Alpha-Omega

Time to Pull Up the Carpet?
by Rev. Jim Taylor

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I sold my house of 23 years in the District of Columbia last year. In preparation, I took up the carpets and rolled up the rugs. And there it was: 23 years of dirt and debris. What? I assumed I am a reasonably good housekeeper. I had vacuumed regularly. I shampooed periodically. On the outside and on the surface, my house was clean and tidy in appearance. Who knew? It took years for that dirt to become deeply hidden. Actually, my house was built in 1904, so much of that dirt was shaken loose from within the very structure of the house. It wasn’t my dirt . . . or was it?

My life is like that too. Racism is like that too. For white people like me it became easy to think there is no problem. “I am not a racist.” I was taught to respect others, so what is the problem? Racism may not be intentionally in my heart and mind, but it planted itself there regardless because society had made certain:

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught

Little by little I learned implicit racism. I lived in a white neighborhood. I went to a white school. We had a housekeeper who came everyday to take care of me while my parents were working in the family business. Her name was Ruby. She taught me my ABCs and “Jesus love me this I know. . . .” I was an adult before I wondered how her own children were being cared for across the tracks. I was kept ignorant by the system to the legacy of slavery. My history book literally said “When the slaves came to America …” That was not a Carnival cruise! I’ve since understood that “history is the fable agreed upon.”

The COVID pandemic and the resulting stay at home orders forced most of us inside. It also gave us the opportunity to look inside ourselves in a fresh way if we chose to do so. Recent events have reminded me of the importance to pull up the carpets of my heart and mind and examine the dirt that has accumulated. I may not have put all that dirt there, but it is my responsibility to clean it up before I (and the world) can move on.

I’m still cleaning up. How about you?
–

Rev. Jim Taylor, retired

Before retirement, Jim was pastor of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church (UMC) in Baltimore, Maryland from 2006-2010. Before that, he served as the Associate General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race of the UMC in Washington, DC from 1992-2006.

Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, he now resides in Rio Vista, California.

What Do You Choose? – A Sermon

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A sermon from Palm Sunday 2020. This was part of a larger Lenten series at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church where we were also looking at African America Spirituals.

We find ourselves living in unprecedented times in our lives, don’t we?
 
As we prepare for worship this Sunday, we come to one of the most iconic days of the Christian year – Palm Sunday – a day so often equated with joy and triumph. Can that old-time story of Jesus bring us guidance for this uniquely challenging time?
 
That will be our goal as we consider together two texts: Mark’s version of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem and a snippet from the book of Revelation. We’ll also be thinking through some of the lyrics to “Ride On King Jesus,” an African American spiritual. As you look at those two passages and the song: What is similar? What is different? What do you think they say to our current situation? 

Listen to it here:

Right-mouse-click to download audio.

Watch the sermon here:

This sermon was inspired by:

Revelation 19:11-13
11Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. (NRSV)

Mark 11:1-11
1When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. 7Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

11Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. (NRSV)

Standing on Holy Ground

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Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave, you would be there too!

Psalm 139:7-8 (CEB)

It was not supposed to go like that.

The day before, the senior pastor had talked to the terminally ill church member on the phone. She was weak and knew the end was near, and she wanted the pastor to drop by for a visit.

This person was a dedicated wife, mother, and church member who truly inspired us all. Though I couldn’t know what was going on internally, on the exterior she faced down her cancer diagnosis as if it were just one more step on the journey. If she had doubts she’d survive, she didn’t show the majority of the church. In fact, she tried to have fun with it, turning up week after week with wildly different wigs on her chemo-induced bald head. None of us expected cancer winning.

I had literally only been on a church staff for about 2 weeks, my newly minted title being “Ministerial Assistant.” As such, I had never even done a pastoral hospital visit before; so, the senior pastor thought it would be a good learning experience for me and the youth director to tag along. When we arrived the morning after the phone call, we realized that her prognosis had gone from a few days left to minutes.

I remember the pastor asking the husband and daughter if they would like us to leave, but we were invited to stay. We joined hands around her while each of us staff members said part of a short prayer, then we stepped back for the family to be close.

Not only had I never done a pastoral hospital visit before, I had never been in the room of a dying person. Let me just begin by saying it was surreal. For some reason, I felt a deep sense of joy that I truly could not explain and for which I was feeling guilty. How could I dare feel joy in such a sad happening? I remember looking at the pastor and seeing a gentle smile on his face and wondered why he had that.

Now, had he still just been my pastor (I had attended this church for a few years before they created this position for me), I probably could have talked to him about this strange feeling, but now he was my boss. I simply couldn’t go there. So, I meandered around for weeks in this strange, silent guilt for feeling joy.

Then, one day in my pastoral care class in my first semester of seminary, a hospital chaplain was visiting. I’ll never forget these words he said, “When you are in the room of a dying person, you are standing on holy ground for Christ is in that room.” In that instant, I knew the source of the joy I was feeling – a joy that I suspect the family couldn’t quite feel – but I knew without a doubt that God in Christ in the Holy Spirit had showed up for them, for us as the pastoral staff, and for this dedicated woman.

