CHRIST’S MISSION, BLACK HISTORY MONTH, OUR MISSION
1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11 - 5th Sunday after Epiphany, February 6, 2022
Pastor Ritva H Williams
Our Scripture readings for this 5th Sunday after Epiphany are stories about people are called and invited to know, live and share Christ.
In our first reading, Paul reminds the church in Corinth of the most important thing he taught them: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, was buried, was raised from the dead on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are at the center of the gospel message. They are historical events that occurred long ago in a land faraway that reveal an ongoing process rooted in creation which is deeply personal.
To borrow the words of Rob Bell, the historical, cosmic event of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection has everything to do with how every single one of us lives every single day. It is a pattern, a rhythm, and a practice that involves letting go, turning away, renouncing, confessing, repenting, and leaving behind old ways. Bell says that “when we cling with white knuckles to our sins and our hostility, we’re like a tree that won’t let its leaves go. There can’t be a spring if we’re still stuck in the fall” (Rob Bell, Love Wins, pp. 135-6).
In this reading Paul describes himself as the “last of all,” “the least of the apostles,” “unfit to be called an apostle,” because he persecuted the church of God. Paul’s journey from chief persecutor to ardent advocate of the way of Jesus is a story of death and resurrection, of letting go of anger, hostility, and misunderstanding to emerge with a new vision and mission. If Christ’ grace and love can transform a fanatical persecutor like Paul, what can that same grace and love do for each one of us and for each of our neighbors?
This scripture reading is perfect for the beginning of Black History Month. It calls us white people to be like Paul. Just as Paul confessed to persecuting the followers of Jesus, we need to confess our complicity in racism and white supremacy. We need to learn Black History and the roles we have played in that history. Black History is just as much about us — white folks — as it is about our black and brown neighbors.
In 1619, 20 people from Africa were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, and sold into slavery. Over the next 246 years, over 12 million people — men, women and children — were stolen and separated from their families, torn from their cultures, subjected to lifelong captivity, tortured through inhumane forms of punishment, and killed for seeking their freedom. Black slavery was supported by white religious, legal, political, and scientific leaders and institutions for social, political, and economic gain. Slavery in this nation formally ended in 1862 with the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet an enduring legacy of racism and white supremacy remains: Jim Crow policies, racial segregation, the terror of lynching, extrajudicial killings by law enforcement, the disproportionate incarceration, attitudes and policies that deny people of color equal access and opportunity in just about every avenue of life.
400 years after the first black slaves were brought to America, the Lutheran World Federation and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America jointly issued declarations confessing, repenting, and apologizing for the complicity of Lutheran Christians in the sins of slavery and racism. These declarations call us to go beyond words and commit ourselves to anti-racism and racial justice work, and to work toward economic justice, including reparations.
I commend the members of the Anti-Racism Team for leading St Stephen’s in this effort. I urge all of us to be transformed by Christ’s grace to let go of our conscious and unconscious racism. See —and celebrate— the image of God in the faces of our neighbors of color. Listen for and hear the voice of God in their stories and music. Walk and work humbly beside our neighbors of color to realize their hopes and dreams.
In our gospel lesson the central life-changing truth of the gospel is portrayed in the lives of weary fishermen who have worked all night and have nothing to show for their labors. Jesus sends them back out into deep water, into yet unexplored areas of the lake. Their nets are suddenly filled beyond capacity. Even with the help of their partners in a second boat they barely make it back to shore with the catch. Fish were a primary source of protein for villagers living in Galilee. This super-catch represents many meals for Simon, his partners and their families, with lots to sell in the market. Income for the fishermen, food for their neighbors.
Simon’s response is not jubilation but a request that Jesus go away. Simon confesses that he is a sinful man. Like Paul he believes himself a sinner unworthy of any role in Christ’s mission. But Jesus says, “Fear not, from now you will be catching people.” In many segments of the church catching people means converting people to Christianity to save them from an eternity in hell. Just to be clear — converting and saving people is the work of the Holy Spirit, not human beings. So what is Jesus inviting Simon and friends to do?
The Greek word translated as catching or fishing, can also mean to revive a person, to restore life and strength to someone. In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus restores life and strength to Galilean villagers by directing them to food and income sufficient for many days. As always God’s work is accomplished through human hands. Weary fishermen find their energy revived and their partnership strengthened as they work together to make abundance happen for their community.
Today is Annual Meeting Sunday, and we share with Jesus’ disciples of old this mission of restoring life and strength to all people. We tell the story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection in word and sacrament, preaching and teaching. But just as importantly we strive to live this mission. We work together through the LOAF Ministry to restore life and strength to people experiencing food and income security. We work together to stock the Little Free Pantry for hungry neighbors. We work together with HACAP to provide supplemental meals for neighborhood school children. We work together to grow vegetables for Feed Iowa First. We partner with Family Promise of Linn County to provide shelter and hospitality to families experiencing homelessness. In all these ways we do God’s work with our hands, restoring life and strength, hope and vision to God’s people.
As a Reconciling in Christ congregation we are committed to the full participation of all people regardless of age, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, financial or family status, physical or mental ability. Our members have always included LGBTQ persons. But since 2014, your presence and participation in the life of this congregation has grown and become more deeply appreciated. People of color have always been members at St. Stephen’s; my prayer is that as we learn to be anti-racist you will be lifted up and celebrated even more. As vaccines become more available we rejoice to welcome back our children — you have no idea how much you have been missed. I dream of the day when our building will be completely barrier free so that persons with physical disabilities can participate fully in our life and work together.
Please pray with me.
Mighty and merciful God, lover of justice and equity, you call us to restore life and strength to the weak, to help those who suffer, and to honor all people. By the power of your Holy Spirit, make us advocates for your justice and instruments of your peace, so that all may be reconciled in your beloved community; through Christ our Savior. Amen.
