“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.” Mark Twain

“As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.  As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees…said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”” Luke 19:33-40

Silence is deadly. Yes, silence in worship is a blessing, for finding some time to meditate on our blessings, especially the blessings that come through the cross of Jesus requires time to meditate on it day and night. But our very lives are not defined by such silence. Only monks and hermits can find such silence daily. We, on the other hand, live in a cacophony of sounds: noises, digital devices, and the shouts of daily life. And it is into this noise that we seek to live out our lives, and our faith lives as well. We live in a society today where people have decided it is better to shout down their enemies and those who disagree with them, seeking to silence the opinions of others in order to defend what they think is the preferable, the smart, the right opinion. If they can silence the opinions of others, then they will believe their opinion is superior. It is true in the life of politics, and it is true in the life of the church. Somewhere in the 21^st century, some people of our society determined they could not tolerate dissenting opinions. Silencing the opponent, in whatever means was necessary, was more advantageous than debating the merits of both. How far is the leap that a society will take from people silencing the opinions of other people, to a government that will seek to do the same?      

The disciples of Jesus are shouting “Blessed is the King…” and “Hosanna to the King” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The Pharisees are uncomfortable because in first century Judaism, there is just one king – and that king is Caesar. Within Roman occupation, the people of Israel were just hoping to survive without being crushed by the occupying government. Jesus’ “triumphal entrance” is both a political statement, as it is a religious statement. It is the classic battle between religion and government, between “David and Goliath”, between the underdog and the superstar. And if the people are silent, are forced to be silent, or choose to be silent, Jesus says that G-d will produce those who will not be silent.

We must choose whether, as a church, as a community of believers, and as a denomination, will we choose to be silent about our faith, or will we shout out against injustice, intolerance, and religious censorship? Will we censor ourselves, or will we shout out our faith, and our belief that Jesus is “the one who has come in the name of the Lord?” Just as we cannot accept censorship in the political and personal aspects of our lives, we cannot tolerate self-censorship in the church – because silence is the enemy of the church.

Pastor Dave

“When human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.  Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe”  Elie Wiesel (Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor)

 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” John 14:15-21

Jesus is known as the “Word” in the Gospel of John:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1:1-5, 14)

So when we speak of the “Word of G-d” we need to clarify if we are speaking about the written word (the bible), or the “Word Incarnate”, Jesus Christ. 

Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor, and as such lived through one of the most horrific experiences of systemic murder, fanaticism, and evil this world has ever seen. As he continued his life, having lost a good portion of his family to the death camps of the holocaust, he and his wife established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, to fight “indifference, intolerance and injustice”.  As Elie so eloquently puts it, we must always fight for “human dignity” and fight against those people and regimes that seek to deny basic human rights. 

Jesus, the Word Incarnate, taught that we are to love all people, we are to cherish the dignity of all lives, and we are to be Spirit-led people of G-d.  We become Spirit-led people by reading the Word, and by receiving the very body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. It is through these means that we understand where our true identity comes, that we are people of G-d, not people of the world – but as people of G-d, we are sent out to right the wrongs of this world, no matter where we encounter them.

Pastor Dave