As I have struggled with feelings of guilt for not being with my Dad when he passed (and anger for not knowing he was that near the end), I take comfort in knowing that God was there. Dad was not alone. The God who never leaves us shows up in just the way we need God. God always shows up.

Palpable

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For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit,
and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Colossians 2:5 (NRSV)


It was the Thursday before the Washington DC Metro Area blizzard of January 2016. I had led Covenant Bible Study at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, and afterwards, I was going to my friend Luke’s house to play a little guitar. It had started snowing shortly before I left the church, but no one had predicted more than a dusting. So, I made my way over to jam for an hour or so. When I left Luke’s, it was clear that the predictions were off. The ground and roads were totally covered and, as I was soon to discover, very slick.

As soon as I noticed how slick the roads were, I decided I’d take Bladensburg Road to Highway 50 to avoid a few overpasses, but soon realized there had been an accident as traffic was backed up near Benning Road and not moving. So, I took back streets, slipping and sliding along the way. I eventually made it to Highway 295 where I crawled along at about 25-30 mph to Highway 50 where I continued the quite slow pace while crazy people continued to fly by – some of which slid off the road.

Just east of Landover Road on US-50 (just outside of DC), there is an S-curve before reaching the Beltway. Even though I was taking my time, all of a sudden, I found myself going sideways, headed towards the concrete pillar holding up an overpass with nothing I did making a bit of difference.

“Oh, expletive!” I shouted out loud and in fear, and in that moment, it literally felt like Dad, who had died almost a year before, was sitting in the passenger seat. I heard him say, “Pop it up into neutral,” which I did. My car immediately straightened out. I incredulously said out loud, “Thanks, Pop!”

Now, some hearing this story will say, “Your dad is your guardian angel! That’s so cool,” which honestly, I don’t know that I buy as I really don’t know that I believe in angels like that. Others will say, “No, you just remembered what your Dad had said to you in a similar situation years ago,” which he definitely said to me when driving around on sleet-covered roads while I was in high school. And yet, the palpable sense that Dad was right there with me was way more than just a memory.

But my point is not to argue the mechanics of what happened. My belief is that the angels we have loved and lost are still somehow with us. Whether in some spiritual way or vividly in our memories, they are never far away. And though I would prefer being able to play music with him again or sit and talk with him again the way we used to, I’m thankful for these occasional moments when I still feel Dad and other loved and lost angels with me.

My hope and prayer is that, for each of you who have also loved and lost an angel, you can find moments of their ongoing presence and that this will bring you comfort, peace, and hope.

Spittin’ Image – A Sermon

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This was a sermon preached at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church as a part of a larger sermon series called “God’s GPS,” a stewardship series. This was the first sermon of the series.

Imagine that you’re going on a journey – destination irrelevant. What’s the first thing you need to know before you know how to get to your destination?

You need to know where your journey begins or else the directions to your destination will make no sense.

With this sermon, we begin a journey through a new sermon series called God’s GPS where we will learn about how God guides us in life through gratitude, prayer, and faith. But here in this sermon, we actually begin with our starting point, where we begin our journeys of faith – Creation.

In the first creation story of Genesis 1, we learn that all of us – regardless of gender – are created in God’s image, and that is our starting point. It is in that creative, loving beginning that each of us start our journeys together, so we will explore what that even means – being created in God’s image – and let that ground us for our journey through the rest of the series.

As you prepare to listen to this sermon, I hope you’ll take time to read the passage from Genesis 1 as well as the gospel lesson from Mark.

Listen to it here:

Right-mouse-click here to download audio.

Scriptures inspiring this sermon include:

Genesis 1:26-28
26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (NRSV)

Mark 12:13-17
13Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. 14And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.” 16And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” 17Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him. (NRSV)

The Ripple Effect – A Sermon

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A sermon preached at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church on Sunday, August 18, 2019.

Last week, while on vacation, we spent some time at Wallis Sands State Beach in New Hampshire. According to the life guards, the water was a whopping 57 degrees when we first arrived, getting as warm as about 63 degrees. Sandra and I didn’t spend much time in the water. We could hardly get Micah out!

For the most part, he just spent time dodging the waves – jumping up just as it arrived in order to be carried back by it or sometimes diving under the wave just before it arrived. He had a ball!

Waves can be fun or waves can be damaging depending on the size of the ripple and how one can respond to it.

What waves do our lives of faith make, though? That is part of my focus for this sermon. So, in preparation, I hope you’ll take some time to read the Scriptures for it: Psalm 82 and Matthew 7:24-27.

Listen to it here:

Right-mouse-click here to download audio.

Here are Scriptures that inspired this sermon:

Psalm 82
1God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;
7nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.”
8Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you! (NRSV)

Matthew 7:24-27
24“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” (NRSV)