Romans 13:8-14 NRSVUE

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Friends, it’s so good to be back with you!

 I hope you enjoyed meeting my fellow EPIC Clergy as much as I enjoyed getting to be with our other EPIC Churches!

But it’s good to be home.

Spirit was busy in my life this August, so I want to share with you a little mini-series for these first 3 weeks in September because, I think, maybe you can relate.

I was feeling kind of helpless, like there was nothing I could do about all the horrible things going on in our country, so when I got an email asking Pastors to volunteer twice a month to accompany immigrants to their Immigration Appointments, I decided to give it a try.  I attended a training.  I signed up for a shift at the ICE Building at Macadam one week and a shift at the Federal Courthouse, downtown the next.

On the day of my first shift I was sooo nervous!

I’m taking deep breaths.  I’m praying in traffic.

And I get to the bottom of the hill, at the intersection of 92nd and Flavel.

And right there in front of me.  

In my neighborhood! 

Is a Big Black Armoured vehicle, and a squad of people in camo fatigues with serious guns.  

And a big, unmarked, black pickup truck is blocking the road where the military looking action is taking place.

Unmarked vehicles and wrong for purpose uniforms are a hallmark of ICE right now.  In case you didn’t know.

So, I’m on my way to try to do something about the way immigrants are being treated in our city and our country and… “this” is unfolding in front of me?

Seriously, God???!!!

Is this a test?

I mean, the Good Samaritan came upon the mugged man after the attack, not during it!!!!

I’m sitting there in my car with my clergy collar on and wondering, am I seriously going to play the part of the Priest who doesn’t stop to help, because I’m on my way to perform my clergy duties???!!!

Seriously, God???!!!

I looked at the situation and saw that several people were already there videoing the incident.

And I realized that I was not brave enough, or maybe stupid enough, to try to interfere with a squad carrying semi-automatic military rifles with nothing but my clergy collar to protect me.

I take some more deep breaths and continue to Macadam Avenue.

I couldn’t find anything on  the news about what that was when I got home at the end of the day.

When I got there, things were in process.  

What happens at the ICE building, is that immigrants who are trying to do things legally, show up for their check in.  

Some people have yearly check ins – these are folks who have permission to be here legally, but have not been issued a Green Card or other official residency.

Some people have monthly check-ins – these are often the people who are seeking asylum, or are relatively new in their process.

As Clergy, my role is to support the Legal Observers.

The Legal Observers are a legally sanctioned role who do just what their name implies.  They observe who goes in and who comes out.  

They ask people if they would like to sign in with them, so that the Legal Observers can call their lawyer or family, or whomever their contact is, if they don’t come out within 2 hours.

Let me be clear: If you’re trying to sneak into the country illegally, you are not showing up at the ICE facility!  So these people are not criminals!

As Clergy, my role was to walk people to the front door, to prevent ICE officers from snatching them on the street.  That was simple enough, until, apparently, I was sooo threatening that it took 2 ICE officers to tell me that I can’t come on the property anymore.  So then I could only walk people to the sidewalk, not the door.

I also sat with family members as they waited outside.

Sometimes the ICE officers will try to bait people.

They shout the names of people on their arrest list at the family members of those going inside for their appointment.  If the person outside responds to the sound of their name, that might constitute grounds to arrest them, so most of them know not to respond in any way.

A young mother was there for her check in, with her baby and her husband.

Not even family is allowed to come in with you, so the husband was sitting outside on the high cement curb and holding their little girl.

ICE agents kept calling out different names at the father, so I sat with him.

That little girl was soooo cute!

She wasn’t walking yet, and she had big brown eyes, and glossy, black curls that floated around her little head.  She didn’t cry.  She just kept patting her father’s face and pulling on his hands, trying to get at the keys safely clutched in his working man’s hands.  She reached out to me, so I leaned in.  I let her pat my face and grab my hand.  She pulled at my ring and patted my watch.  She pushed my hand one direction and the other to turn it over.

And in between patting my face and her father’s face, ICE agents would periodically come out and look at her father and call out different names at him.  Her father never looked up. Never spoke.  Never gave any indication that they had anything to do with him.  Evidently he was used to this kind of harassment.

About 40 minutes later, her mother came out and the ICE agents tried to bait her husband one more time, so I walked them off the property towards their car.

