Once Upon a Sand Creek

Nov 29, 1864 probably doesn’t mean much to most of us.  But it should.

The name John Chivington probably doesn’t mean much to most of us.  But it should.  Especially to the Church.

On Nov 29, 1864, in modern Kiowa County, Colorado, approximately 150 Cheyenne, mainly women and children were slaughtered near their homes by the United States Calvary led by Col. John Chivington.  Chivington had claimed there were upwards of 500 Warriors in the village, but no evidence collaborated this.  Instead, 700 men ran down a village that was little equipped to defend itself.  After the ‘battle’, Chivington’s men returned to the scene to collect trophies of scalps and other body parts, including genitals.

Col John Chivington was known as a cold and brutal man, who employed violence to achieve his ends.  He was known for an accidental attack on a Confederate Supply Train during the Civil War, whereupon he threatened to kill his prisoners. 

But what makes Chivington noteworthy, and infamous, is that he was a Methodist Preacher.  He was a Christian.

Chivington had been appointed as a preacher by the Methodist General Convention and sent to Colorado. He was known as a ‘hell and brimstone’ preacher, one who preached the anger and wrath of God.  He preached against the existence of the Native Americans and urged his congregation members to exterminate them.  When the Civil War broke out, he applied for a commission.  When offered a commission as a Chaplain, he refused, insisting that he was going to be a warrior.  He served and was never punished for the events at Sand Creek.

Today, Chivington should remind us in the Christian Church about the dangers of extremism, of fundamentalism and of hatred wherever it shall be found.  This should be a reminder that we are not called to hate, not called to violence, but to love and to peace.  The Church needed to have helped the Cheyenne and all Natives.  A little less than a hundred years later, Dietrich Bonhoeffer would remind us that the Church has a duty, “not to simply bandage the wounds of victims of the wheels of injustice, [but] we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

Sand Creek should remind us of our failures of the church in the past to even bandage the wounds.  The Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Navajo, indeed all Natives and all slaves, needed us. 

We should mourn the 29^th of November as a day when a man of peace became a man of violence.  And we should renew our commitment to serve others, to love others and to be that instrument of justice and peace that God has called us to be. 

Missed Blessings

“they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Luke 9:53

If only…

We all have those moments where we think… “if only…” “if only I had taken that job…” “if only I had asked her to dance…” “if only I had bought that lotto ticket….” We could probably write a book filled with the “if only” moments of our lives. 

I remember once missing out on a beautiful experience.  I was at an amusement park…Storybookland…and there was an attraction you walked through.  It was the story of Alice in Wonderland, and you walked through the retelling of the story.  There was one room that you could walk into or bypass.  I remember very distinctively trying to make that decision.  The room flickered with an unnatural seeming light and there was a dense fog pouring out from it.  I was scared and yet excited at the possibility of the time.  But I gave into my fear and I took the bypass.  I have no idea what was in that room and probably never will.  It may seem silly or inconsequential, but for me, this was a missed opportunity.

Missed opportunities are all around us…each and every day.  We have missed opportunities to eat foods, or spend time with friends, or perhaps to get some work done.  We miss opportunities to enjoy life…or most importantly, to experience God’s grace. 

Today’s gospel lesson is about such a town in Samaria.  In Luke’s gospel, this event takes place after a very key turning point in the gospel.  In 9:51, Jesus has “set his face toward Jerusalem.”  This means that after this point, Luke will focus on Jesus’ travel to Jerusalem—his death and his resurrection.  But along his way, he sends out his messengers to announce the way.  He goes into the towns that will receive him and preach the good news. 

But this town won’t receive him. 

But why?  We are told in an interesting way, “that did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Why wouldn’t they?  What was the big deal about Jesus going to Jerusalem? A couple of things come to mind.

First, they won’t receive him because he has not come to see them.  This village in the middle of Samaria was not Jesus’ terminal point.  In other words, Jesus wasn’t about them.  Perhaps they felt as if Jesus should come and live with them, or that his face should have been set towards them.  Perhaps they felt that if he really cared, he would have dwelt and preached with them. By going to Jerusalem, they can see that they are just a stepping stone and unimportant to Jesus.  

We may feel like this from time to time.  We may feel that we are unimportant and that Jesus…or rather anybody at all…doesn’t really care for us.  We are just an abandoned outpost in the middle of the desert that nobody really takes an interest in.  We are nothing.  In our pride we say that if we aren’t going to acknowledged as important, than we’d rather not be acknowledged at all.  We want the show to be all about us and we want to be the terminal point, the end place that people are coming to, not just a side stop along the way.

Except that this is completely untrue.  This village…and us…are not just side shows.  We are the reason that Jesus goes to Jerusalem.  He needs to go to Jerusalem…to die for us and to set us free, but somehow we can’t see that.  We can’t see the big picture.  We can’t see that the love of God does not make us unimportant.  We are all part of the big picture, we just never know our part.  This village missed the point and sent Jesus on his way…how many times do we do the same?

But more than this…it was the fact that Jesus was going to Jerusalem - that was the end of the deal for this village.  Samaritans and Jews never got along.  They were fighting cousins and could never fully reconcile themselves to each other, despite even the Psalmists plea for unity (Ps. 133).  Rather, in this moment…all of the ancient racism, pettiness, jealousy, ethnic hatred reared its ugly head once more and the people decided to forgo a blessing of God. 

Jonah felt the same way about the people of Nineveh.  When God told him to go, he ran the exact opposite direction.  Jonah never got over his hatred of the people of Nineveh and in the process missed out on the great blessing of God’s forgiveness.  Jonah could not rejoice in the repentance of the people of Nineveh.  He couldn’t celebrate with new believers and hear great stories of renewed and healed lives.  Rather, he was left alone with his bitterness and anger in the noonday sun.

We…I…am not all that different from this village in Samaria.  How many blessings of God do I forgo because of my own pettiness?  My own hatred?  My own jealousies? My own refusal to allow God to work in me AND in others?  How many times do I want to hoard the blessings of God and keep them to myself rather than going out to celebrate and to encourage people in the mission of God?

How many times do I refuse to receive Him?

I remember living with a friend who had more success in life than I had.  He was better at his job, he had more friends and the ability to comment intelligently on almost any topic in the world.  Rather than celebrate with him and rejoice in the gifts God had given him, I felt my own jealousy working against me.  Jealousy turned to anger and anger turned to resentment and I never was able to work with him.  I secretly hoped he would fail in his endeavors and somehow my criticism and my hatred would be justified before God. 

There are people who irritate me.  It is nothing in particular that they do, they just irritate me.  I find myself avoiding them and making excuses not to talk to them or to engage with them.  There are situations I avoid because they make me uncomfortable.  They would stretch me beyond my comfort zone and therefore I come up with excuses not to engage with them.

My heart is a sea of hate and I hate that it is. 

In all of this, every time Jesus draws near, I refuse to receive Him.  I would rather hang on to my old jealousies, my racism, and my hatred than to allow him to come in and preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

The only recourse the people of his small village had was to let go of their hatred and of their racism and to allow Jesus to enter in.  That is the choice I face…that we all face…every time Jesus draws near.  Will we let go of our hatred and receive him…or will we hold on to the old ways and miss the blessing?

But if we keep missing the blessing…if we keep holding onto our anger and our hatred…then our lives will be dominated by two simple and lonely words…

“If only…”