SUNDAY Summer Eucharist 9:00 a.m. Music & Live Stream
SUNDAY Summer Eucharist 9:00 a.m. Music & Live Stream
Christ the King-Epiphany Church, Wilbraham
Deacon Michael Hamilton
June 9, 2024 / Third Sunday After Pentecost
Mark 3:20-35
Please pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts may be pleasing and acceptable to God. Amen (pbs)
Some Gospel messages are easier to unpack than others, and I am not saying that Pastor Martha invited me to preach today because of this tough reading, but it is curious how this worked out 😊.
I think it is safe to say that the idea and belief that angels exist and interact with humanity are built into many people’s life of faith. Rarely do we hear of dark angels, or demons, or evil spirits in the same way with the same amount of conviction but I assume that many people believe that they too exist. I recall reading “The Screwtape Letters” when I was about 20 years old.
Published in 1942, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters is the fictional correspondence between devils trying to tempt a human soul away from God. This human “patient” must resist temptation and either remain a Christian or fall victim to evil. The Screwtape Letters consists of 31 letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, a younger and less experienced demon, charged with guiding a man called "the Patient" toward "Our Father Below" (Satan), and away from “the Enemy” (God).
The one statement that impressed and scared me the most, was when Uncle Screwtape told nephew Wormwood that the easiest way for them to succeed in distracting people from God was not to make them doubt the existence of God, but to encourage them to believe that Satan does not exist. Without the threat of suffering and damnation, Screwtape was sure that the people would follow their own path of destruction.
What about Jesus? Do you think that He believed in Satan/ demons/ and evil spirits? From the Gospel stories we are told that He did and He battled and rebuked many of them as part of His ministry. But I think that Jesus had a larger interpretation to what Satan was and rather than a red horned and tailed beast, it appears that Jesus thought of Satan as distracted people from the compassion, and reconciling love, of God. Any power that competes for our attention, loyalty, or belief that we are not the beloved children of God, constituted what Satan is.
What ‘Satans’ (if you will) are we currently dealing with?
Racism where one’s skin tone, eye shape, language, hair style, or place of birth determines a person’s value and worth in society. Any time we fail in our baptismal promise of respecting the human dignity of ALL people, we invite ‘satans’
Patriarchy where an XY chromosome can be more valued, more empowered, earn more, or be more respected than a sibling with an XX chromosome. Most of us can’t even identify what a chromosome looks like, and yet we use those microscopic building blocks to determine how one gender is preferential over another, and we strengthen the ‘satans’ amongst us with all sorts of fallout and discrimination.
Materialism and the ‘satan’ of believing that ‘we’ deserve more life, liberty, and happiness than others because we are the people of God, or living in a free country, or have been promised the prosperity Gospel that God wants to bestow riches upon riches on a select group of people, even at the expense of others. The ‘satan’ knowledge that resources are limited and therefore we need to get our share before it all runs out rather than being good stewards of what we have, protecting what we can, and sharing what is available.
Militarism and the ‘satan’ actions that are taken against others and the violence that is fostered in thinking that might makes right. The ‘satan’ of trusting that weapons, and not diplomacy or compromise, are superior, and necessary, to fight for peace.
The one ‘satan’ that I want to focus on this morning is the ‘satan’ of Gun Violence. The topic of guns is such a divisive discussion in our society right now but I want to be clear that I am not talking about gun ownership, confiscating guns, violating the 2nd amendment, hunting versus self-protection, open carry or licensing laws… none of that is part of this moment, so if guns and gun ownership is a hot button for you, please, allow that button to be reset as I speak to the ‘satan’ of pointing a loaded weapon at another human being and depressing the trigger out of fear, hatred, envy, or the ‘darkest satan possible’, believing that God wants you to kill the beloved person in front of you for some reason. I, like you, know that evil does exist and it lives in some peoples hearts as they have given over to one ‘satan’ or another in their life so I understand that this is not a simplistic issue as to when is it justified, necessary or admirable to shoot another, but all that aside, violence of any kind, and gun violence specifically, is a societal cancer, and a ‘satan’, that we are living with right now.
