Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Will Malambri - "We Mutually Pledge"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: We remain standing as we hear together the gospel according to Matthew from chapter 10, where Jesus says, Whoever welcomes you welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous. And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of the little ones in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Only Jesus would come up with something like that. If you're welcomed, he's welcomed. If he's welcomed, God is welcomed. A prophet, a righteous person, a little one, all representatives of him. You can't get more democratic than that. Democratic, small D, the form of government that allows all citizens to participate as voters, even as representatives. The kind of government where the work of governing is not reserved to just a small group of people. In our republic, you don't have to be born to a certain bloodline to be eligible for the highest offices. We declared our independence from that in 1776. We the people, to use a phrase from the Constitution that was published 11 years later. But a sentiment certainly implied within the Declaration of Independence. We the people wanted something different than a subservient life to a King George or whoever his descendants would be. Something more egalitarian than their European ancestors had experienced. It was aspirational and is yet to be fully realized. But our public declaration of what we wanted to become is inspiring, and it has guided our progress these 250 years. Even when people have been excluded from opportunities that should be afforded to all, in a country where the self evident truth is that all persons are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, even though not everyone has benefited from these equally. The very idea That our country holds this truth has given hope to those who look forward to the day when it will be available to all. Over the course of these 250 years, those excluded have pointed to what we aspire to become whenever we've been less than that, proving themselves to be good patriots because seeking to close the gap between what we aspire to be. And what we are is what a good patriot does. A patriot loves his or her country the way an adult child loves his or her parent. Grateful for the gift of the parents, able to see much good in them, aware of the blessings that it is to be their child. The adult is also able to see the parents' imperfections. Loving them despite their flaws, and seeking to help them to improve upon their flaws. And as it goes with parents, some ways of seeking improvement for our country are wiser than others. But it is the right and responsibility of citizens to help our nation that has so much good in it, to come closer to our ideals. Because we, the people, are in this together. I've already referenced the familiar opening line to the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Here's the less familiar yet also significant conclusion. For the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. This never was about, can never be about, independence from one another. It won't even work if it's codependence on the segment of the country that I like best. For our gr country's great experiment to continue to thrive, we need to live into that mutual pledge to sacrifice and share of ourselves for the betterment of all. That's what makes it possible for us to be a city on a hill, to use John Winthrop's scriptural language from the sermon he preached crossing the Atlantic nearly 400 years ago. What Winthrop was saying is the world was watching. And God was watching to see how this new world would form, and that the way that they would avoid the quote shipwreck of God's wrath was. And to provide for our prosperity is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. He went on, we must be knit together. As one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of all our superfluities for the supply of the other's necessities. In other words, it can't be that my wants supersede your needs. Which is why he talked about rejoicing together, mourning together, laboring together, being together as people who are meek, gentle, and patient. All scriptural admonitions, you may know, in this foundational sermon for our country. A sentiment that sowed the seeds for the reaction our World Cup guests are having as they visit our nation this summer. For all the ways our international friends are taken with waffle houses and buckies and ranch dressing, they are also impressed with the warm reception that they are receiving from everyday Americans. This city on a hill is being watched. And we have the opportunity to favorably or unfavorably impress. And for the most part, we have been positively impressing, which is raising the question. Are we more inclined to show kindness to a visitor from another nation than to an American who aligns with a different political party? George Washington warned us about that in his 1796 farewell address, where he wrote that extreme political partisanship serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another. Foments occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. Prescient words from 230 years ago. The secular antidote is putting to putting party over country as a commitment to we the people, to self-evident truths that all are created equal and endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Christian antidote is all that. Plus, an understanding that each person, no matter their status, prophet, righteous person, little one. Is created in the image of God and deserves to be treated accordingly, right down to sharing something as basic as a cup of cold water. Any act of welcome, sacrifice, kindness, service, mutuality is, according to Jesus, a way of honoring him. When someone who follows Jesus gives a cup of cold water to another, it's as if they have done it for Jesus. When someone who does not follow Jesus gives a cup of cold water to someone who does, it's as if they've done it for Jesus. Either way, both directions, Jesus' graciousness is such that he does not have to be the direct beneficiary of the kind act, for the kind act to be important to him. What's important to Jesus? is hospitality, mutual care, kindness, the very acts that draw people to him like eyes are drawn to an illuminated city on top of a hill. In his final Sunday sermon in 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King said it this way: We must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools. We are tied together in a single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made. This is the way it's structured. Which is why you and I and our nation as a whole must remember that we declared independence from Britain, not from each other. Or as Galatians 5 reminds Christians, for you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. If you want an excellent sermon about that, go back to July 14th, Flag Day, when Bill Barber in the harbor preached a beautiful sermon that drew on his experiences both as a member of the U.S. military and as a pastor to help us think about what faithful patriotism looks like. To me, Faithful Patriotism includes Stanza Three from America the Beautiful. God, mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law. Faithful patriotism is honoring our nation's high aspirations, our incredible resources to achieve them. And the flawed yet ongoing attempts we have to do so. It's recognizing that no one is too important to be the one to give a cup of cold water, or too unimportant to be the one to receive it. It's being grateful for who we are as a nation and being helpfully ambitious about who we are to become.