One of my seminary professors once told us there are two topics we should
always avoid in polite conversation and in the pulpit if we want to keep our
jobs: religion and politics. He was just joking - I think. But religion and
politics are explosive subjects because they address our deepest values and our
deepest identity as human beings in community. Religion and politics are
explosive subjects, but especially explosive when they are brought together.
Some people think Christians should stay out of politics altogether. One
extreme argues that religion is entirely a private and individual matter, that
it is always exclusive and anti-democratic, that it has caused more violence
and heartache than any other force in human history, so it has no place
whatsoever in a secular democracy. The other extreme argues that politics is
too worldly, that there is no way to be involved in the mudslinging turmoil of
elections and lawmaking without compromising your values, so the path to
spiritual purity leads us away from temporal to eternal pursuits. But I want to
stand in the radical middle. I believe religion is never merely private nor individual. And faith demands we be involved in the
processes that affect our community. It's as old as the Bible itself: good
religion makes good politics and bad religion makes bad politics. The state is
always trying to attach the name of God to its policies, to manipulate people
by claiming divine authorization for themselves while
demonizing their political opponents. But we should never mistake the machinery
of the temporal and therefore temporary state with the sovereign and ultimate
rule of God. As citizens of a democracy we should be involved in politics, but
our most important political act is to live by the values of our faith.
What I want to observe today is that being religious is in and of itself a
radical and subversive political act. Today are hearing more of the story of
three widows. Widows have a prominent place in our Christian scripture. In
ancient society, in a time when there was no social safety net, widows were
among the most vulnerable of all citizens. And because the Bible over and again
says God sides with the least of these - the poor, the sick, the estranged, the
despised and rejected - it should not surprise us to hear we are responsible
before God to care for widows and orphans. The Mosaic law
says, "You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them,
when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and
I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your
children orphans" (Ex 22:22-24). And in the New Testament James declares:
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained
by the world" (1:27). The prophets over and again declare God's
judgment against the nation for economic policies which abuse the helpless.
Isaiah, for instance, says:
Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn
aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from
far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,
so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this
(God's) anger has not turned away; (God's) hand is stretched out still. (Isa 10:1-4)
Which makes me wonder what the prophet would say about the bankers who have
victimized the vulnerable with their pyramid investment schemes, or for that
matter the televangelists who depend upon the donations of the most vulnerable
who can attend no other worship but what comes over the television.
But the Bible goes even further in telling stories of widows, abandoned and
forgotten by the powers, who played a major role in the work of God that
mattered. In the days of Elijah, what finally mattered was not the political
decisions and wars of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, but the widow of Zarephath, a pagan foreigner who took care of God's prophet
(I Kings 17:8-24). When Jesus was born, King Herod tried to have the rumored
infant Messiah killed, but the widow Anna affirmed "the child to
all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Luke 2:37).
These lowly widows appeared to be minor players on the world scene, but God
used them in a powerful way. As Paul says it, "God chose what is
foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to
shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that
are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might
boast in the presence of God." (1 Cor 1:27-29).
Consider again the three widows in our Bible readings today. These two widows
might seem utterly powerless, but God works through them to accomplish the
Divine work of eternal value. As Margaret Rose puts it:
Again and again, the biblical witness proclaims that God's people have no
tribal boundaries, do not have to be alike to belong to each other.
Again and again, the lives of our forebears in the faith are blessed when they
reach out beyond themselves to include rather than exclude. Again and again,
Jesus proclaims the good news that love is the criteria for belonging and not
blood.
And then we have Mark's story of the widow's mite. And I am warning you right
here and now that I cannot resist the temptation to make this a sermon about
tithing and stewardship. The widow in this story is not just tithing. She gives
up everything she has to participate in a system in
which she trusts, that promises to take care of her. Jesus compares her to the
priests and rulers who are wealthy, who love the spotlight, who tip God for
public credit. And no doubt Jesus’ disciples, just a bunch of good ole
country boys from the outback of
How invested are you in the work of God in the world? I'm not just talking
about money, though we might begin there. But your energy, your time, your
attention, your passion - how much are you invested in the principalities and
powers of popular culture and how much in the eternal values of Christ? Of
course, your return on investment will be related to where you invest most, so
I only want you to ask yourself, which offers the greatest lasting reward?
And this is why I suggest to you that religion is the ultimate political act.
As Christians we are called to be God's subversives in the world. You know the
chapter and verse of the principalities and powers, including our culture, our
nation, and both political parties. What matters most is wealth, youth,
appearance, power, dominance, control, fame, competition,
trash-talking insults, putting down your enemies, being the biggest, military
might, corporate hierarchy, individual independence, status, and self. But here
we are creating a community with a counter-testimony that what matters most is
love, sacrifice, service, self-forgetfulness, taking care of the least of
these, seeing the beauty of the small and fragile, welcoming the stranger,
taking care of each other, forgiveness, cooperation, encouragement, loving our
enemies, peace - the way of Christ. And when you invest in that subversive,
counter-cultural way of living, when you put your two cents into creating that
alternative community, you are making a lasting and effective political
statement like no other. Like these widows, ignored by the world in their time
because they don't really matter, we don't have to be noisy about it. We just
have to choose it over the world's values. We just have to live it. For the
past three weeks we have all be enriched by the Stewardship Moments offered by
Rita Layton, Gary Fischer and Vicki Nehring.
They bet their lives that living by the scripture is
the best bet … that it pays eternal dividends. They join me in encouraging you to make the
same wager, and trust in the fact that God will bring about the lasting result.
Last week we participate in the small, unassuming supper our ruler instituted
long ago that lies at the heart of our community life. Communion.
The word says a lot concerning what we're about, doesn't it? It is his gift to us.
It represents how Jesus put everything he had into loving us and creating this
alternative … subversive community. I invite you today to consider his
gift, but also to understand the call that the table makes to you and me, the
model it wants us to follow. Because when we join this table, we are not just
receiving grace, we are giving ourselves to someone and submitting to his
sovereignty and declaring his way in the world. You and I may never be included
in the tables of power, but this is the real table of power, and you are
included, where you are always welcome. Oh, I know the world wouldn't see this
as a political statement or an act of power. The first supper only included a
Galilean carpenter and twelve good ole country boys from the outback. But they
turned the world upside down. And don't you think the world needs to be turned
upside down again?
May we pray?
Lord, We accept the gift of your grace. May we also
hear the call of your sacrifice to be and build the body of Christ in this
place and time. Amen.
Rev. Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa