by Bishop Bill Gohl
"Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [Jesus] said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." – Luke 10.25-28
This is an edited-down portion of a sermon I delivered during a difficult week in America, and for which I was recently interviewed for a piece of combating racism through challenging privilege. +bg
This is an edited-down portion of a sermon I delivered during a difficult week in America, and for which I was recently interviewed for a piece of combating racism through challenging privilege. +bg
Dear Molly,
What a privilege it is to stand with you and your parents today, surrounded by your family and friends, supported by this faith community, and you in the midst of us, a living, breathing, cooing sign of the love of God.
As you are baptized today, I can’t help but think about, dream about and consider the unlimited possibilities for your bright future. You are so obviously loved, and when you are loved like that, unconditionally and lavishly, then, the future can only be bright.
What a privilege it is to stand with you and your parents today, surrounded by your family and friends, supported by this faith community, and you in the midst of us, a living, breathing, cooing sign of the love of God.
As you are baptized today, I can’t help but think about, dream about and consider the unlimited possibilities for your bright future. You are so obviously loved, and when you are loved like that, unconditionally and lavishly, then, the future can only be bright.
It's not that you will live a charmed life. The world we live in can be a scary one. Jobs, neighborhoods and schools are all quite fragile; tossed about by the anxiety and uncertainty of the volatile politically impotent times in which we are living. You will know these anxieties and uncertainties – but all of us who love you, particularly your mom and dad – all of us will be trying to shelter you and protect you until you can not only bear these burdens, but add your own gifts and talents to alleviating them.
Molly, I have to confess a truth to you and those who gather to celebrate with you tonight: as a white child, you are afforded a range of privileges and protections that children of color are not afforded and it's important for you to recognize this and actively work to change it. This country was founded, yes on optimism and pluralism, but also on slave labor, exploitation, violence, dehumanization. Don’t get bogged down in the guilt or shame of this history, but know it. Your story, our story, is a part of that.
The only way to "move on" from that reality is to never "move on," to understand that just as people of color have to spend a lifetime thinking about their own skin color and how it affects the way they are able to walk through the world; you are walking through the world, this country, this city, these streets, as a white person.
Make it a part of your daily consciousness even when it seems tiring and burdensome (this is not a choice for people of color, nor is it for you). Commit to interrogating the privileges that you inherit and constantly look for creative ways redistribute power, connect the unconnected. Understand that this isn’t about being a "good white person." This is about being brave and convicted and imperfect and tireless and loving and devastated and sometimes feeling dumb about how to make change and taking it personally. You are not above bias and racism. Apologize when you say or do something wrong. Do not speak for others, use your privilege to give others the opportunity to speak for themselves – and listen, even when no one else is. Molly, make real friends who will push you and hold you accountable. Push and hold other white people accountable, too.
It's so easy to think of the Gospel today as an issue of good and bad, black and white, who's in and who's out. Unfortunately, in Christ, that is neither our call nor is it in keeping with our values that we are equally created in the very image of God, inherent in which, is respect and dignity for all people.
No, Molly. In our gospel, we will have all played each of the roles from time to time – sometimes we will be indifferent to the needs of a neighbor (and in fear, our out of a self-justifying hypocrisy maybe we’ll even couch that indifference in very pious-sounding, but threadbare language of faith about unity or not wanting to offend someone), sometimes we will summon the moral fortitude to stick our necks out to help – or to make safe places in our stained glass "inns" for healing and recovery – and still other times we will be at the side of the road of life, beaten, stripped and left feeling half-dead. That is the reality of the times we are living in.
We don't always know what is going to happen, nor do we have any assurance that in this transient world that we live in, that everything will come out "happily ever after." In spite of the uncertainties of today, let alone tomorrow; we nevertheless live as people of hope, a hope that is grounded in One who will not disappoint us, and we then become signs of hope to a despairing world.
And the truth is, once in a while, you are going to fail, Molly. You might trip on those first steps; and from time to time, you are going to swing and miss. Yet, in the support you know – and will know – from so many who love you – and in the community of faith – you will know grace. When you fail, we pray you have the grace and courage to try again. And when you do succeed, as you will many, many times, you will have the grace and humility to realize that you won, that you overcame, that you made a difference by the grace of God and the love of so many that encouraged, supported, empowered and equipped you along life's way.
You see, we are watching to see how baptism will shape you – and how, as a child of God, you will shape the world. You will be confronted with telling the truth or slipping by with a half-truth; and we're praying you will tell the whole truth and it will set you and others free, too. You will be confronted with the power and privilege of being a bright kid with parents who are invested in your success and happiness, with resources to do just about anything you believe that you want to do in life; and still we're praying you will stand with those who are disenfranchised, overlooked and forgotten – because you will have peace in your heart that it's what's right. You will speak the truth in love, because you will know that two wrongs never make a right.
And, as much as I want you to have faith in God, I want you to have faith in yourself, too. Your faith will likely be different than mine. Baptism does not make you Catholic, Reformed, Episcopalian or even Lutheran; it is a public affirmation that you are a beloved child of God – and it gives you license and responsibility to hammer out what you believe, independent of what I think or believe. Nevertheless, I hope you will give faith a fighting chance. Faith has changed my life and I hope it changes yours. Ultimately, faith comes down to what the scripture story tonight presupposes we already know: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Molly, we love you, beautiful girl; we love you and your tenacious, incredible mother; and my friend, your multi-talented father. Today, God's love has been poured into your heart. Today you have been filled to overflowing, and I am filled to overflowing, too. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in you, and how you will help us all change a world that desperately needs changing.
Love,
+Bill
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." –Luke 10:25-37
A significant part of this sermon relies on the thoughts and hard work of Courtney Martin in a blog post: The Conversation We Must Have with Our White Children from On Being, retrieved on Friday, July 8, 2016.
Molly, I have to confess a truth to you and those who gather to celebrate with you tonight: as a white child, you are afforded a range of privileges and protections that children of color are not afforded and it's important for you to recognize this and actively work to change it. This country was founded, yes on optimism and pluralism, but also on slave labor, exploitation, violence, dehumanization. Don’t get bogged down in the guilt or shame of this history, but know it. Your story, our story, is a part of that.
The only way to "move on" from that reality is to never "move on," to understand that just as people of color have to spend a lifetime thinking about their own skin color and how it affects the way they are able to walk through the world; you are walking through the world, this country, this city, these streets, as a white person.
Make it a part of your daily consciousness even when it seems tiring and burdensome (this is not a choice for people of color, nor is it for you). Commit to interrogating the privileges that you inherit and constantly look for creative ways redistribute power, connect the unconnected. Understand that this isn’t about being a "good white person." This is about being brave and convicted and imperfect and tireless and loving and devastated and sometimes feeling dumb about how to make change and taking it personally. You are not above bias and racism. Apologize when you say or do something wrong. Do not speak for others, use your privilege to give others the opportunity to speak for themselves – and listen, even when no one else is. Molly, make real friends who will push you and hold you accountable. Push and hold other white people accountable, too.
It's so easy to think of the Gospel today as an issue of good and bad, black and white, who's in and who's out. Unfortunately, in Christ, that is neither our call nor is it in keeping with our values that we are equally created in the very image of God, inherent in which, is respect and dignity for all people.
No, Molly. In our gospel, we will have all played each of the roles from time to time – sometimes we will be indifferent to the needs of a neighbor (and in fear, our out of a self-justifying hypocrisy maybe we’ll even couch that indifference in very pious-sounding, but threadbare language of faith about unity or not wanting to offend someone), sometimes we will summon the moral fortitude to stick our necks out to help – or to make safe places in our stained glass "inns" for healing and recovery – and still other times we will be at the side of the road of life, beaten, stripped and left feeling half-dead. That is the reality of the times we are living in.
We don't always know what is going to happen, nor do we have any assurance that in this transient world that we live in, that everything will come out "happily ever after." In spite of the uncertainties of today, let alone tomorrow; we nevertheless live as people of hope, a hope that is grounded in One who will not disappoint us, and we then become signs of hope to a despairing world.
And the truth is, once in a while, you are going to fail, Molly. You might trip on those first steps; and from time to time, you are going to swing and miss. Yet, in the support you know – and will know – from so many who love you – and in the community of faith – you will know grace. When you fail, we pray you have the grace and courage to try again. And when you do succeed, as you will many, many times, you will have the grace and humility to realize that you won, that you overcame, that you made a difference by the grace of God and the love of so many that encouraged, supported, empowered and equipped you along life's way.
You see, we are watching to see how baptism will shape you – and how, as a child of God, you will shape the world. You will be confronted with telling the truth or slipping by with a half-truth; and we're praying you will tell the whole truth and it will set you and others free, too. You will be confronted with the power and privilege of being a bright kid with parents who are invested in your success and happiness, with resources to do just about anything you believe that you want to do in life; and still we're praying you will stand with those who are disenfranchised, overlooked and forgotten – because you will have peace in your heart that it's what's right. You will speak the truth in love, because you will know that two wrongs never make a right.
And, as much as I want you to have faith in God, I want you to have faith in yourself, too. Your faith will likely be different than mine. Baptism does not make you Catholic, Reformed, Episcopalian or even Lutheran; it is a public affirmation that you are a beloved child of God – and it gives you license and responsibility to hammer out what you believe, independent of what I think or believe. Nevertheless, I hope you will give faith a fighting chance. Faith has changed my life and I hope it changes yours. Ultimately, faith comes down to what the scripture story tonight presupposes we already know: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Molly, we love you, beautiful girl; we love you and your tenacious, incredible mother; and my friend, your multi-talented father. Today, God's love has been poured into your heart. Today you have been filled to overflowing, and I am filled to overflowing, too. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in you, and how you will help us all change a world that desperately needs changing.
Love,
+Bill
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." –Luke 10:25-37
A significant part of this sermon relies on the thoughts and hard work of Courtney Martin in a blog post: The Conversation We Must Have with Our White Children from On Being, retrieved on Friday, July 8, 2016.