Defensive Weapons

Defensive Weapons

Defensive Weapons
a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey

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Audio from worship at the 11 AM Worship Service September 18, 2022
via Zoom at Valley Presbyterian Church, Bishop,CA

edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine.

 Luke 21:5-19

 

Sermons also available free on iTunes

Take a look at that cover of the bulletin. And I can see you on Zoom, whether you do it or not. There’s a beautiful temple with some beautiful stones. The key thing is, that does not exist. That was not even in the mind of a human. That was made by a computer. I told a computer to paint me a beautiful temple. And that’s what it did.

So this is an imaginary temple that’s beautiful that’s on the front of our cover, that never existed. What is our beautiful temple? What one would we point out to Jesus, or Jesus would see us honoring and say, look at the beautiful things, by the special gifts dedicated to God. What is your beautiful temple? We have the computers one. What would yours be? Would it be your home? Could it be your home? Do you have a wonderful home, perhaps passed down through the family? Would it be family and grandchildren? Would it be your marriage? Would it be those that you love, some that are here and some that have gone on? What would be your beautiful temple, your place of honor and respect and safety and admiration? Would it be your country? It could be your country. For some it’s the alma mater, at least the football team of the college they went to.

Or maybe it’s a church. Could it be a church? Some people live for the church. Does it help you to realize that when Luke is writing this, finishing up writing it, and when the people are reading it for the very first time, fresh off the parchment, does it help you to realize that at that time the temple was already destroyed? When people first read Luke, the temple was already destroyed. Stones were already disaster, and it’s already a ruin. So for them, for the first readers, and actually for Luke as he writes it, this is not – they would not experience this as a prediction of things to come, but rather as an explanation of things that just happened of the recent past.

What beautiful things have you lost? What do we idealize in the past that we wish were there, that we thought was there, that we thought was eternal and withstand the test of time, and we could put our hopes and our faith and our safety in, but is now gone? Like it would be for the people first hearing this scripture? If we can figure out what that is, we can figure out how the original hearers, the first readers, the intended audience would take this. That’s one part of it.

The next part of it talks about all the attacks on Christians. Or it doesn’t talk about attacks on Christians. It talks about how terrible things would come, and folks that have just experienced the destruction of the temple would certainly recognize this and certainly identify with it. But I want you to think about the phrasing that’s used. And maybe it’s not true to the test. But it certainly spoke to me very profoundly because it talks about attacks on people because of Christ’s name.

Now, what if it wasn’t the attacks on people bearing Christ’s name, and they got attacked because of it? What if we read it another way? What if we thought that people were using Christ’s name to attack others? What if because of Christ’s name, there was attacks taking place? That is easily read in the way, if you look through the scriptures, it says there’s attacks because of Christ’s name.

Well, who’s attacking whom? Is it the Christ name people attacking those without Christ’s name? Or is it others attacking those that had Christ’s name? We always assume the latter, that we’re the persecuted and the martyrs, the ones under attack. And people love to flock to this when a store says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and their beautiful temple is threatened with destruction. But what if it wasn’t that? What if the attacks were because of Christ’s name? Here’s a little clip. If technology likes us, we will be showing a little clip from the 2003 film called “Saved.” I hope it works well. Let’s see what we can do here.

The gospel is not a weapon. Or this is not a weapon. I wish they would have said the Bible’s not a weapon, or the gospel. That’s from “Saved” in 2003. It seems kind of prophetic to me for today. I mean, who is suffering from the Christians? Who’s being attacked by the Christians? I think I can find more examples of that than I can find examples of the horrible awful trauma imposed upon us by seeing “Happy Holidays” at some places.

Is it the immigrants? Do immigrants because of the CHINOs – I call them CHINOs, you know, Christians In Name Only. The immigrants got bussed up to Martha’s Vineyard, political pawns, with lies, and were registered in homeless shelters throughout the nation. And they had appointments in Texas and Washington D.C. and Georgia for Monday morning and were shipped up to Martha’s Vineyard for Saturday. By Christians. You know, immigrants, like Jesus. Is it white people or brown people? Brown people like Jesus. Is it people that have nice homes or the homeless that are swept off the streets like, you know, homeless, like Jesus, didn’t have a place to be born? Is it Christians that get attacked, or non-Americans? You know, like Jesus. Pretty scary. But scary for different ways.

