Tag: bible

A Step Toward Martial Law

Pat Liberty

At the time of this writing the National Guard is flooding Washington, DC and supplanting the authority of local law enforcement. This is happening at the direction of the occupant. There is so much wrong with this action that it is hard to know where to start.

First, a few facts. In 2024 violent crime was trending down in all areas. According to the statistics of the Washington, DC police department, violent crime saw a 35% decrease in 2024. The number of homicides also decreased from 64 to 48 in 2024. Carjackings have also seen a significant decline compared to six consecutive years of increases. The number of carjackings was 498, nearly half of the average of the preceding six years.

In other words, the facts don’t match the actions. This is nothing new for the occupant. He regularly disregards the facts and the constitution to continue his unlawful and outrageous power grabs. He invoked the Home Rule Act to take federal control of the city.

The Home Rule Act is different from Martial Law but is a stop on the same train. According to Time Magazine, “…the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, gives the President of the United States the authority to commandeer DC’s Police department in ‘conditions of an emergency nature.’ Attorney General Pam Bondi is now in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department, he said.” Now there is a truly terrifying fact. Pam Bondi would fail at being in charge of a one car funeral.

The Home Rule act grants a municipality a degree of self-governance and autonomy within the state’s legal framework. Martial law, on the other hand, is the imposition of military rule over a civilian population, typically in times of emergency or crisis, and involves the suspension of normal civil law and governance. It is unclear what the limits of the National Guard will be in DC and whether local law enforcement will retain any authority.  Under the Home Rule Act, local control is balanced with federal oversight. This does not match the rhetoric of the occupant.

As if this is not enough to cause outrage, the occupant is talking about expanding the National Guard (and perhaps military) to cities like Los Angeles, Baltimore and Oakland (Time Magazine). It appears to be only a matter of time before the occupant begins declaring Martial Law in specific locales with an eye toward expansion into significant geographic regions, if not the whole country.

Martial law replaces civilian authority with military authority. It is declared in times of war, rebellion or national disaster. Washington, DC does not meet the criteria. Martial Law is declared when civilian authority has ceased to function, is completely absent, or is completely ineffective (Office of Justice Programs, USDOJ). Again, Washington DC does not meet any of these criteria.  Martial Law cannot be used as long as civilian authority continues to function. The function and limit of authority of the National Guard in Washington, DC is unclear. It appears to be a smash up between Martial Law and the Home Rule Act.

In New Testament times, the issue of human rights was defined by whether or not someone was a Roman citizen. Roman citizens had special status and were protected from scourging, crucifixion, having their land seized or being sold into slavery. Jews had no such protection. They were largely left alone as long as they paid their taxes and knuckled under to the general agenda of Roman rule. They got into trouble, however, because they refused to bow to Ceaser as a God or worship any other Roman official. This was considered treason and Jews were punished by the forfeiture of their land, scourged, crucified or sold into slavery.

It is an example (one of many throughout history) of peoples being marginalized because they do not belong to an occupying force, or refused to obey an occupying force. The suspension or eradication of individual rights and personal autonomy are similar. The concept of human rights and social justice in our time, however, is not mirrored in biblical times. That said, it is important to note that only 5-10% of people in the Roman Empire were Roman Citizens. That means that the majority of the population was subject to the whims of Roman Rule and Roman Law, which clearly favored its own citizens. What is similar from Roman times to ours is the usurping of personal agency to an occupying force.

Jesus’ response to Roman authority often got him into trouble. He refused to bow to any Roman God. He regularly disobeyed Roman rule if it conflicted with the rule of Yahweh and held himself and his followers to higher standards. He was ultimately crucified under Pontius Pilate because he posed a threat to the Roman political system. Throughout the Roman empire the voices of dissent were silenced, often by brutal force or death. Still, Jesus and his followers held to the vision of the Realm of God. Jesus viewed Roman authority as second to the authority of God who desired peace, justice and shalom for all people.  

The time is now to make our ultimate loyalty known and to stand against the rising tide of fascism and the erosion of human rights.  

