Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I Invite you to join me in a word of prayer.  Almighty and everlasting God, it is once again that you have given us this wonderful opportunity to draw together. We thank you for your love towards us, your presence with us, and we ask on this day that you would once again hold us, draw us, unite us, but most of all fill us for all of the places you are preparing to send us. This we ask in your wonderful name. Amen. You may be seated.

It is once again on this beautiful spring Sunday morning, that I have the opportunity to stand at what I might describe as the intersection between the blessing and burden of preaching. Like many, we are called to embrace one while at the same time trying not to run from the other. I do find strength, however, in gathering in moments like this. I find inspiration in the truth that has been often quoted. It has been sung, it has been passed down from generation to generation. I’ve heard it so often in my tradition as between family and friends and all while growing up, best expressed when it’s said, “When all of God’s children get together, what a time, what a time,  what a time.”

There is something unique that takes place in gatherings like this. There is something wonderful when God’s children come together. There is something marvelous in that manifestation that takes place in all different various forms, whether it’s two or three, whether it’s small assemblies, whether large crowds, whether it is in local community worship services or even in a place like this, a national cathedral. Whether it takes place in richly adorned spaces or even in the backwoods places, whether face to face or sometimes now through the technologically advanced modes of communications, there is when these encounters happen, the rising up of great expectations.  Hope begins to get stirred and joy begins to start to seep in. There is hope that the possibilities of what could be, will be. I know that when we gather, there’s great expectation that God or if you were listening to the readings on this morning, the ‘Great I Am’ would bring something great out of a gathering like this and others or bring something great out of us as well.

I know that I’m not alone in having great expectations. Those who have gathered here, especially those who have pressed your way on this morning are hoping that things might get better than the way that they are right now. You’ve come perhaps with great expectations, not just something would happen but something miraculous would happen. I know I’m not alone as there are many here and in numerous places in this country and around the world who are connecting with neighbors and connecting prayerfully with strangers who are often described in our texts as ‘angels unaware’.  Who are connecting with the possibilities of stirring up great expectations even though we face challenging situations.

Think about it for a moment, as we move through this season of Lent on our way to Palm Sunday, on our way to a dark Friday, which is so filled with great expectations, we call it Good Friday, ultimately to Easter and a celebration. I remind you that we come out of our tradition where we are always called to remember that God is faithful. We’re in a time when even speaking the values of our faith challenge expectations. Where even speaking and raising up certain expressions that are in the foundations of our beliefs and faith cause some to be uncomfortable. Cause a stirring.  Cause so much of the atmosphere and the tone to change.  Because, think about it for just one moment. You’ve heard, and I’ve read so many things, that we could avoid this morning and if I just call them out, it would cause some to stir in their seats or to wonder about what’s going on. If I just simply speak about being an advocate, some get uncomfortable. If I simply talk about bias, community diversity, community equity, if I even recognize myself as being a minority, it would cause some to wonder where we going with this. If I raise terms like social justice, the underrepresented, the underserved, it would cause some to wonder what’s going on. Truth is, I could carry that list further out. I could talk, because, even because of the obvious, as had been said as well, to just refer to myself as a black man.  Why would I have to even bring it up? But the fullness of life is not limited to words, and I’m reminded through Luke’s gospel on this morning of an age old truth that is highly debated in its source of origin, that many of you have heard in your lives so many times.  And I’ve come by to remind you on this morning that “actions speak louder than words”.

The tone of this text begins with words that might have been easily dismissed or discounted, or run by, if you were listening to the gospel on this morning. It began with the simple words ‘at that very time’. In other words, in many other translations we hear just ‘at that time’, ‘at that very same season’, ‘at that very occasion’ and various other forms of translations.  ‘At that very time’, the writer is attempting to push us to pay attention to the context of the text.  That the words that Jesus is sharing, the encounter that took place did not happen in a bubble, but there were things going on at that particular time and place, just like there are things happening in this moment of time and place. This encounter takes place in a tension-filled world. This encounter takes place where the marginalized were often mistreated. It took place in, at a time, when the poor had no voice. It took place at a time where even the stress between government and religion were ever present on a daily basis.

