Let Us Live as Brave Souls Mark 1:14-20 Ute Molitor, First Congregational Church, Camden, UCC; January 24, 2021

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near repent, and believe in the good news.” 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Many joyful tears were shed across our country this last Wednesday as we watched the inauguration of a new president and vice president and all the celebratory and somber ceremonies that are part of such an auspicious day. Take a moment and go back to the many images, words, and sounds of the day. What moved you? We know that there are many fellow citizens, maybe some of us or people we love among them, who shed tears out of disappointment and perhaps even rage over the change of power. These tears also touch upon something deep. So much lies before us that will require bravery and vision. We have to address the myriad forms of suffering related to the pandemic, racial injustice embedded in a centuries old caste system, economic inequities, and climate change. While we experience great division over these challenges, they actually teach us daily how amazingly interconnected and interdependent we truly are in our need, in our potential for growth as well as for peril.

African American National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, inspired bravery with her words and presence at the inauguration as she recited her poem: “The Hill We Climb.” She urged a deeper faith in the power of love and the strength that comes from solidarity lived concretely by us in our mutual relationships. She said: “The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”

I was touched by the many examples offered during the day, and also evening, of people who have been brave. Among them was seven-year-old African American Cavanaugh Bell from Maryland who has assembled countless care bags for seniors. Our care team knows what effort that takes. It all started when his grandma needed help getting groceries during COVID. Helping her out of love engendered a more extensive love toward other seniors in need, regardless of

1

political views. Cavanaugh has now inspired many people around him to build a bridge across the abyss of hunger in his neighborhood.

Many have commented on the importance of Kamala Harris becoming the first woman, African- American and Asian American Vice President. We have seen images of joy on the faces of girls of color who feel empowered in turn. Harris herself acknowledges that she stands on the shoulders of brave women of color who have blazed the trail before her. Next generation poet Amanda Gorman’s poem also embodies the real movement toward equality that is yielding results. She also reminded us that the work is not finished and quietude remains dangerous:

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is isn’t always just-ice Of course, there was nothing quiet or peaceful about the ransacking of the Capitol on January 6th by people who would like to believe that white normativity is just and foundational to our history and purpose. Some of the intruders were coming after then Vice President Pence whom they called a traitor. He and other senators who were in the process of accepting the certified election results. African American Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman stepped into the breach in front of what may well have become a lynching mob of a white man (and potentially others). Goodman used his God given wits and sense of purpose to lead the angry crowd away from the unprotected Senate Chamber. He bravely gave his heart and soul in that moment to protect even some senators in that chamber who were willing to disenfranchise black voters. He was notably given the honor to escort Vice President Harris on Wednesday and was present at Pence’s departure who was grateful for him.

These are examples of people who are willing to serve and overcome suffering and division. We need to hear these stories. Gorman said in her poem that we are not broken but unfinished. We are facing the difficult task of not settling for a quiet peace that is no peace while at the same time, as she put it, “Laying down our arms so we can reach out our arms toward each other.”

2

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Master at reaching out while standing firm. There was nothing of surrender in his non-violent movement. King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail that we “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” In his letter, King was responding to well-intentioned but cautious liberal Christian and Jewish leaders who were criticizing him for pushing too far too fast in the call for justice during contentious times. His letter dismantled their timidity and willingness to prolong the suffering of oppressed people any longer for the sake of a false peace without justice.

King also knew that no one could do this work alone. He knew that he depended on all the people who were marching through the streets with their arms inter-locked in solidarity. He depended on those who sat at the lunch counter where they were not allowed, refusing to give up the seat in the front of the bus, integrating the high school or university when others had refused them entry.

King said that “the time is always right to do the right thing.” His understanding of doing “the right thing” was comprehensive: You speak out and act in the face of injustice and you commit yourself to loving your enemy at the same time. In this spirit, King wrote:

But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends…it is agape which is understanding goodwill for all … It is the love of God working in [our] lives.1 King understood that we are collectively trapped in the falsehoods of supposed divisions of superiority and inferiority, white and black, and so much more. King urged us to let our own suffering and the suffering of others connect us to a common struggle for justice. He called on us all to “climb the hill together” to the mountaintop where we can live a present and see a future of healing for us all from the sin of oppression and the illusion of separation. Amanda Gorman described this commitment when she wrote:

1 “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation's Chief Moral Dilemma,” 1957.

3

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true, That even as we grieved, we grew, That even as we hurt, we hoped, That even as we tired, we tried. Ultimately, she wrote, “victory won’t lie in the blade but in all the bridges that we made.”

We have a new president who is trying to remind us of our capacity to build bridges even while we build a more just community. There will be times of disagreement with the new president’s policies. Let me point beyond policy to a more fundamental promise he made. He said: “I will put my soul into this work.” He was partly quoting Lincoln but also drawing on his formative Christian faith in which we share. The soul that is in us moves Cavanaugh, Eugene Goodman and Amanda Gorman and all of us, over and over again. It takes us from the identity of an isolated “I” to the communal identity of “we” as mutually interconnected and beloved children of God. While we may say, “I give my soul,” the soul is itself an extension of God’s flow of love freely given and expressing itself in, as, and through our lives. It is awesome and powerful. Saying “I give my soul” is the closest we can come to saying “I come from that place that knows that I do not own my life but am forever tied to God and to all of you.” It is another way of saying that we “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

In this time of great urgency and complex needs, all of us have a role to play in the collective and soulful journey of changing our perspective, seeking common purpose and addressing suffering wherever we find it. We find all this expressed in our Gospel passage for today where Jesus steps into his public ministry, proclaiming: “The time is fulfilled, and the realm/kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news.” He is saying that the time is now for renewal, engagement and transformation based on good news!

What is this good news? It is not some abstract belief system about individualized “pie in the sky by and by” salvation. Jesus’ life of love and authentic relationship itself is the good news. He called us together to become a beloved community where we seek to grow in love and lift each

4

other up. Do we actually trust that God is empowering us to be brave souls together with God simply because love demands it and our joy depends on it?

In our Gospel story, Jesus issues the invitation to radical trust to his first students. It is striking how Simon, Andrew, James and John respond to his invitation to follow with immediacy and urgency though they cannot fully know where all this will take them. Jesus also calls them in the very place and context in which they live their lives and use their gifts. To these fishermen he says: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Along the way, they will misunderstand and make mistakes. They will fall and get up again as they learn to live into and share a deeper love, even of their perceived enemies.

We are the students of Jesus’ way in our own time. We, too, are called in the context of our lives to use our gifts to reconnect us with each other and with God who is the origin of our shared breath and heartbeat. When we gather shortly for our annual meeting, we will be reminded of the good news that happens when we give and love together, empowered by the Spirit. Let us also bravely renew our commitment to grow in love and bravery as we give our very souls lest “our blunders become the next generation’s burden,” as Gorman said. Instead, may we join her in the purpose of making “love our legacy and change our children’s birthright.” May we do so to the glory of God.

5