reader/singer must become in touch with the realities of powerlessness, fear, and oppression that our black sisters and brothers experienced as they sang these songs.

•             The lash of the whip
•             The systematic separation of families
•             The abuse of women
•             The degredation of an entire race.

Cone says that in order to understand the Spirituals, that we first must understand the world in which they were given life. And what we know about this early American world is that was great danger in the land. They lived each day in dangerous fear…but belonging to God who is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient—sovereign in heaven and on earth—presented dangers of its own;

… having access to a power greater than any man far—presented dangers of its own.

And those who enslaved our sisters and brothers understood the ultimate danger to their systems profit….

• So they tried to keep us bound,
• So they tried to keep us from seeing
• So they tried to keep us from reading,
• So they tried to keep us from hearing

We cannot understand “Aint no danger in the water,” without first understanding the daily risks of danger, threats and fear which were cast over our sisters and brothers. Therefore the risks of living life as Christian

• to believe in God, yet endure the lash;
• to believe God to be a Mother, yet never experience your own Mother’s love
• to believe God to be a provider, yet endure the stinging pains of hunger….

The danger of living life as Christians…far outweighed the dangers face in daily living…..

————————-

Aint no danger in the water? No, no my Sisters and Brothers there was/is great risk in the water—but the risk is not to kingdom of God but danger to the forces which seek to destroy and undermine the Kingdom of God and devour all of the good that lies within each of us.

What I’ve come to understand is that water, no matter how much, or how little is, in fact, risky. Water, holds within its grasp the ability to both give and take life. Water, no matter how much or how little is risky ridden and dangerous. And what I have come to understand about the waters of baptism, and the power of the Spirit the broods over them, is that water is designed to make us dangerously different. Isn’t it?

• Dangerous to the strongholds and powers of injustice
• Dangerous to those who seek to unravel peace
• Dangerous to those rather live in division not unity
• Dangerous to those who benefit from racism,
• Dangerous to those who benefit from sexism,
• Dangerous to those who benefit from classism,
• Dangerous to those who benefit from inequalities
• Dangerous to those who reap rewards on the backs of sexual minorities and the disabled

This Sunday we are introduced to John the Baptist. An interesting character to say the very least; living in the wilderness, eating locus (a ritually clean food as noted in Leviticus 11:22, but that only the poor would consume), and wild honey; dressed in camels hair with a leather belt about his waist. Here we find John the Baptist, in the wilderness, with disciples that have come to him requesting that the community acknowledge—through a baptism of much water, that a change has come over hearts and minds. Enter Jesus, coming to the site where John the Baptist has been at work baptizing in the Jordan River.

 

It must have been terribly awkward exchange between Jesus and John the Baptist, for in that moments John is able to recognize exactly who Jesus is—the Son of God and the Suffering Servant—one in whom he should be receiving baptism from not baptizing. Yet Jesus, obedient to his call walks into the Jordan River, as the gathering of disciples look on. Jesus is dipped in the river, and as he comes up from the water the heavens open up and the Spirit descends upon him like a dove—and voice of Lord announces Christ’s identity that is may be made clear to all gathered who he is….

 

Those rushing rivers of Jordan, were indeed risky waters that John and his people entered into. And not only were the waters risky, but the change that wrought as they made their declarations of faith in fact made them people who had a be bound a promise, a commitment, a covenant to be radically different in the world. They were considered radicals, outcasts of sorts—people who where doing something that went against the grain of society.

 

Instead of living life a Monday, Wednesday, Friday coat, and Tuesday, Thursday weekend coat—they gave the “extra” coat to someone in need. And the same was to said of the food on their tables—they were share with someone in needed.

 

Those collecting taxes for the state and government, were not take more in taxes than was required by the government and state.

 

Those employed by the state for military purposes, don’t use your power and position to demand money from people, and accuse people of crimes that they didn’t commitment…be happy with what you have.

 

Why did baptism make them dangerous?

Because it meant that they were different, changed, set apart

Why did baptism draw them into risk?

Because it meant that they were a called out community—with a purpose to believe in and share the Good News of power that God could bring…

Why did it make them dangerous?

Because they possessed a power that was greater than them.

Because they were able to clearly discern right wrong.

Because the Spirit of the Lord, which hovered upon the waters in creation—rested upon them.

 

Remember your baptism! Remember your baptism! Remember your baptism.

Remember the change came over you.

Remember the new thing that was birthed in you at the fount.

Remember the new gift given to you, not for your own but for the community of God—gifts to empower not to bring down?

 

Remember your baptism! Remember your baptism! Remember your baptism!

Remember what motivated you to make the public profession, Christ is Lord!

Remember the waters…Remember the cooling waters of faith….

 

Remember you baptism! Remember your baptism! Remember you baptism!

