For as long as I can remember, I have loved sports. I love playing sports, as you all know, I started a softball team here at Redeemer, called “The Big Red Machine.” Growing up, I became a massive fan of the NY Mets, a decision I have regretted ever since 1986, I also love the fabulous Tom Brady destroying NY Giants! I even named by Dog, who died in January Eli, after Eli Manning the occasionally superb Quarterback of the Giants for many years.
There is something special about sports because being a part of a team, or rooting for a team, makes you part of something bigger than yourself. It makes you part of a tribe. One of my fondest memories of playing ball in high school was that I learned more Spanish from my teammates than I did in class. We used to chant at the other teams in Spanish all the time to try to disrupt the pitchers.
There are some terrible things about tribalism too, and they often become evident at sporting events. NYC is a beast of a sports town, folks there work hard, play hard, and root hard. I have seen more brutal fights at baseball games than I care to remember. What is it about tribalism that would cause someone to treat another human being with such violence and aggression? When we become part of a tribe, the defense of that tribe elicits an enormous amount of passion. Think about it, we are all in the Redeemer tribe, how would you react if someone said negative things about Redeemer? What feelings would you have if someone said something negative about this church?
Tribalism is one of the purposes of the letter of Paul to the Romans. Paul is doing all he can to give a pastoral response to the numerous places of Christian worship in Rome, whether it be a synagogue, where Christians are worshipping, or a house church. Paul, in Romans, is navigating the growing rift between those who were born into Judaism and have become Christians, and those who were born Gentile, and have become Christians. The places of worship in Rome, while having to remain hidden from too much public awareness, were places where mixed congregations worshipped. Some with a more significant number of Jewish Christians, and others with a higher number of Gentile Christians. One of the points Paul makes throughout this letter to the churches in Rome, is that in Christ there can be no tribes. “For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.”
How have we come so far in American Christianity and failed across all denominations to recognize that what prevents us from fully living into the meaning of the Lord’s prayer is the tribalism we create? This tribalism separates the followers of Christ, into schismatic sub-groups of Jesus superfans. If we mean what we say when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, if we want God’s name to be hallowed as it is in heaven, if we want God’s Kingdom to come, as it is in heaven, if we want to receive our daily bread, if we want our sins to be forgiven, and the power to forgive others, if we want to be delivered from evil, shouldn’t we do our best to affirm and recognize that all humans bear the image of God?
Recognition that all humanity bears God’s image calls us to realize that all tribalism is created by man and not by God. While helpful at times, tribalism is easily corrupted by those who are out to deceive and fracture the body of Christ. There are both spiritual and human efforts to ensure that the believers of God never come together as one body. If we do come together, real change can happen. Change that has been needed for generations.
When you go home today, turn on the news, or read the paper, or see something on your computer or smart device, you may not like what you see, because it is not of your tribe. Ask yourself, how does this man-made tribe make me feel? Do you react with compassion, or with fear? Are you viewing it as another tribe, not to be trusted, or as someone or a group of people bearing the image of the God we love and worship? We must stop focusing on each other as the broken and inherently sinful people that we all are. Instead, we must see ourselves and others as image-bearers of God. Objects of God’s love. How much more justice and equity would we have in our society if we did that? When we perceive another human being as other, we reject and insult God’s image that has been bestowed upon them. Let’s leave tribalism for those things that are less important, like sports, and make sure that we honor the image of God in all humanity. That we live into seeking and serving Christ in all persons. Live into loving neighbor as self. Live into our vow to God to strive for justice and peace among all people. That is a vow every one of us has made. The vow that will help us realize we are all one tribe, and any injustice is an injustice to the whole.
What I am proposing today will not be easy; in fact, it will often feel like being blown across a lake in a boat you cannot control. We should use Peter as our role model. We should recognize that Jesus gives us the ability to walk off of the out of control boat, being pushed by things that it seems like we cannot control, and walk to him. And again, like Peter, when we feel like we cannot handle it and see the wind and the waves, and we feel like we can’t get through, we must reach out to, and keep our eyes on, Jesus. His hand will hold us up and enable us to follow his way, the way of love. We are all created in God’s image, and it’s about time we started living like it.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
14th Sunday after Pentecost
9 August 2020