These devotions originate as devotions I prepare for the small parish I belong to in South Dakota, Christ Episcopal Church in Yankton, South Dakota. The reflections/homilies are my own. This particular devotion is focused on the systemic injustice people of color live with in our nation and around the world.
TRINITY SUNDAY
So God created humankind in his image
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!
Lord open out lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Psalm 8
Domine, Dominus noster
1 O Lord our Governor, *
how exalted is your Name in all the world!
2 Out of the mouths of infants and children *
your majesty is praised above the heavens.
3 You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, *
to quell the enemy and the avenger.
4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *
the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? *
the son of man that you should seek him out?
6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; *
you adorn him with glory and honor;
7 You give him mastery over the works of your hands; *
you put all things under his feet:
8 All sheep and oxen, *
even the wild beasts of the field,
9 The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, *
and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.
10 O Lord our Governor, *
how exalted is your Name in all the world!
THE FIRST LESSON
GENSIS 1:26-31a
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.
THE SECOND LESSON
Jesus cleanses the temple as recorded in all four Gospels.
Matthew 21:12-13
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
MARK 11:15-17
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
LUKE 19:45-46
When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
JOHN 2:13-17
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.
REFLECTION
by
Norm Wright
+In the Name of God+
The dread of many priests and preachers is to preach on Trinity Sunday because one can find oneself trying to explain a doctrine that comes across as being abstract or attempting to turn it into something people can apply in their daily lives.
Events, however, have a way of changing one’s perspective on abstract things like the Trinity. The recent killing of a black man, George Floyd and the resulting protests has caused me to take a second look at the Trinity because I found in it an application to what we are currently experiencing within our nation. In particular, what came to mind was the Trinity window of our church which displays the well-known equilateral triangle, symbolizing the three persons of the Trinity in unity, being of coequal substance in One God.
I want to take that image and focus our attention on unity in diversity by considering these words from the first lesson, “So God created humankind in his image… .”
Humankind means every kind of human, every type of identifying feature found in humankind - the human diversity we see throughout the world. If we are created in the image of God and Christians define that image as the Trinity; as three distinct persons, three distinct identities coequal in substance as God, and if we are made in that image, then the Trinity serves as a model for the coequality we should be striving for as children of God. We should be rejoicing in the glory of our diversity because at our core, we share the same coequal identity, the image of God.
Where this model starts falling apart for us is when it comes to behaving in an unequal, discriminatory manner that sees difference and diversity as a threat. It has been a problem, if not the problem, since the creation of humankind.
Scripture addresses this lack of coequality with the term - justice. Justice is addressed in the Holy Bible roughly 145 times, in the sense of doing justice as a means to correct injustice; especially, when justice is perverted by discrimination against the poor, the homeless, the widow, the foreigner, and those perceived as different.
Coequality can serve as a model for how justice for all people regardless of their identity can result in bringing about a “more perfect union.”
Why coequality? Why not just good, plain old equality?
Currently, there is a sense of equal justice under the law as experienced by white people. There is a different sense of equality under the law experienced by Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and LGBTQIA individuals. Until there is a coequal sense of justice under the law, we will continue down the path of division, discord, and disunity.
A coequal application of justice will not happen overnight. Black leaders understand that, as do other minority leaders. Many civic leaders understand it. Many police departments and other law enforcement agencies are trying to find and implement ways to ensure coequal justice, but it is far from the point of being realized.
It would be nice to get to the point where justice is coequally blind, but at the moment, Lady Justice cannot afford to be color blind because she needs to keep an eye on the scales of justice to ensure that they are balanced and that justice is applied coequally.
* * * * * * * * * *
What compels me to speak on this subject today is that our president crossed over the wall separating church and state to disperse a peaceful protest through use of force in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. so that he could take a leisurely stroll in order to stand in front of it and hold up a Bible and say nothing of substance. Later he described that event as a “very symbolic.”
This was followed the next day by a presidential visit to the Roman Catholic basilica, The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for another “symbolic” photo-op where he and the First Lady placed a wreath of red, white, and blue flowers on the statue of St. Pope John Paul II There he said nothing at all.
Both of these photo-ops by the president were called out for what they were by the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C, Maryann Budde and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington D.C., Wilton D. Gregory along with a number of other mainline church leaders throughout the United States.
In a NPR interview Bishop Budde said, “He used violent means to ask to be escorted across the park into the courtyard of the church. He held up his Bible after speaking [an] inflammatory militarized approach to the wounds of our nation. He did not pray. He did not offer a word of balm or condolence to those who are grieving. He did not seek to unify the country, but rather he used our symbols and our sacred space as a way to reinforce a message that is antithetical to everything that the person of Jesus, whom we follow, and the gospel texts that we strive to emulate ... represent.”
In later reporting on Fox Radio News, President Trump stated, “Most religious leaders loved it. Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress liked it. I thought it was a great symbol. It’s the ones, the other side, that didn’t like it.” Then he asked, “Why wouldn’t they (the other side) like that? I had the Bible.”
In an article in The Hill, Archbishop Gregory stated, "I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,”
As leaders of the Church, they have a responsibility to speak out against using churches as a backdrop for a vacuous, silent photo op for the obvious purpose of gaining some personal profit from it. His silence about what was taking place around him in those locations spoke volumes to the world about the lack of moral leadership our nation is dealing with.
What came to mind in watching these two events was the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple.