Tell your children their stories that begin their faith….

Show them pictures…

Relive the details…

Sing the songs….

Read again the litanies…

Recite again the prayers…

Help them to remember their baptism.

 

And in so remembering, know that we are not holders of a passive faith—

No our faith is active, and alive

It is moving, and empowering

And as Detrick Bonheoffer notes, it costs us something…

sometimes our pride,

sometimes our need for control,

sometimes our desire for isolation,

sometimes our very life….and at all our PRAISE!

 

It was being immersed in this dangerous, lift-giving faith that empowered

• It was a baptized believer by the name of Rosa Parks, in 1955, to refused to move her seat—setting ablaze righteous storms of just anger throughout this country.

 

It was being immersed in this dangerous, lift-giving faith that empowered

• It was a baptized believer by the name of Martin King, in 1963, to respond to white southern clergy and the entire world, saying “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

 

It was being immersed in this dangerous, lift-giving faith that empowered

• It was a baptized believer by the name of Nelson Mandela to spent 27 years, fighting against the demonic forces of apartheid, stirring South Africans and the world to realized freedom and liberation.

 

It was being immersed in this dangerous, lift-giving faith that lead this baptized Palestinian Jew, by the name of Jesus, to those risky waters where he heard the call of God on his life

to endure the suffering and shame cast upon for us,

to be led from judgment hall to judgment hall for us,

to be kicked and spat upon,

to be named nailed upon the tree….

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Biblical Text: Hebrews 10:23-25; 32-36

Again, this Sunday in your mind’s eye I want you to envision a strong bird, whose body is moving in one direction and whose head is turned backward. The bird’s head is turned backwards, because it is gazing at the ground it has already covered. This powerful, majestic bird is moving forward, but looking back gathering the seeds of wisdom in its mouth. These seeds will give hope and direction for its future. This powerful bird is the Sankofa. And today, as we celebrate 130 years of ministry, we are being called by the Holy Spirit to cultivate anew a Sankofa Spirit.

This means we will remember our past, celebrate our present, and envision a future that is beyond our wildest imaginations. The teaching of the Sankofa is simply that we cannot move forward into the future, without first going back to our past—understanding it, and embodying all of the joy and struggles of the past as seeds of wisdom for the future.

Today our task to look back on our more than a century of ministry and discover within it the shared story of wisdom that is needed for our future.

Now that we have come this far by faith, the central question is What is God’s VISION for our church for the future? What are the CORE VALUES that will guide our ministry? What MISSION is God calling us to extend in the world?

In other words, what will our future be?

Will we join with the United Church of Christ in becoming a congregation that welcomes the rich diversity that we see in our community—diversity in gender, age, ethnicity, education social class, sexual orientation, and ability?

 

What will our future be?

Will we join with the United Church of Christ in becoming a congregation that lives a progressive theology—where ‘God is still speaking’ and we, as the called out community of God are attentively listening for the voice of God?

 

What will our future be?

Will we join with the United Church of Christ in becoming a congregation that dares to be the called out people of God, embodying prophetic justice, seeking peace, and caring for the earth?

Move IA – The Congregation in Hebrews has a history of Ups and Downs

 

To help us wrestle with what kind of future church we shall be, and how our Sankofa Spirit can help us do that, today, we shall use the biblical text drawn from the book of Hebrews. This text concerns a church that is facing a congregational crisis—a defining moment in its history. They are a people who have been united in the faith, they are baptized believers having everything in common with one another; they are a family of faith that has been united for many years. Their history is strong—and their name in the community is known because of their strong and robust legacy:

…when they gathered for worship

—the community knew they were giving God thanks and praise;

…when they gathered for fellowship

—they provoked (meaning they stirred) one another toward love and good deeds;

…when they gathered to do community work,

—they did works of justice & equality.

They cared for the marginalized.

They opened their hearts to prisoners.

They put their necks on the line and we glad to do it.

 

But, as we look in on them today, they are a community in traumatic crisis—they are a congregation that is stumbling and faltering. Some of the members are on the verge of dropping out of the faith race. They want to throw up their hands and holla. As a Mexican boxer did one day, they want to throw in the towel of life and holler—No Mas—I give up.

Anyone here ever felt like giving up? You have served the best you know how and everything around you seems to just keep falling apart. Anybody here ever felt like giving up? You are a church leader and folk say we’re with you and then don’t show up. The kids will not listen to wisdom, and your spouse does not appreciate your labor. You are doing okay but your relatives are in chaos. The neighborhood is going down and City Hall is not listening. You had made progress, then along comes the devil again, trying to trump God. The doctor comes with bad news and you get a pink slip. The world is in turmoil, and leaders are pouring gasoline on the fire. Anybody here ever felt like giving up?

