11/8/20 “Love’s Momentum” by Nancy E. Petty
Light has dawned on a weary world. And it is okay to rejoice and be glad. And it is okay to praise the God of justice-love with shouts of joy. I only wish our Pullen family could be together in one place this morning to lift our hymn of grateful praise.
I know that there are people we know and love who are disappointed in the results of this presidential election. In fact, they may be a part of this church family. For many of us, in the coming days, we will gather with these people we love to share Thanksgiving and Christmas. Around our tables and in our zoom calls there may very well be deafening silences and tough conversations about the future of our nation. It has been the reality and it will continue to be the reality. We are a diverse people with different ideas and values. So although many of us are rejoicing and see a new hope for our nation, we walk humbly into these urgent days. And by humbly I don’t mean diminishing the righteousness of justice and the continuing need to outright condemn the injustices so blatantly displayed in our country over the centuries and particularly these last four years. By humbly I mean recognizing that justice love is built into the fabric of the universe, and that we must continue to work on our own contributions to injustice, our privilege, and how that privilege feeds and sustains the very injustice we seek to end. Today, for some of us, is a day of rejoicing because we sense that we as a nation may be turning toward doing that work.
Before noon yesterday I received on my phone the first news alert that Joe Biden would be the 46th president of the United States; and that Kamala Harris would make history as the first woman, black-South Asian American woman, to become the vice president of the United States of America. I had not realize how long I had been holding my breath until I let out the deepest breath imaginable finally releasing all that I was holding. My release, and relief, was that our country would now have new leadership—leadership that represents integrity, honesty, honor and courage. But that deepest breath that I took represented more than a Biden-Harris victory. It represented what I believe is a turning toward love—not a cheap love, but a justice-love. And when our nation turned toward love, even though we are but a small dot on the celestial map, the universe turned toward love. Because anywhere where love shows up, the world turns toward love. Never doubt love’s momentum. But remember this about love: sometimes Love’s momentum requires us to do things that might look foolish to those who don’t understand Love’s momentum—like turning the other cheek and losing life to find life and sharing all things in common and welcoming the prodigal home and feeding 5000 with five fish and two loaves. Do these things anyway for they represent love’s momentum.
I felt love’s momentum in the first phone call I received just minutes after the news of the Biden-Harris victory. Still shocked from the election news, I was also shocked when I looked at the caller ID and saw that the call coming in was from our Georgian friend, Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili. The texts were coming in so fast I couldn’t keep up them but he was the first phone call. Thousands of miles away, and embroiled in his own country’s contentious election, he wanted to congratulate us as a nation on being a witness to the world that love is stronger than hate and that truth outlast deceit. He said to me, “What your country has done gives us hope in our country. It shifts the momentum toward love and justice.” He said, “We are so happy for you.” Such grace in those words. For here is a man who has given his life to God’s justice-love, and to equality for all. He has made sacrifice after sacrifice fighting for freedom for his people. He has loved God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and his neighbor as himself. And yet, for far too long the people of his beloved country has suffered under oppression. Today, as we gather, he is standing courageously at a political rally in his own country still fighting for justice and love as his country selects its next leaders. And within minutes, he is the first phone call to me to say, “Congratulations, we are so happy for you; and we are praying that love’s momentum will shift our way.”
Why do I tell you this? Because we must keep fighting for love’s momentum. It’s not just about us, here in this country. It’s not just about this one election. It’s not just about our guy and gal winning. Yes, there is new hope. AND, people in this country and all around the world will still be hurting come January 21st. While so many of you worked tirelessly for the outcome of our election, the work for our human family here in the United States and around the world continues. Love’s momentum still needs our determination, our faithfulness, our sacrifice, our courage, our all. The race to establish God’s kin-dom here on earth as it is in heaven continues. For our friends who are hungry and out of work in Southeast Raleigh and in the Republic of Georgia; for the thousands of people in this country who don’t have access to healthcare and the thousands of people in Cuba who don’t have enough food, in part, because of our country’s sanctions; for our trans and queer family all over the world whose lives are cut short by xenophobia; for black and brown bodies killed by prejudice and a system of policing that puts a target on their backs; for the citizens drinking tainted water in Flint, Michigan and the wildlife all across the globe whose environments are being devastated by global warming—the work continues. Love’s momentum is depending on us.
On Thursday I received a piece of mail addressed to: Pastor, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. It was post marked from Raleigh, Research Triangle Region on November 1, 2020. It had no return address on it. The subject of the letter was: Any Sense of Urgency? It began by quoting several verses from Matthew 7 that talks about entering God’s kingdom through the narrow gate. Then it read, in part:
If you take Jesus at his word (and I do) far too many members in good standing in your church do not have an Inner Authentic Soul Relationship with Jesus that brings Authentic Salvation. They intellectually acknowledge Jesus as part of their wholesome church experience…they even have admiration for what they think he represents…for many, church membership is part of a well-balanced, planned public life: altruistic, civic-minded, “spiritually well rounded.”
That’s what it takes…Right?
Too many preachers who say they are called by God seem to go along with that. I am curious, at Pullen do you take Jesus at his word?
Please allow me to publicly address this anonymous individual on your behalf.
Yes, we the people of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church take Jesus at his word. We believe that we are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the sick and the prisoner. We take Jesus at his word: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free. We take Jesus at his word: blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. We take Jesus at his word: to love our neighbor as ourselves. We take Jesus at his word: there is neither Jew nor Greek nor Muslim nor American; male nor female nor gay nor straight nor queer nor trans; slave or free, better than and less than; Christian or non-Christian, we are all one in God’s kin-dom.
And so yes, there is a sense of urgency. An urgency to participate in Love’s momentum: to work for equality for all people, to make sure people earn a living wage by fighting for economic equality, to protect people’s religious freedoms, to denounce militarism and the war economy, to work for environmental justice, to stand in the streets to fight against police brutality toward black and brown bodies, to heal systemic racism in this country, to lift up the poor, to stand up for the marginalized. There is a sense of urgency: to prepare for God’s arrival—to fill the valleys on inequality, level off the hills of injustice, smooth out the ruts of prejudice and xenophobia, and clear out the rocks of American exceptionalism.
There is a sense of urgency to keep love’s momentum moving forward. Never doubt Love’s momentum and its witness to the world. The kind of love that requires doing justice and loving kindness. The kind of love that speaks truth to power. The kind of love that doesn’t abide prejudice and inequality and the love of power. The kind of love that was born in Scranton, PA almost 78 years ago. The kind of love that last night walked out onto the world stage in a white suit and stiletto heels and took her rightful place in God’s family. Never doubt God’s justice-love. For God’s justice-love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love and Love’s momentum never ends. Never. Yesterday, we turned toward love. Now, may we have the determination and courage in this great turning to lead with love’s momentum!
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from “Loving Your Enemies”)”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