And truth is, it was not just true in that time. I think it’s still true in this time. I think what’s going on around us should not be separated from us, but it should be shaping how we hear what the spirit is saying to the Church.  Persons, in that time there were so many who, as we have heard and has been described, as persons who had their backs against the wall. In this moment that Jesus is speaking, he is also calling the faithful, not just to repentance, but he’s calling all of us and calling them to a life of doing.  Just as Jesus was challenging them to wrestle with God, what God was saying to them, I remind you of the words of Howard Thurman and his noted work, Jesus and the Disinherited, as he challenged us by asking, “The masses of men live with their backs constantly against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited and the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them?”

I’ve gotta ask that question as we’ve come in here today. What is our gathering saying to the world? What is our faith saying to each other? What are our beliefs putting out in the world in a moment like this? The context of the text this morning is not one of simple comfort, but a push, a pull, a warning, a challenge, even a correction.  As difficult as it was for Jesus, he kept lifting the truth in love because he expressed love.  As much as I might have just wanted to stay in the easy sections of this text, perhaps run right to the fig tree, perhaps skip over so much of it. This text involves a push, a pull, a warning, a challenge, and even a correction, because it didn’t take long for Jesus to respond quickly to what was being raised by saying, ‘Except ye repent’. Oh, preacher, could you preach something else? ‘Except ye repent’. There was an effort by some in those days to qualify sins and perhaps the sinner.  Perhaps, so that they could justify their own positions and posture, whether in title or position or spiritual posture and position. They may have wanted to see themselves better than who they really were. And we’ve gotta be careful that we don’t walk in here today thinking we are better than what we are.

I have a truth to remind you. Let me confess first. I did not get it all right yesterday. And I think there are others who don’t mind admitting you didn’t get it all right yesterday. All of us have some work to do. All of us can be better than what we’ve been and get closer to all we’ve been created to be. But in this text, there are those who are raising circumstances and situations and pointing figures, talking about others.  In current terms, they were leaning toward victim-blaming.  And as I would say, othering-shaming. Jesus was quick to respond as he disturbed the comfort of their positions and dispositions. And I share with you in my reading and walking toward this text, what one commentator said years ago, he says, “Always the dominant system of government pleads with the preacher ‘speak unto us,  smooth sayings’ and too many preachers acquiesce and consent.  But they part company at that moment with the Lord. For if Jesus spoke to our land as he did to his own, his patriotism would be called into question. When we give full weight to the rigor of truth in Jesus”, the commentator concludes by saying, “it will not surprise us that Jesus was crucified”.

Jesus speaks to those present using well-known circumstances of his day as references, but he summarizes one section by even stating, ‘if you do likewise and don’t repent, you’ll all likewise perish’. Man, this is tough stuff to walk through ‘that you will perish’. We will perish if we don’t do better than what we’re doing right now. If we’re not mindful of our own sins, our sins of omission, commission and disposition.  Omission, the things that we didn’t do that we should have done.  Commission, the things that we did that we had no business doing.  But I add and tag the sin of disposition. I’ve done in form what I should have done, but I did it with a bad attitude. I spoke to you, but love wasn’t in my Hello. I smiled at you, but I really wanted the worst for you. I looked and dressed the part, but I really was not living it out in its fullness. Oh, we’ve all been guilty of that. We’ve all run through them all. We all have our histories with this. But as we listen to all that was taking place, all that they were lifting as they were encountering Jesus in the foundation of this encounter, there are these hints and there is the subject of worship, sacrifice, religious routine, practice. All of this is embedded in the conversation.

And I gotta wonder this morning, what does worshiping God and following Jesus Christ really produce? What will be the result of us being in this place? What will really happen when we are finished and have done all that we have come in to do and the ‘Amen’ has finally been given, the dismissal has sent us forward. What will be produced by a moment like this? Will we be any different because we’re in here? Will there be something different because all of God’s children have come together.

Jesus shares with them a very brief parable about a fig tree. Many of you have heard it, and he tells them about an owner who had a fig tree in his field. You heard it read. And here the owner and the gardener walk up to the fig tree and as they walk up on the fig tree, there are no figs on the tree. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that there was great expectation that there would be figs on the tree. There was expectation that the fig tree would be producing something. And just like there’s expectations, there’s a world out there that are looking at us individually and collectively and expecting that our gathering would produce something,

That our gathering would transform us in some way. That our being here today would somehow cause something to happen. That some good would come from a moment like this. The fig tree was showing signs of life. It had its limbs all spread, it’s leaves flowing.  And truth is in the world that we live, and I know it’s happened to many who are here today, that when people talk to us, we know the right words to say. We know how to look and dress the part. And if they talk to us long enough, I’ve had it in my life where they say, you know what? You sound like you go to church.  You sound like you know the Bible. You sound like you know the stories. You sound like you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Well, sounding like and being like are two different things.  Sounding like and living like are two different things.

