The Adventurous Lectionary – The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 17, 2025
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
Most preachers might hope to be on holiday this week. There is little comfort in the words. Division, persecution, destruction, and punishment are the watchwords. Jesus comes not to comfort but to challenge and agitate. God’s message divides as well as unites, and our interpretations of God’s word can further exacerbate the divisions that threaten to dissolve the nation and religious community.
Can texts over two thousand years old speak to our current national waywardness? Isaiah speaks of the land being overrun by enemies due the impact of injustice, causing God to withdraw God’s protective care. Jesus speaks of division among those who disagree over his authority and the nature of his message. Are these passages appropriate in the context of our national incivility and inhospitality toward strangers and those whose viewpoints differ from our own? There is already enough polarization, and these readings seem to fuel the flames. Beginning with the White House, name calling and bullying have become the norm among those who disagree, and self-proclaimed evangelical Christians are leading the way with invective and justification of dehumanizing fellow Christians, not just in the battle lines of progressives and conservatives but in our nation’s traumatizing of undocumented residents, most of whom are Christian.
The reading from Luke doesn’t seem to help matters. Jesus appears to be the ultimate divider. There appears to be no room for moderation, compromise, or ecumenism; the issue is black and white, truth and false, in and out, and, dare we say, saved and unsaved. No common ground exists between the faithful and infidel. Luke’s Jesus asserts that families will split over their relationship with him. No doubt this was true in the early years of the Christian movement. Following Jesus meant the possibility of condemnation or exclusion from Gentile or Jewish families or friends, but what does this mean today when families split over their attitudes toward Donald Trump, the person and the policy maker? Trump has achieved Godlike status as either savior or demon, and we have forgotten that God is God, and Trump isn’t, nor are we.
There is no way to soften the words of any of these scriptures. But, these words shouldn’t be used to condemn those who oppose us, or those with whom we differ theologically or politically. I have seen Jesus’ words from Luke weaponized by Christian exceptionalists, who assume that their beliefs, lifestyle, and biblical interpretation trump any other approaches to truth, scripture, or behavior. While we don’t know exactly the audience Jesus has in mind, we best beware that we are not “hypocrites.” We need to recognize that God is God and not us, and that we have our beliefs in earthen, imperfect, vessels. Humility and repentance are appropriate responses from the “children of light” and “the children of darkness.” We need to be aware of the limitations of our belief systems, institutions, and spiritual authorities, including scripture and doctrine. Surely the time, as Jesus says, is one of reckoning for those who turn their backs on the birth of God’s heavenly realm in our world.
How shall we preach this passage? Preachers who are firebrands may get solace from these passages. They may feel justified in railing against their congregation’s lukewarm attitudes on social or theological issues. They may feel justified in claiming the rightness of their own position in contrast to the darkness of their opponents. These passages can encourage a type of absoluteness we see in “true believers” and ideologues of both the left and the right. Such pastors may perceive themselves in the right, but they may soon find that their righteousness is destructive to their congregations, creating divisions and dangers to their own pastoral positions. I am certainly tempted to proclaim God’s condemnation of Trump, white Christian nationalism, and those who see Trump as our national savior and protector of the faith, and sometimes, my calling is to part the waters, albeit with humility, between the forces of life and death.
Frankly, I am not sure how to preach Jesus’ words in ways that do not provoke either divisiveness or self-righteousness, unless I assume that they are directed at me as well as those with whom I disagree. I, too, am “standin’ in the need of prayer” and need to examine my own relationship with God’s vision of Shalom.
I have learned to take a breath, lest I focus on the trivial or fixate on the speck in my neighbor’s eye and miss the log in my own! I need to see these moments of anger and polarization in myself as a call to spiritual stature, lest I be a hypocrite, too, hating others’ absolutizing and absolutizing my own relative positions. Those whom I condemn are also God’s beloved children. While there will be a reckoning for injustice, my own and the nation, I need to seek peace and walk humbly, most especially when I am tempted to denigrate those who differ from me. I need to challenge and resist and yet love.