It’s Not What You Think

Pat Liberty

The Easter sermon from Ledyard Congregational Church, Ledyard, CT

Though the details vary from Gospel to Gospel, it is clear that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection.  And it’s not what you think.  Unlike other religious leaders of the time, Jesus had women in his intimate circle.  They are hidden in the stories, often without names but they are there. But here, Mary is named and known. History has made Mary Magdalene an unsavory woman, but there is not a shred of historic evidence to suggest that this is true. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that Magdala may not even have been a real place. The name will probably stick, because calling her the “other Mary” doesn’t seem all that helpful, but it would be good if she lost the undeserved reputation.

The Easter event, however we understand it, begins in darkness. Before the sun started to tug at the edge of night, a time so quiet you could hear the trees breathe, that is where Easter begins. But the darkness was more than the absence of light. It was also the presence of fear, bewilderment, and a deep sense of uncertainty. Frederick Buechner called it “the darkness of the resurrection itself, that morning when it was hard to be sure what you were seeing.” Was it really an angel sitting in the unlit tomb? Were those shadows in the corner really grave clothes? The quiet stranger lingering outside, who seemed somehow vaguely familiar.

“Early in the morning, while it was still dark” is where Easter begins– with a sense of being lost and a profound absence of certainty. The earliest followers of Jesus had left home and life and family for the sake of this rabbi… and now it seemed it was all for naught. They stumbled around confused and afraid in the half light on that third day after Jesus’ crucifixion.  

I find that hopeful, because most of the time I don’t have it, whatever “it” happens to be all figured out. And for over 2000 years people have been trying to codify, explain and expound on the Easter event. And 2000 years later “it” has not been all figured out.

All the celebration and trumpets and flowers and alleluias came a few hundred years later. The first Easter was very tentative.

Mary Magdalene’s journey to the tomb was rooted in sadness but in her going to the grave, at great risk to herself, she also bore witness to Jesus’ teaching that love is stronger than death, and perfect love casts out fear. And perfect love is not love without error; it is love that trusts its source.  Mary’s love for Jesus was greater than her fear of what might happen to her if she trusted her heart. It is often in such heartbreak that resurrection begins.

And the Easter moment comes for her when she recognizes Jesus; there are few details given in any of the gospel accounts.  We are given just enough to discern a truth, even though it is not a logical event.

It is a consequence of modernity that we think in linear terms, the dawn of movies and other recording equipment has changed how we understand reality.  The resurrection stories, THIS resurrection story is not intended to be a movie script.  The truth of the story goes beyond the words recorded and it’s not what we think. 

Any way you look at it, that is a mighty fragile beginning for a religion that has lasted over 2000 years now, and yet that is where so many of us continue to focus our energy: on that tomb, on that morning, on what did or did not happen there and how to explain it to anyone who does not happen to believe it too.

Resurrection does not square with anything else we know about physical human life on earth. No one has ever seen it happen, which is why it helps me to remember that no one saw it happen on Easter morning either.

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote; “The resurrection is the one and only event in Jesus’ life that was entirely between him and God. There were no witnesses whatsoever. No one on earth can say what happened inside that tomb, because no one was there. They all arrived after the fact. Two of them saw clothes. One of them saw angels. Most of them saw nothing at all because they were still in bed that morning, but as it turned out that did not matter because the empty tomb was not the point.”

The point is that somewhere along the line they recognized him in the faces of those he loved when he walked this earth.  They recognized him in each other’s eyes when they spoke the words he gave them, when they remembered that following Jesus on the way was the only thing that mattered, and that Jesus was the way and showed the way.

The resurrection became real in a different way for all of them. God used the stuff of their lives as the raw material in which to make the resurrection real. 

John Shelby Spong, the late bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, suggests in his book, The Easter Moment, that it was the remembering and the telling, the scared and sacred sharing that transformed this group of confused fisher folk into a mighty witness to an even mightier truth. They recognized the risen Christ in their midst, were strengthened by sharing a meal in his name. 

And IN TIME they found their voices and their courage and carried on.  The truth of the empty tomb became real when God’s loving power was felt in their hearts and in their gathering. 

They heard the words and followed the simple directions from the angel, but it didn’t become real until they had some time to sit with it. 

We hear the words and understand them, but Easter does not become real until our own lives are transformed by it. 

Easter is always a moment that changes all other moments.