In here we look good. But what are we producing this morning?  As we seek to draw closer to God, to have a closer walk with Jesus what are the expectations of what we should produce? I think it’s safe to say that perhaps Jesus is looking for a little more joy, a little more peace.  That we would produce and have a little more patience, that we might have a little more kindness, a little more goodness. You all know the list. You know the crops that ought to be produced out of the spirit of the church. There ought to be a little more faithfulness. Perhaps there ought to be a little more gentleness. And Lord knows there ought to be a little more self-control with each other.  And it should be obvious that there should be an expectation of a little more love. Maybe today there could be in this place a little more love, the kind of love that never gives up, the kind of love that never loses faith, the kind of love that is always hopeful, the kind of love that endures through every circumstance, not artificial, but real.

Well even as I look at that, here I’m reminded that the gardener and the owner, they stood there. And I’m so glad there’s a gardener in the field this morning. I’ve got hope today. I still believe that we can produce a good fruit. I still believe that we can produce a good crop. I still believe that all of God’s children coming together can produce a wonderful time in this world and in this place.  That stranger will speak to stranger, friend will speak to friend. Those who know each other will make more room for others who don’t know each other. I believe that we can do it. I have faith that as followers of God, as children of God, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we can produce that kind of crop.  Because there’s a gardener in the field that even when the boss says, “Cut it down because they look good, but they’re not producing anything”.

Even when the owner says, “Hey, hold off”, there is something about the gardener that says, “Give them another chance”. You know what I’m thankful for is that God gave me another chance. I can’t speak for you, but all of us ought to be able to say, “Thank you. Today I’ve got another chance to get it right”.  Today I’ve got another chance to sow a little bit more.  Today I’ve got another chance to get further than where I’ve been.  Today we can do more than what we’ve done on yesterday. Today what I’m grateful for is that the gardener gives us grace and mercy. If it wasn’t for those, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now.  When we speak so much of having another chance, today is our opportunity. And the gardener says, “Listen, don’t just let it stand there. Let me tear up the ground around it. And I’ll even put”, as the text says, “some manure around the tree”. I don’t know about you all, but I feel like the circumstances around us right now have a whole lot of manure in it.

All I have to do is wake up in the morning and turn on the news and I smell it. I hear it, I see it. I could say it differently, but I’m trying to say it correctly. Here when you look at it, we are in a chance that maybe we’re in this mess so that we could be better than what we have been. Maybe we’re in this mess so that the Church can be the Church. Maybe we’re in this mess so that we could love the unlovable, help those who need help, to love those who are knocked down and pick ’em back up. Maybe today we’re in this situation so that we can bear better fruit. Oh, I believe it’s possible. I believe we can do it. It I believe that love can abound and that love will spread. If all of God’s children get together on one accord.

I have, I believe that there is a remnant. There are two or three gathered. There are small gatherings, there are large gatherings, but there are those who are willing to do what God has given us to do because words are one thing, but actions speak louder than words. So will you speak to someone you haven’t met on this day? Will you work harder than what you’ve worked before? Because he’s given us another chance. I thank God that he has helped us, made a way for us and blessed us. So I remind you of these words that Howard Thurman also shared in his wonderful work, The Growing Edge.

Howard Thurman, who hangs just off the High Altar, who said, “It’s important to recognize that we cannot prescribe the rules by which spiritual power is available to us. Who we are and who are we with our little secrets, with our little arrogances, with our little madnesses, to lay down the conditions upon which we will accept the resources of life that sustain and confirm the integrity of our being. We must learn how to be quiet. And this takes discipline. We must find each of us for ourselves, the kind of rhythmic pattern which control our stubborn, unyielding and recalcitrant nervous systems and nourish our spiritual concerns and our growth in grace.”

Today we’ve been given another chance, another chance to change, another chance to do all that he’s given us to do. And as one of the old great gospel hymns puts it, you know, someone reminded me a Baptist always has a hymn for everything, where he said, “he changed my life and now I’m complete. He changed my life and now I sit at his feet, a change to do what must be done. And I’m gonna work and work until he comes.”  And on this day, I hope you’re gonna work because you know actions speak louder than words. Amen.