Philippians 2.4–13
The Rev. Hal Chorpenning, Plymouth Congregational UCC
Fort Collins, Colorado
May 27, 2018
 
Part of the American myth is that anyone can make it, no matter how humble our beginnings. The novels of Horatio Alger in the 19th century often told the narrative of a penniless young man who, through hard work and perseverance, made it into the ranks of the middle class. And that narrative of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and doing well is deeply ingrained in the American ethos, but it has shifted a bit. It’s no longer enough to make it into the middle class. Now the idea is to get rich quick, which doesn’t quite square with the Protestant work ethic heralded by the Horatio Alger stories. Now, it’s more about flash and a quick rise to the top. This might explain why lottery tickets are as popular as they are…because somewhere in the back of our minds, perhaps we, too, believe that we’ll hit the jackpot. And it’s no coincidence that one of the most popular TV game shows on both sides of the Atlantic is “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” (cue video) 

Maybe this seems normal to us. Perhaps getting rich quick by any means has become the new American success story.

Now, imagine that you are a TV producer and you have to come up with a new game show. Tell me how you think this one would work: “Who Wants to Take the Form of a Slave?” Well, that program wouldn’t have done well under Roman occupation in the first century either. Nobody wants to be a slave…but what about a servant? Anyone for “Who Wants to Be God’s Servant?” Still not so popular. But stay tuned…we’ll be back after the break.

Our trajectory as Christians is not to conform to the ideals and aspirations of American culture; it is to “Let the same mind be in [us] that was in Christ Jesus.” We Christians are called to different standards. We are invited into distinctive patterns of living that do not conform to the dog-eat-dog consumer mentality.

And even when we don’t fall into the trap of craving material wealth, we do have a consumeristic question that we almost always ask: “What’s in it for me?” or “What will I get?” or “How will I benefit?” And that’s not a bad idea when you are in consumer mode: looking for a job or shopping for a major home appliance. But we don’t always need to be in consumer mode, even though that is what our culture asks of us. It’s almost as if everything must be framed as a transaction: if you do this, then you will get that. This may be the reason some Christians are so fixated on the idea that if I behave well on earth, then I will get into heaven: it’s just one more transaction. There is even a theory called Transactional Leadership. “Transactional leaders focus on increasing the efficiency of established routines and procedures and are more concerned with following existing rules than with making changes to the structure of the organization.” (​en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactional_leadership)
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James MacGregor Burns, a historian who wrote extensively on leadership in the mid-20th century contrasted transactional leadership and transformational leadership by explaining that in the former leaders offer tangible rewards for the work performed, while transformational leaders engage with followers, focus on higher order intrinsic needs and outcomes, raise consciousness about them, and develop new ways to approach a path toward meeting goals.

Which path do you think Jesus chose as his leadership style? He used metaphor and parable to engage the hearts and minds of his followers; he framed the characteristics of the kingdom of God in ways they had never heard before and used it as an alternative vision to the Roman imperial domination under which his people lived. “Take up your cross and follow me,” isn’t going to be a winner in any game show…it’s simply going to make a world of difference both for you and for God’s world.

Today’s passage from Paul’s Letter to the church in Philippi is actually a very early hymn of the church. And there are gospel echoes, too. Hear this from Mark’s gospel:
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Jesus called to his disciples “and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

We get that theme of socio-economic reversal in both the text from Philippians, where Jesus “takes the form of a slave” even though he was “in the form of God,” and later “God…highly exalted him.” And Mark’s gospel tells us that “whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” I don’t think I heard that sentiment expressed on the reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

In the mid-1960s, Robert K. Greenleaf, after a long career studying management with AT&T, started the Center for Servant Leadership. He wrote this about 50 years ago: “The servant-leader is servant first….It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

Do you hear that? It sounds like an entire departure from the transactional leadership style of rewards and punishments and moves toward something more akin to what Jesus himself espoused.

And later, Greenleaf wrote “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

How does servant leadership play out in your life? As Bob Dylan sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody…Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Whom will you serve?

I see a significant number of servant leaders in this congregation: people who are not asking what’s in it for them, but what difference their effort in serving might make to someone else. Plymouth is an outstanding laboratory for servant leadership, where you — no matter how old or young you are, how experienced or green you are, how wealthy or poor you are — can serve and help others become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely to become servants themselves.

I see a lot of this going on, but I’m going to risk picking on a few people. I see Irene Wheritt and Fran Milde, leading our centering prayer group through Contemplative Outreach, participating actively in our Celtic II small group, one chairs Stewardship and the other serves as a deacon. I see Phil Hoefer, who (whenever he isn’t washing dishes for the First Name Club or coffee hour or a potluck) is a friend of the Trustees and serves on the Environmental Ministry Team. I see Nic Redavid, who is in his early 30s, scheduling and serving in the sound booth, chairing the Progressive Evangelism Task Force, representing Plymouth at Conference annual meeting, and being a leader of our campus ministry. And Kathee Houser, who is the kitchen maven, chaired Congregational Life, conducts the youth bell choir, chairs the chancel guild and helped make these beautiful quilted paraments. And our moderators, Bob Sturtevant, Dianne Stober, and David Petersen, and our Leadership Council, who get to make the tough calls and set budgets and steer the course without a lot of thanks or fanfare. I wish I could name all of you who serve: to thank you, to recognize you, to let you know that without you, Plymouth wouldn’t be as vibrant and alive as it is today. You know who you are: all of you people who do the less elegant, less flashy work of servanthood…the jobs that no one else wants to do. Thank you…you are noticed and blessed.

Here is a secret about being a member at Plymouth: the more you give the more you receive. And my axiom for membership is that you never really feel like a member of the church until you’ve worked in the kitchen. But being a part of Plymouth isn’t about a transaction; it’s not about what you’ll get in return. Servant leadership is about what you have to offer and the difference you want to make.

It isn’t an accident that “minister” is the Latin word for “servant.” And perhaps, when we were revising our governance, we should have done some translating and instead of calling them “Ministry Teams,” we could have called them “Servant Teams.” All of us are ministers, all of us are servants. It’s how Christianity has worked for 2,000 years. And that work is love in action.
“Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation with reverence and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.” [my translation]
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May it be so. Amen.
 
© 2018 Hal Chorpenning, all rights reserved. Please contact [email protected] for permission to reprint, which will typically be granted for non-profit uses.

Acts 2.1-17
Pentecost Sunday
May 20, 2018
Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC
The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
 
The day of Pentecost
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
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17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young [ones] shall see visions, and your old [ones]shall dream dreams.

It is Pentecost when pilgrimage is made to Jerusalem to celebrate the anniversary of God giving the Torah, the law, the good news of God’s presence and covenant, to the people of God. It’s Pentecost and God pours out God’s Holy Spirit on the waiting disciples giving the gift of prophesy so that they witness to the mighty acts of God through Jesus of Nazareth, now the Risen Christ! It is a miracle of communication!! Think about it.....all those different people from all over the known world hearing in their own languages of the resurrection of Jesus the Crucified One! No one is supposed to come back from the dead, much less a man executed as a criminal of the state! Hearing the stories of Jesus’ healing miracles, the stories Jesus told to uplift the poor and set the captive spirits of God’s people free....think of all those different people speaking in the languages of all the peoples of the world, sharing their life-changing and life-giving news! It is a miracle of communication! It’s a miracle of building bold bridges across difference and diversity!  It’s a miracle of courage and  transformation!

