1 | “Faithful Transformation”

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

I’ve got to be honest and frank with you this morning. Paul’s words this week simply piss
me off. I’m angry. I’m upset. And I’m a little afraid. I look at what has happened in the world
over the last few weeks – and in our own country over the last few days – and I can’t help but
lose heart. I just want to say, “What the hell God! What’s going on? Why is all this happening?
Why all this violence? Why all this hatred? Why? Why? Why?”
And I know that many of you are thinking the same thing, even if you won’t say it out
loud. One of the things that I’ve learned about being a pastor is that it is the pastor’s job to
facilitate the conversation between the people and God. And so many times I have to voice the
anger and frustration with God that many of us have because at some point in our lives we were
wrongly taught that we are not supposed to be angry with God, even though over 1/3 of the
Psalms are people angry and yelling at God. And so part of my calling is to voice your inner
anger, frustration, questions, doubts, and pain at God.
So what is going on God? Why is all this happening? And why does Paul give us such
trite words of comfort in the midst of such pain. “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer
nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary
affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure…”
These words sounds great. But in the midst of what’s happening today, it sounds like
Paul is saying, “Don’t worry about all the horrible things that are happening now. Despite these
trials, your spirit will grow stronger. It’ll be okay in the end!” What a bunch of crap Paul!
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help in times like these. “It’ll be okay in the end”
doesn’t help when 49 people in Orlando are assassinated by a terrorist simply because of who
they happen to love.
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help when our government, the very people who we
elect to serve and protect us, refuse to pass a law that prevents people on the terrorist watch list
from getting guns. Terrorists can’t fly in a plane, but they can have a semi-automatic weapon.
But it’ll be okay in the end. What a bunch of crap Paul!
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help as black people are killed by racist police officers
who are meant to protect them. Killed by racist police even when they are compliant with the
officer and are exercising their 2nd amendment right to own a fully licensed gun. All because we
have fostered a system of prejudice in this country that makes a person a threat if they happen to
have darker colored skin. And just because there are laws against prejudice doesn’t mean that
prejudice doesn’t exist – it just has to be hidden in socially acceptable ways.
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help when other good, hard-working police officers are
shot and killed by extremists who simply want revenge. Returning violence for violence doesn’t
help. An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help when our political climate is so polarized that our
leaders are no longer serve the people who elected them, but only serve the interests, desire, and
greed of the lobbyists, companies, and millionaires who fund them. Only serve to opposite the
other side. Republican against Democrat. Democrat against Republican.
“It’ll be okay in the end” doesn’t help when we think we are not able to talk about these
things, not even in church, out of the need to keep things “decent and in order.” Because we
think that the church is supposed to be theological not political. Even though Jesus teaches us in
the Gospels that the theological is political when he took on the politics of the entire Roman
Empire with his theology of who God truly is. When Jesus was executed for sedition – a political
crime for inciting protest against the government.
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2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

