Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | "The Contradiction of Character Building" 6PM 03/08/26

1:06:25 We also boast in our afflictions. We also celebrate in our afflictions knowing that affliction produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. We boast in our afflictions. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy word. You may be seated in the presence of the Most High God. this moment that we may meditate on this idea for today of the contradiction of character building. The contradiction of character building. If you'd be so kind as to turn to your neighbor at this time and just look at your neighbor. I didn't say anything. Y'all talking to your neighbor and would not. Amen. Just look at your neighbor. Say, neighbor. Oh, neighbor. I'm building. I'm working on my character.

1:07:38 Find another neighbor. And say, neighbor. Neighbor. Oh, neighbor. Oh, neighbor. I want you to know. I want you to know. I'm working. I'm working. On my character. On my character. Amen. The Contradiction of Character Building. Let me begin this way. Most people in this space called America practice what is called cheap religion. instead of costly faith.

1:08:35 Cheap religion requires nothing of you. Cheap religion is easy to practice. Cheap religion has all the answers, creates binaries, a dichotomy, simplistic, black and white, good and evil, sinful, and save categories. Cheap religion enjoys being judgmental. Cheap religion will marginalize lepers. Cheap religion exiles women with issues of blood. Cheap religion castigates a woman who labors alone at a well. Cheap religion is a group of men catching a woman in adultery and demanding she be stoned. Cheap religion refuses to fellowship with tax collectors and other so-called sinners.

1:09:36 Cheap religion believes the poor are poor because God does not have favor upon them. Cheap religion aligns capitalism with Christianity. Cheap religion ignores white supremacy. Cheap religion covers homophobia in theological language Cheap religion is used by the empire And co-opted by wannabe monarchs Cheap religion invests in judgment Has stock in arrogance And multiple mutual funds called indifference It is cheap religion that affirms bombing in Iran. It is cheap religion that consecrates devastation in Gaza.

1:10:34 It is cheap religion that builds detention centers for black and brown children in a nation that claims to be land of the free, home of the brave. or to switch it as Du Bois said in 1906, maybe it's the land of the thief and home of the slave.

1:10:57 America is comfortable with cheap religion because it makes no requirement, has no demands, and is distant from the gospel of Jesus Christ. We laid to rest this week a man by the name of Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. A man who did not practice cheap religion, but was invested in costly faith. A costly faith. A faith rooted in human dignity. A faith that sees humanity as the diverse tapestry of God's creation. The costly faith of a Reverend Jackson is not static. His faith evolved when confronted with new realities. Cheap religion does not grow. It fears inquiry, wants you to be scared of knowledge and suspicious of education. Cheap religion, according to Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, is like cotton candy.

1:12:00 It tastes good but has no nutritional value. Costly faith requires you bring your full self to the table. It is a faith that demands head and heart. Costly faith requires you bring your mind to the table. Only cheap religion wants you to check your brain at the door when you come into the sanctuary. If you choose costly faith over cheap religion, you will encounter what will appear at first to be things that may be a contradiction. contradiction. The scripture that we look at, it is the letter that Paul has written to the church at Rome. Paul is experiencing and dealing with the fact of the Roman Empire, where there are those in this region of the world and this time period who are dealing with Platonic philosophy. They're creating dichotomies of everything. Then there are the stoic influence of being unattached to everything, to have no emotions. And here is Paul trying to speak to a community with all of these influences, trying to speak about the action of God in history and our human response.

1:13:28 Scripture says, therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace, which we stand and we boast. We celebrate in our hope of sharing the glory of God. But then it goes on to say that, and not only that, but we also boast, we celebrate in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance. And endurance produces character. Character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. This is problematic.

1:14:27 This seems to be a contradiction. I'm supposed to boast in my affliction? Celebrate when I'm going through? I must admit, I have a problem with this. I'm called to celebrate my afflictions I'm to throw a party about my pain I'm supposed to shout about the weight the wounds, the bruises, the brokenness that is in me and has been caused upon me if I could talk to Paul for a minute I appreciate you Paul I know that you are the grand apostle and chief gospel troubadour but this is a contradiction this makes no sense in my sanctified imagination I had an argument with Paul I argued with Paul. I said, Paul, I'm concerned about this scripture. Why do you want me to celebrate about my afflictions? The answer came back in my sanctified imagination from Paul, saying simply, you've got to learn the lessons in your afflictions.

1:15:32 You will then learn, once you've learned, what you need to lift up. And the first principle is this, to recognize your affliction and suffering is not a form of cosmic punishment, but is in reality and the cost of living. That in this life, you will have trouble. In this life, you will sing the blues. In this life, there will be weight placed upon your shoulders. Everyone will have some type of loss. Everyone will experience some pain. No one is exempt from the weight of living. All of us will experience some form of affliction or suffering. Suffering is inevitable, but misery is your choice. Pain is an indication of a symptom of something deeper.

