Friends, I want to thank you for welcoming me back to your congregation again. It makes a bit of a change from my usual Sunday after Easter, but I have to say, we are gathered together at a similarly important point in our liturgical year. You see, Advent starts next Sunday. We are on the cusp of beginning our journey towards the manger and towards welcoming the birth of Christ. Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar, so next Sunday you can all say “Happy New Year” to one another! This closeness to Advent being the case, you may wonder why the gospel reading for this week, which is in the Revised Common Lectionary, is one that is typically a part of the Passion narrative leading up to Easter. Why spend time reflecting on Jesus’ trial before Pilate when we’re just about getting ready to celebrate God’s incarnation in the form of the small, vulnerable infant Jesus?

     Well, I have to say that when I read this morning’s scripture, I couldn’t help but read it in light of where we find ourselves, not only in the liturgical calendar, but in our nation’s calendar. We are getting ready for a time of change and an uncertain future. Now I know that this may have been a theme that Pastor Chrissy has been reflecting on with you all over the last few weeks, but you have to forgive me for continuing to see so many parallels between the gospels and how we are called to live as Christians today, specifically Christians in this country.

     One name for this particular Sunday in some church calendars is “Christ the King Sunday” and sometimes in more modern calendars as “Reign of Christ Sunday”. We are invited to reflect on what the kingdom of Christ is all about and how we might live as faithful stewards to that kingdom. I think the first thing that’s important in that consideration is understanding what the kingdom is not.

     Number one: The kingdom of Christ is not, as Jesus says, “of this world”. To quote the lead into the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train far, far away.” But it is also within all of us, just waiting for our eyes, ears, and hearts to open to its reality. Perhaps this was comforting for Pilate to hear. Someone who says that their kingdom is not of this world is markedly less of a threat to the stability of the Roman Empire than someone who is flagrantly declaring themselves the king of some new nation.

     Number one b: It’s increasingly important to stress the fact that this is not some temporary inconvenience that Christ is not the literal king of a literal nation on the Earth. It’s not some goal that Jesus has for the future of his ministry that one day he will create an enclave, or perhaps even conquer the world with his teachings. As much as it may dismay some Christian nationalists, particularly in this country, Jesus is remarkably clear in this section that an empire on earth is not the goal. The kingdom of God is at hand, but it is in our hands. Hands we can use to work for justice and peace. It is incredibly human and divine and all of the messy things in between and that’s what makes it so great. That’s what gives it its strength. The kingdom that Jesus is proclaiming is one that testifies to a way of life that sees beyond the need for some global superpower that can impose its specific way of life onto other people.

     Number two (and I think you’ll see how these continue to add on each other): The kingdom is not one that incorporates violence. We hear Jesus say that if his kingdom was of this world, surely his followers would be doing everything they could to fight for him to be released from his captivity. “Let’s storm the Praetorium!” It’s important to remember that this portion of the Passion narrative comes after Jesus has just scolded one of his disciples for pulling a sword on a guard and cutting off the guard’s ear as they tried to arrest Jesus. Jesus then heals the man’s ear. It is patently obvious to me that the kingdom that Jesus is trying to testify to is not one that incorporates violence towards other people at all. It is a kingdom that calls us to beat our swords into plowshares and to work together for the betterment of all people. It is a kingdom in which weapons of war have no place in the hands of those seeking to follow in Christ’s footsteps. John’s gospel as a whole is pointed in how it tells us that the real power of this kingdom is found in the way that divine love enters into our human story in a way unlike anything people had ever seen. Perhaps we can begin to see why this reading actually makes perfect sense to lead us into Advent. Into the story of love entering the world in the person of the infant Christ.

     Having spent some time looking at what this kingdom is not, I would like us to shift into thinking about what we have observed in our life as testifying to the capital-T Truth that Jesus mentions in his response to Pilate.  Where have we noticed evidence in our lives of the power of the reign of Christ? I’m going give you a hint, it’s probably not featured on CNN or Fox News or MSNBC. I would like you to take a moment and think about what Truths have been revealed to you on your journey as a follower of Christ or someone seeking to follow Christ. What have you realized is capital-T True in walking that journey?

