January 27, 2019: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we stare into history of hate in one of its most brutal expressions and pledge to never forget what has happened. And, this past Monday our nation paused to remember a man who changed us, challenged us, engaged us to be a better people – to free this nation from the sin of racism. As we celebrated the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I was reminded of the summer of 2017, when I joined with thousands of clergy colleagues from all across the country to stand up for justice, give voice to the oppressed, and make it clear that we will not be silent in the face of hate. It was the 1,000 Ministers March, and the date was August 28th, chosen by the National Action Network, which organized it, as it was the 54thAnniversary of the “Dream” speech of Dr. King, and appropriately the day began with a rally near the national park dedicated to his memory.
I was able to spend some time at the memorial, and felt it so very appropriate that the sculpture of this modern day prophet loomed so very large, and its unfinished appearance a visceral reminder that the work he died for is still unfinished to this day – the dream is yet unfulfilled.
And so I watched on Monday as our nation’s current leaders placed a wreath at the base of this statue, because the imagery was profound. These two men, the President & Vice-President, endowed with much earthly power, appeared so small in the shadow of a monument dedicated to one who was filled with a greater power than they, and who used that power in service to others. And as I watched this, I thought about the gospel and the epistle of St. Paul to the church in Corinth that we heard this morning.
Jesus, after being baptized and spending time in the wilderness considering all that lay before him, returns to his old stomping grounds of Galilee, and begins teaching in the synagogues. He ends up in the place where he grew up, Nazareth, and goes to what was likely the synagogue he attended as a boy. He reads from the scroll given him, from Isaiah, this passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he basically said “Folks – don’t go praying for all that to happen someday, because if you are looking for a savior, you’re staring at him.” Mic drop! BOOM!
I suspect there were a lot of jaws hanging wide open catching a lot of Nazarene flies – sort of the biblical “Oh my Gosh…Darth Vader is Luke’s father! No way!” kind of moment.
Now as totally awesome as that must have been, and still is, we miss something if we jump right to it. The key to it all is found at the beginning of the passage, when it says “Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee…”
The power of the Spirit.
What kind of power is that?
Well, in a world where we like superheroes, or X-whatever, there are a whole host of powers we might consider, right? Invisibility, great strength, the ability to fly or stop bullets… There is one superpower that does come to mind though…it is one that Jesus always had– the ability to see what others do not.
And what does Jesus do with this power? Well, think about the passage he chose to read. Who is he talking about? Who is going to receive good news – the blind, the poor, the captive. These are not the rich, or the powerful, or the ones considered great in the society. These are the outcasts, the oppressed, the unseen, the least and the lost. These are the ones others do not see…but he does.
And here’s the thing…we can too. And, we must.
Just as Jesus read in Isaiah “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” The same is true of each of us – we were anointed in baptism, and we committed (or recommitted in confirmation) to continuing the apostles teaching and fellowship, to proclaiming the good news of God in Christ, and to seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. These are our baptismal vows.
So you see, we also are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and we too are anointed to proclaim the good news. What will that mean for us?
As St. Paul made clear in his first epistle to the Corinthians, all of the body does not have the same role, but all parts are important, and all parts need the other parts. Each of us will live into our call differently depending upon the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to each of us, and we need each other too, just as each part of the body needs another part.
A hungry and needy world aches to be seen, and awaits in hope. The dark shadow of brutality experienced in the holocaust, in slavery (which is still going on today), in all the ways humanity has and is exhibiting its most base cruelty, implores us to be who we are!
We must be willing to stand up and be the empowered people of Christ we are, to proclaim the good news, to see the ones no one else will see, to free the captive, to bring sight to the blind. And sometimes we will be a bit rough around the edges when living out our call, and sometimes we won’t have all the answers, or know how it will all happen – but we must boldly step forward together into our life in Christ. And when we are weary, we return here to be nourished in the company of one another, and in the body and blood of Christ. Everybody has a part to play, every member of the body of Christ is important.
