What to do with our failure?

Palm Sunday Service of Reconciliation

AUDIO SERMON HERE

Sunday's Readings

Palm Sunday Worship Bulletin
WATCH ENTIRE SERVICE HERE

What to do with our failure?

"Yesterday's Palm Sunday Service of Reconciliation revisited the place where worshipers who were denied entrance knelt to say the General Confession.  Yesterday, worshipers knelt to acknowledge their failure saying the same words that were said here 50 years ago.  Worshipers then received assurance of God's forgiveness, and were given comfortable words from our Lord Jesus Christ: 'Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.'"  

            I first want to say what an honor and privilege it is to stand in this pulpit today.  I don’t say this as a formality.  Rather, the opportunity to witness to the good news of Jesus here today and every day is not something I take lightly.  I am truly grateful for the opportunity.  Even more, what an opportunity we all have to be bearers of the good news of Jesus Christ in our daily lives.   

I am also grateful for this opportunity because here I stand in one of the most beautiful churches in the diocese and even country.  These walls and windows are made even more beautiful when you think about all men and women who have offered prayers to Almighty God in this space for over 160 years.

And I am grateful because here I stand before some of the most faithful men and women that I have come to know in my thirty-one years including our new friends from St. Mark’s and Brown Chapel and elsewhere.  So I want to thank all of you for being here and for giving me the opportunity to stand here.

 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our strength and redeemer.  Amen.

A lot of you have asked where the idea for the service came from.  This question could take me in a lot of directions.  I could talk about how the Diocese of Alabama passed a resolution in 2008 that encourages parishes to hold such services.  I could talk about how Bishop Sloan dropped a seed when I first took the job by giving me a brief history of the events in 1965.  But looking back at all that has happened to this point it is clear to me that the idea came from God working through his people. 

"We were called to worship by Miller Childers, St. Paul's, and Lou Willie, St. Mark's.  Miller was a vestry member who opposed the vestry's stance on segregation and Lou was nine years old when he and his mother Yuvonne were denied entrance."  Photo Courtesy of Justin Averette at Selma Times Journal.

God has called us all here this morning and quite a journey it has been.  I don’t know what that journey looks like for you.  But I hope you will tell me sometime and or at least tell someone else.  No matter what path you have taken to be here this morning, we are all here to worship our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are all here to worship the one who willingly died the death that belonged to us so that we might live the life that belongs to him alone.  We are all here because of a hope that we have in a God who is making the world new through his Son Jesus Christ.

I’ll be honest and say that the beginning of my journey here today started with some hesitation.  The first step was not an easy one.  A part of this reluctance was because I was a brand new rector and didn’t want to upset that apple cart as they say.  The experts say don’t do anything drastic for the first year.  So, in the spirit of reconciliation I’ll just say this—please accept my apology!

  Even more, a part of me wondered how digging up history that is 50 years old would help healing and reconciliation.  Can’t we just go on with our lives already?!  Haven’t we been slammed over the head enough by our transgressions?!  But every time I hesitated, every time I tried to justify why today didn’t need to happen, God kept on telling me not to be afraid as God said to so many in scripture.  God kept on reminding me—you are not defined by what you have done or left undone; you are defined by Jesus Christ—the one who has already done it all for us.  

God kept on reminding me that he isn’t interested in reminding us of our transgressions—we do that enough on our own without God’s help.  Instead, God wants to remind us of his love and mercy through his Son Jesus Christ because God knows that we lack confidence in is the truth that we are called beyond our sin and brokenness to a place that is complete in the good news of Christ.  

We live in a world that is hungry for this good news, good news that points beyond failure.  This hunger is evident in a culture that jumps at every opportunity to criticize the church when it fails.  And the church has failed a lot—just pick up a history book.  St. Paul’s has failed to live up to the call as Christians—as we did 50 years ago.  St. Mark’s has too.  Every church has.  And the church will continue to fail at its mission to be the people that God is calling us to be—even 50 years from now.  So what do we do with this failure to live up this billing as God’s people through Jesus Christ?  We have good news to proclaim.