     I invite us now to take some silence and open our hearts, listening, as Christ says his followers do, for the Truth that is in these words: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this, I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth, listens to my voice.”

     When you hold space for this truth, what do you find rising to the surface? Is there a word or an image or phrase that emerges in your eye?

     For me, I think the clearest image of the Truth that Jesus says he is here to testify to is the Truth that love is woven into every single one of us by virtue of God’s gracious creation of the Earth. As you no doubt know, there are many “truths” there are facts that are true and then there are underlying Truths that breathe meaning into those facts. It may not be a literal fact that our Earth was created in seven days, but it is True that in that creation God blessed it all and saw that it was good. That is true. It may not be a true fact that the exact words in our scripture reading were said between Pilate and Jesus, but it is True that, through those words, so much love and compassion has been birthed by those who seek this type of kingdom. A kingdom based not on a strong leader with a mighty army, willing to cut down all of his foes, but a meek and humble Messiah, who is put to death by the powers of the earth for challenging those structures.

     This is not an easy truth to just convince somebody of around a Thanksgiving table. In fact, I strongly discourage you from trying to engage someone in this kind of dialogue when you know that their heart is set on a very different sort of kingdom. Instead, I would do what Jesus would do, I would bless them, and I would endeavor to show them the reality of the kingdom that you know exists thanks to Christ. Do so through your actions, through your love, and through the way that you stand up for those who are being oppressed.
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     There are so many people that are convinced that the kingdom of God looks a certain way, worships a certain way, speaks a certain language, and can only exist within the framework of that narrow understanding. Jesus asks Pilate “Do you think I’m the king of the Jews or is that just what someone’s told you?” Do we really think that one denomination or one worship leader could possibly have all of the answers? Do we really think that one group of people has cornered the market on Christ’s Truth? Or is that just what the loudest voices among us say? Those are human words, not divine truth. “Those are your words, not mine,” Jesus would say. So how can we better amplify the words of Christ? How can we fight back against the common understanding that to be Christian in this country means a certain thing?

     Well, my friends, the proof is in the pudding. Let us start by remembering what Saint Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” We need to be the hands and feet of Christ in the streets of our towns and cities. At the same time, we ought to spend time in community with each other, grappling with the tough questions of how to respond to the world around us in a way that is enriched by the Truth witnessed to us through the person of Jesus. And there are going to be many challenges we will face in the not-to-distant future! This grappling is very hard to do alone, so we should all feel blessed that we have a community of fellow journeyers along with us. We don’t have to, like Pilate in the very next very of this reading, ask ourselves rhetorically “What is truth?” and then sit in the silence that follows. Parenthetically, I always wish Pilate would have engaged Jesus with this question and maybe, together, they could have had a conversation that might have opened Pilate’s eyes, ears, and heart to the capital-T Truth. But alas, that was not the case. However, unlike Pilate, we here can bounce our ideas off one another. We get to see our beliefs and definitions develop and change as we grow in our understanding of our faith and our shared membership in Christ’s kingdom.

     I’m grateful that in times of national insecurity and challenges to a progressive view of the Truth testified to by Christ, that I have those around me that I can reach out to; folks that can help me temper my desire to respond with anger and cruelty. Instead, we can share in our pain and our frustration, and we can do the organizing and advocacy that we saw in the person of Christ and the kingdom that he testified to. And what a blessing that is, what a gift we’ve been given, a what a capital-t Truth we get to live into. Amen.