I mean, I’m a martyr. That’s my spiritual gift. You know martyrdom is a spiritual gift? I think it’s a one-time use thing. I don’t know. But I, you know, I’ll suffer. And I kind of know about that and kind of being a pastor and a church leader and, you know, I kind of understand a little bit about suffering for your faith and heard about stories and inspirations and all that, and I understand that. But suffering because of your faith and then having other people use the faith so other people suffer. I don’t want to face that. I don’t like that. That’s worse to me than the other option, that folks are being attacked because of Christians.

I’m going to try to share the screen now. Put your – how’s that? Do you see a quote up there? Yeah.

This is Jamie Raskin. He’s Jewish and identifies as a Humanist, as well. This is from 2006. “Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.” That should give us pause as Christians.

You know, Jamie’s a Jew, and according to Jews or according to their tradition, they’re religious in the following of their faith. They are required, they are required by their religion to prioritize the life of the mother over the life of the fetus, of the unborn child, of the developing embryo, whatever names you choose. They are required that when the choice comes down to it, that they must prioritize the health and life of the mother. That’s against the law. They can go to jail now for practicing their religion. From Christians.

I mean, for 50 years it was fine. I mean, we had a – I read Roe v. Wade back when it was passed in the ‘80s, studied it, came to terms with it as a way the nation can go forward, accommodating all religions and not just imposing one understanding, a very narrow understanding, a biblical understanding of life on everybody else because freedom of religion is not the freedom of other people to practice my religion. That’s not freedom of religion.

When folks got so upset about this issue or that, and the Christians came after me and talked to me about, oh, my gosh, it’s against God’s will, that gay marriage, for example. And I’d tell them, you know, it’s okay if you do not participate in gay marriage. You can still keep your own marriage. You know you’re allowed to do that. But somehow freedom of religion has changed to freedom for other people to practice my religion. And that’s not good. And people are attacked because of Jesus’s name. But it’s not the Jesus’s name people. It’s the people with Jesus’s name that are attacking.

Did you know that insurance companies now are allowed, according to a recent court case, not to cover preventative medicine for HIV because the company does not approve of homosexuality? And said, well, that helps the homosexuals not die from doing things I don’t believe in, so I don’t want to pay for the not dying medicine. I want to let them die because they don’t believe the way I do. That is very troubling to me as a minister, and I’m going to trouble you with it because I’m troubled. I see that as an attack in Jesus’s name, on folks that are vulnerable. And I don’t like it, and I’m going to preach against it.

But I don’t want to leave you with that. I try not to be all terrible awful, even though I’m three hours away, if you got in the bar, really mad, got in the car, start down, it’d be three hours before you got here. But there are other good things in this scripture that you might have missed, as well. But let me point them out. There’s hope in this scripture, and endurance in this scripture, and even advice in this scripture. It’s so good that the disturbing parts kind of uncover it.

One of the advices there that is really good to me – remember I say my spiritual gift is martyrdom, and I always go looking for opportunities to practice my spiritual gift, which means I’m always on the defensive, always looking for someone attacking me, so I can be a martyr, so I can be defensive. And I’m not going to get into it. I pay someone to listen to me twice a month so you don’t have to listen. But what it talks about there is it talks about defense. Do not prepare a defense in advance.

Oh, my gosh, is that a hard one for me. I’m always preparing a defense in advance. I’m ready for all your objections to the sermon. Sometime last week I was ready in my head because I prepare a defense in advance. And God said don’t do that. Don’t prepare a defense in advance. Wow. Instead, it says I will give you words and wisdom. And it’s important those are both because wisdom, we think of wisdom as pithy sayings. We think of wisdom as little bon mots, little tiny little things to say that, oh, my gosh, I need to put that up on a poster and put it as my desktop background or something.

