A Modern Leader: David’s Story (2 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, part two)

The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9

This Sunday’s reading is one of the more difficult ones of the Bible (and there are lots of difficult texts in the Bible for lots of different readings!).  Yet it’s an important text because it relates to us today.  Again, this could have been ripped from the headlines, a story of misuse of power, sex, and coverups. 

Yet it’s a story full of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

I’ve decided to tackle this story in three parts: 

• Part One: Bathsheba’s story – often overlooked when it’s not being romantically embellished or whitewashed (covered in the previous post). 
• Part Two: David’s story, a story of entitlement and abuse of power.  
• Part Three:  the story of Nathan confronting David, which reveals why David is called a “person after God’s own heart” – which is this Sunday’s sermon (and the next post in this series).

Our story begins:

In the spring, when kings go off to war,

David sent

Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites 

                                                                       (2 Samuel 11:1a)

This is the story of a man who sends others to do what he should be doing.  At that time, kings led their armies into battle.  It sounds strange to us – how can a king govern if he’s out fighting a battle.  There was literally a “time for war” (Ecclesiastes 3:8), the time between harvest of one year’s crops and planting of the next year’s.  Wars were waged, not year-round, but in those few months. 

This season of war, David stayed at the palace, preferring to let others do his dirty work.

And with time on his hands, he found other things to do.

Restless with inactivity, he took a stroll on palace roof, enjoying the fine view of the city below.  An especially fine view that night, as he saw a woman bathing on her roof top.

David was not where he was supposed to be and doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.  Rooftops were part of one’s private living space – staring at the woman bathing was the equivalent of standing at someone’s window watching them. You were supposed to politely look away and pretend you didn’t see anything.  Just like well mannered people do when they accidently catch a glimpse through the window of their neighbor’s house.

One simply does not stand there and stare.

Yup, King David was essentially a creepy peeping Tom.

And he REALLY liked what he saw.

He asked around. Turns out she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  He was a member of David’s army.  We don’t know his rank, but we do know that he had been with David from the earliest days (2 Samuel 23:39, listed as one of David’s thirty Mighty Warriors).  Which begs the question – how did David not know this was one of his top warriors’ wife?  Did he not know where Uriah lived? Had he not met Uriah’s wife?  Maybe they were newly married? 

Maybe David hoped she wasn’t who he thought she was. Maybe he hoped she was another woman, who looked quite a bit like Uriah’s wife. 

It didn’t matter. She was married…he moved on her anyway. After all, when you're a king, they let you do it. You can do anything.

Somethings never change. smh.

David had her brought to the palace and forced her to have sex with him. Then he sent her home.

That would have been the end of it, but Bathsheba got pregnant.  David is in a fix.  Uriah is at war and everyone will know Uriah can’t be the father.  What if Bathsheba talks?

“I’ll fix this.”

David proves to be the king of cover-ups.  He brings Uriah home from war, hoping he will do the natural thing a man does who’s been away from his wife for a while.  Unfortunately for David, Uriah is a man of integrity, loyal to the king and to his comrades in arms.  He stays at the palace barracks.  Even getting Uriah drunk doesn’t change his commitment.  Plan one fails.

David doesn’t look very good in this story so far. If you’re counting, David has broken the commandment against coveting, and adultery, and bearing false witness (what is a cover up if not a huge lie), theft, it gets worse.

The cover-up foiled, David gets angry.  Murderously angry.  He sends Uriah back to the front carrying a note to the commander at the front.  A note instructing the commander to put Uriah at the hottest part of the battle, the weakest point in the line, and. Then. Fall. Back.

Leaving Uriah to be slaughtered.

Once again, David sends someone else to do his dirty work. Uriah carries his own death sentence.  Joab, the commander sets up the scene for murder. And the opposing army are the unwitting hitmen.  Remember, Uriah is one of David’s trusted Mighty Warriors.  I shudder to think of what he would have done to an enemy (actually he did worse stuff to his enemies, but somehow that was ok, cause they were enemies)!

Fortunes of war, huh?

Up the count of broken commdments to include murder and theft. You know the saying “Murder is theft of a life, Adultery is theft of a wife….”

After a suitable time of mourning, David puts the final spin on the sordid story:  he marries the poor pregnant war widow.

Way to come out looking like the hero, David!

God wasn’t fooled by David’s machinations.  While David was busy breaking the second half of the 10 commandments, he was also breaking the first half.

It’s interesting that one of the possible meanings of Bathsheba’s name is “daughter of the oath” and Uriah’s name means “YHWH is my light.”  David violates the oath – God’s covenant at Mt Sinai, breaking pretty much all of 10 Commandments (words of life).  The darkness of David’s actions is in direct opposition to the light of YHWH.  There’s more going on here than meets the eye – David’s sins are sins against Bathsheba and Uriah. His sins are also a violation of the trust he has as God’s chosen king.  And most of all, they are sins against God.

This is the story of power.  It has been said that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely (John Dalburg-Acton, 1^st Barron of Acton).  This is a story of a powerful man who feels entitled.  Entitled to send others to do the work he prefers not to do.  Entitled to anything and anyone he wants.  Entitled to do what ever he thinks is necessary to maintain his reputation and power.

