Upholding the truth of our core symbols
As a priest, I am called to serve as a guardian and custodian of religious symbols, such as the Cross, the Bible and the Church. I am also called to interpret and help others interpret these symbols in ways that remain faithful to our sacred texts and traditions. At the same time, I have realized that true fidelity to the Cross sometimes means abstaining from displaying it. Since the message of the Cross is love, I am called to be extra sensitive to the ways in which the Cross has been used sacrilegiously to justify and reinforce violence and hatred, especially towards my Jewish siblings. Throughout far too much of Church history, the Cross has been thrust upon Jewish people like a sword to the neck, as Christians have demanded their conversion upon threat of death. Not only is this is a misuse of the Cross, it is perhaps the most egregious form of blasphemy because it utilizes a religious symbol to engage in the very behavior that the symbol condemns.
For Christians, the Bible is a profound symbol of God’s message to humanity, a message which Jesus Christ summed up as love: “Love God … and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37 — 38). Jesus identified as a Jewish prophet and fully embodied the Jewish prophetic message which also pervades the Bible: it is the message of care and compassion for the poor, the marginalized, and the disenfranchised. This message compels the Episcopal Church to wholeheartedly support the Black Lives Matter movement and its nonviolent demonstrations. Also in the Bible, Jesus sternly warned against exhibiting outward displays of piety (ie. photo ops) and proclaimed, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” By using the Bible as a political prop for personal political gain at the expense of peaceful protestors, the president was utilizing a religious symbol to promote the very behavior that the symbol condemns. As the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Michael Curry put it: “You don’t read ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ and then have teargas fired on peaceful protestors.”
The president held up the Bible while standing in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church Lafayette Square. This church is known as the “Church of the Presidents” since every sitting U.S. president has worshipped there since James Madison. Last September, I visited this remarkable church and attended the installation of the current rector the Rev. Rob Fisher, a friend with whom I shared ministry in southern California. Rob said, “We want St. John’s to be a space for grace, a place where you can breathe.” I want the same for Christ Church Eureka as we continue to be the church by offering worship services online. I want us to be a source of grace, so that we all can breathe in the midst of such anxious times, as I preached on Pentecost Sunday.
The Episcopal Church welcomes all people, regardless of race, gender, nationality, class, ability, and sexual orientation. We also welcome and celebrate a variety of beliefs and political opinions. However, as I often say at church, “All are welcome, but not all behaviors are welcome”; and using our religious symbols as props to justify violence is simply not permitted in our church because that is the very behavior that our religion and its symbols condemn. Although I pray for the president to someday experience the gift of humility, my priesthood does not allow me to sit idly by while he desecrates the symbols that I hold most sacred, symbols that render present the transcendent mystery of God’s self-giving love and symbols that urge us to listen compassionately to the cries for peace and justice among our brothers and sisters of color.
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” It is for this reason that I stand proudly beside the Rev. Gini Gerbasi, the Rev. Rob Fisher, Bishop Mariann Budde (the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C.) and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry as they join the BLM movement in denouncing white supremacy and police brutality, as they clearly condemn the antiChristian behavior of the president, and as they defend the truly great American ideals of liberty and justice for all.