The good news is that the church isn’t called to be perfect; the people of God, you and I aren’t called to be perfect.  Instead, we are called to be faithful to the one who is making us perfect through a love that was willing to die for us, a love that was willing to go to the cross for us, a love knows that we struggle to do the good that we want to do but fail to do. 

We are called to be faithful to the one who has made a world that is perfect through his resurrection, a world that is no longer held captive by sin and death.  Jesus has made this world available for all this children.  This world is available when we have the grace to recognize that we cannot create this world through our own good efforts, efforts that will ultimately fail us.  Like one prayer in the prayer book says, we can give thanks for our disappointments and failures because they ultimately lead us to acknowledge our dependence on God alone.    

"An acolyte from St. Mark's holds the parish banner as the procession of the palms gets under way in the courtyard. "Photo Courtesy of Justin Averette at Selma Times Journal.

As God was reminding me of these gospel truths, the country was reminded once again in too many ways that we still have a long way to go in terms of race relations in our country.  Even though we are 50 years removed from the successful struggle to integrate this church, we still live in a world that struggles to see beyond the color of skin.  We still struggle to be a part of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream where people are judged based not on the color of their skin but based on the content of their character. 

But I am not here to remind you of human dreams.  Instead, I stand in this pulpit today to remind you of a dream that already is a reality.  I am here to remind you that God’s dream for all his children from every race and nation is available now in a life lived through his Son Jesus Christ.  I am here to remind you that we have an opportunity to witness to God’s dream of reconciliation for all people, of a God who judges us not based on the content of our character—thanks be to God because we all fall short under the microscope—instead we have a God who looks at each of us, his beloved children, based on the content of Jesus’ character—the one who shows compassion and mercy and love for all people—especially the unlovable and the sinner. 

"Worshipers gather in the St. Paul's courtyard to begin the Palm Sunday Service."

Photo Courtesy of Justin Averette at Selma Times Journal.

Through Christ, God is giving the church an opportunity to show the world a different way of living, a gospel way of living.  This way of living doesn’t involve name calling or hyperbole.  This way of living doesn’t involve shaming those who have failed.  This way of living doesn't invovle minimizing our failures and transgressions.  This way of living doesn’t involve proving why you are right.  And this way of living certainly doesn’t involve the justification of our actions or inactions.  Instead, God’s dream for his church is seen through the passion and death of Jesus Christ, a passion that is soaked in humility.

"Acolytes prepare to process into church"  

Photo Courtesy of Justin Averette at Selma Times Journal.

How can we be a part of this dream?  How can we start to live in this reality today?  I have good news.  We have already started living in God’s dream--just look around this room.  We started to live in God’s reality when we knelt together before the doors of this church, Christ’s church, and acknowledged that we are all a part of the problems that plague our world. 

We acknowledged again how we are a part of the problem in the Passion Narrative.  One of you commented after I assigned you your part, I wanted to be a good guy!  And to that I responded, “There are no good guys except Jesus!”  Not even Peter, the first pope or bishop of the church, can say that he isn’t a part of the problem.  Not one of us can say that our hands are clean.  I can’t say—“Jack, this isn’t your problem because you weren’t born until 1984.”

Friends, God’s dream doesn’t stop with the death of Jesus on the cross.  God doesn’t leave us to wallow in our shame or guilt.  We can stop feeling ashamed because soon we will be met by the risen Lord who says to us like the stained glass window at the entrance of the church says, “Come unto me all who labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  The kind of rest Jesus is talking about isn’t like a Sunday afternoon nap—which sounds really good about now. 

Window in Narthex of St. Paul's

The kind of rest Jesus is talking about is the kind of rest that is found in perfect service to our Lord.  The kind of rest Jesus is talking about tells us that we can stop worrying about being defined by what we do or don’t do and rejoice that we are defined by the one who makes us beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.  The kind of rest that Jesus is talking about is the kind of rest that frees us from the impossible demands of this world, demands that we can never repay, but the good news is the demands have already been paid through Christ crucified. 

