『“Live Without Fear”』のカバーアート

“Live Without Fear”

“Live Without Fear”

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 November 23, 2025: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. For some, this is a day called Christ the King Sunday, but as I say every year, that is not a title he would have ever claimed. As we heard in the Gospel, it was a title given to him by the oppressors who crucified him. No, Jesus would not be happy with this King business I believe, Jesus is Lord is enough, and was for centuries for his followers, as Christ the King wasn’t even a thing until 1925. So, not Christ the King…but it is Advent. And we have practiced the original seven week Advent here at Christ Church since 2016, and as then, it seems so appropriate now, because Advent is about a people walking in darkness, but not a people without hope. The people are in crisis. Many live in fear. The country is divided against itself. People don’t know which way to turn, how to take the next step, what to do, because the leaders have failed them. Certainly, this sounds like it is a time of darkness, and even very familiar – but I am not talking about the events in this country, at least not yet. I am talking about the passage in Jeremiah we heard this morning. If you were in doubt about whether Advent, from a lectionary point of view, is seven weeks long, just look again at our reading today from Jeremiah and the Canticle. Jeremiah begins with a stern warning from God for those in power that because they have abused their people, because they have not care for their flock, they will meet with God’s wrath. Jeremiah had been speaking about the failure of leaders in the time of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 bce. And the passage ends with a very Advent-y verse “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…” God clearly was not happy with the shepherds who failed their sheep. One of the things that our faith, our scriptures, make abundantly clear, is the importance of shepherds. And being a shepherd is about never forgetting that the focus of your work must always be on the welfare of the sheep. This is true, not only for those who watch over flocks, but for all kinds of leadership positions – from President to parent, from CEOs to church leaders. We don’t have to have lived in the Ancient Near East to understand what can happen when shepherds fail in their work. We have borne witness to this in our lifetimes. Today, we can certainly understand what it must have felt like back in the days of Jeremiah to be a people divided, scattered, fearful of our leaders, and not sure what tomorrow will bring. Our own nation’s leaders have not only failed to be good shepherds, it is far worse than that. They have actually turned on the sheep. Our country – once a beacon of freedom and democracy to the world – has entered into the dark shadows of oligarchy and systemic oppression. The President has put masked troops in the street shooting tear gas and pepper balls into crowds of citizens, and callously throwing people, including clergy, onto the pavement – arresting them for the crime of free speech. He is responsible for the execution of over 80 people without due process of law through drone strikes on boats in international waters. He has had thousands detained, including zip tying children (let that sink in), again without due process of law, and even deported many of them to foreign prisons notorious for their human rights abuses. He has dismissed the concern of over a thousand female victims of a child sex predator to protect his own hide, calling their abuse a hoax. And his government has stolen affordable access to healthcare for the poor to give money in tax breaks to the rich and powerful. And while some may feel this is less important – it goes to his misogyny and eroding of the freedom of the press – the silencing of those who courageously try to protect the flock from predators. He told one woman reporter who dared ask him a question, “Quiet Piggy!” Then he held a meeting at the White House with Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, known for his brutality, including the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a US citizen, by having him chopped up while still alive. When the President was asked about meeting with him by another reporter (also a woman) he called her “insubordinate.” Insubordinate – as though he is a king who cannot be questioned. And to another who asked directly about the murder of Khashoggi, he said “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.” Things happen? Sure, a guy walks into a bathroom and things like a bone saw just kinda happen to him. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. These are dark days we find ourselves walking in, to be sure. And it could make anyone feel like just pulling the covers over their heads and praying that things will ...
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