Sermon Archive

Let’s Do It!

(Rutgers, September 3, 2000; 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B;
Labor Day Weekend)

Psalm 15 (OT, p. 546); James 1:17–18, 22–27 (NT, pp. 246–247)
(Includes use of material from the 8/28/00-9/1/00 issues of The New York Times)

Says the Letter of James: “…be doers of the word and not merely hearers…” “Religion that is pure…before God…is this: to care for widows and orphans in distress…” (James 1:22, 27)

Religion; and doing God’s word! No one since Jimmy Carter, and before him Martin Luther King, Jr., has been a more commented-upon religious activist and has brought religion into the newspapers more often per week than has vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman. And this past week Mr. Lieberman was at his prolific best!

The week’s blanket news coverage of religion and politics was set off by a sermon Senator Lieberman delivered last Sunday to the congregation of Fellowship Chapel, one of Detroit’s largest African-American churches. In his remarks, Mr. Lieberman called for a greater role for religion in American public life and declared that belief in God is the basis of morality, and of this nation.

Mr. Lieberman quoted both the first and second presidents of the United States, George Washington and John Adams, to the effect that the maintenance of the moral fabric of society is dependent upon religion—in other words, that the doing of right throughout society is dependent upon widespread faith in God.

Senator Lieberman reminded the congregation that he does support the separation of church and state and does respect the freedom of those who neither believe nor observe, but he went on to proclaim to his listeners that “there must be a place for faith in America’s public life.” And Mr. Lieberman also called for there to be a “new spiritual awakening” in America.

Well, that was Sunday. The next morning, Mr. Lieberman addressed religious leaders at an interfaith breakfast in Chicago. There he repeated many of the same thoughts and went on first to call the United States “the most religious country in the world” and then to identify all American citizens as “children of the same awesome God.”

Now, later that same day, Monday, Senator Lieberman was sharply criticized by, of all groups, the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that, like Mr. Lieberman, is Jewish. The League asked the Senator to stop giving overt expressions of religious belief on the campaign trail, because such overt expressions run “contrary to the American ideal.”

Late Monday night, Mr. Lieberman granted an interview to reporters aboard his campaign plane as he flew to California, an interview in which he expanded upon his Sunday sermon in Detroit but responded only indirectly to the League’s criticism of him. In the interview, Mr. Lieberman stated that he had meant to imply neither that religious people were always moral nor that non-religious people could not be moral. He emphasized that he does not believe persons without religion are for that reason unfit for public office, and that he does believe, quite strongly, in the separation of church and state.

Well, more Americans than just the Anti-Defamation League have been made nervous by Mr. Lieberman’s religious discourses. And among those made nervous are many liberal Protestants, perhaps because the use of such explicitly religious language in the public square has come to be linked so closely in our minds with conservative religious leaders, with whose viewpoints on issues like reproductive choice, gay rights, school prayer, protecting the environment, and overcoming poverty we so strongly disagree.

But as for me, as for this particular liberal Protestant, I rejoice in Senator Lieberman’s words and actions. I rejoice, and I urge you to rejoice in them as well! For as noted in both an op-ed piece in Wednesday’s Times and an editorial in Thursday’s Times (August 31, 2000, p. A24) Mr. Lieberman is helping to make it once again plain that religious faith and moral action are not the monopoly of this nation’s conservatives.

Wednesday’s op-ed piece was written by Eleanor Brown, a lawyer and a fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington. If you missed it in The New York Times (August 30, 2000, p. A23), let me share portions of it with you now. It’s entitled “Lieberman’s Revival of the Religious Left.”

Ms. Brown writes: “When we hear the term ‘religious activists’ on the evening news, we think automatically of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and a parade of conservative Christian evangelicals. But now Joe Lieberman, a Jewish, mostly liberal Democrat running for vice president, is talking about God, and as he does so, [he's] reviving a potent tradition of a different kind of religious activism, one that had lain dormant since an assassin’s bullet struck down Martin Luther King in 1968.

“When Mr. Lieberman called for a ‘new spiritual awakening’ in America in a sermon last Sunday at a black church, he nourished the hope of those [who are] more than ready for a rebirth of a nationally prominent religious left”—the hope of those who are more than ready to recall the great liberal religious “awakenings” of the past that led to such major political transformations as the Bill of Rights in the 18th century, the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, and both labor reforms and the civil rights revolution in the 20th century.

