“Just Say Yes to Multiethnic Faith Communities”

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are a Participant in the Dream”

1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus consistently challenged the disciples to put their beliefs into practice. In Mark 4:40, Jesus responds to the disciples’ plea for help in the storm. Jesus replied, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Martin Luther King, Jr, in his April 16, 1963, Letter from a Brimingham Jail, writes,

Injustice anywhere is a threat. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.[1]

I think the disciples thought it was an injustice that Jesus was sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the boat. Jesus was fine, and they were fearful of losing their lives. The disciples spoke up. Jesus moved them from belief to action.

Moving belief into action is imperative. You recall the story of David and Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:32 reads, “David said to Saul, let no one’s heart fail because of him [Goliath]; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with the marginalized. Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with diverse ethnic groupings. Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with the suffering and oppressed. Our call is to engage injustice in all its forms.

The Gospel reading in Mark 4 asks us to hear Jesus’ words, “Peace! Be still!” quieting the storm. We are to put key Christian beliefs into action, thus quieting the storms in everyday life. In the storms in our lives and in the lives of those around us, we can rediscover our faith in the power of Jesus’ words to the wind and sea, “Peace! Be still!”[2]

Unjust realities confront us every day. The current discussions on race, the Juneteenth Federal Holiday, immigration, economic equity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender equality, both personally and in government, all have themes of justice and injustice woven throughout.

The storms rage, but Jesus states, “Peace! Be still!” When we put our faith, our beliefs into practice it is not faith that God will protect us, but faith and beliefs that conquer fear and secure us in God’s promise that death has been defeated and will never win. The storms outside aggravate the storms within. Each of us might want to acknowledge our fears.

Nine years ago, Wednesday, June 19th, Dylann Roof was charged with nine counts of murder and bond was set at $1,000,000. In this initial hearing, Roof faced families of some of the nine people he was accused of killing and heard words of forgiveness. At the bond hearing, Dylann Roof stood motionless while listening to the anguished words of relatives of victims he allegedly gunned down Wednesday night at a Bible study meeting at the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. “I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of Ethel Lance said. “And may God have mercy on your soul. …God forgives you, I forgive you.”[3] Dylann Roof received justice for his crimes. He also was offered forgiveness by his victims.

Like David, who did not demonize the Philistines, a legitimate enemy of the people of Israel and a different ethnic group, put your faith into action, personally and collectively. Engage “the other.” David did not fear “the other”, Goliath, but trusted in God. David, defeating Goliath, was a witness to the Philistines of the true nature of the Israelites’ God.

Jesus addressed the value of multi-ethnic faith communities when meeting the woman at the well, a Samaritan, and the Syrophoenician woman begging for the crumbs on the floor, and we are to do the same as his followers. Jesus wants all to be touched by and touch Jesus. Diversity in human ethnicity is ordained by God.

Ponder these key Christian beliefs. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Love God and love others. Mourn with others. Endure persecution for doing the right thing. Serve the least.

Embrace the diversity, ethnically, in humanity. Discover the contrast between hero and villain, victor and vanquished, and vulnerability and strength. Lean into the ultimate power of love to overcome the storms within and without.[4] Spiritual understanding leads to a way of being rooted in love and justice.

Like David, examine your unexamined assumptions.[5] Listen intently to your fears and speak into them.[6] Receive and act on Jesus’ words, “Peace! Be still!” Amen.

This sermon was preached the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 23 June 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

Steven M. Marsh

[1]Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters To A Birmingham Jail: A Response To The Words And Dreams Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 2014), 20.

[2]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, J. Scott Hudgins, Eunjoo Mary Kim, Scot McKnight, Dan R. Dick, William Greenway, and David J. Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 89-93, 93-95, 96-99, 100-102, 102-103, 104-106 and 106-107.

[3]Adapted from a CNN report on www.cnn.com, June 19, 2015.

[4]Adapted from William Greenway in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 105.

[5]Adapted from J. Scott Hudgins in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 95.

[6]Adapted from David J Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 107.

A Word From Our Interim Pastor: The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

As followers of Jesus, we are marked. These marks are meant to characterize our life as believers and as a church at Grace.

To preach the gospel marks us.
To properly administer the sacraments marks us.
To rightly exercise church discipline marks us.

As a church, living as marked followers of Jesus, we are marked to address culture and society that struggles in knowing its way and building a better humanity.