And if there is another thing I’ve learned from Jesus, it’s that righteous anger is called for
in times like these. That the systems that continue to oppress people and take lives have to be
turned over, like tables in the temple courtyard. That the self-righteous, holier-than-thou
Pharisees who think they play no part in this communal sinfulness have to be called out. And that
includes all of us.
In our Book of Common Worship, the most often used prayer of confession says,
“Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what
have done, and by what we have left undone.” When we fail to do something, when we fail to
say something, in God’s eyes we are just as guilty and sinful as the people who committed the
horrible acts of the last few days. This was what I realized Friday morning as I came to my
office, threw out the original sermon I had completed on Thursday, and wrote this sermon today.
I realized that if I stepped into this pulpit today and said nothing about the violence and hatred –
even if it means upsetting people in my congregation – I would be committing a sin against the
God who called me to this pulpit, because I would have left something “undone”.
And it’s unlikely that you will find a pulpit today where this is NOT being talked about.
And any pastor who is too afraid to speak about this should give up their pulpit. Because it’s not
the pastor’s calling to make you happy, to tell you what you want to hear, to make you feel good
about yourself, to give you what you need to get through the week. It is that pastor’s calling to
preach what the Spirit says to preach, even if our congregation don’t like it, even if the pastor
doesn’t want to say it. And right now my soul is ripped to pieces over the violence within our
world, the prejudice and hate within our country, and the complacency of Christians who sit back
and do nothing about it. Of Christians who don’t want to get involved because they feel it
doesn’t affect them, or think they have nothing to do with it, or believe that they are not racist.
Because the reality is, we are ALL racist. Even me.
All of us who are white live in a system that constantly privileges us. And for a long time,
I truly believed that wasn’t true. I constantly said to myself, “I grew up in poverty. I was white-
trailer-park trash. Yet I managed to graduate high school, go to college, and even get two
masters’ degrees from Princeton. I don’t have any privilege. I had everything against me.” I
managed to convince myself of this lie for almost my entire life. It wasn’t until the summer of
2014 that I realized just how privileged I was.
That summer was when I did my hospital chaplaincy internship. Among my fellow
interns was Raymond, a Liberian Lutheran pastor in inner-city Trenton, NJ. Raymond has a
fascinating story. Raymond grew up in the country of Liberia – an African country created by
former slaves who were sent back to Africa after the Emancipation Proclamation. Raymond had
a comfortable life in Liberia for much of his childhood, until the civil war began. Raymond’s
family was connected with the government leaders who were trying to be overthrown. And so for
many years, Raymond had to live in secret in his own land – denying his last name. Denying his
home. Denying his family. Denying his very identity, all so that he could stay alive. Fortunately,
for Raymond, his skin color looked like everyone else’s, so it was easier to hide from those who
would perceive him as a threat just for his external appearance.
When he was 17, Raymond and his family managed to immigrate to the U.S. and settled
in Jew Jersey. He later became a member of a Lutheran church that was once all-white, but was
now mostly composed of Liberian immigrants. Raymond was called from among his
congregation to be their next pastor because of his leadership and spiritual gifts, and so Raymond
was in the chaplaincy program with me as part of his ordination requirements.
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2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

One of the things you do in chaplaincy is write verbatims – this is where you write down,
word for word, your actions, thoughts, and conversations while caring for a patient. During one
of his verbatims, Raymond wrote about his thoughts as he entered the room of a white, female
patient, “I noticed that she was white and that I was alone with her in the room. So I made sure
to keep a safe distance and not to even shake hands with her so as make sure no one would think
that I was doing anything inappropriate.”
Raymond’s words shocked me. Why would he worry about that? After all, I was so
hands-on with my patients – always hugging them, holding their hand, patting them on the
shoulder, standing right next to their bed – that the nurses called me “the warm and cuddly
chaplain.” I freely went about showing my patient’s this type of physical affection without
worry. Yet Raymond had a deep sense of fear that had developed inside him that if he were to
behave in the same way as I, that his actions might be misconstrued as inappropriate. That fear
was something that Raymond learned after coming to the U.S.
I looked at my colleague with tears in my eyes and said, “Raymond, you mean to tell me
you escaped a civil war and you still have to watch your back? Even though you are a pastor,
you still have to worry if people will assume you are a bad person simply because of the skin
color God gave you? I never worry about that.”
After only 18 years of living in this country – a country that promised Raymond the
possibility of living his life without fear – Raymond had experienced enough racism that it
affected the entire way he engaged in his ministry, especially with people of different races.
Meanwhile, after 35 years of living in the same country, I never thought twice about hugging
someone, even someone of a different race. Because I never had to worry that my race would
make someone assume that my hug would have ulterior motives behind it. Because I have the
freedom of white privilege.
“So we don’t lose heart…For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an
eternal weight of glory beyond all measure…” Paul’s words means nothing to us as white people
when it comes to the state of racism in our nation. And I say this NOT to be politically correct,
but to be theologically correct. Because we have been living under white privilege our entire
lives, even if we refuse to believe so. And our inability to believe it prevents the reconciliation
among all people that Christ calls for and died for. Because as white people, we don’t worry
about other people holding their purses tighter or crossing over to the other side when they see us
walking down the street. As white people, we don’t have to worry that our skin color statistically
makes us 3 times MORE likely to be killed by agents of the state. As white people we don’t have
to worry about the culture portraying us as collectively violent even though a white person is
400% more likely to commit a mass shooting than a black person.
At the same time, we also know as Christians that revenge violence is NEVER the
answer either. That shooting and killing other police officers for the actions of racist police
officers is wrong and will never solve the problem. And we should be righteously angry about it
as well. We should also know that the person who shot and killed the officers in Dallas was a
mentally-ill extremist and does NOT represent the Black Lives Matter movement any more than
the Westboro Baptist Church represents all Christians or ISIS represents all Muslims. In fact, the
Dallas Police Department and the Black Lives Matter movement have a strong relationship and
actually worked together to plan the protest that happened this past week. And we should also
know that Black Lives Matter is not a form of reverse racism, it is a movement to raise
awareness of a problem that still exists in our country – that Black lives are still believed to be
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2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