Pentecost is a story of the power of God, my friends! And God’s power is scary good! Power with people, not power over people! This is power we need in our own times. It is not merely a quaint remembrance from 2000 years ago. It is not just the story of the birthday of the church....though the beginnings of Christian faith communities are rooted in the story as it goes on in Acts chapter 2. It is not a revered history lesson. The miracle of Pentecost is the story God’s mighty and compassionate power working through the followers of Jesus to transform the world. 
It is a story for us as we pray and work for the transformation of the world in our times! The first part of the story is probably the most familiar... the disciples waiting and praying as Jesus had instructed in Acts chapter 1 in his last words to them. “... you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” They are gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival. And the miracle happens! And people in the crowds think they are drunk! I love that part! If we risk proclaiming the transforming power of God in Christ some people may brand us as a crazy too.
“No,” says Peter to the crowds. “We are not drunk or crazy....its only 9 am ... we are filled with the joyful power of God that we have known is Jesus, the anointed One....the Christ! Let me tell you the story!” Quoting the ancient prophet, Joel, Peter says to us as he did to the crowd so long ago, 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young [ones] shall see visions, and your old [ones]shall dream dreams.” Peter is saying, “These people are prophesying, sharing God’s startling good news!

He goes on, proclaiming Jesus....the One crucified, the one anointed with the power of God who suffered and died, who is now risen by the power of God to bring new life and light to the world. To show the world God’s love! Join this movement of God’s love, Peter says. And the people say, “How do we do that?” “Believe! Trust!....turn back to God...and as a sign of your willingness to follow the ways of God known to us through Jesus, be baptized!” Which was not a new Christian tradition he made up on the spot, but a much known Jewish ritual that symbolized cleansing and renewal. “So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. “

Did you hear that? Their belief, their trust in God through the story of Jesus the crucified and risen Christ, led them into community to share all things in common, to help those in need. As Christians all social justice action begins with Jesus, with his life, death and resurrection. Therefore as progressive Christians who want to be part of the God’s transforming work in the world we cannot shy away from proclaiming Jesus!

Proclaiming Jesus who loved the poor, the marginalized, the outcasts of his day – Jesus who loved the children and healed the sick, who partied with the sinners and challenged the religious authorities with new interpretations of religious ancient laws and traditions – Jesus who spoke truth to the false power of his world not with vengeance or retribution, but with the empowering tough love and compassion of God – Jesus who loved God so much that he willingly gave himself up to show God’s love for us through his death at the hands of that false power. This is the Jesus must we claim and proclaim. Jesus is our great gift as Christians to the world.

Our gift does not belittle or displace the gifts God has given the world through our Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist sisters and brothers...our gift does not dismiss the mystery of all the other gifts of all other sacred religious traditions. Our gift of Jesus the Christ, God-With-Us, in human flesh, is the miracle of love that we have to share as Christians with our very hurting world full of bigotry, hatred, division, lies, greed and violence. We are called to be open to the transformation of the Holy Spirit as those earliest disciples 2000 years ago so we may proclaim Jesus in word and deed. We are called to the miracle of communication that was and is Pentecost. Our willingness to be bold in proclamation and to prophesy in Jesus’ name empowers our social justice work.

To that end I want to show a video that challenged me this week to be a bolder prophet in Jesus’ name. This is a Pentecost message of many voices coming from our brothers and sisters in other denominations. It is sponsored by the Sojourners ministry network, a community of power-filled social justice action and witness. It is speaks specifically to many of the social crises of our times. Now, one caveat....

I think all the people you will hear speak are over 50....so to my younger brothers and sisters in Christ....catch the Spirit in what these elders are saying and know that these are the “old” ones dreaming dreams as Joel and Peter prophesied....let their dreams inspire your young visions and actions in the name of Christ as we work together for the transformation of our world! Hear with me this Pentecost message..... (click image at right).
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My sisters and brothers in Christ here at Plymouth we are called as Peter called his fellow Jews in Jerusalem two centuries ago turn, to repent, from fear and silence, to receive the freedom of God’s forgiveness and to be baptized in the empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ. We are called to live and speak prophetically as we follow Jesus’ ways of compassion and love, justice and speaking truth to power. The promise of Pentecost’s miracles are for us, for our children, and for all of God’s people! Amen.

