Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | "When Religion Gets in the Way of My Faith" 6PM 01/11/26

1:01:06 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We want to let everyone know also that immediately following the worship service, If you need someone to pray with you, our prayer warriors will be in the right chapel. And so our healing ministry will be praying with anyone who needs prayer immediately following the worship service today. You make your way to the right chapel and they will be praying. you will have an intercessor in your life, somebody who will be lifting you up, who is committed to the power of prayer. I also wanted to let you know that immediately following the benediction, if you would just give a brother, all I need is amen, amen.

1:02:07 Thank you so very much. Let us go to the Lord in prayer at this moment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts. Try us and see if there's any destructive way in us. When you discover what does not belong, we ask that you would remove it and cast it into the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the east is from the west.

1:02:57 Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, you are my strength, and without a doubt, you are certainly my redeemer. Holy Spirit, do thy will. Do thy will, Holy Spirit. We offer this prayer in the mighty, magnificent, healing, liberating, salvific, peace-providing name of Jesus, who is the Christ. And the people of God, who love God, may say, Amen. And I want to invite everyone, if you may at this time, turn with me to the gospel according to Matthew chapter 23. The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 23. And we'll be reading verses 1 through 4 and verses 23, verse 23 from the New Revised Standard Version.

1:04:05 When you found it in the Gospel of Matthew 23, say amen. If you have your Bible, say amen. If you don't have a Bible, don't say nothing. Amen. Amen. Amen. Verse 1 reads this way from the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 23. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. Therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do. For they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others. But they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.

1:05:07 Verse 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier things, or weightier matters, of the law. Justice, and mercy, and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.

1:05:48 Therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it. But don't you do what they do. For they do not practice what they teach. Or another translation, they do not practice what they preach. Another translation is, there is a big difference between what they say and what they do. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy word. we continue we're in a series and we will end that series next next Sunday the series start at the beginning of this year the general heading is separation of church and hate it is taken from the book by John Fuglesang separation of church and hate, a sane person's guide to taking back the Bible from fundamentalists, fascists, and fleece.

1:07:13 I'm sorry, yeah, fleece. I think it's fleece taking frauds, I think is something of that nature, but is the general heading of the series. Last week, we looked at the gospel according to John and looked at the subheading of Jesus loves me, this I know.

1:07:36 Today, we want to, as our subheading, is to look at when religion gets in the way of my faith. when religion gets in the way of my faith. If you could turn to your neighbor at this time, just turn and look at your neighbor. I didn't say say anything. I just said look at you. Just look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, oh neighbor, we must practice what we preach. Amen. And find another neighbor, maybe the same one. Say neighbor. Oh neighbor. I hope. Your religion. Doesn't get in the way. Of your faith.

1:08:30 Amen. separation of church and hate when religion gets in the way of our faith michael jordan arguably one of if not the greatest practitioner of the improvisational kinetic science called basketball. MJ had a pre-game ritual. He would wear underneath his Chicago Bulls uniform, he would always wear his college shorts from the University of North Carolina to remind himself where he had come from and all of the work that it has taken to get him to the current point.

1:09:27 Serena Williams, arguably one of the greatest tennis players to ever step upon a court, would wear the same socks for each major tournament, for it grounded her mind and spirit in the idea of being consistent in every match. Stephen Curry unanimously considered to be the greatest shooter ever to take hold of a basketball. He had a pregame ritual in private. Before he came out of the tunnel, he was always deep in prayer, not praying for victory, but praying and saying, Thank you, God, for this opportunity. And once he came out of the tunnel, he would begin his pregame ritual.

1:10:26 First, a ritual in private, and then a ritual in public. He would begin a ball handling drill, and then begin shooting to loosen his body up and focus his mind prior to the game. The greatest practitioner of what some writers call the sweet science, a gentleman from Louisville, Kentucky, whose birth name was Cassius Clay. But under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he became Muhammad Ali. Prior to any fight, he had a pregame ritual where he would assume the position of prayer, giving thanks to God, not that he would beat his opponent, but just thank God from where he has come for this opportunity that is before him. Athletic rituals, according to one scholar, are prescribed, scripted, consistent actions or movements to ground a person and release anxiety and increase focus.

