“The Joy of Beloved Community”

"The Joy of Beloved Community"
Luke 4:14-19 and I Corinthians 12:12-18, 26-31
Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly, Westmoreland United Church of Christ
Feb. 2, 2025

Here we are, two weeks into the new administration, and it seems like a year already. The moral and spiritual arcs of history seem to be at standstill as new leaders appear to privilege power over hospitality, see morality in terms of dominance of the strong over the weak, and ignore the quest for Beloved Community, envisioned by the prophets, Jesus, Howard Thurman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Martin Luther King.  As we reflect on our church’s mission today, we look for wisdom, courage, and compassion for just such a time as this.  We pray with Harry Emerson Fosdick, “Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore.”  We also pray with Brain McLaren to embody defiant joy as we follow the way of Jesus in our often-confusing contradictory environment.

The faith of Jesus and the prophets joins individual and community, is profoundly social as well as personal, and drives us from self-interest toward world loyalty and beloved community. We don’t know yet what our calling will be as individuals and as a congregation in such a time as now: but we have guidance from the scriptures, mystics and prophets and from our healer and savior Jesus of Nazareth, who confronted the injustice of his time.

As we ponder our faith in this unique time, we need to remember that virtually every book in the bible was written in a time of political conflict and intrigue, international threat, or enemy occupation.  Jesus and the early Christian movement never experienced a moment of political freedom, and yet Jesus and the prophets proclaimed a vision of hope that would outlast dictators and demagogues…they were filled with defiant joy and prophetic vision – not denial of our concerns about the crises of our time, but the energy of love born from claiming our agency as God’s companions in healing the world and confronting the evils we deplore with the vision of God’s beloved community, that embraces friend and foe alike, undocumented resident and MAGA hatted supporter, as God’s beloved children.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is new to fulltime ministry, He’s been to the wilderness, faced leadership tests, confronted questions that will determine whether he will embody the power of love or the love of power.  Jesus has chosen faithfulness over security, love over coercion, and commitment over comfort, and he’s ready to make “good trouble,” as John Lewis says. Yes, “good trouble” in his hometown.

He’s ready to preach, likely a bit nervous, where everyone knows his name as Joseph’s and Mary’s son, the carpenter, and rabbinical student, well-liked but peculiar in his focus on God’s realm as his vocation.

The assigned reading for that day was from the prophet Isaiah and Jesus reads slowly and solemnly Isaiah’s message, omitting only the line that refers to divine retribution and violence toward God’s enemies.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of God’s favor.

Jesus concludes with the affirmation, “today these words have been fulfilled.”  The dream of the prophet is the only reality that matters from now on.  And, to the anger of his neighbors, it includes everyone even those whom we see as inferior or threats to our way of life.

Today,  as we ponder our church’s vision for the future, it is important to reflect on Jesus’ mission statement, the words that shaped his ministry in  a time of social and political uncertainty.  The message is clear, although the details are left up to us: our ministry is to uplift the poor, free all God’s children from the chains of injustice, oppression, ignorance, and self-interest, work for peace, and bring healing to the sick.  Our mission is to help people experience God as a living reality as close as our next breath, and to proclaim the vision of God’s beloved community in word and deed regardless of what political leaders say:

The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox…
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God
as the waters cover the sea.

This is the promised land that Moses imagined, and of which Martin Luther King dreamed and described in Memphis the night before his death.  This is the beloved community, the moral and spiritual arc, that runs through our lives and inspires us to be persons and a congregation of stature, filled with the joyful energy of love, even when those in power “scorn God’s ways.”

We’re just ordinary people, perhaps better educated and more informed about the levers of power than the average congregation, but we are also people struggling with the same issues facing everyone on this little planet: caring for the next generations, finding purpose in our lives, paying the bills, and facing health issues.  These issues are important to worried MAGA supporters who believe Trump’s way is God’s way and to anxious undocumented residents on the run, both of whom share on big thing – fear of the future.

Jesus doesn’t give the contours of beloved community in his first message, but Paul gives us a more detailed vision of beloved community in his letter to that very imperfect and troubled congregation at Corinth, splitting over issues of doctrine, behavior, and wealth and poverty.  Paul invites this struggling church to see itself not just as a troubled community, uncertain of the future, but as the Body of Christ.  He paints a picture of Christ’s body that is a template for our work at Westmoreland and the society in which we live.  I’m going to put it simply in a series of affirmations:

• Everyone has God-given gifts. Each one of us has a vocation, a purpose, and something to contribute to the church and the world.
  
  
• The vocation of community- this community - is to help every member realize their gifts.
  
  
• Our gifts are intended to serve our church community and the world.
  
  
• The community is healthy when everyone discovers and uses their gifts. As Martin Luther King said, “in the fabric of relationships, I cannot be what I am intended to be until you are what you are intended to be, and you cannot be what you are intended to be until I am what I am intended to be.”
  
  
• Everyone matters, our joys and sorrows are one

We are the body of Christ, and so is God’s glorious and challenging world. Contrary to what some politicians say, God is the parent of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” God creates diverse communities and persons with diverse gifts, every gift is important, and the community’s job is support and include the many diverse gifts to be healthy and fulfill its vocation.

To bring it home today, in the challenges of our chaotic and uncertain time, God’s Spirit is here at Westmoreland and the words of Jesus are our ultimate mission statement in our uncertainty and fallibility.  We have been given a glimpse of the promised land, and our call is to claim Jesus’ mission is our own:

The Spirit of God is upon us because God has anointed us
to bring good news to the poor
God has sent us to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of God’s favor…Glory hallelujah, thanks be to God, for giving this mission  for just a time as this!