Who are you?

     A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I used to be able to watch a lot of television.  Then I became a priest and my viewing dropped significantly!  But one of my favorite shows at the time was CSI: Miami.  I know it’s hard to keep all the CSI’s straight nowadays, but this was only the second one.  Only the original set in Vegas and this one existed at the time.  I got a kick out of it because the show opened with the lyrics made popular by Pete Townshend and The Who and Horatio Caine, played by David Caruso, fiddling with his sunglasses.  I guess the nice thing about there being few kids around is that there are no little elbows asking mommy or daddy who The Who is.

     I bring it up because at my church in Ohio, then, I thought that would be a cool sermon.  Who are you?  I’d look like the cool preacher with a Bible in one hand and Vinyl LP in the other.  Unfortunately for me, we were doing the history tract that year, so I did not get to preach that sermon.  But here we are, fifteen years later, and it popped back into my head.  Maybe it’s a Holy Spirit thing?  Maybe I’m just tired from all that is happening in the world?

     Our story from Exodus today begins after the Exodus.  Just to remind us all, Israel has been enslaved.  A Pharaoh who did not know Joseph enslaved his family.  Now, all the descendants of Jacob and those who went down into Egypt after Joseph’s big reveal, finally have been freed from that slavery.  Keep in mind, Scripture tells us that they cried out to God in their misery.  For generations.  Now, Moses and the burning bush has happened.  The parting of the Red Sea has happened.  Everyone here has seen Charlton Heston’s version of this, right?  This takes place at the end of that narrative.

     Israel has been led by Moses to Mount Sinai.  There, Moses has gone up the mountain to be told by God that He has a message for Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession out of all the peoples.  Indeed, the whole earth is Mine, but you shall be for Me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

     It is a glorious message.  It is every bit as full of good news glad tidings as the angels’ message regarding the birth of Jesus.  God, the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, has chosen them to be His people.  Now, to be clear, Israel has a choice.  They can choose to obey God and the instructions He will give them, what you and I call the torah, or they can reject His words.  Before they make their decision, though, He reminds them of what He has does for them.  He has defeated Egypt.  He has eliminated the Egyptian army as a threat.  He has fed them.  He has watered them.  He has protected them from the heat of the sun by day and from the cool of the night.  No one has been lost.  The little ones, the slower of pace, and the aged – all have been delivered to this holy mountain.  In the words of the night in Indiana Jones, they must choose wisely.

     I remind us of these words this morning because you and I are faced with the same choice.  We live in a world that wants to enslave us to productivity or good enough or social wokeness.  We live in a world that fights hard to suppress the truth that God has revealed to human Beings.  At some point, most of us gathered together this morning made a decision to listen to God’s words, to do as He taught, and, it’s not mentioned nearly enough, to pick up our crosses of responsibility and bear them in the world around us, trusting that He will redeem our suffering just as He redeemed our Lord’s.  We are, to use the words of St. Paul, the new Israel.  We are those who have been grafted into the vine by the work and person and faith of Christ Jesus.  We are the ones who wrestle with God and His instruction.

     Out there, it can feel overwhelming.  Out there, we can feel insignificant and impotent.  Anyone here have the cure to police brutality?  Anyone here have the cure for rioting and destruction?  Anyone here have the solution to our education system?  Our school to prison system?  Anyone have the cure to COVID or cancer or any number of other diseases?  Anyone here know have the cure for death?

     Y’all are chuckling, but those are all fears out there right now.  And I am really only scratching the surface.  Did you know that these last couple weeks since we opened, I have had to talk once or twice about racism?  Yes, I know, many of you have had conversations with me.  At least you are paying attention and recognizing sarcasm.  How hard is a simple thing such as racism?

     You and I are professed Christians.  We claimed, by virtue of our baptism, that we would try to love God with everything and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Remember that?  Good.  It should be antithetical to our baptism that we could be racist.  If we truly accept God’s teaching that everyone is stamped in His image, and we choose to hate someone just because of their image, Whom are we truly hating?  There really is no place for it in the Church or in the parish.  But, how many of us white folks get all jumbled up inside when we hear a person of color talking about racism or systemic racism?  How many of us get defensive and argue we would never do that and miss the oppression our brothers and sisters face each day?  It’s challenging, isn’t it?

     But you only know half the story.  I have done everything but browbeat minorities in this community to share their daily experiences with us.  We, we meaning white folk, cannot really understand why people in the world are so angry, so hell bent on destruction, until we begin to empathize with their suffering.  Our minority members have thanked me for talking about it in the open during the sermon, but when I have suggested that they share with you their fears to go out after dark for an ice cream, the time some asshole spit on them at the grocery store, the time a teacher told their child they would be unable to aster a hard subject like math or science because of their appearance, how they are treated if they are pulled over, and the list goes on and on, I get the “Whoa, Father, no way.  I doubt want my friends at Advent to think I’m complaining or unhappy with my life or . . .”  Some here want to learn, some here want to be allies, and yet those victimized by micro-aggressions are unwilling to share.  And here’s the kicker, we are the safe place.  The Church is meant to be sanctuary.  If they can’t talk about it here with us, where can they?  And if their neighbors and friends don’t know God, where are they to go to talk about the injustices they face?  It is no wonder we feel so small and up to the task . . . and this is just one issue facing us today!  One!

     So, it’s good to be reminded of the words of our Lord today.  If you obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession out of all the peoples.  Indeed, the whole earth is Mine, but you shall be for Me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.  Our calling is one of relationship.  We are called into relationship by our Father in heaven and into relationship with one another.  We gather here each week to celebrate what God has done for us, to remind ourselves of His promise to redeem our sufferings, and to remind ourselves who we are.  Each one of us gather here this morning, who has been baptized into our Lord’s death and Resurrection, is a full member of that priestly kingdom and holy nation, with all the rights and privileges and responsibilities that come with it.  By virtue of our baptism, we can no more countenance injustice than we can accept blasphemy; we can no more hide from the problems in the world than we can hide from our Lord; we can no more think ourselves impotent and worthless than we can see those in the world not adored and loved by our Father in heaven!  And it is He, it is He who sends us into the world to bear witness to His love, His mercy, and His power!

     The whole earth is His, but we are His treasured people.  You and you and you and you and me – we are His treasured people, His priests, His holy nation.  Sometimes, in the midst of the cares and the concerns of the world, it is a truth we forget.  Sometimes, in the cacophony of the voices of His and our enemies, it is a message that is drowned out.  We would do well on those dates when we encounter injustice, we would do well on those days when we encounter suffering and sorrow, we would do well on those days when we sit down to yet another rerun of o CSI program on television to ask ourselves that question, Who am I?  And to answer ourselves as He has answered for us.  I and we are a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, princesses and princes of the King of Kings and Lord of lords, and in His power, in His name, and in His love, we can accomplish all that He purposes for us and for those around us!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†