Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
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By The Rev. Aric B. Flemming, Jr.
Assistant Director, Doctoral Programs
Harvard Business School.
(The following is a transcript of the service audio, July 9, 2023)
First, I want to offer my sincerest gratitude to be standing in this sacred space. Once again, its illustrious history is one that some can only dream of encountering, and you've invited me to continue in its legacy and tradition once more. For that, I am very grateful.
This morning I want to talk from the subject God Over Government, God Over Government. The text was read for your hearing from the Book of Joshua 5. I won't read it again, I will spare you. But we have some things to talk about on this day. Oh, yes, yes, if you know me, then you know we're going to have a little chitchat this morning. How about we start with the headline, The Supreme Court Takes Down Affirmative Action, Ending the Systematic Consideration of Race in the Admissions Process.
If we're being honest, can we just be sincere for a moment, has this decision come as a surprise to you? Yes, I have commitment professionally to the administration of this university, but I also have a commitment to justice, truth, and the God of my salvation. I ask you again, has this come as a surprise to you?
I must offer solemn apologies to you, my dear brothers and sisters, if you have not heard, if you haven't seen, if you have not discovered the truth. News flash: we live in a country and have been living in a country perpetuating a rhetoric of liberation while on a trajectory of implosion because of deep-seated denial. We'd rather turn a blind eye to the truth to avoid the painstaking realization of our realities. D-E-N-I-A-L is the biggest enemy of this country. You know, denial about race, denial about equity, denial about socioeconomics, denial about the traumatic histories that we face every day for some, salvation for others, everything that's happening in Texas, everything that's happening in Florida. If we can just avoid addressing it, maybe it'll all just go away.
My problem with the Supreme Court's decision is not the decision itself. No, no, no, no, I don't want to confuse you. My problem is that we're still pretending that this kind of stuff is not supposed to happen in a context and a climate that has not reconciled its history with the truth. So we keep hearing words like, "I'm so surprised that anything like this could happen in America. What a shame. Oh, we're surely living in terrible, tough times. I've never seen such a thing in all of my living."
The truth about power, the truth about violence, the truth about injustice. Please, do yourself a favor, do all of us a favor, like Brother Spike said, wake up and smell the coffee. Let's not pretend like the stuff we hide under the rug didn't happen and recognize the truth, that the histories of violence in this country are real and they impact all of us, not just the vulnerable. Yes, I know, I know what you're saying. So many problems that persist today are problems that you did not personally ask for, that I did not personally ask for. And yes, you and I inherited some of these things, but the sword is in your hands now, and we've got to decide whether to cut off the head of injustice or run and flee for fear of our own lives.
Here's the truth for your ears this morning, that lies only avoid the truth but will never confront it, which means at some point, whatever we systematically attempt to hide under the rug is coming back up again. We have to face the truth and shame the voices that would encourage stagnation. We must embolden ourselves to fix the problems that persist and not allow our voices to be diminished by a majority. A group of frogs, small frogs were in the forest one day when two of them in this group just so happened to plunge themselves into an enormous pit, one that they did not see coming. When the other frogs came to the pit to look for them, they told these two frogs, "There's no hope of getting out of your situation."
So one frog actually listened to the other frogs. Because the others thought getting out of the pit was hopeless, he thought his situation was also hopeless and did not bother to come up with a solution. He remained in the pit. He just sat there and accepted his fate that he was stuck there perhaps for the rest of his life. The second frog, however, played his cards a little different. Despite what the other frogs said to him, he didn't think his situation was hopeless. He jumped so hard until he got out. When he was out of the pit, one of the frogs that were leaning over yelling, saying that there's no hope for you, one of them came from the group and approached him and commended him for his bravery.
Then he asked him, "How did you do it in spite of what the group was saying?" Because the second frog looked so confused by the other frog's statement, he began to explain how he did it. He said, "I'm actually hearing impaired, probably nearly deaf, and because of the distance, I could not tell what the other frogs were actually saying to me. I could only tell that they were saying things. I actually thought they were cheering me on." And just like that frog, we're going to take a leap into this text today where we see a man named Joshua, charged by God, the God of Israel, to further push the Israelites into the life that is promised to them. Though I must offer this disclaimer for the ways in which these texts have historically been used to do harm and violence. Harvard Divinity School will never forgive me if I do not.
