By: Rev. Shirley Bowen
I want to begin by saying I think Thomas gets a bad rap. Inserting
Doubting Thomas into contemporary conversation is often meant as a slur or
insult – as if that person isn’t quite good enough, be it smart enough, insightful
enough, faithful enough. I’m sure all of us would like to believe that we would
immediately recognize the Christ among us without needing to reach out and
touch the woundedness of the person before us. But I ask you to take just a
moment to ask yourself – would I? Would I be able to suspend all my previous
experience of death and immediately accept the words of another without my
own verification even after all I had witnessed in his presence? I’m not sure I
could.
And what about in our own context today. There is a lot of ugliness,
danger, violence, greed, and callousness around us. And yet in my tradition we
promise to “Seek and serve Christ in all people.” Do I have the courage to just
immediately say yes, or do I need some sort of validation that this person is
indeed a reflection of Christ? What in their woundedness do we need to touch in
order to see beneath the surface? Running Seeds of Hope brought me face to
face with the woundedness I had been previously unable to see. And I will be
forever grateful for having my eyes opened, and therefore my heart expended in
ways I never imagined. I just had to do a brief defense of Thomas.
But where I really want to focus on this morning is the story we hear in
Acts – the act of defiance of the disciples. They knew they were putting their lives
in danger by continuing to spread Jesus’ message. They were called before the
high priests to answer to their defiance. Their response: they “must obey God.”
They said Yes to God regardless of the consequences. And there were certainly
consequences.
I want us to move, however, to today’s context – what does it mean for us
to say Yes to God now. Bonhoffer certainly spells it out – echoing the Beatitudes
and Matthew 25. Our job as Christians is to hear what God wants of us. But how
do we do this and how do we say Yes? Here is one of my favorite lines from a
movie which I have turned into a prayer I often offer on behalf of our political and
religious leaders, but which applies to each of us as well:
May we have the Courage to discover the Right, the Will to Choose it,
and the Strength to make it Endure.
Sounds easy? Not so much. How do we discover the Right? I will use the term
Right because of the context from which it came, but feel free to substitute what
is True, or Necessary, or Just. Do we only listen to the news station that reflects
our existing beliefs? Do we only attend a certain type of church or a certain type
of faith tradition? Do we ask hard, deep questions, and expose ourselves to
different ideologies and theologies? And after doing so, are we committed to
taking the time to examine all we have learned and then discern what in our
hearts we believe to be Right and True? Are we willing to entertain the thought
that that our existing beliefs might be skewed or even wrong? What? I could be
wrong? That’s hard work. It’s not for the faint of heart. And it is definitely not for
those who just want to be told what is Right and what to believe. But all of the
things I have listed are critical first steps in saying Yes to God. Because we have
to know what and why we’re saying Yes to; and God’s desire, when understood,
is Right.
So then once we believe we have discovered the Right, do we have the
Will to Choose it? That can be risky, as the disciples understood. If our genuine
belief in the Right brings us into conflict with loved ones or colleagues or
constituents, does our Will extend to taking an unwavering stance –
paraphrasing Martin Luther “Here I Stand, I can do no other.” We certainly see
this in our current political and religious contexts. The view of “you’re either with
us or against us” is all too prevalent. And heartbreaking. Humanity doesn’t fare
well in the dichotomy when everything has been reduced to that. And it is not
without consequence. Families and friendships can be torn apart. Faith
communities keep breaking into ever increasing camps because we are unwilling
to do the work of finding common ground. We are made of various colors and
beliefs and are challenged to figure out how to live harmoniously within that
diversity.
HOWEVER, there are some principles that we must not waive from. Like
Martin Luther, there are some red lines which must not be crossed, and if done,
will have consequences. Does our Will extend to acceptance of fractured
relationships if they cannot come to agreement? Does our Will hold us up under
ridicule or threat of banishment? And when did “primary” become a verb?
So, we have now done the work of discerning the Right and have Willed
to stick with that position/belief. But do we have the Strength to make it Endure?
In our political context we see politicians deciding not to continue to serve
because the fight just takes too much out of them and their families, ranging from
character assassination to threats or acts of violence. We see clergy ending their
vocation early because the work is so hard, and even though they accepted their
calling with joy, for some that joy crumbles under the weight of individual
persecution or denominational/faith conflict that completely depletes their energy.
How do we ensure that the Right Endures?
These are a few ideas I have come to learn.
- In humility we acknowledge that we cannot, must not, do it alone – its not
possible and we will fail. - Instead, we build coalitions of peaceful warriors who combine their collective
Strength to maintain the path of righteousness. - And most importantly, we create a culture of ongoing discernment to ensure
we don’t stray from the path AND we invite new questions, we gather new
facts, and when necessary, consider an altered path.
This is a process we could use to support us in our commitment to saying
Yes to God. We can’t do it lightly. We must mean it and arm ourselves with all the
tools necessary. It isn’t easy, nor is it without danger. But if we want to be true to
our Yes, this is a way to support that. This process clearly makes sense in a
more national or global context (although much harder), but I want to encourage
us to think about it in our daily lives as well. The steps are the same. Whether
decision-making about how to spend funds in a parish, juggling significantly
needed deferred maintenance expenses to foster the space which supports our
mission, or to help address needs of the poorest and struggling in our local
community. Or what about speaking up via letters/phone calls/rally’s about
political actions which cause harm and fall far from one’s values. If we have said
Yes to God we have a responsibility to DO SOMETHING with impact and
meaning. Yes is different for everyone. Each to her or his talents and passions.
We just have to say Yes and be it.
I want to close with one of my favorite poems. One I come back to
frequently. It is written by Yevgeny Yevtushenko – a Russian poet, novelist,
playwright, political activist of the post-Stalin artistic movement
TALK
You’re a brave man they tell me.
I’m not.
Courage has never been my quality.
Only I thought it disproportionate so to degrade myself as others did.
No foundations trembled.
My voice no more than laughed at pompous falsity;
I did no more than write – never denounced,
I left out nothing I had thought about,
defended who deserved it, put a brand
on the untalented, the ersatz writers,
and doing what anyhow had to be done.
And now they press to tell me that I’m brave.
How sharply our children will be ashamed
taking at last their vengeance for these horrors,
remembering how in so strange a time
common integrity could look like courage. Amen.