Sanctuary--Pentecost + 11, August 25, 2019

 Sermon for SMHP, Year C, Proper 16, Pentecost + 11, August 25, 2019

Luke 13:10-17

               ¹⁰Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ¹¹And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

          ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” ¹³When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

          ¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

          ¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” ¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

          In 2001, a resolution came before the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to allow congregations to call and ordain openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry and to marry same sex couples.  It was defeated.  Again.

          But this time the Churchwide Assembly decided it was time to DO something!

          So we set up a SIX YEAR process of STUDY.  And then in 2005, we ADDED two more years, because we needed to STUDY MORE!

          That’s the way we often do things in institutions, right?  We make decisions slowly.  Sometimes painfully slowly, and I mean that literally.  People were feeling excluded by the church, which was painful.  Their identities were not being honored by the church, which was painful.  And the church was not as inclusive as it should be, which was painful for the whole body.

          But there were rules to consider.  The Law was clear.  The Gospel had to wait.

          Big ships turn slowly.  Heck, individual churches turn slowly, and I know this because I work with 175 of them now.

          But every once in a while, Jesus gets ahold of the church.

          At the Churchwide Assembly a couple of weeks back, there was a resolution to affirm the values of sanctuary for Christian community, which go back to the origins of the church.  And to encourage individual congregations to think about being sanctuary bodies.

          From the floor, an Assembly Voting Member added one little line:  “To declare the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America a sanctuary church body.”

          Twelve words, half of which are the name of our church.  So six words, really.  Six words which declare that as a denomination, the ELCA will provide support, respite, and even shelter to persons who are being hunted and persecuted because of who they are.

          The resolution as amended required a simple majority.  It got eighty percent.

          And the news reports and the history books will say that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America did this, but that’s wrong.

          Jesus did this.  It was Jesus.

          The church studies.  The church plans.  The church sets meetings on crucial matters for at least three weeks away, because we have to give notice on three consecutive weeks according to our Constitution.

          We don’t just amend a resolution and become a sanctuary church.

          That’s Jesus.  That’s the way Jesus does stuff.

          Jesus sees pain and he heals.  Without a study or a meeting or a series of meetings or a whole bunch of damn meetings.

          Just healing.  Now.

          And while we may celebrate that healing nature now…it got him in some trouble in the day.

          Like there was that one day when Jesus was teaching in “one of the synagogues.”  Which one?  Doesn’t matter.

          He was teaching and “just then” a woman appeared.  She “had a spirit,” Luke tells us, that had “crippled her for eighteen years.” 

          Think about that.  Walking, eating, sleeping, with your back bent all the time.  Never getting to see what was above you, or right in front of you…never getting to look people in the eye when you talk to them.  Think of the pain--the physical pain, the social separation.

          That’s what Jesus saw.  That she was in pain and he could heal that pain.

          And without so much as amending a resolution or calling for a study, Luke tells us, “When Jesus saw her…”  The very moment he saw her!  “…he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

          And he laid hands on her, and she was healed.  Set free. 

          Set free.  Language is always important, but in Luke’s gospel in particular, language is precise.  Jesus meant to set her free.  Her ailment kept her imprisoned, staring at the ground, and Jesus set her free.

          Free to stand up straight.  To see what was around her.  And free to praise God. 

          All good things, yes?

          That’s verse 13.  What’s the first word in Verse 14?

          “But…”

          ¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

          After all, what’s eighteen years and another day of pain?  Or two days.  Or forever, because Jesus is traveling, so if she came back the next day, he would be gone.

          None of that mattered to the “leader of the synagogue.”  All that mattered was the Law.  The Law was clear.

          And once again, Jesus was even clearer.

          Freedom first.  When people are in pain, when communities are in pain, Jesus heals first, and consults the Law second.

          Which is why the church of Jesus Christ has a long history of civil disobedience, of placing the healing of people and communities above unjust laws.

          We stand in the footsteps of abolitionists, the anti-Nazi Confessing Church of Pastors Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller, and the liberation theology of Archbishops Oscar Romero and Desmond Tutu.

          We have inherited a spirit of resistance to laws which place any persons in danger.

          Which is why we can no longer be silent in the United States of America in 2019.  We can’t just gather in this place of sanctuary and shut the doors to the injustice outside our doors.

          The idea of a sanctuary denomination is virtually meaningless unless individual congregations are willing to come alongside the wider church and declare ourselves sanctuary as well. 

          It is time, my siblings in Christ, to decide whether we will respond to the pain all around us, or wait, study, delay. 

          So I invite you to a special congregational meeting on Sunday, September 22, where we will vote on whether to become the fourth sanctuary congregation in the ELCA.  I looked it up—I’m allowed to call a congregational meeting.  Just never have.

          And I don’t really want to wait that long, but we have several people out of town in the next few weeks, and it is important to have as much of our community together as possible.  So please plan to be here after worship on the 22^nd for this important decision.  In the meantime, I will get you information about what it means to be sanctuary, and what possible actions we might take as a sanctuary congregation.  And we can start to build a potential coalition of support from neighbors and ecumenical partners.

          Every day in this country, children are being separated from their parents.  Not just at the border, but here in Kansas City and across the nation, as parents are deported, leaving children behind. 

          Every single day, families and individuals are subjected to horrendous pain.  We have the power to bring healing in the name of Jesus Christ.  He has seen the pain.  We have seen the pain.  It is time to bring the healing.