Finding rest in God is the difference between serving others out of fear of failure or obligation versus serving others with joy in the knowledge that whatever happens—no matter how badly we screw up—we have a God who is making things right through Jesus Christ. 

We have a God who is committed to working out his plan of salvation through his people, no matter how thick headed we are, and God has used a lot of thick headed people—just open the Bible, look around this room, look at me!  We have a God who works through the struggle of ordinary women and men, as we saw 50 years ago, to bring about extraordinary change.  This is the God that the world is hungry to know, this is the good news that the world is starving to hear.  

On this Palm Sunday and through reflection on what happened 50 years ago, I hope you find room in your heart to celebrate a God who brings extraordinary change through the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, a passion that begins when Jesus kneels on the floor to wash the feet of his followers.

God give us the grace to kneel and serve the world alongside our Lord and Savior and may all the world know the healing power of your love.  Amen.              

Reflection from Bloody Sunday Commemoration

Reflections on Blood Sunday Commemoration

In the same way Jesus took an inventory of the temple in Jerusalem by driving out livestock with a whip of cords and turning over tables, an inventory of our political system in America took place 50 years ago on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Ultimately, that great and horrible day led to the passage of legislation that allowed all people regardless of race or color to participate in democracy.

This past weekend an estimated 120,000 people from all over the world traveled to Selma to celebrate this momentous occasion and to commemorate the men and women who were courageous enough to stand up to an exclusive political system.  For the most part the mood was celebratory.  It was truly a Jubilee in the Hebrew sense of the word.

(Photo by Selma Times Journal - Sunday Jubilee)

Selma residents who had not embraced this commemoration in the past showed up this time.  They showed up because they had permission to be proud of their city again due in part to a Unity Walk that was held last weekend on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Selma residents were eager to show the world the true character of our beautiful city.

At St. Paul's visitors packed into Hammonds Clos to enjoy rest in the shade and FREE bottled water and snacks.  Earlier in the day one of our volunteers set up a television in the courtyard so she could watch the President speak.  Due to the overwhelming crowd that showed up, over 100 people ended up watching the President's remarks with our volunteers in the courtyard.  People were exceedingly grateful for the hospitality especially since the secret service banned bottled water in the restricted area.  

(Some 100 people gather in Hammonds Clos at St. Paul's)

Scenes like this were happening all over Selma.  Those who came to Selma with preconceived notions that Selma was still stuck in 1965 certainly went home with a different idea (check out these two articles: MADE and WSJ).  Unfortunately, some of the media was bent on painting a negative picture of Selma but those who did their research discovered a different story.  Thanks be to God!

Please don't hear me saying that things are perfect.  They aren't.  We still need to address education and employment.  However, there is something that the city of Selma (and cities everywhere) needs that politicians and government officials cannot offer.  As Pastor Strong said last night at the City Council Meeting, Selma needs to rally behind a spiritual vision of who God is calling Selma to be.    
While this weekend marked a wonderful celebration for our city, country, and nation, I was left concerned by how much faith we put into our government.  We all know that our political system is not perfect.  The reality is that it will never be perfect.

This weekend was another reminder that our salvation cannot and will not come from our political systems no matter how good and fair they are.  Our government will never be good enough.  Yes, we should as a society work toward fair and just laws,  but I believe our city and country is hungry to see something more than simply fair and just laws--something beyond an inventory of a political system.

(Picture at Brown Chapel of the Faith and Politics Panel)

Jesus did not leave the tables overturned in the temple.  He didn't leave the temple a mess and go home.  No, he promised that he would rebuild the temple in three days.  God's plan is bigger than changing an unjust and political situation in Rome (and USA).

