Loading...It’s been a rough couple of weeks in our country. Many people are struggling to know how to respond to violent behavior and violent rhetoric in meaningful, compassionate ways. And yes, it can be hard, especially when the news cycle bombards us with opposing views and we are witnessing how some voices are being publicly and loudly silenced.
Our ability to hear how some of the sausage is made in reports from authorities and opinion leaders and outlets purportedly trying to make us aware of processes and decisions before all the evidence is in or the negotiations have been completed is causing many people to doubt how meaningful it is to have such transparency.
We can have opinions, we can study circumstances, we can doubt and we can believe, and we can be wrong in our assessments. We can also be correct. But I’ve come to believe it is more important to wait to make or take a stand on any controversy until all the dust settles and the view is clearer.
And waiting is difficult. Biting our tongues can become painful. But often, admitting we just might have been wrong and making an apology can be even harder.
Our country is in a pivotal moment. Trust can be hard to come by. For many, expressing fears, thoughts, or simply seeking the truth has become unsafe. Even quoting actual recorded words has become problematic. People are losing their jobs for their opinions, for ways in which they speak, and for the ways they understand what Jesus meant and taught throughout his ministry.
When we believe in our baptismal covenants—those promises that may have been made on our behalf when we were children and that we reaffirm throughout our life of faith—we can have conviction and confidence that God does live in a broken and hurting world.
Please turn to page 302 in your Book of Common Prayer, and let’s review.
As I said, many of us were baptized as children, unable to answer the questions for ourselves. We may have answered these questions for our own children. Today, I’d like all of us to consider each question for ourselves and respond.
Question Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?
Answer I do.
Question Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
Answer I do.
Question Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?
Answer I do.
Now, please turn to page 304 and we’ll go through those questions as well.
Celebrant Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
People I will, with God's help.
Celebrant Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People I will, with God's help.
Celebrant Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People I will, with God's help.
Celebrant Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God's help.
Celebrant Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People I will, with God's help.
When we make these promises, with God’s help, we are committing to live a life that serves God. First. Everything else will fall into place when we commit our lives to serving God.
This is the ultimate point of today’s Gospel. We cannot serve God and wealth. When our faith leads and guides us to be Jesus Followers, and we take that seriously, we are going to put God above all else. Family, friends, work, our government, our communities.
The thing is, at least I think it is, when God is our center all the rest of the things on our priority list will be healthier.
When we make this kind of commitment to God, it isn’t a one-off. Our baptism as children, or as adults, isn’t a “one and done.” We have responsibilities to our faith, through practices and actions and behaviors that reflect the ways in which we love God to the communities and the places where we go.
That commitment to our faith includes prayer. The excerpt from Paul’s letter to Timothy today makes that clear. Our prayer lives, according to Paul, must include praying for world leaders. Here, abroad, locally, globally. First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
In these days, when our confidence in governance may leave some fearful and concerned, and for others, feeling the current governance fulfills their expectations, we find ourselves at an inflection point. The polarization we are experiencing in this time is fraught with strong feelings of division, sowing seeds of conflict. Paul’s call to prayers, requests, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone—including our leaders, including people we don’t like much or understand—clearly reminds us that if we want to live in peace and quiet, in comfort and togetherness, we must pray that we, and our leaders, and those people we don’t like much or understand strive to live lives that reflect our love for God and lead us to lives lived with dignity. For them, for others, and for us.
Jesus, also, reminds us that “You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13) We could substitute almost any type of distraction with the word “wealth.” Even naming a person could be substituted for the word “wealth.”
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody[1]
I believe we make our choice when we answer the baptismal questions, and when we make and renew our baptismal covenant. And yet, in these polarizing days in our country, we may find it hard to remember that we are one in the Spirit of God, even in our differences of opinions and in the ways we understand the world. We might be forgetting the belovedness of our neighbors. We just might be wondering if God is truly present in what many might be considering is this time of trouble.
The antidote is prayer. If we truly want to live our baptismal promises, if we strive to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity as Paul describes in his letter to Timothy, we need to go to God in prayer, because it is in prayer we can find the kind of peace and quiet that helps us to live in godliness and with dignity. And as our hearts and minds and souls find that peace and quiet, we are becoming equipped to spread both.
Because prayer changes us.
Let us pray. Holy, Almighty One, we come to you in prayer this morning to pray for ourselves, for those we love, those in our communities, our leaders here locally, throughout the Commonwealth, the country and the world. We ask that you help us to resist evil, to continually learn about how your Holy Spirit guides us, to serve you and one another in ways that lead each of us to live just. Peaceful and quiet lives, respecting the humanity, the dignity, the belovedness of all you have created. Our lives and all lives are in your hands. May your will be done. Amen.
[1] Gotta Serve Somebody. Song by Bob Dylan ‧ 1979