John 17.6–19
The Rev. Hal Chorpenning, Plymouth Congregational UCC
Fort Collins, Colorado
May 13, 2018
 
On Wednesday, members of one of our small groups and one of our Sunday school classes had a conversation with John Dominic Crossan from his home in Florida. (Zoom teleconferencing is so cool!) The Seekers group had read the book he wrote with Marcus Borg, The Last Week, and an adult class is reading Dom’s latest, Resurrecting Easter. And it was a treat to be able to ask questions of one of the world’s pre-eminent New Testament scholars.

Today’s scripture reading comes at the end of what we would call Maundy Thursday and before Good Friday. It happens just before Judas’s betrayal and Jesus’ arrest. Dom said that the thing that makes John’s gospel different is that the character of Jesus calls all the shots and controls everything that is going on. None of the events happen to him…they happen because he wills them.

In the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus says that he is “deeply grieved” and offers the tortured prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when he asks God to “remove the cup from me” and avoid crucifixion, which Jesus says is what he wants.[1] It’s pretty clear in the synoptic gospels that Jesus does not want to go to the cross. But in John’s gospel, there is no heart-rending prayer in Gethsemane; Jesus is in control of his fate.

I have to tell you that my first reaction when I read today’s scripture was that John’s Jesus is incredibly verbose! Today’s scripture is part of a prayer, but not the kind of prayer we hear from the synoptic Jesus…these are not the words of a “needy petitioner, but the divine revealer and there the prayer moves over into being an address, admonition, consolation, and prophecy.”[2]

John’s Jesus frequently mentions “the world,” and he has a love-hate relationship. The Greek word in the New Testament is cosmos, and it means God’s world as well as the created universe…but it means something else, too. (Stay tuned for that!) On the one hand, John writes that “God so loved the world…that he gave his only-begotten Son.” And he also says in today’s scripture that “they do not belong to the world” and two chapters earlier, John’s Jesus says, “I have chosen you out of the world–therefore the world hates you,” but at the same time he says of his disciples, “I have sent them into the world.”

For John the created universe is all good. However, the world of human civilization is pretty warped. John earlier says that “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”[3]

Speaking personally, I love the world. I love creation and the splendor we can see in it. I love the diversity of people and cultures that inhabit it. I love the amazing creatures that inhabit it (except for the Ebola virus, rattle snakes, and great white sharks). I love the bodily experiences we can get by living in the world. But I also know that the world is broken place…not because of nature, but because of us: because of humanity.

Did you all read the news this week? Mr. Trump revoked US participation in the nuclear arms agreement with Iran. Israel launched a massive missile strike in Syria. The Saudi foreign minister said that his nation will build nukes if the Iranians do. John McCain is urging fellow senators not to confirm Gina Haspel as CIA director because of her presumed endorsement of torture. Trump’s lawyer got $1.2 million from Novartis after he promised White House access to the pharmaceutical giant. Donald Trump ended protections for 300,000 Central American and Haitian living in the U.S.  New York’s attorney general resigned after accusations of abuse from four women. The attorney general of the U.S. vowed to split up immigrant families. The NRA selected Ollie North as their new president. North was convicted in 1989 for obstructing justice, mutilating government documents and taking an illegal gratuity in connection with the Iran-Contra Scandal.

That was just last week, folks. If you think “the world” is all peaches and cream, I’d ask you to reassess your appraisal.

Jesus lived in a world that was dominated by empire…for Jesus it was the Roman Empire. It wasn’t that the people who ran the Empire were all awful, greedy, immoral, selfish individuals -– they weren’t. It is simply that the nature of empire is fall back on the human condition for its vision of the world. It is a vision of winners vs. losers, rich vs. poor, oppressor vs. the underling, economic domination vs. economic justice, slave owners vs. enslaved, the self-righteous vs. truly just, the proud vs. the humble, the landed vs. the landless, the dominant sex vs. the “inferior” sex, the privileged vs. the deprived. It is based on scarcity…the mistaken idea that there isn’t enough for everyone, so I’m going to grab what I can.

