Do Better

Good morning friends. I read today from the book of Genesis, the first chapter…

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless void, darkness covered the face of the deep,

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

God saw that the light was good…”

I read from the first words of scripture to remind you that everything we encounter is made in the image of God. And that which God creates, God calls “good…” More humorously I read today; because we are going to need to find joy and humor on the surface of things—else we find anger and sadness, not just underneath things, but everywhere. I read Genesis to remind you we have had a new President and administration for less than 7 days. If you were inclined to think that the story of creation must be an allegory, I remind you, per Biblical tradition—creation can happen very quickly.

You may already (remember it’s only been 6 days!) be tired or angry or disappointed with this creation. And God forbid, you may already disappointed or angry with one another so, let me tell you a joke.

In an effort to be good neighbors, to learn about one another and their traditions, a Priest and a Rabbi became friends.

At first they were serious. They spent time talking…and then it struck both of them; life is too beautiful and too short not to enjoy and have fun. So, based on their mutual love of sports they got tickets to a boxing match at Madison Square Garden—floor seats. They were right by the ring when one of the boxers looked up; put his gloves next to each other and made the sign of the cross.

The Rabbi said, “Father, I know we are supposed to be having fun. But I have to know, that thing the boxer did. What does it mean?”

And without missing a beat the Priest said, “nothing if he can’t fight!”

Friends, if our faith can’t fight it’s probably not doing much good.

And here’s the thing; sometimes it can’t fight. It’s too polite, or formal, or educated.

Take for example a thought that I had at the height of Covid and the civil rights movement in 2020.

You remember this time don’t you? Do you remember how volatile everything was?

We put black boxes on social media.

There were rumors that provocateurs put pallets of bricks at the sites of protests.

During this time, I thought of a phrase from a Shakespeare play, King Lear. It’s the last lines of the play. It’s been interpreted as a prayer by the former Chaplain of the high school where George W. Bush; Claudine Gay—the recently resigned president of Harvard University; Mark Zuckerberg; and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang among many others all attended.

The Chaplain says, as Lear, the mad king, stumbles about the stage blind and dying these words are not just guidance, they are sacred,

“the weight of these sad times we must obey; speak what we feel, not what we ought to say…”

Pretty good huh?

In 2020 that gets a little political jab in, with a highbrow Shakespeare reference. Yet, its non-partisan if it’s interpreted as a prayer.

But that’s imaginary.

It’s literature.

It’s not a prayer.

And those words won’t fight.

So it was in real time in June 2020 a religious leader said, “I am the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC. I was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [Lafayette Park in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop,”

The Bishop scolded the President for standing in front of the church— its windows boarded up with plywood — holding up a Bible, upside down…

“Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence, We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.”

Yeah. That’ll give it to ‘em!

I was cheering internally. Until I posted her comments on Facebook. One of my teammates from my high school track team said,

“Who?”

I responded emotionally…and 35 years of friendship evaporated.

This week, 5 years later, the same Bishop is in the news because she begged The President of the United States of America; she pleaded with the President; or maybe she just said to the President, “have mercy.”

I agree with Dave Chappell who said the same thing to the President on Saturday Night Live 3 days earlier. His words, “do better.”

I also agree with every single person who says, “have mercy,” is a cornerstone of Christian identity.

Because “have mercy” is Biblical, and we are both trained as theologians, I might gently remind the Bishop that, “have mercy,” is a central theme of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'“

“Have mercy,” is not the organizing principle of the Gospel of Luke. Luke is about reversals. Mary famously sings about reversals in the first chapter of this story of Jesus,

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.”

This morning’s scripture reading is from Luke. It says Jesus is in the temple. Important people are there. Jesus is asked to speak. He uses no words of his own. He simply unrolled scroll of Isaiah and sat down. Then when people wanted him to say something, he said, “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The Bishop of this Diocese, my Bishop, has asked we Clergy to be faithful in our preaching this morning.

In this spirit, let me go back to the joke about the boxer and finding the words that can fight.

I’ve told you about a little town in Southern Minnesota before. It’s called Minnesota Lake; it’s near Mankato, and New Ulm, and Albert Lea. It’s not far from Sleepy Eye, if your only reference to Southern Minnesota is Little House on the Prairie. There was a widow in Minnesota Lake who had a plaque on her kitchen wall. It said, “Home. Where we each live for the other and all live for God.”

