4th Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 29:1 & 4-14
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
“Thus says the God of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But, seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to God on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says our God.”
For thus says our God: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says our God, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then, when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says our God, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says our God, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor
Five days ago, right here in Helena, Christopher Martinez Marvan was pulled over because his vehicle’s registration had expired. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security were in the area because they had a warrant for someone else. The police officers who had pulled Christopher over were just going to give him a ticket, and then let him go, but the HPD officers told them they had a federal detainer for him, and were taking him into custody.
Despite having no criminal record, Christopher has been held since then, and was not allowed to talk to his attorney before they transferred him from the Lewis and Clark County Detention Center. Christopher is married, his wife is a United States Citizen, and he has four children, and they are all very scared about what might happen to him.
We all know what’s happening, right now. There is a compound that’s been built in Florida called Alligator Alcatraz, that looks very much like a concentration camp. I keep seeing pictures of it online next to the Jewish concentration camps and the Japanese internment camps from World War II.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, has finally been returned to the United States. While he was there, he was subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, lack of food, and psychological torture. He lost almost thirty pounds in the less than three months he was being held. As of this moment, eleven men have died while in ICE custody…eleven men that we know of.
We just celebrated the Fourth of July on Friday, our Independence Day, commemorating the day that Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, stating that we would no longer be subject to the British crown. We were declaring our freedom.
This is what The United States of America is known for around the world – this promise that if you come here, you will be free…free to pursue your own happiness…free to make a better life for your family…that if you come here, there will be opportunities waiting for you, and that if you work hard enough, then you, too, can be successful. That is what people believe about us…or, at least, they used to.
We of course celebrate the Fourth of July by watching fireworks…sometimes by setting off our own fireworks. The ones you can light on your own are usually a lot smaller than the ones that the cities or the counties use for their fireworks displays, but there’s just something exciting about lighting them for yourself. But, it was hard to watch the fireworks, this year…to smile and feel proud to be an American, when I knew that Christopher Martinez was being held somewhere, separated from his family, and wondering what was going to happen to him. Christopher, and tens of thousands of others just like him, a lot of whom would have been looking up at the fireworks in the sky right alongside the rest of us, celebrating the Fourth of July, celebrating their freedom and opportunity, were instead being held for no other reason than the fact that they aren’t US citizens, scared, wondering if they’re ever going to see their families again.
The Narrative Lectionary has been taking us through the book of Jeremiah for the last month, or so, and a lot of the readings have been pretty heavy. This message to the people of Israel who are in exile is supposed to give them hope…hope that they will one day see their homes again, that they can go back to the lives they had known. But, this message of hope carries with it the acknowledgement of their suffering. It tries to explain to them why they were exiled, so there could at least be a reason for their suffering. It’s just easier for our human brains to accept something when there’s a cause and effect, even if we don’t agree with it. It’s like a log you can hold onto when you’re being tossed about in a storm…it doesn’t radically change your situation, but it does make it a little bit easier to deal with. And, God encourages them to make the best of their situation until they can come back, and promises to be with them through this ordeal. God says, “when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says our God, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says our God, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
God is on the side of the exiled. God is on the side of the oppressed. God is on the side of the weak and the powerless. So, that means that we should be on their side, too. And, when the times comes that we might be unfortunate enough to be exiled, or oppressed, or weak, or powerless, then God will be with us, too. And hopefully, those who claim to be God’s followers will be with us, as well.
Emma Lazarus wrote the poem The New Colossus in 1883, in order to help raise money for the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty now stands. She helped to bring Jewish refugees to New York, after they had fled the antisemitic pogroms in Europe. Although the Statue of Liberty was never intended to be a symbol of immigration, that is what it has become, as thousands of immigrants passed beneath her torch on their way to Ellis Island. The poem can now be found on a plaque on the inner wall of the pedestal.
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
In 2019, Ken Cuccinelli tried to change the line “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” to “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge.” Luckily, the Holy Spirit is still at work among us, and this change was not a popular idea, and was eventually blocked by a federal appeals court.
Some people think that freedom comes from having a lot of money or power. Some people think that freedom means being able to do whatever you want. Some people think that freedom means being the king of the hill and being able to look down on everyone else. But, that’s not really freedom. If your goal is power and money, then you’re always going to be afraid that you’re going to lose it. And, you’ll very likely be surrounded by people who want the same thing, so you won’t even be able to trust the people around you. If you think freedom means doing whatever you want, then what happens if someone does something to you that you don’t like? Does everyone get this freedom, or is it only something that certain individuals get? Because, that’s not freedom. That’s domination and oppression.
It might not sound like freedom, but what Jesus taught us is where true freedom comes from. Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself. Real freedom means you don’t have to worry, because you can put your trust in God and know that God will take care of things. Real freedom means safety and security, because you know that your neighbor will have your back. Real freedom means not having to hoard things because if you need to borrow a hammer or a cup of sugar, your neighbor will give it to you. Real freedom means not having to keep up with the Joneses, because you know that you are enough, what you have is enough, and that you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. That’s what it means to really be free.
I was so proud of the people of Helena, because we showed that we understand what it means to be free. On Thursday, almost 40 members of our community testified at the Lewis and Clark Country Commission meeting, raising concerns about the events leading up to Christopher Martinez’ arrest, and what was going to happen to him.
On the Fourth of July, when Montana Book Co. is typically closed for the holiday, they stayed open, pledging all of the profits from that day to the Martinez family, to help support them in this time of need. And, the community showed up! Helena showed up, raising over $19,000 for them in one day!
Yesterday, over a hundred people gathered at Constitution Park, to hold vigil for Christopher, and more people are planning to attend the City Commissioner Meeting tomorrow, to speak out against what is happening.
What happened to Christopher is tragic, all the more so because it happened when we were all supposed to be celebrating our freedom. But, it helps us to understand what can happen if our freedom is taken away from us, and what can happen if we allow our oppressors to go unchecked. We are a community, and we will never be more free than when we stand in solidarity with each other. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