1:16:36 One sometimes that we've got to slow down and sometimes explore that pain. For example, for example, I had an injury not too long ago. And this injury was giving me some pain. But what I ended up doing is I ended up adjusting the way I walked and moved so that I didn't experience the pain. But it did not fix the pain. The doctor said that you've got to know that you have shifted the way you walk to avoid the pain. But the problem is still present. Until you deal with the source of your pain, you will never be free from your pain. And there are some things you've got to face if you're going to release from your life. And I don't know who I'm talking to right now.

1:17:29 That maybe you changed your spiritual gate. That you avoided the pain, but the pain or the source is still there. And some of us refuse to examine our pain and would rather avoid than confront. But when we confront our pain, we have the power of choice. I choose to take this moment and knowing the source of my pain, I then have the ability to make a choice. That when you now know that in this life there will be moments of loss and pain, you can make a choice. Let me see if I can explain it this way. There is a group that I follow, a group of young people who are dancers. Actually, they are break dancers.

1:18:24 They are break dancers in Gaza. I follow these young people who post videos about their break dancing. But they're dancing around rubble because they've made a choice, even though they are in the middle of their pain. they've made a choice to say that I can choose to dance in the midst of the rubble. And every time I see a video of these young people, it reminds me that we have the ability to be able to make a choice in the midst of our affliction. You can hang your head, yes, but there is also a moment when you must make a choice in the midst of your moment of affliction where you will choose how you will engage the day. You will choose to hang your head and say, oh, it's me.

1:19:20 Or you can say, I know I'm walking through the rubble, but I'm going to find a way to dance through this rubble. And your enemies who are trying to figure out why you are dancing in the midst of these moments, you can say to them, I made a choice to be able to celebrate in the midst of my affliction. Maybe I'm talking to two people up in here. You've been going through hell, but guess what? You've made a decision, a choice, to say that even though I'm going through, what I'm going through ain't in me. And I am choosing to dance in the midst of my challenge. So here that one can make a choice that we see that we are called to celebrate in our affliction. But here is the thing that is so interesting to me is that affliction leads to endurance.

1:20:22 Endurance produces character. Character is what you do when nobody else is looking. character is the moral choice and choices we make daily we will fail in terms of our choices but every day we have an opportunity to choose to take the make the choice in terms of allowing and building our character. Every moment is a moment that will speak to your character. You have a choice in every moment. You can be in a room with somebody you fell out with, and they can be 20 feet from you.

1:21:19 Sometimes you have to put aside your feelings in order to acknowledge what an individual has done in your life. Even if you fell out with that person, it's a character choice at that moment.

1:21:42 Two of y'all got that. And it's Eric Gretens in his book, Resilience, who says that every time we make a choice to confront our fear, our character evolves. We become more courageous every time we make a choice to move through pain, to pursue a purpose larger than ourselves, our character evolves. we become wiser every time we make a choice to move through suffering our character evolves and we become stronger over time through a process of daily choices we find that we have built something strong and courageous and we end up with wisdom it's a choice that we make and when we go through these afflictions and there is endurance, this is what builds character. The choir, I'm doing the best I can.

1:22:40 Hampton Concert Choir blessed us today. And they sang a song written by Thomas Dorsey. Precious Lord, take my hand. Some people just think Thomas Dorsey rolled over one day and the Lord inspired him. But it was in 1932, after his wife and child died, He was on his knees and he started writing the song that was a prayer and also a choice at the same time. He said, even though I've lost the one I love, I'm putting my hand in the one who can walk me through this moment. And I'm here to let you know that we make a choice every single day. It is a choice of character.

1:23:36 You can come in the church and you can have a sour face if you want to. You can come in the church and you can complain about everything. But some of us come in here and make a choice and say, this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice. It is a choice of character. Character is a daily choice. And the question is, what are you going to choose today? With all of the afflictions and all of the endurance that you have experienced and all the pain, You say, what will be your choice?

1:24:32 Character is not rooted in popularity. Can't make choices based on what's going to be on your feed and what people will see. These are the silent choices you make that speak to your character. When nobody else is looking at you, you have to root yourself in the soil of God and say, I choose. Reverend Jesse Jackson, though everybody came to say goodbye, was not always popular. As a matter of fact, there were those who tried to undermine his agenda because they were intimidated by his gifts. But he made a choice every single day.

1:25:33 Before it was popular, he was lifting up Palestinian dignity. Before it was popular, he was building solidarity with the Latino community. Before it was popular, he was lifting up the indigenous community. Before it was popular, he was trying to stop a blockade in Cuba. Before it was popular, he was trying to change the policy around Haiti. Before anybody knew about apartheid, Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson was lifting up the name of the African National Congress along with our pastor emeritus, Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Before it was popular. Character. And in this moment in America, there are those who lack... Be careful about putting your trust in a leader who doesn't have any.