     Today’s scripture is a song that, like Cantaloupe Island, Under Pressure, and Genius of Love, you can hear in other beloved songs. Or, at least one other beloved song. You may have heard the newer song before:
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‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
   Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
   from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

     That is the song Mary sings in Luke 1:46-55. Christian tradition knows it as the Magnificat. We will be hearing more about it in just a few weeks during Advent. It is the song Mary sang when she agreed to be Jesus’ mother. As one unmarried and still a teenager in a culture where being unmarried and pregnant was not well-regarded, it was significant leap of faith to risk the social cost of her divine pregnancy, not to mention the physical risk inherent to pregnancy. It is perhaps unsurprising that a faithful teenager would reach back into the foundations of her faith traditions to find inspiration to carry her through her miraculous pregnancy. When she reached back, she reached back, she reached towards Hannah.

     Hannah was married to a man named Elkanah. He was also married to a woman named Peninnah. They lived in Ramathaim, also called Ramah, which is just north of Jerusalem. Penninah was able to have children with Elkanah. When we first meet Hannah, she had not. She deeply grieved not having biological children of her own, a grief not unfamiliar in our own era and a theme common in the Bible. Steven McKenzie, in his notes on 1 Samuel, points out that Hannah is in good company among women in Hebrew scripture who wanted to be mothers and had difficulty becoming pregnant. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and the unnamed mother of Samson each wanted a child and each found themselves unable to conceive with their husbands.
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   In some cases, the husbands had additional wives or enslaved women in the family who were able to conceive. As Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney notes in one of her commentaries, this is an era in which women’s worth was often judged by her ability to produce many children, especially sons, who were most highly valued. To have this kind of family unit, which included multiple wives as well as enslaved women with little say over their own reproductive choices, was to create conflict among the women tasked with providing heirs for the patriarchs. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman described this conflict as a “soul irritation, [a] rub against the heart” in a commentary on an earlier part of 1 Samuel. Even though Elkanah deeply loved Hannah, he didn’t truly understand her grief over their infertility. Also, society judged her as less worthy and, rather than offer compassion to Hannah, Peninnah would provoke her, harassing her about her lack of children. I find the ways these two women are pitted against each other particularly disappointing, especially given how little support Hannah has in other places.

     In the midst of her grief, Hannah remained faithful. In the chapter before today’s reading, the family traveled to the holy site at Shiloh. In a commentary on that chapter, Dr. Gafney notes that Hannah appears to be worshiping in the tabernacle by herself, without her husband, and she speaks to the priest named Eli. She did not hide her grief, weeping and praying while making the vow, “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He will drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” Mckenzie notes that nazirites were boys and men set aside, or consecrated, to God for a set period of time. They weren’t allowed any intoxicating beverages or grapes, they couldn’t cut their hair or beards, and they couldn’t be around dead bodies. It was not small thing to set aside a child for God, especially one you had prayed so fervently to have.

     Eli watched her pray silently, which was strange because the prayers were supposed to be said aloud. He assumed she was drunk, with her intensity and tearfulness. He even began to chastise her for making a drunken scene. Thank goodness she stood up for herself, explaining that she was not intoxicated but pouring her soul out before God. Hearing this and believing her, Eli offered her a blessing, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant petition you have made to him.” Hannah’s last words to Eli were “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Not long after this encounter, she became pregnant. She carried to term and delivered a baby boy who she named Samuel. Samuel means, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

     She would honor her vow, taking the boy to Shiloh once he was weaned. He would have been older than a toddler at that point, but we don’t know how old. Hannah sings her song when she brings the boy, as well as sacrifices of thanksgiving, back to the place where she was assured that God heard her prayers. Dr. Bridgeman describes her words as a “prophetic song” that point to a future for their nation... a future in which Samuel will figure strongly as a prophet. He will be one of the ones who will push future kings Saul and David to live into their own callings to be kings according to God’s wishes.

     Hannah sings what she knows to be true... that God is the creator of all people and will lift the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap.... that God can lift up the lowly and bring down the mighty. It is no wonder that Mary would feel a matter of kinship with Hannah, though their stories are quite different. Hannah still showed her that one who had been dismissed and disregarded, one who had been understood to be a disappointment, could ultimately help do great things. She also saw in Hannah’s story a good husband who maybe didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but stood with his beloved regardless. Mary would need that kind of support, too.