We see the truth of God's plan unfold in the passion of Jesus Christ, a passion that shows us how the persistent mercy and love of God is changing the world.  As someone said, the law cannot produce love only love can produce love.  Love, the kind of love we need, the kind of love that transforms our hearts and changes the world depends on the kind of love that God pours out into the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we remember the events that changed the world 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama, let's celebrate those who had the courage to stand up for what was right, for those who stood up to the unjust laws in our society.  Let's ask God to continue to give us and the church the courage to be a voice in the wilderness.  Give thanks for a God who is willing to turn over tables in the name of justice.

Above all, give thanks for a God whose love we get to experience through Jesus Christ, a love that doesn't take sides, a love that seeks to find everyone, a love that has changed the world.  Give thanks for a God who wants all his children: black, brown, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, state troopers, protest marchers, the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s and even the Sheriff Clark's of the world to know the promise land.

(Sunday Jubilee Bridge Crossing)

The good news is that the promise land isn't some future reality created by laws, it is not something we are still working for, the promise land is available now in Jesus Christ.  The good news is that the promise land doesn't depend on human ways.  The promise land depends on God's way and God's way is a way of compassion and mercy and justice for all.  The promise land is right in front of us through a life lived in the way of the one who fulfills the law, in the way of the one who loves without condition or restriction, in the way of the one we call Jesus Christ our Lord.  

How the courtroom ruined the (true meaning) of the Ten Commandments.

How the courtroom ruined the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

On Wednesday Jamie, Mary Katherine, and I walked down to the St. James to eat lunch.  We struck up a conversation with a family from Michigan who is visiting for this weekend’s events.  They ended up inviting us to eat with them and we had a wonderful time. 

                Of course, they asked a bunch of questions about Alabama and Selma.  One of the questions wondered what it was like to live in the Bible Belt.  After I briefly described the dynamics of the Bible Belt in Alabama, the family went on to talk about how Bible Belt Christianity existed in Michigan too.

                They told me about a friend of theirs who decided to give up wine for the season of Lent.  They laughed at how intolerable she was to be around during this time.  They said she was always complaining about this horrible self-imposed affliction.  And no, surprisingly their friend was not an Episcopalian!

                At this point in the conversation I asked, what was this woman hoping to accomplish by giving up wine for Lent?  What was she trying to prove?  They said she was giving up wine for Lent because she wants to be ready on the Day of Judgment.  She wants to stand pure and blameless before Jesus when he comes back to judge the living and the dead.  And as you might imagine, this is when I buried my head in my hands and silently whispered, Lord have mercy.

                I don’t mean to lump what it means to be a Christian in the Bible Belt into this one story.  However, there is a message out there not just in the south but all over that is crippling the power of the gospel, the power of what it means to be saved by no power of our own.  There is a message out there that tries to convince us that we are in charge of our salvation, a message that says if we can live up to a certain standard then we will be right with God and be saved.   

                I believe some of this message is a result of how the Ten Commandments have been mistreated in our culture.  The mistreatment of the Ten Commandments has not only come from the religious arena but also the political stage.  As you are all very well aware, there has been serious debate in recent years as to whether or not they belong in the court room.  Regardless of your position on the issue, we all have to admit that its placement in the courtroom significantly changes the Decalogue’s meaning. 

            

            Before I get too far ahead of myself, we have to remember the context in which God gave the people the Ten Commandments.  Remember that God’s Word does not speak through a vacuum.  God’s Word breaks into our world at specific times, in specific places, for specific reasons—and we know this truth most fully through Jesus Christ.  So what circumstance did the people of Israel receive these commandments? 

After a time of wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, God decides that this group of Israelites needs some kind of direction.  So God calls their leader Moses to the top of Mount Sinai for instruction.  On the mountain God reminds Moses that he brought his people out of slavery for a specific reason, so that they would be God’s people in the world, so that they would be a light in the darkness.  However, these Israelites forget their calling and start to complain against God.  Some of them even beg for God to send them back to Egypt to be slaves—at least they had food to eat as slaves.

So the Decalogue is above all a reminder of who God is calling the people of Israel to be.  God is giving the people of Israel boundaries for their own good.  God is basically saying to Israel, “to live outside of these boundaries or commandments means death metaphorically and literally.” 

