top of page
Preaching Roundtable.png

Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Year C
September 11, 2022
Rev. Emily Meyer

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 and Psalm 14
Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

The RCL texts for September 11, 2022, illustrate the arc of justice and right-relationship as it is problematized by human fragility. God’s call to repentance requires humility and courage to step away from supremacist notions of perfection as we step toward God’s gift of New Life for individuals, communities, and creation.

 

Recognizing the poignancy of each of these readings for the end of Summer 2022 and for this particular date, I would turn the entire worship service into the sermon, allowing the texts to guide us: Jeremiah’s prophetic call to repentance would be the Call to Worship; Psalm 14 and 51, interwoven, would serve as a Litany of Lament and Confession; and a reworked 1 Timothy would serve as Absolution[1]. After reading Exodus and Luke, I would preach on the extraordinary gift of repentance and its transformational power for individuals, communities, and ultimately, the planet as a whole.

 

‘Repentance’ carries baggage. Let’s consider setting some of it down:

One key debate of our pre-teen sleep-overs was whether or not it was a good idea to tell someone when they had green stuff in their teeth. The pro side argued that a good friend tells a person they’ve got gross stuff in their teeth so they can get rid of it to avoid further awkwardness. The dissent declared the embarrassment of finding out in front of, or even in proximity to, other people would be enough to ruin one forever.

 

I always favored the former. I’m pretty sure that’s where most of us wound up.

 

Repentance is threatening or disheartening when viewed from a supremacist lens - “the embarrassment of deficiency might ruin us forever”.

Viewed through the lens of the spiritual self, God’s call to repentance is a gift: ‘thank goodness you told me so I didn’t go through my whole day looking unkempt”.[2]

 

Repentance means turning away from destructive behaviors and attitudes - which, when left undiagnosed and unrepented become even more toxic to our bodies, minds, and souls - and entering into the life-giving, sustaining and sustainable ways of Jesus/God, sloughing that extra burden of guilt or shame as we release the act or attitude.

 

We miss this gift when we avoid repentance and often compound the trauma by shifting the blame to an ‘other’:

 

●      When the Twin Towers came down Christian leaders immediately blamed our Muslim siblings - then added, “pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians…, the ACLU, People for the American Way…”.[3]

●      Hurricane Katrina was also, God’s Judgment on America[4] - because of ‘gamblers’ and ‘fornicators’.

●      COVID-19 resulted in, Attacks on Asian Americans [Spiking] by 164%[5].

 

Historically, we’ve found God to be a favorite scapegoat, by claiming that circumstances are beyond our control and out of our hands because all sorts of negative experiences are ‘God’s judgment’. Science demands we get over this supremacist notion and recognize that global deterioration is the natural result of human consumption - this is our ‘sin’, not God’s judgment.

 

Just as Jeremiah prophesied, God - in and through nature - is making it very clear that it is time for humans to repent. If current generations blame others and otherwise attempt to avoid embarrassment, the toxicity levels will only continue to rise - within our individual bodies and souls, within our communities, and throughout the planet.

Indeed, unless we repent, large portions of the planet will soon be too hot to sustain human life.[6] Nature will right itself; nature always wins. Ultimately, God’s mercy will be revealed in green meadows, cool waters, and blue skies. But, as Jeremiah posits, the very real question is whether humans will be around to experience them - and God’s grace - if we don’t repent sometime soon.

 

Our egoic need for scapegoats deepens and strengthens our avoidance of repentance as it reveals our defensiveness, which in turn reveals a sense of guilt or even shame for ‘sins’ we are reluctant to name, reveal, or admit even to ourselves.

 

But it is in the naming, revealing, and admitting that we find release from the pain, guilt and shame our destructive attitudes and behaviors cause: we have to get the gunk out of our teeth to prevent decay and rot and further awkwardness. Furthermore, in the naming, revealing, and admitting we teach future generations the grace of repentance as we make room for transforming ourselves, our communities, and our planet.

 

Repentance only feels terrifying if we maintain our supremacy lens. Our spiritual lens - our Easter lens - reveals that while repentance feels like death (to turn around fully, we will give something up, we will lose yet another part of our story or experience or dream), and while that death will be real (loss feels like loss), in these parables - and through the cross - Jesus shows us that that loss is nothing compared to the glorious New Life awaiting us on the other side.