     I imagine that you might be looking for some consolation and inspiration for the challenging times ahead. It is could to be remind that our ancestors in the faith did the same. May we reach back to our own foundations, as Mary reached to Hannah, and may we find strength that we are thankful for. May that strength care us into the just and loving future that God is inviting us to help create. May we hear echoes of Hannah’s reminder of the God who lifts the needy from the ash heap, and create a new version of that old song in this time and this place. 

Resources consulted while writing this sermon: 
Steven L. McKenzie's notes on 1 Samuel in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Valerie Bridgeman: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-33-2/commentary-on-1-samuel-14-20-5
Two resources written by Wilda C. Gafney:

• "Proper 6," A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year W, A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary (New York: Church Publishing, 2021)
• "Proper 20 (Closest to September 21)," A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year B (New York: Church Publishing, 2023)

Mark 12: 38-44
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Jesus Denounces the Scribes

     As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’

The Widow’s Offering

     He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

    I wanted share a story today that BeLoved Asheville posted on their Facebook page:
She arrived with a warm smile, holding something close to her heart. She looked at us and said, “You’ve helped so many of us here in Western North Carolina. I wanted to thank you in a way that goes beyond words. I make desserts—that’s my profession—and in every recipe, I pour my love for others. So, I brought this gelatin I prepared this morning, just for all of you.” I just have to tell you, the gelatin the lady brought to share is the most beautiful jello mold I have ever seen. It’s got big juicy strawberries and peaches in it. I kind of want to eat it right now. I love knowing that something so delectable looking came from such simple ingredients- a packet of gelatin, a container of strawberries, a can of peaches.

     Here’s another post titled " I remembered my first cup after the Hurricane" that BeLoved shared recently. It is a story someone shared with them about how their neighbors gathered in the early days after the storm:

Three days after the hurricane, I found myself in my kitchen, grateful for the gallons of water I’d stocked up on. With no electricity, no open stores, and no cell service, I decided to build a small fire outside my home. I needed something to bring a bit of normalcy amid the destruction, and coffee felt like the perfect start. The first sip warmed me, and I felt a tiny shift inside, a reassurance that everything would somehow be okay. I thought, "If this comforts me, maybe my neighbors need this, too."

So, I went door to door, a cup of coffee in hand. Some of these people I barely knew, yet each morning, we found ourselves coming together over a shared cup, feeling just a little more hopeful. One neighbor even told me, “For someone who treasures their morning coffee, your kindness was a beautiful reminder that things could feel normal again.

     The person who writes BeLoved’s posts then wrote:
His story reminded me of my own first post-hurricane coffee. Someone had come to BeLoved Asheville looking for water, and minutes later, they handed me a steaming cup. That coffee—shared amid the chaos—was one of the best I’d ever had. Maybe it was the kindness, maybe the familiarity, or maybe just the comfort of knowing someone had thought of me in that moment.

     A simple cup of coffee… it can build bridges, restore hope, and heal wounds we didn’t even know we had.
Today’s reading is often called “the Widow’s Mite.” I have been fortunate to observe many a widow give many a mite. I shared two stories from BeLoved Asheville, a community support organization that has been working together since 2009. BeLoved Asheville began with a small group of people who understand that “we need each other and that we can do far more together than we can do alone.” They work on connecting people to each other and to resources, and building communal power to support everyone’s thriving. But, this work isn’t just happening in North Carolina. It happens here, too.