We don’t think too much about eternal life until someone we love dies.  We don’t think much about the promise of God’s sustaining love until we are ill and think we might die.   We may not think much about hope until it eludes us; we may not think much about joy until it returns to us on the heels of despair. 

The promise becomes real in the stuff of our own lives.  And it happens again and again as the stuff changes. 

Albert Schweitzer wrote, “To those who would follow the risen Christ, whether wise or simple, he will reveal himself in the conflicts and the sufferings which they shall pass through in his fellowship.  And as an ineffable mystery they shall learn in their own experience who he is.” 

But Easter is never just about us…it’s also about the passions at work in Jesus’ earthly life…his love for those no one else paid any attention to; his willingness to speak truth to power and lay bare the corruption that masqueraded as faithfulness.  Jesus was all about an upside-down realm where the last were first and the first were last.

Resurrection is at once deeply personal and totally communal…as we mark the Easter holiday as a point in time…it is not the anniversary of an event…it is the reminder of new life born of discipleship and community.

The resurrection stories are a mix and mess of mystery and human bewilderment, and we do well to remember it is not the empty tomb that made believers of them.  It was their fellowship with one another, their shared doubt and shared faith…it was their growing awareness of his presence as they lived the life he showed them.

And so for us…Christ is present in our fragmented lives…calling us to wholeness.

Christ is present in our sadness and grief, unfolding a way to healing.

Christ is present in the midst of all that comes to an end, with a promise of presence and unfailing love

Christ is present n the struggle for peace, going on ahead of us to show the way.

Christ is present in the yearning for justice, calling us to repentance and lives made new.

Christ is present in our fear of death, calling us to the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ

Christ is present in our fear of life, saying follow me.

Saved?

Pat Liberty

In one of his cockamamie speeches, number 47 said he felt he was” saved by God to make America great.” Of all the vomit-worthy things he says on a regular basis, this one caught my attention.

There are many ways to understand what it means to be “saved.” There are many theologies of salvation. Some believe that salvation comes once and for all in a specific moment. You might hear someone say, “I was saved on July 10th” or whatever date. It is cited as an experience of being born again. Others see it as a lifetime process of continuing to grow in the grace and image of God. They cite no specific moment but believe in the presence of the Holy helping shape and divine their lives. These are just two of the theologies of salvation. Gallons of ink have been spilled defining what it means to be “saved.”

What most of the definitions have in common, however, is this: one is saved for the purposes of God. The life of the faithful disciple is to embody the presence of the holy in one’s daily life. One labors for the things that are central to the message of Scripture. These are care and concern for the poor, marginalized and disenfranchised, working to undo unjust systems that persecute those with less power, creating the realm of God on earth, a realm where justice, peace and enough for all is the norm.

Salvation is never understood for self-aggrandizement. It is not to shore up any political or social system. In fact, God’s realm undoes political and social systems in favor of an equal distribution of goods and services to all people. In God’s realm there is no underclass, there are no second-class citizens and there is no mega-wealth. In ancient times it was believed (and I think they were onto something) that there was limited wealth. If someone was wealthy, it was because someone else was poor. The wealthy literally took the resources from someone else.

We know now that CEO’s make 290 times as much as a typical worker. In 1965, they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker. And while everyone has been griping about inflation, the truth is that corporations including grocery store chains, department stores like Wal-Mart and petroleum companies have posted record profits for shareholders. Meanwhile their workers qualify for SNAP benefits and their children qualify for reduced price lunches. The minimum wage has not been raised since July of 2009 when it was raised from $6.55 to $7.25. In the intervening years the cost of living has increased by roughly 47%. Do the math. These financial statistics do not embody the values of the gospel and the proposed policies of #47 do not bode well for the poor.

When one is “saved” they embody the fruits of salvation; justice, mercy, compassion, love for others, economic justice, respect for God’s creation and radical welcome. None of that is on #47’s radar. Salvation is an invitation to walk with the Holy One in humility and faithfulness. It is a discipleship journey that lasts a lifetime.

Tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportation of immigrants, persecution of the LGBTQI community, systematic voter suppression, lack of redress from the legal system, discrimination in employment, housing and lending and the normalization of prejudice, violence and hatred are not gospel values. They do not embody salvation, no matter how you define it or what your theology is.