worth less than white lives. You can be BOTH pro-Black Lives Matter AND pro-police. You can
support the police AND hold them accountable when they do wrong. Support of one does not
and SHOULD not deny support of the other.
The church is called to seek justice for people of all races. And any action against racial
justice or any inaction towards racial justice is sin. Just two weeks ago our denomination held its
General Assembly – the biannual gathering in which we make decisions about the direction and
even theological beliefs of our denomination. One of the major things that happened at this
General Assembly was the passing of the Belhar Confession to be added to our Book of
Confessions – the theological statements which shape our Presbyterian tradition. The Belhar
Confession was written in South Africa during the reign of apartheid – a government sponsored
system of segregation in which black South Africans were not allowed the same opportunities as
white South Africans – much like segregation in the American south. The confession
theologically speaks not only against government imposed racism and segregation, but also
against institutionalized racism and prejudice – much like what continues in our country today. A
portion of the Belhar Confession was given to you in the form of a handout. I ask you to look at
it as I read it aloud…
We believe:
• that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus
Christ; that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the
church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and
by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.
• that God’s lifegiving Word and Spirit has conquered the powers of sin and death, and therefore
also of irreconciliation and hatred, bitterness and enmity, that God’s lifegiving Word and Spirit
will enable the church to live in a new obedience which can open new possibilities of life for
society and the world;
• that the credibility of this message is seriously affected and its beneficial work obstructed when
it is proclaimed in a land which professes to be Christian, but in which the enforced separation of
people on a racial basis promotes and perpetuates alienation, hatred and enmity;
• that any teaching which attempts to legitimate such forced separation by appeal to the gospel,
and is not prepared to venture on the road of obedience and reconciliation, but rather, out of
prejudice, fear, selfishness and unbelief, denies in advance the reconciling power of the gospel,
must be considered ideology and false doctrine.
Therefore, we reject any doctrine:
• which, in such a situation sanctions in the name of the gospel or of the will of God the forced
separation of people on the grounds of race and color and thereby in advance obstructs and
weakens the ministry and experience of reconciliation in Christ.
We believe:
• that God has revealed himself as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace
among people;
• that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the
poor and the wronged
• that God calls the church to follow him in this; for God brings justice to the oppressed and
gives bread to the hungry;
• that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind;
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• that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks
the path of the ungodly;
• that for God pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their
suffering;
• that God wishes to teach the church to do what is good and to seek the right;
• that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which
implies, among other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form of
injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing
stream;
• that the church as the possession of God must stand where the Lord stands, namely against
injustice and with the wronged; that in following Christ the church must witness against all the
powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.

Therefore, we reject any ideology:

• which would legitimate forms of injustice and any doctrine which is unwilling to resist such an
ideology in the name of the gospel.

With the adoption of this confession, a process that took over eight years of prayerful
discernment, and approval of 2/3 of all the 172 presbyteries in the U.S., this is now part of what
it means to be Presbyterian. To stand against racism – even the racism in our own hearts that we
don’t want to admit to. To seek reconciliation for ALL people, especially for those hurt by
systems of prejudice within our communities. And to reject any beliefs or ideologies that argue
for the separation of people from one another as against the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his saving
work of reconciling the entire world both to himself and to one another. For as Paul says at the
end of our passage, “For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each
may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Are we going to choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution? And are you ready to be
judged by Christ for the choice you make?
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Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

