"Telling the Whole Story"

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Canaanites, Cowboys, and Indians by Robert Warrior

You know, we're all connected. And that's part of what I want to suggest this morning. But start with thinking about this whole Exodus story. Now the lectionary readings in the revised common lectionary the Hebrew Bible lections in the periods of what's called ordinary time in the church year contain semicontinuous narratives of what's going on in the sweep of the history that's recorded in the Hebrew Bible or at least the sweep of the history according to the way people want tell the history, which is another connection with our theme this morning. But instead of it just being tied to the gospel, we get a more of a flavor of the narrative. And so that's what's been going on these few weeks of this period after Pentecost is this rehearsal of the Exodus narrative. Now, Exodus, there was like a movie a long time ago. It's one of those stories that a lot of people know something about even if they know very little otherwise about the Bible or the Christian faith or the Jewish faith. In the Exodus narrative, God hears the cries of God's people and sees their misery in Egypt and God acts to liberate God's people from slavery. What an incredible story. What an important foundational narrative as who we are as a people of God. And it has inspired so many throughout the years. 

It is really the source of what's called liberation theology those in Central America and South America that saw themselves in the story and saw that God was not for the oppressors. God was on the side of the oppressed and God is going to act to liberate us from the suffering that we have endured because God wills for us that kind of liberative life. And so it is such an important story for so many and it certainly has been a foundational source for my own theology and my own journey in ministry and my own understanding of my calling and the calling of the churches. It connects with the history of this country. 

It was our congregationalist forebearers who journeyed to this continent in search of freedom from religious persecution that they faced in England that drew upon this narrative and understood themselves as the new Israel coming to the new promised land. Now what a great story. What could it be that we need to know about it other than what it is? It's like, can't we just celebrate that God wants liberation for all of us? We can. Yes. And there's not a butt in the story, but there is an and. 

Well, you see what the narrative tells us is that the way God is going to act to liberate the people is to give those who were enslaved in Egypt a new place to live, the promised land. Again, even if you don't know about the Bible, that's a phrase that has currency in the culture, the promised land. What a positive phrase. The promised the land as scripture says flowing with milk and honey. No moral issues about diet, you know, I mean there's lactose intolerance and I know that doesn't speak to everybody but for the most part you could probably even appreciate the land flowing with milk and honey. What a wonderful, wonderful testimony that God doesn't just care about what the problem was. God's going to help us fix it and provide a solution for us. 

But as Robert Warrior reminds us, there's a catch. The land to which God gives the Israelites was already occupied by someone else. Sounds like the story of our country. And yet so often the narrative is told in a way that erases all of that which came before. And the semicontinuous reading of the texts, well, it skips over the most unsavory parts like Deuteronomy 7 that reminds us that God not only gives them the land but orders the people to destroy, annihilate all the people living there. Lest we be sullied, we be tempted, we be infected with their evil ways. This is our God saying that this is the way we're going to solve this problem. 

Does that bother you? And before I pointed it out this morning, had you really thought about it very much? Because I do believe that for the most part, we've been taught at least unconsciously absorbed if not taught to ignore that part. The details of the invasion of Kaa just kind of get left out. If we remember anything, perhaps we remember what was sung in that catchy spiritual that's become a favorite of children's vacation Bible school. You know that one? Joshua fit the battle of Jero. Jero. Jericho. Joshua the battle of Jero. And the walls come tumbling down. It's a cool song. I mean, I remember singing it when I was little. If you go on YouTube, you can see all sorts of children in vacation Bible school settings, getting their bathrobes on and marching around and having a good old time. 

Well, what they don't sing in the song is verse Joshua 6:21. And even the way this is worded in scripture kind of obfuscates what's happened. The walls come tumbling down and then the Israelites go in and devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city both men and women young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. 

Now, if we've learned anything else about Canaanites, it's that they were infidels. They were immoral seducers. They were idol worshippers. And so, they would taint us if we cavorted with them. So, what does God do? God orders the people to, let's call it what it is, engage in genocide. Now, the historical narrative will tell us that it probably wasn't the Israelites probably weren't that successful, thankfully, but this is the way the stories told. So, that's the power of narrative that that that's what we absorb. And what to me might be the most troubling part of this story is that this was told from the beginning. God tells them, "This land I'm giving to you is the land of the Jebusites and the Hisizites and the Canaanites. 

