WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:06.073 I don't know that I have told you how I met my friend, David Keddle. 00:00:06.073 --> 00:00:16.553 I met David almost a year ago and I want to tell you the context of having met him. 00:00:16.553 --> 00:00:27.535 We are in the process of, and many of you know, he has passed from leukemia and we are grateful that his family is joining us today and worshiping with us. 00:00:27.535 --> 00:00:37.740 But it's in these times that your mind starts looking at the sacredness of moments that happened even in the past. 00:00:37.740 --> 00:01:11.141 And in this case, we were in the process of lay leadership organization right Nominations if you're old school Methodists Nominations and I put out an email to all the leaders, many of whom I had not met because I'd only been here a couple of months and I spent one of those months in Europe, so it was hard to work from there, so I didn't so send out my email. 00:01:11.141 --> 00:01:26.174 Hey, we want to get started, we want to get organized, and I get a very simple email back from David Kettle I'm going to need to hear your feelings around the LGTBQ issue period. 00:01:26.174 --> 00:01:28.977 That was it. 00:01:28.777 --> 00:01:32.100 New pastor, simple email. 00:01:32.100 --> 00:02:03.260 I'm like okay, clearly something's at work here and I knew enough about where I was coming to know that there had been some wrestling around that issue and many of you know our denomination has been wrestling with that issue and, through some great gnashing of teeth and a lot of tears, a lot of hurt, we look to be where we are now with that whole situation. 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:11.953 Our denomination is who it is, having made the claims that it is now making, and there is some grace to that. 00:02:11.953 --> 00:02:19.106 There is some freedom to that, even though we do grieve the separation, shall we say. 00:02:19.106 --> 00:02:25.256 But I sat with David, we arranged to get some coffee. 00:02:25.256 --> 00:02:34.123 After I kind of got a little bit of groundwork information from others and said, okay, who's David? 00:02:34.123 --> 00:02:35.389 What am I walking into? 00:02:35.389 --> 00:02:37.989 What's this coffee going to be all about? 00:02:37.989 --> 00:02:52.585 And I found a really warm person, but a warm person who'd walked a journey in this world, a journey of being a person of faith, growing up in faith. 00:02:52.585 --> 00:02:59.530 You should see the long list of traditional hymns that are the favorites that David has. 00:02:59.530 --> 00:03:20.891 It's definitely grounded in his being and still working through the challenge of being a homosexual man, in the midst of that journey and trying to manage not only the justice of that but the emotions of that, the humanity of that. 00:03:20.891 --> 00:03:35.944 So it's in that context that he says to me well, pastor, I'm going to need you to speak to the LGBTQ issue at least one time this year, one time. 00:03:35.944 --> 00:03:39.187 I started July 1st. 00:03:39.187 --> 00:03:42.329 It is now June 29th. 00:03:42.329 --> 00:03:50.633 I said, david, you know that's been a difficult issue here. 00:03:50.633 --> 00:03:52.586 It's been a challenge. 00:03:52.586 --> 00:03:55.007 There are many hearts in this. 00:03:55.007 --> 00:03:57.930 And he said yeah, but one year. 00:03:57.930 --> 00:04:01.409 And I said yeah, one year. 00:04:01.409 --> 00:04:04.163 So, yeah, one year. 00:04:04.163 --> 00:04:11.604 Here we are and me walking into what can be a little bit of a hot button conversation. 00:04:11.604 --> 00:04:18.401 So I wanted to say out loud I know, I know, but we're going to walk through some things. 00:04:19.543 --> 00:04:27.415 So, Micah 6.8, one of our prophets in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament For some of you this might be a favorite. 00:04:27.415 --> 00:04:33.028 Any of you had a chance opportunity to engage. 00:04:33.028 --> 00:04:36.353 Matthew 6, especially 6.8? 00:04:36.353 --> 00:04:38.687 Is that one that's been on your radar? 00:04:38.687 --> 00:04:47.649 Okay, potential new favorite for everybody except Nancy, who has already walked with me a little bit on that one. 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:49.947 So it's an interesting passage. 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:55.399 It's difficult for us to know exactly the context because little is offered. 