Carlyle Stewart, MDiv candidate, delivered the following remarks at Morning Prayers in Harvard's Memorial Church on April 5, 2019.
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Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it" when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. (Proverbs 3:27-29)
When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)
Good morning, students, staff, colleagues, and faculty.
I feel extremely blessed, and thankful to have been afforded the opportunity to offer some words this morning. Words which I pray will fall on tender hearts and open ears. Yesterday evening as I was waiting for the bus, I asked the spirit to guide me to a word that would be pleasing in the sight of God, and inspirational to all of those who would be listening. I boarded the 66 bus, took my seat, put in my headphones, and retreated into a day dream, the only corner of my mind that’s always open for business. Well into our trip, I glanced up at a sign on the window. It read: “Notice: Do not deny vacant seats to fellow passengers.” My heart fluttered and my soul trembled. I thought of us, all of us, as passengers on a vessel, directed by God, steered by the spirit, and captained by the Son. I saw this notice shortly after reading a segment about the deportation suffered by immigrant communities; and the policies designed to criminalize, detain, and separate passengers who are denied vacant seats at the American table.
To my own dismay, I fear that we as a society have failed. I fear that we have too highly exalted ourselves. Some of our leaders have forgotten their place, for in their mind the deceit of their pride places them nearer to the level of God, and farther from the presence of other passengers. But the Lord calls us to embrace our neighbors, especially those who are most different from us. The right to life and dignity is a human right that should not be debated. But I fear that our moral courage and strength of spirit are both in a state of disorder. Have we grown so rigid in our ways that we withhold good from those who deserve it? Are we so accustomed to rejecting those we don’t understand, those who look or think differently than us, or those who fall on the margins of society, that we deny to them seats that sit empty?
We can only barricade ourselves for so long from the sojourner, the estranged friend, the other, until we are no longer keeping them out, but instead locking ourselves in; trapped in a cage of fear and exceptionalism, isolation and conceit, forgetting that we have all been in need, as sojourners in a strange and unhospitable land. God opens God's heart to us to remind us to do the same for others. The Lord commands us to care for the stranger and look after the exiled. We live in a culture that envies the violent, applauds the lethal, and acclaims the heartless. And in our world, when evil is hidden under a cloak of virtue, I say it's time to be in the world but not of it. I say it's time to speak the word of love and justice, louder, even when you can’t hear yourself sing. How can we transform a culture of hostility into one of hospitality? How can we be a pillar of righteousness and moral strength when all else around us has turned to dust? We must start in our personal lives and professional lives. We start with the first stranger or familiar face we come across.
Today, I exhort us all to be more hospitable to those we would otherwise avoid; those we would otherwise reject. Today we open our hearts to listen and welcome those who we have been alienated from. The Lord calls us to offer goodness to those whom it is due. Notice: Do not deny vacant seats to fellow passengers. So as you go about your day ask yourself, what vacant seats are beside you, and who will fill them?
Amen.