David is acting like a king.  Way back when the people of Israel first cried out for a king, Samuel warned them about the entitlement that goes with power.  David fit that bill to a T.

David's story sounds so much like the stories of modern leaders.  There are so many stories of power being abused.  Of scandal and cover-up.  It’s easy to point the finger and say, “yes, (so-and-so) is doing exactly that!”  These charges can be leveled on both sides of the political aisle, in the higher echelons of religions, against CEO’s…against anyone with massive power.

Let's look closer to home. What about you and me?  How do we use our power?

“Oh,” you say, “I don’t have any power.”

Yes, you do.  We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.  Money gives options. Education gives options. Choices are power. You have power.  How will you use it?

Jesus lays down his power (Philippians 2:5-11) and sides with the marginalized and vulnerable.  The promised Son of David, Jesus becomes the type of King God wants – one that uses power to lift up the oppressed, and care for the poor and vulnerable.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to do the same.

#MeToo: Bathsheba’s Story (2 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, part one)

The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9

This Sunday’s reading is one of the more difficult ones of the Bible (and there are lots of difficult texts in the Bible for lots of different readings!).  Yet it’s an important text because it relates to us today.  Again, this could have been ripped from the headlines, a story of misuse of power, sex, and coverups. 

Yet it’s a story full of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

I’ve decided to tackle this story in three parts: 

• Part One: Bathsheba’s story – often overlooked when it’s not being romantically embellished or whitewashed.  
• Part Two: David’s story, a story of entitlement and abuse of power (told in the next post).  
• Part Three:  the story of Nathan confronting David, which reveals why David is called a “person after God’s own heart” – which is this Sunday’s sermon (and post three in this series).

Bathsheba’s reputation has been sullied by Hollywood and, sad to say, centuries of preaching that routinely casts women in the role of seductress, sexual provocateur, and adulteress. 

Sebastiano Ricci, Bathsheba at the Bath, 1720. Szepmuvesti Muzeum, Budapest, Hungary

Her relationship with David has been cast as a torrid love affair.  It's been scripted as a romance and she has been cast as a willing partner in this relationship with David. Or she is painted as a political operator, using her physical charms to wiggle her way to power.

Seductress? Political schemer? A woman in love?  

Maybe...

Or more likely, a victim of sexual abuse by a man in power.

What is the truth of her-story?

Bathsheba (daughter of the oath, or daughter of seven) was married to Uriah the Hittite, (whose name means” YHWH is my light”).  Please note that both Bathsheba and Uriah are Hebrew names, even thought Uriah is clearly identified as a Hittite.  It’s usually assumed that Bathsheba was a Jewish woman married to a Hittite.  Her nationality is not identified, which supports the assumption that she is Jewish – foreigner typically have their nationality as part of their identification (Ruth the Moabite, Uriah the Hittite).  However, there is speculation that her father may have been Hittite (or perhaps he married a foreign woman).  

Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, even though a Hittite, was a member of David’s army.  We don’t know his rank, but we do know that he had been with David from the earliest days (2 Samuel 23:39, listed as one of David’s thirty Mighty Warriors).  I hadn’t realized how close he was to David, yet David did him dirty (more about that next time!). 

Much has been made of Bathsheba’s bathing on the roof.  Surely a modest woman wouldn’t bath so publicly, right?  It means she was flaunting herself, right?  Victim blaming at it’s finest.  Bathsheba was simply doing what she was supposed to do: purify herself after her period.  Bathing often took place on the roof, which was used as additional living space (there is speculation that she may have been bathing in the interior courtyard of her house, open to the air).  There was a parapet to prevent people from falling off the roof, which would also have given privacy to the people on the roof.  Bathsheba was simply doing what she was supposed to do.

David, however, wasn’t.  Social customs were to avert your eyes if you could see into your neighbor’s roof.  David should have looked away, preserving Bathsheba’s privacy.

Can you imagine Bathsheba’s reaction when she was summoned to David?  What on earth could he want?  There's no question but to obey the summons.  You didn't say no to the king.

Once in David’s chambers, she is raped. 

Yes. Raped.  This is not the start of a beautiful love affair, or the first blush of a romance that budded into marriage. To paint what happened to her any other way is to whitewash David’s actions.  She HAD to consent.  And forced consent is not consent – it’s rape. 

Once done with her, David discards her.  Until…

Bathsheba discovers she’s pregnant. By the way, the timing of the rites of purification after menstruation coincide with the most fertile time in a woman’s cycle. So, yeah, she got pregnant.  And she’s in trouble.  Her husband is at war.  There’s no way to explain the pregnancy, except…

She sends a message to David.  She has no where else to turn but to the man who raped her and discarded her.  She is forced to seek help from the very person who has put her in the situation of being labeled an adulteress (and subject to death).  She is literally afraid for her life.

David, after a series of unsuccessful maneuvers to cover up the affair, has Uriah murdered.  It’s staged as a battlefield accident, but it’s murder, pure and simple.  After her time of mourning, David calls Bathsheba once more – from the text, it appears this is only the second time he requests her presence – and marries her.

