Setting Our Face Toward Jerusalem
A Sermon by the Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams on the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 26th, 2022.
Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9: 51-62
Whenever I have something hard to do, I often jokingly say that I am “turning my face toward Jerusalem.” And the hard thing today is holding out the hope and promise of Jesus’ call to walk in love as we travel through a very tense, polarized and intensely emotional landscape.
Friday’s Supreme Court announcement was met with wildly exuberant enthusiasm by some, and for many others, deep and profound hurt, anger and despair. The sense of fear and foreboding is palpable for so many. And all of this is happening on top of the pandemic, the attack on the Capitol, gun violence and the many social injustices that have come to the fore over the last few years. There is a whole lot of anger on both sides of every issue we face in our country, and Friday’s decision took things to a whole new level. So today, we all need to take a deep breath. God is with us and God never forsakes us. And tuning into that is the key to the kingdom.
In today’s reading from Galatians, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” There will be an extra jewel in your heavenly crown for anyone who can remember all nine. “..Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…” And self-control is perhaps the hardest thing of all right now because of the anger that so many feel.
Anger is not an evil in and of itself; there are many things in this world that provoke anger in us that is justified, but unbridled anger is a very dangerous thing indeed. And that is where the work of the Holy Spirit comes in. That happens in two ways. First, through prayer and meditation, getting quiet, allowing ourselves to feel our feelings, but then asking God to transform them to help us not to be devoured by them. Breathing in, breathing out, breathing in the fruit of the Spirit and breathing out. You may even want to slowly repeat Paul’s list; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Second, by taking a purposeful step that will put our prayer into action. The Episcopal Church has a very active Office of Government Relations that takes the resolutions passed by our General Convention and advocates for our faith-based values when bills come up in Congress. We also support non-partisan “get out the vote” efforts. You can become part of the Episcopal Public Policy network. They send “action alerts” out on their listserve when bills are coming up so that everyone can email their elected representatives. They make it really easy to do. And here at Saint George’s we can support each other and work together for change in this world.
Yesterday, it was wonderful to see our faith being lived out in the public square in two ways. Firstly, Saint Georgians and hundreds of others supported the One Journey Festival on the grounds of the National Cathedral. It was an incredible event celebrating the cultures and contributions of refugees from around the world. There was singing, dancing, food, and a whole lot of joy. The Holy Spirit was definitely at work through Wendy Chan and everyone who made it happen. And to think that all of that goodness began about six years ago when Wendy and Norma Kacen organized a community forum series in response to the negative rhetoric about refugees, educating us about the struggles that refugees face and what could be done about it. Through it, anger was transformed into prayerful action. “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
The other inspiring event going on yesterday was the first ever Arlington Pride Festival at Gateway Park in Rosslyn. Saint Georgians joined with people from other Episcopal churches in Arlington and hosted a table to show forth God’s all-inclusive welcome for our LGBTQ+ siblings. It was wonderful to have conversations with all the people who stopped by. The world needs all of the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that we can offer.
Our call as Episcopal Christians is to take a stand for justice while also doing our best to stay in conversation with people who have opposing views from us. In the Gospel today, Jesus intentionally took his disciples into Samaria, a region where the people held very different beliefs from them. There had been animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans for generations. They were both descendants of the ancient Israelites that we hear about in the Old Testament, but each thought their understanding of their faith was the correct one. And Samaria was in between Galilee, where Jesus carried out most of his ministry, and Jerusalem where they were headed. Jesus could have taken them around that region to avoid the Samaritans. But he didn’t. They walked right through and brought Jesus’ message of love and reconciliation to them, just like he had brought it to his own people. The Samaritans soundly rejected Jesus, his disciples, and their message. And the disciples wanted to rain down fire on them and wipe them out. But Jesus vehemently rejected that idea. He never, ever condoned violence, not once. Violent thoughts or violent actions. Anger, even righteous anger, has to be transformed in order to bring forth good in this world. Jesus also didn’t allow the Samaritans’ rejection to thwart his mission. He and his disciples went on to another village to share his Way of Love.
Jesus had “set his face toward Jerusalem” before he went through Samaria. He had a steely resolve to do what God had called him to do. Suffering and death awaited him, but he had a mission, a purpose, and nothing was going to stop him from that. Resurrection also awaited him on the other side of suffering and resurrection awaits us too. So, today let us “set our face toward Jerusalem” asking the Holy Spirit to help us to steadfastly recommit to walk in love. Praying, advocating, voting, using the legislative process, supporting each other and most importantly, holding on to Resurrection hope every step of the way.