Sunday Video Message – “Our Responsibilities as Citizens”

NOTE: The audio is not very strong. Please consider reading the transcript below instead.

Good morning, and welcome! 

Announcements 

• Thank you for flowers provided by Mary Hiebert, technical support by Michael Barrett and Doug Chambers, music coordination by Dawn Blue.   
• We are live streaming on Facebook and the church website (wichitaquakers.org).   Please feel free to share our worship with your Facebook friends by posting a link.  
• Offering plates are at the front and the back of the meeting-room.  
• It’s time for a distance and mask check. Make sure your mask covers your nose and your mouth.  Now make sure you can’t touch anyone’s hands except your family – front and back, side to side.    😊     

This morning, I’m going to read a small bit from the current guidelines from the Sedgwick County Health Department: 

Mass gatherings of more than 15 individuals are prohibited.  “Mass gatherings” are defined as instances in which individuals are in one location and are unable to maintain 6-foot distance between individuals (not including individuals who reside together) with only infrequent or incidental moments of closer proximity. Individuals in mass gatherings are required to wear masks or face coverings … (https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19/local-orders/emergency-public-health-order-october-20-2020/).  

We have been doing well with masks and distancing, not so much with the “only infrequent or incidental moments of closer proximity” part.  I know, it’s hard, but we have to do it to minimize risk.    

Remember to leave the worship space as soon as possible.  Chat outside, on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. Meet someone in the Fellowship Hall.  Text a smiley face or a hug.  Wave at the Friends you love.  But leave.  In the words of Paul Simon, 

… slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free (https://www.google.com/search?q=ways+to+leave+your+lover&oq=ways+to+leave&aqs=chrome.0.0i457j69i57j0l6.4925j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) 

One more thing — Ministry and Counsel is concerned about the rising numbers and is monitoring the situation.  The possibility of going back to remote worship only is real.  

Among church activities this week

• Today
  • 3:00 p.m. ~ 205 Sunday Class to meet via Zoom 
  • 6:00 p.m. ~ Listening Group 5.3 (Kim & Molly)
• Tuesday, November 10, 6:30 pm, Book Club
• Wednesday, November 11, 6:30 pm, Bell choir rehearsal
• Thursday, November 12, 1:30 pm, Finance Committee
• Sunday, November 15, at the rise of worship, Monthly Meeting

Any other announcements? 

Music: “I Surrender All,” #451 (Feel free to sing quietly or hum along inside your mask.)

Children’s moment:  Sue Wine 

Prayer Concerns

• Greg Newby is undergoing 10 days of radiation to be completed before Thanksgiving, just to be sure the cancer is gone.
• Steve Grether is eating better, which is helping him keep medicines down, and will be seeing a different wound specialist.  
• Dan DeGroot was exposed to the coronavirus at work.  He and Erin are under a two-week quarantine.  
• Andrea Suttle’s in-laws have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive and also with the Suttle children.
• Our nation 
• Our church at this time of transition:  May we find clarity and energy for the tasks at hand and the decisions we will need to make as we find our way forward.   May we find ways to use our assets wisely and well.  May we discover ways we are to be a beacon of love in our world. May we be looking for the doors you are opening, and may we have the courage to walk through them.  May we see what you are doing in our world and join you in it.  
• Any other prayer concerns? 

Pastoral Prayer

God of all nations and peoples, God of the earth and skies, we turn to you.  

God of grace and God of glory,
on thy people pour thy power ….
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour…. (http://www.pateys.nf.ca/cgi-bin/lyrics.pl?font=regular&hymnnumber=490) 

Message

The message God has laid upon my heart this morning comes out of the context of this past election week.  I know we, as a diverse congregation, have people who were hoping that President Trump would be re-elected, and we also have people who were hoping he would be defeated.  We have people who voted for Trump and people who voted for Biden.  That’s reality.    

We know that some Christians supported President Trump over the moral issue of abortion.  We know that some Christians opposed President Trump over moral issues such as racism and sexism.  That’s reality.

And whether we are happy about the results of the election or more worried than ever, we all know that our nation’s problems are not going to go away any time soon.  We still have to face issues of abortion and racism and sexism. We still have a pandemic.  We still have political unrest.  That’s reality. 

So, in such a time as this, what does God call us to?  As citizens of the United States, as Christians and Quakers, what is our responsibility?   

As I pondered this week, I turned, as I often do, to Britain Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Faith and Practice.   I found this bit, a piece of advice from 1964:

Remember your responsibility as citizens for the government of your town and country, and do not shirk the effort and time this may demand. Do not be content to accept things as they are, but keep an alert and questioning mind. Seek to discover the causes of social unrest, injustice and fear; try to discern the new growing-points in social and economic life. Work for an order of society which will allow men and women to develop their capacities and will foster their desire to serve (https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/23/, #23.01). 

Here we don’t find advice to vote for a particular party or to take one stand or another about any particular issue.  Instead, we are urged to take responsibility, to keep asking questions, to seek justice and to pursue peace and equality.  