It is heresy for #47 to claim God as part of his plan to destroy America. God is nowhere to be found in his rhetoric or his actions. Those of us who strive to live into gospel values, whether we are church goers are not, have a responsibility to speak out and speak up to anyone and everyone who will listen.  Part of the reason #47 has been able to spread his MAGA right wing political and religious bullshit is because the theological moderates and liberals have been too long silent about his actions. Take to social media, talk about your faith, your theology and what you are doing to live the gospel. Repost this blog to educate people about the nature and purpose of salvation. Write letters of protest to #47 and tell him you are outraged by his hubris and heretical speech. Organize a demonstration. Put signs on your lawn. Make your revulsion known.

More than 50% of the people may have voted for this ego-maniacal narcissistic excuse of a human being, but we are a strong minority and not a small one at that. His tropes worked to unite the right, now our tropes need to unite the left. Find your voice and speak up.

Values You Can Take to the Polls

Pat Liberty

This sermon was preached at Ledyard Congregational Church in Ledyard, CT on November 3, 2024.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

“On this hang all the law and the prophets.” You’d think this love business was one of the most important things in the bible. Oh, wait, it is. This command has its roots in Deuteronomy…it is called the Shema.

The words used for love in Hebrew and Greek have nothing to do with our contemporary understanding of love, which focuses on feelings and warm fuzzies. Romantic love dominates the language of love.

The biblical traditions are far richer. In Hebrew the word is hesed. It can mean steadfast love, mercy, lovingkindness and goodness. It also means a covenantal love. It is characterized by great tenderness and consideration towards others. It is fundamentally a love that God has for creatures and one that is embodied in God’s followers

The Greek word is agape. It is considered the highest form of love. It is self-giving, patient, kind and never fails. Agape is the word used in 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on love.

So from both the Judeo and Christian traditions love is held forth as the defining characteristic of God and how God works through humans. Throughout both testaments the central message is God’s enduring love affair with creation and all that is in it. And as God’s followers we strive to embody that love in all we say and do.

This is the cornerstone value that we are to bring to the world. It is a stance that defines everything else. When we come from a place of hesed and agape we are manifesting God’s greatest love.

So, with love as the central value, we are going to look at several scriptures that underscore values that are central to our tradition. Values we can take to the polls.

We begin in Leviticus. Nobody reads Leviticus, it’s like reading the Manhattan Yellow Pages. There are multiple layers of tradition that get sandwiched together and it makes for a tough read. But there are some themes that run through the book and this is one of them from Leviticus 19:33-34. “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

This stance is fundamentally one of compassion and care, justice and wellbeing. It means that however we approach the issue of immigration we need to come from a place of compassion for the stranger. We are far more apt to “other” the alien than we are to welcome them.

Now we go to Jeremiah 29:7. This is after the Israelites were exiled to Babylon and Yahweh says through the prophet Jeremiah, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” God’s word to the Israelites in exile was to not pout and get on with their lives. When we look at those words in relation to the immigrant community in the United States, they take on a rich meaning.

The immigrants who come to the US are by and large some of the hardest working people you will meet. They clean our hospitals and hotels, pick our vegetables and work in slaughterhouses. Not one of my friends has said, “Gee I lost my job at the slaughterhouse ripping the guts out of chickens because some immigrant came and took my job.” It is the stance of love for the alien that needs to inform our politics. Stance becomes action, so where we start matters.

Next we go to Genesis 2: Not a prophet but a prophetic witness about the creation in which we live. In Genesis 1 the narrative is to have dominion over the earth. This has been interpreted as pillage the earth’s resources, use it as a garbage dump, care nothing for the planet. And we see where that is getting us as we teeter on the edge of climate disaster.

Genesis 2 offers a different image that is not nearly as popular. Till the earth and keep it. We are stewards of this great planet. It is ours to use but not abuse. Our stance toward the earth needs to be one of care and conservation, and that needs to inform our politics. How we live day to day matters. The truth is there is enough for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed. We are stewards of limited resources…John McCutheon sings, this earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share, all things in common, all people one…

Next we go to the prophet Isaiah. The book of Isaiah as we have it today came together over a period of about eight hundred years. All of those years were marked by war, four major conflicts that drastically altered the landscape of Israel and Judah. And we know that region remains a tinderbox today.

