I don’t know about you, but I found it an odd juxtaposition we faced on Friday, July 4th.  On the very day that we celebrate courage in the face of tyranny, the President signed an act of Congress so inhumane, harmful to God’s creation, and fiscally irresponsible it can only be thought of as immoral and corrupt.  He called it his big, beautiful, bill, but it is truly a sign of the ugliness of depravity that has seeped into the hearts of our nation’s leaders. 

What was in this bill?

It extends the tax cuts for the wealthy originally passed in the President’s first term, approves hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on the military and on carrying out mass deportations. And it partly pays for all that with steep cuts to healthcare and food aid benefits for the poor, as well as clean energy funding. The cuts to healthcare are an estimated $930 billion, which, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office will result in over 11 million people losing their health insurance.

So, let’s just summarize it: To give money to the rich and terrorize immigrants, the President and the majority in Congress, robbed from the poor, increased our dependence on fossil fuels that pollute the environment, and will raise the national debt by over $3 trillion. 

But wait, there’s more that happened the week we celebrated Independence from a King who wielded power unjustly…. This same President smiled and laughed while taking promo photos at a new facility for immigrant detainees in Florida, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, because it is in an area of the Everglades with alligators and pythons.  The Everglades is an environmentally sensitive area, not meant for this type of structure, which is more concentration camp than detention facility. 

This is how we now welcome the stranger in our midst – by putting them in concentration camps either here or abroad.

This is how we treat children of God – by taking food and healthcare for the poor to line the pockets of the rich.

And we call this country the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

Freedom seems not to be for anyone that isn’t white, straight, male, or Christian.  And bravery can not be found among the majority in Congress, or in the White House.  There we find only cruelty, immorality, and shameful disdain for the least of these.  In fact, the President himself said, on July 4th no less, that he hates those that don’t support him. The President of the United States says he hates more than 50% of Americans.  The same guy who sells bibles hates the people he is called to serve.  Let that sink in.  As I have said before – he might want to actually READ the bible he sells. 

So, on July 4th, as flags were raised, and fireworks were  lighting the skies, I was thinking about all of the horror happening in our country, and the despair so many feel.  Despair that seems warranted amidst this daily onslaught of cruelty.  Still, while this 4th was deeply troubling, I found inspiration in the reason we celebrate it.

The revolutionary war was fought when the odds were heavily against the colonists. They were up against the world’s greatest army at that time, with a scrappy bunch of folks, many not military trained. Still, they prevailed.  And when I think of them, I often think of John Paul Jones during the Battle of Flamborough Head in 1779 on his ship, the Bonhomme Richard. When asked if he would surrender, he defiantly replied “I have not yet begun to fight.”

And then there is the speech of another patriot, Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry delivered an address to the Second Virginia Convention in 1775, who was debating whether to join the other colonies in the fight. And while it was a call to rise up in armed conflict against the British, a courageous act, his words can also serve to inspire those who now resist peacefully the tyranny of our own country.

Part of what he said was this: “They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? […] We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. […] Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

If you really think about what he was asking, about what took place in the years of that conflict, it reminds us that a  few untrained colonists dared to take up arms against the mighty armies of the British empire – it’s crazy and seemingly impossible!  And yet, with courage, conviction, and hope – that is exactly what they did.  Yes, they had allies – the Prussians and the French, but much needed help came later. 

All of which reminds me of the text we just heard in the gospel reading from Luke. Jesus sends his scrappy bunch of disciples out in pairs to go where he intended to go.  He sent them with nothing, saying, “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.” Why?  Why would Jesus do that?

Well, Jesus knew that not only did they already have everything they needed, going with just the clothes on their back would enable their work.  Perhaps we can understand when we look at the Revolutionary War.  The colonial army, such as it was,  carried no arrogance about their ability to win any particular battle.  Initially, they were usually outnumbered, outgunned, hungry, and worn.  They were the underdog, and that led them, one might imagine, to view the world differently – to break the mold of the expected. In fact, the British army was decidedly unprepared for the unconventional fighting methods of these colonists.  Sure, sometimes they lined up army to army and aim at the other side in an orchestrated neat battle, as was tradition.  But they also hid behind rocks and trees, wore out of necessity at first, civilian clothing, which provided a bit of camouflage, rather than the bright red coats of the British army.  And, they had something else too.  Something more powerful than any of that.  They had hope, courage, and tenacity. 

And so when we think about this gospel, when those disciples set out, they also carried with them all that they needed, though it may not have felt like that at first.  It says that Jesus sent them in pairs where he intended to go, and that wherever they went, whether welcomed or not, they were to tell the people that the kingdom of God has come near them. 

Let’s take that last one first.  Jesus wasn’t walking along all of them, so how could the kingdom of God have come near?

The kingdom of God isn’t a place or a person – it is the divine spark within us – for followers of Jesus – it is Christ in our hearts.  Wherever we go, we go with him. 

Not only that, but they carried the peace of Christ within them too.  Remember he said to them, “Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.”

Lastly, Jesus didn’t send them out alone – they were sent in pairs.  They had another disciple to walk with them as they did the work they were called to do.

Those earliest disciples didn’t need riches or extra clothing to take with them.  The peace of Christ rested on them, and the kingdom of God was within them, and they had one another to lean on.  And with that, they carried all they needed – most especially the hope, grace, and love that is the kingdom of God.  And those are the most powerful things we humans can ever have in this world.

For hope is more powerful than any weapon.

Grace can heal the deepest wounds.

And love conquers hate every single time.

As we leave here today, exhausted by what we see our nation’s leaders doing to God’s children and all of creation, we too can sometimes feel like lambs being sent into the midst of wolves.  Yet as Patrick Henry said, “…we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.”

Which is why the statement issued last week by our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, matters – because it is calling us to make proper use of those means which God has given us.  He wrote “It is shaping up to be a complicated Independence Day for The Episcopal Church. We were once the church of the Founding Fathers and presidents—34 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of what became our church after the Revolution, and 11 presidents, including George Washington, have professed our faith. Today, however, we are known less for the powerful people in our pews than for our resistance to the rising tide of authoritarianism and Christian nationalism emanating from Washington, D.C.

When religious institutions like ours enjoy easy coexistence with earthly power, our traditions and inherited systems can become useless for interpreting what is happening around us. But our recent reckoning with the federal government has allowed us to see clearly the ease with which the Protestant tradition of patriotism can lead Christians to regard our faith more as a tool of dominion than a promise of liberation.”

After giving an overview of Christian witness, and failure to do so, in pivotal moments in history, he then closed with this:

[…] “We did not seek this predicament, but God calls us to place the most vulnerable and marginalized at the center of our common life, and we must follow that command regardless of the dictates of any political party or earthly power. We are now being faced with a series of choices between the demands of the federal government and the teachings of Jesus, and that is no choice at all.  This is not the same kind of patriotism that has guided our church since its founding in 1785, but this July Fourth, it may be the most faithful service we can render — both to the country we love and the God we serve.”

It is exactly the most faithful service we can render to God and country.  And like those colonists, like those disciples, we do not do this work alone, and we have all that we need.

We have a long fight ahead folks – a righteous one to be a voice for the marginalized, to break the chains of oppression, and to bear witness to the gospel of God’s all inclusive love. 

Yes, we are tired, and we are worn, and we have a long road ahead of us, but one thing is for certain – and Mr. President, take note – “We have not yet begun to fight!”

Amen.

For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):

Sermon Podcast

The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox

Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge

July 6, 2025

Pentecost 4 – Year C – Track 1

1st Reading – 2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

2nd Reading – Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16

Gospel – Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

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