EPIPHANY 4C – Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30 –

31 January 2010 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

A Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama:

I watched and listened to your State of the Union Address on Wednesday – well, to be honest, I watched most of it.  I thought your speech went on too long, so towards the end I starting flipping back and forth to see how my alma mater, the University of Colorado, was faring in their basketball game against Nebraska.  (I know you are a huge basketball fan, so perhaps you’ll offer me a little grace on that one.) I liked many of the things you said – making jobs the top priority in 2010, not giving up on the health care bill, for example.  I thought you were unnecessarily antagonistic toward the Republicans at times.  On the other hand, I am encouraged that you want to meet with leaders from both parties on a monthly basis.  I truly hope that each side can listen to and learn something from the other.  For example, I am a life-long Democrat, but I think my Republican parishioners are on to something when they talk about tort reform.  I believe the best solutions come when we can learn from each other, and perhaps help each other discover a “third way.”  I support you in your desire to move past partisan politics, and I am convinced that you are going to have to be the leader who paves the way for that - by listening for what is best among the Republicans’ ideas, and using your influence to say to your fellow Democrats on the Hill, “Yes, that is a good idea.  That should be in the bill.”

I would like to tell you a little bit about myself.  I have been an Episcopal priest and pastor for almost 19 years.  I am a graduate of the University of Colorado and the University of Colorado School of Law.  After law school, I served our country as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the island nation of Dominica, in the Eastern Caribbean.  Dominica had been an independent nation for just over three years when I arrived in 1982.  I taught math and science at the Portsmouth Secondary School for 2-1/2 years, and also started a hiking club at the high school.  I spent part of one summer leading eight of my students on an 8-day, 130-mile trek around the perimeter of the country.  After I returned from Dominica, I met my wife, Julia, and pursued a call to the priesthood.  I went to seminary in Alexandria and served for two years at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, while I was a seminarian.  Julia has now been a psychotherapist for over 25 years and we have two children – a son, Zach, who is a freshman at CU in Boulder, and a daughter, Hannah, who is a sophomore in high school.  There is not much I enjoy more than watching Zach play hockey or watching Hannah play basketball or run in a cross country meet.  For the last few years, Julia and I have felt called to help couples learn the tools that can help them have life-long, vibrant relationships, and we have been leading workshops called Creating Connection.

President Obama, I am passionate about standing atop 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado.  I am passionate about baseball and writing and preaching, but mostly I am passionate about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I believe that Jesus came to transform us, and to establish the kingdom of God here on earth.  Another Episcopal priest, Robert Farrar Capon, helped me clarify some things many years ago when I first read his book, Parables of the Kingdom.  Capon distinguishes “straight-line power” from “left-handed power” (the latter phrase originally came from Martin Luther).  To quote Capon, “…straight-line power (“use the force you need to get the result you want”) is responsible for almost everything that happens in the world… Unfortunately, it has a whopping limitation.  If you believe that one of the chief objects in life is to remain in loving relationships with other people, straight-line power becomes useless… Unlike the power of the right hand (which, interestingly enough, is governed by the logical, plausibility-loving left hemisphere of the brain), left-handed power is guided by the more intuitive, open, and imaginative right side of the brain.  In other words, left-handed power is paradoxical power.  It looks for all the world like weakness.  It is intervention that looks like nonintervention.  More than that, there is no guarantee that it will stop determined evildoers, though it might, of course, touch and soften their hearts.  But then again, it might not.  It certainly didn’t for Jesus… The only thing it does insure is that you will not – even after your chin has been bashed in – have made the mistake of closing any interpersonal doors from your side.” (Capon, pp. 22-23)

Jesus practiced left-handed power.  So did Gandhi.  So did The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Each one of them was killed by a world in love with right-handed power.  But each one of them had a huge role in changing the world – for good.  You know that and I know that.

