Pentecost 6
Year C
July 4, 2010
Isaiah 66:10-14
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Father Stanley Rother was born in Okarche, Oklahoma, but the church sent him to serve in the small village of Santiago Attitlan in Guatemala.
Perhaps some of you remember the story of the Father Rother.
Father Rother arrived in Santiago during the late 1980s-- during some of the worst years of the Guatemalan civil war.
He was told that his job was to administer the sacraments, visit the sick, and bury the dead. Basically, to take care of the spiritual needs of the people and to stay out of everything else.
But, he wasn't in Santiago very long before two things happened:
First, he fell in love with the people and with the place (which, I will admit, is easy to do.)
Second, he realized something was wrong -- very wrong – in his small community. And he couldn't, in good conscience, ignore it.
His people lived at the mercy of the government – and particularly at the hands of the military base just outside the village. The people were being abused daily. People who tried to stand up to the military simply “disappeared”.
As a man of faith, Father Rother found he couldn't just stand idly by. He began to speak out against the things that were going on in the village. He began to advocate for the people – working for justice for the people of the community.
And he paid for it with his life.
Late one night, soldiers broke into the rectory and gunned Father Rother down.
Father Rother's story was repeated again and again throughout Guatemala. Many people “disappeared” during those years. Speaking out often proved to be fatal.
Today, fourteen years after the end of the civil war, things in Guatemala are better…
But speaking out can still get you killed.
Having just gotten back from Guatemala and another opportunity to hear people's stories reminded me of two things.
First, I was reminded of how important it is for us to stand with those who suffer from injustice, poverty and oppression in our world. People who often do not have a voice of their own.
And second, I was reminded again of what a privilege it is to live where we do in our world.
That's important for us to remember on this Fourth of July, as we celebrate our nation's birth and the freedoms we enjoy,
Do you ever think about what an amazing and rare thing it is to live in a land where speaking out – especially against the government – will not get you arrested or killed?
The personal freedoms we enjoy in our nation are unprecedented in the history of the world.
But, even as we celebrate those freedoms, it is just as important for us to remember that the cost of having those freedoms is the responsibility we bear to be engaged in community life.
Our freedoms are not given to us so that we can cultivate selfishness, self-indulgence and greed – though I think some people think that.
Instead, our freedoms are given so that we can work together for the common good.
So that we can work together to assure that all people have the opportunity to enjoy “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as the Declaration of Independence proclaimed.
Now, we may disagree on the best way to do that. In fact, we do. And that's OK. In fact, I'm convinced that's an important part of the process. It's one of the reasons America works.
We need Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, constantly working at it together – bringing our diverse opinions and perspectives together to create something that is better than anything any one of us could imagine on our own.
The question is:
As people of faith, as Christians, how do we enter the conversation? What unique voice do we have to bring to the ongoing discussion of the common good in our nation?
Of course, maybe we shouldn't say anything at all – as Christians. Maybe all we should do is focus on taking care of individual spiritual needs – like Father Rother was told to do – and keep our mouth shut about the rest.
Maybe. But, you know, I really don't know of anything in scripture that would support us doing that. Not at all.
Paul tells the Galatians that they need to be looking for opportunities to work for the good of all – particularly within the community of faith – but not only there.
Paul's voice is not a solitary voice in the New Testament.
Again and again, we see the public face of Christianity. Of people of faith engaging in public life as people of faith – and confronting those things they found were wrong in their societies.
Jesus himself was a public figure. In his preaching and teaching Jesus addressed issues that went well beyond just individual spirituality.
That's one of the reasons why he raised the ire of the Pharisees, and Sadducees and the other leaders of his day.
Jesus proclaimed the Reign of God – not just over our personal lives, but over the whole world – including nations and kings, principalities and powers.
When Jesus sent out the seventy, he told them to do exactly what he had been doing:
Cure the sick.
Proclaim the Reign of God.
Care for the needs of the people.
And bear witness to God's goodness and grace, justice and mercy in the world.
Jesus sent them to continue his work which, in Luke, Chapter 4, he said was to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to bring freedom for those who are oppressed.
And that is very public work.
Today, we are sent to do the same.
That is the public face of our mission as God's people in the world. That is how we work for the common good… as Christians.
It's going to take many different forms, and we're not always going to agree on the best way to carry out that mission – the church never has.
But that's our mission. That's what we are sent to do and to be in the world. That's our God-given responsibility as those who live in the freedom of Jesus Christ.
Amen.