Psalm 146 and Luke 14:1, 7-14
August 28, 2016
Mount Vernon Place UMC
It
might surprise some of you to hear what I’m about to say, but I need to tell
you anyway. I’m a rather opinionated person. I have strong opinions on the
church and the kind of leadership it needs for the future. I have strong
opinions on politics and policy making. And, I have all kinds of opinions about
other peoples’ opinions!
I
suspect that if we were to all share our opinions with each other on the church
and politics that many of you would leave the room and never return – as you
should. I believe strongly in the separation of church and state. I do not
believe the church should endorse any candidate for political office. And I
have worked hard to keep patriotism whether sung, spoken or symbolized outside
the sanctuary. What we do here is to worship God, learn more about God’s ways,
and discover what it means to become more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
And that is my hope and prayer for this new worship series called "The Politics of Jesus."
I
was taught in my introduction to political science class that politics is “the
ability to produce intended or foreseen effects upon others.” It’s a definition
that resonates with me as I think about what candidates, elected officials and
lobbyists say and do to get people to vote for them or to move a piece of
legislation forward. We are in a city that is overflowing with people who want
to produce intended or foreseen effects upon others.
But
Parker Palmer, whose work Healing the
Heart of Democracy will be used throughout this series, defines politics
with these words: “the essential and eternal human effort to craft the common
life on which we all depend.”[1]
While I was taught that politics is about me
getting you to do whatever I want,
Palmer reminds us that politics requires that we take account of everyone around us, and seek to weave
“a fabric of compassion and justice on which everyone can depend.”[2]
Palmer
says we cannot enter into politics without making sure our hearts are front and
center. He reminds us of the original meaning of the word “heart” which “comes
from the Latin cor and points not
merely to our emotions but to the core of the self, that center place where all
of our ways of knowing converge.” But cor
is “also the Latin root from which we get the word courage.” He writes, “When
all that we understand of self and world comes together in the center place
called the heart, we are more likely to find the courage to act humanely on
what we know.”[3]
How
often do you hear people start with the heart when talking about politics?
How often are political decisions
dictated first by the heart and second by deeply held convictions that we have
refused to allow anyone to challenge or even question ourselves because it’s
the way we have been taught to believe?
Only
when the heart is front and center can we imagine politics as what Palmer describes
as “the ancient and honorable human endeavor of creating a community in which
the weak as well as the strong can flourish, love and power can collaborate,
and justice and mercy can have their day.”[4]
What
would it take for such a vision to become a reality in every place where people
are making decisions that impact others?
Perhaps
it starts with the posture we take when approaching “the other” whoever the
other might be.
Jesus
often uses the table as a key place of learning and especially in Luke’s gospel.
In fact, former professor of preaching Fred Craddock explains how “Nothing can
be for Luke more serious than a dining table.”
[5]
The dining table is where Jesus is most revealed. It’s where we celebrate the
Eucharist. And, it’s where Jesus gathered all kinds of people to teach and
reprove.
It’s
at the table where today’s lesson occurs, and not just any table, but a wedding
feast. In ancient Palestine, male banquet guests would have gathered around the
table in reclined seats with a particular order to the seating. The center
table at a wedding banquet in Palestine was reserved for whoever the most
prominent guests were in attendance. The people in the center were people who
had the most wealth or power. They got the center seats because of the office
they held. In our day, you can imagine the President, Members of Congress or
CEOs sitting in the center, something that does, in fact, regularly happen.
But
Jesus challenges the seating arrangement. He watches people choose the seats of
honor, and he admonishes them to instead take a lower seat. Don’t go for the
place of honor. Rather, assume your place is somewhere else in the room. Sit
down, and wait until you’re invited to a different table. “All who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”[6]
If
you receive the weekly email, then you may know that I invited you to try to
imagine our two presidential candidates seeking the lower seat, and not just
the lower seat, but I took it a step further. Imagine for a moment Donald Trump
sitting below Hillary Clinton and asking her for wisdom or even for an explanation
of why she has the views she has. And then imagine Hillary Clinton doing the
same thing – assuming a posture that demonstrates how she doesn’t know
everything but rather might learn something from Mr. Trump. And then imagine
what might happen if these two individuals actually shared a meal together
where they could look one another in the eye and be vulnerable enough to share
their hearts, asking each other questions about what makes it beat, what robs
its joy, what breaks it in two. Would they be able to leave that meal and proceed
to demonize each other on the nightly news?
