how to practice expansive beloved community
Second Sunday After Pentecost ● June 2, 2024
Pastor Jeff Wells © 2024
You can view the full worship video recording at:
Scripture Readings:
Matthew 5:43-48 & 20:20-21; 24-28, Colossians 3:9-15 (adapted from The Inclusive Bible)
The reading text is provided at the end of this sermon.
iStock Image #655119646, by higyou, Used by permission
To me, these three Bible passages capture the essential kernel of the message of Jesus and the early followers of Jesus after his death. They fit together so well for today’s worship. The first one contains a key teaching from Jesus about how leaders ought to act in the communities of this new movement. In the second lesson, Jesus offers the difficult teaching that we ought to love not only our neighbors, but our enemies, and that, in this way, we emulate how God acts toward all of humanity and other living beings. Finally, the passage from the Letter to the Colossians describes how those who want to participate in the community of the followers of Jesus are called to live together. In these three passage together, that community is presented as broad and diverse, expansive, inclusive, loving, and non-hierarchical. There is no longer Greek or Hebrew, Jew or Gentile, native born or foreign born. And we extend that to include gay or straight, cisgender or transgender, binary or non-binary, and with no division or hierarchy by skin color. All seek to live together in love, equity, compassion, and mutual care.
Of course, they did not practice this perfectly, any more than we do. But on what foundation did they come to this understanding of how to live together in community? It certainly was not in the mainstream of the Jewish, Greek, or Roman cultures in which they lived. I think they arrived at this place because they understood, through the teachings and example of Jesus and others in the movement, that every person is a beloved child of God, no matter what they have done wrong, how they have failed to live righteous lives, or have even done harm to others. They believed that if they were to really find a way to live together in peace, not only with those in their own small communities, but with the people who lived around them, then they had to practice love, grace, mercy, and compassion.
Jesus used the phrase “kingdom of God” to describe this way of being community in the world. I have always understood that phrase to be closely aligned with the concept of “beloved community.” That term was coined by philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce in the early 20th century and then popularized by Martin Luther King Jr. and others from the 1950s onward. Like Jesus, King believed creating beloved community was a realistic goal for relatively small communities like ours. And he also saw it as a global vision, in which all people could live together in peace and share equitably in the resources of the earth for the common good. He saw this as the only way to end war, racism, and all forms of discrimination and exploitation, and to eliminate poverty, hunger, and homelessness. Dr. King recognized that conflict was an inevitable part of being human and that interpersonal, inter-group, and international conflict would continue. But he believed that all conflicts could be resolved peacefully and adversaries could be reconciled through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence grounded in mutual love and recognition of our shared humanity.
I fear that the idea of “beloved community” has often been diminished to simply mean being together with a diverse group of people. But simply coexisting together is not enough. Jesus called us to give up power over others and adopt, instead, a vision of power together with others. He invited us to serve one another and make sacrifices for each other. Jesus challenged his followers to love not only their neighbors, but also their enemies. We will never achieve peace if we hate our enemies and perceive them as less than us – or even as less than human. And the author of the Letter to the Colossians built upon Jesus’ vision, writing:
“Clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, with kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another – forgive in the same way God has forgiven you. Above all else, put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect.”
Please note that I have added the adjective “expansive” to the term beloved community in the title of today’s message. By doing that, I intend to emphasize how Beloved Community is so much more than a diverse group of people together in the same space. It also captures King’s vision that Beloved Community could work in large communities, whole cities, nations, and even across the planet – if we had the right mindset, ethos, and commitment to nonviolence resolution of conflicts.
Many of us live in one of the most diverse cities in the world, but New York City is not a beloved community, although there are surely pockets of community that show the promise of that vision.
For a community like ours that seeks to live into the vision of beloved community, it is not enough for us to welcome the marginalized or claim in words that we are LGBTQ+ affirming, or declare that Black and Brown lives matter to us. I am convinced that we sincerely believe that we are each uniquely and wonderfully made. We believe in the principle of nonviolent conflict resolution. Yet, we exist within systems that consciously maintain terrible inequities between us. We come from very different backgrounds, have very different life experiences, achievements, failures, traumas, hurts, etc. So we have to work very hard to know and to love one another, to understand one another’s journeys. And then, we have to do our best to help address, within our own congregation and beyond, the ways some of us have been privileged and others not, some of us have managed to avoid serious traumas, and others have suffered greatly. Each of us is a child of God with a unique story. God calls us to see the original goodness in each other and have compassion for the ways each of us has been hurt or has hurt others. The keys to all of this are love, compassion, humility, mercy, and grace. And those have to be lived, practiced, and always renewed and refined in community and in relationships with one another.
