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Lead by Being Led

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To the American Church: Lead by Being Led

This post is based on a sermon I shared with the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Hudson Falls on June 28, 2020, and as the reflective beginning of the difficult events that transpired during the business sessions of the 224th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

There is no escaping nor avoiding the social, political, and economic realities that continue to bear down upon us in such a time as this. There are three pandemics affecting our daily lives. And as pandemics, the hope that some of us hold that they can be over soon is, at best, illusory.

“Racism, Manifest Destiny, the Doctrine of Discovery, Trans and LGBTQIA+ hatred, xenophobia American Exceptionalism are White Supremacy.”

The health crisis caused by the quick spread and poor political response (especially in the United States) to COVID-19 is nowhere close to over. It has been said that until there are proved treatment protocols, or better yet a vaccine, we will continue to live with this disease upon us. 

The economic crisis that is a pandemic already upon us, due to the spread and response to the COVID-19, will be with us much longer after the health crisis is contained. Unemployment claims in New York State were reported at 2.7 million in the state’s June report. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 million people nationwide are unemployed, which is 13.3%. And these numbers do not count folks who are not seeking formal employment. And before we judge, let us come to the knowledge that there are many reasons why working-age adults may not be able to go out and join the formal labor force. Finding the racial, ethnic, and LGBT breakdown of those numbers (not hard to find) demonstrates that the financial stability of folks of marginalized communities in the United States is dire. Many sectors of the economy are still trying to figure out what will it mean to revamp services and production. And governments that may have a better grasp on reality are playing out what clearly is a delicate balance of reigniting the economy while keeping the spread of the virus at bay – as to not cause a sudden spike in infections. If the 2008 financial crisis taught us anything is that we will feel the effects of this crisis for a long time.

State-sanctioned racist violence continues to creep its public face. I could read the names of more recent victims of racist violence perpetrated by State agents or intentionally overlooked by State authorities (Find them. Read them. Remember them). What I pray you to know by now is that the murders of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, George Floyd in Minnesota, and Andrés Guardado in California (all of these at the hand of the State) are not the first and will not be the last. The truth is that all lives do not matter the same in these United States. The political, social, and religious structures of the United States judge People of Color (POC) first by the color of their skin, their country of origin, their native language, the difficulty of their given names, and the religious tradition they practice (or do not practice). Our character is secondary to those structures. If you are not cis-gendered, heterosexual, White-skinned, preferably, Anglo Saxon (but Germanic or Scandinavian will also do) one is not only not given the same kinds of access to the purported sea of opportunities in the United States, one is also signaled out, oppressed and marginalized. There is history and numbers that show this to be true. I can point them to you, but they are not hard to find.

To say “Black Lives Matter” is about the past enslavement and continuous oppression of persons of African descent – a history that began with the trans-Atlantic shipment of enslaved Africans well over 500 years ago.

The struggle being led by Indigenous communities in the United States and throughout the continent is about the disrespect of life and sacredness demonstrated by governments at all levels, the intention to destroy cultural ways and the slow, painful, and continuous hurt and death perpetrated on Indigenous lives because White folk decide still to follow the Doctrine of Discovery, believe in Manifest Destiny, and live in the comfort those continue to provide to them.

The cry for justice and safety for Trans lives is about our siblings who, for exerting their right to self-determination, suffer violence, too often deadly violence, at the hands of those who see a greater value in the comfort of their ignorance.

Brown people organizing for justice for themselves and in solidarity with other POCs is about USAmericans believing wholeheartedly in American Exceptionalism at any cost – even when that cost is colonialism, and the economic and political blockade that hampers the livelihood of millions of people, all to support the American Dream. American Exceptionalism for many in and especially outside of the United States is the American Nightmare many cannot wake up from. And this is especially true for POCs.

Racism, Manifest Destiny, the Doctrine of Discovery, Trans and LGBTQIA+ hatred, xenophobia, American Exceptionalism are White Supremacy.

