November 13, 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Having celebrated All Saints, and survived the time change back to EST (barely), we are now in Advent. For those who are new here, there is more information on the seven week Advent season in your bulletins (and for podcast listeners, the same information is available on our website), but it was the original length of Advent, and many denominations are working to bring the church back to this tradition. There is, in fact, a group of liturgical scholars who formed The Advent Project to promote this return church-wide.
Some might think Advent should not begin before Thanksgiving, but the church is not to be bound by secular things, and despite the fact that on Thanksgiving we offer God our gratitude, it is a national holiday, not a church observance. In addition to not being bound by the secular calendar, the earlier start to Advent allows us to enter into this reflective season of expectancy before we are sucked into the Christmas season shopping vortex.
So, welcome to Advent – and Happy New Year! For as we know, Advent, not September or January, marks the beginning of our church year.
Now, as I have noted before, we don’t have to change much, other than the colors of the day, because our lectionary, the selection of readings prescribed for each week, was always in Advent in this time period, we just refused to acknowledge it. If you pay attention the next few Sundays, the themes of death, destruction, resurrection, and Christ’s return all feature in our scripture readings, for Advent always begins with Christ’s second coming, before we turn to await his first.
Take a look at the passage from Isaiah. First, we all know that we hear a LOT from this book of the prophet, particularly second Isaiah, in the seasons of Advent and Christmas, right? And today, we hear a passage read at our annual Advent Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols.
In the lesson from Isaiah, God declares “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth” in which “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent– its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.”
It is the very vision of the peaceable kin-dom, the Beloved Community, and it is a passage that I have been thinking a lot about lately, because I am speaking tomorrow morning at the Bergen County Courageous Conversations: Working Together Toward Peace and Healing Conference, as a panelist.
I was glad to see that this was a conference about peace and healing, because the path toward peace is forged through healing work. We don’t get to what may be, without addressing what has been. Certainly in our faith tradition, we understand this deeply. In our act of confession we make it clear that peace is possible when we first work toward restoration of relationship. It is so important to us, that we offer our confession as an act of corporate worship every week. We also offer it in private confession – and while we don’t require it, as they say: None must, all may, some should.
But this confession stuff – it isn’t just about saying “Gee God, my bad. Sorry.” While recognizing when we have failed to love as Christ commanded us is an important step, the confession itself is only the beginning. In fact you were to look for confession, one of our sacraments, in the Book of Common Prayer, you won’t find it. At least, not under the label “Confession.” Rather you would need to look for Reconciliation of a Penitent. A penitent of course is one who has not only done something wrong, but who is seeking to make things right. And reconciliation is about restoration of relationship – with God, and with those we have harmed. It is about truth telling as a means of atonement, which brings forward amendment of life, which then propels the penitent into action in the world.
It is creating a new thing – making possible for that Isaiah vision of God’s holy mountain – taking a step toward peace, through the journey of healing – for both the penitent and the one harmed.
We have borne witness to this very thing in the world and in our own church over the years. Many may remember that after being imprisoned by the South African government for 27 years, Nelson Mandela went on to be elected President of his country after his release. During the horrific time of apartheid, from 1948 to the early 1990s, the black African majority of the country were subjected to discrimination, mass evacuations from their homes, violence, and more.
Yet when he was released from prison, and elected to office, he had to find a way to address what had happened in a way that would allow for this nation of people – of those who had oppressed (or benefited from apartheid) and those who had suffered – to heal, to join together, and to thrive. He created the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators, of crimes relating to human rights violations, reparation and rehabilitation. A register of reconciliation was also established so that ordinary South Africans who wished to express regret for past failures could also express their remorse. The TRC had a number of high profile members, including our own Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who served as Chair. While controversial in some corners, President Mandela and the people of South Africa’s newly formed government post-apartheid “chose to pursue forgiveness over prosecution, and reparation over retaliation.”[1]
This was not the first, nor would it be the last, to take this path. In fact, in our own Episcopal Church we have also taken this approach. A few years ago, prior to the 2018 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, I received a call from then President of the House of Deputies, Gay Clark Jennings, asking me to serve alongside 41 other women on a Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation. This was a first important step toward naming the injustices within our very own church.
Now, you might wonder how it is that we, the followers of Jesus, would be in need of this type of thing. But, as one of my colleagues, the Rev. Laurie Brock, who also served on the Special Committee, put it: “Studies and surveys from other mainstream denominations…reveal to us that the systemic sin of ignoring, demeaning, and debasing … women is pervasive in the church, and damaging both to the women who are victims and to the community of the church. These studies show that women do indeed tell their truths, but that those in leadership positions do little or nothing to respond. Statistics tell us that a woman you know, from whom you have received the Body and Blood of Christ is being subject to harassment and abuse simply because she is a woman. And she is being subject to this harassment and abuse by a fellow Episcopalian.” And indeed, that is what we found. Today in our Diocese we require Anti-Sexism Training, which I help to lead, in the same way we require Anti-Racism Training.