Each of us and each of our perceived enemies were uniquely and wonderfully made at the start. But then, for all of us, our life experiences, relationships, our privileges or lack of privileges, and so much, impact and shape who we become. They are not determinative, but they have a big influence. We are free to make decisions, but our freedom is often limited by our history and circumstances. So, Jesus tells us to extend grace and compassion to those who have, in our eyes, done despicable things.
As I was preparing this message, I found it impossible for my mind not to go to Donald Trump after his conviction this week of 34 counts of felony fraud for trying to subvert the 2016 election. In the past couple days, I heard one commentator remark about how Trump’s father told Donald he would never amount to much. Sometimes that sort of treatment discourages young people from even trying. For Trump, it seems to have made him more determined to prove his father wrong, no matter what he had to do, no matter what the cost to his spirit. The commentator wondered if, after the conviction, Trump now hears his father’s voice in his head saying, “See I told you would be a failure. This is your legacy. This is what you will be remembered for.”
I’m not saying Trump should not have been convicted. Or even that he shouldn’t serve time in jail. But I feel a level of compassion for him. He didn’t become the person we know completely on his own. His psyche was distorted by a disapproving father, who was also reportedly a corrupt real estate developer, so not a great role model. He was also mis-shapen by privileges that allowed him to get away with a lifetime of unchecked unethical, immoral, and criminal behavior. We may never know what Donald Trump might have become, the goodness he might have contributed to the world, had he been shaped by different parents, other experiences of life, a strong affirmation of his goodness, and had he been taught to practice love and compassion. But I don’t believe it is ever too late for any of us. You never know what God might do with Donald if he is sentenced to a few years in prison, for example. That experience has contributed to dramatic transformations of character and behavior in many people before.
Of course, we cannot fix Donald Trump, but we can practice compassion for him, while also protecting ourselves and the world from him. We may be able to understand why so many Israelis and Palestinian feel deep hatred of one another, yet still try to convince them to embrace love and compassion as the only way forward toward true peace and justice. We cannot build a global beloved community on our own, but we can practice it right here among us and share what we learn and encourage others of the rightness of this vision as well.
Being and becoming an expansive, inclusive, and loving community requires constant intentionality, commitment, and practice. It is not something that is done mainly in words, but in repeated and evolving understanding and action. And this vision asks of us that we engage it with humility, recognizing that we never do it perfectly, we will sometimes hurt one another, we will have conflicts, and yet, we must try and fail and try again, and persist in loving one another as extravagantly as possible for as long as the journey lasts. Jesus never said it would be easy. But he said this is not just one way, it is the only way forward toward flourishing for all life.
Matthew 20:20-21; 24-28
The mother of James and John said to Jesus:
“Promise me that in your kindom these children of mine will sit,
one at your right hand and the other at your left….”
When the other ten disciples heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus said to them, “You know how the leaders of the Gentiles push their people around. This is not to happen among you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest. And anyone among you who wishes to be first must serve the needs of all, as if enslaved – just as the Anointed One came not to be served but to serve, and to offer his life for many.”
Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus told a large crowd:
“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor – but hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are children of God. For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Don’t tax collectors do as much? And if you greet only your sisters and brothers, what is so praiseworthy about that? Don’t Gentiles do as much? Therefore strive to be perfect in love, as Abba God in heaven is perfect.
Colossians 3:9-15
Put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new self, one that grows in knowledge as it is formed anew in the image of its Creator. In that image, there is no Greek or Hebrew; no Jew or Gentile; no barbarian or Scythian; no slave or citizen. There is only Christ, who is all in all. Because you are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, with kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another – forgive in the same way God has forgiven you. Above all else, put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Let Christ’s peace reign in your hearts since, as members of one body, you have been called to that peace.