I heard the ICE agents call in and report me for soliciting.

But as my 3 hour shift turned into 4 hours, because it was an overfull day of check ins, I felt a calm come over me.

They could accuse me of whatever they wanted.

Heck, they had the power to arrest me, according to the current administration.

Even though my actions were constitutionally protected.

But I was not afraid, because as Romans 13:10 reads:

10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Today’s Bible reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Christian Community in Rome.  And we do think that Romans was written by the authentic Paul.  Some of the later letters ascribed to Paul, were not written by Paul, because he was kinda dead at the time, but writing in the style of a famous leader and signing the letter as if the leader had written it was very common at the time.  So you can think of some of the Pauline letters, like first and second Timothy and Titus, which were written after Paul was dead, as “Fan Fiction,” if you will.  They have some great content, but Paul didn’t write them!

Paul’s letter to the Romans was a letter of introduction.

Paul had never been to visit the Christian Community in Rome, so Paul was introducing himself for a planned visit.

Part of Paul’s introduction was an explanation of Paul’s beliefs.

So the book of Romans is Paul’s most theological letter – explaining Paul’s theology of Grace to try to convince the Romans to donate to a proposed mission trip to Spain, that unfortunately got cancelled by Paul’s arrest and execution in Rome.

So Paul is writing in volatile political times.

Writing about how to live as a Christian under the rule of a non-Christian, and sometimes even anti-Christian government.

Paul is also navigating the tensions between Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians and non-Christian Jews.  Trying to get all the worshipers of the same God on the same page by summarizing the Law and the Prophets as Love — Love your neighbor as yourself — Love fulfills the Law.

Paul, as a Roman citizen, honestly believed, at this point in his life, before he got arrested and executed for preaching and living the Rule of Love — Paul honestly believed that practicing neighbor-love would keep everyone in compliance with all the Laws.

Jewish Law and Roman Law.

Paul is witnessing the end of the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace.

Paul is witnessing armed rebellion in Judea.

Paul is witnessing the Roman Empire struggling to maintain its extensive colonized borders.

And Paul is thinking… Maybe this is it?

Maybe Jesus is coming really soon.

Many of the first generation disciples believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime and still believed that Jesus would restore the kingdom of Israel.

There are Christians today who support the genocide in Palestine because they think that the restoration of the borders of the Davidic Kingdom of Isreal will cause Jesus to return.

But Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:6-13

6 You will hear about wars and reports of wars. Don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. 7 Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in all sorts of places. 8 But all these things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end. 9 They will arrest you, abuse you, and they will kill you. All nations will hate you on account of my name. 10 At that time many will fall away. They will betray each other and hate each other. 11 Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because disobedience will expand, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.

The destruction of the Temple in 69 AD was not the end times.

The Great Schism of the Holy Roman Empire in 1054 was not the end times.

World War 1 and World War 2 were not the end times.

I don’t think that Trump is “THE Anti-Christ,” although his actions and policies are certainly not in alignment with Christian teaching.

 And I don’t believe that these are the end times.

And yet, Paul’s advice is still good.

Love your neighbor as yourself (vs 10)

And Wake Up!

Anybody who has eyes can see what’s going on around us.

The hour has come for the church to rise from her slumber.  

Look at verses 11-14 in today’s reading.

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

I don’t think that Paul is talking about purity culture in verses 13-14. 

I don’t think Paul was opposed to joyful gatherings and sharing some wine and laughter.  

I think that Paul was talking about Epstein style parties.  

The kind of parties that nobody who calls themselves a Christian should be at.

I think that Paul was saying that in times like these. 

Times when it feels like the world has gone crazy. 

This is when we need to arm ourselves with faith instead of violence.

Arm ourselves with Love, and put aside whatever petty disagreements we may have with our fellow Christians.

Put aside our preferences about the stuff that doesn’t really matter 

and focus on the mission of neighbor-love

It is from scriptures like this one that the term “woke” comes from.

“Woke” is a term borrowed from the Black Church.

A shorthand for waking up to see what is going on around us.

Woke is a call to justice and a reminder of the hope we have in Christ.

A reminder, as it says in verse 11, of:

how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 

The God who delivered the Hebrew people from Egypt.

The God who hears the cries of the poor.

The God who came to the earth and rose from the dead.

Will hear the cries of the oppressed and invites us to be a part of God’s salvation.