June 28, 2015 Sermon (Summer Sermon Series)
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Isaiah 43: 16-21 + 2 Corinthians 5: 14-17 + Luke 18: 9-17
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these. The truth is, whoever doesn’t welcome the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
When Joey was four years old he came home from preschool and told his parents that he had a new best buddy, Joshua. Day after day Joey would recount the wonders of their friendship….they way Joshua shared his favorite toys and the way they played hide and seek. When Joey’s father baked Joey’s favorite cookies, Joey asked him to bake a few extra, so that he could share them with Joshua. When Joey’s parents picked Joey up from preschool each day, Joshua was usually already gone, picked up earlier by his own parents.
“What does Joshua look like?” Joey’s parents would ask. “Oh he’s taller than me and he’s a fast runner and he has blue tennis shoes that light up” Joey responded. “What color is his hair?” Joey’s mom asked, wondering if she could pick him out of the children as they were coming and going from preschool. “Brown like mine”, said Joey. “We both have brown hair and we both have ninja turtle shirts”, he added with enthusiasm.
Stories of Joshua became so important to Joey that Joey’s parents decided they wanted to at least lay eyes on this boy, figure out which of Joey’s classmates he was. One day they arrived a little earlier than usual to pick Joey up and they looked for a brown haired boy with blue tennis shoes that light up and a ninja turtle shirt when Joey came running to meet them from the playground, hand in hand with a boy clutching a ninja turtle belt. “Mom! Dad!” said Joey, “THIS is Joshua.” And Joey’s parents laughed when they realized the one detail Joey had left out of his description of his best buddy….his dark skin. Joey had named every physical attribute of his new friend….his brown hair, his height…he’d named the things that are important to 4 year olds, like what he liked to eat and play with. But he never thought to mention that his friend’s skin was a different color than his own.
Let the children come to me, said Jesus. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of heave belongs to such as these. The truth is, whoever doesn’t welcome the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.
If you’ve spent much time around a child, you know this to be true….they can go from one emotional extreme to the other in a matter of seconds. That smiling child in the grocery cart can become a screaming monster faster than you can say “no, you can’t have that candy bar.”
That’s a little bit how I’ve felt this week, especially on Friday. While watching the news I was rejoicing with those people who were finally going to have the right to marry like the rest of us. I watched as they cheered and cried and sang and applauded the Supreme Court’s decision. And in the same sitting I watched friends and family and parishioners of The Rev. Clemente Pinkney gather at Mother Emanuel AME Church for his funeral. I watched them cry and sing and applaud words of comfort and faith coming from the President of the United States. And my own emotions were crazy….swinging from elation to despair, from celebration to sorrow.
Our Presiding Bishop was in Charleston at the funeral for Rev. Pinkney. Days before, she had declared that for the ELCA, this day, Sunday June 28th, was to be a day of repentance and mourning. She had the ELCA worship people send us an entire worship service crafted around repentance and mourning. And friends, we need to repent, daily, especially those of us born into or granted privilege because of the color of our skin. And we mourn. We continue to mourn for our sisters and brothers who perished while they were sitting in Bible Study.
Yet, I thought….for us in Seattle, today is PRIDE Sunday. It is that Sunday when we celebrate the wide love of God for all people regardless of sexual orientation. It is that Sunday when we say that ALL are welcome and we mean it. As soon as our worship service concludes this morning several of us will head downtown to march with hundreds of other Christians and dozens of clergy in the PRIDE parade. The first time I marched in the PRIDE Parade, I commented that it was one of the most profoundly moving experiences, not only of my ministry, but of my life. Like today, it was a scorching summer Sunday. As we walked behind a big rainbow colored cross, we walked together, gay and straight, male and female and undecided. Because it didn’t matter “what” we were. It mattered that we were God’s beloved children, loved equally, every one. No one of us more than the other….just all of us beloved children and saints of God.
As we marched, the response of the crowd – thousands and thousands of people – was humbling. Loud applause…surprise….”Thank You” shouted time and time again….tearful faces, no doubt recalling pain they had experienced within the Church somehow. When we came to one grandstand the emcee was dressed in drag and was fabulous! Irreverent and hilarious with her commentary, she broke character for just a bit as this marching band of Lutheran Christians, who were walking amidst Methodists and Baptists, too, approached the grandstand. This is what Christianity is about! The words echoed. The parade stopped. Jesus loved everyone and wants us to love them too. He hung out with sinners and whores and tax collectors. The crowd grew still. It was the rapt attention every preacher knows. These marchers are showing us the true face of Christianity!
There are days when the Church gets it wrong. Terribly wrong. In the deepest and truest ways, we get it wrong. And we need the voice from the grandstand, dressed in sequins and falsies to remind us what is right. We need to join hands in 90 degree weather and shout messages of love to those who have so long only heard messages of hate. We need to listen to Jesus say that our task, our work, is not judgment, but love.
And there are days when we need the voices of the track team members coached by Sharonda Coleman Singleton, who also perished in that church basement in Charleston. Voices that joined the voices of the family members of the other victims when they declared their forgiveness for Dylann Roof. Voices determined that hatred would not have the final word, but that love would.
And there are days when we get to celebrate. Today we will celebrate, not only PRIDE, but also that the right for everyone to marry is now the law of the land. And we will celebrate.
But let our celebration renew in us the strength to work for justice for all of God’s people.
Let our celebration spur us on to calling out racism among us and within us.
Let our celebration be a catalyst for continued change in this country.
Let our celebration be a cure for our colorblindness.
And as God’s church, as this congregation, let us look for the new thing God is working among us. The prophet Isaiah brings the message from God in our first reading this morning: “Look, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth – can’t you see it? I’m making a road in the desert and setting rivers to flow in the wasteland.”
These days are for this congregation a time to vision what new thing God is working here. They are days that will call for wisdom and courage. They are days that will call for us to look out for all of God’s children – of every race, of every gender, of every sexual orientation. And quite possibly, they are days that will call on us to do a new thing, too. To participate in God’s new thing. To stop putting our own needs first and to imagine what it could mean to a homeless family to have a safe community in which to live.
Jesus said: “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. “
Thanks be to God. Amen.