Let This Radicalize You.
That’s the name of a book I started yesterday,
but my Books app says I’m only
nine percent in.
Nevertheless,
it’s been a balm.
In the foreword,
Maya Schenwar says
“This book derives its title from the words
Mariame often repeats in times of deep crisis:
‘Let this radicalize you
rather than lead you to despair.’”
The musical [title of show] talks about
the vampire of despair.
“It’ll wake you up at 4 a.m.
to say things like
‘Who do you think you’re kidding?
‘You look like a fool.
‘No matter how hard you try,
you’ll never be good enough.’
Right now the Vampire of Despair
isn’t coming for me personally,
but rather saying
“This is just how things are now.
“It’s not going to get better, so don’t try.
“No one is going to do anything,
so just get used to it.”
Listen to the words of Amos again,
and let this radicalize you
rather than lead you to despair.
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
On my last day of vacation,
as I sat writing postcards in Stockholm,
I was listening to the episode of the podcast
Law and Chaos
that explicitly broke down
what happened with the Guatemalan children
on Labor Day weekend.
These are unaccompanied minors —
children —
whose parents have sent them to the United States
to try to have a better life.
More access to the world’s wealth,
protection away from local gangs,
and not jumping into generational wealth by any means.
Many, if not all, of them
are in foster care
and were roused from their beds by their caregivers
who’d been told to have them ready to go
in two hours.
As they were put on planes
Drew Ensign lied to the court
saying that their parents had asked
for them to be brought home,
that their families could be reunified.
Blessedly Judge Sparkle Sooknanan
wasn’t having it
and got out of bed at 2 a.m.
the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend
and then demanded five updates about the children
over the next day.
Let this radicalize you
rather than lead you to despair.
Eleven days ago
Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
As a gay Christian in the United States,
I only knew of him from what he said about me
and other minorities.
Observers smarter than me have pointed out
that there are a lot of people
who never encountered that side of him.
People I went to college with
and influencer priests
have made him out to be a Christian martyr
like in Revelation
or a “profound witness to the faith.”
In a piece for Vanity Fair
Ta-Nehisi Coates said
“Political violence ends conversation and invites war;
its rejection is paramount to a functioning democracy
and a free society…
the most telling detail in [Ezra] Klein’s [New York Times] column
was that, for all his praise,
there was not a single word in the piece
from Kirk himself.”
Kirk said,
“I can’t stand the word empathy, actually.
I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that —
it does a lot of damage…
But, it is very effective when it comes to politics.
Sympathy,
I prefer more than empathy.
That’s a separate topic
for a different time.”
This is a profound witness to the faith?
One whose words
prefers looking down on people
and reject the tenets
of God walking among us in Jesus
and the Beatitudes
and the whole of the Sermon on the Mount?
Like Mugatu in Zoolander,
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
Let this radicalize you
rather than lead you to despair.
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land…
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
The good news in our texts today
is that God is still God
and this is not the end.
It’s not the end
until all has been made well.
God gave humanity the choice
and time and again we fail
to love one another,
to love God, and
to love God’s creation.
“Again and again,
you called us to return.
Through prophets and sages
you revealed your righteous Law.
And in the fullness of time you sent your only Son,
born of a woman, to fulfill your Law,
to open for us the way
of freedom and peace.”
Jesus has defeated death
and the spiritual forces of darkness
do not prevail.
ICE hasn’t come to our door yet,
not at the church.
But disappearing Brown people
is having an impact on our congregation.
Dawn has a story.
It’s infuriating.
It can be disheartening.
We join the faithful throughout the ages
asking “How long O Lord, how long?”
One of the reasons the book
Let This Radicalize You has been a balm
is the clear-eyed assessment
of the work of organizers —
like Amy has been all of this year.
They are accountable to other people,
they build something…
and they know something better is possible.
In 2008 when John McCain announced his running mate
some of us thought we were so clever
when we said that Jesus was a community organizer
and Ponius Pilate was a governor.
How small we were thinking!
because God incarnate has done so much more
than bring people together
to change the world.
God in Jesus has changed everything,
and given us the hope
of how things will be better.
Organizers see a problem and know
that they may not see is solution in their lifetimes
but that this is not the end.
Christians see problems and know
we may not see the solution in our lifetimes,
this is not the end,
that God is making all things well,
and in our baptisms we’ve been joined
to do that work here and now.
Things are bad,
and are probably only going to get worse.
Let this radicalize you in Jesus’ love
rather than lead you to despair.