Despite my protest, Dad refused to reshuffle the order of cars in the driveway, so we rolled up in an old farm truck, with a huge dent in the bed and non-functioning air horns across the cab. I was a ninth grader, new to my school and heading to my first party with the popular crowd. Dad turned off the main road onto a gravel road and stopped in front of a big bonfire. He looked out and saw 50 teenagers he did not know and said. “Paul… Remember who you are. A lot of things may happen tonight. Remember who you are.”
In her book, In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit, Dean Yolanda Pierce writes. “A child cannot fully know how they are being cared for and blessed, fed, and nurtured. I simply trusted that my grandmother and the church mothers wanted the best for me, wanted more for me than they wanted for themselves. I had no way to express my gratitude when I was a child because I was unaware of the gifts of love, mercy, and grace that were extended to me. It was only on the way to my own adult life that I began to grasp the profound wisdom I learned around dinner tables, in small Sunday-school classrooms, and in church basements.”
Dad’s advice, “Remember who you are” came to me again the day after the 2024 election. As United Methodists we begin each new year by celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord. Someone will dip their fingers in the water and make the sign of the cross on our foreheads or hand and say, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.” Remember who you are. I love to ask the baptismal questions, they are identity questions. “Do you reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin? Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression? Do you put your whole trust in Christ’s grace? Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life” Will you care for each other?” We answer, “Yes and with God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround each other with a community of love and forgiveness… so that we all may live as true disciples of Jesus Christ.” Perhaps, we always begin anew by remembering who we are- beloved. In the parable of the prodigal son, the young person “comes to themselves, and remembers”– the Love of God and returns home. (Luke 15) .
My Dad, a sergeant and factory foreman, broke the cycle of abuse he grew up in. Dad went to Bible College simply to be a better Sunday School teacher and was the head of the Church Deacon Board. Dad could have repeated the long lists of “thou shalt nots” they repeated at Summer Camp. However, that Saturday night, Dad gave me something better than dos and don’ts. Dad called me into my deepest identity as a human being: Remember, who you are! Over the years, I came to understand that Dad was calling me more deeply into the image of God already within me. Remember your belovedness, humanity, personhood, responsibility, freedom, autonomy, community, integrity, character, wholeness, holiness, and your sacred worth.
On Thursday, November 7, 2024, Bishop Tracy S. Malone, President of the Council of Bishops, shared a pastoral letter from our United Methodist Leaders. “Amid the change and uncertainty that have resulted from the recent U.S. elections, and the ways in which these matters will impact the whole world, we remember that we are held by the enduring power of God’s love and the call to be agents of that love in the world.
We find ourselves at a critical historical juncture that future generations will scrutinize. It presses upon the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, a worldwide body, to speak and act with moral clarity, guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ and our commitment to justice and compassion for all.
We affirm the inherent dignity of all God’s children. As our Social Principles remind us, “God calls all members of the human family to recognize and protect the dignity and worth of all people.” The lessons of history teach us the dangers of silence in the face of threats to human rights. Therefore, we cannot remain silent. We call upon all United Methodists to exercise their faith and to pray, speak, and act for justice and peace. …
To people of all generations, especially our young, who yearn for a more just and inclusive world, your vision and passion give us hope. We commit to working alongside you to build the beloved community that reflects God’s kingdom on earth.” (https://www.unitedmethodistbishops.org/newsdetail/umc-bishops-statement-on-us-election)
At this historical juncture you may feel overwhelmed, defeated or otherwise. We feel what we feel, but as faith communities we need to remember that we are held by the enduring power of God’s love and the call to be agents of that love in the world. We need to pass the peace of Christ all week long- give hugs, check in on people, listen… be agents of love.
Months ago I selected today’s scripture as part of our stewardship campaign. Jesus’s teachings in Luke 6 are perhaps the most challenging moral code in any religious tradition. Such a high calling may feel like too high a calling. But maybe Luke’s shorter Sermon on the Mount is not rooted in dos and don’ts but is a call to remember who we are. This high calling is a pathway into wholeness, belovedness and authenticity. These rules are not about what “they” do, but about who “we” are. People may mistreat you, treat you as enemies, they may slap you or call you names: do not let your enemies define who you are. “You are “children of the Most High, and God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as God is merciful.”
