Trolling for the Kingdom

Homilist on Proper 29, Pentecost 27 (November 17, 2024), The Reverend Laura A Rezac, 20241117

May only God's word be spoken and only God's word heard. Amen.

Please be seated. Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to be here with you. For those who may not know me, my name is Reverend Laura Rezac and I am the executive director of St Christopher, your Diocesan Camp and Conference Center. But before I was there, as more of y'all probably know, I was here. I served this Beloved Community as Associate Rector. Friends, it is so good to be here with you this morning. I want to thank so much Father Adam, Father Will, our Seminarian Shawan, Verger Michael, and everyone for welcoming me home. Thank you.

You know, when Adam asked me to preach here this weekend, my response was, “Heck yeah, brother; I'm there.” I didn't really look at the readings before I said yes. This is a rookie mistake, right, but I should have known that we were going to get something for Our Gospel reading today. We are, after all, at that time of year again (and I don't mean our annual elections), I mean our liturgical cycle, right. That Cycle of the church year which is now drawing to a close before it starts a new once again in Advent.

This means that, like every year, Our Gospel readings are going to start talking about the end times, also known as the apocalypse. I confess that I personally have a bit of an aversion to talking about the end times, talking about the apocalypse, and I think this is, in part, because I grew up in a town where the Left Behind series was seen as serious biblical commentary. Also because just me personally, I am skeptical of any kind of spirituality that seems like it's trying to scare me into submission, right? Like those Turner burn Billboards. They do nothing for me. As someone who converted to Christianity, that kind of messaging really did not move the needle on following Jesus. It seems to me like this talk of the end times, this talk of the Apocalypse is so often employed in certain circles as a way to try and scare us into thinking or believing a certain way. So that's how I feel about it and yet, Jesus thinks this is an important topic—he has a lot to teach us about the end times though he's a little scant on the details that the disciples actually want.

He doesn't answer questions from the disciples about when exactly the world will end and when the new world will be born or how exactly this will happen. He's not answering those questions instead he's teaching them and teaching us that old systems, old structures, are going to pass away, and a new kingdom of God is on the way to being born: a kingdom where all are welcome; a kingdom that is wide and broad and inclusive and full of God's presence. In fact, he says this new kingdom is somehow here among us already, just out of sight, available only in glimpses where and when and with whom you might least expect. In addition to encouraging us who have eyes to see this already here but not quite yet kingdom of God, Jesus teaches us how to live through what he calls the birth pangs, right through this transition from one way of being to another, how to stay awake and stay faithful and stay loving in spite of the turmoil that might surround us.

There will be turmoil. Did you notice that part, right? Wars and famines and earthquakes oh my. One translation of this passage calls all of this routine history—Wars and natural disasters and famines and poverty—routine history that we all must live through. One of the things Jesus warns us about, warns the disciples about, in the midst of this routine history, in the midst of these birth pangs, is the appearance of false shepherds or as another translation puts it “doomsday deceivers”. Isn't that wonderful? False Shepherds, deceivers, power hungry manipulators, with forged identities who claim Spiritual Authority but who lead people astray. Well, beware he says that no one deceives you. Stay watchful or you could be led astray, could be driven away, from that ultimate source of goodness in life,  betraying the Commandments to love God and love your neighbor. Beware of false shepherds.

Now if you're like me, you might have an idea of what a false shepherd might say or do or be like. I'm thinking of people who twist spirituality, who manipulate sacred imagery and texts to acquire personal power, who use claims of divine Authority or inspiration to hurt the vulnerable. How many false Shepherds could we name in routine history—ministers who Justified using the Bible for example or who have used and continue to use scripture to justify the second class citizenship of women. The list goes on. I'm sure you could supply some yourselves and, if you're like me, you get really frustrated when you see someone doing this co-opting religious symbols and sacred scripture to hurt and exclude people or using falsehoods and manipulation to gain power at the expense of all virtue. Seeing this can make us really angry can't it, and beyond that really scare us. Even without the false Shepherds it can be scary to live through routine history anyway. Wars are scary and so are earthquakes and so are famines. Living in routine history can be scary and we are so small and the problems of the world are so big and we try to do what we can and exercise our agency how we are able through volunteering or advocacy or voting or any of the wonderful ways that we can and must put our faith into practice and yet it seems like we cannot Escape false Shepherds.