1:11:39 But if we were to look at religious rituals, they are prescribed, scripted, consistent actions or movement designed to ground a person in the larger ideals and concepts and values of their faith. In 2017, our church made a pilgrimage to Ethiopia. We went to a small church outside of the capital city of Addis Ababa. Now, I say this to you, that we were going to the church, we arrived at the church, and we realized the church is closed. It was noonday. The church was closed, but there were 300 people outside of the church who were there to pray. Even though the church doors were closed, people still showed up to church to pray.

1:12:38 And as pilgrims, we were outside of this church. And there was an elder who was attempting to communicate with our son, Elijah. He wanted Elijah to come with him because he wanted to show Elijah how they pray in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. And as he was speaking through broken English, and we only knew a few haric words, eventually we realized what the elder was attempting to do. He took Elijah over to the church building. And he showed Elijah how they pray in the Ethiopian tradition. He was trying to communicate and say that we don't just pray with words, we have to also pray with our body.

1:13:34 Because our body must also communicate the relationship that we also have with God. That it's not enough just to offer words to God. that our body should also speak in reference to our relationship with God. And the elder showed Elijah the form of prayer. I do not know how old this gentleman was, but he was an elder, obviously. He comes over to the wall, outside wall of the church, and gets down on his knees and falls prostrate and offers some words. Then he stood up, and then he raised his hands above his head. And he began to share with our son that the reason that I did that, he did it about seven times, I believe, is that he was communicating that he was praying and speaking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

1:14:39 But he was also communicating, he said to our son, that he was trying to communicate through his body, through this ritual of prayer, that Jesus was in the grave, got up, and then was ascended to heaven. It was a way for him to embody and communicate the relationship that he had with God through a ritual. rituals are needed rituals are necessary rituals are empowering but when rituals lose their purpose they simply become actions and idols that have the potential to oppress and do harm When you know why you do what you do, and you are just doing it out of obligation, then your religion is getting in the way of your faith.

1:15:46 Because religion, understand this, is the frame in reference to our relationship with God. Religion is the system and the frame. The ritual is a part of the frame, and it allows us to have a better understanding of this idea of faith. Recently, Monica and myself, we went to the Art Institute to look at the exhibit of Elizabeth Catlett. I did some reading in reference to the Art Institute and found out that there are individuals who work for just about every museum, and it is their job as they specialize in frames. Because they know that depending on the frame you have will determine what you see in a painting. If you have the wrong frame, you may miss out on what the artist was trying to do.

1:16:49 Our religion is the frame and helps us see the painting that God has placed before us. And if we have the wrong frame or a broken frame, or better yet, if we get so caught up in the frame and never look at the painting, we will miss out on what God is saying and doing. It is in the book, The Separation of Church and Hate. a sane person's God, to taking back the Bible from fundamentalist, fascist, and flock-fleecing frauds, that often we perform rituals, often we get excited about the religion, often we do this but we forget about the purpose and focus on the frame and not the actual painting that God has put before us.

1:17:46 When this happens, where we are focused on ritual over relationship, our religion or our faith becomes a performative religiosity. And we end up confusing ritual with relationship. We think if we arrive at church, that's our faith. But that is just the ritual. In order to deepen the relationship, the ritual points to God, but that is not the way in which we develop the ultimate depth in our relationship to God. Let me see if I can teach this today, that it is in the Gospel of Matthew that we are reading today. Last week, we looked at the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is a gospel that is written for Gentiles.

1:18:41 It does not have a variety of quotes from the Torah because it is speaking to people from the Hellenistic world. The Hellenistic world is the world that Rome, Greco-Rome world, that culture. These people did not know anything about the Torah or what we call the Old Testament. But the Gospel of Matthew is Torah heavy. John was for Gentiles, but Matthew assumes that anybody reading, anybody hearing this account of Jesus was Jewish. They understood Torah and were familiar with Hebrew culture. And John does not spend a lot of time quoting from the Old Testament. But Matthew quotes over and over and over the prophets and the Torah. because he wants anyone reading to know that Jesus was a Jew.

1:19:40 But not just any Jew, not a Roman Jew, but a Jew from Palestine. A Jew committed to Torah. A Jew living under occupation and a Jew who understood marginalization. The scripture says, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. Therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. The scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes were just legal scholars. The Pharisees were a part of a religious sect, a people who followed the written Torah. They knew how to read the Torah and also the oral Torah. They were good people, but they also, they deeply wanted to follow God.