Followers of Jesus are to be leaven for individual and social change.
Followers of Jesus are to be salt and light for individual and social change.
At one time the Church held a privileged place in culture. That is no longer the case.

A shift from modern to postmodern philosophical assumptions began in the early seventies. The Church was then thrust into the culture wars which have only intensified. The message of the Church was no longer readily accepted. The cultural and societal response continues to be apathetic and hostile.

As the Son of God, Jesus was marked.

Jesus suffered for you and me.
Jesus stayed focused on the will of his Father.
Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus rose from the dead so that we could experience forgiveness for those sins and live a new life, now, and eternally.

Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Do you believe that by placing your faith in him you are forgiven and will live a new life now and have eternal life?

As followers of Jesus, we are marked. Let’s participate with God in bringing salvation and transformation to individuals and society.

On the journey of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

06-16-2024 Steven Marsh – Just Say No To Economic Injustice

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are A Participant In the Dream”

“Just Say No To Economic Injustice”

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Mark 4:26-34

The good news of Jesus is that no one should be oppressed by economic injustice.

What does economic injustice look like? According to author Anshu Siripurapu writing for the Council on Foreign Relations,

Income and wealth inequality is higher in the United States than in almost any other developed country, and it is rising. There are large wealth and income gaps across racial groups, which many experts attribute to the country’s legacy of slavery and racist economic policies. Proposals to reduce inequality include a more progressive income tax, a higher minimum wage, and expanded educational opportunities.[1]

Consider the following examples of economic injustice as found in Matthew Desmond’s new book Poverty by America:

1. Wages rose slowly for the poorest Americans

Since 1979, the bottom 90% of income earners in the U.S. experienced annual earnings gains of only 24%, Desmond writes, while the wages of the top 1% of earners more than doubled. His findings are based on data from a number of sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pew Research Center.

Looking at inflation-adjusted earnings, ordinary workers have seen their pay tick up just 0.3% a year for several decades, Desmond writes. “Astonishingly, the real wages for many Americans today are roughly what they were 40 years ago.”

2. More government aid for the financially comfortable

In 2020, the federal government spent $53 billion on direct housing assistance for the needy. That same year, it shelled out over $193 billion on homeowner subsidies such as the home mortgage interest deduction. Desmond analyzed tax data from a number of sources, including the Office of Management and Budget.

“Most families who enjoy those subsidies have six-figure incomes and are white,” Desmond writes. “Poor families lucky enough to live in government-owned apartments often have to deal with mold and even lead paint, while rich families are claiming the mortgage interest deduction on first and second homes.”

3. 1 in 18 live in ‘deep poverty’

In his book, Desmond, analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources, reports that 1 in 18 people in the U.S. live in what’s considered “deep poverty,” or what he calls “a subterranean level of scarcity.”

In 2020, this category included people who make less than $6,380 a year, or families of four living on less than $13,100. In 2020, almost 18 million people in America lived in these conditions, including some 5 million children.

Desmond writes, “There is growing evidence that America harbors a hard bottom layer of deprivation, a kind of extreme poverty once thought to exist only in faraway places of bare feet and swollen bellies.”

4. Racial wealth gap is as large as in the ’60s

Looking at the work of other authors and Federal Reserve data, Desmond found that the racial wealth gap is as wide today as it was more than five decades ago.

In 2019, the median white household had a net worth of $188,200, compared with $24,100 for the median Black household.

Again Desmond notes, “Our legacy of systematically denying Black people access to the nation’s land and riches has been passed from generation to generation.”

5. Overdraft fees mostly paid by the poor

In 2019, the largest U.S. banks charged Americans $11.68 billion in overdraft fees.

Just 9% of those account holders paid the lion’s share, 84%, of those charges — customers who carried an average balance of less than $350.[2]

Economic injustice is complicated and a divisive subject to engage. However, as followers of Jesus we must engage it for the sake of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. What guidance can we receive from 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 and

Mark 4:26-34 regarding economic injustice?

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Saul was appointed by Samuel.
Saul increasingly became more deranged and incompetent. His leadership was filled with bad decisions, bad luck, and predictable fate.
Saul had difficulty admitting his sin. He was insecure, fearful, jealous, controlling, and greedy.
Saul was obsessed with establishing his greatness. He exploited the people by forbidding them to eat, rest, or tend to their own needs until the victory in war was certain. Saul did not serve the people. He expected the people to serve him.
David, the youngest son of Jesse, not Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, was selected as king. It was David’s heart that impressed God, not his appearance.
God intervenes and restores. “Out with the old” and “in with the new.”

