The Rev. Dr. Austin Leininger
Sermon of the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany
21 January 2018
Readings:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
Psalm 62:6-14
In the opening worship for yesterday’s Diocesan Leadership Summit, the reading was another passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, talking about being one body where each member is equally important and where none can be told “I have no need of you.” “On the contrary,” Paul teaches, “the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissention within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” This identity as Christ’s body is similarly the place from which today’s portion of that same letter comes. Paul’s understanding and expectation of Christ’s imminent return may have recommended a much shorter time frame than even he came to understand in his later letters, but it is founded on the identity of serving one another as members of Christ—where as he says in other letters, there is neither male nor female, Jew or Greek, slave or free; essentially where, as equals, none of the categories of hierarchy, power imbalance, discrimination, oppression, inequality, or in-group versus out-group remain valid, and where everyone is valued and cared for equally.
There are events in our world this weekend that we cannot ignore. Our government is shut down. Tensions between rich and poor, citizens and immigrants, documented and undocumented residents, and how best to approach governing these tensions, have split our senate to the point of deadlock.
Yesterday was also the women’s march here in Santa Cruz, around the country, and, in fact, all over the world, as (Reported by the New York Times), “A deluge of revelations about powerful men abusing women, leading to the #MeToo movement, has galvanized activists locally and around the world to demand deeper social and political change.
Two weeks from today, Calvary will also host the community forum on Welcoming Gender Diversity, addressing the growing need for mutual understanding, tolerance, advocacy, and care for gender diversity in the face of renewed institutional animosity and discrimination.
Who we are as Christians in this social context matters.
In this mornings readings, the people of Nineveh were called to change by Jonah as God’s prophet, speaking truth to power, and our Psalmist today reminds us that our trust, our foundation, comes from God as the one who is our rock and stronghold in a changing world.
The part of our gospel for today translated as “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” can more accurately and profoundly be translated as “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” The difference is between what could be interpreted simply as a task in today’s NRSV translation, and a more profound change of identity that is closer to the original, from what those called by Christ—Andrew, Peter, James, and John in today’s Gospel—had been into something new, something more—an identity that is transformed.
Who we are includes Santa Cruzians, Artists, Professors, Retirees, Lawyers, Accountants, Teachers, Business Owners, Health Care Professionals, Clergy, Students, Activists, Allies, Parents, Grand Parents, Children, Laborers, Gay, Straight, men, women, and non-binary people of many races, cultures, backgrounds, and incomes. Already, so much of who we are as a local community factors into our care of one another and our desire to see those around us thrive.
Who we are called to be as a community also united in Christ doesn’t replace who we are, but transforms our identities into God’s own new creation—a single body united in Christ and in our common mission to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors (who include our enemies) as ourselves, to seek for justice and peace, and to honor and respect the dignity of every human person. In this transformed identity, our own interpretation of radical welcome is stated in our weekly bulletins as well as in our Newsletter, on our website, and on our Facebook page: “We at Calvary honor our baptismal covenant to ‘respect the dignity of every human being.’ We celebrate the wonderful diversity of the human family, and strive to include a place for everyone at God’s table. Whether you’re young or old, rich or poor; married, partnered, or single; housed or homeless; gay, straight, trans, or questioning; native, documented, or undocumented…whoever you are (and just as you are), there is a place for you here. Come, the table is prepared.”
Growing out of this identity, we enact our vision of radical welcome by reaching out through our programs, staff, facilities, and donations to shut-ins, those struggling with substance abuse, the homeless, the poor in need of food, warm clothing, shelter, and care, the LGBTQIA+ community, and all those searching for a spiritual home; and our vision for our future together reflects this identity as a value we hope to explore ever more fully as a community searching for new and innovative ways to offer and promote the relevance and significance of faith in a 21st century world.
Faith is at the heart of our identity, and it inspires us to action in ways that don’t simply manifest as tasks, but as the living outgrowth of transformation. At yesterday’s Diocesan Leadership Summit, we were encouraged to examine how our identity is expressed as individuals, at the community level, at the level of culture, and at the level of institutions. As we examine the call of the disciples to set aside their lives so as to become the New Thing Christ promised to help them become, we too are encouraged to look at our own community and culture at Calvary—one in which we grasp and celebrate our identity as members of Christ’s body as we continue to seek for those new and inspiriting ways to reach out, welcome, include, serve, and help the world outside our doors.
Do we show up to march for social and political change relating to women, as happened in yesterday’s women’s march? Relating to racial injustice as happened in last week’s MLK March? Relating to equal protections for LGBTQIA+ people as related to the Pride parade and our upcoming community forum? How does our faith challenge us to address the unjust systems that perpetuate discrimination and oppression in our local and broader communities? In a world where so much of our culture and institutions offer means of exclusion and oppression, how does our faith—our identity as followers of Christ—make a difference?
My family marched in the women’s march yesterday here in Santa Cruz, along with others from Calvary, some of whom they bumped into during the march. While I joined the leadership summit to learn and talk about privilege, how to recognize it, challenge it, and seek to break down the systems perpetuating it, and how to claim our identity as transformed agents of Christ at the individual, communal, cultural, and institutional levels, my family actually put their bodies, feet, and faith into motion to demonstrate their solidarity with those seeking change that addresses the abuses of power perpetrated against women of all races in this country and around the world. While it is certainly also import to training the leaders in the diocese to be more effective in recognizing and standing up against racism and every other ism that divides our society, I am proud that Jane was inspired enough to take all three children to an event that ordinarily would not have captured their interest nor engaged their cooperation, and I am proud that my children were inspired enough to show up and watch the march long enough to want to be in it themselves. And I am proud to know that Calvary was represented by the many who marched from within our own community. Together with thousands here in Santa Cruz (and countless others around the world), they contributed their bodies, voices, energy, legs, and spirits toward the goal of making positive change. They put their faith into action.
Today we are called with Andrew, Peter, James, and John to a transformed identity in Christ. We are called with Jonah to draw on our faith to seek change in the face of injustice. And we are called by Paul to allow our faith to actually impact our actions in the world.
This third Sunday in epiphany, we are called to newness of life in this season of encountering the divine in life-changing ways. We are called to make a difference in our world. Together, may we rise to the calling, that we too may be made into fishers of people.
Amen.