 

And from individuals, the New Life flows out in abundance: with each generation that does not repent, behaviors, attitudes and inflicted traumas become further engrained. Jeremiah’s prophetic vision/apt description of Summer 2022 urges us to see how generations of consumption, greed, and matricide[7] are culminating in the end of human existence on the planet. Jeremiah’s urgency is needed, right now.

 

Once a generation does repent, God throws a party (see Luke 15)! There are blessings galore: not because God otherwise withholds these gifts, but because our continued ignorance, greed, etc., prevent us from realizing them. One generation’s repentance, then, opens the doors for future generations both to learn humility and benefit from the trickle-down effect of the resultant glory.[8] This is the Exodus story: forming a new society by shaping successive generations with God’s ideals[9].

 

And the blessings continue to flow: from individual repentance and transformation, families will be reshaped; families will reimagine congregations and communities, then maybe, hopefully, with not too much more delay, our broader society will enjoy the reshaped ideals of God’s Beloved Community and Christ’s New Life will spread joy around the globe - the hot wind will recede, God will find a people who are not evil, the planned disaster will be averted, joy and gladness will resound, grace will overflow, and there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God.






[1] See Liturgical Elements (here) for samples of each.

[2] Yes, this notion also participates in a supremacist ideal of perfection; every illustration has its limits.

[3] Trigger Warning: This article contains inflammatory and traumatizing sentiments and language. “Falwell: Blame Abortionists, Feminists, and Gays”, The Guardian, 09.19.2001; (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/19/september11.usa9), accessed 08.07.22.

[4] Trigger Warning: This article contains inflammatory and traumatizing sentiments and language. “Katrina: God’s Judgment on America”. Beliefnet; (https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2005/09/katrina-gods-judgment-on-america.aspx), accessed 08.17.22

[5] Farivar, Masood, “Attacks on Asian Americans Spiked by 164% in First Quarter of 2021”; Voice of America, April 28, 2021 (updated April 30, 2021); (https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_attacks-asian-americans-spiked-164-first-quarter-2021/6205172.html); accessed 08.19.22.

[6] See The Guardian’s October 2021 article, “The Climate Disaster Is Here”, for specific data and supporting images; (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/oct/14/climate-change-happening-now-stats-graphs-maps-cop26); accessed 08.17.22.

[7] See numerous Matthew Fox posts, books, articles and webinars on this subject. Start here.

[8] See Vincent Harding's take on repentance as present and future gift in Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement (Oris Books, 2010); especially Chapter 5: 'God's Appeal to This Age': The Search for Alternatives to Violence (pgs. 76ff). Harding uses a specific ‘lost lamb’ to illustrate how the post-World War II Black-led Freedom Movement - which called the entire United States of America to repent of our racism and white supremacy - was a gift, if only we could see it that way; a gift inviting us to our truest, best selves as individuals and as the nation we dream we might be.

[9] See Gustafson, Scott W. Biblical Amnesia. Infinity, West Conshohocken, PA; 2004.

Rev. Emily Meyer
Rev. Emily Meyer
The Ministry Lab
Minneapolis, MN

Rev. Emily Meyer (she/her), Executive Director of The Ministry Lab
As an ordained pastor in the ELCA, Emily interned in Seaside, OR, served as pastor, liturgical artist, and faith formation leader in suburban, ex-urban and rural Minnesota congregations, created and directed the multi-congregational affirmation of baptism program, Confirmation Reformation, and was pastor of Fullness of God Lutheran Church in the retreat center, Holden Village. She currently serves as executive director of The Ministry Lab (St Paul, MN), where she consults and curates and creates resources for progressive UCC, UMC, and PC(USA) congregations throughout Minnesota and the United Theological Seminary community. Rev. Meyer leads contemplative and creative retreats and small groups. Between pastoral gigs, she has enjoyed costume designing, choreographing, and performing. She lives in Minneapolis, MN, with spouse Brian, daughter Natasha, and two Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Kiko and Zip.

EcoFaith Logo

The EcoFaith Network

NE-MN Synod ELCA with Saint Paul Area Synod Care of Creation

St Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Logo

Find us on 

  • Facebook
©2023 The EcoFaith Network 
bottom of page