 

Just then, the preacher says, recover your strength, by remembering what you have been through, endure, and remember what has been promised to you.

A people who have become lax in their attendance of worship,

A people who have become lax in offering their gifts of sacrifice,

A people who are drifting upon the seas of uncertainty, are called to the sacred art of remembering!

They are called to remember the Lord their God.

They are called to remember the promises, miracles and healings:

The promise made to Abraham

The parting of the Red Sea

The water that flowed from a rock in the desert

The surprising gift of life in the womb of Sarah and Hannah

The queen who saved her people

The young ruddy shepherd who wrote the psalms

The promise of a King—who would be their Emmanuel

 

And on this our Church Anniversary, I want us to know that we are called to remember too.

We are called to remember a Savior who set captives free.

We are called to remember the blood stained cross of Calvary.

We are called to remember the gift of salvation that has come to us:

 

We have been bought with a price.

So enter into his gates with thanksgiving…even in times like these.

Bought with a price.

So enter into his courts with praise….even in times like these.

Bought with a price.

So hold fast to the faith that makes us one people…even when others do not.

Bought with a price.

So love other with the love of Christ…even when others do not.

Bought with a price.

So be the hands and feet of Christ…even when others will not!

 

As we remember what Christ has done for us, we can show our love for Christ by doing what it ways in verse 24. When we explore this verse in Greek—we discover the word PAROXYSMOS being used. That word has been translated to mean stir up, or spur each other on. However, that word is actually much stronger than a mere stirring or spurring of one another—that word is actually better translated as to PESTER or DISTRUB one another.

PAROXYSMOS – to PESTER.

PAROXYSMOS – to DISTURB.

PAROXYSMOS – to PROVOKE.

PAROXYSMOS – to AGITATE.

 

The Biblical writer has offered us today, on our 130^th anniversary, our vision for the future, using our Sankofa spirit. What is it? To stir up one another to love and good works.

 

We have to stir up one another, INSIDE THE CHURCH, to love one another and do good works. You have to pester some Church folk to love and do the work of the church. You have to disturb some Church folk to get them out of the Lazy Boy recliners and back on the battlefield. You have to pester some folk to stop complaining and start doing good works.

 

We have to stir up one another, INSIDE THE CHURCH, to love one another and do good works. Why? Because we have to get ourselves together to face the world.

 

There are some folk out there who hate us. So, we have to be stirred up to love!

 

There are so folk out there who are not interested in justice or mercy.

These are folks who have to be pestered to do the right thing!

 

It’s hard to get some folk to see that all lives matter—black lives, Muslim lives, women’s lives too.

These are folks who have to be disturbed and we have to pester them to do the right thing!

 

The text is not just saying that we must be stirred up to love one another, but we have to be stirred up to do good works.

 

The church is thereby:

To disturb those who are mistreating the vulnerable.

To pester those who are determined to harm the least of these.

To agitate those who are evil toward righteous living.

To help the church being discussed here get its act together, in the thirty-second verse of the text we find the writer recalling the former days of faithfulness by this congregation. But the writer is careful not to paint the past with rose-colored glasses. No, the writer is clear that there were good days, when the congregation rose to its best self, and there were days when the congregation suffered. Verse thirty-two says, “…you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated…”

 

Christian Fellowship, I know that we have had some painful seasons…

 

…when the church first burned to blacken ash in the early 1900’s.

…when the Church Mother and Rev. Shavers closed the doors of the church in Logan Heights for the last time, and a highway was laid where our church once sat.

…when the church was homeless and didn’t know where it would gather to worship.

…when the church was set ablaze in the middle of the Advent season; and the congregation was left to sift through ashes at Christmas.

…when the church was homeless for the second time.

…when a young pastor split and divided the church one Sunday morning.

…when in the midst of “Reaching for Heaven” and doing a financial campaign, a thriving congregation experienced the loss of its pastoral leadership.

Our feelings of despair and hopelessness have been real…

Mirsoslav Volf writes in his book, The End Of Memory, That as Christians we must continue to develop a framework for remembering.

It matters not if our memories are of joy or sorrow, when we bring these memories to mind, “we are also recalling God’s promise as the reality of own future…

In other words, when we remember where we’ve been, no matter how high the mountains, and how low the valleys, we remember, who brought us through.

 

It matters for this church and for us to have a SANKOFA SPIRIT, a framework by which we are able to look back over life—and realize that God was/ is working for our good. It matter to have a SANOKFA SPIRIT the power of God that is at work within you—reminding you that something better is on the way because of your service.

 

We remember the pain of the past, not simply to dwell upon our darkest day with angst and dismay, but we look upon those days with a SANKOFA SPIRIT—to instruct and teach us that our best days are yet to come!