In the second chapter verses 4 and 5 we read, “He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshare and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore.”

The stance, the value we are to hold in the world is one of peace. Like war, peace must be waged. Being steeped in a stance of peace informs our political commitments. There is something fundamentally wrong when the best economic times are in post war periods. It says something about how our nation’s resources are prioritized. This is a narrative that needs to change for the sake of the earth and for its people.   

Next we go back to Jeremiah, Chapter 29 vss. 12-13. “Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called repairers of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” Repairers of the breach…the breach between the rich and the poor…those for whom the system doesn’t work. 135-140 million people live in poverty. It is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. We are repairers of the breach. Our voice and our vote help to repair the breach when we use it with hesed and agape.

We are to use our vote for those who have no vote; we are the voice for those who have no voice. And the reason they have no vote and no voice is because there have been over 1000 bills introduced across the nation that suppress voting rights, mostly of the poor and people of color.

The love that God has for us is the love we are to have for those whom we will never meet…the poor the disenfranchised, those with no health care, those who live on a minimum wage that hasn’t been raised since 2009, when it went from $6.75 to $7.25. In 1965 CEOs were paid 21 times as much as the typical worker. In 2023 CEOs were paid 290 times the typical worker. What might it look like to the poor when we use our voice and our vote on behalf of those who have no voice and whose votes have been suppressed.

We are repairers of the breach when we address what William Barber calls the five interlocking injustices: systemic racism, poverty, environmental degradation, a war economy, denial of health care and the false distorted narrative of religious nationalism.

Jeremiah says we will make the streets fit to live in again when the streets are safe for all people. And that means elimination of unfair labor practices, being generous in feeding the hungry and giving ourselves to the down and out. The streets will be fit to live in again when hesed and agape love for the stranger and outcast are our way of being in the world. We vote our values as God’s people when we vote hesed and agape. Jurgen Moltmann said, “Those who hope in God can no longer put up with the way things are. Hope is a response to suffering that calls people to action in the present to witness to God’s promises in the future.”

Bishop William Barber used these words to close the Inaugural Prayer breakfast…the words of the great American preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick who penned them during the great depression. I invite you to pray them with me.

God of grace and God of glory, on your people pour your power

Crown your ancient church’s story, bring its bud to glorious flower.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour

Heal your children’s warring madness, bend our pride to your control.

Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.

Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore.

Let the search for your salvation be our glory evermore

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving you whom we adore, serving you whom we adore. Amen.

The Big Picture

Pat Liberty

An excerpt from my sermon October 27, 2024. Preached at Ledyard Congregational Church, Ledyard CT

“A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, wich are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:42-44

Most of the time a sermon on this text goes something like this.  The temple is the equivalent of the church. Jesus notices the widow gives everything; we should be like the widow and be more generous, trusting that God will bless us and provide for us if we are more generous.    

Except, that is not what the text is really about. As Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza suggests, we need to approach the text with a hermeneutic of suspicion, meaning a willingness to question the assumptions we bring to the text.  Like assuming we know what it says and what it means based on previous hearing and teaching.

This text is so frequently used at church budget time that the interpretation that identifies the widow as a model of faithfulness for us is hard to get past, but let’s take a closer look.

First of all, it’s important to remember that the widow is New Testament code language for the poorest of the poor, those most marginalized by a patriarchal society. Second, there is NOTHING in the text, not one word that suggests that Jesus thinks it’s a good thing that this woman put her last two coins into the temple coffers and goes away destitute. Jesus describes her behavior and comments that she gave all she had, but he doesn’t praise her for her behavior.

If we go back to the beginning of the passage, in most Bibles it is subtitled warnings about the Scribes, which suggests the focus is on the temple leaders and not on the widow.  Verse 38 begins with Jesus warning his followers to be aware of those who put on long robes, receive seats of honor, put on a good show of prayers and devour widows’ houses.” 

The role of scribe was important and honorable in the life of the temple. They were learned men whose job was to copy sacred texts, but they also served as lawyers. They had authority to negotiate contracts. They were also a part of the governing council called the Sanhedrin. They had tremendous power in the temple system. And, the religious rulers were in cahoots with Rome in an unholy alliance. Scribes were appointed to settle the estates of widows, who had no legal right to property, and were regularly exploited by these powerful men. Unscrupulous religious leaders and political officials exploited the vulnerability of widows and there was no place for them to go to seek justice, as they had no voice in religious or social structures. Hold that thought.