00:04:55.399 --> 00:05:10.163 Usually we're looking for a reference to a specific king or a specific issue that helps us to kind of place it in its time, issue that helps us to kind of place it in its time. 00:05:10.163 --> 00:05:13.088 These, what are really sermons that don't necessarily always have that context handy. 00:05:13.088 --> 00:05:32.490 And in this case we're kind of resting in this place the scholars are resting in this place that this Micah's prophecy was probably written over time, maybe in two specific different times, mostly because we can see an air, an energy around prosperity. 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:39.714 Things are going pretty good and we know when the Jewish kingdoms were doing well, so we can place it in there. 00:05:39.714 --> 00:05:50.750 And yet we also can feel a time of some real hurt and real pain and real concern, like our passage that we're in today, 6-8. 00:05:50.750 --> 00:06:01.334 So I don't know, maybe you felt some of that pain in the way that God and human dialogue happens in the midst of this. 00:06:01.961 --> 00:06:06.360 So we think it's probably likely in the time between Israel falling and Judah falling. 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.185 Those are the two Jewish kingdoms. 00:06:09.185 --> 00:06:11.591 Israel actually fell first. 00:06:11.591 --> 00:06:16.201 Ironic in the way we talk about Israel, judah went longer. 00:06:16.201 --> 00:07:01.161 That was the kingdom that David was a part of and was able to in a much stronger way, and where he is landing is in this place, between one of the kingdoms going down, one of them still up, remembering the glory years of the Jewish kingdoms, but also feeling the cracks and feeling the anxiety of one of the kingdoms having already gone down and so, like most human institutions, like most human things, some cracks are starting to happen in the way that it's all working. 00:07:01.201 --> 00:07:07.202 The society is doing less of what actually got them to a place of prosperity. 00:07:07.202 --> 00:07:35.615 For us, in the faith context, we would say the society was doing less or offering less trust in God, trust in what God was asking people to do, trust in living out the faith orientations that God was encouraging them to do right, and doing other things, like the immigration passages tend to be really good here. 00:07:35.615 --> 00:07:53.180 When you're coming out of disorder and you're on the upswing, when you're coming out of chaos, when you're coming out of power or powerlessness, when you're coming out of poverty, maybe you're focused a little more on what a stranger might bring to what you're building. 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:57.632 All right, we're growing, you're ready to come in, you got a shovel, you got a hammer. 00:07:57.632 --> 00:07:59.783 Get in here, let's see what you can do. 00:07:59.783 --> 00:08:12.971 But when you come from prosperity, when you're in a good place, then there's something to lose and then our anxieties start ratcheting up. 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:35.870 This is when a passage like we might find about welcoming the stranger which there are many, including some from Jesus himself, those passages they get a little more challenging Because we're talking about welcoming people, but we also know we're kind of in a good spot. 00:08:35.870 --> 00:08:37.807 We like where we've landed. 00:08:37.807 --> 00:08:42.152 There is prosperity that seems to be working. 00:08:42.152 --> 00:08:53.287 So it's in that environment that Mike is trying to preach, and he's preaching to folks about how, hey, we've had some good times. 00:08:53.287 --> 00:08:58.062 But we need to remember we've got to still do what God wants us to do. 00:08:58.062 --> 00:09:04.423 We've still got to live out the teachings that God has been teaching, that God has been teaching. 00:09:04.423 --> 00:09:23.273 He's ringing that bell of reminder constantly and he's speaking initially to the pain, at least in our passage to the pain that the Jewish people are feeling, and he creates this dialogue between the people and God. 00:09:23.273 --> 00:09:30.687 Now I should have invited you to pull your Bibles out that are in the pews because you can see how this plays out. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:50.221 But it's interesting because it opens with God speaking and God says to the people hey, hey, state your case, tell me why you're upset, but then doesn't wait for an answer and just starts talking about all that God had done for the Israelites, which isn't nothing. 00:09:50.221 --> 00:10:00.907 When you've been saved from the Egyptians, from slavery, when you've been saved from other oppressive circumstances, that's a pretty good case for God. 00:10:00.907 --> 00:10:04.078 Am I right, big fans of slavery? 00:10:04.078 --> 00:10:07.980 No, okay, this is what I figured. 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:17.423 So they God sitting there, or at least Micah's projection of God, saying, hey, I saved you guys numerous times. 00:10:17.423 --> 00:10:21.144 What else are you wanting from me? 00:10:21.144 --> 00:10:24.503 And he walks through this thing. 00:10:24.503 --> 00:10:33.947 You hear Israel feeling like they've been tried and convicted by God, but then it's God defending God's self. 00:10:33.947 --> 00:10:37.926 You wonder really, who's on trial here? 00:10:37.926 --> 00:10:46.693 Who's on trial here as we try to decide exactly what's wrong and why things have gone wrong? 00:10:47.275 --> 00:10:53.105 Then you get to verse 6, and there's a change in the voice. 00:10:53.105 --> 00:10:55.416 Who is speaking Now? 00:10:55.416 --> 00:11:04.485 It's the people, and the people are speaking to God and saying plaintively what do you want, god? 00:11:04.485 --> 00:11:09.586 What kind of sacrifices are going to be pleasing to you, god? 00:11:09.586 --> 00:11:19.227 And they rattle off a few of the kinds of sacrifices that they had experienced as people from Old Testament times, hebrew Bible times. 00:11:19.227 --> 00:11:21.965 Are we supposed to sacrifice animals? 00:11:21.965 --> 00:11:24.061 Is that what you want, god? 00:11:24.061 --> 00:11:26.863 If we sacrifice more animals, then you'll take care. 00:11:26.863 --> 00:11:32.982 Oils, we'll get you oils and oils and oils All of this valuable stuff. 00:11:34.839 --> 00:11:35.666 Or the heavy one? 00:11:35.666 --> 00:11:36.614 He plays the card? 00:11:36.614 --> 00:11:41.125 Are we supposed to kill our firstborn for you, god? 00:11:41.125 --> 00:11:41.628 That's a heavy one. 00:11:41.628 --> 00:11:42.089 He plays the card. 00:11:42.089 --> 00:11:43.753 Are we supposed to kill our firstborn. 00:11:43.753 --> 00:11:48.644 For you, god, that's a heavy card because it was asked for once, and they know it was asked for once. 00:11:48.644 --> 00:11:53.683 They know their stories, those of you who probably know many of you. 00:11:53.683 --> 00:11:54.868 The Genesis story. 00:11:55.129 --> 00:11:58.359 God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. 00:11:58.359 --> 00:12:00.505 He lets him go on it. 00:12:00.505 --> 00:12:07.326 He doesn't end up sacrificing Isaac, but that has been asked in the past. 00:12:07.326 --> 00:12:10.701 And so they throw that out to God. 00:12:10.701 --> 00:12:14.365 Hey, god, what are we supposed to do? 00:12:14.365 --> 00:12:19.626 What do we have to give you so that you start taking care of us? 00:12:23.654 --> 00:12:37.989 And then there's this final, pivot, verse 8, micah again putting words in God's mouth, speaking for God, he says it's really not about sacrifice. 00:12:37.989 --> 00:12:44.417 Even if that's the way you want to think about it, it's not even sacrifice. 00:12:44.417 --> 00:12:56.244 What I'm asking is that you do three things you do justice, you love kindness and you walk humbly with God. 00:12:56.244 --> 00:13:08.996 Those three things, do you hear the pivot in that? 00:13:08.996 --> 00:13:22.855 It's not about these offerings that we assume God is looking for from us, ways that we can sacrifice of our own being, of our own wealth, of our own comfort, and then God will be appeased and do good things for us, our own comfort, and then God will be appeased and do good things for us. 00:13:22.855 --> 00:13:25.898 And God, at least in Micah's projection here, is saying it's not about that. 00:13:25.918 --> 00:13:38.548 If you want to sacrifice, if you want to show love to me, do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. 00:13:38.548 --> 00:13:55.837 And walk humbly with your God Justice, doing what is right and fair for all of God's children Pretty straightforward Kindness. 