“I am not going to apologize for speaking the Name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything … I will.”
These words were written by Rachel Joy Scott, the 17 year old high school student who was the first victim of the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999. Strangely enough, these words were written exactly one year before her tragic death at the hands of two young men who had a plan to murder their peers and end their own lives. Most of us have heard the story of Rachel, how she was asked if she believed in God seconds before being fatally shot in the front lawn of her high school. While no one has been able to prove if this interaction really took place, it leaves us to think long and hard about what we would say if asked this question and our life was put in danger for speaking the name of Jesus. Given her journal writings, we can clearly see that this young woman was a woman of God, seeking God’s will for her life.
When I heard Rachel’s father speak about her while I was in college, he shared that her journals revealed that she always had a feeling that she would die young and that God put her here on this earth for a reason. She always said that she had this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then that will start a chain reaction of the same. She was a young woman who was loving and accepting to everyone she knew- her goal was to use the light that God had placed in her to change the world through love and compassion. She was a young woman of courageous faith, not ashamed to be called “Christian,” not ashamed to speak the name of Jesus, and by simply being who she was, she has started that chain reaction in some way, and it is up to fellow Christians like us to carry that on. We must work to counteract the chain reaction of hate that is in this world, not unlike the chain reaction of hate that her perpetrators were trying to start. Because of her courageous faith and compassionate heart, Rachel’s parents started a program called Rachel’s Challenge that goes into schools and promotes tolerance and acceptance of others and fights against school violence. It also seeks to train teachers to see the signs of troubled students and to seek help when necessary.
So why am I telling you this story of Rachel Scott? While this is an extreme case of being courageous in faith, it is also an example that we should follow to some extent in our own lives. We should not be ashamed to speak the name of Jesus to our peers, our co-workers, or even our families. In our scripture today, the writer of 2 Timothy tells his recipients that while he is imprisoned and being persecuted, that he is not ashamed to speak Jesus’ name because he knows that God is with him. Chances are that Timothy is faltering in his faith. Perhaps his life is in danger for being a Christian, perhaps he is simply being made fun of, perhaps he is an outsider, not feeling like he belongs. Nonetheless, this letter is to encourage him to stay strong in his faith, do not falter, do not be ashamed, do not be afraid. After all, the writer says, God does not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, and what a gift this is!
Is it easy to be a Christian? If you think about it, it’s not easy. We are always defending our beliefs, answering questions about why we do the things we do, and going out of our way to love those that are difficult to love. Some of us might even have to explain why we go to church on Sunday mornings. We live in a society today where 72% of young adults think that the church is hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic, irrelevant, and doesn’t live up to the true message of Christ. Yet, 78% percent of these same young adults say that they are willing to listen to someone who wanted to share their beliefs about Christianity! Sometimes that’s all we are asked to do! We have the power, the patience, and the love to change someone’s life if we only take the time to share the true message of Jesus Christ with someone else. As these young people might see, we are immersed in a world that sometimes seems to go against everything that we are supposed to be as Christians. And we are surrounded by Christian leaders and groups that unfortunately give Christianity a bad name, and we all get labeled under that negative umbrella. Yes, there are times when I am ashamed to be called Christian and I want to do everything in my power to let people know that we are not all like this or we don’t all act this way. We don’t all hate those who are different. Unfortunately, there are times that we will be ashamed to be called Christian, and on this World Communion Sunday, a day when we should celebrate our unity and love for God and for one another, there are those who will shy away from Jesus because of things that are said or done in His name.
As we sit here this very morning, there is a group down the road at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church that is spewing hatred and doing it all in the name of Jesus. Westboro Baptist Church, a church group from Topeka, Kansas, is holding protests and rallies along I 70, spreading their message of hatred and judgment to groups ranging from typical American high schools, various kinds of churches, gay/lesbian alliance groups, Jewish centers, universities, Holocaust Remembrance centers, government buildings, and they even celebrate at the funerals of American soldiers. This group condemns all of these groups and people to hell and they want you to know it and to know why they believe this. Upon visiting their website, which by the way is “godhatesfags.com,” I actually felt sick to my stomach as I read about their beliefs and the types of signs you might see at one of their rallies, phrases that I will not repeat here. Needless to say, these people give Christianity a bad name. Needless to say, this is not the message of Jesus Christ. So as we sit here as Christians on Sunday morning, we have this group down the road from us who are shaming our brothers and sisters, and to some extent, are shaming us by calling themselves Christians, just like we are. What can we do? How can we show love in the midst of so much hate? How can we proclaim that we are not ashamed when we are lumped together with groups such as this?
