A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 19 July 2020, the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, by Peter Youngblood. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 44:6-8, Psalm 86:11-17, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.
Since we have gone back to live-streaming, there really isn’t any need for me to wear a mask. But I was a little disappointed, because I wanted to try preaching with it on. And I wouldn’t have needed to trim my beard!
I must confess that despite my current appreciation for masks, back in January and February I was more like the stereotypical Westerner who thought you only needed to wear them if you were coughing or sneezing. But I did still wear one, just to be safe. I’m glad that I did, because since then we’ve learned that you can spread COVID-19 even without symptoms.
Now, there are still many people in my home country, the United States, that have not yet been converted into mask wearers. Citing personal freedom, many refuse to wear masks even when they are asked or required to do so. There have even been anti-mask protests against government policies, where people make a point of not wearing them, even burning them. Now, I am fortunate since my family and friends at home are smart enough to wear them, but I’ve heard stories of their own strange and concerning encounters with anti-mask folks.
Many human beings, including very many Americans, like to invoke the idea of personal freedom to avoid doing something they don’t want to do. This is rooted in the concept of free will, which is something we Christians affirm God gave us when we were created. Though we are fallen beings and our free will is contorted, through Jesus Christ we are liberated from slavery to sin and death. In Galatians 5:1, Paul states quite plainly that it is for freedom that Christ set us free. And we should not let ourselves be slaves to sin.
But masks are hardly slavery, and freedom is not certainly limitless. We can’t just believe, say or do whatever we feel like. It doesn’t work like that. We are free to make our own choices, but our choices have consequences for ourselves and those around us. Sometimes our expressions of freedom threaten, hurt or even kill others. Freedom can be contradictory. Human beings like to claim that we have the right to believe, say and do whatever we want, but often we refuse to extend these rights to other people. The history of slavery is a case in point. I am from the Southern United States, where people once claimed that a person had a right to own another person. This was used as a pretense to separate from the US, starting the Civil War. The US’ legacy of slavery has brought us to this moment when people are again fighting for racial justice. Many of the same privileged people who protested wearing masks now say people shouldn’t protest for Black Lives. They like to pretend that systemic, structural racism and prejudice does not exist, and these same people hide behind generic slogans, such as “All lives matter.” But this is to avoid the uncomfortable fact that even up until today persons of color are still denied their most basic rights, including the right to simply live. While BLM has not yet really taken hold in Hong Kong, non-Han Chinese and non-Europeans in this city face similar struggles. Where are the protests on their behalf?
God gives us freedom, but this freedom does not exist only for its own sake. God also demands love and justice. Love means to sacrifice our own freedom for the sake of others, and justice is to restore freedom to those who have lost it. Justice is to make amends and—if possible—reconcile victims with those responsible. Without love and justice, there can be no true freedom.
Jesus Christ sacrificed his own freedom for the sake love and justice, yet many Christians fail to live up to his standards. There is a hypocrisy that unites both Christians and people who refuse to wear masks (and often they are the same people). Christians demand the individual freedom to worship as we please without interference, yet too often we refuse to extend this freedom to persons of others’ faiths. Why do we do this? I think this reflects an insecurity on our part; deep down we feel that if we gave others the freedom to believe and worship differently, this would mean that our own beliefs are not as absolute as we thought they were.
Whatever you may think of them, other faiths do present a challenge to the Gospel, and Christians must respond to this challenge. Historically and theologically, we have usually done so in one of three ways. Prof. Tobias Brandner explained these quite well in his sermon a couple of months ago, so I won’t spend too much time on them.
But to review, the first way is to totally reject what other religions have to say. To quote Isaiah, Our God is the first and the last. There is no other God but God. Jews and Muslims may worship the same God, but they do not truly know God, because they do not know God’s son, Jesus Christ. Therefore they are excluded from salvation. Our parable today is just one of several in Matthew 13 that describes the Kingdom of God. Christians see themselves as the children of the Kingdom—the good seed that takes root in the field. But the good seed is mixed with bad seed, that is, the weeds that drink up so much the water and block out the sunlight.