She. Marries, Her. Rapist.

She marries her husband’s murderer.

Her child dies. 2 Samuel 12:14 says it was part of David’s punishment for his sin. Which certainly doesn't paint God in a very good light in this story! The best spin we can put on this is to say that the child's death was interpreted as punishment for David's sin.  Which is also problematic - this interpretation gives David's sin prominence over Bathsheba's suffering.  

Bathsheba is victimized by David and his actions again and again.

Bathsheba continues to be victimized over the centuries. People are ever ready to blame a woman for a man’s bad deeds.  Especially for the misdeeds of a powerful man:

• It can't have been David's fault - Bathsheba flaunted herself, enticing him.  
• She was a seductress, a willing partner in adultery.  
• She must have been a master in palace intrigue, maneuvering herself to a position of power.
• She was an operative of factions that wanted to bring David down.

Victim blaming at its best.  

Yes, Bathsheba makes the best of a bad situation.  But that doesn't erase the violation of her body and her dignity. 

Later in the story, Bathsheba gives birth to Solomon (2 Samuel 12:24 says "David comforted his wife," and that "God loved Solomon"), her "rainbow baby" who ultimately becomes king after David. 

Bathsheba is a fighter. A woman of valor who fights for her dignity.  A woman of strength who picks up the broken pieces of her life and weaves them into something beautifully indestructible. 

Where is God in Bathsheba’s story?  It somehow seems insufficient to say that God blessed her for her suffering by choosing her son Solomon to be king, making her mother of the king, and a powerful woman in her own right. 

Rather, I think God was the one who brought Bathsheba comfort in those days after the rape, who gave her strength to endure, who gave her healing.  God walked with her through the desert of marriage to her rapist/husband-murderer.  God cried with her at the death of her child. And the God who brings life from death, brought new life, and hope, to Bathsheba.

To Bathsheba, God is the God who cares for the victims of violence, hearing their cries of anguish, believing their stories, walking with them as they heal.

As children of this God, can we do any less for the victims of sexual assault and violence today?    

#metoo #whyididntreport: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

Trigger Waring:  sexual assault, abuse

If you are a victim of sexual assault, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673.  There is someone there waiting to hear your story, to believe you.


I'm wrestling with the readings for this Sunday's sermon.  How do I preach Potiphar's wife's sexual harassment of her servant, Joseph and her false accusation that lands him in jail? (You can read this part of Joseph's story here.)

It's a story that seems ripped from the headlines.

It's a story that is too close to home for too many of us.

One of the major concerns in the many online preacher discussions of this test is the specter of a woman giving false accusations against a man.  Will this story give fuel to the fire of those who insist Ms. Ford is giving false accusations against Supreme Court nominee Kavanagh?  Will this story only reinforce the ages old myth that women often falsely accuse men of sexual assault and rape? Doesn't this scrpture passage prove that all the #metoo stories are just that - stories made up to harm the accused in some way?

Using these false accusations against Joseph to promote this myth of the untrustworthiness of the female victim is to do violence not only to the victim but also to the scriptural text.  For Joseph is not the falsely accused alleged aggressor, but the falsely blamed victim.  It's easy at first glance to allow the gender roles to blind us to what is happening her:  a person with power harasses and then vilifies an underling. 

Make no mistake, this is NOT a story of a woman accusing a man (falsely or not) of attempted rape.  This is about a employer/slave owner repeatedly harassing a servant/slave and then blaming them when the abuse is discovered. 

Well, then, there's victim blaming for that too.  Why didn't Joseph tell #whyididntreport?

Seriously?  He was never even given the chance.  Potiphar believes his wife, who cleverly enlisted other slaves in the household to support her story.  Slaves who probably were well aware of her pursuit of Joseph. Could they have been jealous of the attention she gave him?  The favors of the mistress of the house were a way for a slave to better himself or herself. Slaves who probably didn't understand why Joseph didn't take the opportunity presented him.  Even if jealously didn't drive their ready agreement with her story, what other choice did they have?  She owned them - literally.  They also could be falsely accused. 

When you think about the extreme imbalance of power, it is amazing that Joseph didn't give in to her demands.  She owned him (through her husband of course). Joseph had control over the whole household, except her.  But he was hers to command. 

And he refused.

This is one story - one of the few - in the Bible where there is a male victim of sexual assault. The Bible is full of stories where women are sexually assaulted or raped, but do we believe them? 

No, our biblical foremothers are blamed or deemed complicit in their assaults.  In matters of sex, it seems, the sin is always the woman's.

It is a story ripped from the headlines.

Too many women are blamed for the sexual harassment and assault they have suffered.

Too many women are labeled as liars when they report the assault.  Labeled as complicit, “asking for it.”  Blamed for waiting “too long” to report. Assumed to have ulterior motives for coming forward later when they are (finally!) strong enough to talk about the assault.

Held responsible – “she should have known better.”

Held as guilty until they are proven innocent of making false charges, of trying to “ruin” a man’s life.

