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Delivered to the United Church of Jaffrey
March 5th, 2017
Readings: Excerpt from James Baldwin Essay | Matthew 4:1-11
In the case of the American Negro, from the moment you are born every stick and stone, every face, is white. Since you have not yet seen a mirror, you suppose you are, too. It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6, or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you. It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians, and although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you…
But what happens to the poor white man’s, the poor white woman’s, mind?
It is this: they have been raised to believe, and by now they helplessly believe, that no matter how terrible some of their lives may be and no matter what disaster overtakes them, there is one consolation like a heavenly revelation–at least they are not black. I suggest that of all the terrible things that could happen to a human being that is one of the worst. I suggest that what has happened to the white Southerner is in some ways much worse than what has happened to the Negroes there.
James Baldwin, from “The American Dream and the American Negro”
March, performing dutifully, came in like a lion.
Driving up to Jaffrey on Thursday, I came upon, not one, but two, road crews clearing downed trees off the roadways.
We trust, however, that between today and the vernal equinox — (which will take place on March 20th at 6:29 AM… but who’s counting?) – the month of March will work the roaring lion out of its system, and the long expected lamb of spring will totter out on unstable, newborn legs.
The last of the snow melt will fall, like jewel necklaces from the eaves of all the houses down on Amos Fortune Road.
The Chickadees and Juncos waiting patiently at our feeders will compel us to head down to the Agway for that discounted bag of black oil sunflower seed.
And somewhere down along Gilmore Pond Road, the last remnant of crusted snow will eventually melt and leave behind a vernal pool where, on some miraculous eve not long hence, the peepers will start up their song of hope.
The poet, A.E. Houseman has a wonderful little poem that celebrates this time of year. The first stanza goes like this:
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Wearing white for Eastertide…
Isn’t it strange?
Just when the we sense the first inklings of Spring…
Just when our mother stirs from her long snowbound hibernation…
Just when the woodland ride comes alive with cherry blossom…
and our spirits rise at the rumor, barely discernible, of the long lazy warm days to come…
At just this moment,
Our religion turns its attention to Eastertide…
*
This morning’s gospel reading from the fourth chapter of Matthew tells of the temptation of Jesus.
This is a little strange.
Why, you ask, is this strange?
It’s strange because the events described here – Christ’s time in the wilderness, and his temptation by the devil, happen early in his life, before his ministry even begins…
And this is weird because today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent, as you know, is the name we give to the final forty days of Christ’s life when he was betrayed, arrested and crucified.
So why would the lectionary (which is the resource that tells ministers what to passages to preach about each week) – why would the lectionary ask ministers to preach about early events in Christ’s life, when the season of Lent would rightly have us concentrate on the end of Christ’s life?
Let us turn to the text for the answer to this question.
According to today’s lesson…
“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights”
The spirit led him.
He fasted for forty days.
He was tempted.
These sound like tests.
It sounds almost like Jesus is being initiated into something.
And indeed, this idea was picked up by the early Christian communities…
In the first centuries of Christianity, people who wanted to become Christian had to observe a forty-day period of penance and fasting as a preparation for baptism.
This period of fasting lasted forty days, because, of course, that was how long Jesus fasted in the wilderness.
If the penitent survived the period of fasting with an intact desire to become a Christian – they were baptized…on Easter Sunday.
So Jesus’ forty days and forty nights of fasting, that we heard about in today’s gospel lesson, is the Biblical source of the forty-day period of penitence that precedes Easter, the period that we, today, know as “lent.”
*
I thought about asking our young confirmands, Nick and Chris, if they would like to fast for forty days and forty nights as preparation to be confirmed…
But I anticipated that I might get a little push back.
Today, it seems absurd that a religion should make such an outrageous claim on its adherents.
Its peculiar enough that our religion should insist on being somber in the midst of the season of brimming life!
Why mar the joy of spring with thoughts of the crucifixion? Why not commemorate Jesus’ death in the autumn, when the whole world could mourn? As it is, it’s hard to stay true to the churches’ fixation on Jesus’ descent to the cross when, all round, the earth itself proclaims life abundant.
Is the Christian faith determined to undermine joy?
Is this startling contrast between Spring’s blossoming glory, and Lent’s dark descent the reason why we, as a religious people, have more or less given up on the discipline of Lent?
Now and then you hear about someone who gives up chocolate or soap operas for lent, but these are faint echoes of the privations that the early Christians observed.
And yet, I suspect any attempt I might make to impose an “early church style” observance of Lent here at UCJ, would result in some raised eyebrows up the street at the First Church when they tried to make head or tail of their sudden surge in attendance.
Well that would be one way to promote unity…
But perhaps not the best way.
I have no intention of proposing a forty day fast during Lent.
But I do have an alternate suggestion.
*
Fasting was not the only thing that happened to Christ in the wilderness.
He was also tempted.
This temptation has also made its way into the religious observance of lent.
But I submit to you that avoiding the temptation of dark chocolate or forgoing that midnight scoop of Ben and Jerry’s may make your next visit to the dentist less painful, but it won’t do much for you spiritually.
If fasting for forty days and forty nights is decidedly overdoing it, swearing off fun-size snicker’s bars and Almond covered Hersey’s kisses is decidedly underdoing it.
Our religion ought to mean something to us.
It ought to mean something relevant to us!
And now, at last, I have worked my way to that James Baldwin quote that I have been warming up to all morning.
James Baldwin!
Not a year goes by when I do not read James Baldwin, with more and more amazement.
Gay and Black, Baldwin lived during a time when gay could get you killed and black could get you lynched – and yet he survived, and held a mirror to the ugly face of oppression through the sheer force of his eloquence.
Like Martin and Malcolm, his murdered brothers – James Baldwin had a prophetic voice that could not be silenced.
In the excerpt that Mary-Lu read for us, Baldwin argues that, in spite of all the suffering, deprivation and death that Black people experienced (and, in many cases, continue to experience) as a result of systemic racism, ultimately, the more profound victim of racism is the racist white.
Baldwin is saying that the real spiritual death does not come from suffering.
Baldwin is saying that the real spiritual death comes from hatred.
The real spiritual death does not come from being murdered,it comes from being capable of murder.
I suggest to you that today — today – in the particular historical moment that we live in, it is tempting – it is a temptation – to believe that some people – some Mexican rapists or Radical Islamists – do not deserve our love.
Today, this temptation is real.
Let’s practice giving up this temptation for Lent.
Because succumbing to this very real temptation is to inch, ever closer to spiritual death.
That’s why the final clause of this churches’ mission is so important.
That’s why the words “toward all” is critically important.
Let’s remember that Christ’s great commandment was not to love white people.
He did not command us to love heterosexual people.
He did not command us to love Americans.
Or people who go the proper church.
“This is my commandment, Jesus said, that you love one another as I have loved you.
“One another…”
“One another” is an all-inclusive phrase.
If “One another” was printed on a bathroom door, anyone could use that bathroom
Similarly, the only way to grow our Christian faith
Is through acts of love
toward all.