More pondering this week brought me to the Gospel of Matthew, where, in chapter 22, beginning with verse 15, we find that some religious and political leaders were trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would get him into trouble.   Here’s what they asked: 

“Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. ¹⁷ Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 

Jesus knew what they were up to and said, “Show me the coin used for the tax.” 

And they brought him a denarius. 

A denarius was a coin worth about a day’s wage. 

²⁰ Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” ²¹ They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. 

One commentator noted that the question of whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor was indeed a trick question: 

If Jesus says that it is lawful to pay the tribute, He would have been seen as a collaborator with the Roman occupiers and would alienate the people who had just proclaimed Him a king. If Jesus says that the tribute is illegitimate, He risked being branded a political criminal and incurring the wrath of Rome. With either answer, someone would have been likely to kill Him. (https://mises.org/wire/render-unto-caesar-most-misunderstood-new-testament-passage) 

And Jesus’s answer – “Give … to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” – may have amazed the people who had asked the question, but it doesn’t really help when we’re trying to figure out what we owe God and what we owe the government.  

Here’s some more from that commentator:

In the Hebrew tradition, everything rightfully belonged to God. … Jesus has already reminded His interrogators that God was owed exclusive allegiance and total love and worship. Similarly, everything economically belonged to God as well. ***

The emperor, on the other hand, also claimed that all people and things in the empire rightfully belonged to Rome. The denarius notified everyone who transacted with it that the emperor demanded exclusive allegiance….

Jesus … simply invites His listeners to choose allegiances (https://mises.org/wire/render-unto-caesar-most-misunderstood-new-testament-passage).

Our responsibility is to choose.  

Someone else put it this way: 

It’s difficult to formulate an exact method for Christians to relate to the government. Not every law passed is moral, and not every government official deserves our respect. The Bible itself records instances where rebels are commended for resisting or overthrowing a wicked ruler. But just as we can’t use the Bible to justify unconditionally obeying everything the government says, we likewise can’t use the Bible to justify the complete opposite behavior. Whatever conclusion you come to should be reached through much thought and prayer about the proper way to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. (https://www.orbcfamily.org/faith/render-unto-caesar-what-jesus-was-actually-saying/)  

Our responsibility is to give thought and prayer to how we relate to the government. 

Romans 13 counsels its readers to obey laws, pay taxes, and submit to government authority.   

In Acts 5:29, we read that when Jesus’s followers were called on the carpet for not doing what they had been told, Peter and the others asserted firmly, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

As Martin Luther King, Jr., suggested in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” we have a responsibility to discern where justice lies.   

In the midst of my pondering this week, I came across this Facebook post from Kelly Kellum, General Secretary of Friends United Meeting:

Dear Friends,

It is 2:30 AM, November 3, 2020, election day in the United States of America. The Holy Spirit woke me up way too early this morning to pray for my community and my nation. Today is an important day as millions of votes are [cast] and tallied to determine who will become the next president of the United States. I usually avoid talking about US politics because I know my community and my family is as divided as the nation is when it comes to political loyalties.

Additionally, I work for FUM and represent global concerns that go beyond the borders and the interests of a single country. Yet, while this is a national election, the world awaits its’ outcome. The decisions made in US ballot-boxes will impact folks in the United States, Cuba, Palestine, Kenya, and other places where I work.

I have strong opinions about who Americans should elect, but it seems to me that the choices we make after this election cycle are just as important as how we cast our votes today. Regardless of who wins or loses, we get to decide how we will respond to our victory or defeat. We get to determine the kind of citizens we are and how we occupy this land. So, I encourage my friends everywhere to plan your vote now:
– Choose humility, not pride
– Choose mercy, not resentment
– Choose joy, not fear
– Choose hope, not despair
– Choose grace, not selfishness
– Choose peace, not chaos
– Choose love, not hate

… these are the choices Jesus invites us to make as citizens of God’s Kingdom. These choices form the kind of community I want to be part of and the world I want to help create.

Our responsibility is decide what kinds of citizens we will be. 

Remember your responsibility as citizens for the government of your town and country, and do not shirk the effort and time this may demand. Do not be content to accept things as they are, but keep an alert and questioning mind. Seek to discover the causes of social unrest, injustice and fear; try to discern the new growing-points in social and economic life. Work for an order of society which will allow men and women to develop their capacities and will foster their desire to serve (https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/23/, #23.01). 

Open worship

Let us join together in a time of open worship, communion after the manner of Friends. 

Benediction 

• Remember to leave the worship space as soon as possible.  Chat outside, on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. Meet someone in the Fellowship Hall.  Text a smiley face or a hug.  Wave at the Friends you love.  But leave.  

We are meeting in person and also streaming our sermons on Facebook at 10:00 AM CST. Watch live: 
https://www.facebook.com/universityfriendschurch/

Not on Facebook? You can see all of our posts and videos on our site here!