- Love everyone, even your enemies. Remember, love defines us.
- Be a good person. Do good, do good to friends and to those who hate you.
- Live your life to be a blessing, so when people curse you, stay true to who you are.
- Pray over and for those who mistreat you. Break the cycle of retribution and revenge.
- Ignore an insult (slapping was considered an insult more than criminal violence. Jesus is not asking us to get beat down but to break apart the cycle of violence. Taylor Swift sings “haters gonna hate-hate- hate. I just gonna shake shake shake- shake it off)
- Be a giver. Remember, God has given us everything and we will take nothing with us when we leave this earth. Give to everyone who asks. (Maybe not TV preachers or late night infomercials)
- Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.
- Do good things, expecting nothing in return
- Don’t judge.
- Don’t condemn.
- Be compassionate
- Give (it shows up twice)
You may spend years in therapy if you think that “Love your enemies” is a call to feel affection towards those who mistreat you. Friends, Jesus had a found family, pointing to the disciples and saying “here are my mother, brothers, and sisters!” (Matthew 12, Mark 3 and Luke 8) Jesus called out systemic enemies equating King Herod’s morals to those of a fox in the hen house (Luke 13) and some religious leaders “children of hell” (Matthew 23). Doctor Cornel West, the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary said “unarmed truth and unapologetic love go hand in hand. The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak and justice is what love looks like in public.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqP7S_WO6o)
Love for enemies means we tell enemies the truth. Love names, resists and overcomes evil, injustice and oppression not by evil means but by doing good. “Defeat evil with good.” (Romans 12) Doctor King preached “that the means (we use to achieve our goals) represents the ideal in the making- the end in process. Destructive means can not bring about constructive ends, because the ends are preexistent in the means.” (The Case Against Tokenism) If we hold onto hate, we become full of hate. If we belittle, we become smaller. If we judge we become judgemental. If we slap back, we become aggressors. If we are silent we are complicit. If we isolate we become more alone. If we insult, we deepen the divide. Love is God’s path to reinforce our humanity and remake our world. Love reshapes us into the image of God.
Jesus calls us to remember who we are: to dwell within our sacred worth, to treat others as people of sacred worth, and to help our neighbors and even enemies find their sacred worth. The Golden Rule is not a judicial scale to decide who is right or wrong, but a deep calling for us to remember that we are “children of the Most High”, and that “God is kind to ungrateful and even wicked people”. Be compassionate just as your Creator is compassionate.” Ponder that- our God is kind to the wicked.
Let us remember who God is and who we are.
- God is love, let us be defined by love. (1 John 4)
- God is good, let us strive to do the right things. (Psalm 136)
- God blesses the ungrateful, so let’s try to be a blessing. (Luke 6)
- God is always reconciling, so don’t slap back. (2 Corinthians 5)
- God makes all things new: so break the cycle of retribution and revenge. (Romans 12)
- God is the source of all life, so give extravagantly. (Luke 6)
- God casts our sins as far as the east is from the west, so let’s treat people better than they deserve. (Psalm 103)
- God always does the right thing so let’s do the right thing because it is the right thing without expecting something in return. (Luke 6)
- God does not hold our sins against us, so stop judging. (Matthew 7 Psalm 103)
- God does not condemn, so let us not condemn. (Luke 6, Romans 8)
- God is compassionate- let’s be known by our compassion. (Psalm 145)
- God’s nature is to give, let practice extravagant generosity. (Genesis 1 & 2)
Jesus offers us a way of life, inviting us to integrate ourselves into God’s belovedness. Jesus’ high moral call comes with a promise: “You will become children of God”. You will become people of compassion, mercy and justice. So do the right thing, love, lend, love, forgive and you will receive “a good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—it will spill off the table and land in your lap.” The portion we give, lend, love, and forgive will determine the people we become. Let us remember we are beloved children of the Most High. Amen.
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