A Sermon after Charlottesville

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil. Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name  better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

- Isaiah 56:1-8

Grace, peace, and mercy are yours in the Triune God. Amen.

The book of Isaiah traces a long stretch of the history of Israel. The first thirty nine chapters deal with the prophet declaring judgment and a future hope on Jerusalem. During this time the Israelites were conquered and sent into exile. Chapters forty through fifty five provide the community with comfort and encouragement that one day their people would go back home and salvation would come. And then we have the third movement in this book, the return home, which contains further messages of comfort and warnings not to go back to old ways.

Our passage this morning begins the movement back to Jerusalem. Yet things are not as they once were as the Israelites are faced with rebuilding their nation from the ground up. And here enters the prophet Isaiah with a charge from God as to what this nation should be grounded in. To paint this message in broad strokes one could say that through the prophet, God invites all to enter into God's salvation, while calling on Israel to turn from idolatry and inauthentic worship, to share their food with the hungry, and to repent of their oppression of others and their revolt against God.

But if we look closely at our text we discover that God is calling the people to be active participants in the salvation of the world. Technically salvation and deliverance have already come for the Israelites as they were going home, but on the other hand there is more to be done than just bringing a group of people home. God’s purposes of salvation are still being worked out, and the people’s lives are to reflect that end. Isaiah declares that this ongoing work of salvation is to help bring about justice and righteousness for all people whether they are within our outside of our community or nation.

Now I am not sure what Pastor R.S. preached on or addressed last week as I was on vacation visiting my family last week, but as you all know some disturbing events took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. As your pastor I feel that I must respond instead of continuing a church culture of neutrality that comes off as dismissive, indifferent, or even out of touch. In case you don’t know the events of last weekend, let me briefly summarize them:

On August 11^th, White nationalists holding tiki torches marched through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville ahead of the so-called "Unite the Right" rally, a gathering of white supremacists staged in part to demand protection for the statue of Robert E. Lee.

The men chanted "white lives matter," "you will not replace us," and the Nazi-associated phrase "blood and soil." Some white nationalists brawled with counter-protesters at the scene of the rally.

Police arrived on campus, declared it an unlawful assembly, and ordered the crowds to disperse. But the skirmishes, as well as images of the marching that were posted on social media, contributed to an atmosphere of tension that opened up into violence the next day.

Although the "Unite the Right" rally was scheduled to start at noon on August 12th, violence between white nationalists and counter-protesters began in the morning. State police reported injuries, and soon after, the city declared an unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency shortly before noon.

Then at 1:42 p.m., an Ohio man rammed a car into a crowd of people who were demonstrating against the white nationalist gathering. About an hour and a half later, it was confirmed in a tweet that at least one person had died in the day’s violence and at least 19 others were injured.

Later that day two Virginia State Police troopers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, died while lending air support to respond to the deadly violence unfolding in Charlottesville. Their helicopter crashed seven miles southwest of the city. Since then vigils and marches of solidarity have been held throughout the country in remembrance of the officers and against white nationalism.

I do not care if you are republican or democrat, liberal or conservative, the idea that one person is better than another based upon the color of their skin or their country of origin is simply wrong. More than that it is racism, and racism is a sin.

St. Paul area synod Bishop Patricia Lull wrote in a statement:
“Our country’s strength is reflected in the rule of law in which free speech and the expression of divergent opinions are undergirded by a common respect for every racial and ethnic group within this vast nation. When hate-filled speech is borrowed from the Nazi and fascist movements of the 20^th century and parades of protesters armed with clubs and torches and other weapons march through a college town as an intimidating show of force, we are far afield from the principles of our nation’s democratic ideals. White supremacy is wrong. Anti-Semitism is wrong. An Islamophobic attack on the Muslim community in this country is wrong. Ignorance of and disrespect for the Native American community is wrong. But all these are more than wrong in the sight of God. They are sinful and evil. As people of faith we know that every one of our neighbors is created in the image of God. Any political ideology which places one race as superior to others is a form of idolatry. In response to such hate we are called to be the church, to be the body of Christ, and to not be silent.”

Isaiah shows us how to be the church in times such as these.

Being church begins with cultivating relationships with all people. The people in Isaiah and us are to respond to God’s gracious acts by developing and maintaining a sound relationship with God and also with other people. That means we are called to listen, learn, and respect people even if their culture is completely different from ours.  In doing so we realize that our story and the story of another person are not divided by boundaries, but are both reconciled within God’s story. We are not just called to love those who love us, who “get” us and understand us because we are very much alike. Rather we are called to love and be loved by those who are not like us, whom we might have to work quite hard to understand, or who may not understand us at all. God’s reconciliation goes across borders and boundaries.

You might want to dismiss this message as that of a young idealist pastor, but this is not. And this goes to my second point, this is something that you all claim to believe as people of this congregation. Our mission statement declares that all are welcome. And if we as a people claim that, then it is high time that we live into the community that Isaiah declares helps to bring about God’s salvation. We are called to be a people that welcome those different from us, those with different skin colors, those with different ideas, those with different backgrounds. For in the community that Isaiah is preaching, God’s kingdom is one of fantastic diversity. The same is true of us today as it values diversity if we truly mean that all are welcome.

Finally, I think being the church means that we need to take a cue from God and be a place and a people that give out grace lavishly. In Isaiah, God invites people from the margin to the center of the covenant promises. This means that our God is not about exclusion or claiming one person is better than another, our God is about inclusion, so radical that it reshapes our entire lives.

This is tough work isn’t it? It is a lot easier to assume that God is on our side, looks like us, favors our positions, and endorses our views. The real problem is when we imagine God is only like us. When we do this, we probably find God made manifest in Jesus on the other side. Here’s what we need to remember, and know, and live: God’s love is in fact for all. God is working in us, and with us, and through us to make this world a more just and equitable place; God grants us courage and grace to meet the struggles of the day; and that when we stand with and for those who suffer or are persecuted, we encounter God in a powerful way.

That’s what God’s salvation looks like: a kingdom that is inclusive, that is full of grace, and that is about good relationships. It is a life changing truth that Isaiah gives us. It is a reminder that God loves all people and bids us to stand against those who deny human rights and dignity to anyone. God is working God’s purposes of salvation out, and God’s people are to participate in what God is doing for the sake of justice and righteousness. May we live into that dream of equality that many have dreamed, including our own God. Amen.