The Kingdoms' Sufferings
Friday, December 17, 2010 -- Week of 3 Advent, Year One
William Lloyd Garrison, 1879, and Maria Stewart, 1879, Prophetic Witnesses
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 938)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Isaiah 10:5-19
2 Peter 2:17-22
Matthew 11:2-15
There is so much conflict and violence in today's readings.
Isaiah speaks in God's name to say that God is using the enemy empire of Assyria like a club to punish the injustice of Israel and Judah. But when God has finished punishing Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, and Samaria, the capital of Israel, God will turn and punish the arrogance of Assyria.
(Note the complaint from yesterday's readings about that injustice that rouses God's wrath toward his own nations: "Ah you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and you make the orphans your prey. ...What will you do on the day of punishment, ....and where will you leave your wealth...?" It is economic greed and injustice toward the poor and vulnerable that incites God's wrath. Why aren't the titans of our nation trembling?)
The epistle of 2 Peter continues the author's polemic against his theological enemies within the church's community. We do not know what issues divide the community, but the writer likens his opponents to two of the most unclean animals in that culture. "The dog turns back to its own vomit, and, the sow is washed only to wallow in the mud."
And the reading from Matthew begins with last Sunday's gospel about Jesus' message to John the Baptist who is in prison. (Click here for Sunday's sermon.) Then we read a perplexing conclusion that wasn't in our Sunday reading, including this verse: "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." I've never heard a convincing explanation of that passage. It might be a critique of the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, which was created and sustained by the force of Roman Legions.
Scriptures of violence and conflict seem appropriate on a day when we are invited to commemorate two of our nation's heroes in our culture's ugliest heritage. William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart were controversial to the point of inciting violence as they wrote uncompromisingly of the evils of slavery and racism.
Garrison was uncompromising and outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. On one fourth of July he burned a copy of the Constitution, declaring it pro-slavery and "a Covenant with Death, an Agreement with Hell." Once when speaking in Boston he so incited a crowd that he was jailed for his own protection. The state of Georgia offered a $5000 reward for his arrest.
Garrison published "The Liberator," a weekly anti-slavery newspaper. Among the writers he published was Maria Stewart. It was unusual for women or black writers to be printed. She was both. Maria Stewart grew up as an uneducated domestic servant. In her twenties she gained an education. After her husband's death and the theft of her inheritance by white businessmen, she supported herself for a time by public speaking.
"The country is crying out for liberty and equality." she wrote. "Every man and woman has the right to express his/her opinions. Many of our brothers and sisters still feel that because of our complexion we are an inferior race of people; but God does not consider us as such. God has made us the way we are because we are special people. 'He hath formed and fashioned you in His own image, and hath bestowed up on you reason and strong powers of intellect. He hath made you to have dominion over the beast of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea (Genesis 1:26.) He hath crowned you with glory and honor; hath made you but a little lower than the angels (Psalms 8:5)'. Even the Declaration of Independence says that all men are free and equal. 'It is not the color of the skin that makes the man but it is the principles formed within the soul.' The only thing you need to do is trust in God who will protect you from your enemies who seek to destroy you."
If I could wave a wand and refashion this nation in a more satisfactory way, the two ills I would most wish to address are those of poverty and race. It is a terrible indictment on us as a people that we have tolerated the sufferings of poverty and racism. In too many lives those dual sins have combined to take away hope and to scar the soul. Greed, arrogance and indifference are our national character flaws. Could there be any three less Christlike traits? The kingdom of heaven indeed suffers violence, and in a nation where money rules, the violent take our kingdom by economic force. What club is God preparing for our punishment? Will we continue to turn back into our own vomit and wallow in the mud of our injustice?
William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart call us to uncompromising courage. The church calls us to faith, hope and love. Jesus' character calls us to compassion, generosity and justice.
William Lloyd Garrison, 1879, and Maria Stewart, 1879, Prophetic Witnesses
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 938)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Isaiah 10:5-19
2 Peter 2:17-22
Matthew 11:2-15
There is so much conflict and violence in today's readings.
Isaiah speaks in God's name to say that God is using the enemy empire of Assyria like a club to punish the injustice of Israel and Judah. But when God has finished punishing Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, and Samaria, the capital of Israel, God will turn and punish the arrogance of Assyria.
(Note the complaint from yesterday's readings about that injustice that rouses God's wrath toward his own nations: "Ah you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and you make the orphans your prey. ...What will you do on the day of punishment, ....and where will you leave your wealth...?" It is economic greed and injustice toward the poor and vulnerable that incites God's wrath. Why aren't the titans of our nation trembling?)