President Obama, a lot of things make me angry.  People who say we shouldn’t help the people of Haiti make me angry.  It’s great that we honor our veterans with national holidays, but it makes me angry that there is not one holiday that directly recognizes all those Americans who have served our country by building bridges of  peace with other nations – whether through secular, government, or religious organizations. It makes me angry that our public school teachers are paid so much less than professional athletes, and some of those athletes leave their teammates and turn down $17 million a year because it is not enough.  Yes, greed – in any of its forms – makes me angry. It makes me angry that so much hatred and killing happens in the name of religion.

President Obama, our Gospel reading for this Sunday, January 31, is about how Jesus stood up to read from Isaiah 61:1-2, a passage about the kingdom of God breaking through, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  By God’s power and goodness, the poor would have good news brought to them, the blind would see, and the captives would be released.  Jesus told the hometown folks that “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  At first they spoke well of him and “were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” (Luke 4:22)  But it seems hardly a moment passed before they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”  Evidently they began to wonder who he thought he was all of a sudden, and by the time he said to them “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown”… by the time he reminded them of that time, centuries before, when a Gentile widow – an outsider - was used by God to keep Elijah alive, and how Elisha had healed a Syrian – another outsider - of leprosy, they were ready to stone him.

And from that moment, it seems, Jesus began to spend more and more time with outsiders – sinners, tax collectors, lepers… all sorts of “unclean” outsiders.  If the powerful religious leaders of his day wouldn’t listen, then Jesus would take his message elsewhere.  It wasn’t about forcing his message on anyone.  It was about an approach that involved left-handed power.

In today’s epistle lesson, Paul writes about love.  He doesn’t call a love a feeling, as many today try to do.  It is more of an approach to life - being with and caring for others in a way that fosters ongoing relationship and connectedness.  Paul is really writing about left-handed power, too.  “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way [this is certainly left-handed power!]; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

If we want to follow in Jesus’ steps… if we want to follow in Gandhi’s steps… if we want to follow in Martin Luther King’s steps… then we must learn how to love… and love not just our friends, but also our enemies.  And if we want to learn how to love, we must learn something about what left-handed power is all about.

Mr. President, sometimes I think my job is difficult, but clearly, you have the most difficult job in the United States, perhaps in the world.  But I believe that you were elected as our president for a reason.  I admire your willingness to make tough decisions that may not be popular.  I admire your capacity for carrying a vision of hope, even in the midst of challenging times.  I admire your desire to change the culture of Washington, and your desire to bring Americans of all different backgrounds and persuasions together, for the common good.  (See 1 Cor. 12:7)  I am guessing that you don’t think of Washington as your hometown, but it is your hometown for now.  As you strive to be prophetic - to speak the words and do the things that you hear God calling you to do - you may not find honor, especially in Washington.  But others of us are listening.

My congregation, and every Episcopal congregation that I know of, prays for you every Sunday.  (And we pray for you on other days, too!)  You are definitely in my prayers, Mr. President.  May you keep the faith.  May you keep reaching out to Republicans and anyone else who disagrees with you, and deeply listen to what they have to say, and be open to the very real possibility that they have a part of the truth, too.  May the Lord deeply bless you and your entire family.  May you always remember that God provides the Holy Spirit to guide you.  In every decision that you make, that guidance is just a breath away.

I thank you for your faithful service.  I thank you for your willingness to serve.  I thank you for your dream of bringing our country together, so that we can be a light for each other, and a light to the world.

And just in case you need some refreshment from God, here are some of my favorite passages in scripture:

Matthew 5-7	The Sermon on the Mount
1 Cor. 13:1-13	The “love” chapter
Isa. 43:1-2	“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine...”
Psalm 121	“I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where is my help to come?”
Psalm 46	“Be still and know that I am God…”
Psalm 91	God as our refuge, whose angels will bear us up
Matthew 22:37-40	Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself
Luke 15:11-32	The parable of a father, the prodigal son, and his brother
1 Samuel 3:1-10	“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening…”

May these and other passages from scripture sustain you, remind you that God is in charge, and give you strength.

Mr. President, to quote a beautiful blessing in the Bible, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Faithfully, 

The Rev. Peter A. Munson

St. Ambrose Episcopal Church

Boulder, Colorado