resisting

Loving your enemies and holding them accountable

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I have had many “Christians” come after me the last few weeks using this Sunday’s Gospel as a bully club against me. They seem to forget that holding someone accountable for their bad actions is also scriptural and not a violation of loving your enemy and doing good to those who persecute you.

Jesus routinely held the religious leaders of his day accountable. John the Baptist lost his head for holding Herod accountable for his adultery. Many prophets, martyrs, and patriarchs in the Bible stood up against the evil that was pervasive in their nations because they were called by God to do so.

We can love our enemies and do good to them while holding them accountable for their bad actions. Calling out those individuals who are celebrating the abuse and marginalization that is occurring in our nation is what we as people of faith are called to do. Paul even gives us a road map for how to hold those people accountable.

I refuse to be silent while my family is put at risk. I refuse to allow people to violate the sacredness of our sanctuary to abuse, disenfranchise, and even kill immigrants all because the color of their skin is darker. I refuse to allow their votes in favor of killing, imprisoning, and abusing LGBTQIA+ individuals to go unchallenged. I refuse to allow them to celebrate taking food away from children and medical care away from the elderly.

If you are one of those individuals supporting these policies, hear me well, YOU ARE NOT A FOLLOWER OF JESUS. You can call yourself a “Christian”, but you are not a follower of Jesus. Just like the “white-washed tombs” called religious leaders in Jesus’ day, you have sold your soul to the evil one in exchange of material wealth, momentary joy, and temporal power.

I will do good to you. I will continue to pray for your salvation. But I will not hesitate to hold you accountable.

I pray that you will turn from your evil ways and join us on the path to righteousness. Our door is always open and the sacraments, especially confession, is available to all people.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Are you a Blessed?

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Beatitudes image showing Jesus teaching surrounded by images of others that describe those teachings.

Last Sunday, during Mass, I suffered a major anxiety issue. Those that know me well could tell that something was off. I did my best to hide what was happening, but the signs were there. This attack was likely caused by all the stress and worry that has invaded our lives since the presidential change of power.

It was also a moment for reflection for me. I may appear strong on the outside, but inside I am scared and worried about the future of our country and those that I love that are being attacked and vilified every single day.

In the past two week, my daughter has come under attack from dozens of conservative “Christians” who think it is their mandate from God to attack her for being transgender. Our church has been the target of a tremendous amount of hate online because we are “woke”. And I personally have been attacked by dozens of conservative “Christians” who believe I am a false prophet for teaching the Bible.

I preach the Gospel. The very Gospel we read this Sunday.

“Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the hungry. Blessed are you who are now weeping. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.”

Jesus was saying that those society marginalizes are blessed in the eyes of God. He even tells us in a roundabout way that if we proclaim his message we will be persecuted, reviled, and abused. Most people stop reading there because they are too upset that Jesus is “woke”. But let’s look at the rest of what he says:

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

Wow! Jesus’ message makes it clear that the rich, the gluttonous, those who laugh at those in need and marginalized, and those who are set up as idols and spoken well of have already received their rewards and they will suffer in the life to come.

Sadly, in today’s version of mainstream “Christianity”, people are too concerned with wealth and power. They either have wealth and power, or they think they can gain it by stepping on those who are considered “undesirable”. We need only look at the things they are promoting and accepting to see this.

I was reminded of this today when a former friend was found to have posted a video of people laughing and pointing at people wearing a mask to protect themselves from COVID or Bird Flu. They claim to be a “Christian”, yet they show a complete disregard for other’s health or concerns.

As someone who worked in the hospital 15 hours a day in the COVID ICU watching hundreds of people die from COVID, that kind of abuse is evil. As someone who has a weakened immune system due to diabetes and congestive heart failure, it is a wish that I would die.

That kind of behavior Jesus spoke about in the Gospel I just quoted! “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.”

Rather than repent, so many “Christians” today think they can be forgiven by claiming, “It was just a joke” or “You can’t judge me, only Jesus knows my heart.” Jesus also spoke to this when he said that we will know a tree by its fruits.

If you are not standing on the side with the Blesseds, then you are on the side of the Woe to them. Now is the time to make a real change and become a real Christian.

