Reverend Jimmy Moore, preaching
Learning From Jesus About Steel and Velvet
Matthew 11: 16-30
Have you noticed there’s a great deal of meanness out there these days? We are seeing people yelling at each other, often without a particular point, sometimes even waving guns at each other. Have you ever had any of that meanness directed toward you? And may I dare ask: have you noticed that such meanness has a way of reaching down inside of you and making you feel like acting pretty mean yourself? As Elizabeth Chang wrote in the Washington Post this week, Americans are living in a big “anger incubator”.
And have you further noticed that religion, which we expect to help us address our meanness and out of control anger, is not only of questionable usefulness, it is sometimes a part of the problem? Andy Rooney, long a writer and commentator for CBS News, once said, “I'd be more willing to accept religion, even if I didn't believe it, if I thought it made people nicer to each other but I don't think it does.” And it’s too bad Rooney did not find faith to be of help, because there were times when he said some pretty mean things himself.
So how do we find our way to be, say, and do urgent words and deeds, and not dip into the toxic pool of vindictive and petty meanness? Surely there must be paths to develop the qualities that Carl Sandburg saw in Abraham Lincoln, when he said that Lincoln possessed both “steel and velvet”, that is, strength and gentleness. Is it possible that neither must necessarily cancel out the other, and that both can be living qualities in the same person?
Jesus, in one of his conversations with his disciples, demonstrated the capacity to hold these things in tension. In this “chat”, Jesus spoke very firmly about his “generation”, in which people criticized John the Baptist for being more disciplined in his social practices, while in the next breath, chastising Jesus for being more relaxed. Then, in the same narrative, Jesus offers some of his most tender words, inviting the heavily burdened and wearied to learn a new way, to take “my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”
Let’s chat about this on Sunday morning. The sermon is titled “Learning From Jesus About Steel and Velvet”, arising out of Matthew 11: 16-30. In the sermon, we’ll see what we can learn from the life of Lincoln, and also from the grandmother of Howard Thurman. Thurman was an influential though not widely known African American pastor, theologian and mentor to leaders of the Civil Rights movement. We’ll also have a moment with children, prayers and hymns, and we will celebrate Holy Communion virtually.
In addition to our own Sunday morning musicians, we’ll be joined by Violinists Alejandro Guillén, conductor of the Bloomington Symphony, and his wife Sarah Cranor. We do look forward to the music this Sunday morning. Join us on the livestream for the 10:30 service.