     In the early days of the pandemic, when so many people were having a hard time finding and purchasing things they needed to survive, some people in Maine worked on getting a mutual aid group started. Mutual aid is a particular kind of organized sharing, based on treating people as trusted experts on their needs and sharing with each other as equals. The requests were often simple: “Has anyone in the Brunswick area found toilet paper in any stores?” or “does anyone have a few bottles of formula I could have for my baby?” I remember seeing a post from someone in Augusta who needed cat litter and laundry detergent. Tasha and I checked what we had. We didn’t have a ton of extra litter or detergent, but we had enough to share and regular paychecks coming in, so we knew we could replace it, so I messaged the person and said I could bring some by. I know it didn’t fix everything they had going on, but after I left, they could do several loads of laundry and clean up for their cats. And, that’s not nothing.

     Today’s reading, which features a poor person giving what, for them, is a sizable donation to their religious community, isn’t really a story about how we should tell poor people to give everything they have, though I’ve heard versions of that sermon preached. The widow is certainly to be understood as a faithful and generous person. And, I think her faithfulness is to be emulated. I try to, myself, even though I have far more means than she did. I don’t want to be a person who has money and then makes a big show of sharing it so that people will think well of me. I wanna give what I have because of the call to love God and love neighbor.

     Remember last week when we talked about the fruitful conversation Jesus and a nameless scribe had? They met each other as people equally devout, equally invested in living faithful lives. They both knew that loving God and love neighbor are the two most important commandment. That was the kind of scribe we hope for- one who is learned but also curious, and takes his place of authority in the community seriously while also not assuming he’s the only one with right answers.

     Today’s reading is about a different kind of scribe. There is always a risk when one has more education and more money and more influence in a community to use all of those things for your own edification. As Amanda Brobst-Renaud notes in her commentary on this text, Jesus is clearly rebuking those who seek honor and a good reputation and deference from the community while ignoring the needs of the poor. Those of us who are paid to be religious leaders have the opportunity to take advantage of the people who trust us. And, too often, religious systems rely on wringing out every last dollar and every moment of time from those who have little of either to share.

     My grandma always assumed that people who gave more money to the church got special treatment. She came to that belief honestly after years of observing that very thing happen. As a result, she always had really good boundaries around what she could give. She would share what she felt like she could, but, she was never tempted to, in the words of our reading, “give away her whole house.” She had a solid analysis of the situation: Christian communities should not be privileging the wealthy and she wouldn’t be pushed into giving more than she could in order to get the same treatment.

     In his commentary on the text, Samuel Cruz argues that Jesus is both “exalting the spiritual riches of the widow” and “letting the rich and powerful keep their scraps.” In the wake of the recent election, and the changes to the social safety nets and economy that the incoming majority party is promising, I imagine that we’re going to be spending some time doing what the widow in the story is doing- sharing money in places that are important to us- while also dealing with powerful people that are more concerned with being honored than caring for people. Let us remember those who give simple gifts out of great generosity, and be inspired to follow in their giving. Let us also resist the temptation to use our privilege in the community to make ourselves look good. Jesus never told us to follow him to impress people. He invited us to follow him in caring for the orphan and widow, in sharing with the hungry and thirsty, in tending to the imprisoned, and in welcoming the immigrant. May rid our systems of practices that take advantage of those with little to give, and celebrate the generosity of all who give greatly. For the coffee and jello molds that teach us about Jesus, we give thanks.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
​Two stories from BeLoved Asheville:

• Jello mold: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/tEV6RN97SPtmN6Wb/
• Coffee: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/VprxsVwQStV7z56U/

An Introduction to Mutual Aid from someone in the UK: https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MutualAid-AnIntroduction.pdf

Amanda Brobst-Renaud: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32-2/commentary-on-mark-1238-44-6

Samuel Cruz: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32-2/commentary-on-mark-1238-44-5

Mark 12:28-34 The First Commandment

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 

​The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

​     Today’s reading comes from a tense and stressful time in Jesus’ life as told in the book of Mark. This is a time when Jesus is both teaching and arguing with religious leaders in his own community. The arguments will soon come to a head, drawing the attention of the Roman authorities, the ones who have supreme power to end someone’s life. Powerful people are growing frustrated with him. Sometimes when powerful people are frustrated, they hurt people. I think that at this moment in the story, Jesus knows that his life is in danger, but that doesn’t stop him from teaching and it doesn’t stop him from engaging with the people he doesn’t agree with.