00:13:55.837 --> 00:14:00.828 If we wanted a guardrail for living life, kindness is a pretty good one. 00:14:00.828 --> 00:14:20.437 You can always be kind and humility, reminding yourself that there are powers, there's a presence that is way bigger than you, and you know what that can be kind of freeing, and you know what that can be kind of freeing. 00:14:20.437 --> 00:14:38.107 You end up in situations in your life where you feel like you're being asked to make judgments about other people, other situations, especially ones that are complicated, maybe a cultural understanding, a sexual understanding that doesn't seem to be harming other folks. 00:14:38.107 --> 00:14:42.850 And now you're in this place of should I be judging that? 00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:46.113 Should I be assuming what God wants there? 00:14:46.113 --> 00:14:53.033 And God is saying no, let me do that. 00:14:53.033 --> 00:14:59.294 You walk humbly with me. 00:14:59.294 --> 00:15:02.557 That is what God is asking. 00:15:02.576 --> 00:15:14.005 When I think of this context in which Micah is doing his ministry, it's fairly easy for me to see our own society today In America. 00:15:14.005 --> 00:15:16.147 We've had our time of prosperity. 00:15:16.147 --> 00:15:23.412 Many would argue we are still the most significant society in the world today. 00:15:23.412 --> 00:15:33.995 We are that relevant, we are that big of an elephant. 00:15:33.995 --> 00:15:39.284 But most of us would argue, too, that we're starting to see some cracks. 00:15:39.284 --> 00:15:43.782 Maybe we're not doing all of the things that led to the prosperity that we are enjoying and that we are leaning on. 00:15:43.782 --> 00:16:01.003 And then we have to add on to our challenge here in our society that we don't generally agree on the things that we need to fix, or what the cracks are, or what's slipping through the cracks, or what is a problem about the cracks. 00:16:01.003 --> 00:16:09.846 And we argue about these things and I don't know if you notice this, but I sure do we start drawing battle lines Right? 00:16:09.846 --> 00:16:12.746 Oh, we better mount up, we better. 00:16:12.746 --> 00:16:16.797 You know this is going to be this kind of situation. 00:16:16.797 --> 00:16:18.692 You're on this side, you're on this side. 00:16:18.692 --> 00:16:28.496 All of a sudden, all these complex issues, issues that require a certain nuance at the very least, are now getting aligned. 00:16:28.496 --> 00:16:35.668 You're either this or you're this, or you're this or you're this. 00:16:35.668 --> 00:16:44.759 I think it happens in these places of anxiety, when we start feeling like we're lesser than we used to be and we're trying to solve things. 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:52.635 As society we're trying to get it figured out, but we're arguing with each other about how we might solve them. 00:16:52.635 --> 00:17:04.432 We're arguing each other with each other about what we think should be solved and what maybe should be left alone. 00:17:06.737 --> 00:17:12.236 In our own denomination we have what's called a book of discipline. 00:17:12.236 --> 00:17:20.155 It's a very happy book, full of all sorts of fun and frolicking. 00:17:20.155 --> 00:17:24.413 We talked about John Wesley a month or so back. 00:17:24.413 --> 00:17:32.395 We know dude was pretty OCD, so to him discipline was a happy word, just so you know. 00:17:32.395 --> 00:17:49.039 Oh, yes, an opportunity to live out my intense desire for intensity In our book of discipline, which is kind of our constitution as a denomination there about 60, 70 years ago. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:55.252 Really, not any language about homosexuality in it, just didn't have it in there. 00:17:55.252 --> 00:17:56.228 I don't there was. 00:17:56.228 --> 00:18:06.772 You know we'd be kidding ourselves to think there wasn't an overall oppressive circumstance for people who were created that way. 00:18:06.772 --> 00:18:20.209 But homosexual people needed to be private, needed to be unseen, but there wasn't anything official in our book of discipline. 00:18:20.209 --> 00:18:28.039 It wasn't until the battles for social acceptance, cultural acceptance, that some of that language started to appear. 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:37.194 Battle lines started to be drawn All of a sudden, scriptures like ours in these battle lines. 00:18:37.296 --> 00:18:42.397 As we start looking at our own scriptures and what they're saying and what they're believing. 