Reverend Marci Scott-Weis, MDIV

So, here is something that I don’t think I have shared with you all before…. My lowest grade in Seminary was Introduction to Preaching.  That class was taught by an adjunct professor who was also a full-time Parish minister.  So she had several years of experience in the pulpit every Sunday.  She was a really tough grader and had very, very high standards and I worked harder for that low grade than I think I did for any other class in Seminary.  And because I was so very challenged in that class, the lessons that professor drilled into us stuck, and they stuck hard.

There were four primary points that I took away from that professor that I have carried with me to this day.  The first one was that preparation was key.  To regularly preach every Sunday for the long-term, she told us that you had to have a plan and a set schedule because life would happen and every so often, you would need to punt.  Well anyone who has been in one of our Worship and Arts Team meetings know that I have a plan…  the one that I am currently updating goes out into June with scripture selections, hymns and key themes all mapped out.

And my weekly schedule is designed to carve out that dedicated sermon writing time.  I usually start researching the Thursday afternoon of the week prior.  All day on Monday, I am writing.  And that evening, Jasper routinely reads my draft and gives me some critical and loving input.  By Wednesday, I have turned the sermon in to Taylor to link to the Sunday MailChimp.  I’ve also uploaded the content onto Facebook and I’ve prepared a Presider Copy.  I’m ready.  And that schedule works very well for me….

Except when something like this week’s election happens.  In that kind of situation, the prepared sermon is scrapped or delayed like my ‘God is Love’ sermon will be.  I’ll give it next week.

When something like this past week happens, I watch the days unfold, I listen and I pray and late in the week, I return to the blank page. I punt. And I try to meaning make of the week’s events.

My preaching professor’s second critical point was that we should never preach to a congregation that we have not prayed for. So when I prepare a sermon, I usually light a candle and I begin by praying for you all by imagining every single one of you here and on line, wrapped in the rich, amber, honey-colored warm light of love.  This past week, I have held you all often in that light of love, wrapped in consolation, comfort and peace.

The third critical point of preaching that I was taught is to never preach from fresh wounds.  That means that you probably won’t hear me speak any time soon, about what it was like to be my mom’s hospice nurse this summer.  Or what it was like to walk with her in her final days, or how that time called me to work on forgiveness for all of the ways that my mom had wounded me and I had wounded her.  Those are fresh wounds.  I may not speak of them for months or years.

To not preach from fresh wounds also means that I won’t be preaching today on how the potential upcoming changes in our country may deeply affect me and those I love. I won’t be speaking about the fear for dear friends who are parenting transgender kids and trying hard to keep them both alive and safe.  I won’t be talking about my own fear of what may happen to the legality of my marriage or my safety in my small town with emboldened anti-gay neighbors.  Those are all fresh wounds. But please know that even though I am not talking about them from this pulpit, I do carry them and they are deep and raw.

The fourth point that my preaching professor wanted us all to get was probably the most important and it goes like this, preach the gospel, live the gospel.  Every sermon should be about how to live into that beautiful and challenging call that is found in sacred scripture and our relationship with God.  Every sermon should call us back into relationship with the divine and the good work that we are called to do to heal this world.  And that is, most importantly, what I hope to do today.

This morning, I hope to center us in what it means to live the gospel, in all times and maybe especially in these times… I know that we all come from different places this morning and we are all carrying different wounds, reactions, feelings and experiences pertaining to last week’s election. What we all have in common though is that we have gathered here today in community, held by each other, loved, welcomed and ready to hear both the good news of the gospel and to be called into living that gospel to heal ourselves, each other, our communities, our nation and our world.

So let’s start with what gospel means.  The word gospel comes from the Old English word ‘godspel’, which means “god-story.” It first showed up in the King James translation of the bible, translating the Greek words for ‘good news’. We usually think of the gospels as the four New Testament books that tell the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  But I really like a broader understanding of ‘god-story’ because I find the good news of God’s presence palpably alive in both the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament stories of Jesus.

In those sacred scriptures, I find stories of a radically present God, intimately involved in creation. And a critical component of that divine involvement is God’s unrelenting call into love, peace and justice.  That, I do believe, is the pulsing heartbeat of the bible.  Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.  You can find it from the very beginning of the bible and the earliest stories of the people of Israel, where we learn of the call to welcome and protect the stranger and the refugee.  That call to offer care and compassion for the refugee and the stranger is mentioned 37 times in the Hebrew Scriptures.