Otherwise, your experience at the end of your life will be less than pleasant.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Standing against injustice

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Simeon and Anna spend their days in the temple in Jerusalem waiting for the coming of the Messiah. They had hope that they would see the coming Messiah because the Holy Spirit had revealed to them they would. Despite all those who had given up hope, feared the coming apocalypse that would come at the hands of the oppressive Roman government, and despaired at the lack of real spiritual leadership, Simeon and Anna did not give up hope.

Today, we face many of the same fears the people in Judea did in the first century. In less than two weeks, our country has gone from a constitutional republic to an authoritarian fascist state. People are being fired for the color of their skin, their gender, and their political leanings. Concentration camps are being set up to house those who the dictator wishes to be imprisoned. People are being denied the ability to leave the country because they cannot get passports because their gender is considered illegal.

It is tempting to give up hope. And trust me, it has been a very difficult week for me. I have struggled to get out of bed, dreading the next news alert, scared every time there is a knock on the door, fearing the invasion of federal agents into our worship space because we preach the “wrong Gospel”.

Your fear, concern, and feelings of hopelessness are valid.

I was reminded today of Jewish saying by Rabbi Tarfon, “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”

We are called to stand up to injustice, violence, abuse, marginalization, misogyny, and bigotry in our world. Even if that requires that we call out those we consider friends for their bad behavior.

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25 that we will only enter heaven if we care for all people and love all people. Not just those who look like us. Not just those who think like us. Not just those who are “pure Americans”.

We are called to love everyone. We are called to help those most in need. We are commanded to welcome the stranger and to treat them with dignity and respect. To do otherwise, is a grave sin.

Come stand with us this Sunday at Saint Francis Parish as we continue to preach the Gospel of Jesus.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Who do you serve? Jesus or a dictator

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As I sat down to write this blog post, word has come that hundreds of people who may or may not be undocumented immigrants have been arrested and whisked away to an undisclosed location. Even as I write these words, the fear is real and the remembrance of another nation who did this in the 1930’s is harrowing.

This Sunday we read the story of Jesus proclaiming the passage from Isaiah that says:

                  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

                  because he has anointed me

                  to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

                  and recovery of sight to the blind,

                  to let the oppressed go free,

                  and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

So many people in the United States claim to be Christians, yet they applaud binding up innocent people, blinding those who see too much, oppressing more and more people, all in the name of a false god. They turn against the teachings of Jesus and even call for the deportation of Americans who preach those very teachings.

Bishop Budde is a prime example of this vitriol. She preached the message of compassion, love, and hospitality toward all human beings, even those we don’t get along with, or think are wrong. And for this, members of congress are calling for her deportation. This is abusive and heretical.

It is time that all people of faith who truly follow the message of Jesus, the message of Isaiah, stand up and call out the false teachings being promoted by those who claim to be Christians, but deny Jesus by their lifestyles. Those people are easy to spot. They claim to be Christian but attack immigrants, women, the poor, and the LGBT. They promote abusive regimes that disappear people in the middle of the night. They support anti-religious dictators who spend their time finding new ways to make the marginalized lives unbearable.

We can either be true to our faith or finally admit that we are not Christians and that we do not follow Jesus.

Like Bishop Budde, I call on all people of faith to show compassion, love, and kindness to all people. To stand up for the rights of those most in need of our support. To protect immigrants, women, people of color, and the LGBT community.

To do otherwise is not just unholy, but un-Christlike.

Which side will you choose?

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer Godsey

Prepare the Way

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We start the season of Advent this Sunday. As part of our commitment to helping our community and to standing up against injustice, we are offering a class on December 3, 10, and 17 on How to be a Resisting Church. This study will focus on the teachings of Rev. Detrick Bonhoffer and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We will learn how to resist injustice in a non-violent and peaceful way.

Also, we will focus on preparing the way of the Lord. This series will focus on various ways me can be more Christ-like all year long, but also during this Advent and Christmas season.

We start off this journey with the call to be vigilant. We are called to look at the signs of the times and to not allow them to drag us down, but to help us hope for the future to come. Jesus reminds us that we are not to be discouraged by all the evil in the world, but to take up our cross, to follow him, and to continue to do the work of the Gospel.