Mark 4:26-34

Why does Jesus teach in parables? To keep us in the process of engaging the work of planting seeds of good news and hope and listening well to those around us. The goal is not the solution, but the process of engagement.
Spiritual understanding requires revisiting the Biblical text and the text in people’s lives time and time again.
Spiritual understanding requires avoiding the simplistic and delving into the depth of the questions.
Spiritual understanding avoids legalism as a response.
Spiritual understanding fosters growth. It does not create it.
Spiritual understanding leads to the conclusion of seeing the kingdom of God as a community of fellowship and connection as opposed to the empire of Nero.[3]

With the anointing of David as king, God ushers in a new era of restoration and renewal for the people of God and humanity. Spiritual understanding leads to a way of being rooted in love and justice. Recall these paragraphs in Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”:

…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice…

In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus spreads seeds of good news and hope through your words and deeds. Be patient. Use your ears and eyes. Do not wring your hands. Participate with God in discerning diligence and experience the unexpected and continual unfolding commonwealth-growing givens.[4] Participate in fulfilling the dream. Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 16 June 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh at Grace Presbyterian Church

in the Great Room and Sanctuary in Wichita, Kansas.

Steven M. Marsh

[1]On the Council on Foreign Relations website cfr.org dated April 20, 2022.

[2]Matthew Desmond, Poverty, By America (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2023).

[3]In the three paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, J. Scott Hudgins, Eunjoo Mary Kim, Scot McKnight, Dan R. Dick, William Greenway, and David J. Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 72-75, 75-77, 78-80, 81-83, 83-84, 85-87 and 87-88.

[4]Adapted from William Greenway in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 87.

A Word From Our Interim Pastor – The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

As I reflect upon the meaning of the resurrection, and I do that often, I am becoming more and more convinced that authenticity is of utmost importance in the Christian walk.

What is it about authenticity that is so difficult, yet attractive?

First, to live authentically means to tell the truth about others and ourselves. Are you willing to look in the mirror of your life and honestly admit what you see? What if you see deceit, hate, anger, arrogance, or jealousy? What will you do?
Second, to live authentically means not to pretend. Integrate your Christian faith into everyday life. Living an authentic life in the Christian faith means that we face the ups and the downs with honesty and forthrightness.
Third, to live authentically means to be vulnerable. Vulnerability means that who you are is what we see. And what we see is what we get. And what we get is who you are and what we see. You mean what you say and you say what you mean.

No matter how difficult it is to live authentically in truth, not pretending and being vulnerable, there will be people who don’t understand. I yearn to live my life more authentically. I yearn for others to do the same. Authenticity is the indicator of being fully alive in Jesus Christ. No untruth. No pretending. No avoiding of vulnerability. Let’s trust Jesus Christ, through the written Word of God, to give us the courage to live lives that are truthful, not pretending, and vulnerable. It is the way of Jesus Christ. It is the way of the cross. It is the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

On the journey of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

06-09-2024 Steven Marsh – Advocacy In The Holy Spirit

“Jesus’ Message: You Are God’s Presence”

“Advocacy In The Spirit”

1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20

Mark 3:20-35

The good news of Jesus is that we do not need to be held captive by “the powers and principalities” of darkness. My friends, we live in a wonderful time in history right now. Yes, you have good news to share with people who are held captive by the powers of darkness rooted in ethnicity, patriarchy, wealth, division, gender identity, and war. These powers are dark in they are not just. Consider the following illustration of the powers of darkness that cause chaos:

While elaborating on loving one’s neighbor, apologist Michael Ramsden spoke of a colleague who while in Asia asked his audience to close their eyes and imagine peace. After a few seconds the audience was invited to share their mental pictures of peace. One person described a field with flowers and beautiful trees. Another person spoke of snow-capped mountains and an incredible alpine landscape. Still another described the scene of a beautiful, still lake. After everyone described their mental picture of peace there was one thing common in them all—there were no people in them. Ramsden commented, “Isn’t it interesting, when asked to imagine peace the first thing we do is to eliminate everyone else.”^[1]

Like the audience imagining “peace,” we too see the locus of the chaos residing in others. We too shut people out in order to have peace.

