Rev Gav

Should we ignore the sparks of discrimination?

Psalm 1 and Luke 6.17–26

What nationality are you? You might be Bermudian, American, British, Canadian, Filipino, South African, Guyanese, Swedish — we have a good number of nationalities represented in our local parish of St. Mark’s, however here is a thing, you are also citizens of another kingdom, a kingdom that stretches across all social and national boundaries — the Kingdom of God. As Paul writes to the church in the city of Ephesus, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.”

So, which comes first in your life, God’s kingdom or the kingdom of the world to which you also belong?

For many of us, we are very blessed that the two can co-exist. We no longer have to make vows of allegiance to an emperor, or sign up to obey laws or statutes that compromise our Christian faith or our allegiance to Christ, however, this is not so for many Christians. Throughout history, the faith of Christians has come into direct conflict with the authorities.

This week, the film Bonhoeffer has been shown locally at a cinema. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German minister, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident whose staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship — including his vocal opposition to Adolf Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews — led to his arrest and his eventual execution.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a citizen of another kingdom, and he put that kingdom first. You see, the kingdom that Christ the King came to inaugurate — the kingdom that we pray to come when we pray the Lord’s prayer — can be summed up in Jesus’ core teaching, noted on two occasions, once recorded in Luke’s gospel and once in Matthew. In this teaching, known as the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus expounds this kingdom that is being established and he paints a picture of what he wants that kingdom to look like.

You see, in the kingdom of God, the poor, the persecuted, the vulnerable, and the oppressed will be blessed because people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other citizens of that kingdom will love them and bless them. Because God’s kingdom crosses social, gender, race, ethnic, nationality, and ability boundaries; because all are invited by Christ to be citizens of this kingdom; because its members are united with Christ and God shows no partiality or favouritism, all are included and shown favour. We are judged, not by how we conduct ourselves solely on our own, but in our treatment of others. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”

The woes listed by Jesus were not universal statements condemning all who have money, food, happiness, and friends — not at all — but unless you are looking out for the poor, hungry, weeping, and ostracised, then in what way is Jesus your Lord and King? In what way can you say with any meaning that you are a citizen of God’s kingdom?

The film Bonhoeffer finished with the poignant and powerful words, “NEVER AGAIN”. It was these words that made Helen and I weep in our cinema stalls, as we reflected on the world around us, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the erasure of LGBTQ+ cultural heritage from books, papers, and the Internet in America.

The picture accompanying this Insight and podcast is of Revd Pauli Murray. She became involved in the civil rights movement and worked to end segregation on public transport. Despite being eligible to attend Harvard Law School she was denied on the basis that she was a woman. She received her Master of Laws degree from the University of California at Berkeley and fought tirelessly to end discrimination based on gender. In 1977 she was the first African American woman in the US to become an Episcopal priest.

This week her biography was removed from a US Government Website. Why? Because she had an androgynous identity. Her birth name was Anna Pauline Murray but she changed her name to Pauli to better express her identity. Although she called herself a woman, today, it is likely she would identify as a trans male. She is being systematically erased from national historical records, not because she was black, not because she was a woman, but because of her trans gender identity — the very thing she fought so hard to preserve for you and for me.

Revd Pauli Murray was a Christian, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and a fellow Episcopal priest. Today, I want to honour her. Today, our allegiance to Christ is coming into direct conflict with the laws and edicts of a nation, and we will not remain silent. I have reposted an archived version of the missing page on my Blog in honour of her memory and in gentle protest at the removal of the page from the US National Parks Service, Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial website — lest we forget.

Yes, we pray ‘your kingdom come’ but we have a role in working with God to establish God’s kingdom here on earth, where no-one is marginalised or discriminated against based on race, colour, gender, age, or ability. The question is, are we first citizens of the Kingdom of God? If so, then we must stand against injustice and prejudice wherever it may be encountered, and act with mercy and love to all. In his sermon on the plain, found in Luke’s gospel, Jesus painted a picture of this kingdom, and although it has not yet fully come, our calling is to pray and live it out in the here and now — to live in the present, that which is to come.

I hope and pray with all my heart that the sparks of discrimination we see today do not become flames that become a raging inferno that engulfs and destroys nations. If you think I am over-exaggerating, or taking this too seriously, all I can say is that it is much easier to stamp out a spark than a forest fire, and we ignore the sparks at our peril.

Amen.