6/17/18 “What Are You Holding Back?” by Nancy Petty
Text: I Samuel 15:34 – 16:13
What are you holding back? For years, I held back. I held back my faith questions as a young child growing up in a Southern Baptist Church. I held back because I wanted to be a good Christian and good Christians don’t question the Bible. For years, I held back. I held back my questions of sexuality because good Christians don’t have questions about their sexuality. For years, I held back. I held back my voice and my gifts for preaching because girls and women didn’t stand in pulpits. For years, I held back. I held back dressing in clothes that I felt comfortable in because girls and women dressed a certain way. For years, I held back being me, because being me didn’t feel safe in this world.
What have you held back and what are you holding back now? Furthermore, what are you holding back that God may be needing in order to bring about God’s beloved community here on this earth? As I see it, this is the question that makes this ancient story relevant to our times. It is hard for us to imagine a world run by kings. It is difficult for most of us to imagine a God who speaks to us telling us to fill our horns with oil and set out to find the next king. It is also hard for us to imagine God telling us to go somewhere and sanctify ourselves by offering a sacrifice. But it is not hard for us to understand, if we dare to be honest, how we often hold things, even ourselves back from God. Let me explain what I mean and how I got to this question from David’s anointing story.
The story picks up as Samuel grieves the death of Saul, the first king of Israel. It is so that the prophet Samuel grieved Saul’s death because he was the prophet who had anointed Saul at the outset of his rule. As Samuel is grieving Saul, the Lord speaks to Samuel. Have you noticed how God often speaks at the worst times? God says to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul?” Not the most sensitive or comforting words to say to one grieving a beloved friend. But here’s the thing. God had not been pleased with Saul and for some very good reasons. He was not the greatest of kings. In truth, God didn’t even want a king but the people insisted so God obliged them and gave them Saul. But now that Saul was gone, it was time to anoint a new king. And God wasted no time. He says to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.
After a little back and forth with God, Samuel sets out to Bethlehem to find Jesse and his sons. When he arrived in the city the elders greeted him, the story says, trembling—scared. Makes you wonder what they had been doing that would cause them to be scared of God’s messenger. Anyway, Samuel tells them that he comes in peace. He then invites Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice of sanctification. At this ritual, one by one, Samuel greets the sons of Jesse. He looked on the first son Eliab and thought, this is the one—surely this is God’s anointed. But God said no, I’m not looking for the best looking one or the tallest or the strongest. That’s what you see but I’m looking “on the heart.” One by one each of Jesse’s sons pass by Samuel and each time God says not him. Finally, after seven sons had passed by Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these. Are all of your sons here?” “And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him: for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in.” And then we read: “Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful (bright) eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’”
It was the son that Jesse held back that God anointed as the new king: the youngest, the least entitled in that culture. David, the smallest and most vulnerable of Jesse’s sons. The one who had been given the job of tending the sheep out in the field. Not the one who was the tallest, strongest, who was most striking in appearance, or had the flashy job. Not the eldest. Not the one with the most important role in the kingdom. But the youngest, smallest, the sheep tender. The one held back.
Sure, one could make an argument that Jesse didn’t intentionally hold David back. Surely he needed someone to tend the sheep. After all, sheep were very important and it was necessary to have someone tend the sheep—to protect them from danger and keep them safe. But my hunch is that Jesse held David back because he didn’t fit the profile of a king. He was not the firstborn. He was not the right size. He didn’t look the part.
How often do we hold back because we don’t have the credentials or we don’t look the part? How often do we hold others back because they don’t fit the bill, look the part, are the right size, have the right credentials. How often do we hold ourselves and others back when we or they are exactly who God is ready to anoint to do God’s work in this world? And so I ask, “What are you holding back?” And “Who are you holding back?”
Are you holding back who God has created you to be? Are you holding back your voice that is needed for this time? Are you holding back your questions because you don’t want to rock the boat? Are you holding back another’s voice because it makes you uncomfortable? Are you holding back your own voice because of some cultural norm that says you are to stay silent? Are you holding back yourself or someone else because you/they don’t appear to have the right credentials, or look the part, or be the strongest, or the most articulate?
The only thing that God cares about is what is on your heart—not your standing in the world, not your credentials, not your appearance, not your official role. If your heart is full of love, if your heart knows compassion, if your heart wants to show kindness, if your heart is willing to be courageous even though you might feel afraid and small, then God needs for you to not hold back. We are living in a time when we cannot hold back nor hold others back for God needs all of us to be speaking and leading through these unsettling times.