Jesus is instructing his followers. This is a field trip of sorts to the Temple, showing things not to do…Jesus would later send his followers out to preach to the people. He cautioned them against accumulating wealth, lest they be distracted from their primary role.  They were to trust in God’s Providence as they did God’s will. Any money they were given was to go to the poor. He also constantly warned his own disciples against seeking honor rather than serving others.  Pointing out the ostentatious clothing of the scribes was a way of illustrating that these religious leaders had ceased to care for God’s people.

The greater condemnation that comes to such leaders is calculated on a simple formula: greater knowledge means greater responsibility.  From the one to whom more is given more is expected.

That the scribes failed to be scandalized by the demands Temple worship made on one who had so little is what raised Jesus’ ire.  He neither praises nor condemns the widow; his judgment is on the injustice of the temple system and the lack of compassion for those in need.

Essentially Jesus takes the entire social, religious, economic and political system and goes “BOOM.” He  blows it right out of the water. In order to evaluate a social system we have to ask who benefits from it. In Jesus’ time it was the Scribes, the lawyers. Who is it in our time? The American oligarchs who don’t pay their fair share of taxes? Or is it the legislators we send to congress, who, for the most part, in the time of their tenure become millionaires? How does that happen? What kind of back-room deals do they need to make with the rich and powerful to line their pockets.

Who is victimized by the system? Single moms who work two jobs and have no health insurance. Single dads who fall behind on their child support payments because they don’t make enough to live on. Older Americans who live on Social Security alone and have to choose between paying their utility bill and buying groceries.

Again and again in the gospels we see that what makes a time, a place and a people holy is caring for the poor, the widow the orphan, and the stranger; those whom the world defines as the last the least and the lost.  And Jesus’ harshest words are reserved for the Scribes, whom he calls whited sepulchers. They look okay on the outside, but inside they are filled with death and destruction.

In the realm Jesus brings, everyone has a place at the table. Everyone is part of the community. All people stand on equal ground, because place is defined by God’s welcome and not having things the world deems important.  Jesus’ vision for the religious community and for the social order included understanding equality as something rooted in God and not in the trappings of the world. And for all of his faithfulness to God’s dream for the creation, Jesus was executed as an enemy of the state because he exposed the wickedness and collusion of religious and political leaders.

Jesus bore witness to a time and place where people would seek God and acknowledge God as the author of all that is. Out of that inner faith, that inner conviction, followers would live in faithful, joyful obedience.  It was not an act of volition, of willpower, of thinking the right way.  The in-breaking of God’s realm was rooted in passion for God’s way of being in the world, in faith that was life changing, a vision of success that was dramatically different from the world’s, nothing short of wholesale embrace of the upside-down values of God’s realm.

Jesus’ judgment on the social, religious, political and economic system of his time exposed the system for what it was: rigged by the rich for the sake of the rich. It was a morally and spiritually bankrupt system that failed those for whom God’s realm was most concerned.

Jesus calls attention to the empty prayers offered for the sake of appearance and balances this against the devouring of widows’ houses.  And this is the razor’s edge…Jesus sees their actions as indicative of their faith. Their failures of mission are an expression of their inner emptiness.

The big picture from this story is Jesus’ creating a social order that is committed to justice for the poor. In truth, Jesus talks more about the poor than he does about any other group.

The stewardship that is at issue here is how the system, the establishment, stewards its resources for the benefit of those it is called to serve. 

Gustavo Gutierrez, the founder of Liberation Theology wrote, “the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action but a demand that we go and build a different social order.”

Our ability to be instruments of God bringing faith, hope, light, pardon and joy is about God in our lives and how we live that out in the world, not just through our charity, but through our social activism and political commitments. Faithful actions and deeds are not the source of our salvation but the fruit of it.   We often get the mphasis on the wrong syllABLE, thinking that our good works are the most important thing.  Don’t get me wrong they are important; they become holy when they are expressions of our faith in God and are followed with action in the social arena that works for justice on behalf of those who have no voice.

