1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,400 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,400 O Lord, our strength and our redeeming. Amen. 3 00:00:15,900 --> 00:00:24,000 The Episcopal Church in Alabama gathers once a year in February for her annual Diocesan Convention. 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:30,600 In recent years, it's been hosted at Camp McDowell, but often it's held in one of our bigger cities, 5 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,600 hosted by the local churches there. 6 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:39,600 The business of the Convention includes reports given by various diocesan departments and committees, 7 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:48,600 elections to various offices, budget approval, and the always popular resolution, debate, and vote. 8 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,800 While there haven't been any contentious resolutions as of late, 9 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,400 there was one particular resolution and debate, resolution, debate, and vote, 10 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:03,400 that still influences how we gather as a Convention all these years later. 11 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:10,800 The resolution that produced the contentious conversation was directed toward the state legislator, 12 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,800 and habit, we were actually in Montgomery at the time. 13 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:23,400 Anyway, the resolution was directed or called on the state legislator to make laws for stricter gun control. 14 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,400 Now I have your attention. 15 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:34,800 The resolution was amended a number of times, and finally there was a draft that added something about advocacy for mental health. 16 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:41,800 So after the weeping and gnashing of teeth that took place, there was finally a call for a vote. 17 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:47,800 Now typically at a diocesan Convention when you vote on something it's done in yay or nay fashion, 18 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,800 and you can just hear who won. It's usually not that divided. 19 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:59,800 But that method did not prove to be effective, so then we were asked to raise our hands 20 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,800 and keep them raised until they were all counted twice. 21 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:09,800 And when they were all counted twice, they still couldn't figure out who had it, so they made us all stand up. 22 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:15,800 So everyone literally knew where you stood on the issue, and I honestly have no clue where I stood. 23 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,800 I have no idea if I said yay or nay. 24 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:25,800 The only reason I remember that the resolution passed is I had to go to the diocesan archives and see. 25 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,800 It passed very narrowly. 26 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,800 But the thing that I will remember most about that day was the weeping and gnashing of teeth, 27 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,800 was how unhappy everyone was after that vote. 28 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,800 Nobody won, not even the victims of gun violence. 29 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,800 I doubt the resolution made really any impact at all at the state legislator. 30 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:52,800 I do know it made a huge impact on how we do diocesan convention, even up to this day. 31 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:58,800 In the years to come, the bishop put a moratorium on all resolutions, 32 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:03,800 except for the ones that dealt with the budget. How exciting. 33 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:11,800 So over time, that stance has relaxed a little bit, but we still haven't had any hotly contested resolutions. 34 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:18,800 We were poised to have one this last year, but it mysteriously disappeared from the agenda right before the convention. 35 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,800 Now, again, this is not a sermon on gun control. 36 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:30,800 This is a sermon that explores the distance between human justice and God's justice 37 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,800 and the consequences when we try to intervene before we're supposed to. 38 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,800 Well, I don't think anyone in that room that day supported gun violence. 39 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,800 It was obvious that we were still trying to figure out the best way to address it, and we weren't there yet. 40 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,800 There was weeping and gnashing of teeth. 41 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:57,800 Now, I believe that the church should engage in healthy conversations and debate over issues like gun control 42 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,800 or any issue that is contrary to the kingdom of heaven. 43 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,800 I also believe that how we have that conversation and where we have that conversation 44 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,800 is crucial to our witness to the kingdom of heaven. 45 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:16,800 How can the church, after all, model constructive dialogue in an age of polarization, 46 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,800 in an age where no one listens to each other, in an age where all we get are soundbites? 47 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,800 On the night before Jesus died for us, he told his followers, 48 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,800 they will know you are my followers by your love for each other. 49 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,800 Elsewhere, he said, a house divided cannot stand. 50 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:41,800 No matter how right we are on an issue or think we are on an issue, 51 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,800 we might jeopardize the whole thing, the whole harvest, 52 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:52,800 if we weed out what we perceive is wrong before the conversation matures, before the harvest is ready. 53 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,800 Yes, there eventually comes a time when a vote must be made, 54 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:01,800 when a decision must be made, when the harvest is ready, when the weeds must be pulled. 