And that call into love, justice and peace continues with the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah, Jeremiaha, Ezekial, who weren’t forecasting the future, but were instead speaking the truth of God’s activity in the present.  The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures were issuing to those in power, God’s call to prioritize love, justice and peace in all systems. And they were calling for accountability for actions that were contrary to that divine call.

The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures called for a radical reorientation of the political system, the economic system, and the justice system of Israel.  They called for a reality where what matters to God also matters deeply in this world, in very practical ways, that looked like the creation of laws and systems that protect and serve the poor and the marginalized.  The stories of the prophets are stories where we hear God’s dream of a new reality for those who are oppressed, for those who are disenfranchised, for the neglected and the ignored. A new reality where they are put first.  The prophets issued a divine call like the one Isaiah does when they write of the mandate, “to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.”

And those prophetic dreams of radical transformation that focused on love and justice lived on in all of Jesus’ teachings and preaching that we find in the New Testament. They were the foundation and the crux of ‘the way’, that approach to living in this world that Jesus taught of sacrifice, kindness, mercy, compassion, humility, selflessness and forgiveness.  The good news, the gospel, the way taught by Jesus was one where the least of us is put first, always.  Where all are offered healing graciously and extravagantly.  Where strangers are met with radical welcome. Where all are called to join in the healing and wholeness of creation.

Living ‘the way’ of Jesus or living the gospel means accompanying the lost and the left behind. It means standing with the outcast. It means turning the other cheek, embracing the path of nonviolence and peace and seeking justice for the oppressed in all ways.  It means loving our neighbors as ourselves, and realizing that what Jesus meant by neighbors, are those who are on the outside, those who are marginalized, those without status.  They are who we are called to love as ourselves in an unconditional and unending way. Taking on all of that is what it means to be on the way of Jesus, it’s what it means to live the gospel.

The story of the good news of God’s radical presence and call to join in healing creation that is found in the bible, is not a story about winners and losers of an election. Instead, it’s a story about what happens day in and day out, long after all ballets are counted. The gospel reminds us that we are on a journey that is a continuous path of striving for a world that reflects the love and compassion of our God. We are on a journey of responding to God’s call into unrelenting and unending love with an unwavering commitment to justice. We are on a journey of responding to God’s call to be stewards of the gospel of love, embodying its principles in every action, safeguarding its essence, and championing its cause with relentless determination.

The General Minister & President/CEO of the UCC, the Rev. Dr. Karen Thompson reminded us this week of that call to live the Gospel. She said;

“No outcome of the election will deter us from our quest for justice. As people of faith and followers of Jesus, our values and our commitments are not changed by the politics of the day. We remain called to be advocates for justice and to find ourselves providing solidarity with those whose voices have been silenced, those who find themselves living on the margins of our society, and those whose rights are threatened among us.’

Our UCC General Minister reminds us of that ancient call to not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief but instead remember that we are called to do justly now, to love mercy now, to walk humbly now and to know that we are not obligated to complete the work but we are also not free to abandon this work.

And what is ‘this work’?

To feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, protect the refugee, care for the poor, offer gracious and lavish healing wherever possible, stand with and for the outcast, work for peace, advocate for the voiceless and demand justice for the oppressed.  When we do that, we live the gospel! Not just this week, but every week.  Not just after this election, but after every election.

Each and every day, we are called to live the gospel!

I want to close with some words I came across this week from the Rev. Venus Williams;

• Continue to do the good work.
  Continue to build bridges not walls.
  Continue to lead with compassion.
  Continue the demanding work of liberation for all.
  Continue to dismantle broken systems, large and small.
  Continue to set the best example for the children.
  Continue to be a vessel of nourishing joy
  Continue right where you are.
  Right where you live into your days.
  Do so in the name of the Creator
  who expects nothing less from each of us.

So dear ones, today and all days, may we lean into unrelenting and unending love with an unwavering commitment to justice.

May we continue, right where we are, may we continue to do the good work of the Creator who expects nothing less from each of us.

Today and all days, may we live the gospel… with our words, our bodies, our actions and our hearts.

Dear ones, today and all days, let us live the gospel, let us be the gospel!

This is my prayer!

Amen