The epistle of 2 Peter continues the author's polemic against his theological enemies within the church's community. We do not know what issues divide the community, but the writer likens his opponents to two of the most unclean animals in that culture. "The dog turns back to its own vomit, and, the sow is washed only to wallow in the mud."
And the reading from Matthew begins with last Sunday's gospel about Jesus' message to John the Baptist who is in prison. (Click here for Sunday's sermon.) Then we read a perplexing conclusion that wasn't in our Sunday reading, including this verse: "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." I've never heard a convincing explanation of that passage. It might be a critique of the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, which was created and sustained by the force of Roman Legions.
Scriptures of violence and conflict seem appropriate on a day when we are invited to commemorate two of our nation's heroes in our culture's ugliest heritage. William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart were controversial to the point of inciting violence as they wrote uncompromisingly of the evils of slavery and racism.
Garrison was uncompromising and outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. On one fourth of July he burned a copy of the Constitution, declaring it pro-slavery and "a Covenant with Death, an Agreement with Hell." Once when speaking in Boston he so incited a crowd that he was jailed for his own protection. The state of Georgia offered a $5000 reward for his arrest.
Garrison published "The Liberator," a weekly anti-slavery newspaper. Among the writers he published was Maria Stewart. It was unusual for women or black writers to be printed. She was both. Maria Stewart grew up as an uneducated domestic servant. In her twenties she gained an education. After her husband's death and the theft of her inheritance by white businessmen, she supported herself for a time by public speaking.
"The country is crying out for liberty and equality." she wrote. "Every man and woman has the right to express his/her opinions. Many of our brothers and sisters still feel that because of our complexion we are an inferior race of people; but God does not consider us as such. God has made us the way we are because we are special people. 'He hath formed and fashioned you in His own image, and hath bestowed up on you reason and strong powers of intellect. He hath made you to have dominion over the beast of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea (Genesis 1:26.) He hath crowned you with glory and honor; hath made you but a little lower than the angels (Psalms 8:5)'. Even the Declaration of Independence says that all men are free and equal. 'It is not the color of the skin that makes the man but it is the principles formed within the soul.' The only thing you need to do is trust in God who will protect you from your enemies who seek to destroy you."
If I could wave a wand and refashion this nation in a more satisfactory way, the two ills I would most wish to address are those of poverty and race. It is a terrible indictment on us as a people that we have tolerated the sufferings of poverty and racism. In too many lives those dual sins have combined to take away hope and to scar the soul. Greed, arrogance and indifference are our national character flaws. Could there be any three less Christlike traits? The kingdom of heaven indeed suffers violence, and in a nation where money rules, the violent take our kingdom by economic force. What club is God preparing for our punishment? Will we continue to turn back into our own vomit and wallow in the mud of our injustice?
William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart call us to uncompromising courage. The church calls us to faith, hope and love. Jesus' character calls us to compassion, generosity and justice.
Lowell
__________________
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| The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love. See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org Our Rule of Life: We aspire to... worship weekly pray daily learn constantly serve joyfully live generously. Lowell Grisham, Rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church Fayetteville, Arkansas |
posted by Lowell @ 7:54 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
But you or Obama don't have a magic wand, do you? The war on poverty has been a total failure. It's no indictment on us that poverty continues, its merely a undeniable (and Biblical) truth.
As far as greed, arrogance and indifference, they are personal character flaws. We have the most giving of all nations. The flaw is is the mentality that poverty has a cure.
I read the Matthew passage for evening prayer and was wondering about it. John Dominic Crossan has a possible explanation in The Greatest Prayer - the last chapter on "lead us not into temptation" and the Epilogue. Crossan's take is that violence, even defensive violence is not the prayer and not the action of Jesus. It is a valid point, I believe.
It was the thought of John the Baptist and his followers to help bring about the kingdom through violence (right?).. so a possible interpretation is that Jesus is addressing our greatest temptation - to bring about the kingdom with violence as these final words in the Matthew reading seem to say.
There is much to this perspective by Crossan, especially for one who understands peace to be the only way.. Janet
Dear Anonymous:
"The flaw is the mentality that poverty has a cure." I can't imagine a statement more unfaithful to the witness of scripture or the Spirit of Christ. Poverty has a cure -- our own embrace of love and generosity as individuals and as a race. Death is inevitable -- poverty is not. Poverty is the injustice of greed and a failure to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Two secular citations. (1) Jeffrey Sachs shows convincingly how we have the resources and the means to end extreme poverty in our lifetime in his compelling book "The End of Poverty." I recommend it to you.
