Do you have a prophetic streak in your spirit? If so, please seriously consider preaching a series of 12 sermons on the extensive biblical teaching on oppression/injustice and justice. I suggest that you preach a sermon on oppression and follow that sermon with another on justice; six months, 12 sermons. Illustrate your sermons with U.S. examples. But you better have a plan B because I predict that half of the white preachers will be fired if they do preach these 12 sermons.
Suggested Six Sermons on Oppression
Background books to read: God So Loved The Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression by Thomas Hanks. Inheriting the [Slave} Trade by Thomas DeWolf.
Sermon 1: based on Exodus, chapters 1-5 with an emphasis on chapter one.
* Lifelong and generational systems of oppression crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill persons created in the image of God.
* Systems of oppression smash the body and crush the spirit.
* Systems of oppression not only damage individuals, but also families and communities; oppression damage leads to individual, family and community dysfunction. Damage precedes dysfunction.
* Systems of oppression are sweeping, radical, extreme and holistic; therefore, the solutions also need to be sweeping, radical, extreme and holistic.
* Adjectives and nouns from Exodus 1-5: forced labor, hard labor, ruthless, kill, misery, suffering, crying out, slave drivers, beaten, groaning, yoke, cruel bondage.
Sermon 2: Exodus 6:9; read from both the RSV and The Message " . . . . They could not hear (believe) him---they were that beaten down in spirit. . . ."
* For the Hebrew slaves, it seemed that God had gone on a deistic vacation and forgotten them for 400 years. So even as God presented himself as the I AM---the present and personal God---the crushed slaves could not believe.
* Note that those whose spirits have been crushed by oppression cannot believe God.
* Compare to soldiers suffering PTSD.
* See my blog [Lowell Noble's Writings] for the blog "Can Oppression Cause PTSD?" See also the comment by the Haitian Jean Thomas; Haiti has experienced 500 years of Spanish, French and American oppression.
* American colonial leaders committed genocide and slavery.
* Was the DeWolf clan "Great Folks" or "evil people". Were James DeWolf and klan worse than Pharaoh because they were involved in both the slave trade and slavery? Was the DeWolf clan worse than the Ku Klux Klan?
Sermon 3: Jeremiah 7:1-10, Amos 2:7 and 5:21-24, Isaiah 58:1-5
* religious institutions can become systems of oppression.
* Both Jeremiah and Jesus called the temple "a den of robbers".
* Worship without justice is dead.
Sermon 4: Luke 6:24
* "Woe to the rich" the religious, male, rich oppressors.
* Search the rest of Luke for numerous references to money, wealth, possessions, riches.
* Pharisees were condemned for being "lovers of money." and neglecters of justice---11:41 and 16:14.
* Rich man and Lazarus---16:19-31.
Sermon 5: Luke 19:45
* The TEMPLE: a religiously legitimated system of oppression, "a den of robbers," soon to be destroyed by the Romans.
* The Temple leaders were a male, religious rich
* Episcopal and Reformed churches were built on top of slave dungeons in West Africa.
* Pastor/Pope Francis has called upon priest and p[eople to leave the security of the stain-glassed sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets.
Sermon 6: James 1:27 through James chapter two and 5:1-4
* Pure religion releases the oppressed widows and orphans from their oppression and then protects them from systems of oppression.
* Pure religion honors the poor; worthless religion, flawed churches, favor the rich over the poor.
* The rich exploit/oppress the poor.
Six Sermons on Justice
Begin or end each sermon on justice by reading the following "Sabbath" quotation from the Poverty and Justice Contemporary English Version Bible. Just as systems of oppression such as genocide or slavery are sweeping, radical and holistic so must biblical justice be sweeping, radical, holistic or revolutionary and transformative.
"Leviticus is often viewed as a book full of obscure rules and ritual, yet it contains one of the most astonishing pieces of social legislation in history: the Sabbath years and the Jubilee. Every seven years, the land had a Sabbath, 'time off', allowing it to recover. During this year slaves were to be freed (Exodus 21:2) and debts were to be cancelled. (Deuteronomy 15:1-11)."
"And every fiftieth year there was a Jubilee, a kind of Sabbath of Sabbaths, where the entire social structure of Israel was to be reset. Every Israelite became, once again, a free citizen. Everyone could wipe the slate clean and start again, and significantly, the year began on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9)---the day of national repentance and reconciliation. So, fresh starts spiritually and physically [socially]---a whole life view."
