Rev. Dr. Beth A. Donaldson
United Church of Christ in New Brighton
June 21, 2015
Now is the Acceptable Time
2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4: 35-41
Sometimes it feels a lot like Jesus is asleep again. As
a disciple of Christ, a follower of the ways of Jesus, I
don’t mind admitting that I have felt, especially this
past week, like I was in a small, unstable boat –
sometimes full of other disciples, sometimes not –
and there are storms all around blowing the waters
of calamity right into the boat! Last week’s Annual
Meeting was wonderful in many ways – and because
I had been in charge of worship for the weekend, it
took a lot of work and thus a lot of energy out of me.
And part of the energy I spent was to try to be as
sensitive as possible to how people would respond
to the various pieces of the worship services. And
what happens for me when I worry is that I don’t
sleep very well. Unlike Jesus – who seems to be able
to nod off even at the most stormy times, I (and
perhaps some of you are like this too) tend to NOT
SLEEP when storms arise!
We worship leaders got LOTS of great feedback at
Annual Meeting. But despite our very best intentions
and tons of really hard work, someone was deeply
hurt, and we as a gathered community committed to
good process, named this issue together to stay
faithful to what we had been trying to do in our antiracism work – to develop deeper understanding and
compassion in the midst all the theoretical
conversation. This was real and it needed to be
really felt. So what I felt was a small wave of storm
water fly into the boat of my discipleship, and I
began to try really hard to bail it out – to not let this
ONE SMALL bit of water tip my boat over – there
was so much water of positivity on the outside – we
were floating on a really meaningful weekend… but
this one wave of pain and hurt was uncomfortable
and I was working at bailing it out and steadying
myself again, when, BAM!, another really big one hit
– when I, along with the whole country - heard the
news about the shooting in Charleston. I had turned
the TV on on Thursday morning as I was preparing to
come to church to attend Bible Study… and there it
was – a group who had been in Bible Study, as we
were about to do; who had welcomed a stranger
into their midst – as we have done recently; were
shot and killed. And, like at the Annual Meeting, the
story that seemed most important was the story of
racism and the great damage it has done and
continues to do – the great sin it is! Needless to say,
the waters just seemed to be raging around me and
crashing into my boat. And in the midst of all of this
– it just kept feeling like Jesus was asleep – absent –
unconcerned. Where is God in these kinds of times?
And then yesterday, at our NE Regional ISAIAH
gathering, we did an exercise that embodied the
economic reality in our country from 1960 to today.
A group of ten attendees willingly represented the
population, who in 1960s, could each occupy one
chair – representing 10 percent of society each. In
1960, 10 percent of the population held 30 percent
of the wealth. In the exercise, this meant 9 people
had to squeeze into 7 chairs, while one person got
three to lounge in. Throughout the decades, this
reality shifted over and over, until in our current
time, 90 percent of the country’s wealth belongs to
the top 10 percent of the people. That means that
the bottom 90 percent of the population is
struggling to survive on 10 percent of the wealth. In
the exercise, this meant that nine people tried to sit
together on one chair, while one person luxuriated
in and on nine chairs. It was a graphic and profound
exercise. And when we were done, we added the
issues of race and gender to the mix, and the ratio
increased, of course. As I reflected on all of this, it
felt over and over that there were more waves of
water pounding into the boat of discipleship I was
in… wave after wave of the failure of humanity to
live with compassion and concern. And as the
pundits and politicians began to respond to the
shooting in Charleston, wave after wave continued
to crash in. When the Governor of South Carolina
said she wouldn’t take on the issue of the
confederate flag at this time – because she couldn’t
put her people through that – a huge wave of anger
flooded in! Who does she think HER PEOPLE are?
When it was discovered that this young man had
worn the patches of apartheid SA and Rhodesia on
his jacket – places that have worked HARD and LONG
for liberation and who still carry the deep and
painful wounds of racism but are at least striving for
2
better – one having claimed a new name
(Zimbabwe) – when I saw his assuming celebration
of their times of great racism and evil - a wave of
fury flew into my boat.
And don’t get me wrong – all along I have been
working at bailing this water out! All along as these
incidents have occurred, one after the other, I have
been busy working at keeping equilibrium – as I know
we ALL are. I know that you all are also striving to NOT
ALLOW these realities to flood our boats and sink our
discipleship! But it’s hard work! It’s really hard work.
It’s hard work for all of us who have had relative
privilege to deal with the waters of outrage and insult
and injury flooding into our boats. But we need to
hear and understand this too – it is and has been FAR
HARDER work for those who have been living with this
oppression all their lives – for our African American
sisters and brothers, and for the poor and
disenfranchised. It’s incredibly hard work to keep the
boat of discipleship and faithfulness afloat when it
seems constantly confronted by the storms of
ignorance, hatred, frustration, and malice.
Plus, there are other storms that are even closer to
home… there are storms of ill-health and challenging
relationships and work concerns and family life.
There are waves that come along when our children,
parents, even our pets, need more love and
attention than we feel like we have the time for.
There are waves that come in when our bodies fail
us and we struggle to find health and wellness.
There are waves that crash into our boat when
isolation and depression and loneliness take root in
our spirits and challenge our ability to cope. We
don’t even need to turn the TV on to experience
waves crashing into our boats. And it often just feels
like Jesus is asleep – uncaring – oblivious! What is up
with this guy?!
I read in one of my commentaries that one of the
reasons Jesus got into the boat in the first place was
in order to be heard more by the crowds that had
been pressing up against him on the land. When he
got out onto the water in the boat – they could
actually hear him better. And similarly, when he did
wake up and when he DID calm the storm – his
message was much, much clearer! The disciples who
were in the boat with him that day REALLY
UNDERSTOOD Jesus’ power in a new way. It was
clear! It was profound!
