From a Distance
Rob Gieselmann, Pent. 16A-17, August 27, 2017
I’m wondering this morning, what was your experience of the eclipse? When the upstart moon could no longer tolerate its second-tier position to the sun – that moon jumped head-long in front of the sun, blocking fire and light and all means of convention.
What was your experience? Were you with friends? Were you among those who traveled to Grace Point, to eat a covered-dish lunch, and then lie on your back along the grassy peninsula?
Maybe you invited your wife to join you on your fishing boat, in the middle of Ft. Loudon Lake, anchored to a pier, with an osprey nest directly overhead? The osprey cackled epithets at you – that is, until the light went dark and the birds and fish and boats with noisy motors, were quelled into silence…
The Lord is in his holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silence before him.
Emily Vreeland told me that she and Jerry and some Ascension Trekkers drove to a field near Sweetwater – they left home at 8 in the morning to beat traffic jams – which they most certainly did – they arrived by 8:30, wondering what to do for the next five or six hours – But when it happened, when Venus peeked throughthe blue light from the right of the eclipsing sun – Emily told me – she cried. Just wept, and she couldn’t fully explain why. But then, as they were leaving, they passed by two Muslims – The Muslims were kneeling on their blankets, facing East, praying to Allah, and, said Emily, she realized – there we all were, the mass of humanity, completely in awe – together – with nothing remaining to divide us.
*We Episcopalians like it when God is immanent – as Brett says, God lives, right here. But God is equally transcendent – above and beyond the visible universe – God doesn’t just permeate the universe, God created it. Exists beyond what you touch and feel.
The Lord is in his holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silence before him.
**The Hebrews had been in Egypt over 400 years. During that time, they grew in number and potential – so much so that Pharaoh felt threatened by them. Paranoid, really. In fact, he ordered the midwifes to kill all male babies born to the Hebrew women. Shiphrah and Puah – the midwives – knew murder to be wrong, so despite the official governmental order, they saved the babies, and lied to Pharaoh. This act of salvation is the first recorded incidence of civil disobedience found in the Bible.
The beginning of the second book of the Bible – second out of 66 – and God is already mired in politics. In fact, there have been thousands of expressions of Jewish and Christian civil disobedience throughout history – Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Cranmer, Sojourner Truth, the Boston Tea Party rebels, bit players of the Protestant Reformation. In fact, Jesus himself.
The list is long, and the righteous are many. And God and politics, whether we like it or not, mix. For you see, God holds fast against evil, and stands against human oppression. Which is why Christians everywhere are called to join Puah and Shiphlah – in today’s case, against white supremacy and racism of every stripe – because it is evil.
The editor of the Christian magazine, The Christian Century, put it succinctly: He wrote that Christians must find every way they can to loudly and clearly condemn white supremacy for what it is: an evil lie and a dangerous cancer in a[n otherwise good] nation that seeks to provide justice for all. Our leaders – political and religious – and these are my words – must condemn white supremacy unequivocally, naming it as evil.
Now, as you probably know, white supremacists protested yesterday in Ft. Sanders, at the confederate monument. They also plan a gathering late next month in the Smoky Mountains. Couldn’t you just see this coming? Following Charlottesville? And I’ve wrestled with what response if any Ascension could and should make generally. What response I might invite you to make. Now - I know each of us is different. With differing temperaments, personalities, different levels of faith, even differing levels of indignation. That means – your response to this evil might differ from mine. Still, I want to give you practical options.
First – remember always:
The Lord is in His Holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silence before Him.
When all the world is chaotic and driven by anxiety, there is still a God in heaven who loves the entire human race – loves us, completely loves all of us – Therefore, you and I need not be afraid. Period. We can respond, and not be afraid. But just as God loves us, God rejects evil – The question, then, is, How? Last week, Christopher reminded us of the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. This week I’d like to give you four practical options and they are not mutually exclusive -
1. Pray. The Lord’s Prayer includes a prayer against evil - as part of the Kingdom of God, Deliver us from evil – So Pray – against this evil that threatens to divide us and threatens us with violence. You can pray individually, or better – you can pray as a group. Why not join the Daily Offices during this chaotic time - one or more days each week – either Morning or Evening Prayer – intentionally join with your brothers and sisters in Christ and pray against evil.
2. Two. You might join a counter-protest. Personally, I would prefer you join a non-violent counter-protest that really is non-violent. Perhaps like the one John Tirro at Tyson House offered yesterday – a peace Eucharist as a counter to the supremacist gathering in Ft. Sanders.
3. Third - engage in honest conversation about race – about own your own racism – which, by the way, each of us harbors at some deep level – talk about it. Like the Sojourner Sunday School class has been doing a good bit this past year.
4. And finally - remember –each Sunday we gather in peace – as I lift the host and wine, they become the physical expressions of God’s shalom. Like someone once said, Peace is the church’s business. If not, then what are we doing here, anyway?
You know, Emily was right – the Eclipse not only brought us the sense of God as transcendent – But it was also an equalizer – a reminder that we are all the same in God’s eyes. Remember that old song? From a distance, God is watching us, from a distance? Yet even from a transcendent distance, God heard the cries of the Hebrew children.
So be of good courage, and be not afraid. Pray, forgive, reconcile, and stand firm for justice and against evil. For don’t you yet know?
The Lord is in his Holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silence before him.