If we are uncomfortable with this story in our Bible, it’s because it is far too close to home for far too many of us:

For the victims who relive their nightmares in the words of this story

For the abusers who fear that the scriptural truth of this passage might just succeed in shining a light in the dark places of their own lives.

For the Potiphars who find it more comfortable and convenient to believe the powerful.


 If you are a victim of sexual assault, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673.  There is someone there waiting to hear your story, to believe you.

Girls just wanna have fun (without worrying about getting assaulted)

Last night my daughter and I went out to engage in our favorite mother-daughter bonding ritual:  singing karaoke.

I was singing something new (we had agreed that tonight would be a "try songs we haven't sung at karaoke before" night) when I looked over and saw two men had wasted no time zeroing in on my daughter. 

Her body language clearly stated, "I'm not interested, I'm just being polite."  Of course, this happens every time we go out.  Often, when I come back to the table the predator-oops-man will then leave to wait for an opportune time to resume his pursuit - usually when I sing next, or if she leaves the table to go to the bathroom.  Anyway, these two guys persisted in the face of both of our exceedingly clear signals that we weren't interested in continuing the conversation.

It made me angry - totally pissed off. 

I was angry at the male assumption that two women, who were clearly enjoying each other's company, would really be much happier talking to men than to each other.  After all, women who go to bars are automatically signalling they are looking for men, right? (Sarcasm sign!) 

I was angry that the night before, when we were out with my husband and her boyfriend and my son, not one man hit on either of us. NOT ONE! Apparently, having so many men with us was a signal to other men that we were not available.  Although, this too is no guarantee. Both of us have been hit on when we were on dates.

I was angry that it didn't matter that I was wearing a wedding ring and it wouldn't have mattered if she had had one on too.  It didn't matter that she had a boyfriend.  After all - our men let us go out alone, so they must not care too much about us (again sarcasm!).  And obviously my husband and her boyfriend couldn't even begin to measure up to their obnoxious, drunken charm - right? (Do I need to keep adding the sarcasm alerts?)

I was angry that there were at least five men who hit on her that evening.  That two men hit on wedding-ring-wearing me.  That as we talked about it, my daughter said "Welcome to my life."  To which I responded, "My life too.  And the life of every woman, everywhere."

I was angry that my 20-something daughter can't go out to karaoke by herself.  She has to make sure she has a friend with her.  Otherwise the male attention goes from hitting on her to groping, following her to her car, or pressuring her to leave with them. 

I was angry that when she got up to sing, I needed to move her drink in front of me.  And she had to do the same for me.  We had to keep our drinks in our line of sight at all times, which got in the way of watching the singers and supporting each other when we sang, and generally enjoying the evening. 

I was angry that I needed to teach her to never accept a drink directly from a stranger, only from the bartender or waitress's hand.  And if she ever has any doubt, throw the drink out and get a new one.  Women just can't be too careful - drinks can be spiked so easily:  she could have been raped.  That I needed to teach her that her drink is just as likely to be spiked (and it has been!) in the small rural community where we live as it is in a big city.


Let me stop and address those who are thinking, "Well, you must have encouraged them!" Not that it should matter, but neither one of us were dressed provocatively.  To say otherwise is to blame the victim.  Besides, it really doesn't matter how a woman is dressed - just check the display of sexual assault survivors' clothing, titled  "What were you wearing?"  We weren't drunk, neither of us were even consuming alcohol - not that it matters.  Again, that is victim blaming.  (Listen to Chris Janson's Take a Drunk Girl Home to discover the proper way to treat drunk women).

So, why didn't we ask them to leave us alone?  To be honest, I was thinking that I should be a role model for my daughter and politely ask them to leave us alone, saying that we just wanted to spend some mother-daughter bonding time.  But I hesitated to be so direct.  I was brought up to be polite. Still, I avoided eye contact, made minimal responses to their attempts at conversation and literally gave them the cold shoulder.  All passive responses, and I wondered why I was so reluctant to just say, "We're not interested in talking with you."  (OK, I really wanted to say, "We don't want to talk to your drunk-ass." but that REALLY would be been going to far!)

Then I thought of the frisson of fear that went through me when my daughter mentioned that we were going to the grocery.  Would they follow us when we left, knowing we would be at Walmart (the only place open that late)?  And I realized that my hesitation to be direct was fear - fear of how these men would react if we rejected them.

Women worry about this.  When I was a young adult, we would joke, "He's probably an ax murderer?"  But underneath the joke was the frightening reality:  we have no way of knowing if the guy hitting on us will turn violent if we reject him  ( a quick google of "boy who killed girl over rejection" yielded these:  Sante Fe Shooter Rejected By Girl He Killed,  indiana-man-fatally-shot-girlfriend-rejected-marriage-proposal  and  Talk to Girls about the Boys Who Might Kill Them or toxic-masculinity-is-killing-women-why-arent-men-more-concerned). 

