Of Kingdoms and The Kingdom (10.30.22)

Of Kingdoms and The Kingdom
October 30, 2022
Rev. Elizabeth Mangham Lott
St. Charles Ave. Baptist Church

This is the 3rd of 3 sermons on Christian Nationalism. The first two touch on the establishment and free exercise clauses of the 1st amendment and the constitutional prohibition against a religious test for public office. I’ve offered definitions and data and expert opinions about the movement we are calling Christian Nationalism, and I’ve held up what I believe is the consistent theme of scripture that our loyalty as people of faith is to the ways of God and not the empires of this world. We are citizens of the eternal kingdom of God, as Jesus described it, before we are citizens of any fleeting nation of human making. In fact, I have argued, often the ways of God are at direct odds with the empires of this world and cannot both be embraced. 

But all of that sounds theoretical and theological and even a little academic. Today I want us to understand how personal and urgent this moment is because I am feeling the pull of my calling to live and move and have my being in certain ways for the good of the world and the good of my neighbor. Even when I have an extremely hard time figuring out how I might love my neighbor.

Last night, the legendary Rock ‘n Bowl on Carrollton held a costume contest, and the owner posted a photo with the caption “best costume tonight” on social media. The winner? A man holding a giant hammer, wearing a white shirt with blood stains that read “Where’s Nancy?” 

In case you don’t get the reference, he’s making a joke about the 42-year-old man who broke into Nancy and Paul Pelosi’s California home on Friday morning with the full intent of attacking Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Instead, he found her husband, Paul, who is now recovering from injuries sustained that day. I’ll spare the details, you can find those online. 

It’s no surprise that police quickly found the attacker, who is being charged with attempted homicide and more, has a robust internet history of right-wing memes, conspiracy theories, 4Chan and Qanon involvement, the whole shebang. “But Elizabeth,” you say, “That’s not the same as a preacher telling him to do it. Why do you think these things are connected?”

While we want to assure ourselves these are one-off events not at all related to American Christianity, we all know family members and neighbors and high school friends who also post those messages on social media. It’s not a one-off, friends. While the attacker himself may not identify as a person of faith, the owner of Rock ‘n Bowl sure does. This is a movement with so many threads in and out of American Christian life that it’s hard to tell which toxic theories are going in and which ones are coming out; they are dangerously entangled.

This attack AND the mocking of this attack are the direct effect of the swirling storm that is White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism. When we as humans have moved beyond hearty disagreement to actual violence and people instantly joking about that violence, we have a problem. If I cannot disagree with you without physically attacking you or wishing you harm if not death, there is a problem. 

I do not think it is hyperbole to say this season, and I pray it is but a season, in American life will be remembered by history in much the same way as the swirl of the Civil Rights movement, anti-Vietnam protests, and women’s liberation efforts of the 1960s are remembered. When Dr. King spoke of the dangers of “the white moderate” and church silence in his letter from a Birmingham jail, he knew there was a prominent movement of church leaders coalescing with power to create an increasingly violent, partisan movement. Those within the church who disagreed did so silently or privately. I think the coalescing of state power and church teaching are even more potent now. While we ourselves in this room may not identify with the rhetoric of Christian Nationalism, we must ask ourselves if we are in any way supporting the movement with our silence or inaction.

You’ll remember Dr. King said of his own time, it is:

the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

If we people of faith remain silent in this moment because we feel safe and confident “at the edge of the inside” of Christianity and don’t think rightwing Christian Nationalism is our problem, then we are complicit in the violence that is emerging from the Church in the United States. We know from Dylan Roof’s 2015 attack at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that the movements are entirely entangled. 

In case this is your first Sunday with us for this series, I’ll remind us all of some working definitions of Chrsitian Nationalism. 

The Christians Against Christian Nationalism statement, crafted in an effort led by the BJC, reads: “Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism is a framework of thinking that demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian.”

Sociology professor Dr. Andrew Whitehead defines Christian nationalism as “a cultural framework that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life.”

So unlike the expansive one-ness we read in Paul’s letter to the Galatian church: 

for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus

this teaching of Christianity expresses fierce separation and purity codes. Not only are you only Christian if you affirm xyz tenets, you’re only Christian if you vote a certain way, and you’re only a true American if you affirm a specific understanding of Christian cultural expression.

I do not see a biblical case for America being the kingdom of God on earth. Any attempt to argue that concept as truth ends in hate, fear, and violence. If we hold the teachings of Jesus alongside hate, fear, and violence, we know the kingdom of God has entirely different standards.

I do think there is a biblical case for people of faith bringing the stuff of the kingdom of God to earth, and that is what love is meant to embody. The way of God’s kindgom, the way of God’s heart, the way of God’s imagination are meant to be embodied by the people of God. And if our way is not of Love, then our way is not of God.

Yet again, in Jesus’ teaching we find a radical (meaning fundamental, essential, rooted) teaching of loving all. 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

Across these weeks I have attempted to make the case that the radical love of God–the foundational, essential teaching of love–is the true ground for people of faith. And if our lives do not reflect that love, then they do not reflect God. In Matthew’s gospel we hear this expansion of the common teaching and how Jesus turns it on its head. 

Of course teachers of your day tell you to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. How easy is that? But I say to you: Love all of them. Even the ones you think are evil and unrighteous. Even the ones who make fun of you and persecute you. Love all and pray for all. 

Let’s be careful, though. We can let ourselves off the hook with “I’ll pray for them,” as a way of distancing ourselves from hard work or hard stances. “I’ll pray for them,”can mean “Bless their hearts.” Sure, “I’ll pray for them” while I keep my peace over here. “I’ll pray for them,” while I protect my own comfort.

It was Fr. Ronald Rolheiser who wrote, “Our prayers need our flesh to back them up.” He said the very things we pray about require our direct participation in answering those prayers.

Prayer, like love, must be embodied. And we cannot embody the love of God as revealed in Jesus the Christ while violently hating our enemies. So what are we gonna do? How then shall we live? What might it look like for us to be a people who embody the prayers and love we hold not just for our friends but for our enemies? I believe this moment is asking more of us than showing up to sit in pews. We must be formed by the faith we profess if we are to continue to claim the name Christian–followers of the Christ.

If we aren’t truly asking ourselves these questions and seeking to live into them, then we are wasting our time.

In July 2020, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia wrote a final essay to be published in the New York Times upon his death. I think it is essential that we understand our current moment as similar to other moments in American history like the ones that Rep. Lewis and Dr. King were so known for.

John Lewis wrote:

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

Love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you.

Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Beloved, love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. They who do not love do not know God.

Love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

By THIS they will know you are my disciples, because you have LOVE for one another.

Amen.