It is like a parent-child relationship.  It would be like Jamie and me giving Mary Katherine commandments.   “thou shalt not jump on top of a bar stool, thou shalt not pull the dog’s ears, thou shalt not dump your apple juice all over mommy’s dining room table.”  In case you were wondering, these commandments are based on experience…  We tell her these things for her own survival, for her own good.

As her parents it is our job to remind her of those boundaries again and again until one day she figures it out on her own, until they are written on her heart.  We give Mary Katherine these boundaries because we love her and want her to know how to live in a broken and sinful world. 

In the same way, our heavenly Father loves us and wants to remind us and teach us how to live in a broken and sinful world.  These commandments are not signs of a God who is bent on punishment or judgment.  Instead, these commandments are signs that we have a God who loves us and desperately wants us to know the freedom of what it is like to live as people of God in a broken and sinful world. 

So now that we understand the commandments in the context of salvation history, now that we have recited them together in this place of worship where we are reminded that nothing can separate us from the love of God—how does that compare to reading the commandments in the court of law?

Why do people go to a courtroom?  They go to a courtroom to hear a verdict from a judge.  The courtroom is a place where people are judged based on whether or not they live up to the law of the land.   So to have the Ten Commandments in the courtroom fundamentally changes how we understand the Decalogue. 

Given this new context, it would be easy to assume that the Decalogue is God’s standard of judgment.  In other words, when we stand before God on the day of judgment, we will be judged based on how well we lived into the Ten Commandments.  Think about that.

This line of thinking would not only be foreign to the first people who received the commandments.  But this way of looking at the Decalogue not only diminishes the gift of the gospel but also the gift of God’s law.  If we look at the commandments as God’s standard to salvation, then all we have done is reduce the commandments to a moral code. 

The danger of simply seeing these commandments as a moral code is this.  We will end up looking at the commandments as a type of salvation check list.  At the end of the day before we say our prayers we will sit down and say, “Let’s see.  I managed to keep 7 ½ commandments today and in high school that was a passing grade so I’m good.  I don’t even have to pray tonight.  What’s on TV?”  How deprived are we of God’s richness if this is how we look at the commandments?

I invite you to look at these commandments more like an inventory.  These commandments are wonderful tools to help you discern your spiritual health.  In case you didn’t notice, the commandments are literally broken into two tablets—one tablet focuses on a relationship with God and the other a relationship with neighbor.  So ask these questions.  How is your relationship with God?  Where is it strong?  Where is it weak?  How is your relationship with others?  Where is it strong?  Where is it weak? 

If you honestly use the commandments as an inventory, you are likely to discover something about yourself that you would rather not admit.  Reflecting on the results of your inventory might feel kind of like Jesus turning tables upside down in your own life--as he did in the temple. 

So what do we do with the results?  What do we do with the havoc that the inventory plays on the temple that God is trying to create in our own hearts?  We bring our shortcomings to light.  We name our failures for what they are.  And what are they?  Our failures and shortcomings are weak and pedantic before the mercy and justice of God.  This is the good news.  God's standard of judgment is resolved in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Ultimately, the promise of God’s covenant depends on who God is and the help God gives us in Jesus Christ.  Like our Baptismal Covenant implies, I can with God's help.    

We know that Jesus didn't leave the tables overturned and the temple destroyed.  He said that in three days he will raise it up.  Because God rebuilds his kingdom in his Son Jesus Christ judgment day will not be like a courtroom trial.  It will be more like a Presidential pardon.  And instead of a president issuing the pardon, our God whose property to always have mercy will be the one issuing the pardon. 

  Friends, it is the knowledge of God's pardon through Jesus Christ that transforms our hearts and changes the world.  The experience of the good news is what makes us people of God.  Yes, the Ten Commandments shows us how God desires for us to live in community with God and each other but only the good news of God in Christ will save us.  Someone said it like this, "The law shows us what love looks like but it does not produce love.  Love produces love."