 

We recall the pain of the MAAFA:

 

Bring stolen from our Motherland and sold on auction blocks is dark memory;

But with our Sankofa Spirit:

We look back, gather wisdom, and move forward with God!

 

Having our language taken, our history hidden, and being made 35ths of a person, is a painful memory.

But with our Sankofa Spirit:

We look back, gather wisdom, and move forward with God!

 

This church has known some pain and our people have known some pain. We do not have to look back too far.

 

We recall the pain of this year’s election cycle:

 

Our Voting Rights protections were further eroded

 

We heard racist dog whistles being blown through the campaign.

 

We were told our lives didn’t matter and that movements by our millennials did not matter.

 

We were told that we were monolithic and lived in inner city hell holes

 

We watched as our country was cast in the blazing red dye of the confederacy

 

But with a Sankofa Spirit: We look back, gather wisdom, and move forward with God!

 

Look back and remember that we have been here before. We as a people made the arduous journey during reconstruction; when black folks were seated in political positions of power and authority….

 

Then had those advances yanked away as tightly as the ropes that held our ancestors swinging in popular trees….

 

Then arose more freedom fighters lead in the fight for the right to vote and freedom for blacks in the south; marching in Selma and witnessing the signing of protective legislation….

 

We’ve been here before. We’ve been here before. We’ve seen back lash and the white lash.

 

So we cannot allow this trumped up so-called presidency to hold us hostage. We cannot spend the next four years gripped by lament, sorrow and fear. We must, in the words of architect Vertner Woodson Tandy, “Fight till hell freezes over, and then fight on the ice” if we want to fashion the kind of world that embodies:

The Love of God

And transformational justice that sets captives free.

 

We must know the truth of the story—the fantasy must be removed; the rose colored glasses must be taken off—and the complexities of humanity must be contextualized and excavated for deep meaning.

 

And, our memories of the past even the our most recent past, must be sifted for living-wisdom for the living of these days—the kind of wisdom that will usher in new hope and new possibilities.

 

In her book, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, Emilie Townes, now dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville offers insight by noting that the “sites of memory [S-I-T-E-S] are the places where memory crystallized and secrets itself…archives, museums, cathedrals, palaces, cemeteries and memorials…they exist to help us recall a past which helps us live in our contemporary world in meaningful ways…they exist to help us recall the past in ways that help us live in the contemporary world in meaningful ways”; ways that might even morph into a religious, political and social revolution rooted the Good News that Jesus preached when walked in to the synagogue and said “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to preach good news to poor, God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the (political) blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 

This year we placed a stone along the political path of this country, the same way that our Hebrew Bible text tells us that Samuel placed in the stone the path—and called it Ebenezer—hitherto have the Lord helped us. But this year we also chiseled into the stone the image of the SANKOFA and vow to remember our history and what happens if we do not stand against xenophobia, islamaphobia, misogyny, racism, sexism, genderism and every other ism that seeks to separate, divide and wall off the community of God.

 

When we look back, we can see 129 stones each marking another year’s journey. But this year, we chisel into the stone, the image of the SANKOFA, the beautifully strong bird—because while we are moving forward, we too are looking back, carrying the seeds of wisdom from the past that will open us into a powerful future with God.

 

These seeds of wisdom will bloom in to a community of faith that can sing, I Ain’t go let nobody turn me around.

 

These seeds will bloom into a community of faith that is able to pray with their feet: I shall not be, I shall not be moved…. I shall not be, I shall not be moved. Just like a tree, planted by the water, I shall not be moved.

 

These seeds will bloom into the ekklesia (the called out community of God), in the heart of San Diego’s African-American community. These seeds will birth a church that says, our doors are open, come, come—for your diversity make us a richer more dynamic community

—bring your ethnicity and race

—bring your age and gender,

—bring your diversity in class and education,

—bring your sexual orientation,

—bring your diverse family background,

—bring your physical ability and your disability!

 

There is room for you, there is room for all—

in this blooming called out community of God.

 

These seeds will bloom into a political revolution in San Diego in which we participate to tell the White House and the world, we are not going back because America’s greatest days are not behind us, but before us. We will not be held back, we will not be held down, and we are not afraid!

 

In the spirit of Sankofa, I say, happy anniversary. We’ve been up and we’ve been down, but after more than 130 years, we are still here.

 

In the spirit of Sankofa, I say happy anniversary. We are the people God is calling for at such a time as this. We can show California and the world, how you stand the storms—and discover a new strength within them.

In the spirit of Sankofa, I say happy anniversary. And I thank God for the opportunity to pastor people, led by the Spirit of God, who have gained wisdom from their past and plan to use it, and with every fiber of their being, to make the Kingdom come on earth and it is in heaven. Because we know that through such work, we will reap the rewards. And, we will receive our greatest reward on the Lord’s Day.

 

Amen.