Homily of the Rev. Dr. David A. Killian
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
January 20, 2008
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
John 1:29-42
I
It isn't very often that you get to see twelve new priests commissioned for service in the Church. Last weekend, Jon Eden, Chris Wendell, Adam Shoemaker and eight others were ordained to the priesthood and Christian Brocato was received as a priest in the Episcopal Church. It was a glorious and happy celebration, presided over by Bishop Shaw at Trinity Church in Boston. Bishop Shaw gave this charge to the new priests:
It will be your task to proclaim by word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to fashion your lives in accordance with its precepts. You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor.
Many of you were here last Sunday as Christian Brocato celebrated his first Holy Eucharist as an Episcopal priest at the morning service and Jon Eden celebrated his first Mass at the evening service. Christian and Jon are like Andrew and Simon Peter in today's Gospel passage, who hear the call of Christ and who follow.
As we savor memories of the newly commissioned priests, we celebrate this weekend the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspires ministers, lay and ordained, to follow Christ and work of justice.
Dr. King took to heart the teaching of Jesus: "I say to you, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who abuse you." Dr. King actually lived that way. Listen to his words:
To our bitter opponents we say: 'We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. Beat us and leave us half dead and we shall still love you ... We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory shall be a double victory.
Dr. King was a visionary, a courageous leader who never stopped teaching the power of justice-making love.
Was not Jesus an extremist for love [King once wrote]—'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you ...' Was not Amos an extremist for justice—'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream ... Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Christ ... Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist ... So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist we will be. Will we be extremist for hate or will we be extremist for love?
II
Dr. King devoted his life working for the poor and marginalized. Like the prophet Isaiah, who we heard in today's first lesson, Dr. King spoke as a sharp sword demanding God's justice. When his critics said he was moving too fast to protest centuries of segregation, Dr. King wrote the following in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail:
For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' ... I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say 'Wait.' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will; ... when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; ... when you suddenly find yourself tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park ... and see the depressing clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky ... and when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness'; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.
Dr. King had a holy impatience in the face of injustice. After the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Dr. King, to the dismay of many of his friends and colleagues, began expanding his agenda. He launched the Poor Peoples' Campaign, demanding jobs and decent wages, health care and decent education. And with great controversy he began to oppose the Vietnam War. Dr. King pushed strongly for justice, but always non-violently, which led to criticism from other civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.
III
Today, we need to stand with Dr. King to rid our hearts and this society of racism and to combat violence. Here are two examples of people who are following in his footsteps. At Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the South End, Father Timothy Crellin leads an effort to engage "at risk" teenagers. The "B-Safe" program at St. Stephen's provide an alternative for youth who might otherwise get involved in gang violence. The second example is the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, a coalition of inner-city African-American churches and suburban congregations, including our parish, who are working to improve the safety of Boston's neighborhoods. GBIO teamed with Mayor Menino's office to go door-to-door in neighborhoods that have been plagued by murders and to work with the residents to reduce crime and increase public safety.
Today, as we rejoice in the twelve new priests in our diocese and celebrate the example of Dr. Martin Luther King, we rededicate ourselves to the love ethic of Jesus that inspired Andrew and Simon Peter to lay down their nets and to follow Christ's call. We commit ourselves to following Jesus and embracing Dr. King's vision of nonviolent change. May we hear the call of Christ and respond.
Amen.