This is the USAmerican context. To engage with Scripture, we need to have a good understanding of our context and our historical location in order to faithfully engage with the context and historical location of the audience to which the Scripture lesson was originally intended for. Those to whom Matthew was writing were part of a community of mostly Jewish converts who had been exiled. Not only were they uprooted from their homeland at the whim of the state. They were persecuted by political and religious authorities because of their faith. Oppression, marginalization, xenophobia, was well known to Matthew’s community. These were realities that framed their social being, their spiritual disciplines, and their witness to their faith. And it was precisely to address that framing of their social, spiritual, and witnessing reality that Matthew sought to encourage with hope and with hard truths. Chapter 10 of Matthew is where Matthew places in Jesus’ words instructions, warnings, and encouragement for what was to come:

  • Heal the sick, raise the dead, clean those with skin diseases, cast out demons

  • You will find rejection. If you are received, declare peace. If you are not received, just move along

  • The message of the kingdom of heaven come near will create strife and division – in society and the state, but also in your close and personal relationships

The lesson for this reflection is the end of chapter 10 of the gospel of Matthew. It talks about receiving people with a message, and about rewards. Seen in the context of the whole chapter, it brings full circle this series of instructions about discipleship (being a learning community), and apostleship (being a witnessing community). These are the words of Jesus according to Matthew, the evangelist (10:40-42, of the Common English Bible):

Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.

 When Matthew wrote this gospel to the community he was leading, he literally sought to share the gospel – good news. When we gather as a community of faith and engage with the Holy Scriptures, we are seeking, both, guidance for a more faithful life of witness and… good news. I don’t know about you, but in the past few months, it’s been really difficult to find good news. And I’m not talking about feel-good, temporary smirk, lighthearted news. I’m talking about hope-propelling, joy-inducing, commitment-encouraging news.

And then I engaged with this text and realized that in the midst of such a sobering – if not downright burdensome – set of circumstances that continue to frame our reality, the good news is that God continues to send faithful witnesses, prophets, righteous people that speak the truth about the systems that perpetuate pain, suffering, and death. God legitimizes the organizing that centers the marginalized as a witness to Jesus’ unconditional option for the poor and the oppressed.  For far too long, USAmerican (Mainline) Christianity has believed that it was a moral compass and a force for the righteous transformation of the American society and the world. In my estimation, that is not true, and perhaps it never was. At best, while denominational policies of Mainline traditions encourage and pursue justice, the USAmerican Church places its trust in investments (financial and political) that support environmental degradation, and the health, social and political oppression of others. USAmerican Christianity exists, operates, has its being as a set of contradictions.

In the same way that Matthew encouraged his congregation and audience, I believe the gospel lesson is compelling the USAmerican Church of the 21st century to pay attention to who is it that we are receiving as messengers of the gospel that “the kingdom of heaven has come near”. In a time when opinion is confused with truth, the Church needs to carefully and intentionally curate what are the voices we are bringing into our learning and discipleship spaces - after all, one of the great ends of the Church is the preservation of the Truth (PCUSA Book of Order, F-1.0304) 

As leaders of and in communities of faith, who are we bringing in, receiving, welcoming to speak to and with us about the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate marginalization, rejection, and oppression of folks we dare call our siblings in Christ - fellow people created in the image and likeness of God? Are we having conversations about how we participate in those systems or support and encourage those systems? Are we having conversations about how we and/or others suffer under those systems?

Who are the prophets whose voices and actions we are seeking as examples and models of faithful witnesses of the liberating gospel of Jesus? After all, Jesus took a preferential option for the poor and the oppressed in his preaching, mission, and ministry. We learn about this option as early as chapter 9 of Matthew, but indeed throughout the New Testament.

Who are the righteous persons we are encouraging, whose daily engagement within the communities we inhabit and serve in are signs of the establishment of diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Who are the “least of these” in our congregations and our neighborhoods who are oppressed and doing the work of the Kingdom of heaven, working against oppressive structures: people we ought to be supporting at least with a glass of cold water? After all, those who work against systems that perpetrate and perpetuate rejection and oppression work for their liberation. And in working for their liberation, they work for your liberation and my liberation. This is the work of the Gospel of Jesus.

  • Who are we receiving to teach and lead us in faithful witness?

  • Who are we receiving as prophets?

  • Who are we receiving as righteous people, and supporting them?

  • Who are the least of these whom we see doing the work of the Gospel in our neighborhoods?

  • What will it mean to welcome them among us? 

The answer to those questions is for you (the individual and the collective) to ponder intentionally and answer without delay.

The good news for the USAmerican Church today is that God is sending messengers to the communities we are called to serve who are preaching words, teaching knowledge, and performing actions that point to the Kingdom of Heaven come near. The good news is that God continues to center the oppressed as the leaders of the dismantling of oppression and sin.

Challenge and push us, oh Holy Spirit, to heed this call to receive and welcome your messengers.

 Amen.

Some suggested organizations I follow: (not an exhaustive list)