Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-15
Romans 7:15-25a Matt. 11:25-30
Lectionary Link
Video. Sermon at 11:53
As Episcopalians we morphed from having been the Church of England in the American Colonies. So the American Revolution was probably hardest upon the members of the Church of England in the Colonies. Why? The Church of England was the Established Church of the British Empire and the King was the Head of the Church. It was an important feature of the Book of Common Prayer to pray for the King. When our framers wanted the separation of State and Religion, they were purposefully trying to escape the English practice of established religion. The revolt in the Colonies was hardest on the clergy; many clergy were Tory clergy and the last to make peace with our independence.
So, Happy Independence Day, Episcopal Church. Do we mourn the loss of being the favored and established church of our country? Or do we celebrate the fact that our country was an experiment in government that arrived at some important Gospel and Christly values?
Most Episcopalians are strongly in favor with the separation of church and state, precisely because we know our past. And we get concerned when many Americans want the government to be specifically a certain kind of Christian rather than be non-aligned with any religious community.
How can we be Christian and Americans at the same time who respect the diversity of beliefs or non-belief of our citizens?
Perhaps, we are familiar with the quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary use words.
Many people decry the age of the Enlightenment when Reason and Science replaced God and theology. I would like to suggest that the Enlightenment was one of the results of the success of the Gospel being preached but not with words, rather in resulting social functions of society.
Love God and your neighbor as yourself. That is Gospel and Torah. What embodies that more than the declaration that all are created equal and are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Who was formerly responsible for providing health, education and welfare? Such were the main diaconal functions of the church. But what if the church converts entire governments to the role of being concerned about the health, education and welfare for all of the members of society? Is that the defeat of Gospel values or the triumph?
Some Christians today are disappointed by secular health, education and welfare because it does not have specific Christian sub-titles stamped all over it in with conscious Christian evangelism. In health, education and welfare, churches can only do band aid efforts in face of such great public needs. We should be thankful that the governments have been converted to be responsible for the general health, education and welfare to the reach all of our citizenry. And when we complain that it is not ever done perfectly, what do we want? Do we want our government to cease to make the efforts on our behalf?
Should we not be thankful that the government adopted a biblical like tithing system of taxes so that the public common good can be taken care of? With our payment of taxes we are doing the Gospel without words.
How many of us truly appreciate the collateral effects of preaching the Gospel without words which our government actually does for us because of our American values. Dear ones, let's be thankful and let us not complain, except when we as a collective people are not living up to those "hidden Gospel" values within our American ideals which pertain to the active love of justice and dignity for every human being.
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Torah are examples of the highly recommended behaviors for good human relationships. They are such expressions of ideals that they can be experienced as the down side of idealized laws; they continuously remind us of our failures and our need to be better angels to truly fulfill them.
We've read from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the section which I call the "Twilight Zone." Why? Do,do,do,do, Do,do,do, do, Do,do,do, do, Do,do,do, do. In the portion we've read, the word "do" is used sixteen times. If you were Paul's writing teacher, you would encourage more stylistic variation, but you can understand Paul's obsession with an action verb. The law stands over his head reminding him that he is not perfect, so how can he tolerate himself as his limps on his way to become better each day? The intervention of the Risen Christ who becomes his "stand in" perfection while, he walks the path toward perfection.
We, as Americans, over and over again are faced with the utopian ideals of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. We have legislative bodies to try to provide us laws which approximate these utopian ideals. We are faced with the obvious fact that people of wealth and power have the ability to finesse our legal system while people who are poor and deprived of full social equality end up being on the harsh punishment side of our legal system.
We want to do liberty and justice for all. We want to do life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in an equal way for all of our citizens, but alas, we are ever poignantly reminded of our failure. O, wretched failure that we often are. Who will deliver us from the consequences of unequal practice of our great American Ideals? We need the higher power of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit to help us become our better angels toward the ideals of our country.
Although we are not specifically a Christian country, we can say that the values taught by Jesus Christ became expressed in the Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution in expressing a freedom to love God, if we choose, but the requirement that we love our love our neighbor as ourselves, in the most general and complete expression of love, is the practice of justice.
When Jesus came he found a very fickle public. They criticized John the Baptist who was ascetic and spartan in his habits and his general rebuke of everyone; they criticized Jesus as a glutton and drunkard for eating with publican and sinners. And what did Jesus say? He was revealed to the vulnerable. Who is the most vulnerable? An infant. He was saying, if you want to act in the wisdom of God, tend to the vulnerable. The wonderful "I will give you rest," expression of Jesus reminds me of the ideal stated in the Lazarus poem at the Statue of Liberty, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free....I lift my lamp beside the golden door." America is the ideal of welcome. Lady Liberty with the torch says, "We'll leave the light on for you, so you can find your way to welcome." "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls."
Today, both the vulnerable and the powerful and the wealthy need the serious help of Christ. We will not live up to the high ideals of God's law or even our country's ideal, if we try to go it selfishly alone or divide ourselves into tribal groups to perpetuate opposition in our country. If we want to make progress toward our ideals, we need to be yoked with Christ. Being yoked with Christ means that we are not absolved from our own agency and effort. It means when we desire to go in the right direction, we can be sure of the power of Christ, the assistance of a higher power of the arc of justice toward the ideals of God as they are expressed in loving our neighbor as our self.
On this day after our American birthday party, we say, Happy Birthday America and we love you. We love your high ideals, even if they consistently remind us of our failures.
But as Christians and Americans, let us come to Jesus as the weary ones today, seeking rest for our souls. Let us take on the yoke of Christ to help us today as we alway live and act toward loving our neighbors as ourselves. Amen
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