But that’s not wisdom in the Bible. Wisdom in the Bible is so much more than words. Wisdom is a way of being in the world. Wisdom is a way of being open to others, to God, and of course to the possibility that I might actually be wrong. Wisdom is listening to others. Wisdom is taking advice. Wisdom is listening to God, to the situation, and finding a way through it all, that mess. Wisdom is openness. Defense, on the other hand, if you’re being defensive, you’re going to shut down, shut out, build the gates around, build up the walls, reinforce your own beliefs, take away all the other advice, put down anybody else because you’re defending. And God said don’t do that.

Consider that defense is the opposite of wisdom. If you’re preparing your defense, you’re going away from wisdom. If you don’t allow other people in, if you do not see other folks living their lives, if you do not allow other people their pronouns, even though you don’t understand it, what’s the big deal? If you go in defensive about that, go, well, I’m not doing that, you’re going away from wisdom. Wisdom is openness. Wisdom is learning. Wisdom is listening to God. And wisdom is paying attention to others. Wisdom is paying attention to what God is doing in the world. Wisdom is listening to other people’s stories and their faith and their understanding. That’s wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. It’s a way of being in the world. And it’s not being defensive. If you know it all, you’re not going to learn anything.

I think the difference could be in the phrase of “that’s different.” Have you ever been told when you were talking to someone or arguing with someone, let’s be honest, and you said, well, what about this, you know, the what-abouters? And you say, “Well, that’s different.” Well, now, the thing between defense and wisdom is how that is used in the conversation. Is it that’s different, period, end of sentence, go away, you bother me, gates are shut, the walls are up, I’m defensive, you’re not going to get in here because, you know what, that’s different. So that stops everything. Okay, that’s defense.

But you know it could also be the beginning of wisdom. That same phrase with different ways of saying it could be the beginning of wisdom because you can say it with curiosity instead of condemnation. You can say it as, not as a curse, but as an invitation. You could say, well, that’s different. I never thought of that before. Let’s talk about that. I didn’t consider that point of view. There, there’s wisdom. So when someone says to you, “Well, that’s different,” you can say, “Thanks for noticing,” and continue the conversation about the differences we have in our faith, our life, our experience and where we go and how we live together. “That’s different.” “Well, thanks for noticing.” Let’s talk about that. Because as we talk and we learn, that is the beginning of wisdom.

And Jesus, in the scripture it says here that – and Jesus prompts us, is that how you will endure? And if we’re thinking the way I’m thinking, that you endure the attacks of Christians, or as I call them, CHINOs, which are not a comfy, cotton-based pant, but rather Christians In Name Only, what are you going to do? You can be defensive, and I want to be defensive. I mean, I’ve got a scripture and a commentary for every scripture they got, buddy boy. They come at me with some abortion scripture, I’m going to show them Numbers 5 because right there looks like a prescription for abortion according to God, right there in Numbers 5. Oh, you never read Numbers 5? I read the whole Bible. Go ahead. Try me. I can do that all day long.

But that’s not wise. What’s wise is to be open to other things and to live our lives according to respect, admiration, and to get along with other people, to realize that our freedom of religion does not mean everybody else has to follow our religion. That’s not what this America is for, not what the country’s for, not what Jesus desires for us. Jesus does not desire us to attack others in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus I’m passing this law, so you all have to be Christian. No, no. I reject that. I hope you do, too. Because the more that we are defensive about our faith, the more we’re going to retreat from wisdom.

Wisdom is what’s going on? What is God doing in the world? Where is God working in my life and in the lives of others? What could be the best for all the people, not just my people? That’s very difficult to do, especially for me when my spiritual gift is martyrdom, and I want to stop everybody from attacking me, and anyone who doesn’t live like me must be attacking me. But no. Jesus says no.

So I hope you consider flipping this scripture around and not look so much at checking off, oh, my gosh, here comes another attack against Christians, checkmark, checkmark. Because you can do that. You can be defensive. Don’t do that. You’re going to reduce your wisdom. Instead, flip it around and watch how we, Christians, in Christ’s name, attack others. How we turn families against one another in Jesus’s name. And how we prepare defenses when we should be preparing to listen and to be open to the wisdom of others.

