Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Hi, Collective table. Today, as the US Heads to the polls, we are bringing you reflections from our election vigil held just days ago at the Oceanside Sanctuary.
We hope you join us in a moment of prayer, candlelight, and shared hope as we seek peace and unity in a time of uncertainty.
May these voices bring you comfort and strength in the days ahead. Thank you for being with us.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: God, hear our hearts pour. Your comfort, your grit, your peace, your beauty on the shoulders of those sitting here tonight. And let that sweet goodness of your love be poured out on this world.
And all together we say amen.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Janelle and I have been having a rather depressing conversation for the past two weeks. And it's not just the conversation about an election that's so fraught with anger and dehumanizing rhetoric and a third presidential election cycle that is wearing us down because of all of the drama and ridiculousness that's half of our conversation. But the other half of our conversation is new and also has had the effect of sort of wearing me out. And that conversation goes something like this.
You know, even if the candidate that we hope wins, wins, we being Janelle and I, I don't know what you all hope for.
Even if the candidate that we hope wins, wins, the outcome could be really bad.
The situation in many of our communities is really dire in this election. Could have the effect of continuing to ignite a fire across our communities that's really destructive.
And so we've been asking each other, what work is there still to be done after this?
What work is there for us to do? What work is there for the Oceanside Sanctuary to do? What work is there to be done for followers of Christ who believe in justice and peace?
And that's just an exhausting conversation because I'm tired and the idea of continuing to do work is hard to think about.
One of my favorite Old Testament scholars is UCC ordained minister and Old Testament scholar named Walter Brueggemann. Some of you, I'm sure, are familiar with Walter Brueggemann, but one of his great little one liners, and he's actually terrible with one liners, he's very academic, so he almost never writes anything that's quoteworthy.
But one of his great little quotes is, we'll never have a politics of justice and compassion until we have a religion of freedom.
And I've been thinking about that quote a lot lately and why it sort of sits with me in an uncomfortable way. And I think the reason I struggle with that quote, we'll never have a politics of justice and compassion until we have a religion of freedom is because when I think of the words religion and freedom together, the immediate imagination that is drawn up is that religion is meant to like, restrain our worst impulses.
It's meant to like, keep us in check, gives us laws and rules to follow so that we don't do terrible things.
Or at least that's how I have tended to think about religion until fairly recently in my life.
And so the idea of a religion of freedom sounds dangerous, it sounds irresponsible, it sounds reckless.
And then I have been reminded of how my social policy class at Cal State San Marcos, we talk a lot about the idea of positive versus negative freedom.
And that goes something like this.
Negative freedom is freedom from constraints.
It's the freedom we always tend to think about.
It's liberty in the American sense. The freedom to be free from limitations and constraints that are placed on you by other people or by the state or by a king or by religion.
You're unfettered.
And that's what we tend to think of as freedom.
But positive freedom is a different kind of freedom.
Positive freedom is having the power to act, to do something, not because you're free from a constraint, not because somebody isn't impeding your ability to act, but because you have the ability to do it.
In the United States, we think a lot about negative freedom.
We don't think a lot about positive freedom. We don't talk a lot about positive freedom.
And I think Walter Brueggemann is talking about both.
He's talking about negative freedom in the sense that the great tradition of the Hebrew Bible is that the Jewish people are liberated from their constraints in Egypt, they're set free.
Negative freedom is a good thing.
But we tend to be blind to the positive freedom in the prophetic tradition that calls out structures and systems that disempower people.
And so I want to ask you to hear these words from the perspective of positive freedom because I think we do have a lot of work to do after Tuesday or whenever the election is actually determined.
But I think it's a certain kind of work.
I actually think it's a really beautiful and empowering and life giving kind of work.
Not the kind that will exhaust us, but the kind that will fuel us.
And so I think it's the kind of work that Paul describes in Romans chapter 12. Starting in verse nine, I'm going to read through verse 21. And as I read this, I want to invite you to ask yourself, how is Paul describing positive freedom?
Paul writes to the Christians In Rome, let love be genuine. Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.
Love one another with mutual affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, but be ardent in spirit. Serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope. Be patient in affliction.
Persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints. Pursue hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly. Do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all, if it's possible, so far as it depends on you.
Live peaceably with all, beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord instead.
If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This, I think, is a religion of freedom.
I think every time we overcome evil with good, I think every time we feed our enemies who are hungry, every time we associate with the lowly, every time we bless those who persecute us, every time we pursue hospitality to strangers, we are contributing to their positive freedom.
We're affirming them, we're lifting them up. We are filling them with love and kindness and goodness. And without love and kindness and goodness, none of us are truly free.
The lack of love is what is constraining us more than the operations of the state or the words or deeds of our enemies?
And so what if the work that we have to do is to contribute to the goodness of people's lives around us so that they are more free than they were the day before?
And that is work I think, that I can do on my best days.
I think it's work that we can do, and I think that it allows us to contribute to the freedom that's needed in our community that will never be provided by the outcome of any one election.
This election will not solve the problems that we face.
It might make some of them worse, and it might make some of them a little bit better.
But to truly create a religion of freedom, we'll have to do more than just vote. We will have to be there for each other and for those that we don't particularly like.
So that's what I want to encourage us with tonight that doing good, loving others is I think, the best hope that we have.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: If you'll just pray with me this final blessing.
God, the lamp unto our feet. We are here tonight on this Sunday evening before the election, carrying all of our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our candles for our communities, our country and our world.
God bless us with courage as we stand for compassion seeking a society that values every person.
We yearn for a government that reflects your justice, for leadership that serves the vulnerable, lifts up the brokenhearted and welcomes the stranger and the oppressed.
May our actions and our votes testify to the kingdom that is here and the kingdom that we are called to co create with you.
God of all, make us instruments of your will and may we be ever mindful that your work for justice, mercy and love is not contained by a ballot or a border, but flows through every one of us called to build your kingdom here on earth.
God, let this United States be a place of refuge for the poor and in need.
As our country proudly displays, Let us live up to the words on the Statue of Liberty. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me.
I lift up my lamp beside the golden door in Christ's name. Amen.
God bless you this week.