The passages from Isaiah and the Psalms aren’t any easier and can lend themselves in polarizing theology and preaching as well. Does God tear down God’s wall of protection as a result of our wrongdoing? Certainly, a lot of conservative religious spokespersons stated that 9/11 and Katrina – and other natural disasters and terrorist acts – are a result of divine withdrawal, though they were silent on the recent Texas floods, their silence suggesting that God’s judgment only applies to those who differ from them. Can we forfeit God’s good will as a result of our actions, or do our actions limit what God can do in our lives and nation? And, which actions are destructive to our nation’s well-being and relationship to God – is it acceptance of homosexuality and GLBTQ persons that leads to divine withdrawal or might it be our inhospitality to refugees, complacency with economic injustice, or persecution of the GLBTQ community undermine God’s protection of our nation?
My own sense is that God is always on our side, but that our moving away from God limits what God can do. As Alfred North Whitehead asserts, God’s vision for us and the world is always the best for “that impasse,” ourselves and our unique context. Openness to God enables God to be more decisive in our lives. Failure to attend to God’s vision diminishes the energy of grace in our lives and this can have negative social and economic impacts that touch even the self-righteous. (For more the relationship between our actions and God’s presence in our lives and the world, see Bruce Epperly, “Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God” and “Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed.”)
The passage from Hebrews realistically recognizes that our faith does not insure instant gratification. Faithful people still look toward the horizon, prayerfully hoping for God’s promises to be fulfilled, and they may wait a lifetime! Yet, God has something more for us than finite promises. God promises us life abundance and joy everlasting. Jesus’ own suffering reminds us to faithfully wait for the gifts God has in mind for us. This is not passivity but patience and trust that enable us to walk the walk and keep the faith even when the odds are against us. In our own despair of our nation’s future, we need to remember that God will have the final word, and constantly surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, we may discern a way where there appears to be no way forward. There is a cloud of witnesses that surrounds us – our good ancestors in the faith – and their prayers and presence, their example, sustains and empowers us, giving us hope in troubled times. We can accept, as Martin Luther King counsels, finite disappointment because we have infinite hope.
Recently I chanced upon these words, as I was working on a Lenten devotional text. They seem relevant to these scriptures and just such a time as now. In one of John Lewis’ last interviews, shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer John Lewis responded to Jonathan Capehart question, “what he would say to people who feel as though they have already been giving it their all but nothing seems to change,” with these words, “You must be able and prepared to give until you cannot give any more. We must use our time and our space on this little planet that we call Earth to make a lasting contribution, to leave it a little better than we found it, and now that need is greater than ever before.” A year before his death, Lewis counseled these immortal lines, providing an interpretation of the way of Jesus in these troubled times.
Do not get lost in a sea of despair Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.
We need to recognize that challenge as well as consolation may come from following Jesus. We need to sit loose with our own viewpoints, even as we seek to manifest them in the world, working for justice and protesting injustice. We need to look for truth in positions with which we disagree and recognize that our own viewpoints have limitations and may seem false to persons of good faith. Still, we continue the journey, trusting that God is at work in our lives, that our openness to God will give us new insights, and that our futures are in God’s hands, despite our imperfection and the imperfections of our congregations.
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Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD (https://www.westmorelanducc.org/) and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books including: “Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the Healing Wisdom of America’s Mystics” (Amazon.com: Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries: 9781625249142: Epperly, Bruce: Books) “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet “(Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet: Epperly, Bruce: 9781625248732: Amazon.com: Books), Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet”( Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999215: Amazon.com: Books), and his most recent book, “God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality and Social Change.” (The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books) His latest book is “A New Pentecost for Progressive Christians.” (A New Pentecost for Progressive Christians: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999413: Amazon.com: Books)
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