1:20:39 And there is a tendency in humanity that when we get some rules, we follow them to the letter, but we then forget why we follow the rules in the first place. And the teachers of this religious sect and these legal scholars, Jesus is critiquing. And the truth is, we are like the scribes and the Pharisees. Because we are practitioners of the faith, and all practitioners of the faith must beware. For we think we have all the truth. But it's not possible for a human being to have all the truth. You may bump up against the truth, but our human mind and vocabulary is not expansive enough to understand the totality of who God is and who God will continue to be. And any time you run into somebody and they make the claim they got all the truth, you know they ain't telling the truth.

1:21:53 It's not possible for a human being to have all of the truth. If I may explain it this way, there is a story that has been told for years about three blind men who are trying to describe an elephant. They don't know what an elephant is, but one blind man has touched the trunk of the elephant, and he said, oh, the elephant is like a snake. He says, no, no, the other blind man is holding on to the leg of the elephant. He said, no, no, it's not like a snake. This is a strong and tall animal. And then the other one in the back is holding the tail and said, no, this is a small animal. each of them have a portion of the truth. They are connected to a portion, but do not have the totality of the truth. And that is why in relationship with God, we should always be humble and know that we only can understand a portion of what God is doing in our lives.

1:23:01 Our humanity should always stand next to holy humility. because we are fallible. That is why we have so many different denominations because there was always somebody who said, I see something that you do not see and they start their own church or they start their own denomination. But anytime you start saying that you got all of the truth, That's a problem. You can learn from everybody. I stand before you today. We are in the UCC church, but the UCC church doesn't have all the truth. You can learn from an AME. You can learn from a CME. You can learn from a Baptist and a Lutheran. You can learn from a Quaker. You can learn from an Episcopalian. You can learn from someone who's Orthodox or someone who is Catholic. To act as if only one space or one church has all of the expression of God is a statement of arrogance because if I preach for the rest of my life, I will not be able to express portions of the gospel in the manner in which Dr. Teresa Brown expresses the gospel.

1:24:25 I can preach for the rest of my life. I will never be able to express the gospel the way that Dr. Cynthia Hale expresses the gospel or the way that Freddie Haynes expresses the gospel or the way that Dr. Wright expresses the gospel. But if you take the collection of everybody, You will begin to see a broader perspective of how God functions because as human beings, we can only give a portion. And if you think that one person has the truth, be careful of people who function in that manner. But let me take it a little bit deeper. It may bother a few people, but I need to say it this way. You need to be careful about people who have a theology of fear who tell you you cannot learn from people who are different from you. I'm here to let you know right now there are some books I ain't taking out of my library.

1:25:27 There are some things that I will not remove because don't you know that you can learn from someone who has a different perspective than you? You can learn. I am not getting rid of any of my books on Malcolm X because I can learn from Malcolm X. I am not getting rid of any of my books by Ta-Nehisi Coates, even though Coates is an agnostic, because I can learn from Coates. I am not getting rid of any of my books by bell hooks because I can learn from bell hooks. There are a variety of people you can learn from. But if you're rooted in your tradition, you don't have to be afraid of somebody else bringing a different perspective because you already know who you are.

1:26:17 Our humanity should always stand next to holy humility. Be careful of people who have a theology of fear, who wants you afraid that you are listening to somebody or reading something, and all of a sudden you will be taken away. But not only this, Jesus is saying that you need to listen to the scribes and Pharisees. Even though they are problematic, they don't practice what they preach, They are still giving good information. But here is the thing. He then goes on to talk about their rituals. He says, well, they practice tithing. They practice with mint and dill and all of the things that come from their garden. They get so focused on that that they have forgotten the purpose of why they do it in the first place.

1:27:18 You see, rituals should point us to doors that lead us to the way. You see, the tithe and the scribes and the Pharisees, tithing is a practice to lead us to generosity and help us to wrestle with our own insecurity, greed, and learn we are stewards and not owners. Much of the Bible is problematic when looked and juxtaposed with modern economic practices. Because there's so much in the Bible we like to skip over. But there is one particular aspect that in America we do not like at all. Because in Exodus and in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus, it says something so very clear. It says that you should not charge interest. Do not take interest but revere God.