It is in this message that we are reminded that we must continue to help the poor, the homeless, as well as the widow and the orphan. Our mission to make a positive change in the world does not stop because others have decided to be evil. No, our mission is more important now more than ever.

So, we renew our commitment to those who need it most. We continue to call for help to maintain our blessing bag ministry. We will continue to bring services to those who cannot attend any other way. And we will continue to work to build up a congregation in the CSRA to offer an affirming and welcoming liturgical church.

We ask you to consider what you can do to live this message more each and every day.

Won’t you help us to the Prepare the Way?

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Resisting cheap grace

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This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. However, I want to talk about the discourse between Pilate and Jesus in the Gospel. In an age where Christian Nationalism is running rampant, I feel it necessary to point out that Jesus stood opposed to Nationalism and to violence. Even as he stood condemned to death, Jesus refused to call on heaven to send angels to rescue him. He refused to call on his disciples to rise in violent rage to save him from this horrific fate.

Rather, he resisted the call to violence. He refused to bow to the leaders and rulers of his day to save his own skin. Jesus decided not to take the easy way out, the way of Cheap Grace, but rather chose to lay down his life for what he believed in.

I was watching an episode of The Unexplained with William Shatner (go Star Trek!) and they highlighted the case of Brian Clark. Mr. Clark was an executive in a brokerage firm on the 84th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He is one of only 4 people who survived from the zone above the crash zone on that day. And he only survived because he resisted the call to go up to the roof instead of down toward the ground. He resisted the urge to take stairwell C and to instead move toward stairwell A on intuition that he should.

Because of his resistance to the popular thought, to the voices in his head, to the emergency workers advice, he not only survived, but he managed to rescue Stanley Praimnath. Stanley would go on to be a minister after 9/11 and Brian would work for New Brunswick Theological Seminary, a huge change for both of their lives.

Just like Jesus, they resisted what they were told to do, what might have been considered prudent and because of this the world and their lives were changed.

Today, we stand at a pivotal moment in our history. We have the choice to follow the popular call to become hateful, abusive, bigoted, and racist to survive, or we can choose to resist and be a beacon of hope, light, love, and acceptance.

Which path will you take? The path of resistance, or the path of least resistance?

Choose wisely!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Resisting Hate

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Our Gospel this Sunday points to a dystopian future of our world. A future where the heavens are destroyed, and the earth is in ruin. Sadly, so many Christians cheer this type of future that they miss the entire message of the Gospel. They believe that Jesus’ words are truth, except when it comes to this Gospel.

You see, Jesus said that these events will occur before the generation he is speaking to passes away. That is about 40 years or so after that speech. This Gospel has been used to predict the coming of the end of the world and the “rapture” to scare people into submission.

During the previous election, many conservatives used this language and these types of dystopian imagery to scare people into voting for them. They not only misinterpret the scriptures, but they do the very thing Jesus cautions against: they combine Caeser and God.

We continue to find ourselves at the edge of a cliff. Many Christians have given their faith, allegiance, and whole selves to political leaders. They have decided that the church must be an arm of the government and do the bidding of the government. However, this is not what Jesus wanted. In fact, Jesus was crucified by a combination of government and religion.

2000 years later, we are right back where we started. Our parish, Saint Francis Parish and Outreach, refuses to be an arm of the government. We refuse to marginalize those in our midst that political leaders build their campaigns on the back of. We refuse to dehumanize people of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, the poor and homeless, prisoners, women, and those who are elderly and in need of our support.

This Advent, we are offering a class on How to be a Resisting Church. We will look at the lives and messages of the Rev. Dr. Detrick Bonhoffer and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will learn their message of peaceful resistance to an unjust government. And we will offer this class to anyone who wants to participate.

December 3, 10, and 17 at 6:30 PM ET on Zoom, we will offer everyone a chance to take this class. To receive information on how to participate, you can email the parish at bishopgodsey@oursaintfrancis.org or fill out the form below.

We hope you will join us as we start this next chapter in our parish!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer