Proper 26A, Ordinary 31A Micah 3: 5-12
Nov. 2, 2014 Psalm 107:1-7
United Church of Chapel Hill 1 Thessalonians 2: 9-13
Jenny Shultz, Vespers
“Do As I Say, Not as I Do”
Do as I Say, Not as I Do.
If you you are familiar with farming communities you know that farming cultures tend to live by their own rules. I have many examples to support this notion, and will share two with you this morning. When I was maybe 10 or 11 years old and visiting my grandparents farm; I was on one of my Saturday morning “yard sale”-a-thons with my grandmother, what a thrill, we had stopped at the gas station to fill the car with gas. I noticed that when my grandmother got out of the car to pump the gas the car was still running, so I gracefully knocked on the glass to let her know about it and she just stuck sweet little granny smith head back into the car, smiled at me, winked and said “do as I say, not as I do”...and then proceeded to the pump the gas- all the while I sat frozen in the car thinking that we would all likely explode within seconds… Another story is about my grandfather, a 6’3” gentle giant with hands bigger than your head… he was out on his combine one day harvesting corn when some corn husks were caught in the grill… he decided he could show that 2 ton machine a thing or two and tried kicking the husks from the 2 foot metal spikes...and well, he was a toe and a half less happy afterwards…. His famous last words were, you guessed it, “Do as I say, not as I Do.”
We all have similar stories, don’t we? of our parents, teachers, other role models who say one thing and do another, as if they don’t fully believe the words coming out of their own mouths?
Though far from the innocent instruction from my grandparents we find Jesus instructing his disciples in the same manner…. “Do as the Pharisees say, he said, “not as they do”.
In his teaching, here, Jesus is highlighting two forms of hypocrisy: First, Jesus warns of not “practicing what you preach”... or “putting your money where your mouth is”, and secondly he draws our attention to the motives of these religious leaders, saying they do all of this religious act to be “seen by others”, to gain the glory that comes with wearing the “fancy clothes” the sparkly get-up that make others ew and aw. We have all known people like this, friends and family members, in whom we’ve observed a slow hollow conformity taking place over time, a hunger for status, money, position, fame…”the life” that greed would have us believe is ours for the taking. They’re frauds, people who have been taken by fear...so completely consumed with self-interest that their motivations become impure, self-seeking, hollow.
Alyce M. McKenzie, Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology, writes
“Jesus’ warning embodies the tension that runs all through Matthew's gospel: respect for the Pharisees' making a priority of the law and criticism of their way of living out that priority.- with a focus on who is ”excluded” rather than “who is included”, but here Jesus puts his finger on the pulse, naming it, and creates a pathway for his listeners to move forward- illustrating the challenges we all face as we stare down the injustices of our time, some entrenched within the law, others part of a cultural inheritance, institutional racism, classism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism...and the rest of the isms - we could spend all night… but Jesus creating a pathway for a better future and where I think a “radicalization” for the way of being in the world was introduced, and has yet to be fully understood by humankind, said, “The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I wonder what it looks like to make a way forward, today, in the face of systemic judgement, hypocrisy, and hate? For hypocritical walls, which are really fear-induced crutches, to tumble to the ground, for the chains, keeping us from living into both law and life, to be released, for the exalted to fall to their knees and those who’ve been trampled upon to be lifted up?
In the last year several hit songs have been released dealing with what I believe is one of this most defining issue of this century… of who is “in” and who is “out”, exposing the myth of conformity, of allowing stereotypes and hollow, hypocritical authority, rather than freedom and integrity to move us forward. Remarkably, each song climbed the charts with ease and are wildly popular today. I’m sure you have of one or both of these songs, and if you haven’t I hope you will open your ears and your minds to these words:
In Sara Bareilles’ hit song, Brave, she writes,
“You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave”
and brave is exactly the word I would use to introduce this next song... by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis called “Same Love”… many of you know this song and have seen the video from the Grammy’s. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Same Love" anthem became the theme song for 33 newlyweds who wed during the 56th Grammy Awards celebration.-it’s a rap that speaks of a young male who is dealing with being gay...
Let’s listen to these lyrics together and allow Jesus words to be the backdrop of our hearing- “They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads”, said Jesus, “and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Watch Video)
When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay,
'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight.
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She's like "Ben you've loved girls since before pre-k, trippin'."
Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she?
Bunch of stereotypes all in my head.
I remember doing the math like, "Yeah, I'm good at little league."
A preconceived idea of what it all meant
For those that liked the same sex
Had the characteristics
The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don't know
And "God loves all his children" is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
I don't know
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
"Man, that's gay" gets dropped on the daily
We become so numb to what we're saying
A culture founded from oppression
Yet we don't have acceptance for 'em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment
The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins
It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference!
Live on and be yourself
When I was at church they taught me something else
If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed
That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned
When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless
Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen
I might not be the same, but that's not important
No freedom 'til we're equal, damn right I support it
(I don't know)
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
We press play, don't press pause
Progress, march on
With the veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
'Til the day that my uncles can be united by law
When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up... sex
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
Love is patient
Love is kind
Hypocrisy.
Can you imagine, the religious or government leaders of our time having a “tendency” to focus more on who to keep out, stumbling over the dogma associated with the “religiosity”, secular and sacred, of our day, putting heavy burdens upon the shoulders of those trying to “come in”, rather than extending God’s “extravagant welcome” to all through the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Really?
Is this not the picture of the very debate our American society (and the Big”C” Church as well) finds herself directly in the middle of- once again? The “us” and “them” dilemma, the “What makes them one of us” card? We preach “the first and greatest commandment, “love God and neighbor”, teach our children the golden rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,…and yet we refuse to welcome the least of these into our lives...into our churches, into our public buildings, into our institutions and institutional life, into our homes, into our privilege… gays and lesbians, people of color, transgender folk, dirty and poor folk, those seeking public assistance, those living on our tax dollars, who are we kidding folks?
Friends, ours is not the picture of a system that generously includes, nurtures, and loves our neighbors, or speaks truth, and inclusion. As Pastor Amy Butler, Riverside Church in NYC, reminds us that “Ours is a system in which some people have power and others don’t; in which some of us have so much more than we need and some don’t even have the basics; in which some voices are heard far too often and much too loudly, while others cannot speak at all. It’s all good and nice to say that we love God, to be good people who follow the rules, who give unto others,” but when half of the people under our care wake up from this American dream and realize they are stuck living in their worst nightmare we need to take a long look in the mirror.
Are we practicing what we preach or living fraudulent, hollow lives ready to point fingers and keep others out?
Do we do what we do with pure hearts, for love of God and neighbor, or are we slain by the sins of conformity, of self-interest and personal gain?
As time will tell, the church is going through another of its identity crises and will depend upon our voices, our work, our commitment and faithfulness to help her live through the tensions of the time, to create a new way forward for being in the world….and as Jesus said, we are called to be students, and we have one teacher, one rabbi, one Messiah...who is with us on the journey.
As Sara Bareilles said it best,
“You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
I want to hear you be brave.”
May it be so. Amen.
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