Thanks be to God for the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Look at Selma Now: 50 Years Later

Look at Selma Today

A witness to what God is doing in Selma 50 years later

Reflections are based on sermon preached at St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Selma, Alabama-March 1, 2015

Click here for audio of Sermon
stpaulsselma.dioala.org
(pictures and new coverage at end of article)

 The events that took place in Selma 50 years ago not only changed our city but also changed the nation and even the world.  Ultimately, the events that transpired helped result in the passage of the Voting Rights Act.  Even more, the events that occurred here resulted in a democracy where all people could participate regardless of race or color.  While the nation was free to celebrate this victory, the city of Selma was mortally wounded.

Suddenly, a city that was a bright spot in Alabama became the red headed step child of the south, the nation, and even the world.  The images of Bloody Sunday have been repeated over and over and over again.  And every year Bloody Sunday is commemorated.  As many have said, will we ever move past the bridge?  When will we ever escape this one image of Selma?

Yesterday, the city of Selma gathered on the Montgomery side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  We gathered as a community—black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Asian, Christian, atheist, agnostic, whatever.  We gathered as a people who are hungry to live by a new story.  We gathered in a faith that believes that God is doing something special in Selma.  And instead of marching to Montgomery in the name of Civil Rights, we marched into Selma in the name of One Selma and reclaimed this beautiful place as our home—Selma for Selma.  We celebrated our beautiful city.

(Some 2,000 residents attended the Unity Walk.  Photo Courtesy of Selma Times Journal)

 The banner that we carried in procession was a unity quilt that represents the rich diversity and beauty of Selma.  We received a total of 176 quilt squares for this quilt—squares representing our community, our churches, our businesses, our people, and our history. All of them are now sewn together as one to create a symbol of God’s plan for unity and reconciliation.

 My wife Jamie brought the quilt to the most recent planning meeting for the Unity Walk to show it to the group. The presentation of this quilt was met by a standing ovation by the diverse and beautiful people of our city who gathered at Brown Chapel on that Tuesday evening.  I hope you understand the impact of this moment.  This standing ovation is evidence that God is giving us a new story to celebrate.  

One of the leaders of the Unity Walk made the comment, “Look what Selma has done together.  Who would have ever imagined that Selma could do something like this?”  While her question was certainly a rhetorical one, the answer is most definitively God.  God is giving Selma a new story.    

I, along with many of you, have been whispering about all the wonderful things that God is doing with our community.  While we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be, there are signs of new life with new businesses and new families and new initiatives.  Perhaps most significantly, these signs of new life are being seen through our faith community coming together.

For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, the bridge was the cross we were called to bear.  Ultimately, we would not have the opportunity to be talking about this new story if not for all the things that our city has experienced over the last 50 years.  I’m not sure what Selma would look like today if Bloody Sunday didn’t happen.  Some say that our economy would not have suffered like it has, that we would be a thriving small town.  Others say that Bloody Sunday might have actually helped Selma stay relevant in a nation where small towns are dying. 

 I’m not sure either way.  I can’t answer these questions.  I’m not an economist or even a prophet.  As your priest, preacher, and pastor, I am interested in answering these questions.  What is the opportunity?  Why does God care if the city of Selma has a new story?  What does it matter that God is making Selma new?

I strongly believe that God is calling our city to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I believe God wants Selma to be a reminder of the new story we are given through the good news of Jesus Christ.  This is a great privilege and great responsibility.  And I believe a part of this witness happened on the bridge yesterday.

While our walk does not replace or minimize those horrible images that are seared into our nation’s consciousness, our walk gives us (and hopefully the nation) permission to live by a new story—a story beyond Blood Sunday.  Our walk gives us permission to celebrate the bridge, to look at the bridge in a new way.  We can look at the bridge and see people of all colors and stories walking in a faith that believes God is making us one.  Like the artist Common said at the Oscars last week, the bridge that was once a symbol of division is now a symbol of unity.    