Beth Moore writes, “When our story is told a century from now-and it will be- how much of the American church ran after idols and delusions, false christs and conspiracies. History will not only fault the pastors for not confronting us with the truth but the congregations who forbade them to.”

This is a moment when our faith commitments need to inform our social, economic, political and religious actions.

Christ is either at the center of those actions, or not. Amen.

Resources:

Myers, Ched. Binding the Strong Man, a Political Reading of Mark’s Gospel

The New Interpreter’s Bible

An Open Letter to JD Vance

Pat Liberty

Dr. Mr. Vance,

Your recent appearance at the Christian nationalist revival tour of Lance Wallnau was comical at best. In your attempt to make a “theological” defense of the GOP’s controversial immigration policies, you demonstrated your complete lack of knowledge regarding sacred scripture.

I offer these comments for your remedial education. In the event that you would like to be educated in a way that has scholarly integrity, I offer to tutor you in both Old and New Testament history, tradition and theology.

First, you posit that, from a Christian perspective one owes the strongest duty to one’s family. I refer you to Matthew 12:46-50. In this pericope Jesus is speaking to the crowds and is interrupted by someone telling him that his mother and his brothers want to speak with him. “Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’”

From this scripture it is clear that Jesus’ understanding of family is not primarily about biology but about discipleship. He claims as family those who are united in striving for peace, justice and hastening the realm of God on earth. In that realm, all will have enough, there will be no war, no greed, no hunger, no suffering.

Your immigration policies are rooted in promulgating human suffering. Deporting individuals who have lived in the US for years to countries where they will face certain death and privation is not a policy, it is a debacle. Yes, our immigration system is broken, but what you propose will visit untold pain on millions of people. It is inhuman and deplorable. How you can claim this is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition shows the depth of your ignorance and lack of compassion.

Second, in Jeremiah 29 the prophet writes to the Israelites who are exiled in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem.

“These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent  from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeroniah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of  Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed  from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of  Shaphan and Geramiah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of  Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said,  ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles  whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses  and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take  wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons,  and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and  daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare  of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on  its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’”

Let me break this down into the simplest of terms so you can understand. The Israelites were exiled to Babylon. Rather than live as an isolated enclave they were encouraged to settle there and work for the welfare of the city to which they were exiled. Surely the immigrants in our midst have worked for the welfare of the American people. They pick our produce, clean our schools and hospitals and hotels. They work in the slaughterhouses that produce our meat and poultry. They often work at the most menial jobs for minimum wage so that we can enjoy our bounteous lifestyle.

I doubt there are many Americans that lament that they were vegetable pickers before the immigrants came.

Immigrants work for the well being of this country in countless ways. They have taken seriously the prophetic words of Jeremiah to seek the welfare of the place where they live. They know that in seeking the welfare of the United States they are also seeking their own welfare.

To see mass deportation as an “immigration policy” is ludicrous. It would be disastrous for our economy, for our food infrastructure and for our communities. We are a nation of immigrants. Unless one is a Native American, they are an immigrant. There are no other options. What you are proposing is making America white again. There is nothing Christian about that.

I suggest that you spend some time learning American history as well as biblical history and theology. It will go a long way toward helping you sound less like the hillbilly you are, though I fear this statement will be seen as an insult to anyone who considers themselves to be a hillbilly.

Whoever You Are…

Pat Liberty

Each Sunday I open worship at the church where I serve as Interim Pastor with these words: “Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.” I never get tired of saying it. Church is (or should be) a place where everyone is welcome. No exceptions.

It never ceases to break my heart when “religious” institutions play judge and jury for populations they deem “sinful.” They proclaim without humility that entire groups of people are going to hell because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning, intersex or asexual/agender. One sweep of their judgmental broom and millions of people are swept into the dustbin of eternal damnation.

This is the antithesis of what Jesus was all about. And, as the most perfect incarnation of God, this hatred is the antithesis of who God is. Jesus hung out with bums and whores, extorting tax collectors, the poorest of the poor, lepers and adulterers. He loved them, healed them and sent them on their way into a new renewed life based on grace instead of fear.

Jesus turned the world upside down by loving those deemed unlovable by the powers that were. His harshest words were reserved for corrupt political leaders and religious poohbahs who colluded with the politicians to make the already difficult life of the poor even more untenable. Jesus never feared speaking truth to power.