So our job here is to counteract this chain reaction of hatred with a chain reaction of love. Recently, Westboro Baptist church paid a visit to Richmond, Virginia, where four mothers wanted to turn hatred into love. To counteract Westboro’s visit to the local Holocaust Museum, Jewish community center and day camp, and the Straight-Gay Student Alliance at a high school, these mothers decided to start something called Pennies for Protest, which asked people to give pennies for every minute that Westboro protested at these places, and in turn, the money would be donated to these various organizations. The result was that $14,000 was donated to these local places that had been victims of Westboro’s protests. The Pennies in Protest website has a letter that was written to Westboro, thanking them, saying that because of their recent visit, $14,000 was donated to the Holocaust Center, the Jewish center, and the Straight-Gay Student Alliance. That, my friends, is a wonderful example of turning hatred into love and saying, here is our Jesus Christ, here is our example of love, and we are not ashamed to be called Christian even when people might try to lump all Christians together.
Oh, and by the way, Westboro Baptist church has burned Qurans every year since September 11, 2001. It was only this year with all of the news coverage about the pastor in Florida that people learned about this- another group of Christians doing something hateful in the name of Jesus Christ. I have a friend and colleague who serves as a pastor in Kuwait. I recently asked her about her personal experience and the impact in the Middle East surrounding this issue, and she mentioned that there were warnings given to Americans there and that they should be on guard against any threat. She mentioned that people would come up to her and ask straight out if she was a Christian. She responded yes, and then they would ask more questions, giving her a chance to explain herself. She had a friend who lost 15 members of his church due to a bombing over there, and what made it even worse was that the lives that were lost were Muslims who were helping out in the church. This was a chain reaction of hate caused by just one person and people assumed he spoke for all Christians. Fortunately, the outcry of the majority of Americans was hope for a chain reaction of love filled with proclamations that we do not represent the beliefs and actions of this group. There were people proclaiming that to speak the name of Jesus is to speak of love, acceptance, and tolerance of all persons, and if we hold to these truths, we will not be ashamed to be called Christian.
Today is World Communion Sunday- a day to celebrate with Christians around the world as we gather at this holy meal to commune with one another and with Jesus Christ. It is a day where we should be proud to be Christians, to celebrate our oneness in Christ, and to love one another, regardless of what we believe or what denomination we are. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are not always proud to speak Jesus’ name for fear of what someone will assume about us or because of the hurtful things that have been done in His name. It is not always easy. But on this World Communion Sunday, it is our chance to join with Christians around the world to say that we are trying- we are doing all that we can to speak the name of Jesus out of love and to show that in our actions, words, and our love and acceptance of others. It is a day to say to the world that we are here to love and not to hate, to accept and not condemn, to promote peace and not strife. It is a day to celebrate that God gives us that spirit of power instead of cowardice. It is a day to stand and say, “I am not ashamed to speak the name of Jesus” and be ready to explain why we do so.
It is then that we might be able to start a chain reaction of love that will counteract the chain reaction of hate that is in our world, and it can start with the smallest of things- tell someone about why you go to church, ask them about their own faith, start a conversation with them about your beliefs, befriend someone who seems like they feel out of place, love that person that you find hard to love sometimes, learn about another religion, get to know someone that you don’t agree with, befriend someone who is very different from you. Help someone who needs help. Show love in any way that you can.
Your life should be proof that God exists. What will you do to share Jesus with someone else? How will you show love? How will you say, “I Am Not Ashamed”? I’d like to close with a video clip from a film called “Walking Across Egypt” about an older woman that befriends and takes in a troubled young man. In this scene, she defends her actions to her own family, and against all odds, wants to show love and provide hope in a seemingly helpless situation. Let’s watch what happens:
So may you be the one to not stop trying to love. May you be the one who speaks Jesus’ name to someone in your life, whether through your words or actions. May we do all that we can, especially on this World Communion Sunday to say, “I not ashamed to be called Christian in a world that many times makes it difficult to proclaim such a statement.” As Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Amen.
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