Saints Alive – Honoring God and Neighbor

Month after month the Chino Valley District school board has been embroiled in controversy and lawsuits – over religion.  Rightwing, Christian Nationalists have mandated that meetings would be opened with prayer.  Not just any prayer, but the right kind of Christian prayer.

For that reason, Jai and I would not be sending our children to those public schools, for they are being turned into sectarian indoctrination academies.

I’m sure that a Mormon or Buddhist or Southern Baptist would not want their children put upon by the sort of sectarian prayers mandated.  Further, if my Muslim sisters and brothers are excluded – if my Unitarian, Jewish or Hindu friends are excluded — so should I or any Christian refuse to open the meetings.

This movement is definitely NOT the “poor in spirit, NOT the “humble of heart.”  This is Constantine’s unsheathed sword.

Our currency boldly proclaims, “In God we Trust.”

What does this mean. I doubt that it means bludgeon or browbeat any who don’t agree with your ideas about the love of God. 

“In God we trust” – tell that to those massacred on the Trail of Tears.  Tell that to the villagers of the Aleutian dwellings of Biorka, Kashega, Makushin, and Attu – all villages that were obliterated by the U.S. Navy, villages whose peoples were abandoned and left to starve and freeze to death on the mainland of Alaska.

AA and other Twelve Step organizations assiduously refrain from advertising.  They insist on making their fellowship available only through attraction, not promotion.  Theirs is a gentler, more tender, more welcoming Higher Power.

It is through humility and service so as the Gospel becomes manifest and attracts, becomes available to all.  Paul got it right.

As St. Paul says of humility and love in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on own way.”

This is the abiding path of the Saints we would follow and the Saints who have nurtured us.

The Saints we would honor today lived out this love before us and before God.  They are exemplars through acts of love, mercy and justice.

The summation of the ethic of the Jesus Movement is first found in the Torah mandate, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Jesus expands on this as he redefines the trap set for him by the religious authorities.  “’…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

This, the Saints of God lived out before us all and before the Almighty.

The previous week we were given the outlines of this Love of God and Neighbor.  It is the journey of servanthood.  It’s the journey of the Beatitudes.  It’s about being led beyond your comfort zone to honor the Christ within yourself and the Christ in neighbor and stranger.

 It’s about bearing the cross.  We do this together.  Even Jesus needed Simon’s help.

The way of Jesus and the mark of his baptism and ours is the way of the cross.  How many are entranced with the little cross they may wear on a necklace around their necks, but won’t carry the true cross on their backs.

The cross is NOT a trinket.  It is sacrificial living.  It is being of service in the Jesus Movement.

The book of Hebrews lifts up those who have born their cross.  Those who have born the spiritual battle in the heat of day and have not faltered.  Those who have run the good race to completion.  It’s that great cloud of witnesses.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”  Today we honor them – “Saints, both living and gone on before us – Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy.”

These are those cast in the mold of the One who was “able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness…”

So, no talk about seats on either the right hand or left!  No talk of abandoning the journey down off the Mountain of Revelation into the distress and pain of Jerusalem.

In the Jesus Movement we follow One who gives us grace to become servants of all – even in the toughest of times.

But not so much that presumptuous clique that has hijacked school boards all across the country.  Insisting on their own way, their unholy prerogatives.  This arrogant insistence on theocratic prerogative blasphemes God, does not honor God.  No “poor in spirit” here.

These misguided souls are a part of a larger movement that would change America into a sectarian theocracy.  These are the Christian Nationalists.

Sometimes their mischief backfires.  Opens the door to all sorts of unseen consequences.

It would be ludicrous if it weren’t so serious.  Though some do have the ability for a bit of outlandish humor to troll these misguided souls.

The other day in Harpers Magazine, I came across a spoof of an attempt to insert sectarian chaplains into the schools of one district in Osceola County, Florida.  This was in a letter to the board contemplating such a step.^[1]  The letter read:

“On behalf of the Satanic Temple, I am writing to acknowledge the critical vote you are taking tonight regarding the authorization of volunteer school chaplains in the Osceola County school district.  We are enthusiastic about the opportunity this policy presents for our ministers of Satan.