The good seed are the privileged few who know and follow Jesus. And the implication is that the knowledge and promise salvation is only offered to Christians. At the end of time the evil-doers, the bad seed, will be separated from the children of the Kingdom and burned in the fires of Hell.
These metaphors create a clear distinction between the followers of Jesus Christ, on the one hand, and the forces of sin on the other. And for most of our history Christians have been inclined to include other religions as part of the latter. While we are the good seed, they are among the weeds. We are the wheat and they the chaff.
Yet is not God’s grace and love extended to all? Furthermore, is it not impractical to ignore or condemn other faiths in our modern, multi-cultural society? It’s much more difficult to hate a Muslim when they just happen to be your doctor. In response, some Christians have rejected exclusivism, choosing instead an alternative response to religious diversity. They believe that God has many names, and that each faith represents just another way to understand, relate to, and worship our creator. Different religions are just different roads that lead to the same ultimate source. If that is case, we ought to give others the freedom to worship as they please.
But the problem is that this way of thinking, which we may call pluralism, is an oversimplification. To say that all faiths point to one supreme reality is to exaggerate their similarities at the expense of their diversity. We can’t assume a Buddhist worships the same God as a Christian, because most Buddhists would probably say that they don’t worship any god at all! It’s a mistake to assume that each religion is a journey to the same thing.
This is a philosophical problem, but for a Christian it’s also a theological and ethical one. This is because to be Christian means to affirm the uniqueness and absoluteness of Jesus Christ. We must believe that there is something special about the Christian message, and that there are real differences between what we believe and practice, and what other religions believe and practice. Therefore in reality we cannot accept everything about other religions, but we can recognize what is true and good about them. This inclusivism is the third way of understanding other religions. Many Christians may recognize the good in other faiths, but we are nonetheless compelled to evangelize: to bear witness to Christian revelation, in the hope that others will listen.
There will always be limits on Christian tolerance. But we are not to reject others because they do not believe in Christ. Rather, what we cannot tolerate are beliefs, words and actions that oppose what Christ represents, that is, the total package of love, justice and freedom. When God says there “are no other Gods than I” what is meant is that God is love and justice, and love and justice reigns over all. While we can be critical of other faiths, we must remember that non-Christians are as capable of being as loving and just as Christians—and are quite often better at it. While some strongly believe that other religions are simply in the wrong, Jesus reminds us in Matthew that it is not for us to remove weeds from the field, because we will ultimately dig up the good plants as well. Human beings can’t really tell the difference between the good seed and the bad seed. Only God can.
Instead, in interfaith dialogue and practice, Christians look for signs of love and justice in other religions. Furthermore, we must also be self-critical. Do our own beliefs and practices of faith conform to love and justice? Upon reflection, we might discover that we fail to extend the grace that God has given us outward to others, including others of different faiths. Many of the same people who resist wearing masks are the same ones who say Muslim women shouldn’t wear face coverings, and so they support banning hijabs. But why do they think that? Is it because they believe a mask or hijab limits a persons freedom, or is it really because, deep down, they reject that person’s own free choice to wear whatever they choose, and to practice whatever religion they choose?
Because our individual freedoms, including our freedom of religion, affect not just ourselves, they must be guided by love and justice. Many persons of faith have already been willing to make sacrifices during this time. Passover seders have gone online, Catholic priests have opened drive-in confession booths, and Sikh doctors have shaved their beards so they can wear PPE. And wearing a cloth or paper mask should not be a political or religious statement, but should be simply an act of love that protects our own health, our family’s health and the health of anyone within spitting distance (pun intended). I know that many of us firmly believe that we are made in God’s image, and so we want other people to see our pretty faces. But for the sake of love and justice, please wear a dang mask. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 19, 2020
A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 12 July 2020, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, by Cecilia Yeung. The
scripture readings that day were Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm
119:105-112; Romans: 8:1-11.
