The esteemed 20th-century theologian Karl Barth [pronounced \u201cBart\u201d] reportedly advised preachers to prepare sermons with the Bible in one hand and a current newspaper in the other. Obviously, he wanted the Bible to inform us and advise us, for good or bad, about what is going on in our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, a magazine article satisfies the \u201cnews\u201d aspect of Barth\u2019s pairing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Describing a very troubling dilemma of our time, Andrew Sullivan wrote in New York Magazine (September 18, 2017) about a spirit of \u201ctribalism\u201d in America that has produced an \u201cincreasingly dangerous dysfunction,\u201d one that also plagues people around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He identified a prevailing cultural condition that has grown terribly out of hand. It results from what he calls a \u201ccompounding combination of\u2026 differences into two coherent tribes, eerily balanced in political power, fighting not just to advance their own side but to provoke, condemn, and defeat the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sounds familiar, doesn\u2019t it? Watching this cultural warfare, it seems like almost gladiatorial combat, with Tribe A seeking to destroy Tribe B and Tribe B attempting to destroy Tribe A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, there is nothing new in this. Remember the Pharisees making Jesus and his followers into their deadly enemies? They tried every means to trick him, to trip him up, to prove he was wrong, and to show that only they were right. If Jesus said it, it must be wrong. If they believed it, it must be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This acceptance and embracing of conflict clearly echo in our time. Doesn\u2019t it ring true in almost every aspect of our culture, dividing us into competing camps? Driven by fears and insecurities and feelings of loss and absolute self-protection on every side, this view lures far too many of us into a radical and destructive mindset \u2013 one that focuses totally on winning, not seeking right solutions or what is best for all \u2013 but winning at all costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan goes on to describe how dramatic this malady is and suggests why it is so easy to become tribalistic. One of the great attractions of tribalism, he contends, is that you don\u2019t actually have to think very much. You only need \u201cto know on any given subject\u2026 which side you\u2019re on\u2026 A tribal leader calls the shots, and everything slips into place. After a while, your immersion in tribal loyalty makes the activities of another tribe not just alien but close to incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an example, Sullivan quotes George Orwell from several generations ago. The great social critic suggested that a function of tribalism holds that, \u201cThere is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when \u2018our\u2019 side commits it.\u201d This is a belief that anything done by me \u2013 by us \u2013 must be okay, and whatever is done by you \u2013 by them \u2013 must be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite interesting \u2013 but quite true. And \u2013 quite horrible \u2013 because this mentality describes much of American thought and practice in 2018. What tribalism creates, obviously, is an \u201cus against them\u201d mentality. Us against Them. Them against Us. Us against Them. Them against Us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To offer a remedy, Sullivan quotes Pope Francis. In Colombia, as a fragile peace agreement met public opposition, the Pope insisted that grudges be left behind, saying that, \u201cAll of us are necessary to create and form a society. This isn\u2019t just done with the \u2018pure-blooded\u2019 ones, but rather with everyone. And here is where the greatness of the country lies, in that there is room for all and all are important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Francis urges us to reject the view of Us against Them and instead adopt an Us and Them approach to living in a divided world. Us and Them. Them and Us. This can remind us of something we learned in kindergarten but somehow have forgotten as adults \u2013 that is, how to play nice with everyone in the sandbox. Us and Them leads us to communicate and cooperate, to respect and recognize mutual needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What a powerful perspective, to be sure. But is it enough? Mustn\u2019t we, here in this place today, reach ever beyond a helpful, but incomplete, Us and Them commitment? Knowing our allegiance to Christ, living out our values as a people of faith, isn\u2019t there more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is where the Bible side of Barth\u2019s pair comes in. We juxtapose the redeeming truth of our Lord, the Good News of God, against the bad news of division we encounter so frequently in our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus tells those who would lay their trust in him: \u201cIf any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giving substance to this cross of self-denial can propel us into a reality more likely to transform the Us against Them sickness of our time into something more God-like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the fundamental and essential nature of our faith, we can reveal in word and action a new Us\/Them reality. What this can mean is taking up our crosses \u2013 in denial and love and giving \u2013 to reach a view of Us for Them. Us for Them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honestly and realistically, there will not likely be a corresponding Them for Us response \u2013 at least not at first. Therefore, it falls on us to show the world the way to overcome the tribalism of Us against Them by showing we are for them and all others, regardless of whether they reciprocate or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We dare not forget how Jesus teaches us to take up the cross of self-denial, commanding us to love one another as we inevitably love ourselves. To turn love into more than a noun, making it a powerful verb of caring. To remember that Christian love is the transforming example of the Good Samaritan \u2013 love and care given without hope or desire of receiving anything in return, given without strings, given only because of the other\u2019s need. Given \u2013 in the spirit of Us for Them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we can act with such a faith, maybe we can turn destructive tribalism on its head and live as a different type of tribe \u2013 one that Jesus models \u2013 one opposite from the divisive and self-serving kind of tribes described by Sullivan in his analysis of what ails our country. Maybe we can become a tribe of Christians \u2013 a tribe for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe we can be a community of people \u2013 who at best are what we already are \u2013 the body of Christ, working together with committed allegiance to the same powers of creation that Jesus embodied \u2013 rejecting and opposing the harmful and divisive and negative ways of thinking characteristic of tribalism. Putting an end to the winner-take-all mentality that infects our cultural health. Maybe that\u2019s who and what we can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if the [number in congregation] of us here today became such a tribe of Us for Them? What if we few would commit to stopping the cycle of demonizing the other and the insistence that we alone are right \u2013 opening ourselves to the value we know the others possess as beloved children of God? Maybe our efforts would begin the change that the world desperately needs. Maybe we can become the pebble tossed into the pond that creates ripple after ripple, transforming a destructive Us against Them culture into an Us for Them culture, consistent with the self-denying challenge of our Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. Ken Kesselus<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The esteemed 20th-century theologian Karl Barth [pronounced \u201cBart\u201d] reportedly advised preachers to prepare sermons with the Bible in one hand and a current newspaper in the other. Obviously, he wanted the Bible to inform us and advise us, for good or bad, about what is going on in our time. Today, a magazine article satisfies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[346],"class_list":["post-512364","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-19b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":346,"label":"Proper 19B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478533,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512364\/revisions\/3478533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}