Sermon 3/7/21
Sermon Lent 3 2021
Series: Community
Title: Beloved Community
Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40
Listen along on Facebook [link] or YouTube [link].
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Today is the third week of Lent and the third week of our series on “Community”. I have been looking forward to this week. The phrase “beloved community” and the concepts that underlie it are not new, but they are somewhat new to me. Over the last couple of years I have seen this term pop up more and more in books, conversations, websites. I had a vague notion of what it meant, but this week I had the opportunity to dig a little deeper into its origins.
The term is often associated with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr but it originated with the American Philosopher of Religion Josiah Royce (1855 -1916).
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/royce/
He has some fascinating ethical theories, but what is particularly interesting are his ideas about community. He was critical of the ethical visions of some of his contemporaries: Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William James; and their emphasis on extreme individualism.
Joyce believed that our personal identity and purpose could not be defined outside of the context of community. We are each given a role to play within the community which we are invited to embrace.
Community in and of itself is not wholly good. He describes “natural communities” as those that tend to destroy or tear down. What he calls “genuine communities” or “communities of grace” are those that strive to communicate and understand one another in actual, imperfect, finite communities of grace bound together by loyalty and striving toward the ultimate and ideal Beloved Community.
What unites members of the community is their common vision of a shared future - the Beloved Community.
This phrase was picked up and popularized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who often spoke of the “beloved community” as his ultimate goal. As an early example, after the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in speaking about the larger movement toward which they were building, Dr. King said:
the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends.… It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.
Some Christian religious communities and denominations have started using the term “beloved community” interchangeably with the well known biblical concept of the “kingdom of God”.
The question before us is: How do we build the Beloved Community?
The more I read about the Beloved community and the more I observe communities in action, I have come to recognize two key components for success.
These are Vision & Courageous Conversations or what I am calling “Dreams” and “Dialogue”.
DREAMS - As we seek to build communities of flesh and blood here on earth we must hold fast to God’s Vision of the Beloved Community. There are a lot of forces that would distract and deter us from pursuing God’s vision. It is one reason we spend so much time studying and reading the scriptures together as a community of faith. It is to remind ourselves of our true purpose of what we are striving for. It is to help us stay focused on our “Dream”.
DIALOGUE - Jesus calls us to courageous acts of love across lines of division and this requires courageous engagement with those who disagree with us.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; (Luke 6:32-36)
To truly love our neighbor as ourselves is to learn to love across difference and even division. To learn to love our enemies. If we take these words to heart it transforms the way we communicate and dialogue with one another. The goal of the conversation shifts from being “right” or converting the other side - to love.
Before we get too deep into the concept of dialogue, I want to take a step back and focus on the DREAM. I want to take a look at three visions of God’s promised community in the scriptures.
Biblical images - Fulfillment of God’s Kingdom
The first image comes from Isaiah 11 but is repeated in Revelation Chapter 21. “The wolf shall lay down with the lamb, the calf and the lion together and a little child shall lead them. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6-9 Revelation 21:1-4). This is a reminder that the fulfillment of God’s vision of beloved community includes not only the human community on earth but the animals and all of creation.
The next vision is repeated by three of the prophets (Isaiah, Joel and Micah). I learned it from years of attending church camp and signing around the campfire “Down by the Riverside”.
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war anymore; (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:12; Micah 4:3)
Final vision was shared by Jesus as a parable and can be found in Mark 4:30-34.
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
This last image is perhaps my favorite one. I find it incredibly encouraging and hopeful to think of each of our congregations, no matter how small, as communities that stretch forth their branches into the world creating space for others to come and find a home.
So we’ve caught the vision of the beloved community. We have in mind the dream God is calling us to. The next question is - How do we get there?
As I said before, in my reading and in my observations, it appears that the road to get there is paved with difficult and courageous conversations. MLK may be revered now but at the time he was considered a troublemaker. Jesus himself wasn’t exactly well liked by the religious and political authorities of his day. Just look at today’s scripture. It is a perfect example. The religious leaders saw Jesus as a rule breaker and approached him - not with a sincere question or genuine desire for dialogue - but in an attempt to trick him and find a way to use his words against him to condemn him.
Divisions exist, disagreements exist, differences exist. But something else also exists and that is love. That is what Jesus reminded his questioners and reminds us today. Love of God and love of one another, this is our highest calling. And the surprising nature of this love is that it enables us to lean into those very things which threaten to pull us apart. It is precisely in those things that divide us where we learn how to more faithfully love our neighbor and build the beloved community. (This is the essence of the cross)
Think back to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the participants in the civil rights movement. How did they work to build the beloved community in the face of fire hoses, dogs and violent beatings? They did it by linking arms and singing songs of justice from a place of love and hope in their hearts.
I heard an incredible story this week about a tragic incident of violence and how the victims and the criminal found a way to come together and build a better life for themselves and for others.
The tragedy took place in 1995. Tariq Khamisa, a 20-year-old student at San Diego State University was out delivering pizzas when a gang approached him to rob him. The leader eventually looked at his young 14-year-old recruit, Tony Hicks, and ordered him to shoot Tariq.
Tony shot and killed Tariq that night and became the youngest person in California to be charged as an adult. He served the majority of his sentence in maximum security prisons before he was released in 2019.