A word to those of you reading this and thinking, "That's not me.  I would never harass or hurt a woman. The women I talk to in bars enjoy my company.  I don't pressure them, and if she asks me to leave her alone, I do. But no one has ever asked me to leave."  OK, maybe - just maybe - she enjoys your company.  Or maybe she's worried about how you will react if she's asks you to leave.  You might not be dangerous, but she has no way of knowing if you're one of the good guys, a predator pretending to be a good guy, an outright predator. And make no mistake, she has been taught to be polite and not anger you just in case you are the predator in good guy's clothing.

Last night, I smiled (but not too much), I politely responded when necessary, I was vigilant about watching for our safety.

And I longed for the day when a mother and daughter could simply go out for a time of fun, relaxation and bonding. For a time when anger and fear doesn't lurk beneath the surface of a girls' night out.

I longed for a day when women can have fun without worrying about being assaulted.

Courage in the Face of Evil: a Zookeeper, his Wife and Charlottesville

This sermon is part of a Summer at the Movies Series and refers to the movie 'The Zookeeper's Wife" Scripture readings for this Sunday are Esther 4:9-14, Psalm 64, Romans 12:1-8 and Matthew 25:31-45

Jan and Antonina Zabinski owned a zoo

That’s an unlikely beginning for a story of courage and heroism

But God uses the most unlikely people to accomplish surprising things

Jan and Antonina ran a zoo

In Warsaw, Poland

In the 1930’s  and 40’s

If you remember your history, you will remember that when the Nazis occupied Warsaw, they first bombed the city.  The zoo was devastated, animals were killed.  Some animals escaped and were rounded up and returned to the zoo.

Jan and Antonina began again, caring for the animals.  But the Nazis decided the remaining animals had to be killed.  The food and resources that would keep these animals alive in winter were needed for the German war effort.  

The Nazis determined to close the zoo, dismantling it to provide war resources.

But Jan and Antonina had a plan.  You see, the Nazis were also busy dismantling the lives of the Jews in Warsaw.  First it was little things - an armband, a curfew, shops closing, restrictions on travel.  

Now Jan and Antonina's Jewish friends were being rounded up into one horrific ghetto - little food, little water, no wood for fire, large families crowded into one room.

Jan and Antonina had a plan.  A dangerous plan.  Inviting just a Jewish couple to hid in their house at a time when even offering a Jew a glass of water could get them shot was a huge risk for them and their young son.  But they did, asking a couple who they were friends with to move in and hide. The woman accepted, but the man declined as he was too well known in the community.

As things got progressively worse for the Jews, Jan and Antonina realized that they could  not just help one or two.  They had much more room than that.  They had the underground enclosures for the animals.  They could save more Jews.  

To do this, they needed to save the zoo from destruction.  So they offered to raise pigs in the old - above ground - animal enclosures.   Pigs that would provide meat for the German soldiers.

Jan would go to the ghetto to gather scraps to feed the pigs, smuggling out a few Jews at a time, to hid at the zoo until the resistance could move them out of Warsaw.  A member of the labor bureau allowed him to use Jews for labor at the zoo - Jews who walked out the gate of the ghetto and disappeared, with new identities.  

Antonina would care for their guests.  Since a part of the zoo was being used as a Nazi animal breeding program, she had to make sure her guests were not discovered.  They had a code - if she played a certain song in the day, they were to hide.  Another song at night, and one by one, children, women, and men gathered in the Zabinski living room, spending the night hours in a semblance of normal life sharing wine and food and and each other’s company.

Two simple people - one atheist and one catholic - saved 300 Jews.  

Jan and Antonina’s daughter Teresa, who was born during the occupation, said her parents never considered themselves heroes: 

“My parents told me that they did only what should have been done — it was their obligation to do that. They were just decent people. They said decent people should do the same, nothing else. I’d like as many people as possible to understand what actually happened here in Warsaw during the war, and how much humanity and love can do." (quote from PEOPLE magazine interview)

300 hundred Jews were saved by Antonina and Jan.  I know that seems a drop in a bucket of the approximately 6 milion Jews that were killed (not to mention the 9 million other people the Nazi’s murdered  - mostly civilians).

Two people stood up for what is right.  Stood up against the Nazi war machine.

It’s an inspiring story.  We’ve all heard stories of the heroic deeds of those who resisted the Nazis.  

But what does it mean for us, today, for us personally in the communities we live?

When I first selected this movie and thought about what I would say today, I was going to say “ now you probably will never have to stand up against Nazis. But God has put you here for such a time as this."  

I was going to talk about the courage it takes to see Jesus in the least of these and work to feed the hungry and thirsty, provide shelter for the homeless and clothes for the naked.  To welcome the stranger - refugees. To visit the sick and work for adequate medical care.  To visit the prisoner and demand just humane treatment for those incarcerated.

But then...last weekend I watched videos of young men carrying torches and Nazi flags in the streets of an American city - Charlottesville VA.

I heard the stories from colleagues attending a prayer meeting to pray for peace and unity about how the church was surrounded by these men - these neo-Nazis, shouting and threatening the worshipers inside.  How they couldn’t leave for over 30 minutes and then had to escape out a side door and back streets to safety.

I saw a post from a WWII vet - "I fought the Nazi’s 73 years ago and if I have to I will fight them again!"