Friends, you will endure. There is good news in this scripture today. It’s not just all about calamities and disasters. And remember that even then, if you remember that the temple was already destroyed when they were reading this, it wasn’t so much about let’s know the future and have a peek at what God’s doing in the future, and we can tell, and we have extra special knowledge that no one else does; but rather it was let’s try to understand where we are here and now and what we’re suffering here and now, and what our challenges are here and now, that we could be open to what God is doing in the world here and now with one another. Not gather our battlements around our beautiful temple and wonderful gifts and stones, but realizing that God is not there, and that it’s already gone, but what is left is not to be defensive, to be wise and listen to others and see God’s work in the world and know that we will endure if we follow God instead of our own defenses.

Thanks.

Amen.

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Defensive Weapons

Soul Opportunity

Rev. Sue Washburn writing in Presbyterians Today Sept/Oct 2016 p. 4

When the world goes dark, the faithful testify with their lives to the light of the world

Soul Opportunity
a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey
Click the title above for a mp3 recording 

Audio from Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church on November 13, 2016, text below edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine. 

Luke 21:5-19

Sermons also available free on iTunes

Sometimes, a doorbell just doesn’t work. Like when you get the pounding on your door at three in the morning, saying, “Get out of your house now. The fire is coming. We can’t promise to save your house, but we can save you if you leave with us right now.” And so you go. Will you come home? Will your home be all right as you left it? Will it be damaged? Will it be destroyed? Will there just be a patch of ground there?

Doorbells don’t work on terrible, awful, no-good days. Maybe you had one of them. Where is she? She’s supposed to be home by now. She’s never late. She always calls. What happened to her? Should I call the police? Should I call the hospital? You’re waiting. You’re not going to go to sleep. Where is she? Is she having too much fun? Or is she in an accident? Is she hurt, or worse? Did someone take her? Will she come home again? Are you worrying too much, or not enough? Terrible, awful, no-good things, the things that might happen, the things that might have already happened, the things that are going to happen. The terrible, awful, no-good days.

It seemed real special relationship. He really loved you. He wanted a special picture. So you took a private picture with your phone and sent it just to him. Now it’s all over Facebook. Now everyone at school has commented, either on what type of slut you are, how easy you are, how terrible you are; or some kind of rating system about your very body, whether you’re a four or six or seven. And then there’s other folks that go on and say all sorts of horrible, awful things they want to do to you because of that picture that you only sent to that one special one. What are you going to do? And what if your parents found out? Everybody at school already knows. You’re going to have to move. You can’t go back to school. What do you do when terrible, awful things surround you.

Your phone is your life. Your whole life is in there. You can’t imagine somebody has an app to find their phone. It’s never out of your hand. If you were to lose your phone, really it’d be like you lost track of your hand. Everything is there. You talk to your friends. You connect to your friends. You make plans about what’s going on. You find out what other people are doing. That phone is you. And you get up, and you look at it, and you and every other black freshman at Penn State have been invited to a lynching. A daily lynching. Are you coming, or are you not? Your phone wants to lynch you and everyone in your class who’s black. Who’s in this? Who did this? Who thinks this is funny? Are they going to kill me? Are they going to drag me out and kill me and everyone that’s black? Or are they just going to beat me up? I can’t even trust my phone, much less people.

Terrible, awful rumors of war. Times of trouble. What do Christians do? What have you tried? What has been tried on you? Oh, it’s nothing. Oh, you’re being too sensitive. Are you sure it happened that way? Don’t have such a thin skin. Oh, it’s not as bad as that.

What about someone who can’t go home? The person who said, well, you know, yeah, he hits me sometimes. But he doesn’t really mean it, and he always says he’s sorry. I mean, he doesn’t really, you know, really hurt me. Except that one, well, that couple times. But then he was really nice after. But then he started hitting my child. I can’t do that. I can’t go home. I’m not safe. My child’s not safe. I can’t let my child – risk my child. I’ve got to – what am I going to do? Where am I going to live? What’s going to become of me? Is he going to find me? Is he going to find my child?

