The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, 4 July 2010
The Rev’d Allen LaMontagne
A sermon based upon the Revised Common Lectionary Proper 9, Year C: 2 Kings 5.1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6. (1-6)7-16; Luke 10.1-11, 16-20
It is common knowledge that the United States Constitution makes provision for maintaining boundaries between the institutions so-called church and state, although exactly where such lines are, and between what, is not always if ever easy to discern. At the same time, the constitutions and canons of the Episcopal Church have no such boundaries. On the contrary, we have a rich tradition of religious influence on affairs of state. At least in this instance, we should note that religion is somewhat less complicated than politics! For on this national holiday, July fourth, America’s birthday, in addition to the lectionary lessons and Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, there is the proper or Independence day, a Holy Day according to the Prayer Book. When Independence Day is not a Sunday, I hope we can observe the occasion during the week as we have for the last couple of years celebrated other Holy Days, Ascension Day and more recently Epiphany Day.
What we can do in the freedom of religious life in this country is incorporate the Gospel from Independence Day into the Ministry of the Word on this Sunday, 6 Pentecost. And then it gets interesting…. For we have the co-missioning of the seventy who will go where Jesus himself intends to go. Upon arrival at their destinations, they’ll declare, “Peace be to this house.”
Juxtapose that with the Gospel for Independence Day in which Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5.43-45).
So then in accordance with Scripture and the tradition of the Church, and with a measure of reason to steady our Episcopal foundation, we can say that the mission of the church, that of people just like you and me, gifted, flawed, prepared if not quite ready, the mission is to be sent out, as are the seventy sent, and who declare as they go, “Peace be to this house,” and bring healing to the world, and sing out how the kingdom of God draws near—to love our enemies. No where is it suggested this will be easy. Rejection is likely, but we are to do it in the spirit of obedience.
Does it surprise you that the Gospel for the Fourth of July is the passage from Matthew in which Jesus gives a new commandment: “Love your enemies?” Is the gospel in conflict with our United States foreign policies? Are our national interests–is the security of American citizens–compromised by Christian principles?
We could spend the summer and then some trying to navigate the still uncharted waters of just war theory. We can debate ethically, or strategically, the use of military might by armed forces, when and how, and if…but that is not the task at hand this morning. There is a place for that conversation, though, I believe. As Americans, we find ourselves increasingly distanced from issues constantly in the face of military families whether they want them to be or not. Media attention to the two wars we are in is prompted lately—if prompted at all—unfortunately at the expense of a general who let his hair down with the press, not realizing how “on” he needed to be, as any active-duty combatant is nearly constantly “on.” We manage to hear a little about Afghanistan and less of Iraq lately as such reports are overshadowed by depressing pictures of the ecological disaster in the Gulf, and the ever-not compelling, and increasingly fruitless, business of politics. We are made somewhat aware of these difficult, life events as long as they don’t interfere with popular, smiley news and the incessant advertising that is the perfume of over-consumption. Bread and circuses, if you will, and we are over-stimulated to the point that we become disoriented.
There is a place for a national discourse on foreign policy and what constitutes economic justice or injustice, and there certainly is a time. If there was a national draft in place, if every American son or daughter was subject to it, I seriously doubt you would hear any politician cavalierly think out loud about our troops being on the ground in Afghanistan for ten more years. When the “so few” Royal Air Force fliers had “done so much” to thwart the Nazi blitz over London, it wasn’t while the rest of the English people were distracted by “other matters.” Now, American service men and women strive mightily to make a life for themselves and for this country, so that we are secure and free. But many Americans are themselves trapped in a fight for survival. In an uncertain economic environment, people simply forget about our wars, and the relatively few service men and women who fight them.
The point is, Christians need to bring Christianity into the public square. And we need to do that squared with the Gospel that is before us today. Love your enemies, cure the sick, proclaim the nearness of God, these are not cafeteria-style options. They are the marching orders for every one of us, for all of us through baptism are appointed for the work of bringing the gospel into the world. If we don’t know the Gospel, at least what it says and some of what it means, then we are one more seemingly lost person, without a moral compass, and God knows there is enough of that out there.
How we interpret and apply Gospel imperatives to given situations will take all of us to figure out. It is for us all as best we can to contribute to the common good, as the Apostle Paul exhorts, “…Do not give up…. Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.”
This time of worship is such an opportunity, as is Bible study and on other occasions, for the burden of responsibility we share is to equip the saints, ourselves and many others, just as we are, with just that which God would have us carry in the world. In the Gospel today, the seventy travel light. So must we. What we need essentially is the integrity of a holy conversation. In other words, we need to be here. We need to be about the business of God in this place and beyond. America is looking to us to be the people God calls us to be, the people God co-missions with Christ to do the work we are given to do, even to love our enemies. If we don’t do it, who in this broken and self-destructive world, will? In the name of God….amen.