(2) The last time poverty was at a higher rate in the US than it is right now was in the 1960's (we're getting close to meeting that unholy rate). Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty. It was successful. The War on Poverty cut the rate of poverty in half, and was on track to eliminate bitter poverty within just a few years. That's when the Vietnam War expanded. We chose guns over butter. However, the benefits of the War on Poverty lasted for decades. The poverty rate did not rise significantly for some time, though 30 years of policies favoring the rich have brought us to the place where we are not far from those high levels from 50 years ago.
It is an evil and callous attitude that simply accepts poverty as a given. Greed, arrogance and indifference can be a nation's character flaw as well as an individuals.
Read your Bible. See how the prophets condemn a nation that allows poverty. Hear how the scriptures invoke God's particular love and care for the poor, and tell us to do likewise. Shame on you for accepting the world's lie that poverty has no cure. That is a complete cave in to the spirit of the world, not the spirit of God. Repent! (And be man enough to tell me your name if you are going to write such drivel.)
Lowell
Wow, anger from Lowell.
I read the Bible, said something about the poor will always be with us. How does that fit into your worldveiw?
Greg
Greg,
What a horrible misuse of Jesus' indictment. Remember the rest of that quote -- "and you can help them any time you will, but you will not always have me."
First, we can help the poor, any time we will. And we should.
"...but you will not always have me." Jesus says. This may be one of those sayings for the days of the disciples. For they were to lose Jesus between crucifixion and resurrection.
But we always have Jesus. And we are to live as he taught us -- with generosity and compassion -- loving our neighbor as ourselves. What does loving our neighbor as ourselves have with ignoring the poor and leaving them to their plight just because (as you misread) Jesus said they would always be with us?
Shame, shame on you. How horribly you have misrepresented the Gospel which Jesus announced as Good News to the Poor. You couldn't be more wrong.
Do you know the writing of the evangelical Jim Wallis? He takes on this passage with articulate passion and indicts Christians like you who wrongly use this word as an excuse for ignoring and excusing injustice.
And yes. This does make me mad. What you have implied, that God allows us to write off the poor because it is too hard to respond with justice and compassion, is a monstrous misrepresentation of the God of the Hebrew people and the God that Jesus points us to. Horrible. Shame. Open your eyes. More than that -- open your heart!
Lowell
What misuse? I never implied any application, not once.
And don't "shame" on me, you just interpreted my intention (wrongly) and summarily judged the intention you assigned to me, shame on you if anything. You don't know me, what I do, how I help the poor. So, for the sake of truth and not embarrassing yourself, please don't judge those you don't know.
But, then you just placed the writing of a man over the writings of Jesus. Could it be you are like the Jews of Jesus day? Believing Jesus to be the political savior? I believe that Jesus knows the truth, that we will not stop hunger with a political movement, sorry Obama is included (under Obama MORE people are hungry). Hunger will be stopped on an individual basis, one on one, my friend. And the fact that there will always be hungry is proof that politics and government intervention is a joke. Reality is a tough pill at times.
Greg,
Maybe I misinterpreted your comments. If so, I apologize.
You said two things that pushed my buttons:
"The flaw is the mentality that poverty has a cure." And, "The poor will always be with us."
Maybe I drew the wrong implication, but when you wrote those things it sounded like you were saying that it is okay with God if we just let systemic poverty, hunger and injustice be, because it's too big a problem for us to respond to.
That is contrary to the witness of scripture. The prophets spoke to the people, and especially to the government -- kings and elites -- saying that it was our responsibility and the responsibility of the government to see that justice happens -- especially economic justice -- for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien. There was nothing "individualistic" about the prophets' message. It was a message to the whole culture, and especially to those who hold power.
It is not okay with God that poverty and hunger and injustice exist. Can we agree on that?
If we can agree on that, then maybe we can have a reasoned debate about the other thing that you say that doesn't make me mad, but just seems naive to me. "Hunger will be stopped on an individual basis, one on one, my friend."
I think that's wrong. But that's a placed where we can have a reasonable debate about strategy: What is the best strategy for eliminating poverty, hunger and injustice?
If you can agree with me that God does not condone poverty and hunger, then please tell me how you propose that "hunger will be stopped on an individual basis."
Lowell
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