Or, in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
A heart full of grace, and a soul generated by love.
That, my friends, is the very definition of one anointed in baptism to proclaim good news to the poor. The power is already in you, you just have to be willing to be guided by it, to trust in it, and to take the first step. It won’t cost you an arm and a leg, but it will require all of your heart.
Want to know what this looks like? You don’t have to go far., just look around in the pews on any given Sunday. Two that you won’t see today are our own Rick Fox and his wife Debbie. They are in Washington, DC to spend Monday and Tuesday visiting NJ Congressional Representatives and Senators to educate them about issues important to the blind of this nation. As he related to me, they will be two “of over 500 blind people with their canes and dogs swarming the offices of the capital.” THAT is being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to bring recovery of sight to the blind – or at least, to take the blinders off the sighted that they may see the way in which people with physical challenges are marginalized by our indifference, neglect, and ignorance.
Then there’s Michelle Ryndak, a scientist serving on our vestry, who travels to India mentor students and clinicians from India as they undertake projects to develop better diagnosis of tuberculosis. She also mentored projects focused on childhood TB, TB meningitis, skin TB, and TB of the eye. Right now she is writing a collaborative grant to develop a reliable and non-invasive way to diagnosis TB of the eye.
Or how about our seminarian Christopher Dwyer, who until Friday, was one of 800,000 furloughed Federal employees, going without pay for over a month. When interviewed in the local paper, Christopher spoke not of himself, but of others less fortunate, and was doing what he could to help them.
And there is our warden, Leamon McKenzie, who regularly takes time away from work and family to provide medical assistance to those in need in Guyana, his homeland. He spends weeks there providing needed administrative support to medical facilities that serve the poor.
And there’s Frances Myrill, who knits beautiful scarfs and hats for the homeless, and nursery blankets for our church Kidzone; and also Nadine Sempier, who sends cards to parishioners on special occasions; or Yvette Lucas who drives seniors to church and recently donated some of the proceeds from the sale of her art work to the church, and also Jane and Joe Durham who are always willing to offer a ride to someone to get to or from church.
And of course, there is all of you who provide scholarship money to our nursery school that those without means may still be able to provide a safe and nurturing educational environment for their young children. And so many more stories, many I might not even know about.
This doesn’t even count all the times many of you have taken to the streets to give voice to the voiceless, to stand against injustice, fight for the full inclusion of all the people of the world, and for the care of all of God’s creation.
This is what real power looks like right here, right now, right in our congregation.
It doesn’t take lots of money.
It doesn’t take a degree in theology, or a collar around your neck.
It doesn’t take earthly power.
It does take emptying ourselves of the clutter of our busy lives, and allowing ourselves to be drenched with the memory of our baptism, and when we do, we will be reminded of who we are, a people filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, an authentic power found… in humble service.
When we awaken to who we are as the body of Christ, we come to see that the world has it all backwards. We realize the absurdity of earthly power in the face of the power of the Holy Spirit found in the prophetic witness of the people of God, people like Dr. King. That is why a President of the United States will always look small at the foot of that statue of Dr. King – not because of the size of the monument, but because of the size of the man himself.
Jesus turns our thoughts about power upside down. Power – REAL power – isn’t what you can do TO others, but what you can do FOR others. Authentic power can only be measured by the way in which it is good news for the poor, brings sight to the blind, and frees the captive.
All of us are anointed to proclaim this good news.
All of us are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
“The Spirit of God is upon you, because God has anointed youto bring good news to the poor. God has sent youto proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor.”
Today this scripture has been fulfilled – right here!
Now what?
Well that, my friends, is entirely up to you.
Amen.
For the audio from the 10:30am service, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here:
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
January 27, 2019
Third Sunday After The Epiphany – Year C
1st Reading – Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm – Psalm 19
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Gospel – Luke 4:14-21
