From Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
We have had a heavy, heavy week. Some of us last Saturday were on our way south to Atlanta and Alabama when the news broke of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
As a preacher, there is always that calculation we have to make: do I bring this to the pulpit, or not? Does it benefit my people, and how? I don’t think there’s anything I could add to what’s already out there that would make a difference, though I can point you (if you want) to some pieces I recommend.
What I will say here, though, is that we mourn with our Jewish friends, we pray for the families of those who lost loved ones and are now in agonizing grief. I almost want to pause here and think of suddenly and senselessly losing a brother, sister, mom, dad, spouse, or God forbid, child. And in such an atrocious way. It’s immoral; it’s unimaginable.
We pray also for the people in Gaza, a place that, when I traveled there 23 years ago in much better times, was squalid, and unlivable. I can’t imagine how much worse it’s gotten since then, and we need to remember that most of the people living there are victims from many sides. Our hearts break for them, too.
This week, as I read all the stories and commentaries coming out of Israel and Gaza, I kept hearing also the apostle Paul’s words from today’s letter to the Philippians: "Beloved … whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
So let me shift gears. And by the way, yes, I’ve chosen to set aside our Gospel parable today. Let me just say about that, That it probably wasn’t a parable Jesus gave, at least not in the form we just heard. Almost all scholars agree on that. It’s anachronistic, it reflects more of the Gospel writer Matthew’s historical context than Jesus’. Jesus did give a much simpler and more straightforward version of the parable, and we know that because we have it preserved over in Luke’s Gospel. In that older version, there isn’t a king, or slaves, there’s no one murdering anyone, or throwing people into outer darkness. There’s just a man who hosts a feast. His invited guests give all sorts of reasons they can’t make it: “Sorry, I have to work,” or “I’m in the middle of this real estate deal and I can’t make it,” or “I’m busy, I have something else to go to,” and so on. It sounds like any of us, busy people with busy lives. It’s essentially a critique of our running about so preoccupied and stressed that we miss out on life’s feasts, all the grace and abundance God puts before us.
Which again points us back to Paul’s words: "if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
So, shifting gears, I’m going to share a little bit about our parish trip last weekend down to Atlanta and Alabama. This was just an elaborate set-up to get to that! But truly, it was “excellent” and “worthy of praise.” It was also a hopeful reminder in these times we’re in now, that the struggle for freedom is long, and hard, horrific even, but that (to quote the Psalm), Joy comes in the morning.
We began our trip on Sunday a week ago. We went to worship at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the church Martin Luther King's father and grandfather preached in. We happened to attend on “College Sunday” when everyone came dressed in college gear—a lot of HBCUs were represented, Spellman, Morehouse, Howard.
The choirs in these black Baptist churches really anchor the whole service. They begin it, they respond (like a Greek chorus) to everything that happens throughout. This choir that Sunday was made up of college students, and it felt like a cross between being at church and a football game. They alone would have carried the service.
But then, about an hour in, the head minister stood up, and we couldn’t believe that it was none other than the Rev. Dr. Senator Raphael Warnock himself, who preached The. Most. Amazing. Sermon. It must have been an hour but our group was enthralled, throughout. As we left, several of us said that we felt like the whole trip was worth it for that morning alone.
There were kids on our trip, seven junior high and high school students. I’ll come back to them.
After Atlanta we went to Montgomery, Alabama. We stood on the spot where Rosa Parks was taken off the bus and arrested for refusing to give up her seat. We went to the Equal Justice Initiative’s memorial to the thousands of men, women and children who were lynched during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras.
In Selma, we walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where Civil Rights marchers were kicked and beaten on their way to the courthouse in Montgomery to stand up for voting rights in 1965.
From Selma we drove to Birmingham, where we read out loud parts of Martin Luther King’s letter from a Birmingham Jail, but before that we read the letter from eight white clergymen that King was responding to, where they had urged black Civil Rights marchers towards patience, and restraint. It was signed by clergy of all denominations, but it was likely the work of our Episcopal Bishop of Alabama. On our trip, as a group, we reckoned with that, and pointed out the irony of having our reactionary Episcopal bishop to thank for one of the best manifestos in American history, King’s letter.
On the last day of our trip, our group gathered on the square in Birmingham on the exact spot where children were blasted by Bull Conner’s fire hoses, and police dogs were set upon black men and women in 1963. We said together the foundation of our faith as Episcopalians, the Baptismal Covenant: "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons? I will, with God’s help. Will you strive for justice and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help." Three of the seven kids who were with us on the trip had been confirmed, all had been baptized (and so were very familiar with these words), and I told them, THIS is what those vows are about. They’re not empty words we mutter in church services; they can change the world, if we follow them.
The best part about the trip was those kids--their questions, their advanced knowledge of the Civil Rights struggle, and at such a young age. Just as they couldn’t believe there was a time, less than 100 years ago, when people lynched their neighbors just because they were black, and then made postcards of the event to send to family and friends; just as they couldn’t believe that hideous part of our past, I know that in 100 years Palestinian and Israeli kids will look back on this time in their history with disgust and bafflement. The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards Justice. Let’s never forget that.
So - Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Amen.