Sermon from 10-11-20

Smoky Hill UMC Weekly Sermon

This Sunday's scripture text is Deuteronomy 7:1-9 and the sermon title is "The Promised Land: Was it Meant for ALL or only a Few?" In Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible, Dr. Musa Dube posed a question, which is as poignant today as it was when she wrote them twenty years ago: Why the Biblical text and its Western readers were instruments of imperialism and how Black Africans can justify their faith in a religion that has betrayed them..."a religion of the enemy, so to speak." This question is not just limited to Blacks in Africa but to persons of color in America and youth and young adults of all races. Personally, I can't count the number of times I have been asked how I can believe in and preach a faith that continues to oppress people of color. Sadly, I personally know and have been told about youth and young adults who cannot connect with the Bible, because it is "irrelevant, misogynistic, patriarchal, and endorses slavery and other kinds of oppression". Today, we look at the story of the Israelites entering the Promised Land, Canaan. We read that God told the Israelites to "utterly destroy them...and show them no mercy...for the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth..." Since at least the 16th century, Western Europeans have used this passage along with several others to justify the annihilation of Indigenous Americans, Manifest Destiny, slavery, colonialism, and imperialist agendas. I don't know that I can completely blame them, when scripture has God telling the Israelites to engage in similar behavior towards the Canaanites. Or is it...? What do we make of this God and what do we tell our youth and young adults? Do we ignore those parts of the Bible that seem ethically problematic while embracing the rest? If so, does that mean that certain parts of the Bible are NOT sacred? What makes the Bible sacred? I have wrestled with these questions for quite some time and cannot say that I have "the answer." I have some thoughts for reflection. At the end of the day, scriptures like today's raises more questions than it answers, and we each must prayerfully reflect on what status the Bible holds for us and our lives. As for me, the Bible remains a sacred text...with some caveats I'll share. - Pastor Felicia