       When we walked, instead of whispering about what God was doing, we sang loudly believing that the world would hear us.  Some blew Shofars or ram’s horns that are depicted in Hebrew Scripture.  These horns reminded marchers of God’s announcement of salvation.  We praised a God who makes us one.  We sang in a faith that believes that God wants Selma, the nation, and the world to know that a city that was once mortally wounded is being raised to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

More Coverage:

• Facebook Page
• #selmafaithunited on twitter, instagram, and Facebook
• Selma Times Journal
• WIAT 42 Birmingham
• Montgomery Advertiser
• WSFA 12 Montgomery
• Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
• Birmingham News/AL.com

What God is doing in Selma 50 years later...

What God is doing in Selma 50 years later...

(1st half is theology of cross and empty tomb, 2nd half applies that theology to Selma in 2015)

Audio Version of Sermon

Jesus calls out to the crowd and to his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” 

There is no doubt that the first followers of Jesus hear these words a little bit differently than we do today—take up your cross and follow me.  While still sobering to us in 2015, we hear these words with the benefit of knowing that the movement of Jesus was a success.  We hear these words knowing that there is life beyond the cross.  The first followers did not have such a luxury.  

Even more, the symbol of the cross to these first followers of Jesus was absolutely terrifying.  Imagine of Jesus said to you today, take up your electric chair and follow me.  The Roman Empire used a cross to execute its criminals.  A cross was seen as the most inhumane way of killing someone and was reserved for the most notorious of criminals.  Hanging on a cross resulted in a slow and painful death and because the cross was low to the ground your enemies could look you in the eye and ridicule you and spit on you and so on.  No wonder Peter and others balked at this command.  

But today, the symbol of the cross is celebrated.  The cross appears in most every Christian church.  We have entire walls dedicated to decorative crosses in our homes.  We wear them as pieces of jewelry.  Our children decorate them in Sunday school class or preschool.  Imagine if Peter and his buddies transported through time and saw how we treat the symbol of the cross today.      

In our defense, the cross is celebrated because it is a reminder of how far God was willing to go to show us how much we are loved.  God was willing to go as far as to sacrifice his only Son so that we might know life.  And the fact that the cross is empty reminds us that Jesus rose victorious from the grave.  

God has turned the story of the cross, the story of death into something beautiful.  As Christians, we believe God has given us this beautiful story through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.  In a very real way, God has changed the story of death into the story of life.  But this is no fairy tale story.  In order to know God’s new story, we must accept that God’s new story includes the cross and death. Before we know the story of life, we must own the story of death.       

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus tries to introduce his followers to God’s new story.  For the first time in his ministry, Jesus tells his disciples that he must undergo suffering and death before he rises again.  But Peter doesn’t hear the rises again part and complains against Jesus.  Peter pulls Jesus aside and says something like, “Lord, why are you saying such foolish things?  You are supposed to defeat the Roman Army!  How can you be the king that finally brings down Caesar if you die?”  

Well, Peter is kind of right.  Until that point in time, no one knew a world where someone had lived beyond the cross.  No one knew a world where someone had risen from the dead.  In Peter’s mind, the only way to defeat the enemy was by killing them before they killed you.  So of course, Peter is incredulous.  Wouldn’t we all be if they guy who was promising life was now talking about death? 

The part of the story that Peter doesn’t know yet is the part that says before Jesus can take his proper place on the throne of God as King of kings he must die first.  Quite literally, Jesus has to give death to the broken and corrupt world he has come to save.  Jesus has to put to death the old story of pride, injustice, corruption, greed and you can fill in the blanks.  

As Christians, we believe that on the cross the old story goes down to the grave with Jesus.  And when God raises Jesus from the dead, the old story remains vanquished forever because Jesus defeated death.  Finally, Jesus is free from the old story of sin and death and he asks us to follow him.  Jesus is calling us to a life where the old story of sin and death no longer has the power to tell us how to live our lives.

