Sermon for 3rd Epiphany
Walking Humbly with God
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we lift before you all who govern this nation. May those who hold power understand that it is a trust from you to be used, not for personal glory or profit, but for the service of the people. Drive from us cynicism, selfishness, and corruption; grant in your mercy just and honest government; and give us grace to live together in unity and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (ELW, p. 77).
There are two Bible texts that I find myself coming back to again and again. I go them in those times when I am questioning my own call from God as a pastor. I also go to them in times like these when so many of us are asking what is God’s call to us as a people in this time and place.
The first of the two is from Micah chapter 6, verse 8 – “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” And the second is from Matthew chapter 22, verses 37&39 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
These are the standards I try to hold to for myself. These are also the standards I hope for from others who claim to be people of faith, whether they be Christian or Jewish or Muslim or another faith.
All of the major world religions teach people to love God, love neighbor, do justice, act kindly and walk humbly and, therefore, those are standards we can have for each other.
And these are also the standards that I believe we should hold to for our leaders, leaders in our congregation and political leaders in all elected offices, including the Congress and our President. How do our and their actions show forth love of neighbor? How is justice and kindness and humility manifested in us and them?
Our Christian faith has a lot to say about politics and our Christian faith informs, or should inform, what we can and should expect from our leaders.
How does now former President Trump look from these standards? How will the policies of President Biden encompass love of neighbor, justice, kindness, and humility?
Now, we are Lutherans and Lutherans in the USA have a long history of studying social issues and then, through our church’s study and legislative processes, making formal social statements on important issues – our ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has official positions on war and peace, the death penalty, the environment, health care, racism and more. Our church then uses these statements to advise legislators at all levels of government. The ELCA has offices in Washington, D.C. and many state capitals for this purpose. We have certain standards for our community and nation and we do let our leaders know what these standards are.
For example, through Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, known as LIRS, through LIRS we have an 80-year history of welcoming refugees into our communities. The work of LIRS came out of World War II when millions of Lutherans were among that war’s refugees. Since that time the Lutheran church has sponsored more refugees in our country each year than any other group except the Roman Catholic Church, which is, of course 20 times larger than our church across the USA. Over the last four years President Trump drastically reduced the number of refugees allowed into the USA to nearly zero, so we are very pleased that President Biden has indicated he plans to return yearly approved refugee acceptance levels to their former numbers.
Care for the immigrant and refugee is central to our faith. It is called for in both the New and Old Testaments. In infancy, Jesus and his parents became refugees in Egypt. I would go so far as to say that I do not believe one can be a Christian without a commitment to immigrants and refugees. That commitment is so central to our faith and life.
We also believe that all people deserve the right to basic health care, that no one should die because they do not have health insurance coverage. We believe in equal rights for everyone, and that includes our Black and Brown neighbors and our Gay and Lesbian and Muslim neighbors. These are not positives or negatives about any new or former US President, they are basic moral and political commitments we Lutherans have made as a church, based on our faith and years of study.
Our congregation has been so fortunate to have grown in membership and worship attendance over these past few years, with our online worship attendance growing dramatically over the past year. Those who join us for worship often tell me they were drawn by our wide welcome, a welcome to everyone.
Mt. Olive’s website welcome statement includes these words: “Who are we? We are young, old. single, married, divorced, widowed. poor, working-class, middle-class, well off. We are preschoolers, elementary schoolers, middle schoolers, high school graduates, college graduates, Ph.D.’s, GED’s. Straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. Black, white, Latino, Asian, Arab, Native American, Norwegian, German and more. In short, we are people just like you.”
We are, we strive to be, a place of welcome and acceptance, based on God’s wide welcome and acceptance of us all in Jesus Christ.
This is what we stand for as Lutherans – the grace and love of God for all, God’s undeserved love for us all, God’s love available to and for everyone.
And what is our response to such love? Love God, love neighbor, do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.
These are our standards for ourselves and our leaders. They are or should be how we will view any and all politicians, this year and every year.
With the recent claims by some of the terrorists who stormed the US Capital that God was on “their” side, I thought again of a wonderful story about Abraham Lincoln that I have shared with you previously, but it is worth sharing again – During the height of the US Civil War Lincoln was asked if God was on the side of the Union in that war. Suggesting this was the wrong question, Lincoln responded with these words - “my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side.”
And what is God’s side? – love of God and neighbor, justice, kindness, and humility.
Let’s hold ourselves and all of our leaders to those standards. Let us do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. Let us love our God and our neighbor.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
January 24, 2021
