10/17/21 “Things Pertaining to God…and Us” by Nancy Petty
Hebrews 5:1-10
I had a flashback preparing this sermon. For a brief moment I was back in my doctorate program preparing to defend my dissertation and sit for my oral exams. As the day drew near, my anxiety heightened as I stressed over the question: Would I be able to defend my dissertation that was written without a ton of supporting research? My major professor had pointed this out to me when I had presented my topic months earlier. At the time, there just wasn’t a lot of prior research on congregational identity based on narrative theology. But that was my interest, so he had reluctantly approved my thesis. I had scoured every piece of research I could find and developed my thesis based on that research, along with the biblical narrative, the work I had done with this congregation, and my own thinking. But still, the question loomed: Sitting in front of three professors, prepped with their challenging questions, could I defend my findings.
This morning, instead of sitting before three people, I stand before a congregation to defend a different thesis, which is this: Climate change and racial justice is so inextricably linked that you cannot address one without addressing the other. Or as Sarah Kaplan, writer for The Washington Post writes: “You can’t build a just and equitable society on a planet that’s been destabilized by human activities…Nor can you stop the world from warming without the experience and the expertise of those most affected by it.”
Unlike the void of research for my dissertation, the research showing the link between racial justice and climate justice and climate justice and racial justice is vast. Volumes have been written about how climate change is the result of a legacy of extraction, of colonialism, of slavery. One researcher, Elizabeth Yeampierre, writes: “A lot of times when people talk about environmental justice they go back to the 1970’s or ‘60’s. But I think about the slave quarters. I think about people who got the worst food, the worst health care, the worst treatment, and then when freed, were given lands that were eventually surrounded by things like petrochemical industries. The idea of killing black people or indigenous people, all of that has a long, long history that is centered on capitalism and the extraction of our land and our labor in this country.”
I could spend my time with you this morning quoting statistic after statistic, both about racial injustice and environmental devastation in this country and around the globe, but the truth is, you know the statistics. You already know that the money we spend on militarism and funding the war economy could eliminate world hunger. You may also know that the US Military, in recent years, has emitted more CO2 than many industrialized nations. You already know that black communities and other people of color have been exiled by policies and practices both explicit and implicit to neighborhoods that have greater exposure to environmental pollution and toxicity than primarily white neighborhoods. You already know the statistics that reveal that unless we make more progress transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy life on this planet will not be sustainable for future generations. The rate at which we are depleting our natural resources at the expense of our comfort and convenience already has dire consequences for this generation. Climate justice and racial justice is so inextricably related that you cannot address one without addressing the other. It is simply impossible. Climate advocates must face the truth that “the movement for a transition to a decarbonized economy cannot succeed until there are structural changes in society to redress centuries of systemic racism.” And as Emily Atkin, a widely read climate justice journalist wrote in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, “Racial justice is climate justice. That means police reform is climate policy.”
The statistics, the research, the volumes and volumes of pages written and presented about the nexus of climate and racial justice is well-documented. So instead of simply regurgitating all of that material onto you this morning, I want to use my time to step back and take a look at the big picture as I see it from our faith narrative.
The Hebrews passage that Mark read for us might seem out of place for a sermon or thesis on the intersection of climate and racial justice. However, this morning, I want to propose that it is a most appropriate text if we are looking at the big picture and the challenges that face us today in effectively addressing these two topics that define the most pressing issues facing our nation and the world.
In these first 10 verses of Hebrews 5 there are a lot of trigger words for many of us who grew up in the church, and probably for those who didn’t grow up in the church. Words like: high priest – that one especially hits the Baptist folk who believe in the priesthood of the believer. The list continues: sins, weakness, prayers and supplications, reverent submission, obedience, suffering, eternal salvation. These are hard words, not just in the world of theology, but in all of life. Sin. Weakness. Submission. Obedience. Suffering. Salvation. While for most of us these words have mostly been defined by the church, they are not only owned by the church. They are words often used in a much broader context.
I want to suggest this morning, that for religious and non-religious people, they are the very words that will be required for us to use and understand if we are the meet the climate and racial justice challenges facing us today. As we consider these words in the big picture of racial and climate justice, I want to borrow from a practice from the Hebrew language. My rabbi tells me that one Hebrew word can tell a story. One word tells an entire story. One word paints a picture of a whole scene. To help us see the big picture when it comes to climate and racial justice, I want to use these words from the writer of Hebrews, these often times triggering words for us, to reframe the narrative for climate and racial justice.
In this reframing, when we hear the words “every high priest chosen” our minds wouldn’t go to clergy or someone elected to a high office. Our minds would automatically go to every single person, religious and non-religious living on this planet: in Europe, Antarctica, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia/Oceania. “Every high priest chosen” is every single one of us, period. The Creator of Creation, whether you understand that as a God or a big bang, has placed the title of high priest on every single one of us and put us in charge of the things pertaining to justice, to love, to life for all living things. YOU are the chosen one in this teaching.
