Sermon 7/4/21: Hometowns, Homelands, and Beyond (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Pr. Craig Mueller
Lectionary 14b
July 4, 2021
Hometowns, Homelands, and Beyond
Do you have a place you call hometown, where you’re from? Or did your parents move around a lot and you are not able to locate just one place? And if you can imagine a hometown, what was it like when you grew up and what is it like now? How did it celebrate July 4th? Was there a parade? Fireworks? Other festivities?
As I mentioned last week, during June I was back in my hometown of Longmont, Colorado. An hour from Rocky Mountain National Park, and a lovely view of the mountains to the west, my schools growing up were named Mountain View Elementary, Longs Peak Junior High, and Longmont High School. I don’t remember much about politics then but the more liberal “republic of Boulder” (as my dad called it) is ten miles away, and Longmont was always more conservative. But things are changing and state is veering blue in its voting, or at least purple.
I often wonder how I would be different if I had grown up in a different hometown. Both my parents grew up on farms in eastern Nebraska. Due to asthma, my dad went into agribusiness instead of farming. But what if I had grown up on a farm in Nebraska? Would I have been able to develop my interests in music and church? Where would I have gone to college? How and when would I have come out? Sometimes I had enough challenges relating to my relatives when I visited them. What if they were the hometown folk?
And what if Ernest’s family had not emigrated to the United States sixty years ago? What if he had grown up in Cuba? What would have become of him? Maybe you wonder about similar things in your life.
As the story of Jesus continues in Mark, Jesus is getting mixed reviews. There’s been some rejection but he got rave reviews in a Capernaum synagogue. And last week’s healing took place in the home of the leader of a nearby synagogue. Now Jesus has been invited to preach at his hometown synagogue. These folks watched Jesus grow up. They knew him before he was so famous. And they’ve heard about his captivating miracles and teaching.
How does he do? Well, the people were astounded and amazed, but not in a good way. The Greek word suggests incredulous. Like they’re not sure he is for real. We often use the word amazing to suggest something awesome and wonderful. But amazing means filled with wonder and surprise. So it can have a negative twist. We can be amazed at how stupid people can be.
The congregation people are thinking: what’s all this fuss about? Who gave our hometown boy such wisdom? Who does he think he is? And they pull out the scandal card. Isn’t this the son of Mary, suggesting a fatherless lineage. And the people took offense at their hometown boy.
Sometimes you can’t go home. And Jesus is amazed at the people’s unbelief. And he is basically rendered powerless.
On July 4, let’s move from hometowns to our homeland. It is a day to celebrate our independence and give thanks for the gifts of freedom and liberty. Yet folk around our nation look disdain on those who view our country from different lenses. Folks in some hometowns see a city on a hill and the noble things in our nation’s history. Others name the scar that we still bear—from our treatment of indigenous people to the continuing legacy of slavery and inequality. Maybe both realities are true. But we live in an either-or world. We have difficulty holding two truths at the same time. Mostly because we get our views validated through social media, our news sources, and those we hang out with.
I’ve been hearing a lot about a provocative new book that talks not only about two Americas—red and blue—but four. George Packer’s book is called Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. On the right Packer names Free America—Reagan’s libertarian view that we’re all individuals who make it if we get government out of the way and cut taxes. In the past decade a rebellion came out of Free America and it led by Real America, a term coined by Sarah Palin. This is a white Christian-Nationalist narrative coming of the heartland. They are making the point that small towns and rural areas have been left behind, not only the inner cities.
On the left Packer describes Smart America, represented by Bill Clinton in the 90s: the professional class that believes talent and effort should be rewarded but that society should make sure everyone has an equal chance. This is globalized America represented by Silicon Valley and beyond. But with affirmative action and diversity hiring as important. A rebellion has come out of Smart America as well, leading to Just America, reacting to the complacency of the previous generations. This is multicultural America which sees us all as members of groups and with certain identities and deals with sins of past and present. The controversies regarding critical race theory bring this home.
To Packer, all four of these America’s are problematic in their own way. But most of us aren’t able to see the shadow side of our own beliefs. For example, according to Packer, “It makes the products of these educations — the students — less able or less willing to think in terms larger than their own identity group — a kind of intellectual narcissism — which means they can’t find common ground or effective arguments that can reach people of different backgrounds and views.”
Maybe it’s our problem admitting our shortcomings, our weaknesses, our blind spots. One would hope a global pandemic and the continuing threat of climate change would bring on a bit more humility, but I’m not so sure. There is so much to be proud of as Americans. But we are also hell-bent on success and being the strongest, greatest country on earth. How can that also not bring some hubris?
Saint Paul’s words today seem almost shocking in this regard. Paul had to deal with some mysterious thorn in the flesh that kept him from being elated. And he relied on words he received from the Lord: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
So many different hometowns all looking down on those who think differently. Jesus rejected by his hometown folk. Where does this lead?
Jesus seems to get on with it and invites us to do the same. He sends out disciples. He goes about his business of teaching, healing and proclaiming the good news. Some will reject it. Yet Christ sends us forth this day, to live our faith in word and deed. Honoring and praying for the country we love, indeed. Yet pledging our ultimate allegiance to divine grace that embraces all people and all the countries of the world.
