REFLECTIONS ON THE DEATH OF MATTHEW WAYNE SHEPARD... "FOR WHERE YOUR HEART IS, THERE WILL YOUR TREASURE BE ALSO"
The prophet Jeremiah said; "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord."
In today's Gospel taken from Luke, Chapter 18, Jesus tells his followers a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. In both pieces of scripture taken from Jeremiah and Luke, references to the heart as the primary agent of change in all human behavior is a prima facia piece of theological evidence that the Christian Church has too often dismissed as either being too simplistic or just too saccharine. In the nihilistic sophistication of the institutional Church of the late 20th century, matters of the heart are too often inadmissible as evidence in any case involving behavioral change in human beings.
As I spent some time thinking about the scriptural conundrums of Jeremiah and Luke, I became overwhelmed...overwhelmed to the point of being thrust into a panic, knowing that today was my day to preach a sermon about stewardship...a sermon that would somehow help you all better understand the financial needs of St. Paul's Cathedral as it faithfully does the work of Jesus Christ within our own congregation, within the city and diocese of San Diego.
I don't quite remember when the truth finally hit me but it suddenly became hurtfully obvious that it really didn't make much difference what I said about cathedral stewardship or for that matter the need for all of us, especially those of you who haven't signed a pledge card...to become generous pledgers in 1999. Sermons and talks about giving, stewardship, pledge cards and money are never received well by anyone unless Christ has changed their hearts and redefined their priorities. You won't give joyfully and generously and I won't either unless our lives have been radically changed by the Lord of Life. My behavior simply will not change unless my heart has been changed. Jesus knew this simple truth and shared it with his followers when he said to them; "Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also."
Jesus knew that none of us hear with our ears, nor do we act out our caring for and our loving of one another from a rational process of thought. Jesus taught that the greatest gift given by God to the human race is our ability to fall in love with another, not by rationally thinking through the relationship, but by exposing the vulnerability of our hearts to one another. So it is, for those who fall in love with God's word and with God's son Jesus Christ: We fall in love with creation and with each other not because we have to...but because we want to, and because we have accepted the irrational invitation to do so!
When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for the truth! When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for justice! When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for inclusivity! When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for non-violence! When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for tolerance! When our hearts are changed, we become ambassadors for Christ and ambassadors for change and transformation! When our hearts are changed, we suddenly find ourselves becoming the Gospel...a Gospel where there is neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor free, black nor white, gay nor straight, male nor female, young nor old, English speaking nor other speaking. And when we come to that point on our earthly journey, we begin to understand what it was that our Lord and savior Jesus Christ died for; we are given a wondrous glimpse and foretaste of the heavenly Jerusalem.
When our hearts are changed, we can never again be accused of the crime of silence...especially as that crime applies to the caring for and the financial support of this cathedral's ministry. When our hearts are changed we can never again be accused of the crime of silence that far too often permeates the life of the larger institutional Christian Church and more specifically our own Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church in the United States.
For many Episcopal Christians one of the great tragedies of the Lambeth Conference...the once every decade gathering of Anglican Bishops from around the world...was the stunning silence of so many American bishops immediately after the vote was taken on a controversial resolution on Human Sexuality. Most of those who were silent had been very clear, vocal and open prior to Lambeth in their support, pastoral care and sacramental acceptance of gay and lesbian persons in their dioceses. Yet, when the vote came condemning homosexuality as a sin and declaring homosexuality as incompatible with Holy Scripture, our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ were hung out to dry by their "shepherds" in Christ. The strategy of silence may be politically expedient if you are diocesan bishop, Primate or even a cathedral dean if you don't want to offend those who disagree with your view on inclusivity or any other controversial issue...but silence is a heinous crime when it is offered at the expense of a whole group of Christ's faithful who have an equal claim on the Church's sacraments and who are co-equal inheritors of the Kingdom of God. The crime of silence is a painful indicator that within our Church and society, hearts have not yet been changed to reflect the unconditional love and acceptance of Jesus Christ.
The brutal slaying of Matthew Wayne Shepard, a college student in Casper Wyoming who, by the way was an Episcopalian, is a case in point. Matt, who was robbed and then beaten to death while shackled to a wooden fence post on a remote Wyoming ranch by two young men simply because Matthew was gay and available for the crime should be a resounding "wake up" call to each of us. His horrible death should cause each of us gathered here in this sacred cathedral space to reflect upon our own prejudice against homosexuals or anyone else for that matter that doesn't quite look like us, speak like us, have the same skin color as us, live in the same neighborhood as us or have the same educational and occupational levels as we do. Matthew's death is a death that needs to be examined from the standpoint of our own silence and our churches silence in supporting openly and lovingly all gay and lesbian persons as Christ's own.
The crime of silence allows human beings to do horrible things to one another. We need only to look at the horrors of Auschwitz and Nazi Germany...the lynching of blacks in the South...the burning and bombing of black churches and Jewish Synagogues...the inherent yet too often invisible racism that lives in every large city in this Country and the horrors of racism that continue to be played out daily within the Holy City of Jerusalem between Palestinians and Israelis. When our hearts have not been changed, our behavior reflects a selfishness and hated fear of the unknown of not speaking out and acting forcefully to address and correct the evils of human injustice, violence, oppression and degradation against the people of God. Unchanged hearts leave the world to deal with the behaviors of unchanged people. Unchanged hearts too often lead to hateful, vindictive and violent human behavior.
To quote a New York Times Editorial of October 17th; Matthew's "murder has brought out enough sneers, jokes, caricatures and graffiti on college campuses across the land to make it clear that bias against homosexuals is not just an attitude among young toughs like the two high school drop-outs who have been charged with the killing. In a society in which fundamentalist religious leaders and prominent Republican politicians insist on castigating homosexuals as a threat...that bias is everywhere. The need for hate crime laws is obvious."
Where the Times fails in its response to the tragic death of Matthew Shepard and where society continues to fail in responding to crimes of violence against humanity is the biblical truth that real behavioral change can only occur when hearts have been changed. Jesus crucifixion on Calvary is a stark reminder of what we too often forget...that governments cannot legislate love nor can they legislate repentance and forgiveness.
Stewardship is not about dollars or cents...it is about our hearts and where they are in relationship to Jesus Christ. Stewardship is not about pledge cards and budgets. Stewardship is about building inclusive community and about people like you and me who must have the courage to speak up and out in declaring to others how Jesus Christ has changed our hearts, our priorities and our minds...changes that allow us to be givers of the very best that we have in order to support the ministry and mission of this great cathedral. It is a ministry and mission that refuses to be silent about any oppression or degradation of God's children. It is a ministry and mission that refuses to bow to political expediency. It is a ministry that refuses to dance with the slick values of the world but rather works very hard at trying to live out the values and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Our critics may accuse us of many things but let them never accuse us of being silent when issues of justice come before the people of God. Our critics may accuse us of many things but let them never accuse us of not taking our ministry to our own congregation, the city and diocese of San Diego seriously. Our critics may accuse us of many things but let them never accuse us of not being a house of prayer and a center of sanctuary for all who enter our front doors. Our critics may accuse of many things but let them never accuse us of not speaking out when a young 21 year old college student was beaten to death simply because he was gay and had some pocket change. Our critics may accuse us of many things but let them never accuse us of not trying to do great things during tough financial times to praise and honor the name of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. AMEN!
The Very Rev. John Bryson Chane
October 18, 1998
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