Sin. When we hear the word sin or sins, we wouldn’t thing Adam and Eve in the garden, or the bad word we yelled when we slammed our finger in the door, or a statement about who we choose to love or how we love. When we hear the word “sin” or “sins” this is story we would tell. In a land long ago called The Whitelands, the powerful and privileged people set up systems, many systems, which would favor them while oppressing others. They used these systems to extract what they desired from the earth and from the humanity of others. Throughout the ages, these systems deepened and expanded, becoming more entrenched, causing increasing isolation and separation between the haves and the have nots and between humanity and creation, until the days when this separation and isolation began destroying not only the people but the planet on which they lived. This is the story of sin. In this reframing, sin is no longer simply a word used by some to damn others, it is a story that extracts, that isolates, and that separates us from one another and ultimately has the power to destroy us. It is greed and racial injustice. It is white supremacy and environmental devastation. It is denying climate change and criminalizing critical race theory.
Let me move on to the next word: weakness. In our culture we often have only two categories for things. From an early age, we are taught this dualistic thinking. Things are either good or bad, happy or sad, right or wrong, weak or strong. For Christians, our faith narrative focuses a lot on how weak we are, thus our need for a Savior. But what if instead of believing we are weak, we were taught just how powerful we are. That it is not inherent weakness that we have to fear, but rather a divine power that we have been entrusted with to use for the good of all creation. And it is this divine power, used for good, which saves us and makes us whole. Weakness, in this interpretation, is the refusal to accept responsibility for our power. To face the challenges of climate and racial justice, we will need to set aside our proclivity to stay stuck in the teaching that we are weak; and instead understand the divine power within us to dismantle the “sins,” the systems of dominance (or demonic systems) that keep us separated and isolated from one another and our planet. We must accept the responsibility of our power in facing the challenges of racial and climate justice.
The final series of words that we will need to meet the challenges of racial and climate justice are all connected to one another: submission, obedience and suffering. Each of these words offer the hope, the possibility and the invitation to “let go.” To let go of what we have become attached to that no longer serves us or other – that no longer contributes to the common good – for ourselves and for others. Reverent submission is to joyfully release the weights that have us tied down and are dragging us down. This letting go (or submission) frees us to actually live more abundant lives without having all the abundance of things we think we need: the bigger house, the more powerful vehicle, the insatiable appetite for the next new and best piece of technology, or to have the biggest and most powerful military, or the prestige of being the richest country in the world. And along with this “letting go” comes the trust (the obedience) in something that is more powerful than things and titles. To meet the challenges of climate and racial justice it is true that we will need to “comply” (which is what obedience means) with and to a new set of values that joyfully releases us from the dominate cultural value that we have to have more for ourselves – more power, more privilege, more wealth, more things. This shift is to a new set of values that helps us to know more presence, more moments, more love that ushers us into the kingdom of God, or if you prefer the common good.
It is in this letting go and complying with a new set of values that we as a humanity will eliminate then the pain and hurt – the suffering – that our planet and black and brown and indigenous people are still experiencing today. Only then can any of us experience the wholeness, the eternal salvation, which all people and the planet deserve.
The people of Pullen have chosen to stand at the intersection of climate and racial justice. But sometimes we, too, stand too far apart from one another. We have a deeply dedicated group of Pullenites who are leaders in the faith community and beyond on issues related to climate justice. Your voice is strong and prophetic and others are listening. And, we have a deeply dedicated group of Pullenites who are leaders in the faith community and beyond on issues of racial justice. Your voice is strong and prophetic and others are listening. And many, many of us serve both of these prophetic causes. But we must admit that we continue to compartmentalize them, to come at them as separate, to plan in isolation, and to unconsciously compete for the eyes and ears of others.
Think of the divine power we could possess if we stood together at the intersection of where these two social justice issues meet. It gives me chill bumps to think about that power. In the coming days, the Deacons will be inviting you into house meetings for conversation on what it means for us as a church to become an anti-racist church. This past month at The Table, the Earth Ministry Group invited you into conversation about climate justice. And tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. along Wade Ave, they and the Interfaith Care of Creation Group is inviting you to be a part of the Human Prayer Chain and Vigil for Climate Justice. When and if you show up for any of these conversations, and I hope you will, be mindful of what Chief Seattle taught us: “All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. Humans did not weave the web of life; they are merely a strand in it. Whatever one does to the web, they do to themselves.”
I close with this Wendell Berry quote that I was reminded of this week. “A change of heart or of values without a practice is only another pointless luxury of a passively consumptive way of life.” Our faith calls us to not only a change of heart and values but to put into practice what we say we believe. So let’s practice climate justice. Let’s practice racial justice. And let’s practice holding the uncomfortable tension of the intersectional justice, with is kingdom justice. For these are the things pertaining to God…and us!
Parting Words
Nancy’s Translation of Hebrews 5:1-10
Every single person, including you, is chosen and put in charge of things pertaining to God on behalf of all God’s creation, to overcome injustice and to shine the light of God’s justice-love.
We are able to deal with our shadows knowing that we embody the divine power and strength of God’s love and grace; and because of this we let go and release our need to consume more and more. We honor this responsibility because it is Love that has called us.
As all are chosen, we treat one another with great respect and dignity, because it is God who has said to us:
You are my beloved, every single one of you,
and you are made in the image of my love.
As we are God in the flesh here on this earth, we offer to one another our loud cries and tears for the healing of all peoples and all creation. We commit ourselves to the values of more presence, more love that ushers in the common good for all creation. It is in our releasing of our old ways and walking a new path of justice-love that we as a humanity will eliminate the pain and hurt and suffering of our planet and black and brown and indigenous people. Then, all of God’s creation will experience wholeness/salvation.