We cannot Escape living in routine history so what do we do those of us who are living in routine history as we see the day approaching. Our letter from Hebrews has some thoughts on that score. I love the last sentence of our reading today. It says let us consider how to provoke one another to love and Good Deeds, not neglecting to meet together but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching provoke one another to love and Good Deeds. Now funny thing about the word “provoke”. I learned that word growing up. From Context Clues, I often heard, “Laura, stop provoking your brother,” when I was growing up. Typically when we use that word it means to make someone angry or annoyed. Right, kind of like we heard in our in our Old Testament reading. Hannah was being provoked by her rival, right, and had pain because of that, right? Here's the thing about provoking. I don't know about y'all, but I can be real good at that. I think we all can, especially with our family. We know how to push buttons, don't we? Right? I think some of us are going to get practiced with provocation at our upcoming Thanksgiving holidays, but really, friends, why wait for the holidays when we can troll people anytime on social media or in snarky phone calls or text messages or little asides in the lunchroom or the school pickup lines or at our workplaces or in our neighborhoods or next door, right?

Humans are real good at that kind of provoking, real good at trolling, that kind of trolling that's meant to so anger and divide and annoy people and hurt feelings and, I confess at least for me and I think for all of y'all if we're being honest, sometimes that leaves us feeling all warm and self-righteous and pleased that we've landed a cutting remark. Sometimes we are so worked up that we even turn on our friends. We can even turn that energy on fellow church goers on neighbors and, of course, on family. We become so used to that kind of provocation, that kind of trolling, that it becomes normalized, right and we start acting that way by default without it being a conscious choice. Here's the thing: when we engage in that kind of provocation, we are the false shepherds; we are the ones sowing anger and division. Hear me, friends, clearly. I am not talking about times where we have to stand up for the wesk, stand up against bullies, stand up up for justice. I'm talking not about that, I'm talking about trolling and unkindness. I think most of us intuitively know the difference between the two even when we try to lie to ourselves that we don't. I'm talking about the kind of provocation that is mean and unkind and leads us and others astray. The author of Hebrews says provoke away but, and this is critical, provoke others to love and good deeds. Imagine if we were that kind of troll if we popped out from under a bridge or onto someone's Social Media timeline or at Thanksgiving dinner and we said something inventive and unexpected and got everyone's attention, but instead of provoking them to division and anger you provoked them to love and Good Deeds. If we're going to be trolls, let's be trolls for the kingdom. It is a lot harder than being a mean troll. We need God's help to do it but it's really so much more satisfying and we have a good model for this in Jesus. He provoked people all the time, didn't he? But he was clever and he cared about the people standing right in front of him. He called people over and over to love God and love their neighbors and do good in the world.

Speaking of social media, I really love th social media influencer called Jerry Brooks. I commend him to you he's a principal from Kentucky or, as he'd say he's a principal from Kentucky and he makes these videos about our modern educational system that are so funny and so heartbreaking all at the same time. He's wonderful but I think one of my favorite videos of his isn't about education. He told this story of going to Target or Walmart one of these big box stores and, being in line, and hearing. He was kind of in line not really paying attention but the people who were checking out in front of him in line, he noticed they were getting kind of huffy and kind of sassy with the cashier. He heard the woman checking out in right front of him say to the cashier as she was leaving “Ridiculous”. But Mr Brooks didn't really know what was going on until he got to the front of the line and he realized that the cashier who was checking everyone out was a woman who was transgender. He said she was beautifully made up with beautiful clothes on and that she looked like she was about to cry and he didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he should apologize for the other people or act like he didn't really notice to try and preserve her dignity. He decided to tell her gosh I love your nails. Those are so pretty and she kind of smiled but not really and then he got his stuff and he walked out just feeling awful for her and wishing that he could help and wondering if he was enough of an upstander, if he'd been enough of the good kind of troll, if he should have done or said something more or something different. Then he said something that has stuck with me ever since he said that when we interact with anyone wherever we are—when we interact with anyone—we are leaving them with either a footstep to follow or a scar to heal. We are leaving them with a footstep to follow or a scar to heal.

We have a choice those of us living in routine history. We can provoke people to love and goodness. We can be trolls for the kingdom or we can provoke anger and division and hurt. We can give in to false shepherds. We can become a mean old troll. Friends, what do we do when we are living in routine history and it feels like that day is approaching and false shepherds are running rampant leave the folks you meet with more footsteps to follow and fewer scars to heal? Provoke people to love and good deeds, encourage one another, and, all the more as you see the day approaching, be a troll for the kingdom. Amen, amen.