Jesus wasn’t afraid of the power of love to change the world. He died trying to show the world what love could do. He was put to death as an enemy of the state, a criminal, whose only fault was sharing the life-giving love of God with those the world called nobodies.

The church today needs a bunch of leaders who love those whom others are so willing to damn to hell. The church needs a bunch of Jesus-like leaders who aren’t afraid to speak truth to power. In short, the church needs to be the radical, life-giving community Jesus intended his followers to be. As the Rev. Dr. William Barber wrote, “We are either chaplains of empire or prophets of God.”

The church needs a few good prophets who are willing to risk seeing what love can do. Prophets are those who see the way of God with such clarity they cannot keep quiet. Prophets are not clergy, though they can be. Prophets are ordinary people called to extraordinary work because of their faith, wisdom, tenacity and courage. It begins and ends with love. If we can manage that, God will lay out the path. Who’s in?

Finding Our Way Through Fear

Pat Liberty

Fear. It’s a universal feeling. Most of us are afraid of something. I don’t mean phobias, like spiders or elevators or heights. I mean clench your gut fear of things like the unknown, death, being alone, getting old and things like that.

What they all have in common is a certain loss of control over life and how we think it is supposed to go. And that’s what makes these other things so scary. These huge fears are things over which we have no control.

Most of the time we can push fears out of our mind, but every now and then they come creeping in and destroy a night of sleep or keep us from focusing on something that needs our attention. Fear generally can make us miserable.

 Fear is a big deal in the bible. It’s one thing we share with people from antiquity. The words “do not fear” or “do not be afraid” appear three hundred and sixty-five times in the bible. That’s one “do not be afraid” for every day of the year. And that’s about the frequency with which we need to hear those words, for there is surely much to be afraid about in this weird and wonderful world of ours.

For the three hundred sixty-five times the bible says do not be afraid, there are a thousand and one things that show us that the truth that God will be with us. That God is with us.

The way home from fear is simply paying attention to what is going on around you.

  • I will be with you…every single day the sun chases away the darkness and light has the final word.
  • I will be with you…there’s a knock at the door and a friend shows up with a meat loaf and the living Christ stands before us in the face of a friend.
  • Spring follows winter and life once again greens the planet and dots it with riots of color in spring buds and flowers. I like to think of it as God painting.
  • That sometimes fleeting feeling of peace that comes out of nowhere in the moments when we most need it. Not for nothing it is called the peace that passes all understanding. We can’t describe it, don’t know how it comes or why it goes, but it is as real as our heartbeat.
  • I will be with you…the gentle exhale that grounds us in the present moment with an assurance that no matter how it all turns out it is going to be okay.
  • There is no place where this life can take us where God is not. Yes, even in the wrenching scenes that cross our tv screens each night, God is there in the relief workers, the first responders, doctors without borders and the pilots who fly the planes dropping food.

When we are paying attention to what is going on around us we are bathed in grace. Everywhere we look is the reminder that God is as close as our slightest whisper. All of our senses conspire to remind us that what goes on around us every day is miraculous.

The daffodils poking out of the ground. The moldy smell of leaves making their way into the cycle of life one more time. The feel of sunshine on your face after days of rain. The clasp of a friend’s hand in our moments of deepest loneliness. The holy silence that binds us to one another when there are no words. The sacred tears that slip down our cheeks in moments too wonderful or too terrible to tell.

We will still be left with unanswered and unanswerable questions, but somehow they are beaten back down to size and made manageable when we look around and realize everything is grace. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”

Frederick Buechner wrote, “Listen to your life, see it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness, touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.”   

Good is the Flesh by Brian Wren

Pat Liberty

Good is the flesh that the Word has become,

good is the birthing, the milk in the breast,

good is the feeding, caressing and rest,

good is the body for knowing the world,

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Good is the body for knowing the world,

sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,

feeling, perceiving, within and around,

good is the body, from cradle to grave,

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

Good is the body, from cradle to grave,

growing and aging, arousing, impaired,

happy in clothing, or lovingly bared,

good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,

Good is the flesh that the word has become.

Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,

longing in all, as in Jesus, to dwell,

glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,

good is the body, for good and for God,

Good is the flesh that the word has become.