The ordination of the Philadelphia 11.
August 4, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Anything happen lately? Anything?
What a crazy month we had in July.
Computer systems world wide took a hit when Crowdstrike made a big IT boo boo. As a former IT exec, I can tell you that was one very uncomfortable couple of days for those folks. Errors happen though – we are human after all – not machines.
In politics, there was the historic stepping back of the current President from the race, endorsing his Vice President. Which, as it happens, is also an historic event – the first woman of color to be a presumptive nominee of a major political party. If successful, she would be the first woman to win both the popular vote, and that rather archaic electoral college vote, and take the oath of office as President of the United States. The possibility itself is something to celebrate no matter who you may be voting for in November.
But wait, there’s more…
Over on the other side of the Atlantic there was a boat parade down a river. Not just any river mind you, or any boat parade either. It was the Siene. It was Paris. And, it was the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics! Did you know that a member of our diocese is competing in it? It is Molly Reckford, daughter of our diocesan CFO Sam and his wife Susan. She has been competing in the women’s lightweight double sculls event with her rowing partner, Michelle Sechser. Go Team USA!
And, July 29th marked the 50th Anniversary of the Philly 11 – those incredible women who followed Christ’s call and put themselves forward for ordination to the priesthood, against the canons of the Episcopal Church – pushing us more toward God’s dream for us all – that Beloved Community where all are truly welcome. Thanks be to God for them, and for the brave bishops who ordained them!
But, while many celebrated all of these major news events, they also brought out the darker side of the human condition. In the case of the Vice President, racist and sexist tropes spewed out of all corners of social media, and even from the opposing candidates themselves –calling her a DEI hire, not “likeable,” etc. It’s the same stuff women have heard for all of time. And, that’s not to mention accusations by the other VP candidate about women who don’t bear children. I know some are calling that last bit weird, but weird doesn’t even begin to cover it.
And with the Olympics, the high speed rail system was sabotaged hours before the Opening Ceremony. French authorities also report that they managed to thwart four other terrorist attacks as the games approached. Not only that, but our abuse of creation has made the Siene polluted, and may not be suitable for an event scheduled there.
As for the Philly 11, even now – 50 years later, a female colleague of mine was chastised by a parishioner for offering a prayer last Sunday for the anniversary, saying “Leave the woke at home. I don’t want to hear about women’s ordination.” Ummm…really? Now, if it were me, I might have offered some snark back, like “Did you happen to notice that your priest is a woman?” But, this particular priest took the higher ground and was far more pastoral. God bless her. Of course, this incident is nothing compared to the sexual harassment, abuse, and employment discrimination that even today women clergy experience.
And then there is the horrific news of the shooting of Sonya Massay by a Sheriff’s Deputy in Springfield, Illinois. She had called 911, and body cam footage by one of the deputies shows she clearly had some mental trouble. And then, she was dead – shot by Deputy Sean Grayson, all because she did as they told her to do – turn off the boiling pot of water on the stove. Apparently, it is dangerous to even call 911 for help in the US if you are a person of color.
So, while there is much to celebrate – there is also much to lament. Amidst this inability for us to live in peace, to respect the dignity of others, perhaps the whole world needs to hear the texts this morning from the letter to the church in Ephesus, and from 2 Samuel.
Starting with the story from 2 Samuel, it is hard to understand what is going on if you didn’t hear what preceded it, as those who were in church did last Sunday. Here is a brief recap: King David rapes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his army officers. When she becomes pregnant, he has the officer killed in battle, then takes her as his own.
And now to this morning’s episode on the David Channel – God sends the prophet Nathan to David, and he tells the king a story about a rich man who does a terrible thing. The man kills a beloved lamb of a poor person, for whom it was like a part of the family (any one with a pet understands this), rather than using one of his own flock to feed a guest. David is horrified, and demands to know the identity of this evil man. Nathan then says – You are the man!
What a story! But wait…there’s more…
Let us turn to the letter to the Ephesians…We began hearing parts of this letter back on July 14th, and we will move through all six chapters, until the last Sunday in August. I believe that this letter, who some attribute to St. Paul, and others argue it was not his writing, is as plain a statement on what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ as exists anywhere. In fact, you hear me quote from it every single Sunday (or at least paraphrase it)!
“… walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Does that sound familiar?
So let us listen again, and perhaps more closely, to this part of the epistle to the Ephesians that we heard today: “I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” Then the author continues, “…each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift…The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” And finally, he adds “speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way…into Christ.”
Truth be told, this part of this letter is a sermon itself. Nothing more need be said. However, you are not that lucky.
Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing one another in love, and speaking truth in love. It sounds simple, but is it really?