The chaos others cause can make us angry. For example, it is not just for one group to believe they are superior to another “simply because of skin color or cultural heritage;” to use the power of patriarchy stating that “men should dominate women;” to motivate through the power of wealth, “which roars at us that money gives us life;” to foster through the power of division, “which promotes the binary conclusion of those who are ‘in’ and those who are ‘out’;” to exclude through the power of acknowledging and recognizing only one gender identity, “which claims that any gender identity other than being biologically male or female is not human;” or to flaunt the power of war which asserts that “weapons and killing bring about peace and harmony.”^[2]

So much of the conflict in America now revolves around race, patriarchy, wealth, division, gender identity, and war. And people on both sides are angry. When anger takes root, we run the risk of committing blasphemy as followers of Jesus. What is blasphemy? Blasphemy is “Expressing through speech or writing that which is impious, mocking, or contemptuous toward God.”^[3] Anger holds us captive with an unforgiving disposition, and behavior. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is “pardoning or remitting sinful offenses. It restores a good relationship with God, others, or self after sin or alienation.”^[4]

In Mark 3:20-35, Jesus entered a house, quite randomly, and a great crowd gathered outside. The scene must have been chaotic. Jesus’ family heard about the chaos, went to encourage and protect Jesus, but the people had concluded that he was out of his mind. Concluding that Jesus was “out of his mind”, is another way of saying, Jesus had an evil spirit. In Jesus’ time mental instability was generally attributed to demonic activity. The charges of the family and of the teachers of the law are designed to stop Jesus from continuing his activity. Jesus was charged with being demon possessed. They called him Beelzebub, which is a euphemism for the Devil.

In response, Jesus addresses the logic of the law of contradiction. He states what was self-evident: if Satan attacks himself, eventually there will be no more Satan left and he would become powerless. But this is not so, Jesus has power. The law of contradiction states that a person or institution cannot be divided against itself. Charged with possession by an evil spirit, Jesus claims to be working not with evil spirits, but with the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in Mark 3:28-29, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” So, what is the unforgiveable sin? Not believing in God. [5]

At Grace, we aspire to be followers of Jesus who are about remembering, telling, and living the way of Jesus. We want to be the best Jesus someone sees. As followers of Jesus, we worship God not race; God not patriarchy; God not wealth; God not division; God not gender identity; God not war. As followers of Jesus, we are to demonstrate Jesus Christ to the world. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus spreads seeds of good news through your words and deeds.

As followers of Jesus, our lives parallel life as it was in the time of the reading in 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20. The elders of Israel were losing confidence and faith in their governmental institutions. Fear and anxiety were at a high level. Samuel was growing old and neither of his sons had the moral or religious leadership of their father. So, the people clamored for what all other nations had, a king. The people thought a king would unify the people, provide a hierarchical structure to enforce the rule of law, and efficiently organize a military to defend Israel against other nations. There is something wrong in human nature that is only rectified in and through Jesus Christ. As John Rollefson notes, “It is not that the imago dei has been erased from our DNA but that deep within ourselves we are not fully what we are meant to be and, what is more, we know it.”[6]

Human choices have real consequences. And more often than not, they reveal who we really are. As Christians, the Holy Spirit advocates for us to take a counter-cultural perspective, one which rejects the transforming of familial love into a kinship loyalty. A kinship loyalty promotes exclusivist ethnic, doctrinal, and nationalist appeals. Familial love, a powerful fellowship with God and others rejects any exclusivist appeal.

In Christ, you are forgiven. Be awakened to God’s grace for yourself and others. You can live, right now, forgiving. Share in word and deed the good news that fellowship with God and one another advocates for the vanquishing of the powers of darkness rooted in exclusivist appeals to ethnicity, patriarchy, wealth, division, gender identity, and war. Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Third Sunday after Pentecost, 9 June 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh at Grace Presbyterian Church

in the Great Room and Sanctuary in Wichita, Kansas.

Steven M. Marsh

[1]Provided by Van Morris in Michael Ramsden’s article “Is Christianity a Matter of Convenience?” (July 29, 2015) as found on www.keswickministries.org.

[2]Some ideas adapted from Nibs Stroupe in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 119.

[3]Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 31.

[4]Ibid., 107.

[5]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, J. Scott Hudgins, Eunjoo Mary Kim, Scot McKnight, Dan R. Dick, William Greenway, and David J. Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 54-57, 57-58, 59-61, 62-64, 64-66, 67-69 and 69-71.

[6]John Rollefson in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3, 102.