Sermon 1: Lev. 25; Deut. 15, Exodus 21:2
* Quote CEV on the "Sabbath".
* These are God designed principle/laws to prevent lifelong, even generational, systems of oppression.
* If American churches had practiced the Sabbath/Jubilee, would this have prevented Indian genocide and African slavery?
* Use Habitat for Humanity as a modern application of Jubilee justice; the 'rich' gave the money for capital funds so no interest is charged to the working poor reducing the cost of the house by one half or more depending on the rate of interest and the length of the mortgage.
Sermon 2: Amos 5:24, The Message
* "I want justice---oceans of it. I want fairness---rivers of it."
* A good Hebrew could not claim to be personally righteous unless she/he were also socially just.
* Read Job 29:7-17.
Sermon 3: Isaiah 58:6-14
* What true spirituality/justice is and does.
* How God blesses those who do justice.
Sermon 4: Luke 4:18-19; Messianic passages from Isaiah: 9:6-7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4
* The Spirit-filled church releases the oppressed poor by preaching and practicing Sabbath year/Jubilee justice; then, and only then, is the gospel really good news to the poor.
* The Spirit, the poor, the oppressed, Jubilee justice are the four key concepts.
* Implied concepts: the rich, the oppressors, shalom and the kingdom of God.
Sermon 5: Mt. 6:33 NEB "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice."
* See my blog "Rejusticizing the Sermon on the Mount".
Sermon 6: James 2:8-26
See my blog "Jesus AND the kingdom of God."
Keep the 12 sermons in mind as you read the following: "Is Pope Francis a Prophet?"
Will Pope Francis end up splitting the Catholic Church? Possibly, asserts Conservative Catholic scholar/journalist, Ross Douthat in a fine article in the May 2015 issue of The Atlantic entitled, "Will Pope Francis Break the Church?" Douthat is a fair and balanced Catholic conservative, not an ideologue. He is well read, rigorously logical and historically informed. He present the facts as he sees them, but he avoids dogmatic predictions about the future. Douthat does caution that the supposed right/left or conservative/liberal divide is overdrawn, that historically the church has proved to be adaptable and flexible, accommodating the extremes in various orders. In the U.S., Francis is equally popular among conservatives and progressives.
"Will Pope Francis Break the Church?" is the type of question a conservative Catholic would ask. But this is not the question Pope Francis is asking. Can Francis redirect the whole church to giving a high priority to the poor? Can he do this while making difficult reforms within the institutional Catholic Church? Pope Francis wants priest and people to move beyond the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets. In this regard, Douthat states the following about the "broadest theme of his pontificate: his constant stress on economic issues, the Church's social [justice] teaching, and the plight of the unemployed, the immigrant, the poor. . . . a sharp, prophetic stance."
For Pope Francis, the real question is, will the Church (not just an order within the church) return to a more biblical, prophetic stance or will it prioritize institutional church doctrine and leave the ministry among the poor as an afterthought, as an issue of charity instead of love and justice? The Catholic Church has a long history of bureaucracy and institutionalization. If Pope Francis succeeds in making a prophetic concern for the poor central, this will be the miracle of miracles. Even churches that begin among the poor such as Methodism quickly lose the priority of the poor in subsequent generations.
Douthat declares that "Francis seems to be trying to occupy a carefully balanced center between two equally dangerous poles." The prophetic pole is only "equally dangerous" to an overly institutionalized church. A biblically prophetic position is not "equally dangerous."
Next, some quotations from Douthat's article:
"The church is not yet in the grips of a revolution. . . . But his moves and choices have given a revolutionary atmosphere around Catholicism."
Regarding Francis's life: "youthful success, defeat and exile, unexpected vindication and ascent [to Pope]."
Now my interpretation. I see strong signs that Prophet Francis is taking the church back to its original calling---justice for the oppressed poor or to a James 2 gospel which combines faith and works. My question is: will Pope Francis live long enough to complete his revolution? And does he himself have a deep enough understanding of the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice to bring about the needed transformation. I am afraid Pope Francis doesn't yet have this deep biblical understanding. But possibly the Holy Spirit will lead him in this direction. Intercessory prayers are in order.
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