Aw, give him a chance. Aw, you’re being oversensitive. You know, there are some things you did wrong, too, you know. You shouldn’t be talking about him that way. You should be more Christian. That’s the next step, isn’t it, that religious thing of dismissing and gaslighting, you know, telling you your reality isn’t true, what you experience is not real. Gaslight, you know, when you get all, say, wait a minute, is that really true? Did I really get beat up? Did I really get threatened to be killed? Did I really worry about my daughter? Did I really get shamed on Facebook?

The next thing, you know, the Christian stuff, it comes out, well – you’ve got to do your clutch your hands and say: “Well, you know it’s God’s will.” And there’s just a teeny, teeny, as appealing as that is to Presbyterians, is teeny, teeny bit step to go from that to saying that God is the author of evil and not of good. And I read from Genesis to Revelation that God created the world, and God created and looked at it and said it was good. God said it was good. Not you.

Telling somebody that’s hurting, someone that’s grieving, someone that fears for their life, someone that wonders if their parents are going to be deported, someone that’s crying, someone that wonders if they have to go back in the closet, someone that wonders and says, “Oh, my God, I got married, and now they know I’m gay.” To tell them, oh, it’s God’s will. Well, you ought to give them a chance. Well, you got too upset. Well, well. That helps you. That doesn’t help them. And that’s all right. We all need that. We all need what we need. But be aware that when you talk about those kind of things, that they really should be behaving better, oh, they really should give them a chance, oh, this on that, you know, you really should look on the bright side of the death. That’s helping us. That’s not helping them. Be aware of that.

Well, gee, Christy, what do we do? It’s in our Scripture. Sometimes it isn’t the first time when people are upset. You know, this lectionary was chosen years ago to come up today, way back 50 years ago, whatever the lectionary is, come up today, the Sunday after the election. Whoo, wars and catastrophe and terror and awful. Last week I looked at it, and I said, well, whoever wins, half the people are going to be, you know, happy; half are going to be unhappy; and half didn’t vote.

Three halves. But it’s emotion, not math. You know, it’s going to be a difficult Sunday, and what do I have to tell the people? Well, it’s in the Scripture. Jesus tells us in the Scripture. Testify. You know, he’s kind of like me. When my children or the youth group or anybody that – the campers, and you know this, they say “Do I have to?” What do I tell them? You get to. You don’t have to do this. You get to do this. And so all these horrible, awful things are happening, and you say, “Jesus, give us a word. What do we do? Do we be fearful? Do we be scared? Do we fear? Do we fly? Do we get out of here? Do we run? Do we fight? What do we do, Jesus? Do we fear? Do we fight? Or do we flee?”

And Jesus says, “Good news. You get to testify.” You have an opportunity, as the New RSV says, you’ve got an opportunity to testify ‘cause there is no time better to shine a light, when things are dark. You have an opportunity to shine, church. You have an opportunity to shine, Christian. You have an opportunity to testify. And you know it says, “Don’t worry about the words.” That’s okay because it even though you that testify is about talking, is about words…It’s not about words.

That form of the verb “testify” in the Greek is not about words. It’s not about talking. It’s not about what am I going to say? It’s going to be what about what you do. Testify means an action, a thing, an example that testifies to what you believe and how you stand. So don’t worry about the words. Oh, I need that zinger for that guy at work. Oh, geez, oh, wait till I get to him. I’ve got this great one. Oh, yeah. It’s not about what we’re about. You have an opportunity to do what you believe in.

I can’t go back home. She took a restraining order out on me. Can you believe it? She’s the one that hits me. She’s the one that threw the dishes at me. And I’ve got a restraining order against me because, you know, she’s a woman and I’m a man. I don’t know what to say but I know what I will do. I invite him to stay with me. I testify that we got a whole lower floor for him. It’s got a bathroom. It’s got a couch. Got cable. We even have WiFi. Come on in. You sort it out, you figure it out, you stay there as long as you want. Testify.

I believe that homeless people should have a home. Testify. I’m volunteering at that warming shelter. I’m going to make sure that’s always staffed. Testify. I’m going to go and work at that med clinic because there’s going to be some people that don’t have insurance that’s going to need some help. Testify. I’m going to go to bed and broth. I’m going to give them food, and I’m going to serve it up because hungry people need to be fed. Testify. I’m going to talk to the kids about how the Internet is freaking forever, and don’t put anything anywhere if you don’t want it posted right up there on the bulletin board at Lake Tahoe Church. If you don’t want it up there, don’t put it online ‘cause I know someone that’ll put it up there, just to show you. Anybody can get it.