Does our liberation always have to come at someone else's expense? That reality gnaws at me and whatever we think of the presidents and the defense secretary's rhetoric about Iran. My guess is I know what a lot of you all think about that. But regardless of what we think, reading the whole story of not just the Israelites rescue, but the subsequent conquest of Canaan may make it more understandable why there are bible believing Christians who see it as their God given duty to annihilate the evil Iranians. It may make it less surprising that bible-serving Christians can so quickly accept that those in this country without documentation are not just illegal, but they must be violent rapists and murderers bent on destroying our way of life. That's not far from how the Canaanites were characterized. So, you might say, "Well, isn't it better not to tell the whole story? Shouldn't we leave out the unseemly parts? 

That is what the current administration wants the Smithsonian museums to do. They want to post warning signs about how awful the historians are because they dredge up this bad stuff like slavery and land theft. But the purpose of telling the whole story isn't so that we can raise our children to hate our country. It is rather because the only way we can be better is to face what we've been. And the only way not to repeat the sorted dimensions of our history is to know them. And yet repeatedly repeat them. We have the parallels with European invasion of this continent are obvious, as are Israeli decimation of Gaza and the ongoing rush to plant Israeli Jewish settlements on the West Bank. To stay on this continent, the conquest of Canaan was explicitly used by apologists for land theft and religious or orthodoxy. Native people were often referred to in Puritan sermons as Canaanites. Then our congregational forebears even denounced other European Christians. Puritans wanted to fix the Church of England and to run it their way instead of the kings. And this played itself out as the Puritans achieved ascendancy in what's become New England and purified the colony by burning witches and driving Baptists and others to what became Rhode Island and elsewhere. Yes, it gnaws at me. Is our liberation always at someone else's expense? 

Now, it may be tempting for us to rest secure in our convictions that we're not that way anymore. Some Christians posit that that was the God of the Old Testament. We're not like that. But reading not only the book of Revelation, but also the apocalyptic conclusions of the Gospels, there in those New Testament texts, we find similar themes with only the venue changed. Instead of God wiping out the infidels in the lands we are invading, it is God rescuing the faithful from the world before destroying everyone who is left. 

Now it's true, of course, that many progressive religionists, both Jews and Christians, reject these depictions of the violent warrior God. And I believe it is right that we do so. It is right to reject the surging tide of white Christian nationalism that distorts the religion of Jesus. I'll go out on a limb here and speak for the congregation. We are not white Christian nationalists. We are inclusive and welcoming to everyone, aren't we? In many ways, of course, we are. We in our churches, we draw the circle ever wider. We do that. 

But here's a catch. And now I'm going to start to meddle. Not to talk about those people who may not be here in the sanctuary with us, but to look in the mirror at people like me. Sometimes we are reluctant to let go of the marker that delineates the wider circle we just drew. An honest assessment often reveals that those of us who talk a good game still want to be in charge to run things to make sure the diverse and inclusive reality has our stamp on it. In a discussion about diversity inclusion in a church I was serving years ago, not this congregation, one person observed, "What we want is a diverse congregation of people like us”. 

Now, not being a white Christian nationalist does not save me from sometimes coming off as a know-it-all. When I was a doctoral student, the focus of my work was racial justice. And I was in a class discussion about anti-racism. And I thought it was time for me to provide valuable insight based on my previous study and experience. But how it was experienced by my classmates was my droning on about how much smarter I was than everyone else. One of them cut me off in the middle of what was no doubt a run-on sentence saying, "I am so tired of your more enlightened than now BS." Except she didn't use the initials. And it's not just individual failings. No less a an liberal icon than the late great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drew upon the doctrine of discovery in deciding for the city of Cheryl, New York and against the Oneida nation when there was a dispute about land ownership. Or consider that it is the California Governor Gavin Newsom five days after signing last month's legislation formalizing a state apology for quote harms and atrocities against California's native peoples. 5 days after signing this, Newsom vetoed two additional bills that California tribes had championed. One on water rights and the other on native access to sacred sites. In 1993, the national leaders of the United Church of Christ apologized for the church's role in the overthrow of Queen Ilio Khalani in Hawaii. It was a bold thing to do and it was the right thing to do. And not only did they apologize, two of the instrumentalities in the church put up $500,000 each to establish a reparations fund. Million dollars went a little further in 1993 than it does today. So it wasn't just a token effort. And they said, "No strings attached. This will go to an indigenous Hawaiian organization and we're not going to tell you how to spend the money. 

