OPPORTUNITIES TO TESTIFY by Hafidha Saadiqah (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Luke 21.5-19

¹²“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. ¹³This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.

         My words are spare this morning because I feel it’s needful to give space for some “holy venting.”  By that I mean expressing our confusion and dissatisfaction to God, and asking God what God is up to from here on out.  I’m persuaded that God can take it.  Also, this morning I’d like for us to hear from each other about what we’ve heard God say to us these last few days regarding how our nation can move forward.  As much as venting can be cathartic, I’d like for us to embrace the ministry of accompaniment: how we come alongside and support each other in our various ministries and causes without losing sight of our common struggle.  Remember, we are one body, with various gifts and callings, yet, one body in Christ. 

          But first, I want to share a few thoughts with you.  And believe it or not, this is a passage I chose back in September.  Three things I want us to think about now and remember as we move forward: (1) the end is not near, (2) we need to make up our minds now, and (3) be encouraged.

         The first, the end is not near.  With all due respect to my Dispensationalist friends, the world and the Church are always getting to to the end of something and starting the beginning of something else.  Life sometimes seems to be one big Mobius strip; the beginning and the end just folding into one another – ending and starting all at the same time and you can’t distinguish one from the other.  The world and the Church are full of so much turning and changing and shifting; so much troubling of the waters.  Depending on the issue at hand, you may be head-over-heels glad about the change, or, you may be as mad as you know where and not gonna take it anymore.  The reflex on either side of the divide is to cry doom and destruction; that our culture, our nation, the world is coming to an end.  I tend not to read scripture that way, but, I’m only one person and who cares?  But, I’m persuaded that our passage this morning is nearer to the “don’t panic” side. 

         When all hell seems to break loose - like it seems to have broken for all of us, some more than others this week – Luke simply says brace yourselves.  Don’t break ranks.  Don’t go frenetic.  Remain in place.  There is work to be done.  What we’re experiencing is not the end of democracy in the U.S.  But, it is the beginning of an ever-new recycling of upheavals about our national community, and what dignity looks like in that community.  This is not the end.  The U.S. will go on.  We will have successes.  The world will go on.  The Church will go on.  And, our call to stand in place remains the same.  Stand still and struggle until, because it is not over.

         The second thought I offer this morning is that we need to make up our minds right now.  We need to make up our minds – get it straight in our minds – that while civil rights for (1) LGBTQ folk, (2) black, brown, red, and yellow folk, (3) women, (4) gender fluid and gender non-conforming folk, (5) persons with disabilities may be our passion, our central calling as believers in the God of Jesus of Nazareth is this:

 

see to it that… “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”   

          Now this is tricky.  Many in the Church apply this injunction to literal tragedies.  That’s a sermon for another Sunday.  But, I do know that (1) many people who can see are still blind, (2) many people who have full use of their legs are not mobile, (3) many people who have received a clean bill of health are dealing with terminal illnesses, (4) people who do not wear hearing aids or cochlear ear implants are still deaf, and (5) some people who are walking around among us are “dead-er” than a doorknob.  Indeed, we move among them on our streets, on our jobs, in our families, and without a doubt in our churches.  We need to make up our minds that the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth is not about our personal salvation, but for the deliverance, transformation, awakening of all people; that we are all to be reconciled to God and to each other…as a species of people who share this planet and a common destiny.  That’s it as far as I can see.  And, this leads me to my final thought which turns all of what I’ve said, and what you’ve been thinking this morning, on its head.

         Be encouraged.  “Our Father, who art …”  Part of the conversation we had at last week’s Bread of Life took up that question.  What is God’s will when two parties are praying this prayer -  for God’s will - and they hold competing concerns and hoping for different outcomes?  I believe we saw this play out last week in the elections.  I don’t know the answer to that question.  And, I don’t think anyone knows the answer.  Maybe there’s more than one answer.  But, what I do know is what Luke tells us in today’s passage: (1) make up your minds in advance – not to use and be held by the weapons of hate and fear and panic, and, (2) stay focused because “for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.  This is a moment to testify to God’s power to tear down walls of hostility, to sow and harvest the seeds of justice, and to re-create all our hearts as well as our world.

         Remember, the end is not near, make up your mind in advance, and be encouraged.  This is what I heard the Spirit of God say to me this past week.  What have you heard?  Come forward and take the mic as you are willing and able.