And so it is, in the spirit of not holding back, I have something I need to say this morning. It is important to say this publically and from this pulpit.
We learned this week that the United States is holding 1,500 to 2,000 immigrant children in prison-like detention centers having deliberately separated—in some cases literally prying them apart—from their parents who sought a better life trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Parents, like you and me, who are seeking a better, safer life for their children. Parents, unlike you and me, who have walked on foot for miles carrying their children and what few belongings they could to reach a land where they might find safety and have a chance at a decent life for their family. Instead, here in our country, these already vulnerable kids will be scarred for life from the terror they are experiencing at the hands of our government, hands prying them away from their families.
The Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border to discourage crossings is cruel, shameful, immoral, and reprehensible. It is the newest low for an administration that seems to thrive on treating those considered “the other” as inhumane. It is despicable by any standard, a clear violation of universal human rights. This zero tolerance policy adopted by our current president to separate children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border is an act of grave injustice. And as American citizens, we should be outraged. And as I see it, we the people, have a duty and responsibility to decry this policy and fight like hell until it is no longer a policy.
And here is why. We know this historical narrative. We have lived through it. We have participated in it. Since the time of slavery, America has long been a place where children are torn from the arms of their parents. “As soon as they were old enough to work, young black children could be sold off. In many cases, these children never saw their families again. Later, the U.S. decided to pursue a similar approach with Native American children, sending them to government-run schools en masse in the late 19th century…These boarding schools lasted into the 20th century. Trump’s policy…is just the latest iteration of American leaders invoking government authority to keep families of color physically apart.” (Sara Boboltz, Reporter, Huffpost)
And in a turn this week that is simply incomprehensible, Trump’s administration justified his policy using the same Christian scripture used to condone slavery and to treat Native Americans as less than human. Both Jeff Sessions and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have referenced Paul’s writings in Romans 13 to justify separating children from their families. In a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana Attorney General Jeff Sessions says, and I quote, “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.” What Sessions failed to mention or quote are Paul’s words just prior to Romans 13:1-7 and the apostle’s words just after. Paul’s words about respecting the law follow these words, Romans 12:9-18:
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
And then immediately following the verses Sessions referenced we read:
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”
As we consider the “widest possible difference” between the Christianity of this nation, at this time, and the Christianity of the Christ as witnessed in our Christian scriptures may we do no less than fall to our knees in confession and repent of both our sins of omission and commission. May we hear ringing in our ears the words of the great prophet, social reformer, writer, and statesman, Frederick Douglass as he might have us hear them today:
“The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold [the policies that still separate brown children from their families]; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish [such inhumane and immoral policies]. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission.”
Indeed, we the church—the Christian church—stands guilty of the sin of omission and commission if we silently sit in these pews and allow our government—a government of the people, by the people, for the people—to use our Christian scripture to justify cruel, shameful, immoral, and unjust policy.
We, Christians, must rise up and proclaim the gospel that Jesus taught: to welcome the stranger, to love one’s neighbor, to extend hospitality, to be generously sharing all we have, and to care for the most vulnerable. If we fail at living these Christian values, if we fail at speaking out for these Christian values, may God have mercy on our souls and the soul of this nation. We must fight like hell any policy set forth by our government that, in the name of Christianity, would separate children from their families in such a cruel, immoral, shameful and inhumane way.
This past week I had a conversation with a gentleman who is 99 years old. He is not a member of this church but knows of this church. We were discussing life and faith and the world as it has been and is now. I listened as he spoke of the lessons he had learned living through the great depression and his family losing everything they had, of his time served in World War II, and of his life after he returned home. This man had recently visited with family out of state and we were reflecting on his visit. At one point, he said to me, “Nancy, family is the most important thing we have in this life. You need to preach that from your pulpit.” Family is the most important thing we have in this life and you need to preach that from your pulpit. His comment gave me pause to stop and think about how we, as a church, are supporting families. Families with children, families with no children, chosen families (because some of us in this room have been rejected from our families because of who we are and we have had to nurture chosen family). Family is the most important thing we have. How are we supporting families in this church, in our community, and beyond? And how are we supporting families searching for a safe and decent life for their children and their family?
Pullen Church, we must not hold back! I challenge us, the church, to bring forth our voice in support of families of all kinds. And I challenge each of you to bring forth your own voice, your own action, your own conscience in support of the least of these – the families being separated along our border. I cannot tell you what is yours to do, but I can assure you that this is ours to do, as Christians, as Americans, as human beings. Find your way, and don’t hold back.