     In his commentary on this text, Sung Soo Hong points out that one of the interesting things about the Gospel of Mark is that the people in it aren’t always only doing good things or only doing bad things. Some characters, like some of the scribes, will do some pretty bad things, like plan to hurt Jesus. But, then, we have a story like todays. A scribe is asking Jesus good questions and giving him credit for answering the questions well.

     Does anyone remember what a scribe is? Scribes could read and write in a time when not everyone could. They usually had official jobs in the community. I found a nice description of their work written by a scholar named Anthony Saldini. A scribe could work copying by hand documents and contracts for everyday people. They could also be government officials, like in 2 Kings and Jeremiah who worked in areas like governmental finances, local governmental policy, and record-keeping. The Pharisees, that is the group of people who were most concerned with rigorously keeping Jewish law, might also have scribes to help keep track of their documents and make copies of texts for them. This is probably he kind of scribe Jesus is talking with because the scribes are almost always described as hanging out with the Pharisees.

     When we read that Jesus is having a conversation with a scribe, it seems like the author wants us to think that Jesus is having a conversation with a smart person who knows Jewish religious writing and practices well. And, it’s interesting that in a time of high tension, that one of the people who belongs to a group of people that has been arguing with Jesus seeks him out to have a good, fair conversation about their shared religious practices. It matters that this person, who has been primed to mistrust Jesus, seeks him out and really talks with him about something they both think is important.

     If you could ask Jesus a question, what would it be? Does anyone remember the question the scribe asked? Which commandment is the greatest of all? Does anyone remember how Jesus answered? He told them that two were most important. First, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And, second: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe, who’s life’s work was being immersed in their religious traditions, knew immediately that Jesus was right.

     There is a long history within Jewish tradition of understanding the two tablets of the Ten Commandments to basically be one table with instructions on loving God and another with instructions on loving neighbors, a fact that Amanda Brobst-Renaud mentions in her commentary on this text. She also notes that in many parts of Jewish literature, that is both the Hebrew Bible and works by important Jewish thinkers, love of God and love of neighbor can’t be separated. She quotes Philo’s commentary on the Ten Commandments, and says that “those who only love God or only love others are ‘half-perfect in virtue; for those only are perfect who have a good reputation in both points of loving God and humans’” (Decal. 108-110). Jesus follows this tradition, indicating that to fully follow the commandments, love of God must be paired with love of neighbor. I might even argue that our love of God is made complete in our loving actions towards our neighbors.

     I imagine that the coming days will bring much anxiety, as those of us allowed to vote cast our votes by next Tuesday, and as all of us wait for what we can reasonably assume will be at least a few days for winners to be declared. It is wise to set our expectations to expect days of hard work among those ensuring election integrity and also likely bad behavior from some people who are using chaos and misinformation to build power. I hope that we can find ways to ground ourselves as we wait. I think today’s reading may be able to provide some of that grounding.

     Let us be like the scribe and ask Jesus questions that are meaningful to our faith. Let us be like Jesus and respond to good faith questions with clear answers. Like the scribe, may we give credit where it is due. And, may our love of God be perfected in our love of neighbor. This is a key question in this moment: who is my neighbor and how do I show them love? As frustration and anxiety mount this week, may you remember God, who invites us into covenant, and propels us through love. And, may you extend that love to all your neighbors, speaking truth, offering care, and crafting beloved community even in tense times. In this time of tension and conflict, may we be blessed by conversations that remind us of the faith God calls us to. And, may we leave those conversations recommitted to love as Jesus calls us.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Sun Soo Hong: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-31-2/commentary-on-mark-1228-34-7
Amanda Brobst-Renaud: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-31-2/commentary-on-mark-1228-34-6
Anthony Saldini's notes on scribes in Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul Achetemeier, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1996)