It certainly was not for King David. And given the news of late, humanity today is missing the mark as well.
But you know who understood this?
Nathan. Not the purveyor of fantastic hot dogs, the prophet of God. He, of course, lived centuries before this letter was ever written, centuries before God became incarnate and walked among us. And yet this good and faithful prophet answered God’s call to right this wrong. He spoke truth in love to King David – and that was a dangerous thing to do. David could have had him killed for accusing him. That is sadly the nature of prophet work, and Nathan knew it. He knew that as God’s voice in the world, he was going to have to say things that were difficult for others, particularly those in power, to hear.
And, as the author of Ephesians made clear, this difficult prophet work is what we are called to do as followers of Jesus Christ. United to one another in baptism, the author reminds us that we are called to speak truth in love, humility and with patience, noting that we will all do this as we are each equipped by the Holy Spirit: as apostles, or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors, or teachers.
Now, you might be thinking – I am not any of those things. I am a software engineer or a stay-at-home dad, a student or a soccer coach, a nurse or a waiter, a lawyer or a florist – or any of the other thousands of ways we define who we are by what we do for much of our waking hours.
But if you listen to that letter – you see that all of this is grounded in a single identity that we all share as followers of Jesus. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.” And as one body, united in Jesus Christ, we are called into other roles beyond what it is we do for a living or for diversion. We are all called to be apostles, or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors, or teachers.
You – you are called to this. And Christ needs you to answer that call.
Because we know that there are beloved lambs of God being slaughtered physically, spiritually, and emotionally in this world – whenever they are abused, neglected, oppressed, or killed. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, the poor, the immigrant and refugee, the mentally ill, the physically challenged, those who believe differently than those in power, and more. These are lambs of the great shepherd who weeps at what has been done to them – to God’s beloved children.
And in no less a way than Nathan, we are the prophets being sent to speak out against injustice, to be a voice for the voiceless, to tear down the walls of hate, to be repairers of the breach.
As followers of Jesus, we are his apostles – which means the ones sent. Sent by him to love as he loved – to serve as he served – to heal as he healed.
We are called to be pastors – to care for one another and for the stranger. To offer no less than our ministry of presence to those in need.
We are called to be teachers – to share the stories of our faith, to raise up children in the knowledge and love of Christ.
And yes, we are also called to be evangelists. Now – this is the one that often has we Episcopalians fidgeting in our pews. That’s because the word Evangelist has gotten corrupted by some to where it evokes images of hateful rhetoric rather than speaking any truth in love. But we must not cede this role to something so foreign to the teachings of Jesus, particularly the heresy of Christian Nationalism. We must take the E-word back and be the evangelists Christ called us to be – those who in humility and love spread the good news of God’s unconditional love.
We, followers of Jesus Christ, must be our apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist selves, and make it absolutely clear that we will not be silent.
For like Nathan, like Jesus, God calls us to humility and love, not power and hate.
So let us “lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called,” taking a stand against injustice, lifting up the marginalized, breaking the chains of oppression. And most especially, calling out the blasphemous idea of Christian Nationalism that has sought power, not humility, and brought into the world hate, rather than love.
Folks, this isn’t political, or woke, or whatever else people want to call it. It is being who we are all called to be as followers of Jesus. It is being who we are as modern day Nathans – a prophetic voice for our time. And like those Philly 11 – there may be threats of violence against you. You may be spit on, hated, yelled at, and more. But that didn’t stop them, and it didn’t Jesus, whom they followed. Let it not stop us now.
In the documentary about the Philly 11, one of them said “It felt like the church was rising to the occasion. The people of God were being the people of God.” [ It was ]“Dangerous, but the right thing to do.”
At the funeral for one of them, the Rev. Alison Creek, anoterh of the Philly 11, the Rev. Carter Heyward, said “Alison would want me to insist that the Philadelphia ordination was a wake up call to get moving, and do what Jesus of Nazareth did, stand with the marginalized, and embody courage, in the face of cruelty and lies, and bullying and violence.”
Mother Alison, God rest her soul, was right, and I think today she would remind us that it is our call too.
So let us remember what Nathan said to David – “You are the one!” That was an accusation.
Jesus says to us – “You are the one!” That is an invitation to our call if we live it, or an accusation if we do not.
The choice of its meaning, of the meaning of our very lives is ours to make. Let us make the right one. Let us get moving and follow Jesus.
Amen.
The audio was not recorded on Sunday. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
August 4, 2024
The Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost – Track 1 – Proper 13
1st Reading – 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
2nd Reading – Ephesians 4:1-16
Gospel – John 6:24-35