Where do you see the signs of empire today? I’m quite sure that Vladimir Putin has fantasy-filled dreams of restoring Russia to its former grandeur…he started with Crimea and Ukraine four years ago. I imagine that President Xi Jinping of China, now that he has swept aside the nuisance of term limits, has visions of even greater expansion of China’s reach into Africa and the developing world as a dominant economic player.

And what about us? The Romans in Jesus’ day had military outposts along the Rhine and the Danube, out to the Atlantic coasts of Spain and France, and they had troops stationed in Africa down to the Sahara. And of course, they occupied the Jewish homeland and Egypt. We have bases in Afghanistan, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Djibouti, Greece, Israel, Italy, Germany, Greenland, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Niger, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. And we spend a lot to support our military. In fact, we spend more than the next seven countries combined -– that’s more than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, the UK, and Japan combined. I’m not saying this is right or wrong, I’m just saying that it is. What do we say about a nation whose leader who cuts taxes for the rich, increases military spending, and who wants to pay for part of the huge deficit spending it causes by getting rid of health coverage for needy children?

I think the case can be made that we human beings tend to create empires when we want something that someone else has, whether it is land, wealth, natural resources, political or military influence. The Chinese have appeared in Africa with the promise of development aid and economic prosperity, and their influence is massive, but their motives are not egalitarian. And it isn’t too far off from what the U.S. has done in Central and South America since the Monroe Doctrine of the 1820s.

Perhaps this litany has made you wonder why God so loved the world. I know that the world looks good here in Fort Collins. It looks good to those of us who have good jobs, a roof over our heads, time to go on vacation, some money saved for retirement, enough to pay our own student loans and enough to help our kids with college costs. But how ever beautiful our bubble, Fort Collins is not the whole world. Is the world such a benign place? Maybe that litany makes you think that God’s world actually needs saving.

If you see Jesus as an opponent of empire and a proclaimer of an alternative vision of a commonwealth of righteousness, peace, and economic justice, then perhaps the prayer you heard in today’s scripture is an anti-imperial prayer. See if this replacement of “world” with “empire” makes sense: “They do not belong to the empire, just as I do not belong to the empire…As you have sent me into the empire, so I have sent them into the empire.”[4] The world that John’s Jesus talks about is the world of empire. The world of injustice. The world of dog-eat-dog. And the kingdom of God provides the only vital and viable alternative vision to those elements of the “normal” course of human civilization.

You and I don’t have to be part of that imperial world…Jesus has invited us to be part of the liberating reign of God. It takes time; progress is slow and often takes two steps forward and one step back, but don’t give up hope. You and I probably won’t be here to see the kingdom come into its fullness, and that’s why we have the church, which will continue to work for the reign of God long after you and I are gone.

I close with the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the guiding lights of the UCC in the 20th century:
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. 
“Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. 
“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.”

The world needs saving. The world needs us working together. So may you keep hope, keep faith, and keep love. Amen.
 
© 2018 Hal Chorpenning, all rights reserved. Please contact [email protected] for permission to reprint, which will typically be granted for non-profit uses.
 


[1] Mark 14.36, cf. Luke 22.42, Matthew 26.38-39
[2] Ernst Käsemann, quoted in Gerald Sloyan, John. (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988) p. 196.
[3] John 3.17
[4] cf. John 17.16 &18

The Rev. Jake Miles Joseph
Plymouth Congregational UCC
Fort Collins, Colorado
Immigrant Rights Sunday: May 6, 2018 (Lectionary)
 
 Will you pray with me? May the humble words of my mouth, the meditations of our collective hearts, and the call to justice we all feel be good and pleasing to you, O God, our freedom-maker and liberator. Amen

Before I really preach this morning on one of the most pressing, alarming, and hurtful subjects of our era, that of Immigrant Rights and Justice, I want to first reflect briefly on the delicate art of being an ally. It takes a lot of intentional work to be in solidarity with a community of the oppressed, from a position of privilege, without speaking over or for that community. The risk is to overshadow those whose voices are already marginalized.
 
