Cancel Culture

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling            August 2, 2020                    Cancel Culture

 Romans 9:1-5: I am speaking the truth in Christ-- I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit-- I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

What is it like to be cut off from your own people? To be cut off from your own flesh and blood? St. Paul claims that for him it is a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart. As a Jew who came to believe that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, he felt cut off from his own people. Ever felt that way too?

Cut offs are common in our relationships. It happens when we are so angry, bitter, and resentful that we cut people out of our lives. We stop speaking to them. We avoid them. We “unfriend” them. In today’s jargon, we call this our “cancel culture.” “The truth is,” as St. Paul once wrote to the Romans, “I am not lying, my conscience confirms it,” everyone is bleeding. Everyone is hurting when there are cut-offs. And it doesn’t have to be so.

“One can tell that the people who hear these words from St. Paul are people who have gone through deep and long-term continuous suffering of some sort,” wrote Gary Simpson in Christian Century. You know who they are, right? People of color and abject poverty, victims of violence and unrelenting oppression, groups of people who suffer injustice and inequality throughout our world. All of us, today, are currently suffering through this pandemic. “The truth is,” as St. Paul once wrote to the Romans, “I am not lying, my conscience confirms it,” we are cut off from each other by pandemics, political and religious disagreements, international warfare, and the never-ending “isms” that cause us such great sorrow and unceasing anguish. We keep cancelling each other out. And it doesn’t have to be so.

Perhaps like you, and St. Paul, I feel great sorrow and unceasing anguish over the current state of affairs. Paul’s core message, however, was one of reconciliation. In Christ, he claims, there are no “cut-offs.” No one is cancelled out. In his letter to the Romans, he reminds them that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, not even death. For we have all been adopted by Christ, grafted onto the same tree of life, and destined for the same everlasting future. St. Paul’s message is good news for us in the midst of so much real sorrow and anguish, both back then, and even now. We all just need to stay connected to one another through God. May it be so.