Sermon on Exodus 2:23-3:15; 4:10-17

Sermon on Exodus 2:23-3:15; 4:10-17
Given 03 October 2021 at St. Alban’s Coventry

Today is the first Sunday of Black History Month here in the UK, and I find it quite fitting that it coincides with the start of Exodus in our narrative lectionary series. Exodus tells us the story of a captive people who are liberated by their God. This was a revolutionary story a few centuries ago, one that was suppressed by many Christian slave owners. They would indoctrinate their slaves with the Gospel, focusing especially on themes of obedience, but leaving out anything that illustrated liberation or suggested God was for and of the oppressed and marginalised. These Christian slave owners could not chance letting their slaves know that God will hear your groaning and remember you. God will set you free, God will break your chains. 

I think it’s important to note that even today this is a revolutionary story. Although the African slave trade has been prohibited for several generations now, there are still many Black people living in chains in this country. In some cases, the chains are quite literal, with a larger proportion of Black people who are incarcerated compared to their white counterparts. In other cases, the chains are metaphorical, with examples of higher rates of mental and physical illnesses that have become more evident over the pandemic, and the racial prejudice that many Black people face, which has recently had a spotlight in the sports world, but is pervasive in everyday life. In today’s reading, we hear that God is I am, and in the Gospel reading Jesus says, ‘before Abraham was, I am.’ God, in using a form of the verb ‘to be’ relates that God is the source of all being, God is the source of all human beings. So when we attack our Black sisters and brothers, when we put them in chains physically, mentally, or emotionally, we attack ‘I am’. When we are silent in the face of oppression or persecution against our Black sisters and brothers, we turn away from ‘I am’. We turn away from God.

Turning away from God, going against God, or attacking God is something that we, as people of faith, generally ought not to do. But, as human beings, it seems almost inevitable. And perhaps the good news, or at least news that should alleviate a bit of our shame, is that we are in good company. Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard stories of the men who are described as the Patriarchs, or the founders of what is known as the Abrahamic religions – Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and now Moses. When Abraham thought that he would not have an heir as God had promised, he raped Hagar who gave birth to a son, Ishmael. Then, when his wife Sarah finally gave birth to the male heir, Issac, Abraham and Sarah banished Hagar and Ishmael to the desert, leaving them for dead if not for the blessing of God. Jacob, the son of Issac, along with his mother Rebekah deceitfully conned Issac into bestowing a blessing on Jacob. Jacob stole the blessing of his older brother, Esau. Today we meet Moses, who had fled to Midian because he murdered an Egyptian soldier. What’s more, when God directly gives Moses an order, Moses does all he can to attempt to get out of it, claiming he is a nobody, blaming his slow speech for his inability to lead. These Patriarchs are not models of faith and devotion. They are complicated, messy, challenging, imperfect human beings. They get some things right, and they get plenty of things wrong. They’re just like me or you. So why do we seem to hold them up when looking at the history of our faith?

In today’s reading, Moses asks, ‘who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?’ I think a lot of us can empathise with Moses here. Who am I that I should stand up and preach the Gospel? Who am I that I should lead a prayer group? Who am I that I should share my faith with others? Who am I that God should call me to fulfill any purpose in the Church or in life in general? And we get our answer in God’s response to Moses, ‘I will be with you’. The source of all being, the Creator of the universe and all that is in it will be with you. Who are you? You are a child of God. You are not perfect or uncomplicated, you’re not likely to be a model citizen. Just like the Patriarchs, you have baggage too. But God’s promises are not conditional, they do not depend on us always doing what is right. And we read these stories and remember these Patriarchs because God made a promise to them whether we think they deserved it or not. And that promise is for us too. The promise that God is with us and will provide for us. To be clear, that doesn’t get us off the hook completely. Yes, we will make mistakes, but we still need to strive to do our best. To follow the model of love that Jesus Christ provided for us. But we can work to do our best to see God in our neighbour, while also accepting that we need plenty of God’s grace for when we get things wrong.

Now although the Patriarchs got a lot wrong, a common theme over the past few weeks was their response to God. When God calls their name, the answer is ‘here I am.’ So in closing, here is the challenge to you. When God calls your name, when you are shown your purpose, how will you answer? 

Will you focus on your unworthiness? We have already established that the Patriarchs were not made worthy by their actions. Will you claim to be unable to fulfill God’s request? God provided Moses with his brother Aaron so that being slow of speech was no excuse. Will you blatantly run away from God’s call? The story of Jonah is quite the cautionary tale against that. Or will you simply accept that we are all complicated, messy, challenging, imperfect, but beloved children of God? When God calls, will you say, ‘here I am’?

Sermon on Acts 27:13-26

 Sermon on Acts 27:13-26
Given 14 October 2020 on Zoom for Queen’s Foundation

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord. Amen

A few weeks before I began my discernment journey that brought me to Queen’s, I went to a conference where they were giving out prayers. The prayer I received simply said, ‘It’s okay to be scared, God’s not.’ I still have the paper it was written on, and cling to it in times of my greatest feelings of Imposter Syndrome, which unfortunately seem to come more often since starting college. But the Bible tells us to not be scared. The angel Gabriel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary’ when she discovered the journey of faith she would go on in bearing Christ, Jesus. On Hagar’s journey into the wilderness, an angel of the Lord told her to fear not, she and Ishmael would survive and from Ishmael would come a great nation. And the angel in today’s reading said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul.’

Paul’s journey was treacherous. The weather and the sea were against him. There was no food left on the ship, and he had not been listened to, a point he was sure to highlight for an ‘I told you so’ moment in his speech to the crew. And though we all have challenging journeys in our life, it is difficult for most of us to imagine what it must have been like for those desperate travelers on perilous seas. In fact, the asylum-seekers in the English Channel in dingy boats would identify more closely to Paul and the crew than most of us present. The people who are yearning to breathe free are the spiritual descendants of Paul. They know the true hunger of starvation. They know the trauma of fleeing home. They know the pain of persecution. As most of us sit in our homes with clothes in our wardrobes, food in our fridges, running water, electricity, and WiFi, it’s easy to get complacent in our comforts that we take for granted. We can read about Paul’s journey and know it worked out okay for him because God was on his side. But the question I ask is whose side is God on today?

Liberation theology teaches us that God is the God of the oppressed and the marginalized. Throughout the Scriptures, the Hebrews, the chosen people of God, are liberated from slavery and oppression time and time again – Egypt, Babylon, Rome. Empires fall and Israel loses her shackles.

So are we Empire, or are we Israel? In the world today the oppressed and marginalized are people who suffer from systemic racism, those who are the victims of domestic violence, people who live paycheck to paycheck, the men, women, and children who flee from war, disease, destruction. Obviously we did not choose the lot in life to which we were born, but we do have choices. We can choose to condemn White Supremacy or choose to remain silent. We can choose to reduce our waste or choose to over-consume plastic and other harmful products. We can choose to proclaim that God is love and love is love or choose to not challenge homophobic or transphobic bigotry. We can choose to not be afraid when speaking the truth that God has put in our hearts. We can choose to challenge Empire. And while this takes courage, we are reminded time and again to not be afraid. Just as Mary, Hagar, Paul, and so many throughout the Bible were told fear not, we also can take comfort in these instructions.

But if you are scared, it is okay. Because God is not. Amen