So I’m not sure anymore that we won’t be called to stand up against Nazis.

I am sure that we are called to stand up against white supremacy and hatred.

God created all of us - every single person

Every single race, ethnicity

Every single gender and orientation

Every single ability level

No matter who you are

No matter who you meet

God created us all in the image of God.

And if we remember from the Shack - God is especially fond of each one of us.  Jesus loves the little children (and every living human being is child to God) of the world red and yellow black and white. They are precious in his sight.

There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven.  In fact, in the kingdom of heaven we see Jesus in those we would consider the least of these.

So when I hear the story of the sheep and the goats, I get nervous.

I don’t know if we’re going to be called into account - there’s a difference of opinion of what “all the nations” means.  Is it all unbelieving nations, so those who have lived according to God’s way of Love are rewarded for their actions even if they didn't believe?

Or does it include all nations - believing and not - being judged? I hope not - because I know I don’t do a very good job of seeing Jesus in the least of these.  Especially if offering a glass of water means I could get shot!

Especially if talking about racism and white supremacy makes my congregation uncomfortable or offended.

And yet that is exactly what I am called to do.  To stand against hate and call out racism and white supremacy as a sin.

To recognize my own complicity in racism and confess it.  

To work for equality and justice for everyone.

If my sermon today offended you - I’m sorry.  If so I would love to talk more with you.  Call me, we’ll talk.

If I challenged you today - call me, we’ll talk.

If you're sitting there thinking, this sermon doesn't have anything to do with me - PLEASE call me. We need to talk.

Let’s talk -there are great resources from the synod to explore the facets of racism as we learn to love others as God loves us.

And that is exactly what we are called to do.

And I believe we have been placed here for just such a time as this.  To stand up for what is right.  To stand up for the values of the kingdom of heaven.

And I’m going to say it again - in the kingdom of heaven, all are truly equal in God’s sight.  In the kingdom of heaven, all are fed, all are sheltered, all are loved, all are welcomed.

As Christians, baptized into the family of God, filled with God’s spirit and love - this is our calling.  

This is who we are.

Beauty and the Beast Within: reflections on Charlotteville

We're doing a summer at the movies series and this Sunday's movie is Beauty and the Beast. As I reflect on the events in Charlottesville VA, I can't help but believe the Holy Spirit had a hand in scheduling this particular movie for this week.

What a better way to illustrate the horror of hate? I think particularly of the scene where Gastonia incites the villagers, making up false claims of the acts the Beast will do - such a creature cannot be allowed to live. All the while Belle tries vainly to attest to the humanity of the Beast. Finally the villagers grab torches, make weapons out of what is at hand and rush to kill the Beast.

Sounds all too familiar, doesn't it?

With false claims of the horrors that the Other (PoC, Jews, anything group that is not cis-white-male) will do, ignoring all attestations to the basic, created-in-the-image-of-God, humanity and worthiness of the Other, the alt-right, Neo-Nazis grabbed torches and used whatever weapon was at hand (a car) to subdue the Other. They surrounded a church- a church! - to intimidate those gathered to prepare to counter their message of hate.

Beauty and the Beast. The irony of this story is that the Beast is beautiful inside. And outward beauty often hides the beast within.

Our scripture for this Sunday is 1 Samuel 16:1-13, especially verse 7: the Lord doesn't look at outward appearances, but at the heart.

And Psalm 139:13-18 which proclaims we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by God, who in great wisdom and delight made us each exactly as we are. Male and female. Red, yellow, black, white, brown and all shades in between. Ability, sexual orientation. EVERYONE created by God, in God's image.

We hear Paul's admonition in Romans 12:9-21, encouraging us to follow Jesus' Way of love, and to not be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good.

We hear Jesus' own words in Luke 6:37-45, telling us not to judge, not to condemn, reminding us that what is in our hearts will be shown by the fruit we produce - or by not producing good fruit at all. He goes on in the next verse to say, So why do you keep calling me Lord, Lord when you don't do what I say? Read all of Luke chapter 6 and you'll find that Jesus tells us to do pretty much the opposite of what the torch-welders in Charlottesville are proclaiming.

Jesus calls us to be the Beauty. Jesus asks us to let him cast out the beast inside, so the we can be filled with the love that flows from the very heart of God. The Heart that is weeping as torches and weapons are brandished. The Heart that loves and delights in the great diversity of creation.

Beauty and the Beast - love will always triumph over the beast.

Post Election Prayer

It was the Sunday after the election many years ago.  I was worshipping at with my congregation that morning and the mood was not happy.  Much of the congregation had voted for the other guy – the candidate who was defeated.  They were sure that the winning candidate would ruin our country, economically, morally, socially. 

The prelude ended and the pastor began the announcements by saying, “I know that many of you are unhappy with the outcome of the election.  I know that you are afraid of how this president will lead us.  I want to start this morning by telling you the Christian response to this election.”

We waited, most expecting him to denounce the president-elect. And I have never forgotten what he 

said.

“Pray for this president.”