As a parallel to illuminate what I mean by the art of being an “ally,” let me offer an example of a time a place when privilege wasn’t checked.
 
One day back in seminary, the school I attended decided to have “dialogues” on the issue of LGBTQ rights in the church. Sounds straight forward enough on the surface, right? They brought in panelists from what they termed as “fair and balanced” on both “sides” of the “issue.” [I always love being an issue.] The person they brought in to speak on behalf of the LGBTQ community, however, wasn’t an LGBTQ community member himself, but rather a well-meaning retired United Methodist Bishop who had a strange warming of the heart after his retirement towards his disenfranchised gay church members. He spoke so beautifully from the heart (not to take that away from him) and maybe, I must admit, related better as an advocate to the mostly straight, conservative audience than one of us out people like me might have been able to do; but something did not feel right. You know that feeling that something isn’t right in your gut? It is the feeling you get when someone does not name that they are simply an ally, a co-traveler who, while speaking, doesn’t have the first-person experience of the oppressed community. I never forgot that feeling and promised myself to never do the same to others in oppressed communities. It was a hard lesson on social justice advocacy to always stop and check privilege. He forgot to check his privilege at the door.
 
So today, I want to start by checking my own privilege. While I am the son of an immigrant from Canada (certainly not a difficult story… although we struggle to find good Maple Syrup in this country), the great-grandson of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe (a distant story), and I married a beautiful man with his own harrowing immigration story to tell from Venezuela, my efforts to speak on this issue, as passionate as I am, are that of ally and solidarity force. Even Gerhard’s story isn’t mind to tell. It is his alone.
 
I know I am preaching to the choir today, so if you remember nothing else from this sermon remember to be careful as an ally not to silence or overshadow. As the church working on this issue, that is one of the most important reminders we all need as advocates. We are there to support the community, but not to take over the justice movement. The UCC is particularly guilty of this.
 
The most powerful stories don’t come from us allies (even if we are necessary for the struggle), but from those whose immigration stories are their own. It is only the immigrants themselves who can share the experience the horrors of injustice, the palpable and real impacts of racism and cultural supremacy wrapped in the light veneer of “immigration policy,” and the experiences of indignity, suspicion, fear, micro-aggressions, and overt racism that continue even after citizenship ceremonies are well in the rearview mirror.
 
Having said that, let me see if by relying on Scripture today, I might do a little more than simply preach to you as a progressive choir.
 
Anyone remember CliffsNotes? They were these little pamphlets that summarized books for those students that… well didn’t want to do all of the reading. Do CliffsNotes still exist? I remember being the student who would get so upset when others would use CliffsNotes instead of reading the whole book. I was sort of the teachers’ pet. So, given my dislike of CliffsNotes, what I am doing to say today might surprise you! Our Scripture except for today is basically Jesus’ CliffsNotes (JesusNotes) to the entire Bible and Christian faith! Yes, today, we just read a CliffsNotes summary of the point of all of this religion business! Let’s hear it again:
 
“As the Father [The Creator] has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  I do not call you servants[a] any longer, because the servant[b] does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from [the Creator]. “This is my commandment [note the singular rather than plural tense], that you love one another as I have loved you. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
 
What is the main message here if this is Jesus’ shortcut to Christian faith and living? Yes, love each other already, people, and don’t treat anyone as a servant. Amen?
 
Now, I am not the only one who has seen this Scripture and seen God’s CliffsNotes in it for the Bible. Love each other already, people, and don’t treat anyone as a servant. A whole movement of Black, LGBT/Queer, and Latinx Liberation theologians have been saying this is the point of it all for decades. The arc of the universe bends towards love, towards freedom/ liberation, and towards justice for the oppressed: the migrant, the immigrant, the poor.
 