“We have carefully reviewed the proposed guidelines and note with interest that counseling consistent with a chaplain’s religious beliefs will not be considered proselytization in the school district.  This understanding ensures that the ministers of Satan can offer guidance aligned with our satanic beliefs while remaining fully compliant with the board’s rules.”

Having free office space provided for such chaplains – what could possibly go wrong?

Folks, there’s a reason for the separation of church and state.  Repeat – there’s a reason for the separation of church and state.  AND this is it!

In all seriousness, this brand of Christianity is toxic to all we hold dear as a pluralistic society.

In his book, The Violent Take it by Force, a title taken from Matthew 11:12, Matthew Taylor describes chapter and verse the connection between the cult of Trump and a radical branch of evangelical Christianity.^[2]  These are the Dominionists who believe that America was meant by God to be a Christian nation – the right kind of Christian.  They’re certainly not thinking Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Baptist.  Definitely not United Methodist, UCC or Disciples of Christ!  And Catholics and Unitarians, watch out.  Certainly, not you folks.

As Taylor reports, the riot on January 6 was aided and abetted by these Christian Nationalists.  While most of their leaders did not enter the capital that day, they and their followers were on the sidelines, expectant.^[3]

“These Christian leaders weren’t passive so much as expectant – waiting for God to show up.  They prayed.  They worshipped.  They decreed and declared and sang and beseeched.  They did battle in the spirit realm, they prepared for God’s promised deliverance.  They pined for a miracle that did not materialize.”

These leaders and their followers are just the tip of an iceberg.  They represent a network of non-denominational mega churches with millions of adherents with a vision for this nation significantly different from what most of us have lived under.

Again, from Matthew’s gospel, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.”  And will they ever!  They understand this passage in Jesus’ words not to be descriptive, but to be prescriptive.  By violence, their theology mandates that they seize power.

And the Former Guy is their Cyrus.  You remember Cyrus was the heathen Persian king who delivered the Hebrew captives from Babylonian Captivity to return to Jerusalem.  Just as a most profane autocrat will in their thinking restore America as a Christian nation.

This warped theology is a danger to our democracy.  It is destructive of our liberties.  Those with ears to hear, let them hear.

The other day, when polls were, and still are, looking bad for democracy and a rational voice in our politics, I said to Jai, “Well, if this all goes south, I’m done.  I’m going to swear off politics.  I’m through!”  At that moment I was with Timothy Leary: “Turn on, tune in, drop out”

But later that day I began reading the memoir of Alexei Navalny, Patriot.^[4]  I, shamefully reconsidered.  How dare I?  How dare I succumb to self-pity when this man paid the ultimate price for his resistance to tyranny?

Alexei Navalny, like the saints surrounding us, brings to our hearts courage and steadfastness. 

Saints — like Matthew Taylor — give us the courage to speak inconvenient truth to our own tribe.  To declare the apostasy of Christian Nationalism for the evil it is.

They give us the guidance — like our parents, teachers, pastors and scout leaders — guidance to discern right from wrong.  Reminding us that “it is always the right time to do the right thing.”

They are those in civic organizations like Rotary who have inculcated an ethic of “Service Above Self.”

In the shadow of these giants, how dare I, how dare we, resign ourselves to the worst of our politics?   Resign ourselves to defeatism?  How dare we?

As Congresswoman Val Demings urges:” Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic.  Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year…”  Val Demings — another courageous Saint of God.

No!  With their strength and persistence, I will continue to be a pain in the you-know-what to defend the values of this nation that gave me birth.  (Yes, and my wife knows that I can excel at this).  As John Lewis urged, I will continue to “Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.”  And might we all.

Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy.  They are our balcony people.  The ones who cheer us on, even from beyond the grave in precious memory.  Saints alive, we remember, we celebrate, and for their witness, we give thanks to God.

Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us.   Amen.

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[1] Letter sent on August by Rachel Chamblis to the members of the Osceola County school board as printed in Harper’s, “Opus Day School,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 349, No. 2094, November 2024.

[2] Matthew 11:12, KJV.

[3] Matthew D. Taylor, The Violent Take it by Force: The Christian Movement That is Threatening our Democracy (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2024), 1.

[4] Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2024).

November 3, 2024
24 Pentecost, Proper 26
All Saints Sunday

Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10, 13-14; Psalm 149;
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17; Matthew 5:1-12

“Saints Alive — Honoring God and Neighbor”