This weekend is “wear orange to support the end of gun violence” and many organizations, faith traditions, and social activists are participating in this public witness and that is why I am wearing an orange stole.
It might be apocryphal at this point as I could not find the original source, but I was told that a 17 year old black female had been shot and killed by a white police officer in one of those difficult stories/situations that are frequently on the news. A friend of the victim started a campaign to acknowledge her deceased friend and to bring about public awareness of the lack of protection for many black men and women. She felt that as a black person she was in the crosshairs of society, and specifically the police, and that like a hunter in the woods, she encouraged others to wear orange for protection and to raise her hands and announce loudly, “Don’t shoot, I am human”. This was out of her belief that the police had lost sight of her humanity and the dignity of all black people. I mention this not as part of the debate of white on black crime, police profiling of others, or any other reason other than to sit with the uncomfortable realization that a teenager felt ‘hunted’, unprotected, at risk, and dehumanized enough that they needed to remind others that they are in fact human. That their life mattered. That they too are the beloved of God.
Coming home from work on Wed night, without exaggeration, I saw at least 30 police cars surrounding an area at the intersection of Route 5 and 91 northbound. Blue and white strobe lights, sirens on some, flashing lights, a battalion of police and some withdrawn weapons. I later learned that there were 3 separate incidents of shootings within minutes of each other. One attack was on a marked police car with the officer shot and likely to survive but will lose an eye, another attack was on an unmarked car of detectives, and a third attack involved Department of Transportation workers, all within minutes of each other. Seven people were arrested and four out of the seven were ages 16, 17, and 18 years old. The 16 year old was already out on probation from another shooting. Were these events coordinated and related, I don’t know. What I do know is that a 16 year old with two gun related events is in jail right now instead of looking for a summer job, planning a date, or going to the store for his mother. I know we live with the ‘satan’ of inequity and not all 16-year-olds have the luxury of employment, dating, or family support and nurturing. Without the fundamental supports I suspect it is a thousand times more difficult for some to succeed.
How does this relate to the Gospel message of today? The binding of the strong man is the result of allowing the ‘satans’ to entrap us. Once we are ensnared with believing we are different and better than others, that we deserve more in our life so we are willing to cheat even on the small things, or that we are justified because of self-righteousness, whatever the snare might be, once we allow those desires to take hold, we are captive and like they say, in for a penny, in for a pound- we are bound up and unable, and sometimes unwilling to resist our house, our intentions, or our dignity to be plundered. ‘Satans’, like a thief in the night come in disguises, sometimes in a friendly seeming way, possibly through people we know and trust, and our allowing them to take hold is the start of us giving over control of our better selves.
Yes, sometimes our ‘satans’ are introduced to us through family and friends- I know that my parents did not consider themselves racists and were more people of their times but I remember having moved out of Boston in 1970 to the suburbs, and in 1974 the desegregation and busing in Boston became an explosive issue. My good natured and loving parents spoke to the unfairness of busing a white kid into a dangerous black neighborhood for a less than adequate school system. They believed that ‘the blacks’ preferred to be together and should be allowed to stay that way…. 50 years later, we can see the traps and snares in many of their beliefs at that time and I am sure our children will look back on what social blinders we might have on 50 years from now. The point here, when Jesus says “who is my mother, who are my brothers”, He is saying that He is related and in relationship with everyone that does the will of God in their lives. He is not disowning His family per se but that they did not have priority by mere blood-relationship, but through their desire to be in honest relationship with God; those are the people numbered among His relatives.
I pray that this week, we all look to the ‘satans’ that bind us and untie them. If we are unable to do this ourselves, envoke the Holy Spirit to assist in setting ourselves free from the things that keep up out of perfect relationship with God. I pray that we are all able to put down our chains that bind us, our weapons, our fears and hatreds that create ‘satans’ in our lives and that we pray for the 16 year olds and all their friends that are overtaken by ‘satans’ that they might realize the pure love of God, that they are not alone, and they are equally valued in the kingdom of God as much as any one of us are.
Come Holy Spirit, hear our prayer.
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