"What will your testimony be?" Sermon for Sunday, 13 November 2016

Sermon for Sunday 13 November 2016

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith

“What will your testimony be?”

Luke 21:5-19

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The candle we lit on election day in Jerusalem,
praying for a peaceful and free election in the USA.

Fifty years ago, Munib was seventeen years old. Fifty years ago, his family spent six days hiding in St. John’s Convent in Jerusalem’s Old City, crouched on a dirt floor with twenty other families while airplanes, helicopters, and shelling sounded overhead. Fifty years ago, his mother and the other community women answered the door as a group when the soldiers came, and successfully convinced them not to detain the boys who were over age fifteen.

Fifty years ago, after six days, when the war was over, Munib stepped out of that hiding place into a new country—and was handed a new ID card, which stated he was now a “resident alien” in the city where he was born.

Fifty years ago, when the occupation of Palestine began, our Bishop Munib Younan was a young man, in his last year of high school. It should have felt like the beginning of his life! But to him, it felt like the end.

Bishop Younan told me this story this week, on a day when I was focused on my own end-times scenario. I admit, I was totally preoccupied with the deeply disappointing election news from my home country, wondering what it means for my family, my country, and the world. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of the acceptance of racism, sexism, homophobia, and fear of immigrants among my people. It’s not that the other candidate reflected my values fully, either! It’s just that in one day, in a few short hours, the veil was lifted, and I could see my culture for what it really is. The walls of my wishful thinking were thrown down. Not one stone was left upon another. I stepped out into the world on the morning of 9 November and it felt like the end—or at least, the beginning of the end.

All of this meant I really needed these words from my bishop. I needed to hear his story of surviving the end of the world as he knew it. I needed to hear how a person of faith moves forward when everything falls apart—when the things we once treasured and thought were permanent have toppled, not one stone left upon another.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus has a few things to say about just such an occurrence. Standing in the shadow of the Temple, in the center of Jerusalem, at the center of life for the people of the city, Jesus said to the disciples: “Things will fall apart. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and natural disasters, and everything will seem like a sign from heaven.

But wait—there’s more! Before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will imprison you, and you will be challenged for your beliefs.”

And still, Jesus says, do not be misled.

In spite of everything, do not follow false prophets.

Although things seem desperate, do not panic.

You will be called in front of religious authorities and elected officials, but don’t spend your time now worrying what you will say.

No matter what it looks like, dear ones, this is not the end.

But this will be your opportunity to testify.

Now, when things fall apart in our lives or in the world, I doubt there are many of us who immediately think: “Oh, good, this will be my opportunity to testify!”

It’s not the advice anyone wants to hear when a home has burned down,

when a child has been diagnosed with cancer,

when the marriage has ended,

when the nation is at war,

or when your people have elected someone uniquely unqualified and historically offensive to women, immigrants, the disabled, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.

…For example.

Still, Jesus says to his followers: “This will be your opportunity to testify!”

To be honest, I’d rather have a little more information first.

For example: Could this actually be the end, Jesus?

The Cubs and Trump won in the same week. That has to mean something, right?

 If this is not the end, then when?

What does this mean? What will happen next? Am I safe? Is my family safe? Is the world safe? How could you let this happen? I want to know!

Presbyterian pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner wrote that all we can really know is the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And the grace of God means something like this: “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you.”

My Palestinian co-workers might simply say, “Haik adainiya!” That’s life.

There’s so much we don’t know. We don’t know what the election of any earthly leader will ultimately mean to the course of history. We don’t know when humanity will finally throw off the shackles of racism, sexism, and fear of the other. We don’t know when peace will finally come to Israel and Palestine. We don’t know when the kingdom of God will be fulfilled on earth, as it is in heaven.

We don’t know when the end will come—for us, or for the world.

The one thing we do know is that now, right now, is the time for Christian testimony.

Now is the time for martyria—witnessing to the faith in both word and action.

Now is the time for the global church to move and act together against racism, against extremism, and the rise of fascism.

Now is the time for Christians to be bold in testifying to their faith in the God of love!

For “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14.16).

And, as we are instructed in our epistle reading for the day: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” (2 Thess 3:13)

Now is the time for bold Christian witness, because Jesus is clear that in times of testing and strife, in the face of harassment, betrayal, ridicule, or disappointments, his followers don’t get the day off. We don’t get a sabbatical when we lose. There is no sick day for persecution on account of his name.

Are you suffering? This is your opportunity to testify.

Are you persecuted? This is your opportunity to testify.

Are you occupied? This is your opportunity to testify.

Are you shocked and disappointed, and afraid for the safety of your friends and neighbors?

Then Jesus’ words are for you today: This is your opportunity to testify.

What will your testimony be?

What do you know of God’s love, that the world needs to hear?

What have you experienced of grace, that your neighbors need to experience?

How has your faith shaped your passion and work for justice?

What has Jesus’ life taught you about making peace and living with the other?

How does the cross of Christ speak to those who are suffering now, those who are persecuted now, those who are fearful now?

If you believe Christ, crucified and risen, has anything at all to offer this broken world, then now is the time to stand and say, “Dear world, I believe I will testify!” Amen!

After seventeen-year-old Munib stepped out of his church hiding place, he made a decision: This was not the end. He would graduate. He was in his last year of high school, but after the war, all the schools in Jerusalem had closed. This meant he had to travel alone every day to Ramallah, through many checkpoints and enduring many searches. As a young Palestinian man, he was constantly a suspect. It was frightening and difficult for a young man who had already seen so much, but he was never deterred, because he knew he wanted to study theology.

He told me, “I was on a quest. Many international pastors in Jerusalem had told us this war was God’s will. That the occupation was prophesied in the Bible, and there was nothing we could do. At first I accepted this, because I was a believer, and I did not want to be an apostate! But it really caused me a crisis of faith. I knew the God of love, and I wanted to find this God in the Bible.

For this reason, I went to Finland to study theology, and by this my faith in God was strengthened. Eventually I understood that I am called to proclaim God’s love and not God’s anger. I am not called to preach things that God is innocent of.”

Munib has spent his entire adult life--50 years--under occupation, as have so many others.

He has also spent his entire adult life giving his testimony—as a parish pastor, as a father, and as a bishop—that God is a God of love, not war. That all people should live in peace, with justice and freedom and equal rights. That temples fall, systems are overturned, and saviors are crucified—but we are people of the resurrection.

Dear sisters and brothers, this is the world.

Beautiful and terrible things will happen.

But this is not the end, and you are not helpless in the face of any trial or tribulation. Just as death and the tomb did not have the last word, but Christ was raised to life, so you must not accept the rule of hatred, death, or war. You must not bow to the powers and principalities which deny the Gospel of love, of peace, of grace, of liberation.

This is your opportunity to testify!

What will your testimony be?

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.