Micha 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 25:31-46
On July 4, 2004, I knelt at the consecrated altar at St. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois, and ordained a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. As my hands rested on the altar, a Book of the Gospels was placed on my back, symbolic of the weight of the office I had just been given. After the communion prayers of consecration, a small piece of the now-blessed bread was given to me with the words, “Take this and guard it until I come for it.” The bread was symbolic of the church and the people that were entrusted to my care.
My theological understanding of ministerial priesthood is that it is not a job; it is a calling and one that cannot be reversed, no matter the circumstances. When given the care of souls, the relationship is such that on the day of judgment; I will be held responsible for every soul in my care that has been lost. This is not some 9-to-5 job that one can clock in and clock out from. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
I was on retreat with other ministers some twelve or thirteen years later. It was a time away for refreshment and renewal for what they called “mid-career” ministers. I was in a different role than I had been. I had left the Orthodox Christian Church of my ordination and found refuge in the United Church of Christ. In many ways, I was burnt out and just going through the motions.
One evening was set aside as part of the retreat for a renewal of the promises we made at ordination. My ordination was different. In the Orthodox Church, the person being ordained does make promises out loud. There are vows, but they are assumed and private, so this would be the first time I said them out loud.
The vows clergy make differ depending on the denomination, but the essence is the same. One of the vows stood out to me, really stood out to me, and is one I think about daily.
“Will you seek to regard all people with equal love and concern and undertake to minister impartially to the needs of all?” To which I replied, “I will, relying on God’s grace.”
The key phrase there is “all people.” Not some people or the members of your church, but all people.
On May 17, 2024, I once again knelt and was consecrated a Bishop in God’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Once again, the Book of the Gospels was placed on my back, symbolizing the weight of the office I was about to enter. I made vows on that day, the same vows all bishops make on the day of their consecration. Again, one of them stands out, and it is first in my thoughts each day.
“Will you boldly proclaim and interpret the Gospel of Christ, enlightening the minds and stirring up the conscious of your people?” My answer: “I will, in the power of the Spirit.”
The symbols of that officer were presented: a ring to remind me of my fidelity to the Church and her teaching. A cross reminds us of the pains we go through in ministry to foster love for all. The crozier or shepherd’s staff to lead God’s people and, if necessary, draw them back. The Miter, the most visible of the symbols of the bishop, was placed on my head with the words, “Receive the helmet of salvation to wear in the war with evil.”
My vows are to minister to everyone impartially and boldly proclaim and interpret the Gospel of Christ.
This past Tuesday, we saw an example of the boldness we need from the pulpit at the Washington National Cathedral. The scene was the Annual Prayer Service for our Country, and in the audience, right in the front row, were the newly inaugurated President and Vice President of the United States.
The preacher was the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, DC, Mariann Edgar Budde. She was in her cathedral, preaching from her pulpit. The President and his group were invited guests. The theme of the bishop’s sermon was unity, but what came in the last few minutes would send shockwaves around the globe.
In the few hours after the inauguration on Monday, we saw a flurry of executive orders being signed to take away or restrict the rights of thousands of people. In a few moments, years of history and precedent were reversed or changed in ways we are still unsure of. One thousand five hundred criminals convicted of crimes against the people of the United States for their role in the attempted coup of January 6 were released. And the list goes on. Many, if not all, of these executive actions, were applauded by mostly white Evangelical Christians who are partly responsible for electing this President.
It should come as no surprise to you, but I believe love is central to the message of the Gospel. Everything Jesus preached and everything Jesus did was done out of love. The Gospel writer of John tells us that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son to show us a different way of love. We are commanded to love everyone, including those who do not love us back—commanded, not asked. They will know we are Christians. How? By our love. Not by our legislation or how many people we round up, by our love.
If we are to be true Christians and true to the command to love all, then that love must permeate all walks of our lives. We cannot come to Church today and sing songs and praise a God who loves everyone without exception and then on Monday support policies and politicians that want to harm those very same people we are supposed to love.
We are to have a preferential option for the poor. In other words, we are to care for and advocate for those vulnerable and on the margins. We are not to take advantage of them; we are to welcome them and care for them.
So how do we know if the policies and politicians we support profess to love? Well, I have provided a few Scripture passages today that we can use as our gauge.
We began with the Prophet Micha. Prophets come to warn the people that they are going off the rails and attempt to bring them back. We have some modern examples of prophets;
Roman Catholic Priest Maximilian Kolbe advocated for those on the margins and lost his life in the German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz in 1941.
Russian Orthodox Nun Mother Maria of Paris also advocated for those on the margins and lost her life at Ravensbrück Concentration Camp in 1945 when she was 53.
German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who not only advocated for those on the margins but quite literally tried to stop Hitler by being part of a plot to assassinate him, lost his life in April of 1939 at the age of 39.
Rev. Dr Martin Luther King needs no introduction but was cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, who constantly and consistently advocated for those on the margins and often tried to speak truth to power, was assassinated in his cathedral during Mass on March 24, 1980.
All these people and those known only to God lived out the Gospel call to love everyone and advocate and serve those less fortunate. For God so loved the world that he sent Maximilian, Maria, Dietrich, Martin, and Oscar to show us a different way.