A few years ago, some good, well-meaning liberal church folk started asking, "How are they spending that money?" I'm not sure that that's the way they ought to be spending that money. Vigilance is always necessary, especially those of us who are in the one-up position. There there's an image that Eric Law uses in his book, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb, a Spirituality of Leadership for a Multicultural Community, where he tells the story of an interracial dialogue group. And surprise, the white people were the ones who talk the most. And so they decided to start a rule where you couldn't talk unless you had the talking stick. And no white person could pass the talking stick to another white person. And still it was kind of rough. I mean the there was like a pause sometimes before a person of color would speak and white people start getting antsy and then as soon as they finished a white person grab it fast. 

I had a cartoon, one of those one panel cartoons that was taped on my door when I was at IIFF and also then in Juno. And it was a a preacher, white guy, you know, high and lifted up pulpit in a big sanctuary and he's saying, "But of course, if anything I say this morning that will seriously affect your lifestyle, please feel free to disregard." There's another cartoon that I think makes the point. cartoon of I think it's a split panel. And so there two people playing poker, one white and one black. Next to the white person, you see this big stack of chips. And you see maybe two over next to the black person. The white guy says, "You know what? I realize I've been cheating all these years that we've been playing poker and now it's bad of me. I'm not going to do that anymore." Black fellow says, "What are that big stack? What about that big stack of chips you accumulated?" “Oh, oh, no, those are mine. I earned them fair and square.”

But, from now on, so vigilance, it's always called for. Now, I'm not here to just denounce. I think there's something we can do. We can confess when we've been wrong. We can confess when the Bible has been wrong. And we can tell the stories of when we've been wrong so that we don't pretend like it didn't happen. Patty Krawec who is Anishinaabe, a Canadian first nations person and also a Christian social worker by education, but she's written a book recently called Becoming Kin, An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Re-imagining our Future. I would recommend this book to you. I have found it very valuable. Now, Krawec talks about this idea of unforgetting. It's not just remembering because we've lost the memory of so much. We have to surface it and keep it unforgotten. And we have to put our money where our mouth is when we unforget. I'm really grateful that you have a land acknowledgement with which you begin worship. And I know this congregation has done much for many. And so I'm not suggesting that there's something unserious about your land acknowledgement. But it is too easy for those of us in the one-up position to forget and think that “well we said a land acknowledgement. What else do you want?” But those words are the first words not the last words. Acting them out are the first step not the last step. There are stories. 

There's one in the church I served in Juno. I can tell you about this stole that the the congregation surprised me with one Christmas. But that congregation which was both white and native. But it was when the church the denomination officials closed the native church because the dominant culture repented of the sin of segregation. But you know how they fixed it? They closed the native church and said, "Oh, well you can all come to the real church now." Nobody asked if that's what the native congregation wanted. 

But to apologize for this happened in the local church regionally and nationally. And those three expressions of church also committed a million dollars to a healing fund that would be run by native people, not by dominant culture folks. Not a perfect not a perfect thing to do, but it involves intentionality. I believe that that intentionality can take us into a new future together. That's what Krawek suggests in her book. We can acknowledge that we are kin and not the same. It's not like going out and I'm going to be native now or I'm going to appropriate your but we're related. Everything in creation is related. There is a connection. What would it be like if we lived that way? What would it be like if we interrogated our texts and said, "What do you think a Canaanite would think of this story? How would they tell it? What would it be like if we unforgot who was here before us?”

Instead of seeking to conquer others and establish my way or the highway, what if we really lived that line in our communion liturgy in the UCC hymnal? That day when sharing by all will mean scarcity for none. Friends, I believe that we can work toward that day still. A day when we remember it all, we repent, and we do better, and that we keep at it. 

So, let's get busy. Amen.