Ms. Brown goes on to observe: “Mr. Lieberman’s presence on the ticket has driven a wedge between the words ‘religious’ and ‘right,’ a ~~pairing~~ [linkage] that many had come to see as automatic.…

“If Mr. Lieberman succeeds in reuniting morality and political liberalism, he will have revived one of the most powerful movements in American history…

“In the last few decades, the debate about religion in public life has been unable to move beyond a divisive standoff between religious conservatives and liberal secularists who are overwhelmingly hostile to public displays of religiosity.…

“Liberal[ secularists] have misidentified the source of the problem. [It is not religion per se.] What is problematic is not vibrant religious activism in the public square, but the consistent association [in recent times] of religious devotion with a particular set of dogmatic [conservative] political opinions. And conservatives have exacerbated the misconception with their strong-arm tactics and unwillingness to entertain debate on their political views.

“Sadly, public religiosity is now automatically associated [by many] with a core set of [conservative] political positions.…

“This is why Mr. Lieberman is so important. By severing the connection between religious devotion and political conservatism, he has injected a new force into the wider political debate. Although much has been made of his moral rhetoric, he receives high ratings from liberal groups and on many issues [like reproductive choice, gay rights, school prayer, health insurance for all children, the full equality of women and men, protection of the environment, and overcoming poverty] [he] holds [moral] views diametrically opposed to those of the religious right.

“Mr. Lieberman demonstrates that people of religious faith can, and do, disagree on important political issues that imply deeply held moral beliefs. More important, he represents a willingness—rarely seen among liberals at the national level—to ground his political positions [and actions] in specific religious commitments.”

Yes, Joe Lieberman strikes me as not only a hearer of God's word, but also a doer, one who seeks to fulfill his faith through political action, pol,itical action that provides care for the widow and orphan and all those needing love and justice.

One of the sacred texts of Judaism is the Mishnah, and one section of the Mishnah is called Pirke Avoth. It’s a collection of sayings by some of the great rabbis who taught during the period from several centuries before Jesus's time to the 2nd century a.d. For orthodox and conservative Jews, its teachings, like all of the Mishnah, are authoritative.

Now, our morning lesson comes from the Letter of James, which, as part of the New Testament, is authoritative for us Christians. James calls on us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, and this message is identical to teachings found in Pirke Avoth.

For example, Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel, who taught at about the same time as the Letter of James was written, said this: “Learning is not the main thing; doing is.” (1:17) “On three things the world stands: on [doing] justice, on [speaking] truth, and on [making] peace.” (1:18) “Learning is not the main thing; doing is.” (1:17)

And as for the admonition in James that religion is fulfilled through care for the widow and orphan, Judaism was famous in the Greco-Roman world where James was written for just that kind of active caring. A number of pagan sources of the time comment on the special penchant in the Jewish community for caring deeply even for those without important social standing.

Yes, religious activism on behalf of society’s most needy stands at the core of both Judaism and Christianity. Religious faith is to be fulfilled through a daily life of love for neighbor.

In Genesis, a book of the Bible sacred in both Judaism and Christianity, we are taught that it was by speaking, by the word that God created the world. So, from the beginning of all existence, word and work, word and doing, have been linked to each other organically. The word of God finds fulfillment only in action, in creative, renewing, reparative acts of love and justice. And we humans were created to be co-workers with God, bringing God’s word to fulfillment through our actions.

Now, as Christians, we affirm that Jesus is the Messiah and, as such, the perfect model for us of God’s word in action—the one who came not just to preach and teach God’s word, but to fulfill that word through a hands-on ministry of doing.

In Judaism, the Messiah is still awaited, but Jews similarly expect that the Messiah will not be one who just preaches and teaches. They, too, expect that the Messiah will be one who perfectly fulfills God’s word through a hands-on ministry of doing.

Judaism tells us of a mystic conversation about the Messiah between a 3rd century rabbi named Joshua ben Levi, who’s on earth, and the ancient prophet Elijah, who’s in heaven. Joshua asks Elijah: “Where shall I find the Messiah?” Elijah replies: “At the gate of the city.” “How shall I recognize him?” Joshua asks. “He sits among the lepers.” “Among the lepers,” exclaimed Joshua in disbelief, “What’s he doing there?” “He changes their bandages,” Elijah answered. “He changes them one by one.”

We American mainline Protestants need to join with Jesus, our Messiah, in carrying out ministries of religious activism. We need to undergo a spiritual awakening by which we are roused into becoming doers of God’s word, doers who use all moral means, including political processes, to care actively for those in need of justice and love.

A recent survey by Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow shows that 75% of the American public now believes that religious groups should take a more active role in ending racial discrimination,in giving the poor a voice in public affairs, in protecting the environment, and in promoting a greater sense of community responsibility.

I say three cheers for that 75% of the American public, for I believe they’ve got it absolutely right! So now, I call on us all to answer James's call to become religious activists. Let’s be part of a new spiritual awakening in America. Let’s not just talk about fulfilling God’s word. Let’s do it!

Please join me in prayer:

O God, move us by Your Spirit to put Your word into action, using all moral means, including political processes, to care for those in need of love and justice. Amen.

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