1:26:42 Be careful of voting for somebody who doesn't have any. Be careful of holding on to the hand of someone who has no character. Be careful. Do not follow folks who have no character. Character takes work Character is not what you do in front of the camera Character is what you do When you're by yourself You must have Does it matter what you say on TV? Your character is when only the angels are watching. When only the Holy Spirit is present. Anybody can look like they have character in public. but what you do in private speaks to your character.

1:27:41 and I say it today that this country has a character deficit it has a moral deficit because people want to perform for the camera but don't have character in private here's this contradiction that in the midst of affliction that's going to help you develop your endurance with your endurance you will then develop character I don't like that I just want to be honest you mean I got to go through to develop character but after you look over your resume and you seen what you've been through and how you were still able to stand firmly and solidly on the virtues that God said stand right here and when you can't do anything else just stand you'll find that character will open doors that nothing else can open because character will get you in rooms that other people can't get into because you can trust people with character you pray for folks with character character has power and there needs to be some spiritual character education Well, I'm almost done.

1:29:28 May the Lord bless you. May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be at your back. It says that there's affliction. There's endurance. That endurance creates and produces character. Character is a daily assignment. that we are called to practice daily. It's not a place you visit and then say, I've been there.

1:29:59 It's something you work on every single day of your life. And here is the rub, sometimes you gonna mess up. But if you got character, you'll get back up and you'll try again. And I don't know if I'm speaking to someone here. Have you ever fallen, but you got back up and said, I'm going to try it again. You've ever been knocked down by life, wanted to cuss everybody out, but you got back up again and said, I trust in the Lord with all my heart. I lean not unto my own understanding. Character. Character. Character. Character. I'm working on my character.

1:30:54 And you gotta be careful with some people on their character journey. Yup. Because you may catch them on an uncharacteristic day. So make sure you got your character together. Affliction leads to endurance. Endurance leads to character. Character is a choice that we make every day, that we work on every single day. and in this moment in history, we need people of character. But here's the thing about character. Character produces hope.

1:31:53 When I choose every day to make the ethical call, to make the moral choice, When I choose every day to elevate Jesus, when I choose every day to bring blessings and beauty into this world, every once in a while, every now and again, I'll get a glimpse of God doing God's work. Scripture says, let us not grow weary in doing good. For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. That character leads to hope. And all hope is, is moral imagination. Hope says, I may be going through it, but I can still see something in the future.

1:32:55 But though I'm not there yet, I can imagine what it will be. And if I have the right kind of hope, my hope is not for me. My hope is for generations not yet born. I'm making the choice today, not for myself, but for my children's children's children. And when you have that kind of hope, that's when scripture starts to make sense. That they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall walk and not faint. when we have hope hope speaks to us and says that though i may not be where i'm supposed to be i'm gonna work and continue to work that a great day will come so i know the plans i have for you declares the lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future. So I must bid you good day. Work your character every day. Make a choice every single day. It may sound like a contradiction that you've got to deal with affliction and then endurance, but I'm here to let you know that there will come a time for our children's children's children. That if we stay committed unto our God, we will see a shift and something happening that will turn some things around. Good day, church. May the Lord bless you real good.

1:34:55 May God keep you and hold you. But I'm here to let you know that we are called to hope as a people. In the words of Desmond Tutu, I'm a prisoner of hope. I can't let go of hope because hope gets me through the night. And hope will bless me. And before anybody else talked about hope, I heard somebody say, keep hope. Keep hope. Keep hope. Keep it alive. Good day, church. It's time for us to keep hope alive. May your character produce hope and may you keep hope alive. Alive. God is calling God's people to deal with what we would see as the contradiction of character building. You got to go through some stuff.

1:35:57 But in the affliction, you will witness endurance. From endurance, your character will develop. And when your character develops, it will be an act that you practice every day. It will become a part of your spiritual practice that I'm working on my character every day. And all of us will have uncharacteristic moments where we lose our practice, but you have another opportunity every single day to work on your character.

1:36:43 I love what Deacon Miles said years ago. I heard him say this. I don't even remember. He said it to me. He said this. He said, God saved my soul and is still working on my character. Thank you. It is a process that we are involved in of God working on us. And here's the beautiful thing about the process. If you're in the daily process, after a while you get a chance to look back over your life. And you can see where you were and where you are now. and you will see how God has brought you from a mighty, mighty, long way. Is there anyone in here? Have you seen God bring you from a mighty, mighty, long way?

1:37:44 God has been working on you. God is working on us. character is a daily practice the door of the church is open right now that we may work on our character every day it may sound like a contradiction we are called to work on our character every single day Every day. Doors open to you. We invite you to be a part of this community. Trinity United Church of Christ. To walk down the road with costly faith The door is open, praise God Doors open to you.

1:38:51 We welcome you right now.