Hearing God’s word (speaking truth in Washington and in Pembrokeshire)

 Luke 4: 14-30

This has been quite a week, if you’ve been watching the news from the United States.

President Donald Trump has been elected for a second term – and has received acclaim and applause from many for his bold inauguration speech in which he declared a national emergency at the Southern border and promised to end the right to be registered as a US citizen if you are born there. He has since signed dozens of executive orders, including those withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, increasing oil, gas & coal exploitation, and releasing those who stormed the Capitol building when he failed to be elected president four years ago.

 

But Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopalian Bishop of Washington, preaching at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration, directly addressed President Trump and Vice-president Vance.

 

She asked them, in the name of the God Trump believes saved him from a bullet, to “have mercy” on those who feel frightened by the approach of the new administration. She said We should all be merciful to the stranger, because God’s word teaches that we were all once strangers.

 

What was lost in the reporting of Bishop Mariann’s sermon was that before this final section, seeking mercy, she preached on the importance of unity. Bishop Mariann reminded the congregation that God requires not just that we pray for unity, but that we act and work for it.

 

She suggested that scripture teaches that unity is built on the principles of

Dignity – honouring others as children of God

Honesty – seeking and upholding the truth, and

Humility – remembering that we are fallible, and need others to help us.

 

Trump’s reaction, talking (as ever) to reporters was to say the service was “not too exciting”.

 

This is not the first time that questions have been raised by politicians about the purpose of worship – and preaching in particular – and how far we should look to the Bible to soothe and support us and when we should let the words of scripture challenge our ideas.

 

This is also not the first time a preacher has had a difficult reception from those who hear what the preacher says.

 

We heard from Luke’s gospel the turn of the tide of opinion against Jesus, when he preaches to those in his home town of Nazareth.

At first there is acclaim: reports about Jesus have spread and there are praises for his preaching in the synagogues.

Then Jesus comes home – and reads some of the prophecy of Isaiah :

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

 

Then Jesus tells the congregation in the synagogue “today in your hearing this text has come true” and there was general approval, but some start asking “isn’t this Joseph’s son?”.

 

Jesus remarks that ‘no prophet is recognised in his own country’, and to illustrate his point reminds them of Elijah, sent to relieve the famine for the widow of Zarapheth in Sidon; and Elisha, who healed Naaman the Syrian. This roused the whole congregation to fury.

 

They want their local boy to preach good news for them, not remind them of God’s mercy to their foreign neighbours. I wonder whether any of them muttered about putting “Nazareth first” or even “Making Nazareth great again”.

Jesus is able to walk through the crowd unharmed on this occasion. But I hope Bishop Mariann takes heart in the knowledge that even when Jesus preached the good news of the gospel, it wasn’t received well by everyone.

 

Yet Jesus seems unperturbed by this bad reaction – perhaps because he was, as Luke tells us, armed with the power of the Spirit, and reminded in Isaiah’s words that ‘the Spirit of the Lord’ anoints those who bring good news.

 

In Jesus we see those three principles that Bishop Mariann highlighted: dignity, honesty and humility – all inspired by the very strength and breath of God in the Holy Spirit.

 

There have been many attempts to analyse what Donald Trump becoming president might mean for the world – for its safety and diplomacy, for our climate, for the rise of technology giants.

We might wonder how to respond to the talk of securing borders, deporting foreigners, despising those who are different, or sick, or weak.

Recognising our unity, working to strengthen it and rejoice in it, means we cannot ignore what is happening in another part of the world. Unity also means recognising that we must not dismiss those with whom we disagree, but pray for them, even with them if possible, and be prepared to seek dignity, honesty and humility together.

Jesus says in Matthew 5: 44 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

 

Coming nearer to home, this is the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We have not had an ecumenical service here to mark the week – some of us may have been praying quietly at home.

But I believe that we are also meant to be challenged by the words of scripture we have read today, and by the sermon from Bishop Mariann, to ask ‘what does unity look like?’.

 

It is the decision to work together to serve the common good – to live out our essential oneness which comes from being children of God and followers of Christ together.

 

It is the recognition that we are one body of Christ.

 

It is the determination to seek the principles of

 

Dignity – never belittling or ridiculing other Christians

 

Honesty – being prepared to talk together about the things that unite us and the things which divide us, and seeking truth together.

 

Humility – never forgetting that we are capable of making mistakes, and that we sometimes need the help of our sisters and brothers in Christ to get a fuller, better picture of what the gospel sounds like and the love of God looks like.

 

God bless the church when we pray for unity.

God bless those who speak out with the gospel to those in power.

God bless America.

God bless those with power in this world with the gifts of

dignity, honesty and humility.

 

I can think of no better way to end this sermon than by using the words Bishop Mariann Budde used to end hers:

 

God grant us the strength and the courage to honour the dignity of every human being;

to speak the truth to one another in love;

to walk humbly with each another and with our God,

for the good of all the people.         Amen.