1:28:16 You shall not charge interest on loans, interest on money. The creation of debt slavery was antithetical to God's demand to be a steward. Tithing was an aspect to help people understand that the resources that you have are not yours in the first place. Now, let me say this. please do not go to your bank on Monday and say the preacher said I'm not to pay any more interest because there's also something about contracts in reference in the Bible but but here is what Jesus is saying to the disciples they're so focused on the ritual that they don't even know the reason why they do what they do in the first place. You see, when you don't know why you're doing, or if you skip over some ideas, this idea of interest, for example, if you think that you're an owner of creation, then you can go to Venezuela to get the oil and depose the president who is the president of a sovereign country. When you think you own stuff, you can bomb Nigeria and try to build a, try to force a country to help you set up a military base so that you can have control of the oil when you believe you are actually the owner. But when you come to understand that rituals point to something deeper, for example, here in the first Sunday at Trinity, we have something known as communion. We practice communion on the first Sunday as many churches do, especially within the black tradition. That is the Sunday that folk make their way to church. They're not going to come the second, third, fourth Sunday.

1:30:13 They're going to come. They're going to come for communion. They don't want to miss that communion. As a matter of fact, when we were in Augusta, I had an elder said, I miss communion, Reverend. You got to pray with me. I'm afraid that you know something may happen because I didn't get my bread and my wine. I said, I'll pray with you. But communion, we think, is solely about bread, wine, that Jesus, body being bread, wine being the blood. But it's also deeper than that. Because it is also the process, how the bread was made. That the bread had to be harvested and it took time to make the bread. The bread had to be kneaded. The bread had to be placed in an oven. The bread had to be cooled. That there is a process to get to the bread. Bread that then can be edible.

1:31:08 Just as God has to go through a process with us. That God had to do so much. And I don't know where you are in the process. Some of us are still in the ground. And God has yet to reap and pull us up. And some of us are in the process where God is threshing. and others are in the process where God is needing. And some of us just got in the oven. And we're upset that God put us in the oven. But God is saying, wait a minute, you don't understand what you used to be. I'm about to make you into something new. And when we come out of the oven, no one recognizes what we used to be because we don't look the same, just as it is with wine. Wine starts out with grapes, and the grapes have to be pressed and has to take time to ferment and all of that for it to become wine.

1:32:06 There has to be a process of pressing. And I don't know where you are in the process. Some of us just want to stay on the vine. But God wants to pull us from the vine and press out of us to bake us into what God desires. But it does not just end there with bread and wine. It is also the table. The table is small, but it means that the table is also set up and spread for all. That we all can participate in this holy meal. The ritual is beyond, is bigger than simply just bread and wine. But it also speaks to something deeper in our relationship with God. And when we participate and recognize with humility that our faith and relationship with God, and when we take hold of these rituals and understand what they mean, we will see growth in our spirit.

1:33:15 And the beautiful thing about growth is that sometimes you don't see any growth. But then you realize you've gone down the road a ways for a few years. And you realize how God has been working on you. It used to be that every little thing messed with you. But now as the choir was singing, God had been depositing peace in you. But not all at once. It comes a little bit every day. And after you get down the road for a few years, that which used to vex your spirit doesn't vex your spirit anymore. That which used to make you holler and worry doesn't make you holler and worry anymore. Because you realize that the God who took care of you 15 years ago is the same God taking care of you today.

1:34:17 And because God has been walking with you, you now have a different gate in your walk. You still miss what I'm saying. When God has been walking with you for a while, you walk like you've got oil wells pumping in your living room. When God has been walking with you for a little while, something works in you in an amazing way, and you realize you have grown. And so we must understand that the rituals point us to the way, but we must never lose the purpose of why we do what we do. and so Jesus is saying that these scribes and Pharisees they're good folks but that they got so focused on the rituals that they don't understand the purpose I'm glad they tithe they should but do they know why if you tithe and you mean that's a problem because meanness and generosity don't go together.

