homily
preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Bellingham, WA
by the
Rev. Josh Hosler, Associate Priest for Adult Formation
When I was in the 9th grade, I was
continually aggravated by a bully named D.J. Graham. One day in the locker room
after P.E., he rubbed deodorant all over my back. That was the last straw: I
punched him in the face. He punched me back twice as hard, I hit the floor, and
my cheek sported a bruise for a couple weeks. The P.E. teacher did an expert
job of looking the other way. But after that, D.J. Graham never bothered me
again. Please understand that I’m not advocating violence at all. I’m just
telling a true story of something that happened when I was 14.
From the Letter to Titus: “Remind them to be subject to rulers
and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil
of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to
everyone.” Easy for him to say. Or was it?
The Letter
to Titus is one of the last pieces of the New Testament, written in Paul’s
voice but no doubt written many decades after Paul’s death—probably early in
the second century. The thrust of this passage is that in one sense, it doesn’t
matter what goes on in the world around us, because our salvation is not in
doubt. We are the baptized, those who have died and whose lives are hidden with
God in Christ. We are justified by God’s grace, not by our own actions. We are
those who have the hope of eternal life, which doesn’t just mean “heaven after
we die,” but also abundant, joyful life today.
The
circumstances of the world around us cannot change any of this.
In the past
18 hours, I’ve talked to a number of people who are absolutely
terrified—terrified that they might actually be in physical danger because of
the results of this election. You might wish to say to them, “Calm down—you’re
overreacting.” This is the worst thing you could possibly say. For one thing,
those who are afraid are far more likely to understand why they are afraid than
those who aren’t. For another thing, they’re not overreacting.
The Letter to Titus was written to a Christian
community that was trying to find its way in a country in which Christianity
was illegal. We don’t know whether this particular community was suffering
actual persecution, but we do know that it would be another two centuries
before Constantine would legalize the faith of the church. We don’t have that
problem here. Our faith is legal and is likely to remain so. This puts the
church in a very privileged position. When people are in danger from earthly
authorities, we can decide to make this space safe for them. If a situation
were to arise in which certain groups of people were being legally and
systematically discriminated against, I would be first in line to protect
them—as one person told me last night, to “build a wall” to protect those who
are being victimized.
If you think I’m being alarmist, stop and
listen. Here are a few stories that have spread on social media in the past 18
hours. A friend of mine in Florida—a woman priest—was verbally assaulted in
line at the coffee shop, with language I would never even use in a locker room.
A lesbian couple was threatened with violence. A black man was told to leave
America immediately. A group of men was seen high-fiving each other and joking
about how great it is that it’s OK now to sexually assault women on the street.
In downtown Philadelphia overnight, swastikas appeared in spray paint all over
storefronts.
Do you understand that I’m not just
fear-mongering here? All of these things have happened in the past 18 hours. And
those are only the ones I happen to have heard about so far.
We have a choice. Do we ignore these stories,
or do we prepare to insert ourselves into a situation to protect those who are
vulnerable? Do we consider putting ourselves at risk for the sake of other
children of God?
I am dedicated to this notion of the church as
a safe space. That doesn’t mean that the church becomes a space where people
always agree, or must smile and look happy all the time, or must walk on
eggshells to avoid saying the wrong thing. It does mean that the church is a
space where we encourage each other to grow, to speak only to our own
experiences and not to assume that we understand the experiences of others. It
does mean that we learn to feel our feelings and not stay stuck in our heads. It
means that we give each other as much grace as possible, that we place a high
value on continued relationship. But it also means that we do not tolerate bullying,
and that we will respect the boundaries of people who must take steps to protect
themselves. It means being OK with not having all the answers, and accepting
criticism humbly, and trying again and again to be loving. We will, indeed,
spend all our lives learning these things.
And so, ultimately, dedication of this sort
means that we are committed to growing in Christian maturity.
Will you join me in this work? Will you join
Jesus in bringing healing to people whom bullies see as lepers, reaching out to
them with God’s love and helping restore them to their communities? This work
really is way beyond politics, you know. It’s about our baptismal covenant:
seeking Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, striving for
justice and peace, and respecting the dignity of every human being. We may fail
often at these ideals, but they are nevertheless our standard as Christians in
the Episcopal tradition. These things are non-negotiable.
One more story. Again, this is not some distant
story that went viral. This happened to a friend of mine in Port Orchard this
morning:
Friends, we need to create safe spaces. It’s up
to us. And if you’ll all just commit to stand up to the bullies, my friends and
I will be deeply grateful. That doesn’t mean punching them in the face—really
it doesn’t. At 14 I didn’t know of any other way. We adults are able to handle
this in more mature ways.
To Titus: “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be
obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid
quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone.”
It’s as true
for us as it is for those who first heard the Letter to Titus 1900 years ago.
But nowhere does this tell us not to stand up to the bullies. Remember that
Jesus, who as far as we know never threw a punch, also stood up to bullies,
preventing an angry mob of men from stoning a woman to death. When he did so, Jesus
showed courtesy to everyone present. It was courtesy to protect the woman, and it
was courtesy to give an example to his disciples. But it was courtesy also to
the bullies, because Jesus held out hope that someday the bullies will grow
into maturity as well, and that maybe being stood up to is the very first step.
Amen.
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