The Tables Jesus Flipped
Lent 3 Sermon
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[00:00:00] So good to be back. Thank you to, uh, mother Paige for inviting me again and to all of the crew that makes this happen. I know this is putting on a service is a, is a, is a big job. So thank you for having me today.
So as Mother Paige mentioned, I'm Kathy Wilder. I have the great privilege of serving as Executive Director at Camp Stevens, and we are your DAS and camp for all of Southern California. And we're up in Julian. Uh, we do, I did bring cookies and bread with me. So you don't actually have to go there to get it right now. But you're invited anytime.
I do want to just take a moment to mention that today we're gathered on the traditional land of the Kumeyaay people who've been here for 12, 000 years and 600 generations, which just feels amazing to me. I just want to honor and share their commitment to reconciliation and healing.
Well, today really got me thinking about [00:01:00] something from my childhood, which was that when I was a kid I had a very keen sense of justice about the rights of children, about being a kid. And when I was in the second and third grade I wore a button every day, let's stop touching my microphone at some point, uh, that said, "kids are people too."
And I, I, I really, I felt strongly about it. And while some adults, uh, kind of patted me on the head and thought it was cute, which I'm sure it was to some degree, uh, I do remember the adults who listened and asked me questions and encouraged me to, uh, to, to stand up for what I believed in. And when I think about what I was trying to do at that time, was to really find a voice in a time in my life where I felt kind of at the mercy of my circumstances.
You know, uh, well, my family looked really good from the outside. We were struggling at the time with my dad's alcoholism and my brother's mental illness and all the financial strain that went with [00:02:00] that. And we were kind of alone in that at the time. And this really changed when I was 13 and my very courageous mom, uh, who was a walking angel on earth, uh, Uh, filed for divorce.
And it was really uncomfortable and scary. It was the end of the 1980s. And, uh, she was really looked down upon, actually, by the people in our church. She even received hate mail from people who were leaders that she respected. Exactly. Yeah. You know, she stood her ground anyway. And she broke our world wide open.
She tore down the temple of our traditions and constructs in our lives that made space for healing and transformation for all of us, even my dad. And don't get me wrong, it was not easy. Anyone who's been through something like this knows that this is not an easy path. We struggled and at times it was, it was painful.[00:03:00]
And she often reflected on this time as the hardest thing she had ever done in her life, but she would do it again in a heartbeat because it was her job to protect us and teach us to stand up for the people we loved, even when it was hard and an unpopular choice.
In the gospel today, we find Jesus also breaking things open in a way that was very unpopular. He's flipping tables over, dumping money on the ground, releasing livestock, and getting pretty angry. This is not the angelic picture that you might have seen of Jesus that someone have you believe. I feel, personally, feel pretty connected to Jesus in this moment. It feels important to remember that nobody really knows who he is right now.
This is the very beginning of his time walking his path with the disciples, the start of the three year path. And so, here's this guy, he's, no one knows or thinks of him as the son [00:04:00] of God or someone in power. He's a guy from a low income family that's basically been disenfranchised his entire life. He was the child of a teen mom.
And he's come to this temple for years for Passover, from the time he was a baby. And he's basically watched his family, uh, come in there and, uh, try to be obedient. And follow the path that is expected of them. And in turn, kind of be taken advantage of by the systems. They're being asked to pay for rituals that are required, and to support leaders that really aim to dominate, rather than support and protect the people they, that they're in charge of. That are in their charge.
In Jesus' anger, his divine rage, as I like to call it, was rooted in his humanity, which, in my opinion, is his superpower. It is Jesus' deep connection to all people [00:05:00] that drove him to push and pull and rage at times, even on behalf of not just his own family, but the whole human family.
And as civil rights activist and author Valerie Kors says, divine rage is not about vengeance. It's about reordering the world. Tapping into our deepest connection to each other. Loving beyond false borders and socially constructed boundaries might just be the way we're going to make a difference.
Last December I got to meet Stephanie Spellers. I'm not sure if you all know who she is. She's the canon for evangelism and reconciliation for the presiding bishop. She's also an author of several books and a very cool person in the world. And she wrote a book called The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and a New Hope for the Beloved Community.
Uh, and if you need a book, I will personally get it for you. It's really good. It's a great book. I've had a chance to meet her several times in person, and, [00:06:00] uh, she just really, in the book and also in her life, presents the idea that this is our time. To stand up for the human family by taking responsibility for the harms caused in the world, sometimes by the church.
An opportunity also in this time to be compassionate leaders in the healing process moving forward. The good news is that we have a role model in Jesus, who's like our road map. I think of Jesus' life and the stories of his life as being a road map to how to live. And we have a chance to channel his superpower and connect to our deepest humanity.
I find, when I do this, that I'm more connected to myself. I feel more love in my community, and I absolutely feel closer to God. Canon Speller states, "Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and turn [00:07:00] us back to God." If you've been up to Camp Stevens, you know that, uh, in our coffee and tea bar, uh, which apparently is famous, I met somebody in North Carolina that was like, I've been to your tea, I've had your loose leaf tea, it's great.
But, uh, we have a ton of mugs. We have mugs from people's houses, from churches, we have mugs from your thrift store here that we've brought back. Uh, and recently, uh, this last year, a new mug popped up. Um, with a new saying, and it's very relevant to today, I promise. Uh, and it says, "stop trying to sit at the tables that Jesus flipped."
Ooh, yeah. Good one. Right? Yeah. This really spoke to me because I have certainly found myself sitting at tables of power and privilege without even expecting it, and I'm sure throughout all of our lives we've felt that we've been there in some way, shape, or form. And I will say in those times I felt most [00:08:00] lost, most fearful, most untethered from myself and from God.
Recently we completed a listening project for our community in preparation for our strategic planning and the project includes surveying and interviewing our community about who we are and what we do and what the community needs from us. One of the outstanding themes was was about religion's place at camp.
And in this area, the overarching identified area for Camp Stevens was to take lead in cracking open systems and cycles and traditions that may have created barriers for participation, not just at camp, but for our church, our beautiful church. Our community wants us to help address systemic harms so that people can find a place of healing, and ultimately, belonging and love.
And I think we can agree that every person deserves to know the radically generous, inclusive, expansive [00:09:00] love of God. We're starting to do this work already with the great support of our St. Peter's Outreach Grant. Honestly, we couldn't do it without y'all. We do this through our racial reconciliation work with through programs like our recent black family camp, our accessibility initiatives, including gender inclusion, building trail and built and access to our buildings, camp scholarships, employee equity grants, our creation care leadership around innovative energy solutions, and our advocacy and allyship work with the Kumeyaay neighbors.
And this is just our start. This is before we even started our planning. And as I mentioned, this wouldn't be possible for us to do alone. None of this work can we do alone. Or should we. We shouldn't be doing this alone. We have your support. We have community. We have the greater Episcopal Church. And I really believe, as an Episcopal community, [00:10:00] we are ready to help build new tables.
We can start by embracing the way of Jesus. And live into our own superpower and our own deep human connection. And we're gonna have to be courageous and take that lead in healing harms and standing up for all those we love and beyond. It won't be easy and we will absolutely not be perfect as we do it.
We'll need to change and grow and even break things open. But I know we can do it because we are going to do it together. Grace and peace to all of you.