But accepting this new story is still hard to accept because accepting something new takes a lot of faith—at least we know the old story no matter how horrible it is.  Like Peter, we still get stuck at the first part of Jesus’ announcement.  We get stuck at the foot of the cross, at the idea of death.  Like Peter, everything we have come to know in this world tells us that death is the end of the story.  But the good news is that God is trying to get us to trust his new story of life through his Son who died for us and rose again.  God knows this new story is hard to accept and will never stop reminding us of this good news.    

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As you all know very well, what happened in Selma 50 years ago changed the nation and even the world.  Ultimately, the events that transpired resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act.  Even more, the events that occurred here resulted in a democracy where all people could participate regardless of race or color.  While the nation was free to celebrate this victory, the city of Selma was mortally wounded.

Suddenly, a city that was a bright spot in Alabama became the red headed step child of the south and the nation.  The images of Bloody Sunday have been repeated over and over and over again.  And every year Bloody Sunday is commemorated.  As many have said, when will we ever move past the bridge?

In a few hours, the city of Selma will gather on the Montgomery side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  We will gather as a community—black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian, atheist, agnostic, whatever.  We will gather as a people who are hungry to live by a new story.  We will gather in a faith that believes that God is doing something special in Selma.  And instead of marching to Montgomery in the name of Civil Rights, we will march into Selma in the name of One Selma and reclaim this beautiful place as our home—Selma for Selma.  It is time to celebrate Selma again.      

The banner that we will carry in procession will be the unity quilt that represents the rich diversity and beauty of Selma.  We received a total of 176 quilt squares for this quilt—squares representing our community, our churches, our businesses, our people, and our history. All of them are now sewn together as one to create a symbol of unity. 

Jamie brought the quilt to the most recent planning meeting for the Unity Walk to show it to the group. The presentation of this quilt was met by a standing ovation by the diverse and beautiful people of our city who gathered at Brown Chapel on Tuesday evening.  I hope you understand the impact of this moment.  This standing ovation is evidence that God is giving us a new story to celebrate.  

One of the leaders of the Unity Walk made the comment, “Look what Selma has done together.  Who would have ever imagined that Selma could do something like this?”  While her question was certainly a rhetorical one, the answer is most definitively God.  God is giving Selma a new story.    

I, along with many of you, have been whispering about all the wonderful things that God is doing with our community.  While we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be, there are signs of new life with new businesses and new families and new initiatives.  These signs are evident in our congregation and will be seen a little more clearly when we confirm 18 people on Easter Sunday when Bishop Murray comes to visit.  Perhaps most significantly, signs of new life seen through our faith community coming together.

For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, the bridge was the cross we were called to bear.  Ultimately, we would not have the opportunity to be talking about this new story if not for all the things that our city has experienced over the last 50 years.  I’m not sure what Selma would look like today if Bloody Sunday didn’t happen.  Some say that our economy would not have suffered like it has, that we would be a thriving small town.  Others say that Bloody Sunday might have actually helped Selma stay relevant in a nation where small towns are dying.  

I’m not sure either way.  I can’t answer these questions.  I’m not an economist or even a prophet.  As your priest, preacher, and pastor, I am interested in answering these questions.  What is the opportunity?  Why does God care if the city of Selma has a new story?  What does it matter that God is making Selma new?

I strongly believe that God is calling our city to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I believe God wants Selma to be a reminder of the new story we are given through the good news of Jesus Christ.  This is a great privilege and great responsibility.  And I believe a part of this witness will happen on the bridge today.  

While our walk will not replace or minimize those horrible images, our walk will give us permission to live by a new story—a story beyond Blood Sunday.  Our walk will give us permission to celebrate the bridge, to look at the bridge in a new way.  We can look at the bridge and see people of all colors and stories walking in a faith that believes God is making us one.  Like the artist Common said at the Oscars last week, the bridge that was once a symbol of division is now a symbol of unity.    

When we walk, instead of whispering about what God is doing, sing loudly, sing songs of praise to a God who makes us one.  Sing believing that the world will hear you.  Sing in the belief that God is drawing the world to look at Selma.  Sing in a faith that believes that God wants the nation and the world to know that a city that was once mortally wounded is being raised to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.