00:18:42.397 --> 00:18:53.737 Now, with these new eyes, about this polarization, this duality that we've convinced ourselves needs to be true, we start adding a couple of words to scriptures. 00:18:53.737 --> 00:19:02.458 In this case, if they, if they, fit into our box of faith, then we do justice. 00:19:02.458 --> 00:19:09.718 If they're willing to hide parts of themselves, then we will love kindness. 00:19:09.718 --> 00:19:19.940 If they're willing to accept part of themselves as sinful, then we'll walk humbly with God. 00:19:19.940 --> 00:19:23.733 But not until then. 00:19:23.733 --> 00:19:33.785 Not until then, in my life of faith and I feel like you know, I'm 57. 00:19:33.785 --> 00:19:37.037 I've had a little bit of life. 00:19:37.037 --> 00:19:45.703 Some of you all judge me like I'm still a puppy 57? 00:19:45.703 --> 00:19:50.417 I'll bet you pop out of bed in four seconds. 00:19:50.417 --> 00:20:02.493 But in my life, 57, I really felt like the nuances are way more meaningful than this, significant than this. 00:20:04.106 --> 00:20:18.936 There's so few things that fit into this dualism of this or that it might even increase our anxiety that we keep pretending that they do fit into these. 00:20:18.936 --> 00:20:20.907 These are no-win situations. 00:20:20.907 --> 00:20:22.030 We're going to get it figured out. 00:20:22.030 --> 00:20:23.034 We're going to get it solved. 00:20:23.034 --> 00:20:26.769 This will be the absolute truth for everybody and we'll move on. 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:31.454 When that's our goal, we'll never be successful. 00:20:31.454 --> 00:20:41.809 We'll never find our way to being able to live together, and I think that's why I like the Micah passage. 00:20:41.829 --> 00:20:46.778 When we think of faith, we often think of this set of beliefs. 00:20:46.778 --> 00:20:56.391 My faith is this, I believe this, I believe this, I believe this, and then we do our best to live out that faith. 00:20:56.391 --> 00:21:03.560 We do our best to live out that set of beliefs, but for Micah it changes just a little bit. 00:21:03.560 --> 00:21:11.327 It's not in that space, right the conversation about what we believe. 00:21:11.327 --> 00:21:13.535 It doesn't even really happen for the most part. 00:21:14.464 --> 00:21:20.455 In fact, for Micah, your faith is how you act. 00:21:20.455 --> 00:21:25.076 Your response to God is how you act. 00:21:25.076 --> 00:21:30.151 God said I don't need your sacrifices, I need your heart. 00:21:30.151 --> 00:21:31.611 I need your time. 00:21:31.611 --> 00:21:34.914 I need you to share it with people who are in need of it. 00:21:34.914 --> 00:21:41.012 Like Matthew 25, sheep and goats, you love me by loving my children. 00:21:44.257 --> 00:22:22.553 I think this is why I landed on this passage on this day where I was doing my best to respond to my good friend David in a way that showed my love for him, my love of faith and in him, and at the same time, recognized that it is a broad issue that we wrestle with here and there are people in different places in this room, but David became a prophet for me when he said you need to speak to this. 00:22:24.486 --> 00:22:45.357 You need to talk about this because, even though our denomination, even though our church has wrestled with it, even though there have been tears shed from it, even though hearts have been hurt by it, you need to speak to it. 00:22:47.453 --> 00:22:56.845 It you need to speak to it Because our United Methodist denomination has made a decision that we are going to honor the humanity of everyone. 00:22:56.845 --> 00:23:05.378 And for those who agree with this movement of the heart, I encourage you to live into grace. 00:23:05.378 --> 00:23:19.605 I encourage you to live into grace, grace, unconditional love for those you agree with and for those you disagree with, because I feel like that's how you honor God, with your humility in this situation. 00:23:19.605 --> 00:23:28.854 I also feel like that might be the best way to open others' hearts, to convince people of what you believe. 00:23:28.854 --> 00:23:44.853 And for those who are wrestling with this movement in our church, in our denomination, my invitation to you is in this Micah passage I invite you to do justice. 00:23:44.853 --> 00:23:56.847 I invite you to do justice, I invite you to love kindness, I invite you to walk humbly with God and just see where that takes you. 00:23:56.847 --> 00:24:01.211 Amen, amen.