This truth telling is now happening in our church with regard to race, to LGBTQ+ peoples, and to the indigenous children of our past schools, as we also continue the work started by the Special Committee on which I served.
This is Holy Work.
We cannot ever hope to build the Beloved Community, to live together in peace on that proverbial Holy Mountain where no one hurts or destroys, if we do not begin first with truth telling – with confessing what has been, to begin the reconciling work of healing and building what may be. It is the step toward the destruction of the walls that divide us.
Yet we can wonder if we are capable of it, this truth telling thing, because it is very hard work – hard to speak and hard to listen. It is a vulnerable place to be in, which is why we may choose to avoid it altogether. We can fear what may happen when those walls which have become a part of our existence, even if we don’t want them, come tumbling down around us. Will our anger at the injustice become vengeance? Will the pain we have caused be too much to bear? Is the Beloved Community, that Holy Mountain, just a dream that slips from our grasp in the morning light of tomorrow? Where will we find our voice to speak truth – our ears to hear it – our hearts to seek atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation?
It is transformation we are called to in these moments – whether in personal confession, or larger acts of truth and reconciliation. And we need only look at our gospel to find a path toward it. Today in our gospel lesson, Jesus tell us how to begin that needed transformation. He begins by telling his followers that the beautiful temple of Jerusalem, the one they were marveling at, will come down – that “not one stone will be left upon another.” He tells them of great upheavals – wars, famines, plagues, and that they will be persecuted in his name – but, he tells them, do not be afraid.
Now, that may all sound a bit scary right? But is it really? When you think about it, we live in a world filled with all of that – war, famine, plagues, earthquakes, persecution. The thing that likely scares us more than all of that is facing the truth – the truth of our own failure to love as Christ commanded us.
Yet Jesus is telling us that it must happen. And even more, that we ourselves have some destruction to do – the destruction that needs to happen if the peaceable kin-dom can ever be built. Jesus tells us that all of these things will give those who follow him “…an opportunity to testify.” That we will be given the words and wisdom to speak – even in the midst of betrayal (our own, or that of others).
It isn’t something to be feared, but hoped for, because it is destruction built not on hate, but on righteous anger, and brought about through our testimony of truth & love, that is the only path to reconciliation, healing, and the Beloved Community.
That is his call to us – to testify.
To testify in the chaos of our time to the unconditional love of God for all of creation.
And testify we shall.
For we must destroy through our testimony of truth and love the injustice of misogyny and sexism.
We must destroy through our testimony of truth and love the injustice of racism.
We must destroy through our testimony of truth and love the injustice of homophobia.
We must destroy through our testimony of truth and love the injustice of poverty.
We must destroy through our testimony of truth and love the hate, fear, and violence that infect the hearts and minds of so many in our country, in our church, around the world, and perhaps even within ourselves.
This isn’t about the movement of earth as in earthquakes, but the movement of hearts. This isn’t about death from plagues, but death to the disease of bigotry which infect us. This isn’t about rising up in armed warfare, but in peaceful civil protest and disobedience. This isn’t about shaming and vengeance, but truth telling, healing, reconciliation, and love.
We do not need to worry about what to say, because if we can empty our hearts to the Christ that bids us to listen, we will be given the “words and a wisdom that none … will be able to withstand or contradict.”
And out of the rubble of the destruction, we will build on a foundation of hope, love, and peace. It is a foundation that will last, and that will bring about that peaceable kin-dom, one stone of love at a time. It will not be easy, but “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right,” as the author of the epistle implored us this morning. Know that Christ will renew us and give us what we need to fight on.
Today, as part of our stewardship season, you will be given stone, blessed at the altar. Take this, and when you hold it, consider the foundation of hope and peace you hope to build. Let it be a reminder that every stone we lay is important, and that they be ones of love, not hate. Let it also be a reminder to you of this place, your parish home, where we in our diversity are a living example of what is possible.
So, let us go from here destroying the walls that divide and demean us and replace them with bridges that unite and uplift all.
Let us testify to love – the inclusive love of God for everyone, that one day, we may indeed find ourselves living within that peaceable kin-dom, that holy mountain where no one shall hurt or destroy, that Beloved Community of God.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
November 13, 2022
Year C – Advent 1 (7 Week Advent)
1st Reading – Isaiah 65:17-25
2nd Reading – 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Gospel – Luke 21:5-19