“Pray that God will guide his decisions and give him wisdom.  Pray that all of our leaders will lead us wisely.  I know that many of you will have trouble with this.  But this is the Christian response, the Biblical response.  Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”  And if you still have trouble praying for this president, remember that Jesus said to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).”

Then he led us in a prayer.

As I write this, I don’t know the outcome of the election.  I do know that there will be people who are excited by the outcome and filled with hope, and there will be people who fear what the newly elected candidate will do once in office.  What I do know is this:  as Christians, our response is clear.  We are to pray for God to give our leaders wisdom to lead us in paths of justice and righteousness.  And if that’s hard for you with this president elect, think about this:  those leaders and governments Paul was telling his readers to pray for   - that was the Roman emperor and the hated Roman Empire, whose abuses of power often meant the persecution of Christians, whose Pax Romana was maintained though conquest and oppression.  If the early Christians could pray for their persecutors, how much more can we pray for our country, which we love, and for our leaders, whatever we might think of them?

This election has been soul-wearying in so many ways.  And the atmosphere of fear and division has not dissipated just because votes were cast.  Jesus begins the sermon in which he tells us to love our enemies with the Beatitudes.  We are called to be peacemakers, to comfort those who mourn, to be merciful.  We begin our work by praying:

Creator and Keeper of All:

We pray for ourselves 

            that Your love would soften our own hearts 

            so we may be the salt and light 

            our country and this world so desperately needs.  

We pray for our divisions to be healed.  

We pray for Your holy wisdom 

            to inspire and guide our leaders.  

We pray for Your reign to come, 

             and You will to be done

             in our lives, 

             in our congregations, 

             in our communities,

             in our country, 

             in the world.

We pray this no matter who is President, 

             for we put our trust in You.

We pray this always.

We pray in hope and in fear

We pray in faith of your love for us and the world.

We pray

Amen.

Put Not Your Trust in Mortals A Pre-Election Reminder

I don’t know about you, but I am totally sick of the election season.  And I will be lifting up a prayer of thanksgiving on tomorrow morning, because it’s finally over!

But we know that just because the election may be over, it’s not really over.  No matter who wins or loses, the hard work of governing this nation is ahead of them.  It’s a tough job, one made even harder by the partisan divide our country is embroiled in, and by the ugly words said during the campaign.  Words that have deepened our divisions and pitted groups against each other.  

We who are called to be peacemakers have our work cut out for us! How do we vote faithfully? 

I have a few words of advice for you before you go to the polls:

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
    in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
 the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Lord reigns forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

It seems to me that this Psalm has it right – don’t trust in mortals, trust in God.  We put a lot of stock in who we elect to govern us, to fix this country’s problems, to lead us in the right path – maybe we put too much stock in what they can do.  After all, the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (also from the Psalms).

That doesn’t mean it’s not important to choose good leaders.  Pray about your vote, pray about the election, pray for the candidates (no matter what their party!).  Pray about your hopes and fears for the future.  Turn it all over to the One who reigns forever.

Whatever your fears and hopes, whoever you plan on voting for, remember that in the end, God is in control.  Which is the very best news I’ve heard all election season!

A Cry for Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights, Dallas, Orlando and for Our Church

It was 10:30 pm and I was waiting to cross the street from the seminary campus to the family housing.  I had worked the closing shift in the seminary library and everyone else had headed home when the library closed at 10.  All the businesses on Main Street were closed, except for the Kroger two blocks down and across the creek that separated the safe suburb of Bexley from East Columbus with is high rates of drug deals, crime, and murder..   I was alone, waiting for the ‘walk’ signal.  Then I saw two young black men in hoodies walking up from the Kroger on the other side of the street.

I hated the feeling I got in my gut. I looked around - no one was coming to join me at the light.  I was completely alone.  I started to make a mental inventory - I had no cash, nothing of value, good.  Then I remembered I was carrying my laptop in my backpack.  What would I do without my laptop - all my notes and my papers were on it..   I hated myself for thinking such things. I’m a good person. I’m not racist, not prejudiced, I told myself.  Yet, I see two black men on the street at night and my mind immediately goes there.  I wondered if they were two white men, would I be having the same internal conversation?

This is a safe community, I reassured myself.  I let the kids walk to their friends houses all the time.   Besides, maybe they will be past the corner by the time the light changes and I cross the street.

No luck - the light changed, and I was going to have to walk right past them.  Our apartment was the closest to the corner and my husband was some, so maybe he would hear me if I screamed loud enough.  Stop it!  I told myself - you’re better than this.  

The men were close enough now that I could hear them talking - in Swahili.  I relaxed.  Just two international students from the college across the other street from the seminary. Whew!  I was safe. We smiled in greeting and went on our ways.

But I kept thinking about the encounter, ashamed of my immediate fear.  

Aw Pastor, you might want to say.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.  That was a reasonable response.  You have to be concerned for your own safety.

Don’t say it.  I don’t want to be reasonable.  I don’t want to be safe.

I don’t want to be consoled.

I want to be outraged.

I want to rail against a world that says it’s ok to mock and belittle, fear and hate someone because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity, their religion their gender, their sexual orientation or ability levels.

I want to lament with God over the pain she must surely

feel as she watches her warring children.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy..