We had a youth group. We had a dating seminar. And, you know, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a dating seminar with young people. Good times. One of the things you find out is the boys have no clue. I hate to be sexist, but it’s true. The boys have no clue. Zero clue. So they need to hear some testimony. That’s where they need to be. And, you know, girls don’t need to be taught much. They know what’s going on, pretty much. The boys are clueless. What is the greatest fun thing to do, you start a list by asking: “Okay, boys, what do you do to protect yourself on a date? How do you stay safe when you’re on a date?” And the boys will just look at you with the biggest, glassiest blank stare you’ve ever seen. They have no clue what you’re talking about. The board stays empty.

And Then you say, “All right, well, let’s ask the girls. Girls, what are you doing safe?” Then they start to testify, to instruct. You’ve gotta have a friend. You’ve gotta have your phone. You make sure you have a plan. You make sure you have money. And the on down the list. And then I said, “Boys? You see what it’s like for girls? Why are they so scared? Because the way you’re acting.” That stops. You stop. Locker room talk is gone forever. When you’re around, you don’t allow that. Not because, oh, they’re my woman, and I’ve got a sister. No because they are related or connected to you a man, but because they’re human, and we don’t talk about other humans that way. Testify. And you don’t act that way. You don’t scare women. You don’t take advantage of women. Testify.

Lynching’s not funny if you’re the one being lynched. Persecution’s not funny if you’re the one being persecuted. Oh, I’ve had trouble. I tell you, friends and neighbors, it may feel the same, but it’s not. Losing privilege is not the same as facing persecution. Let me say that again. Losing privilege is not the same as facing persecution. Testify. Use your privilege to help those that don’t have any. Speak up for those that can’t speak up.

You look at my Face- you look at my Twitter feed now, and you’ll see a picture from 2010 of me and two Muslim women, a mother and daughter that was with us in our church in the hijab. And I’m standing in front of the church sign, the big, massive church sign that the good folks brought there. And I had said “Ramadan Kareem” blessed month to our Muslim neighbors. Because they were getting beat up. Their places were getting burned. Their people were getting threats. And I said no. I stood up, and I took a picture of them with it, and it was in the paper. And even my brother in Japan read about it in his local news.

Why is that so rare? Why is that news? Testify. Me and my friends already got a plan. They start making a Muslim registry, I’m signing up. I’m going to get other people to sign up. We’re all going to sign up. You come for them, you come for me. Testify. Testify.

I care who you vote for. I’m nosy that way. But I care more about how you live. No matter who you vote for, if you did vote, we’re not just this election. Election day isn’t just the day that defines who we are as a people, as a Christian, as a church. Nothing is done in one day. You have this argument and that argument. Let’s go on. Here’s where we are. What are we going to do? We’re going to testify. We’re going to say we value every human here. We value every human not here. We’re going to work for what we believe.

We’re not going to be afraid. We’re not going to fight. We’re not going to flee. We’re not going to gaslight people and say, oh, it’s not so bad to be you. Oh, no, no, no, it’s okay. You’re just too thick-skinned. Quick, quiet, could you quiet down? Your protest is bothering me.

Hey, friends. Protest is supposed to be bothering some. That’s the whole point of a protest. Take note. Gee, Christy. You finally come back, and then you give us such a downer sermon. No wonder we didn’t get you as pastor, because it’s like down, down, down here. So what I did, I asked my friends for help. And this is what you can do, too. And I hope you’re a friend. I hope you’re a friend to all the folks that are in trouble, all the folks that are scared, all the folks that are upset, all the folks that are worried. I hope you’re a friend.