I would like to take
this opportunity to thank Kowloon Union Church, especially Pastor Phyllis,
Pastor Maggie and Pastor Timothy who have shown me great guidance during my
time at KUC as an intern. I would also like to express my gratitude to KUC’s
Trustees and Council, and everyone of you here. KUC has shown me the beauty of
being as One --- a community of diversity, of love and of respect.
My topic today is: LIVE
OUT YOUR FAITH. When our world is upside down, how do we understand Faith as we
walk individually and also as a community of faith?
Let us pray and invite God’s presence into our hearts. Disruptive God,
your ways are not the ways of the world. Challenge us today to live in this
world according to your Word. Open our hearts and minds to the richness of the
scriptures, help us to receive the gifts you prepared in us.In Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen.
Our passage from Genesis
today begins with a very specific narrative about Isaac’s family. The names
include Abraham, who is Isaac’s father; Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, and also Laban,
who will be Jacob’s father-in-law in the later chapters. All these names point
us to remember the promises and the covenants God first initiated with Abraham.
These names also call us to pay attention to how the blessings will be carried
on to the next generation.
But there is an
underlying threat in these storylines. This threat is related to infertility.
What is infertility? Not being able to bear a child is a threat that brings
biological extinction. And it is also a threat to God! Because if there are no
descendants in this family of Isaac, how can the promises of God be carried on?
If we can recall from
the sermon two weeks ago, Isaac’s mother Sarah faced the threat of not being
able to bear a child. And so she gave her servant girl Hagar to Abraham. Now
this time, Rebecca cannot bear a child. But what’s interesting is that Isaac
himself alone brings this problem to God in prayer. So he waits for many years;
Rebekah finally gets pregnant.
But here comes another
struggle of bearing children. Rebekah experiences some physical discomfort, and
this discomfort troubles her mind so much, she says to herself, “If it is to be
this way, why do I live?”In some bible translations, it means “Why is this
happening to me?” It is strange why a pregnant woman who says “Why is this
happening to me?” Perhaps this pregnancy isn’t what she expects, it was only
Isaac who prayed about it to God in the first place. And so she asks God about
it, and she receives 3 surprises from God. First, the children will not unite.
Second, in fact they will divide into two nations - one is stronger, one is
weaker; Third, the elder one will serve the younger one.
What does it mean that
the elder one will serve the younger one? This relates to the birthright, which
Esau does not care about when he grows up. Back in the biblical times, the
first-born son is entitled to have a double portion of the family inheritance
and blessings, whereas the other siblings will share the rest of it. So “the
elder one will serve the younger one” would mean that the younger one takes
over this birthright, while the elder one takes a smaller portion. This is a
real challenge to the traditions.
In some villages in the
New Territories of Hong Kong, the sons who are born in the family are entitled
to a piece of land and the right to build a house on it, whereas those born as
daughters receive no land and no house. So, the biblical challenge in today’s
term would mean something like: having the daughters to get the land and the
house and leaving nothing for the sons. If this happens, we can be assured that
there will be huge disagreement among the villagers in the New Territories.
Therefore, we now
understand that on top of all her pregnancy discomforts, the Word she receives
from God in fact troubles her mind even more! The changes and challenges will
be made through the fights between her sons! So now what? What lies ahead is an
even more disruptive world for Rebecca.
It is interesting to
note that human participation takes a great part in this story. God is hidden
in the next chapters in Genesis. He does not appear until Jacob successfully
cheats for the birthright and blessing from Esau and Isaac. If we look through
to the next chapters, we will see that Rebekah in fact teams up with Jacob in
bringing her promises from God to become true. Her world may look disrupted as
it may be, but God has prepared Jacob in making the challenge ahead
possible.
How can we relate to
this story today? Especially when we think
God is hidden from all the chaos.
First, In facing the disruptive world we have today, we may not
have a “Jacob” by our side, but our passage from Psalm reminds us that we have
God’s Word. “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” This is a
verse which we are very familiar with. It is a part of our liturgies. As a
community, we read it as “our path”, but in the scriptures, it uses “my path”.