In the years that followed, Tariq’s father, Azim, came to the realization that “there were victims on both sides of the gun.” Soon after, he reached out to Tony’s grandfather (and guardian), Ples Felix. They developed a friendship and worked side by side to start a restorative justice foundation in Tariq’s name.
"It took me five years to develop enough courage to come and meet you," Azim, now 71, told Tony, 40.
Azim said that the first meeting with Tony was a painful moment.
"You know, one of the questions I had for you is if Tariq said anything to you, because you were the last person to see him," he said. "We locked eyes for a long time. It was painful."
Tony called it "the most difficult conversation that I had in my life."
"You were remorseful," Azim told Tony. "You took responsibility for your actions and in that moment, I got that the spark in you was no different than the spark in me."
It was in that moment that Azim said he told Tony that he had forgiven him.
"Your forgiveness was heavy on me," Tony said. "I didn't feel like I was deserving because I knew what I had taken away from you. But your example gave me space to work on understanding that I was worth being forgiven."
But Azim left their conversation wondering why he had waited as long as five years.
"I always felt forgiveness is something you give to yourself," he said. "I grew up in the Sufi Muslim tradition and I think that helped me a lot to know that I didn't want to go through life in anger and revenge. And after our first meeting, my stride was much bouncier leaving the prison than the one I'd walked in with. ... It was a gift, and I honor you for doing that."
At the trial, Tony's guardian — his grandfather, Ples Felix — pledged to befriend the Khamisa family and help them in any way he could. Azim and Ples developed a deep friendship. The two started a restorative justice foundation in Tariq's name calledalso known as TKF.
While he was in prison, Tony started volunteering with TKF or The Tariq Khamisa Foundation, the restorative justice foundation created by Tariq’s father and Tony’s grandfather. He kept a blog, recorded video interviews and spoke with students about his experience,
But Azim's daughter — Tariq's sister — wasn't ready to meet Tony until 20 years later in 2015.
After her younger brother died, Tasreen Khamisa was devastated. Tariq was her best friend.
Like her father, Tasreen leaned on her spiritual practice as a Sufi Muslim in her grieving process.
When she went to first see Tony at Centinela State Prison in Imperial Valley, she said, "I was really, really nervous."
Their meeting lasted 7 hours that day. By the end of her visit, Tasreen said, "I just thought, this is a really kind person that made a really poor choice and he shouldn't be in prison anymore."
"I think that's why forgiveness journeys are so personal," she said. "It's a process. It's not like a light you turn on and off. I really believe there's layers to forgiveness. And, for me, I'm glad I peeled off that last layer."
After that first meeting, she kept in touch with Tony. They wrote letters and called each other. Today, they have a close relationship and consider each other family.
Working for the Tariq Khamisa Foundation — the restorative justice foundation that her father helped start in Tariq's name — has also helped Tasreen cope with the grief and loss of her brother.
Tony also continues to work with the foundation today.
"You are instrumental in the person that I am today, and I am extraordinarily grateful to know you and to have you in my life," Tony told Azim.
It is difficult to imagine more courageous conversations than these. A father who lost his son and a sister who lost her brother talking face to face with the man who took his life. It took great courage on both sides to have this conversation. It took a lot of hours of prayer and inner spiritual work. It took bravery and most of all it took lots of compassion and love.
As I thought about that difficult conversation it reminded me of some insights about dialogue that were shared at our Elder’s Retreat a few weeks ago. This year for our elder’s retreat we invited Rev. Allen Harris to attend and conduct a training. (Shout out to Ohio’s newly appointed Regional Pastor and President).
Rev. Harris began by reminding us of a common principal in our church that you will find on our church website:
“In essentials unity, in non essentials liberty in all things love.”
He went on to say that as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) the only essential in our church and in our denomination is our profession of faith in Jesus. When someone joins a Disciples congregation they are asked, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God and do you accept him as Lord and Savior.” There is no other test of fellowship. No creeds. Every other belief or concept falls under the category of non-essential and we are free to disagree.
Rev. Harris also pointed out how challenging it is to have meaningful dialogue.
Healthy conversation doesn’t come easy
We tend to talk, think and act in a divisive, combative manner, “mutually exclusive opposites”, everything is an either/or
Ambiguity and relativity and uncertainty are denigrated rather than encouraged, honored and admired
Trying to be discerning is looked upon as shameful
There are fewer and fewer places available in our society where diverse opinions and people are welcome and encouraged
But he also reminded us that it is the role of the church to be counter-cultural.
When cultural conversation, disagreement and division happens, we should be doubling down on conversations. Instead we have relied on comfort and avoided these conversations.
We need to develop the spiritual muscles and practice to have these conversations.
Yes we come to church to be comforted and be with our friends and learn about the bible. But we want to know how the bible and our faith informs how we live in the world.
Engaging in meaningful dialogue about what really matters is essential to building the beloved community.
At the end of the day - it all comes down to love. To build the beloved community is to seek love as our highest calling. When people come to visit our congregation we want them to be able to see that:
We can be different but still love
We can disagree but still love
We can doubt but still love
We can even mess up and fail but still love
Jesus - “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide in my love.” (John 15:9)