Today, tomorrow, and the next day: Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (March 16, 2025)
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (March 16, 2025) at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day.
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Watch: Bishop Michael Hunn Responds to the Department of Homeland Security
Transcript
The gospel reading for today, just four verses very rich. One of the questions that it raises for me is a question I think that is very timely, which is: what do we do when our calling from God brings us into conflict with other forms of authority? What do we do when the church is called to do what the government would not have us do? What do I do when my actions, my sense of calling from God brings me into conflict with community or authority or leaders? And especially how do we engage in these kinds of conflicts which come up all the time in life? A sense of, I think I know what I'm supposed to do and who I'm called to be, but this person or group or community does not agree, right?
Have you ever had a conflict like this? Yeah, it has happened from time to time. Okay. How do I engage that conflict faithfully and with integrity and also not get caught up in the other big old human sin, which is self-righteousness? How do I stand my ground? How do I hold faithfully to what I believe I'm called to do without condemning those who would condemn me? Without grounding myself in self-righteousness? These are really important questions that Christians need to ask ourselves. And the good news, as it usually is, is that Jesus has dealt with this too. Jesus has dealt with this too, and he lives and dies to show us the way to show us how to be.
Now, I want to tell a story. This week, the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security regarding that diocese's ministry along the US-Mexico border. I want to tell you a little bit about what that ministry looks like. The Diocese of the Rio Grande covers all of the state of New Mexico and a good portion of the western part of the state of Texas, which means that that diocese exists along a very significant portion of the US Mexico border, which means that that diocese has been called for decades into ministry at the border, which means that they're right in the middle of what I would say are some fairly high conflict issues. Would you agree? Okay.
A few years ago, the diocese, along with a network of other faith partners, opened a shelter in El Paso, Texas for asylum seekers. You might've heard about this group. These are people who present themselves to immigration authorities in the United States as having the right to enter the United States as folks who are fleeing persecution, violence, or danger. In other words, they've come here because home is not safe for one reason or another, and this is a legal pathway for folks to enter the country. Now, the diocese opened the shelter and in partnership with FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security would welcome about 25 people every night, mostly families, mothers with children and members of the LGBTQ community. This was the diocese's special ministry among these different partners. And what would happen was members of the immigrations and Customs Enforcement of ICE would bring asylum seekers who had been duly processed to the diocesan shelter ministry and they would stay for three nights or so, be given food and clothing and then sent on to their next destination.
To be an asylum seeker means, first of all, you have to work with a representative of immigration and customs enforcement. You have to pass what's called a credible fear interview. That means, I mean, it's fairly easy for me to say, you got to let me in because I'm fleeing something dangerous. So over time, immigrations and customs enforcement has developed a series of questions designed to determine, is someone just coming and saying, let me in, or is there a credible reason to believe that they truly are fleeing what they say they're fleeing? None of the people who entered this diocesan shelter, all of them had passed through this credible fear interview. All of them had been duly processed by immigration authorities according to the laws of this country, and all of them were cared for and fed in accordance with the law of God in accordance with the law of the church. Now this week, Bishop Michael Hun, the bishop of the Diocese of Rio Grande, received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security insinuating that the diocese has been involved in this shelter ministry, in human trafficking and in misappropriation of funds.
So you do what you're called to do. Bishop Hun said, Jesus told us to love our neighbors ourselves. And in this diocese, our neighbors include those who are coming to this country to seek safety in a better life. Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and Jesus told us to welcome the stranger, and Jesus told us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. So that is what we do, and sometimes that calling will bring us into conflict will cause us to be questioned as to our motives, as to our morality. And Bishop Han said, we have not been engaged in human trafficking. We have receipts for every penny of the portion of the funds that we have been reimbursed for, that we have spent on this ministry for which we have received reimbursement from our partners in the federal government.
Nevertheless, we can find ourselves accused or in danger because of the ministry to which God has called us, and this is where we need to look to Jesus. The Pharisees come to Jesus and they say to him, you had better watch out because Herod, who is the fox in the hen house, the one charged to take care of the people but is not taking care of the people, says, you had better watch out because Herod wants to kill you. And what does Jesus say? He says, you tell that fox for me. Listen, I know what I am called to do.
I am curing people and I am casting out demons and oppression and we can add to that I'm feeding the hungry. I'm clothing the naked, I'm welcoming the stranger. I'm proclaiming liberty to the captives. I am announcing the good news that the kingdom of God is near to you. I know what I'm about. You tell him that and today and tomorrow and the day after that, I must be on my way. I must be about what God has called me to be about. I must do what God has called me to do today and tomorrow and the day after that I must do it. When I am praised and applauded for it. I must do it when I am accused and derided because of it.
But today and tomorrow and the day after that, we Christians will be about, we be about healing, the casting out of demons, the feeding of the hungry, the welcoming of the stranger, the loving of our neighbor, the reconciling of all people to God and one another in Christ. And how does Jesus do this without the sin of self-righteousness? How does he say what he says to Herod and to the frightened people around him? Today, tomorrow and the next day, I must be on my way. How does he know who he is and yet not do it with hatred towards the one who accuses him, not do it with blame or abuse or dehumanization of Herod or the Pharisees or anybody else?
The sign of that is what he says next because as quickly as he has said, you tell that fox for me. He turns around and he goes deep into his heart and he looks at the people for whom he is called to care the people of Jerusalem and all people, and he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, this city that would kill and destroy the prophets, even so I have longed for you. I long for these people. How often have I desired to gather you as a mother hen gathers her children, her chicks, under her wings to protect them and to hold them together.
Everything that Jesus does and all his firmness and his integrity, which he does without a hint of self-righteousness, it all comes from this deep, deep love that he has this longing to draw all people to hold us together. Remember, in the gospel of John, he says, when I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself and it's us who inherit this ministry, the ministry of being who God calls us to be the ministry of drawing all people toward God. We've talked about this again and again. As the world gets increasingly divided, we need to remember that the mission of the church, the mission of the church is to reconcile all people to God and to one another in Christ.
And what it looks like is that love, that image of Christ with his wings open saying, come here, take shelter in me. Take shelter from the fox. Take shelter from your fear of what will happen to you if you continue to pursue doing what is right. Take shelter in me. Take shelter in me from your self-righteousness and your need to point fingers at others, take shelter. It is under the protection of Christ that we find the gift of a life that is truly a life of integrity, being who God calls us to be, ministers of reconciliation. The mission doesn't change today, tomorrow, and the next day, feed the hungry. Proclaim the good news to the poor. Welcome the stranger. Love your neighbor as you love yourself today and tomorrow and the day after that in the shadow of the wings of God who loves you, loves you, all people, very, very much. Amen.