So the lamp is not described as being held by my hands, instead it is mentioned
as close to my feet. While the light is not mentioned as a guide to “our path”
but specifically to “my path”, this is something for us to think about.
Let us be reminded that
everyone has a different story. Each one of us has a specific path that
God wants us to walk on. Just look around us, we all have different roles in
society. Some are teachers, some are moms and dads, some are doctors, some are
migrants, etc. Some may ask, how exact do we walk on this path? While others
may ask, Why can’t God just give us the perfect life? If we look closer to
today’s passage from Psalm, the Psalmist says “give me life, according to your
Word.” It’s not give me life, according to the blessing you can give me.
And as the psalmist asks for life, he also gives his promises to God. A promise
that he will follow closely to God’s law and teaching.
This brings us to the Second
point. At this disruptive Word, what does God’s Word mean to our lives?
Very often when we want to satisfy our needs, our intentions actually come from
greed, jealousy, selfishness etc. The lives that God has promised us are not
for satisfying our own needs. Our passage from Romans reminds us,
“For those who live
according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit set the mind on the Spirit. To set the
mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and
peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it
does not submit to God’s law, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:5-8)
When we set our minds to
satisfy our own needs, it cannot please God. Look at Esau, he sets his mind to
his own needs when he is tired from hunting, he trades his identity with his
birthright for a meal all because he is hungry after hunting. Surely this
cannot please God. Imagine someone among us trades his, for example, church
membership for a McDonalds meal. Surely it is not pleasing.
So how can we not be
shaken when the world is upside down? We are here on earth, taking up different
roles. Why not start with our everyday lives? Give a helping hand to the needy,
share a portion of what you have with one another. Speak with wisdom. And there
are lots of ways for us to show kindness to one another. Rather than waiting to
be disrupted by the world, why don’t we first disrupt others with God’s love?
Third, today, my Sermon’s Title is LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH. How
do we do that? We know that Rebekah lives by the Word she receives from God
during her pregnancy. But perhaps we can learn from Rebekah, by asking the
question “why?”Our God is love, when we are willing to draw closer to him, he
will surely guide us with his light. Perhaps he is already inviting us to face
certain kinds of challenges, although we may not be sure what exactly or how
exactly things are going to happen. We have learned that for changes to take
place, it requires human participation. And what matters the most is how we
live right at this moment. How we live according to his Word. As a community of
Christ, we recognise that his Word is our light. This light guides the path of
each one of us. All it takes may be as little as being faithful to the people
or things we encounter in our everyday lives.
LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH
EVERYDAY
So if you are a baker,
bake the best bread that you can because it fills the hunger. If you are a
teacher, teach your students with all your heart, regardless of their
abilities. If you are employers, be fair to your employees, pay them on time.
If you are employees, gossip less and do the work as if you do it for God. If
you are parents, love your children, show them patience and kindness, raise
them with Christian values. If you don’t fall into any of the categories I just
mentioned, follow Jesus’ command: love your neighbours as
yourself. Perhaps, instead of thinking to achieve something so big that
brings disruption to the world.
Why don’t we learn to
disrupt this world with the love we received from God? Let the holy Spirit fill
us in all the things we do, so when we perform our everyday roles, we bring
love to people around us. In such a way, we live out our FAITH. And with all
these little steps we make together in our lives, when disruption comes, each
one of us would not be shaken, but together we share a beautiful journey of
faith as One Body of Christ.
Let us pray. Disruptive God, the world has changed us in many ways. And
we know that your way is “ to love”. Help us to recognise our roles in our
family, in our community and in this society. Instead of resting in the comfort
of our culture or tradition, help us to live by your grace so that we can live
out our faith. Disrupt us with your love, so that we may also disrupt the world
with your love wherever and whenever we are. A step at a time we follow closely
in the guidance of your light. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 12, 2020