And
what about us?
I’ve heard more people say this
year that they are voting for “the lesser of two evils” for president than any
other year. How regularly do you
call someone evil? Some of us may not be able to remember the last time we
referred to someone as evil other than Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump. But do we
really believe they are evil, that the devil is actively working within them? And what does our saying they are evil or our
constantly putting them down say about us – myself included?
I cannot begin to count how many
times I have cursed at the television when a story comes on about this year’s presidential
election. I’ve taken my disappointment to social media. I’ve allowed these two
people to get to me, one more than the other, and bring out words that are not
exactly words I’d like Jesus to hear me saying. I’ve shouted at the television
more during this presidential election season than I have shouted at the screen
when Duke was playing in the Final Four.
And I thought it was all perfectly
acceptable.
But this week I’ve been challenged
to behave differently.
I
believe God cares deeply about nearly every issue we refer to as "political" - and not just the issues the church regularly gets involved with like abortion or marriage - whether it’s the environment, the economy, war, peace,
guns, immigration, and so many others. But what I realized as I read, studied
and prayed this week is that God cares even more about the status of our hearts!
Jesus
constantly used the ordinary, everyday life activities as examples in his teaching.
He used the “home and marketplace, farm and fishing boat” to reveal what life
looks like in the kingdom of God – the place where God’s presence is tangibly
seen through the ways people live.
The Greek historian “Plutarch once observed that it is in the small,
apparently trivial act that character is most accurately reflected.”[7]
What, then does our political life – the stances we have taken, the words we
have spoken, the judgments we have made, the demonization we have contributed
to – say about our character? What do our words and actions say about our love
of God and neighbor?
Palmer
offers two words that most summarize the habits of the heart American citizens
need today in response to our current conditions: chutzpah and humility.
Chutzpah is the recognition that we have a voice to share, one that needs to be
heard as well as the right to use this voice. Humility is “accepting the fact
that my truth is always partial and may not be true at all – so I need to
listen with openness and respect, especially to ‘the other.’”[8]
While we may think there is plenty of chutzpah to go around, there are many of
us who have forgotten that we are all called to speak up and participate.
Politics is not meant to be a spectator sport, and we are not called to be
complacent.
But humility – that capacity to
always say something with the recognition that I might not be right – goodness
that’s a hard one to find and embody. And it was certainly lacking over a
recent family vacation when I was stunned to learn that my father is not just
supporting a candidate but actually giving him money. Imagine if all of us had
an equal amount of humility to match our chutzpah!
So where do we go from here?
One theologian recently suggested
that we use the next 70 or so days separating us from the election to only post
positive things on Facebook instead of participating in the demonization of Mr.
Trump and Mrs. Clinton. I’m trying to follow her advice.
Perhaps we seek out someone whose
views are different than are own and share a meal together in hopes of seeing a
glimpse of their heart, making sure we give them the seat of honor in the
process.
Maybe we try to daily pray for both
Donald and Hillary by name, asking God to bless them and give them wisdom, guidance and grace while remembering how both of these individuals are
created in the image of God.
And all of us need to remember who
really is in charge. I recall when President Obama was running for office how
many campaign posters had his image on it as well as the word “Hope.” It was as
if we had never heard the word hope before and were ready to usher in a new
savior of the world. But President Obama did not bring hope to this world.
Jesus did, and Jesus still is.
Just as no political candidate is Satan,
neither is any political candidate our savior. None of them can fix every
obstacle facing our nation and our world.
The Psalmist teaches that our praise should never be aimed for princes
or presidents who are here today and gone tomorrow. We should not believe that
our help is in policies no matter how just-filled they might be.
Rather, there is one who came so
that we might have life and life abundant.
This one is alpha and omega, the
beginning and the end.
This one executes justice for the
oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoner free, opens the eyes of
the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over
the strangers, upholds the orphan and the widow.
And this one does not do it alone
but rather calls and equips the church, ordinary people like you and me, to
join in extraordinary work that can change and transform our city and God’s world.
May our lives be filled with praise
and be worthy of praise – our church lives and our political lives. May our
lives be overflowing with chutzpah and humility. May we embody a politics that
is not only worthy of the human spirit, but one that is worthy of God who created
us, called us and invites us to join God in the redemption of the world.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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