1:35:36 He's trying to communicate to them to say that they are living in contradiction, just as many of us live in contradiction. No, don't try to act like you don't live in contradiction. No, don't try to appear like you are holy. Like you got it all together. I've said it before. I know you have a halo over your head. And you got some horns too. Horns and halos are going together. Catch you on the wrong day. And the horns will come out. The Pharisees and scribes were living in contradiction as humanity does. But here is the thing that I must leave you with this, that our faith should shape our religion, not our religion shaping our faith. Jesus, a Jesus-centered faith, understands the rituals enrich my relationship with God, with Christ.

1:36:38 You have neglected the weightier matters. So what? You tie. So what? You show up every day. So what? You are on eight different ministries. So what? You chair this, chair that. So what? You got the t-shirt, got a bracelet, got a hat, and everything that you can quote scripture. I'm glad. I'm glad you do. Said, but if you've neglected the weightier things, the rituals mean nothing. If you don't believe in justice, if you don't practice mercy, if you don't practice faithfulness, it does not matter all of the rituals that you have participated in. See, Jesus is saying that justice and mercy and faithfulness is important, that these ideas are important, that he's raising the question about not retribution, but restorative justice. The kind of justice that makes someone whole.

1:37:43 The kind of justice that is distributive justice and not justice that is legalism. Legalism means you just need to go to jail. But restorative justice means that a family is losing somebody. So how do we restore you so that you can also become who God desires you to be? Not that we take away the accountability, but we function in a way so that you are restored in the process. The question that I have is, what does a community look like whole? Hole means making sure your insurance premiums do not skyrocket 200%. Hole means that no child should have to wonder where they will lay their head every night.

1:38:41 Hole means a mother named Renee Good in Minnesota is not shot in the face by ICE officers. Hole means an indigenous family. Hear what I said. It was in a recent article, an indigenous family is not pulled out of their cars and questioned about citizenship. Did you hear me? An indigenous family, a family whose lineage goes back 900 years in this country, was pulled out of a car. And they said, are you citizens of the United States? And the mama said, we were here before your family got in. How could you pull us out of the car?

1:39:36 The justice Christ calls for is justice that makes us whole to encounter mercy. Mercy is something beautiful. You see, grace is getting what you don't deserve. but mercy is holding back what you do deserve and the truth be told why over and over again in scripture you hear people say Jesus have mercy because you don't want to ask God for justice because you might get just what you deserve but if you ask for mercy that means God holding back what you do deserve. That's why I love it when I would hear elders say, Lord, have mercy on my child. And if we were to look over our own resume, there's been a lot of mercy in our life.

1:40:36 A lot of things were held back that should have shown up at our front door. A lot of things were held back that should have taken us out. But I thank God for God's mercy, that God has had mercy upon me, upon us. Do I have at least one witness in here who can thank God for God's mercy? We're grateful to God for God's mercy. And if we believe in a loving God, if we believe in the grace of God, if we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, if we believe that we should be humble before God, if we believe in the power of generosity and practicing kindness and the power of forgiveness and belief in restoration, then we must embody these ideals and our practice should match our confession.

1:41:43 It's easy to shout, but can you shout with how you practice so that your shout becomes how you live, not just what you do on Sunday? I know we can praise the Lord for God's goodness, but can we do good as a way to praise our God? I know we can shout unto the Lord for God's mighty acts, but can we take action that is as loud as a shout? I know we can dance before the Lord because we can't help ourselves, but can somebody help somebody as you'll dance before the Lord? I know we can sing to the Lord, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, but can we make some noise by bringing joy to somebody in need? I know we can allow the Holy Spirit to take over and alter worship.

1:42:44 But can our worship be able to alter what is happening in this world with love coming from the Holy Spirit? We might not get it right all the time, but I'm grateful that when God wakes us up every morning, you shouldn't get up and be upset. You should get up and say, Lord, I thank you for giving me one more chance to try and get this thing right. I messed up yesterday, but I got another day today. And I'm talking to one or two people that when you got up this morning, you were thankful that God allowed you to get up. And because you've been given another chance, we ought to bring some beauty into this world. We should bring blessings into this world.

1:43:39 We should be the purveyors of making sure that our confession also matches our practice. Good day, Trinity. May the Lord bless you real good. May God keep you and may God hold you. But I'm here to let you know that if God woke you up this morning and started you on your way, there's a reason that God woke you up. There's a reason that you've been through so many storms. There's a reason you're still here. It's not cosmic coincidence that you've been able to survive what you've been able to survive. God wants you to be a specific light to shine in a...