When it seemed to me that Jesus woke up this week,
the same thing happened! In the voices of the
relatives of the shooting victims who forgave the
killer, Jesus’ power was very clear and loud and
profound! In the coming together of the faith
communities in Charleston – in the speaking up of
the silent majority who live in privilege, yes, but do
NOT hold this kind of racial hatred in their hearts –
Jesus’ voice starts to rise and be heard! In comedians
who admit there is, finally, NO humor to be found in
these incidents – God’s love and broken heart are
evident and on display! When the gathered
community at the ISAIAH meeting yesterday began
to dream of and make concrete plans to affect
change in our own communities – ways to express
and create economic justice and ways to learn more
about how we can change the realities in which we
live – as we did this together, Jesus was definitely
standing strong in the middle of the boat. The raging
waters of conflict and turmoil may not be gone, but
when the disciples themselves start to speak and act
in faith, Jesus is definitely NOT asleep, and there are
amazing messages of love and compassion being
spoken and heard.
So let’s listen again to these words of the apostle Paul:
See, NOW is the acceptable time; see, NOW is the day
of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s
way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
but as servants of God, we have commended ourselves
in every way; through great endurance, in afflictions,
hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots,
labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge,
patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,
truthful speech, and the power of God; with the
weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for
the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good
repute. We are treated as imposters, and yet are true;
as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see
– we are alive! As punished, and yet not killed; as
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making
many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing
everything!
Paul says: “There is no restriction in our affections, but
only in yours. – Open wide your hearts!”
This is the acceptable time, my friends. There is no
restriction on God’s affection for humanity – only in
ours for each other. What we need to see is that it
isn’t Jesus who has been asleep – it has been US! This
isn’t the time to try to wake Jesus up or to try to define
God and God’s love by the limitations of our
3
imagination! This is the time for US to wake up and
rebuke the raging waters of racism and economic
injustice ourselves! This is the time for us to stand firm
in our vessels of faith and speak loudly of our love and
compassion and concern, and know that we will be
heard! Pope Francis did this very strongly this week –
he stood up in his boat of discipleship and proclaimed
to the world that climate change has been impacted
by humanity and that it needs to be addressed as part
of our faithful response to God’s love for us! Pope
Francis stood up and rebuked the storms around him
himself! And Jesus was not only NOT asleep, but was
clearly standing right behind him, right beside him,
right within him – fully supporting and motivating the
Pope’s actions!
When Jesus was done rebuking the waters, he
turned to his disciples and said, “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?” I guess that is my question
to myself and for us today too: Why are we afraid?
There are storms raging around us, and Jesus may
look like he is asleep, but what he is doing is making
room for US to stand up and begin to rebuke the evil
and sin that we see. It’s not okay for our police
forces to be so reactive as to kill unarmed black
suspects! It’s not okay for our tax dollars to go to
protecting corporation’s rights while ignoring the
wellness and needs of the poorest and most
vulnerable in our society. It’s not all right for people
NOT to be paid living wages while corporate CEOs
today are bringing in salaries 525 times greater than
their employees! It’s not all right for women still to
be paid far less than men for doing the exact same
jobs, and for this gap to be even greater for people
of color. It’s not all right for access to guns to be so
easy that there is almost NO regulation of them – we
recall food when there have been as few as seven
deaths related to it. We recall cars! We recall toys!
We recall drugs! Why, when there are 1000s of
deaths due to gun violence every year do we not
start to recall guns to some extent? It’s not all right
for us to blame mental illness for these kinds of
violent acts – misdirected as it may be to avoid
calling it racial terrorism – and in the same breath,
not to fund programs to support people with mental
illness. It’s not all right!
PEACE, BE STILL, storms of injustice and inequity! I
rebuke you! I no longer want to let my fear
overwhelm me.
Now is the acceptable time. Now – in the midst of
calamity, hardship, beatings, imprisonment, riots,
sleepless nights, and all kinds of afflictions… Now is
the acceptable time! The good news here is that
Jesus is not asleep at all. We’ve been so busy trying
to keep our boats from filling with water that we
haven’t noticed that the power to rebuke the storms
is not only in Jesus – but in US!
I know that when I talk about Jesus as if he was alive,
some of you cringe. I know that when I use words
like “rebuke” and “evil” and “sin,” some of you
wonder whether I am trying to lead us to become
more conservative or more dogmatic. But I hope you
will know that it is because I know that the person of
Jesus is NOT alive that I feel it’s important for us
each to embrace that if our faith is going to live – it
has to live IN US! Jesus does not exist in human
form, except in as much as he exists in how we live
our lives, and in the faith we hold on to. And as for
the words “rebuke,” “evil,” and “sin”… when we
decide to soften them and use other words – more
“reasonable” or more “measured” words, as I have
often done, I guess my awareness and question is,
for whose benefit? Because I believe that people
who are on the receiving end of evil – have no
problem calling it evil! And the people on the
receiving end of sin understand it – very clearly – as
sin. And “rebuke” – I don’t know… I can’t think of
another word that has that kind of power – another
word that shows the strength of one’s desire to
utterly reject and denounce something. Can you?
I’m tired of bailing the water of my fears and
anxieties out of my boat. (And you all know I’m not
talking about a literal boat, right?) I’m tired of trying
to keep the bad feelings of guilt and anger and
shame from flooding me and taking all my energy
away. And what I have realized this week is that the
only way to REALLY keep the storms down, is to
participate in stilling them by naming the evils and
sins that cause them and being part of the solution.
This is what is called for now – And NOW is the
acceptable time. Amen.