Never finish a sermon early.
It seems that, quiet consistently, when
I type that last, Amen and Alleluia, and put a period or exclamation point at
the end… the Word refuses to let that be the last word.
Today we are reading from Paul’s letter
to the Romans—it is written to a mixed Jewish/Gentile Christian church—one
where the Jews were deported from Rome for five years under the Reign of
Emperor Claudius, and when they returned there was dissension between the stayers
and the returners—the Jewish Christians
struggled to re-integrate into the life of the congregation from which they had
been removed.
How pertinent this situation which Paul
writes to, for us today.
You see, our partners in the Gospel—the
First Indonesian Seventh Day Adventist Church who share our building—are
experiencing just such a struggle.
10 of their members
have been deported, or are in the process of being deported… Since the early
90’s they’ve returned to ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement—yearly and yearly have been given an extension on their stay here in the US on
account of ongoing persecution of Christians there… This year they were
immediately scooped up, persecution be damned.
I wonder what dissension there will be
between the stayers and the returners back in Indonesia…
I wonder too of the suffering they will
meet, and the culpability each one
of us shares for their suffering.
I wonder at the tensions and the
paradoxes of our lives as Christians.
Bound tense by time, living, as always we have, between the inbreaking
of God’s Kingdom, and its consummation.
Imprisoned by the paradox of our very person, always bound to Sin, and yet
freed by Christ.
Yes, I wonder at the tension of time
and the paradox of person, both part of our deep reality—and when the Spirit
allows it,
in small glimpses
often fleeting,
I trust that here with
us in all these things is the grace of God,
maybe within all this,
reconciliation.
Let us pray
We are pulled, Church, into the open arms of God, trust this to be true—from the
cross, in the grave, on the other side, we are caught by Christ.
Stand firm in your
faith—God is for you and not against you
—God is at peace with
us, because Jesus is the Prince of Peace and we are his. God’s love, which we
most clearly experience in the person of Jesus Christ, wins.
Yet, this reality is one rarely
experienced. In fact, much its opposite finds us. Christ’s glory is found in
the glorious cross, in suffering—and so it should not surprise us when
we too suffer.
Suffer, even for our faith
—and that’s where my
heart is at right now
—these 10 Christians,
returning to Indonesia, members of FISDAC,
the Massie,
Timesela,
and Ka-wu-wung
families.
…One of the families
left for America after their cousin, who was a pastor, was beheaded. They are
returning to Jakarta, where its Christian Governor was sentenced to 2 years in
prison for quoting the Quran.
When I talked to
Pastor Rantung he was rather realistic about what those members of his flock are
to face—persecution is part of being
Christian.
None of this “they don’t say merry Christmas to me at the
mall—I’m being oppressed.” But life and death decided by doctrine.
And there is the suffering of those who
remain too—13 year old Joel, who is without his father, Arino, on Father Day. 6
year old Will and 1 year old Eden who are preparing to say goodbye to their
dad, Billy
… a Christian
community cut off from 10 of its members.
And as I think of these siblings who
live so close, who share our building—I must ask,
“What of the 200
Chaldean Christians in Michigan who are being returned to Iraq—to the midst of
a war zone?
Or, what of the
children from Central America who come here to escape drug cartels? Or those
Syrian refugees, of whatever religion,
truly just trying to escape extremism…
…The Kingdom of God—already, but not
yet…
How can we not look at this reality of
our sisters and brothers in Christ and not see the depths of sin in which we
ourselves are caught?
For decades these
families faithfully returned to ICE and had their status as persecuted people renewed… then we spent an election cycle demonizing immigrants and refugees and now
they’re in danger.
We
allowed these new policies that encourage and empower ICE to conduct so called
“low hanging fruit deportations.”
And I say we
—not the President,
not Congress,
not Judges
—One of the hard parts
of being a Christian in a Democracy is that we can’t hide behind Roman’s 13
“Submit to Governing Authorities”
or hide behind Martin
Luther’s, “Let whoever has the power use it.”
We can not wash our
hands of what the state does—This isn’t Rome or Medieval Germany—here we have
the power.
If we disapproved of sending our sisters and brothers away
to be persecuted,
we would speak up.
You
didn’t know—you may say—I know what was my guilty conscience’s first
defense
—but as citizens—and
that is one of our Christian vocations…
as citizens, it is our
duty to be vigilant, to be aware of the policies put in place in our name. And
then, in our private lives and in the public square, to strive for justice and
peace in all the world—to strive to love our neighbor as ourselves.
And we’re going to fail at it…
We’re always going to fail at it
—we’re not even going
to have good intentions about our political choices most of the time—but we
keep striving.
Because we strive from a place of
love—God showed us his love through Christ while we were still weak,
ungodly, unrighteous, sinners … we can try to love our neighbors, because we’re
loved.
Yes, sinners we are,
yet made holy too. Made holy to love our neighbors.
And today I’m asking a few things of
you all:
-First, I expect all
of you to sign a letter to our siblings in Christ who share our building
letting them know we feel their pain. It’ll be passed around through the
service.
-Second, there are sheets
with a boilerplate letter you can use—as
your conscience dictates— as a model to write you own letter and a list of
people you can contact to tell those who have power over these things that
their actions in deporting the members of FISDAC are unjust.
Third, pray throughout
the week for these families.
Amen.
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