I didn’t know when I saw that plaque throughout my childhood at my father’s aunt’s house that it would become my mantra, my guiding words; it has.

I tell my son over and over; my job is to protect him.

His job is to protect his sister.

One day she’ll protect him.

We are family that’s what we do, we take care of each other.

In time my son is going to learn the history of that idea comes from the words on that plaque. It also comes from his great-great-grandfather who died at age 44. His great-grandfather was his 3 years old when his dad died. He left home at age 13 after finishing 7th grade. He died at age 47. His son was 7 years old. That little boy was my father, his grandfather. He was raised on the Southside of Chicago by a single mom. He was an exceptional kid. He was the first in his family to go to college. He became a minister and raised me...before taking his own life.

As my son’s father I’m going to tell him the truth when he gets older,

“Hurt people hurt people.

Healed people help people.”

“…And people who have never processed their pain go to great lengths not to think about it—usually by overworking, which can bring fame; fortune; or a reputation for sacrifice—but working hard does not bring healing, empathy, or an inclination for mercy; especially for those who aren’t able to work as hard as they have...”

I say this because I wish the Bishop who spoke to the President of The United States of America last week would have remembered who she’s talking to in the front row of the Cathedral—a man who is probably either hurt or has unprocessed pain.

His Vice President, whose political avatar is rightly understood as Bill Clinton; was raised by his grandmother because his mother was an alcoholic and drug addict. That’s almost certainly a person who has trauma wounds.

Begging, pleading, or asking for mercy for others simply isn’t going to work. Not for successful men who haven’t gotten to where they are by receiving or offering mercy.

My guide for understanding mercy is supposed to be Jesus.

The truth is, it’s usually people who follow Jesus who help me better walk the talk of faith. Even still, it may come as a surprise to you that my hero in this moment, and one who helps me understand the passage of Isaiah that Jesus reads in Luke is…Kim Kardashian.

Kim went to the Whitehouse in 2018 with one thing mind; release the prisoner.

Kim Kardashian asked the President of the United Sates of America to free Alice Johnson.

He did.

The President of The United States of America released a woman from jail who was going to spend the rest of her life in prison.

Friends, if we want to be Jesus people we are going to have to be Jesus people not look like Jesus people.

Which means among other things we are going to need to laugh more.

When Jesus unrolls the scroll in the temple it’s got to be an absurd moment.

This is the son of Mary. She’s not known as a demure wall flower. She’s been saying the same thing since she was a teenager, “cast the mighty down from their thrones.”

Now it’s Jesus turn. What’s is he going to say?

He says, “yup.”

The temple is quiet. He stands up. He slowly walks to the front. He asks for the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolls it. He reads it. (Which is a miracle in its own way…Jesus unlike almost everyone else is literate.) Jesus finds a passage, and without introduction or commentary, something everyone was ready for; even if it was as obvious as, “as my mom has been saying for years….” Jesus just reads the passage:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

Then Jesus sits down.

That’s it?

People are asking with their eyes and maybe making hand gestures, do you want to say something?

Yup.

or “today in your hearing this scripture has been fulfilled.”

Wait. What? How?

Friends, some people have been reading Shakespeare. Cool. They went to school with each other. Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton were best friends until 2015. If that’s your crowd then Shakespeare on, say what you feel not what you ought to say.

Others want to be part of the new civil rights movement. Cool. If this is you, please know the civil rights movement was about internal transformation even as it helped to catalyze external change. If you don’t change spiritually, it’s just cosplay. Plenty of people are pretending to be unfairly treated; even as they shamefully mistreat others. This moment, the one Jesus speaks of, “today in your hearing” is going to require us to draw from the wells of the deepest spirituality.

Hurt people hurt people.

Healed people help people.

Most people have unprocessed trauma.

So laugh with Dave Chappell who says, “do better”

“Yup” with Jesus. Who does in fact, not just say, “have mercy;” but asks people to, “go and learn what this means…”

When you learn what mercy means, then go work with Kim Kardashian who helps to set the prisoner free.

We are family that’s what we do, we take care of each other.

Amen.