Micha tells us, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Justice, mercy, love, and humility the hallmarks of a true Christian.
Next, we heard from Paul. In Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, Paul teaches about the kind of love we should have. Paul, like Jesus, advocated for unconditional love—a love that is patient and kind, a love that does not boast or envy. This love does not dishonor others, it keeps no record of wrongs, it does not delight in evil, but it always rejoices in the truth. This love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
This is the love we must practice and show, and if those we support and those we support do not do this, then it is antithetical to Christian practice and belief.
Then, we come to the most direct, in-your-face scripture about how we treat others. Matthew, in the 25th Chapter of his Gospel, shares a story about the second coming of Jesus. Matthew pulls no punches, and there is no ambiguity in his words.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
When we see the homeless person, the drug addict, the farm worker, and the teenager trying to figure out their sexuality and their place in life when we see the black person, the Asian person, the Muslim, the Jew, the Greek, or anyone, when we see them and do not see the face of God and the divine spark, they we miss the entire message of the gospel. We reduce Jesus to just a guy hanging on a cross.
Matthew continues:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’” ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Yesterday, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of our New England Annual Conference sent a Pastoral letter to the Conference. I am not sure you are on the email list for the Conference but if you are not, there is no better time then today to get on it.
Bishop Bickerton said this:
In 1738, after a long practice of preaching TO people from a high steeple Anglican Church, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, took a radical step to preach WITH people who had gathered in a field near Bristol, England. On that day, John Wesley wrote these words in his journal:
“At four in the afternoon, I submitted to become more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation …”
For Wesley, to become more vile meant that he had to move beyond his comfort zone and enter the world of the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned, and, in fact, anyone who was in need. The struggle to take the words of faith we embrace and literally use them as the foundation for courageous acts of faithfulness, forged what we know today as our United Methodist theology. It is what we believe, and it is what we do.
Bishop Bickerton went on:
Today, I call upon all United Methodists in New England and New York to embrace a posture of radical welcome and hospitality. I call upon all churches to provide a safe space of welcome to immigrants and the marginalized who are afraid, intimidated, and threatened. I call upon all leaders, both lay and clergy, to take bold steps to lead our people into the gospel and into the very communities where our churches reside. As Romans 15:7 says so clearly, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” This is our time and our moment to become more “vile.”
Brothers and sisters, it’s time to get vile!
Some of you sitting here today are lifelong Methodists, and many of us are not. Whatever denomination you come from, when you were baptized, you made vows, or those vows were made on your behalf. Some of you confirmed those vows later in life at your confirmation. One of those vows, in a United Methodist context, is:
“Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?”
We are not playing around here.
Bishop Mariann Edger Budde is an unassuming Bishop you have probably never heard of. She has quietly gone about her ministry since her ordination in 1988. She has been a bishop in Washington, DC, since 2011 and, if you recall, called out the President for the stunt he pulled with the upside-down bible in Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020, during the protests around the George Floyd murder.
But on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, she was catapulted into the world spotlight for her words at the end of the National Prayer Service in her Cathedral in Washington, DC. This event was in stark contrast to the funeral of James Earl Carter, which took place just days before.
Toward the end of her sermon, she paused, drew in a deep breath, looked the President of the United States in the eye, and said,
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”
If you watch the video of the sermon, and I hope you do, you will see the reaction of the President and Vice President, smirking and laughing while she pleads with them. Bishop Budde was not rude or nasty but spoke in a hushed pastoral tone in her plea.
In some quarters, her words were met with praise, but at the White House and on the floor of the House of Representatives, they were met with contempt. The president called her nasty and a radical left hardline hater. He said she was nasty in tone and not compelling or smart, and he demanded an apology.
The following day, a Republican Congressman from Oklahoma introduced a bill in the United States House of Representatives condemning her words. I am sure this resolution will go a long way in lowering egg prices across the country.
It has been widely reported that Bishop Budde has received death threats, and when in public, she is now wearing a Kevlar vest. The worshippers of empire wish to see her dead for preaching the words of Jesus Christ and upsetting our dear leader. These are the same fine folk who want the 10 Commandments in every classroom but get triggered by the words of Jesus Christ. Hypocrites! Brood of Vipers!
Friends, I agonized over this sermon today; I was awake most of the night thinking about it. There are times when we must take a stand, and today is one of those days. I have no illusion that my words will travel any further than these walls, but I feel that if I did not speak, I would be betraying my vows and everything that I stand for as a Christian and human being.
For most of us, these changes and policies will mean very little. Sure, prices will go up, and that will be hard, but I want us to think of those who now wonder about the legitimacy of their marriage. Those who worry about their health care. For the farm workers, hotel workers, kitchen staff, lawn people, and all the rest who have now gone into hiding for fear for their very lives. Staying silent is not an option; ask the Germans of the 1930s how staying silent worked out for them.
If we are not ready to advocate for those on the margins, then I have no idea what we are doing here. Jesus’s message is simple: ” Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
Friends, to quote Bishop Bickerton, “it’s time to get vile.”
Amen.
