St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Feast of Independence Day (Observed): July 2, 2023
Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
“If you have ever owned a slave, raise your hand.” This is the very first sentence in the documentary, “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America,”[1] spoken by the lecturer/narrator, Jeffery Robinson. Recently, several members of our congregation gathered to watch Robinson, who is a Black man and is the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) deputy legal director, draw a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the U.S. from slavery to modern America, using lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews and video clips of historical events.[2] “Who We Are” is a truth-telling film.
“If you have ever owned a slave, raise your hand,” said Robinson. Having acknowledged that no hands were raised in the audience, Robinson continued, “Slavery is not our fault. We didn’t do it. We didn’t cause it. It’s not our responsibility, but it is our shared history. When we try to turn it into something that it’s not; when try to make more light of it than it really was; then we are denying who we are, and we are impeding our ability to truly move forward as a community or as a nation.”[3]
“You have heard that it was said,” said Jesus, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (vv. 43-44). Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish law and the prophets, directed the disciples to not only follow the letter of the law, but to follow it far better than even the Pharisees and Scribes, to surpass the words in order to get to the spirit of the law (5:20). Look beyond the words to seek and fulfill the spirit of the law.
In our Gospel passage in the fifth chapter of Matthew, we are brought into this challenging teaching about the law as it is written and understood through the flawed, lenses of humanity, juxtaposed with God’s inclusive divine law of love. What was true for Jesus’ disciples then is true for us now, that Jesus came to show humankind what ought to become a lived reality for all people. In this context, the neighbor refers to one’s fellow Israelite, their “kin” (Lev. 19:17-18). Anyone outside of the fold, who was not a part of God’s chosen people, and therefore did not follow God’s law, was an enemy. Love and hate, as used here, are not descriptors of human emotion. They are verbs—actions that signal a turning toward and a turning away.
In 1776, the United States of America was founded by British colonialists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is no doubt that you have heard that it was said, that this nation holds self-evident truths that “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”[4]
But I say to you, that these inalienable rights—meaning they can’t be taken away—have never been self-evident for the people of this land; they are merely ideals of America; they are not the reality of this nation. If we are truthful with ourselves, these ideals have never been the reality for the indigenous peoples of this land; never been the reality for African slaves brought here to build the very foundation of this country; never been the reality for women; and they have never been the intended reality for the African Americans who inherited unjust systems which continue to deny the fullness of life and liberty and systemically obstruct the pursuit of happiness.
Our great nation is stuck in the letter of glorified ideals, if you will, unable, or unwilling, to seek and fulfill the spirit of those ideals. It is no secret that our nation struggles to make sense of its identity as one nation unified under God, and wrestles with that same God who calls all of his children to repent of their disunity; to turn to Him and reflect his unifying, inclusive love that surpasses all human understanding—a love that commands faithful people to love God, love neighbor, and while they’re at it, to love—and pray for—their persecutors.
As Jesus’ followers, we are called not to reflect the ideals of this earthly nation, nor its actions consistently incongruent with the nature of God. Our actions in this world must reflect the nature of the heavenly Father which is love itself. And, that takes courage to look beyond man’s idealistic words, and beyond the idols erected to glorify man, in order to seek the divine Spirit which made those ideals of equality and mutuality conceivable in the first place. In doing so, we may find that sitting in a place of truth, with the Lord may be uncomfortable. But, sit there, together, we must. For it is only there that the painful truths reflecting just how much we, as a nation, do not reflect the nature of God, become self-evident.
When an infant or young child is baptized into Christ, the priest asks the parents and Godparents, “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child to grow into the full stature of Christ?” And, they respond, “I will, with God’s help.” And, it may seem self-evident, but in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, as stated in the Constitution,[5] this nation cannot do it without God’s help.
By faith, God’s beloved children, as this one nation under God, can be liberated from the sin that violently enslaves physically, mentally and spiritually. It takes courage to show up for each other in order to tell the truth in love, without shame and without guilt, the truth of our communal life in a nation stained by the insidious sin of racism.
As the body of Christ, the Church, has the responsibility, just as parents and Godparents have, to hold this 247-year-old nation up for examination and to declare that by our witness and prayers, that we will courageously and compassionately nurture our nation into the full nature of Christ. In order that this one nation under God may begin to heal and actually reflect the perfection of our heavenly Father. The truth is that we are not there yet.
In the meantime, while God’s truth is marching on, we can choose to live into our purpose of becoming divine, actionable love in this world. We must seek to be the perfection of God’s love, just as Jesus is, in order to form a more perfect Union. May God give us the strength, wisdom and empathy to nurture our shared nation into the full stature of the One who is the Truth. Only by telling the truth and embracing the truth, can we all be made free. Amen.
[1] “Who We Are,” Netflix. Accessed June 30, 2023.
[2] “Who We Are,” Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2021) – IMDb. Accessed June 30, 2023.
[3] “Who We Are,” Netflix. Accessed June 30, 2023.
[5] “Are our rights ‘inalienable’ or ‘unalienable’?” Are our rights ‘inalienable’ or ‘unalienable’? – The Washington Post, retrieved June 30,2023.