I want to lament with God as God weeps as a man is killed when being arrested for selling CD’s, a man is shot in a routine traffic stop, police officers are targeted and five lose their lives protecting an otherwise peaceful protest.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy..

I want to lament with God as God weeps over the death of a man who struggled with his sexual orientation and learned to hate himself so much that he opened fired up a gathering place of people like him. I want to lament with God over the 49 deaths he caused. My heart breaks with God's when a pastor - a pastor - can say that more should have died, because anyone with a different sexual orientation or gender identity outside of God’s love.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God as God weeps over the human pain and suffering of refugees fleeing a murderous invasion of their towns, escaping with their lives to live in squalor can be ignored and discounted because those refugees who are fleeing from the same murderous group we fear just. Might. Be. harboring. One. of. Them.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God as God weeps over as walls of hatred and fences of fear say that it’s all the fault of those people pouring over our borders.  If they just went back where they belong, everything would be ok.  After all, everyone knows that Latinos and Latinas are just drug dealers and users, thieves, murderers, and rapists.  

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God as God weeps when all Muslims are lumped together and branded as terrorists, ignoring their pain as their religion is misused as justification for horrendous acts committed by a small group.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God as God weeps over a culture is so steeped in hate and privilege that a young man baptized and raised in our house could sit through a bible study and be welcomed and prayed for and then calmly open fire on his African American hosts in hopes of starting a race war.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God as God weeps when God’s children see with eyes of fear, as I saw with eyes of fear the threat in two black youth walking down the street instead of seeing the image of God in them.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

This is the malady the church suffers from.  This is what has brought us to this place where fear and hate and systemic sin have so corrupted our political process, our economy, our culture, our very ways of communicating with and relating to each other, to the point that we post our “thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragedy” and in less than 30 seconds our thoughts have turned to the cute kitten video we share next.

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

I want to lament with God.  I don’t want to be consoled.  I have not been called to be consoled.

Here is our call:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:16-18)

We have been called to a ministry of reconciliation.

We regard now one from a human point of view.

I'm not sure that Paul had in mind his admonition to the Galatians  - neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female when he wrote these words.  But since the Orlando shootings, these words has been going through my mind like a mantra.  

Or maybe an accusation:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view

You know I never planned on actually preaching this sermon.  I wrote it for you, but I wrote it for class. This was my pain and grief and and confession after the Orlando shootings. I thought at best, I would post this sermon in my blog.  I was so sure that by the time July 31 rolled around - when this passage in Paul was scheduled to be read - we would have moved on.  But I preached this sermon for the first time in a classroom just 1 ½ miles from the place where Philando Castile was shot.

But the mantra keeps ringing in my head.  And today, July 10th, just four Sundays after Orlando, blood still flows in our nation’s streets.

The day after the Orlando shootings, one of our modern day prophets, Steven Colbert, began his monologue by saying:

“Naturally, we each ask ourselves what can you possible say in the face of this horror,” he said. “Then sadly you realize you know what to say because it’s been said too many times before.... It’s as if there’s a national script that we have learned. And I think by accepting the script we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time. With nothing changing. Except for the loved ones and the families of the victims for whom nothing will ever be the same.”

Nothing changes.  

Except for the families of the victims.

Except....

We don’t take direction from the national script!.  

We read from God’s script and it says”

From now on,

we regard no one from a human point of view;

even though we once knew Christ

from a human point of view,

we know him no longer in that way.

So if anyone is in Christ,

there is a new creation:

everything old has passed away;

see,

everything

has

become

new!  

All this is from God,

who reconciled us to himself through Christ,

and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

We regard no one from a human point of view.  

We read from God’s script and it says

• Everyone is fearfully and wonderfully made
• Everyone is made a little lower than the angels
• Everyone is created in the image of God
• Everyone is a beloved child of God

And we who are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ Jesus

• Whom God sent not to condemn this world that God so loves, but to bring life and reconciliation.
• Must stand up and say, have to stand up and say:

From now on,

therefore,

we regard

no one

from a human point of view.

For as long as we see through human eyes,

as long as we see “other”,

as long as we are not willing to step out of our comfortable bubble and take a risk,

we cannot serve as ambassadors of Christ.

I don’t want to be consoled.  Or reasonable.  Or safe.

I want to be that new creation!  I want to be reconciled to God and an ambassador of reconciliation.

I confess my own sin, my own complicity, all the times I turned my eyes away - I invite you to pray with me:

O God my eyes are still too human - I want to see with your eyes but can't.  I long to be the new creation you have made me in Christ.

I’m not truly reconciled until I have those eyes.  Oh -  I know I am reconciled to you - but my eyes still see from a human point of view.  My eyes keep me from seeing you in the other.  My eyes keep me from seeing people you deeply love and desperately want to be reconciled with.  

Heal my broken eyes and hardness of heart.  Give me new eye, your eyes.  Soften my heart till it bleeds with your love and compassion.  Reconcile me to you and to my brothers and sisters of all colors, creeds, ethnicities, orientation.  Make me your new creation in Christ.   Amen.