Sermon thoughts and other musings

These are my personal reflections: Ok, I admit that I'm sad about the apparent outcome of the Presidential election. Sad and scared. I am scared for the continuation of an unjust and immoral war in Iraq - a war that has only helped the terrorists acquire recruits and funding. I am scared because I don't see help on the horizon for 46 million Americans without health insurance. I am scared because conservatives used homophobia as an election strategy, placing anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives in battleground states to fire up their base.

In the midst of my fear, I realize that for the first time I think I understand what the Israelites felt like when the Babylonians conquered them. The society was under judgment from God, as I believe we shall be. Under judgment because we are a society where the upper and middle classes "trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land." (Amos 8:4) Not every Israelite trampled on the poor ... and yet they were guilty. The guilt of a community falls on each of us. That's a core message of the Gospel: we're all in it together.

So now I know what it feels like to await judgment on a nation - my nation. I didn't vote for Bush, in 2000 or 2004. In a sense, it isn't my fault. But that's what sin is about. It's not about me, it's about us. Sin is primarily about community; sins are offenses against community, and the community suffers its consequences.

And so I am scared. Scared because we, as a community, deserve judgment - and I, as a citizen of the U.S., will suffer whatever judgment is forthcoming.

I don't think I'll ever read Hosea, Amos, Micah, Jeremiah or the other prophets the same way again. On this morning they are speaking to me - as an American - as never before.