55 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:07,800 But we as a society and the church are growing more and more uncomfortable with weeds, or what we think are weeds. 56 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:14,800 We as a society and a church are even becoming much more opinionated on what a weed is supposed to look like. 57 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,800 If it's not Emerald Zoyzhe, then it must be a weed. 58 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:24,800 Today, we hear Paul say to the Romans, I consider that the sufferings of this present time 59 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,800 are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed. 60 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,800 He goes on to say, for in hope we are saved. 61 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,800 Paul is writing to a church that is mixed with Jews and Gentiles, 62 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,800 and for much of the history of the early church, the Jews and the Gentiles are suspicious of each other. 63 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,800 They ask some version of the question, are they real followers of Jesus? 64 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,800 Are they imposters? Are they weeds? Are they weeds? 65 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,800 Should we pull them? Should we expel them? Excommunicate them? 66 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:59,800 And this type of suspicion between groups of Christians has survived well on into the 21st century. 67 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:07,800 I read recently, I'd rather have religious people get mad at me and my church for loving sinners too much 68 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:14,800 than be accepted by a whole huddle of self-priced churchgoers who agree on the sins we're against. 69 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:20,800 The church doesn't simply exist as a safe haven from a dangerous world, that's certainly a part of it, 70 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:26,800 but the church also exists to gather all kinds of people who are different than us, 71 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,800 all kinds of people who, God forbid, sin differently than we do, 72 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:38,800 around one table to be reconciled by a love that died for their sins and our sins for the sins of the whole world. 73 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:44,800 Paul, like Jesus, is encouraging the church to look forward to the harvest and what is to come. 74 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:52,800 And it is the harvest, it is the hope of what is to come that gives the church the faith to endure suffering, 75 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,800 the grace to sit in the presence of so-called weeds. 76 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,800 Eventually the harvest will choke out the weeds. 77 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,800 Eventually the heat will make the weeds wither away. 78 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:09,800 And at the harvest, we're going to realize that there aren't nearly as many weeds as we thought there were. 79 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:18,800 I read recently, your church should rethink its mission if people are more likely to know what you are against than what you are for. 80 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:25,800 For this sermon, your church should rethink its mission if people are more likely to know what kind of weeds you like to pull 81 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,800 rather than what kind of harvest you want to produce. 82 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:35,800 The churches you talk about what kind of weeds to pull are planting seeds of fear in a world that is already scared to death. 83 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:40,800 The churches you talk about what kind of harvest they want to produce are planting seeds of hope 84 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,800 in a world that is desperate to see beyond the nightmare we often live. 85 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:50,800 Now I know we in the Episcopal Church are far from it, we have plenty of weeds ourselves, 86 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:57,800 but I am grateful to be a part of a church that talks more about what we are harvesting than about what we are pulling. 87 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:02,800 I'm grateful to be a part of a church that is planting more seeds of hope than fear. 88 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,800 At the very best, all fear can do is stop us from being wrong. 89 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,800 But it can never make us right. Only Jesus can make us right. 90 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:17,800 Even more, the hope given in Jesus' death, resurrection, and promised return, 91 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:25,800 free us now to seek what is good and true and right because we know one day there will be no weeds in the equation. 92 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:31,800 Only the hope given in Jesus can give us the strength and the faith and the courage to endure the present sufferings, 93 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:37,800 to endure a world overgrown with weeds because we know that the harvest is plentiful. 94 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:43,800 Jesus is risen from the dead. Not all the weeds in the world can hide the light of the world. 95 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:49,800 Now I used to give the bishop hard time about putting a moratorium on potentially contentious resolutions. 96 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:55,800 I argued that healthy debate was good. It helps us clarify who we are and what we represent. 97 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:03,800 However, calling for a vote on a resolution like that one did little to nothing to prevent the issue it was trying to prevent. 98 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:09,800 It did, however, prevent further conversation on how we might be a part of a solution. 99 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:11,800 I don't think we've talked about it as a church since. 100 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,800 I believe our response to issues like gun control would be more effective if we less, 101 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:24,800 if we spent less time telling people where we stand and more time inviting people to kneel beside us 102 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,800 and worship a God whose kingdom turns swords into plowshares. 103 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:35,800 Worship a God in a kingdom where the Lord of all is the servant of all, Jesus Christ, 104 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:47,800 the one who makes us one through his love for all. Amen.