Jesus railing against using a place of worship for personal profit is recorded in all four gospels. When something is recorded in all four gospel, we need to pay attention. When people wonder and ask what’s the big deal about the President holding up a Bible for a political photo-op to appeal to his political base, they need to read these scriptures.
It is a big deal when the leader of this nation crosses over the wall separating church and state and forcefully disperses a crowd of people peacefully protesting against racial injustice for a photo-op in front of church just to raise a Bible or place a wreathe to further his personal political ambitions in a photo-op. The unspoken message that came across was that this was President Trump’s “Gott mit uns” moment; as in, God is on my side moment.
* * * * * * * * * *
Jesus was a protester and his teachings, his death, and his resurrection stand as a protest against injustice in all times and in all places.
Jesus engaged in a violent protest against people who were legally sanctioned to use the Temple for personal profit. Jesus was motivated by moral outrage at what he was seeing; the poor, the widow, the homeless and the infirm being discriminated against and taken advantage because their lives didn’t matter. This is not being pointed out to exonerate those who take advantage of a peaceful protest in order to commit criminal acts, but rather to pose the question what would we make of Jesus’ actions today? How would we respond today? If we were required to pick a “side,” whose side would we be on?
So let us pause on that thought and consider the event that led us to this moment.
On May 25, George Floyd, a black man, was arrested and handcuffed for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. He was placed in the back of a police car, then was forcibly removed from that police car, forced to lay prone on the street with his hand handcuffed behind his back, and then a police officer placed his knee and the weight of his body on George’s neck for almost nine minutes during which he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. Bystanders also pleaded with the police officer to stop, but to no avail. As result, George Floyd died.
That moment will be etched into the collective memory of this nation and the world. It will serve as an icon of the domestic domination and racial injustice that is taking place in the twenty-first century America.
As difficult as it is to see that image, we need to sit with that icon for awhile and let it sear our consciences as people of faith, followers of Christ, and as Americans.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Being a white man, I will not pretend to know what it is like to be a black person or a person of color in this country. Seeing racial injustice and hearing about it is not the same as experiencing it. I can see it, but I have not experienced it. I have heard about it, but I have not lived it. Those who have a different skin color than I live it every day.
Nevertheless, I can not nor will not allow my lack of personal experience with injustice lead me to ignore it when I see it or say nothing when I hear it. I cannot ignore the pleas of those who say, “I can’t breathe.”
Being human and being children of God requires us to do something about it, to say something about it, and to pray about it because regardless of a person’s skin color, that person is our brother and our sister by virtue of our shared life on this planet home and by virtue of our common Creator who breathed life into all of us.
* * * * * * * * * *
Black lives matter!
Are we hearing it? Are we paying attention to it as people who claim to follow Christ; in particular, those of us who promised in our baptismal/confirmation vows to “strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being?”
Are we hearing it as Americans when we pledge “liberty and justice for all?”
Do we understand its importance?
When “Black lives matter” is countered with the familiar “All lives matter,” we’re plugging our ears and closing our minds. When we say things like that, we’re highjacking the message and diminishing its force.
Our great American prophet, Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out that “ Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If we want to move “All lives matter” from being a meaningless platitude to a practiced reality, then let’s begin by making sure Black lives matter; let’s start by ensuring coequal justice for our black brothers and sisters.
If we start there, then all people who are marginalized because of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and economic situation will breathe more freely; then all will freely breathe the fresh air of liberty.
The Church’s role in the world and in this nation, is to be a prophetic voice, to point out the ignored obvious, and to speak against injustice wherever it resides.
We who live in rural America; in its small towns and who attend its small congregations are not exempt from that role. We cannot afford to ignore or take comfort in our relative isolation when the killing of George Floyd occurred a few hours drive from the doorstep of our church.
When we see injustice anywhere, we must respond to it with faith, with hope, with love, and with a commitment to heed the words of the prophet Micah who said, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
And how do we act justly?
It doesn’t have to be hard.
A first step is to not to justify injustice in our private conversations or minimize the consistent pattern of systemic injustice towards people of color in our country because we’re fearful of offending a friend or an associate who is doing so. We don’t have to be Black to explain why Black lives matter and why suggesting the use domination over our citizens is antithetical to what this nation stands for and is antithetical to what Jesus taught us.
The second step is to stop making excuses for leaders who are not helping the situation through their lack of judgment, their inappropriate statements, and their misguided actions. We must hold them accountable when the line of civil decency and discourse is crossed over to promote domination and disunity.
The third step is to pray that coequal justice prevails and for the peace and unity of our nation.
As dismayed and disheartened as I was this past week, I found faith, hope, and love on a CBS Nightly News segment (June 3rd), where we were gifted with the voice of black, teenage girl reciting a poem that presciently and poignantly spoke to what we are going through as a nation at this time; a poem that in the pathos of its longing offers hope.
So I’m going to step aside, take a knee, and give breathing room to another one of America’s great prophetic voices, the black poet, Langston Hughes who shows us precisely why Black lives matter:
LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN
by Langston Hughes (1938)
[All emphasis are mine - nw]
Let America be America again
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed —
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek —
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean —
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home —
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay —
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again —
The land that never has been yet —
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine — the poor man's, Indian's,
Negro's, ME —
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose —
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain —
All, all the stretch of these great green states —
And make America again!
**************************
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979
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