I asked my friend, Sue Washburn. Sue Washburn met me on the Sunday after September 11, 2001. I had just started at Delmont Presbyterian Church as interim pastor there. And sure enough, I reflected, well, that’s strange. Why [indiscernible] – I got called back to church after being out five years. I go, well, that’s odd how did I ended up back in a church on September 1st. And then 11 days later, on 9/11, they needed a pastor. Boom. Terrorist attack. And Sue came up to me and goes, says, are you going to talk to the kids about September 11th, about terrorists? And I said, “Well, hello to you. I’m Christy. And, yeah, I’m going to talk to the kids about their freedoms.” “Okay, I’m not bringing my kids here.” And she took the kids out of church. Okay, Sue.

So, but then she got to know me. And a year later, on the anniversary of September 11th, we put together a community communion service and invited the whole community in as in remembrance of that day. And for healing it, we did that. And she went on from that service to go to seminary and become a pastor. And now she’s a pastor at a church in Pennsylvania and also the editor of Presbyterians Today. So I take complete and total credit for all that she has done and accomplished. But I asked Sue to help me out here. This is from her editorial a couple months ago in the Presbyterians Today.

Sue, there, is very creative, as I told you. And she’s got bubbles there for the sermon. Has absolutely to do with the quote. So if you’re trying to match them up, you know, just stop, it’s okay, they don’t go together.

We look at the gaping holes between us and feel overwhelmed…
    Jesus’ life show us that reconciliation starts small,
    as a baby born in an empire - Rev. Sue Washburn Presbyterians Today Sept/Oct 2016 p. 4

But Sue is a very creative person. And she doesn’t perhaps look like what you think a pastor might look like. I don’t know what you think a pastor might look like, but maybe it’s not Sue. So Sue in times will tell people she is a pastor, and people would pretty much unload on her and say, “Well, I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.” And she usually hears about some kind of fight, or they change the hymnal, or they had an 8:00 o’clock service start up again. Who knows? Something.

So Sue would say, just look at them with their – she is angelic face, completely blank, and just says, “I’m a ice skater.” And they don’t – people are nice. They, okay, I guess we’re talking about ice skating now. And then they said, oh, are you a figure skater, or competitive? They say something. And then she says, “Oh, I don’t skate. I never go on the ice. I never practice. I never – I don’t even have ice skates.” But I’m an ice skater.

It’s not just one day. And it’s not about what we say. It’s what we do, what we testify by doing with our lives. And reconciliation, Sue says, is like that. It’s every day. We go to church to hear about how we can be better and how we can be reconciled to the world, whether it’s what color to paint the church, what time to have service, whether it’s to reconcile about whether or not we’re going to do same gender weddings in the church. Sometimes it’s little; sometimes it’s big.

And we practice that in the world through the week, and we come back the next week, and we try to get better at living our life and being a better figure skater. We look at the gaping holes between us and feel overwhelmed. Jesus’s life shows that reconciliation starts small, as a baby born in an empire. Jesus shows us that everyday choices matter. Each time we choose to eat with someone who no one will eat with, each time we touch someone who no one wants to touch, each time we talk with someone who no one wants to hear, we can make the hole that keeps us apart a little smaller.

Aren’t you glad I invited Sue? Isn’t she great? You’re great, too. No matter who you vote for, or whether you voted or not, you’re all great. And you have an opportunity to be greater, to be a light to those in darkness, to be a help and a heal to the hurting. To give shelter to the homeless. To give food to the hungry. To give hope to the hopeless. To give safety to those under persecution. That is what the church is about. No matter which way you went on last Tuesday. That’s what we’re about. So if someone says, “Oh, they shouldn’t be doing that,” when someone says, “Oh, you shouldn’t be doing that,” or “They shouldn’t be complaining or that,” don’t take the easy way out. Don’t flee from it by saying, “Well, it’s God’s will. We all got to get along.” Don’t fight by saying, “Well, you know that electoral college, we got more of a popular vote.”

Don’t fight. You want to. I know you do. I do. Don’t flee. Don’t flee. Just because the Canada website for immigration crashed on election night. Stay here. Stay here. If you must move, please move to a swing state. You know who I’m talking to. Don’t fight. Don’t fear. Don’t flee. Testify. Testify. So when people look at Lake Tahoe Community Church, they’ll say, “Those people live their faith. Say what you want about their politics, but those people are God’s hand, God’s will on Earth.” Amen?

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