Too Much
Photo by Kat via Unsplash
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak…
Have you heard? Have you heard about the latest culture war? You know about cultural wars – right? It’s when politicians and talking heads – leading figures on both the right and the left – attempt to flood the air-waves and social media in order to distract us from what really matters. Just grab a couple of news cycles and they’ll call it success – and they’ve done it again. It’s unbelievable! It’s shocking! It’s earth-shaking! Have you heard – it’s about M&M’s. That’s right. The latest culture war focuses on what’s happening to the M&M characters, (you know them, those adorable characters – Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green and Brown – and now Purple – who herself has cause controversy) and an M&M spokesman announced that the company is temporarily pulling its characters from the public because of the controversy – pulled that is until a big, splashy return in a big splashy ad at the Super Bowl.
What’s the controversy about? A key figure in the media on the political right is outraged over some cosmetic changes the company made to the characters. For example, Green’s high-heeled shoes were replaced by flats and Brown’s stiletto were switched out for lower heals – all so Green and Brown could be more comfortable! But no – this right wing commentator who shall go unnamed said this about the changed shoes, “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous.”
Enough of that silliness. Why waste my breath – and waste your hearing on such a ridiculous matter. It seems inconsequential until it doesn’t, until it hits close to home. Then the so-called culture wars begin to actually have an impact – a harmful one.
Did you hear about the neo-Nazis group of masked men that showed up at the Taunton Public Library during a family and children’s event? The library was holding a Drag Queen Story Hour for children when members of the NSC – 131 – a well-known new Nazi group in New England, carrying backpacks and wearing masks entered the library during the event some of whom stood or sat down right next to children and verbally harassed the speaker and all in attendance. A few days later at a city council meeting addressing the incident at the library, one mother named Heather said, “Masked men should not be allowed to sit down next to your 8-year-old daughter.”
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The drag artist who conducted the reading released a statement that said this, “What we saw (at the library) was domestic terrorism. The LGBTQ+ community is under attack, and we can no longer sit around and let it keep happening.” She did not appear at the city council meeting for fear of her life.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Addressing State Representative Carol Doherty (who was at Holy Trinity by the way for our Transgender Day of Remembrance Service last fall) said this, “Events like family-friendly drag queen story hours for children are meant to be beautiful and informative, events that promote acceptance, diversity, kindness and love. They are a vital tool in our fight against discrimination.”
We can only imagine what it was like for the children to see masked men invade their story time and hear them verbally harass the story-teller.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Did you see with your own eyes the appalling video of the beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis by 5 police officers. It was a simple traffic stop that led to an inexplicable and horrific beating by the police all of which was caught on camera. Five days later 29-year-old Tyre died from his injuries. On the video he can be heard pleading with the offices for an answer to this question, “What did I do? What did I do?” and then calling out for his mother, “Mom,..Mom.”
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And his mother, RowVaughn Wells, who had to turn the video off in horror, is living with unspeakable grief and then she, she of all people said, that the five officers had “disgraced” their families, but that she would also pray for them because “this shouldn’t have happened.”
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
And in the midst of her own agony, she was thoughtful about the families of the men who killed her son, and she dug deep into her own faith and found the grace to pray for their families.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
We cannot gather together this morning as a community of faith without naming, and lifting up to our God of mercy, the tragedy in Duxbury where a mother named Lindsey is charged with killing her three children two of whom were dead at the scene: Cora, 5-years-old and Dawson, 3-years-old while the 7-month old little boy died of his injuries two days ago. The dad went out to get pizza for the family. He returned to a living nightmare. It has been suggested that Lindsey, the mother – a labor and delivery nurse at Mass General – was suffering from post-partum psychosis – a serious and debilitating mental illness. To the father and husband and family what can be said?
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In today’s first lesson, the prophet Micah amplifies the Lord’s agony about what has happened to his people, “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!” It’s as if God is pleading with us, “Look at all I have done for you, all the saving acts, yet for what? What has happened to you people? How can you do what you are doing? How can you be so cruel and ruthless and evil? After everything I’ve done, what has happened to you people?
And then Micah says this,
The Lord has told you, O Mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
….to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God.
But how do we change? How do we get there – that is to make justice truly flow like a mighty river, to be in love with acting with kindness, and to covet, relish, desire to humbly walk in the shadow of our God? How do we get there? We begin by confessing, by humbly accepting that humanity is broken. That we are sinful. That we are quite capable of such horrific evil.
But how do we change? How do we get there – that is to make justice truly flow like a mighty river, to be in love with acting with kindness, and to covet, relish, desire to humbly walk in the shadow of our God? How do we get there? We begin by confessing, by humbly accepting that humanity is broken. That we are sinful. That we are quite capable of such horrific evil.
But listen to St Paul’s words in his letter to the Corinthians today: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” Think about those innocent children who allegedly died at the hands of their mother and what they, the weak, have to give us – a call, yes – a call to the wider community, to use our wisdom, our intellect, our resources, and our compassion to do a better job with all things concerning post-partum depression and psychosis.
Think of the children at the Taunton library frightened by masked men invading a children’s story hour only because those masked men chose to despise those who are different from them. They chose hate over love, fear over acceptance, selfishness over kindness. From St Paul, “God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are.” Those children at the library call us to action – to love kindness – to open our arms and our hearts to people who seem different.
And finally the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in Memphis allegedly at the hands of those who are supposed to be our protectors and pillars of the community but in fact have lost their way in a culture gone horribly wrong. Let’s hear what St Paul has to say, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.” It is now up to the wise in our community to do justice, and for all of us to learn from the deadly mistakes of the foolish.
These awful events of the last week have uncovered humanities weakness and fragile state, our constant state of being broken and living in sin. Yet God chose weakness. God chose those who are fragile. God chose brokenness. God chose Jesus’ ugly death on the cross. His weakness while he was dying, his fragility, his brokenness saves us from ourselves. After his deceased and lifeless body was removed from the cross, all our weakness, all our sin dies with him each and every day. For three days later after he was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb, it was Easter morning. And the sun rose. Jesus was alive. Jesus is alive. There is hope for you. There is hope for me. There is hope for all of humanity.