Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] June 6, 2021 “Family Drama” Mark 3: 20-35 – Common English Bible Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!” 22 The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.” 23 When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: “How can Satan throw Satan out? 24 A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. 25 And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. 26 If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He’s done for. 27 No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. 28 I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. 29 But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” 30 He said this because the legal experts were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.” 31 His mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word to him, calling for him. 32 A crowd was seated around him, and those sent to him said, “Look, your mother, brothers, and sisters are outside looking for you.” 33 He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.” Three highlights: 1)The friends and family of Jesus think he has lost his mind 2)The scribes, religious scholars, accuse Jesus of being Satan, but he responds back that Satan can’t bring down Satan, so how could he be Satan? 3)Once again, the family of Jesus thinks he has lost his mind. But when they asked to see him, Jesus instead told the crowd “my brothers and sisters and mother are anyone who does the will of God.” Did you know that if you added up every UCC member, every Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and a few more mainline denominations, the combined number would still be smaller than America’s newest religion? QAnon. That’s the finding in a poll released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core.[1] Fifteen percent of Americans – that’s about 50 million people – say they believe that the levers of power are controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles. 50 million people said they believe that “American patriots may have to resort to violence” to restore the country’s rightful order. And of those respondents, 20 percent said that they thought a “biblical-scale storm would soon sweep away these evil elites.”[2] That’s 10 million people. It would be easy to say, “these people are out of their minds!” Or as the legal experts said of Jesus, they’re “possessed by an evil spirit.” Except that, “these people” are our brothers and sisters, aunt, uncles, cousins, mothers and fathers, neighbors and fellow citizens. Rachel said that she and her mother were once close, especially right before the pandemic. Now they are completely estranged. Rachel said it’s easier to be angry than to think about how much she misses her mom. Her mom is a caring and compassionate person, a cancer nurse. But, Rachel said, she’s been tricked into believing things that contradict her core values. I told her that. She doesn’t trust me anymore. I wish I had been more patient, but my mom now thinks I think she’s stupid. I wish I had been slower to react. I wish I had been less frustrated. Virginia said that she and her dad used to be very close. We did everything together. But in the past year, he’s just changed into a different person. It’s like he’s been indoctrinated into a cult. He drank the Kool-Aid. And it’s really scary. I tried to share facts with him, but it blew up in my face. It confirmed his conspiracy theories. All I can do is wait for him, hope that one day he calls me or texts me or shows up on my door and says, “I was wrong.” Until then I hate that I have to wait. But it’s for my dad, so I will. Angie lost her sister, her best friend, down the QAnon rabbit hole. She said, “I pray for her every day to come to a realization that this is nonsense. I can’t do much more than that, because, if I do, if I discuss it with her, it’ll only break us further apart.”[3] It is indeed heartbreaking. Many of us were hopeful that after the failed insurrection, disillusioned QAnon supporters would return to their normal lives, as the man suspected to be Q himself told them to do.[4] But like preachers predicting the date of the end of the world, when it doesn’t happen, they just pick another date. So now, for example, after inauguration day passed, and the “original” inauguration day on March 4 had passed, now the defeated former president will somehow be re-installed in August. It’s lunacy. Embraced by 50 million people, seven percent of whom are Democrats. It’s heartbreaking. And frightening. And like Jesus warned, “a house torn apart by divisions will collapse.” So, why did Jesus’ family think he had lost his mind? Why did the religion scholars and legal experts say Jesus was possessed by Beelzebul? As with all scripture, we have to look at the context. It’s only chapter 3 in Mark but Jesus has already been very busy:
All of these things upset and alarmed the religious authorities. That’s understandable. But why would that upset his family? Is it because Jesus was challenging their core beliefs too? Were they upset because he was calling into question their long-standing traditions? Were they afraid of guilt by association; of being targeted by the religious authorities? You know, at first, the families of Congressman John Lewis and other young civil rights activists were not supportive of their activities either, because it would likely bring retaliatory violence against them. It caused a temporary rift early in his career.