“The Call
to Be a Savior” (Superman Returns)
Isaiah
65:17-25, Luke 21:5-15
Niwot UMC
November
13, 2016
Our acolyte Olivia gave
me an idea a while back to focus a sermon on some dialogue in the movie Superman
Returns. I did not consider when I planned it for
this week, that we would actually need Superman to save us, but it turns out we
do. In my lifetime I have never seen the aftermath of a presidential election
lead to what we are currently experiencing. Acts of hate speech going on all
over the country and people living in real fear for their lives. This is not a partisan statement. It's
just fact. KKK marches of victory, Swastikas painted on black churches, gay people having rocks thrown and
epithets uttered about then, a list of all sorts of awfulness that has bubbled
to the surface, though sadly it has been simmering in our country all along.
That's not to suggest that this hasn't happened before, but it is clearly
happening with increased frequency right now. And no matter who we voted for we are going to have to deal
with what is going on and do better. And we the church must lead the way in
helping the country to find love and peace somehow.
In the
passage in Isaiah 65, we hear words of hope in the midst of anxiety.
Like the days of a tree will be the
days of my people.... They won’t labor in vain, nor bear
children to a world of horrors, because they will be people blessed by the
Lord, they along with their descendants. Before they call, I will answer; while
they are still speaking, I will hear. Wolf and lamb will graze together, and
the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the snake—its food will be dust. They
won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain, says the Lord.
This passage is about the people of Israel, who after having been exiled for 60
years, finally return home, but 'home' is not what they remembered. Their homes were no longer there and
everything they thought they knew was different and strange. Much like what we feel now, in the days
post-election... It is a country that feels different and strange. And the
entire world is reeling with uncertainty.
In the homeland of the Israelites in this passage and in our homeland
today, we feel a common urge to pick up the pieces. Much like returning to
clean up after a natural disaster, you have shock and dismay at what you see
around you, and then grit and resilience.
I remember
going into Lyons the first day they let people re-enter after the flood in
2013. I was a bystander, but the
people who lived there... ohmygosh! I felt for them. We saw the river literally running through people's homes,
cars turned upside down, houses leaning sideways as their foundations crumbled. It was devastating. But, the resilience and the grit of
these people whose lives were being swept away in the waters was also on full
display. Somehow you just knew that they would fight and grow stronger and
build a new tomorrow together.
And they
have. And so can we. From the brokenness of today's
headlines and stark realities, we can look to American resilience to guide us
to a new day. A time when fear
will not reign, but hope and love will guide us toward peace.
In Luke 21,
we have Jesus telling the disciples that everything they have had their
security in... the temple, the nation, their way of life... is coming to an
end. And he doesn't sugarcoat it
either. He says
“As for
the things you are admiring, the time is coming when not even one stone will be
left upon another. All will be demolished.” Then Jesus said to them, “Nations
and kingdoms will fight against each other.
He doesn't
say this to scare them, but to remind them that no matter what people or things
of this earth we have put our trust in, they will not last and they will not
stand on their own. Because on our own we perish. The only way we rebuild is by
adding God to the equation.
Jesus tells
those facing dark days,
This will
provide you with an opportunity to testify. Make up your minds not to prepare
your defense in advance. I’ll give you words and wisdom that
none of your opponents will be able to counter or contradict
He's reminding them that in times when it
feels like the apocalypse is upon them, their first order of business is to
trust in the message of hope he
came to share. Being a church that is present when the world needs you requires
channeling Jesus' message of love and trusting Jesus to give you the words to
say to advance that message. Jesus suggests that in times of insecurity, we
choose to trust him to give us the words to say.
So obviously
Jesus is the Superman figure in our narrative as Christians. Jesus lets us know that he came to be
with us in the flesh as proof that God always walks with us on the way. He's
that flash in the dark that comes to save us when we can't seem to save
ourselves.
In the movie
Superman Returns, one of Olivia's favorite quotes and mine too, is this exchange
between Lois and Superman:
Superman:
Listen; what do you hear?
Lois Lane:
Nothing.
Superman: I
hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day
I hear people crying for one.
Superman
hears the cries of the world and yet Lois does not. Some people are fine-tuned to hear the cry and call of the
needy and they remind us that even though we may not initially be fine tuned to
hear it, we have the responsibility to figure it out. That we can't, like Lois,
just decide that the world doesn't need a savior, and so we can all fend for ourselves. Superman reminds us that our call is to
dig deep and find our inner convictions to love and care for all people.
One of the
real life superheroes of the civil rights movement was the late Vincent
Harding, a grace-filled soul that taught at Iliff for many years. All his words are divine musings, but
this one fits the bill in the aftermath of the election.
"My own feeling that I try to share
again and again is that when it comes to creating a multiracial, multiethnic,
multi religious democratic society, we are still a developing nation. We've
only been really thinking about this for about a half a century. But my own
deep conviction is that the knowledge, like all knowledge, is available to us
if we seek it. --(Vincent Harding speaking to Kritsa Tippett.)
And that is
where the real world differs from a Superman movie. We need a superhero to save us, but we must seek him within
ourselves. And then we must do his
work. As Superman tells Lois, The world is always crying for a savior. And as
our superhero Jesus reminds us, we are to be his hands and feet in the world.
We all have
our own version of apocalypse going on at any given time. That's called life. And, we have been
subject to this troubling and vitriolic campaign season and its aftermath that
left us unusually unsettled. And
so we have work to do to save those who need us most.
Christ
clearly calls us to be on the side of the marginalized, to set the oppressed
free, to be a voice for the voiceless.
It is the single clear and persistent message in the gospels. There is
no question about that. That means
that the church and its people must lead the way in creating a more perfect
union. We must speak up against hate speech, we must provide sanctuary to those
who are afraid to live in this country. We must offer love and compassion and open hearts,
minds and doors without reservation to African Americans, Muslim Americans, gay
and lesbian and bi and transgendered Americans, immigrants, undocumented,
women. Anyone who feels degraded and targeted, Jesus calls us most especially
to love. That is just
what being a Christian is. If we
are truly the Christians we claim to be, then that is our first order of
business on this Sunday and for every day that follows. Anne Lamott says, "Frequently, as
so many poets and psalmists and songwriters have said, the invisible shift
happens through the broken places.” God is love. And so God's people love the
world through the broken places.
Show us your
mercy, O Lord;
R.
And grant us your salvation.
V. Clothe your ministers with
righteousness;
R. Let your people sing with
joy.
V. Give peace, O Lord, in all
the world;
R. For only in you can we live
in safety
V. Lord, keep this nation
under your care;
R. And guide us in the way of justice
and truth.
V. Let your way be known upon
earth;
R. Your saving health among
all nations.
V. Let not the needy, O Lord,
be forgotten;
R. Nor the hope of the poor be
taken away.
V. Create in us clean hearts,
O God;
R. And sustain us with your
Holy Spirit.
From the Book of Common Prayer
|
No comments:
Post a Comment