Between all of the complexities and contradictions of the Bible (and there are countless of them), if we really look at the driving force of Scripture—it always comes back to the least of these, the forgotten, the excluded. God has a preference for the poor and the oppressed. This is an undeniable common thread through all of Scripture. Our religion is a religion of and for the oppressed, the migrant, the immigrant, the depressed, and the lonely. Our job is to align and support.
 
Last Saturday, Professor James H. Cone of Union Seminary in New York City died. He was part of this movement of liberation theologians who see religion and scripture as a vehicle primarily for an arc of liberation, hope for the oppressed, and God’s preferential treatment for the poor and those in most need of love. He was the guiling light in North America for this movement for decades. Dr. Cone will be very missed in the world of ministers and theological thinkers.
 
I want you to hear some of Cone's words on the matter today on Immigrant Justice Sunday:
 
“God's reality is not bound by one manifestation of the divine in Jesus but can be found wherever people are being empowered to fight for freedom. Life-giving power for the poor and the oppressed is the primary criterion that we must use to judge the adequacy of our theology, not abstract concepts.” 
― James H. Cone, Black Theology and Black Power
 
“And yet the Christian gospel is more than a transcendent reality, more than “going to heaven when I die, to shout salvation as I fly.” It is also an immanent reality—a powerful liberating presence among the poor right now in their midst, “building them up where they are torn down and propping them up on every leaning side.” The gospel is found wherever poor people struggle for justice, fighting for their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
― James H. Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree
 
“The scandal is that the gospel means liberation, that this liberation comes to the poor, and that it gives them the strength and the courage to break the conditions of servitude.” 
― James H. Cone, God of the Oppressed[1]
 
That last quote in particular should give us pause today, “The scandal is that the gospel means liberation…and it gives the poor strength to break the conditions of servitude.” I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from [the Creator].
 
We have all probably heard a lot of talk these past years about the doctrine of America First. It is a statement about our understanding of God and what God promises and to whom. “America First” is a theological/religious statement about how we understand the nature of God’s promises and ourselves. It is a false prosperity theology and a wicked and even evil doctrine of servitude. It does not see or understand the world, and our culturally, artistically, economically, linguistically, musically, and religiously beautiful neighbors/equals in Central and South America, in particular, as friends. It is not a theology of friends but one of servitude. But I have called you friends… I am giving you these commands, so you may love one another.  
 
If in our passage today, the embodiment of God, Emmanuel, God-with-Us can say that we are friends… with the creative energy that sparked existence, that the love of God is for all, that common life shared is the goal (the CliffsNotes of God), then certainly we should do the same with our policies. A public policy of friendship.
 
With all of our wealth and privilege, the question ought to be: What more can we do to support, ally with, lift-up, check our privilege, inspire, collaborate with our neighbors?
 
I married a man from Venezuela—a country I have never been to and really cannot visit with him because of the violence, food shortages, and dangers. I know the struggles his family faces there, and I know the feeling of helplessness we have to do anything about it. I also know that they are proud, brilliant, educated, beautiful people with deep faith, family roots, and yet still hope. Even if we don’t see them as friends, they still see us as their neighbor.  
 
I cannot take “America First” rhetoric seriously as a Christian.  God says that all of God’s people come first—so what are we waiting for?
 
Why is friendship so hard? Why is selfishness so easy? Why is scarcity winning over faith? Why aren’t we doing much about it?
 
We are in deep theological waters, friends. With immigration policy being used as a tool of racism. With the church, most of it in America, rolling over and playing dead, yesterday almost 60,000-90,000 hard working Hondurans and Central Americans lost their protected status for no reason, we have been playing politics with the lives of young dreamers—God has a word for us…and its harsh!
 
“The gospel is found wherever poor people struggle for justice, fighting for their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -James Cone
 
As those called to accompany, not to overtake, may we check our privilege as individual to see if we might reawaken a Gospel of love, of mutuality, of hope, and of selflessness in our time. What an interesting word: Selflessness. This is the only Gospel we have. We can’t choose another one, and it is time to take it (even the CliffsNotes version) seriously.
Amen

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/17438.James_H_Cone