Faithful Democrats
For America…whose self-inflicted wounds of racism and bigotry run so deeply…such a moment in history begs us to have unyielding hope. It asks us struggle with one another in rigorous honesty…for me to be rigorously honest with myself.
Sermon: the 26th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
The Community Church of Wilmette
November 9, 2008
Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that an African-American man would be elected President of the United States of America in our lifetime?
I am not sure that I truly believed it. I still have images of the intense segregation of my home town, Richmond. I still struggle with the deep divisions and segregation that exists in Chicago. Those wounds run so deep. The struggles and the blight of racism is still so very real…even here in the so-called enlightened north.
I was so disappointed the day that I realized how divided Chicago was. I came here thinking Chicago would show me a different way of living in a multi-racial community.
I never thought I would ever see an African-American elected to the highest office in our country. Never.
Maybe that makes me a cynic. I was hopeful but unbelieving. Does this make sense? I hoped I was wrong. I hoped that our nation would find some way to work around our own cultural divides. But I am not sure I ever truly believed that we would.
You have to understand…I knew Pearl. Maybe some of you know what I’m talking about. Pearl was the “girl” who cleaned my grandfather’s house. She was the African-American woman who my grandfather hired as a maid. She was his peer. Yet, she was “that girl” to many people in my grandfather’s generation…and think what you will, these were not mean people. They were church-going generous loving people. They loved Pearl, too.
That she changed my diapers and loved me…and all of us deeply and that we loved her deeply in return, however, never led to a change in anyone’s social status. That she would, in the end, change my grandfather’s diapers never changed that reality either. It’s heartbreaking for me to remember.
So much of that kind of social geography seemed fixed to me…concrete, immovable. No matter how liberal, progressive, evolved, open-minded, active, loving, Christian, merciful, caring, or just I was…society seemed immovable.
That was until Tuesday night. I have been paying a lot of attention to Barak Obama ever since he emerged on the national scene five years ago with his speech at the Democratic National Convention. I watched out of curiosity more than affinity for his politics. And though I was there in Grant Park…watching people dance, embracing one another, or weeping openly, I am not sure the reality has quite sunk in for me yet…But there it is. It’s undeniable now. Good grief, the man even has a “President Elect” website called change.gov…It’s on the internet. It has to be real!
Certainly now I have to adjust my thinking. That’s very clear. Many of us do…even some of our most hopeful leaders have to readjust their thinking. Did you see Jesse Jackson’s tears?
An African American has been elected president.
The first generation immigrant’s son has been elected president.
A man of mixed race has been elected president.
What was once immovable…unchangeable..
None of these things are supposed to happen. No matter what we claim as the American Ideal, our society is not really designed for this…
…then again, I’ve been wrong before.
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” proclaimed the Hebrew prophet, Amos. These words should sound familiar to us…The translation is lacking perhaps. The image is intended to be one of a torrent, like an enormous dam that has been broken apart. The waters of justice and righteousness crash down upon God’s people…their force is crushing. It’s not a gentle mountain stream that refreshes. Such justice and righteousness as Amos proclaims overturns everything. It’s punishing. Literally.
“Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” reminds Matthew. He too knows that God’s presence is not necessarily good news like a larger than expected tax return or a surprise visit from your best friend. It’s still good news, but it is earth shattering good news. It is relentless good news.
Relentless…unyielding.
During his acceptance speech President Elect Obama used the phrase “unyielding hope.” Someone pointed that out to me. I missed it. I was still watching people cry.
What kind of hope is “unyielding?”
It is the kind of hope that keeps awake. It “knows neither the day nor the hour.” It does not know how it will circumvent a culture. It does not know the details of how it will overcome adversity. It does not know how it will awaken us…
…but awaken us it will!
It does not back down.
It hopes beyond hope.
It waits for the Lord.
That’s what this kind of hope does.
Such hope is the oil in the lamps of the women in our Gospel passage this morning.
Such hope is the promise witnessed in the tears of African-American men and women in Grant Park Tuesday night.
Such hope says…”I know you didn’t see me coming even when I was staring you in the face.”
Do you remember Rev. Dr. Alice Greene’s sermon at our Revival? Step by step. Slowly and in love. A change is gonna come. Unyielding Hope.
Unyielding hope has a companion, of course. Amos is happy to remind us of this. Rigorous honesty must exist if there is to be room for unyielding hope.
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” The rigorous honesty that this demands is beyond comprehension for many of us. It may even seem cruel at times…like a God who says to those who gather in praise and prayer, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”
It comes to us with the force of a rushing torrent. It does not simply ask us to change. It plainly declares “Things are different now. Life is not what you thought. Repent for the day of the Lord is at hand.”
I don’t know if the election of an African-American man is the Day of the Lord.
I don’t know if it was “God’s will” in some bizarre version of predestination.
But I have no doubt that God is present in such hopefulness and in such honesty. For America…whose self-inflicted wounds of racism and bigotry run so deeply…such a moment in history begs us to have unyielding hope. It asks us struggle with one another in rigorous honesty…for me to be rigorously honest with myself. I never saw the dam break. I never heard the floodwaters. And I was watching, too. It seems my lamp had gone out.
Suddenly now, though, everything is different. I have been crushed. Healing has come.
Unyielding Hope is not an illusion or a fantasy. It is about preparing for the extant and expected presence of God. Rigorous Honesty is an expression of the presence of God. It is truth telling, soothsaying, faith sharing, and mutual dependency. Such a life cannot be lived alone.
Have Unyielding Hope.
Offer…Receive…Rigorous Honesty.
I have never been so glad to be so wrong.
Thanks be to God.
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