Prayers of the People

This has been one of those weeks, God…one of those weeks in which too many things have been
happening – in our own lives and in the lives of the rest of your children throughout the world.
Here in our country, we are reeling and struggling with not one, but two shootings of black
men by police officers, seemingly without reason. Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and
Philando Castile in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And at the same time we also mourn the violence
enacted against five police officers killed – Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol,
Michael Smith, and Lorne Ahrens and at least six others wounded by two snipers in Dallas,
Texas, and the shooting of Officer Mike Flamion here in Ballwin, MO. We want to have faith in,
and should be able trust those who have been commissioned to “Serve and Protect” because that
is their calling. Help us to remember that the actions of the officers who took the likes of Alton
Sterling and Philando Castile do not reflect all officers. We also want to have faith in those who
exercise their first amendment right to protest the system because that is what patriots do; so help
us to understand that the actions of the sniper who took the lives of the Dallas police do not
reflect the intentions and purposes of the Black Lives Matter movement. With tears streaming
down our faces, and our hearts filled with grief and confusion, all we can say is, Lord, in your
mercy…
God of Creation, keep us aware that we are ALL made in your image. That we are ALL your
children. That through Christ we are ALL sisters and brothers. Keep us aware of the systems of
racism and prejudice created by human hands distort the image of God in our brothers and
sisters. Help us to understand that racism is sin and NOT a part of your design for creation.
Mostly importantly, help us to become aware of the sin of racism within each of us. Help us to
confess it. And most importantly, help us to be free of it. With tears streaming down our faces,
and our hearts filled with grief and confusion, all we can say is, Lord, in your mercy…
God of Justice, help us to do more than just pray. As we become aware of the sin of racism
that lives within us, help us to actively seek to learn and to understand the plight and challenge of
those who are different than us. Help us not to resort to divisive and violent means to solve our
problems. Keep us from resorting to flip Facebook posts that do not look at the entire picture.
For if we do, as a country we are no better than the Roman Empire who crucified you.
With tears streaming down our faces, and our hearts filled with grief and confusion, Lord, in
your mercy:
God of Mercy, in China, continued severe flooding has impacted thousands, while
flooding in the state of West Virginia, U.S., has destroyed countless homes and lives which will
have to rebuilt from scratch. And wildfires continue to rage in California, U.S., with hundreds of
homes destroyed and thousands fleeing.
And all we can say, with tears streaming down our faces, and our hearts filled with grief and
confusion, is, Lord, in your mercy.
God of the Nations, the people of Turkey are reeling from the bomb attacks at Istanbul’s
Ataturk Airport, with more than 50 dead and hundreds wounded; while the death toll in suicide
bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, has risen to 292.
And all we can say, with tears streaming down our faces, and our hearts willed with grief and
confusion, is, Lord, in your mercy.
God of the Hope, in the midst of all this devastation and heartache is the reality of the
plight of refugees worldwide – the millions who have fled their homes because of war, out of
fear for their lives, leaving behind everything but what they could carry. Fleeing in the hope that,
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Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

somewhere, there would be a welcome and a home for them – but often, encountering hate and
prejudice and xenophobia at every turn.
And all we can say, with tears streaming down our faces, and our hearts filled with grief and
confusion, is, Lord, in your mercy…
And so, God of Healing, in this difficult and painful week, bathe us with your healing
balm, we pray. Be with all those who have lost a loved one; those who have lost all their earthly
possessions; those who have lost a limb or lost their life. Be with all those who are fighting the
fires and floods; those who are reaching out and rescuing, those serving and protecting even at
the risk of their own lives. Be especially with the following people who are near to the hearts of
this congregation: (PRAYER LIST). With tears streaming down our faces, and our hearts filled
with grief and confusion, Lord, in your mercy…
Finally, God be with those – like us – who are being confronted on every side by things
we do not understand but which lay us bare, leave us vulnerable, unable to see the light, even as
we look toward you, who is that Light.
Heal us, Gracious God; heal this hurting world. And show us how to BE your light and healing,
wherever we are.
Amen and amen
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2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Grace Presbyterian Church – July 10, 2016

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
16
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting
away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight
momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at
what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot
be seen is eternal.

5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a

building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling— 3 if indeed, when we have taken it off[a] we will not
be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our
burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so
that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared
us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6
So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at
home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith,
not by sight. 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away
from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home
or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For all of us must appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense
for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.