And though this is a text that precedes the Battle of Jericho, it is more advantageous for us to observe the worship Joshua engaged in prior to the battle, for where there is no worship or reverence for God there can be no victory. So let's observe how Joshua was instructed to disrupt and dismantle the wickedness of a nation, where the text tells us he looked up and saw an angel of God with a sword and asked him, "Whose side are you on?" And the angel replied, "I'm on neither side, but I have come in the name of your God."
This point here is so powerful for us this morning, friends, because what we have to recognize is that in this moment in time that our nation actually claims, "If God be for us," whenever it is that we might need victory. We print on our dollars and our coins, "In God we trust," when our economic stability is challenged. We're ever so quick to employ the name of God for our own political, financial, and selfish gain, but the truth is that God could not be more absent from the violence and the harm we cause one another.
God is not an American. God is not a product of this government. God is over the government. And while we have the chance, we must recognize God's position in the narrative and employ attitudes of reverence for God by also employing reverence for ourselves and our neighbors. "For they that loveth not their siblings whom they have seen, how can they love God whom they have not seen?" Does it not disturb you that the Acropolis of the American democracy, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, hence why they call it Capitol Hill, this place has been a historical battleground for a display of the internal conflict happening at the core, the soul, the conscience of this nation. And yet, we're still surprised that a decision like this can come from a Supreme Court.
Let's just go ahead and air out the dirty laundry, shall we? Let's let it all hang out because we're so invested in saving face for the facade, even so to the point that we believe in and both having unconsciously bought into the concept of American exceptionalism, American supremacy, American superiority, where cute violences are done in the name of God and government. And no, no, no, no, no, I must tell you for that reason, God is not here because we've got to take responsibility for the stuff we do before God gets here. These battles are not God's. This battle belongs to America, and America must take responsibility for its actions and must weep for the tears it caused in the eyes of the vulnerable.
Excuse me, heaven, there's a mess on aisle 23, and we need to get it together before someone gets hurt, not to mention the people that have already slipped on the blood that's been spilled on the floor of democracy. You have to understand why I came to Joshua, because I saw a few different angles that opened up Pandora's box, problems at the core of a nation that God might not be in. What I quickly realized about the story was that this portion of the narrative precedes the fall of Jericho where the children of Israel shout until the walls come down. But those who are called to pull this terrifying American tyrannical tower cannot at the same time be beholden to its policies and cannot benefit from its exploitation. If it's really God's doing, the oppressed will be empowered to overtake the city, not the privileged.
But then again, clearly God is not in it. If God was there, the God of justice would've taken control to set fires to the towers that transgress morality and justice. But the tower is still standing. The powerful have employed their privilege to hold it up. They don't want to tear it down. They want to take it over, because for them it's about power, not the promise of democracy or equality.
And then the text reads, my favorite part... I feel as though I've probably led some of you all down a very dark path, but I'm coming to bring you back. There is hope in the end. The text reads, "Joshua fell face down in the presence of the commander of the army of the Lord. And right there, the angel said, 'Remove your shoes, this is holy ground.'" Now, friends, we understand that in that moment, what was intended to be a battleground has actually become holy ground. Immediately, Joshua decided to make a sanctuary out of his footprints because God was there and the ground was holy.
Just imagine if we had reverence enough for the ground that we stand on, just enough for the glory of God to rest here. O, children of God, I know some of you are upset with me earlier when I said God ain't here, but you want to know why god is not here? Because the ground is not holy enough. The problem is not that God does not want to be here. Hear me clearly, but the glory of God cannot rest if the ground is not worthy to receive it. This message was not about the Supreme Court, but Capitol Hill, the Capitol Hill of these United States has never been sanctioned as a holy place in practice. Its ground has seen many murders, lies, deceits, segregation, and violence. That ground is literally stacked with bodies of bloodshed to the core and wars and rumors of them that have formed the foundations of this nation. That is the truth.
So before we ask for anything, before we request protection, before we pray for victory, we need to ask for forgiveness as a nation for the terror we ensue by existing where we are, as we have, and look toward a new vision where the glory of God can actually rest. Do you know all we have to do as a people to see the glory of God is do just as Joshua did? Simple instructions, right where you stand, remove your shoes, make sanctuary out of your footsteps, and allow the spirit of God to rest right where you are. And from there, with you, with me, with all of us collectively, we begin the journey to see the salvation of the Lord and reconcile the truth we've been so quick to escape. Amen.