Nothing can bring you to know God.
Before there was everything, there was nothing.
But before there was nothing, there was Something.
Something Other, Unbound, Beyond, Above – Mystery.
No one could grasp it then, and no one can grasp it now,
not even with these realities coming among us
and creating something new day in and day out,
despite our dry and weary bones.
--Caitlin B. Curtice, Native
Good Morning Keystone,
I’m writing this letter to you all on an alternately crisp and damp fall morning, one week before the election. I spent the weekend with the two beautiful communities that share this building – Keystone UCC and Living Water Inclusive Catholic Community. On Saturday, I canvassed with Rich Voget, following him up and down stairs to educate voters about the dangerous initiatives on the ballot. After our online worship service Sunday, members of Keystone came over to get out the Festival of Hope mailing – I exhorted them to join the Living Water community down in Battson Hall, where a steaming pot of beef stew and plates of homemade cornbread awaited them. They were so intent on the mailing that I ended up bringing the cornbread up to them!
I also spent the weekend watching the news, wondering what will happen on November 5th. I watched the documentary God and Country, which “speaks directly to the almost 200,000,000 Americans who identify as Christians…who fear their faith is being hijacked by an extreme right wing political movement known as Christian nationalism.” The film certainly spoke directly to me as a pastor, and I wondered what I could do to speak out more forcefully against this movement. I was especially disturbed by the final campaign rally held at Madison Square Garden over the weekend, with Stephen Miller (who like me is the grandson of Jewish Immigrants) speaking the words, “America is for Americans and Americans Only.” I was reminded of another Madison Square Garden rally held in February of 1939, billed as a “pro-American rally,” a pro-fascist rally attended by 20,000 patriotic Americans who recited the Pledge of Allegiance in front of a giant picture of George Washington flanked by swastikas. At this rally, a lone protestor dared to rush onto the stage. 26-year-old plumbing assistant Isadore Greenbaum later said, “What would you have done if you were in my place?”
In four weeks’ time we will come to the end of the liturgical year with the celebration that has been traditionally known as “Christ the King.” Early Christians lived under a brutally repressive government where the majority of the population had no social or political status. Most human life was considered expendable. The naming of Christ as “King” was the most subversive statement the earliest Christians felt they could make at the time, daring to declare that they could see an alternative to the system of violent domination, an alternative in which a rustic rabbi who had been executed by the political and religious authorities was revered as the “son of God” instead of the Roman Emperor.
Today, we have trouble with calling Christ our “King” because contemporary Christianity, particularly in the United States, has allied itself with the current system of violent domination that insists that Jesus the Messiah is a conquering hero who will return to wipe out his enemies. The UCC calls this day “Reign of Christ.” Whatever we call this day, it is the culmination of the liturgical year, the day that sums up our faith in the Realm of God, the Kin-dom of justice, peace, and love that we try to co-create with the Holy One, following in the steps of Jesus.
The scriptures that we will read this month are all about remaining faithful to this vision of the Realm of God – loving God and our neighbor, contributing in our small ways, not being shaken by false prophets or wars or political spectacles. When Christ reminds us in our final Scripture passage this month that “My kingdom is not of this world,” he reminds us that the Reign of Christ is not connected in any way with the domination systems of violence, but utterly subversive of those Powers.
No matter what the election’s outcome, we will have work to do to bring forth the kingdom of justice, peace, mercy, and love.
Blessings
Rev. Adina
Keystone Transitional Pastor