[5] But like Congressman Lewis, why didn’t Jesus’ family completely support him early in his “career?” I honestly don’t know and couldn’t find any scholar who proposed a satisfactory answer. What we do know is that his family thought, “He’s out of his mind.” And Jesus proclaimed that family doesn’t necessarily mean one’s biological family but whoever does “the will of God.” So, when I first started thinking about preaching on this text, I thought, what a great way to start Pride month. This is a story that really resonates. LGBTQ people know a lot about families who think they’re possessed or lost their mind. Despite being 7 percent of the population, 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ.[6] And, sadly, often because of religion. LGBTQ people understand and appreciate what Jesus says in this text, whether they’ve run away as a result of family rejection and abuse or they’ve been literally thrown out of their homes, because Jesus affirms the families of choice we create for true experiences of belonging and love. We may have brothers and sisters and parents in our family of origin, but in this text, Jesus blesses the families we create. If you haven’t seen the TV series Pose, you’re missing something important and groundbreaking.[7] This series is about transgender women of color and queer men who form families of choice within New York City’s ball culture in the 1980s and ’90s. There’s never been a cast anything like it on TV. Two of the main characters, Blanca and Electra, act as the mothers of several queer and trans street kids who often survived as sex workers. Despite stories of how these kids were abused or rejected by their families, and the ravages of AIDS during that period, the show is ultimately one of the most redemptive things on TV, because it portrays the extraordinary love and sacrifice by these families of choice, in stark contrast to their, often religious, families of origin. Blanca and Electra were truly doing the will of God. Now, that’s a loaded phrase. Jane Vennard suggests that instead of God’s will, we think of it as God’s yearning, for example, that we create a world of compassion and justice, as opposed to the traditional understanding that God has a specific set of expectations, rules, and demands for human behavior. That’s a sermon for another day. Families who discard their children often think they’re doing the “will of God,” but if you ask me “what is God’s will,” I will direct you to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said, all the law and prophets are summed up as the command to love – to love your neighbor as yourself. What more could the will of God mean than to love unconditionally? And that’s what Jesus showed us. Remember that among the things that really upset the religious authorities was that Jesus ate with “sinners” and tax collectors. But do you know what’s even more remarkable? That people who had to survive as prostitutes and people labeled “sinners” would even want to hang out with him! What should that say to the church? But back to the religion of 50 million QAnon followers and our loved ones who some might say have gone “out of their minds.” We were actually discussing this during our Zoom coffee hour a few months ago. One of our members said of his brother, I just keep telling him I love him, I love him, I love him. I don’t engage in debate. I just tell him I love him. One day it may sink in. The founder of a Reddit group called QAnonCasualties lamented about his mom, “I’m always torn between stopping communication with her because it only seems to make me feel terrible, and feeling like it’s my responsibility to lead her back to reality.”[8] I wish I had more answers, but it’s like today’s text from Mark – much better at describing the situation than prescribing answers. So, I consulted some experts who recommend empathy and engagement on a personal level with QAnon believers as a way to rebuild trust and restart communication. Focus on the person’s personal relationship to QAnon, rather than trying to unpack the latest twist and turn of any conspiracy theory. Ask how they first learned about it, what made sense to them, and also what didn't make sense to them, and ask questions about how their beliefs have shifted, especially if they've been involved over time, because QAnon keeps morphing.[9] But maybe the most important thing to remember is that any effort made is the beginning of a process that will take a long time to succeed. Throughout it all, family and friends need to remember that the person they knew is still in there, just hiding behind that QAnon personality. And yet, there’s a reason Jesus said family was anyone who did the will of God. One the implications of that is freedom from abuse. Because in the end, regardless of what our families of origin may do or say, Jesus also blesses families of choice that promote true love and unconditional acceptance. Meaning, it is Mothers Blanca and Electra, two trans women of color, who represent the real will of God. At least, the God I believe in. Yours too? [1] https://www.prri.org/research/qanon-conspiracy-american-politics-report/ [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/us/politics/qanon-republicans-trump.html [3] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/their-loved-ones-are-obsessed-with-qanon-conspiracies-its-tearing-their-families-apart - these stories are condensed [4] https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-03-28/qanon-docuseries-hbo-who-is-q [5] https://www.ajc.com/news/john-lewis-the-boy-from-troy/FPQXUXXHMZEUVCX3HORKOHCYHM/ Jon Meachum discusses this in his book His Truth is Marching On [6] https://truecolorsunited.org/our-issue/ [7] https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/pose [8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/conspiracy-theories-qanon-family-members/ [9] https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7v3nx/how-to-talk-to-your-qanon-family-during-the-holidays
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