Rev. Justin Lester 1.16.17

So as I thought about today, one of the struggles, one of the struggles that we face as a people on days like today is what I like to call the paradox of progress. Paradox of progress suggests that when you realize how far you've come, you only realize how far you really still have to go. Think about it. On days like today, it's often so much competition. And what I've noticed so far today on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram is this competition between two generations, because one generation says, we were there, we marched, we did all of this work. But then another generation says, we still see how far we have to go. Because whenever you see how far you've come, you have. You start fighting to see how far you still have to go. So one generation saying, one generation isn't woken up. Another generation saying, you don't understand what's happening. One generation says, you don't get the struggle. Another generation says, we have new still struggles. Because when you see how far you've come, it's. It only shows you how far you still have to go. So we talked about how many bills we still need to pass, more money that we need, the movement that we need, how we need more people to be involved. Because how far we've come, we think it's not good enough. How far we've come, we think we haven't done enough. So we spend times on days like this complaining, talking about how much progress we yet still have to make. And so we sit in sacred spaces called sanctuary to honor and to look and reflect upon the life of Dr. King and. And Pastor Baylor. I believe, as I read through Dr. King's work, if there's something Dr. King taught us, he said, in order to see where we're going, we have to capitalize on right where we are. Being upset that we're not somewhere does not push us where we're going. See, King wasn't great because King was a planner. King was great because he was a doer. King wasn't great because he complained. King was great because he saw options. King wasn't great because he got frustrated. King. King let that frustration drive him to passion. So don't ever overlook the progress we've made. Consume with the progress you're trying to make. Because King shows us some of the best stories, some of the best liberative practices, some of the best opportunities of a lifetime are written by people who capitalize on working every single day to do something to make tomorrow matter. So the reason so many of us get caught up is everybody wants to talk about tomorrow, but nobody wants to work today. I wish y' all talk back to me. I got the mic already. You might as well holler back, boy, I got a light up here. I'm an African American preacher. Y' all do know Black was a black. King was a black preacher, too. Because so often we get so caught up on what we're going to do tomorrow, what people failed yesterday that we missed that. Work must be done today. I wish you Prayer must be done today. Fasting must be done today. Work must be done today. And King was successful because King did not always sit there and complain about tomorrow. But King said, I see what's happening tomorrow, but I'm going to do something, something today. Can somebody say today? We learned that some of the best answers, some of the best quests for knowledge come after you ask some of the most difficult questions. And that on the road to progress, you have to capitalize on what you're called to do today. And so I thought about this. How can I explain this? And God took me to Gospel According to Luke, chapter 10, verses 30 through 34. Listen to a story that I believe you've heard that we've recited, and you've probably heard 14 king times today. Listen to what the Luke, right, Luke and narrator said. It says in reply, Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So to a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. When he saw him, he took pity on him, went to him, bandaged his wounds, quit pouring oil and wine on him. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, look after him. This he said, and when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expense that you may have. So I get it right. Luke, chapter 10. We talk about the parable, this story of the Good Samaritan. And as Jesus is explaining what it means to be a good neighbor, so often when we hear the story of the Good Samaritan, so many of us, we put our shoulders back and we start smiling because we call ourselves the Good Samaritan, we say that we've done so many good things in the community. We preach a wonderful moment, talking about how there's some people who will pass by you. But oh, Justin, I'm the Good Samaritan. I'm the one who cares about the poor. I'm the one who sees those who are oppressed. I'm the one who bandaged someone's wounds and bandaged someone's cuts. And Pastor, we put ourselves as if for the Good Samaritans. We see the oppressed who want to help the oppressed. But the fact is, when I read this text, the challenge that Jesus was giving to them, the challenge that King accepted and the challenge that I give all of you is that frankly, we aren't the Good Samaritan. So the Good Samaritan is the person he wanted us to be. The Good Samaritan is the attainable goal. But a fact of the matter is a all of us in this room are the man who got beat down verse 30 tells us. I'm in the text. Verse 30 tells us a Jewish traveler was on his way home. And as he was going down from Jerusalem, the man was robbed and beaten and left half dead. Now, he was doing nothing more than going on this 10 mile journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. And as he was going down, the man was beaten, he was robbed and he was left handed. This all happened as the man was going down. The man got beat down on the way down. The man got robbed on the way down. His troubles didn't start until the man was going down. He didn't deal with struggle until the man was going down. And to make this live, he was leaving Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem for the people at that time was a place of peace. He was leaving a place of peace, going down to a place called Jericho. Jericho. We know this from Old Testament literature. Jericho was considered a cursed place. So get the picture. The man is leaving from a place of peace, going down to a cursed place. And as he's leaving a place of peace going down to a cursed place, the text says the man got beat down on the way down. He travels on a road where people are robbing and mugging people as he's traveling down on the way down. The man got beat down on the way down. See, Pastor, every time we leave our churches, we're leaving out of Jerusalem. Every time we exit our jobs, we're leaving out of Jerusalem. Every time we leave the State House, we're leaving out of Jerusalem. And my challenge to you is, are you willing to get beat down on the way down so that we can finally begin to shout about the Good Samaritans that are living in our community. Am I talking to anybody in this building? Text challenges us. Can you accept and rejoice in the beat down on the way down? Can you leave some places of peace? Can you leave the State House? Can you leave your church? Pastors, can you take your robes off? Senators, can you take your titles off? And can you risk your life? Because the only way we're going to see the Good Samaritans in our community is when leadership is willing to leave Jerusalem and risk their life and get beat down on the way down. This text suggests to us King's life shares with us that the people we need, the individuals we need most, are not the people who hang out with you in Jerusalem because when they see you get beat down, they'll cross over onto the other side. It's not the people who are worshiping with you in Jerusalem because they're going to cross over you and not think they can mend your cuts, but it's the people that you overlooked who are going to walk down the street who already on assignment to make sure that they'll mend your cuts. And after you got beat down. See, Pastor King wasn't great because of what he did in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, one Sunday, King got up and told his congregation at Ebenezer that he's giving up pastoring his church so he could pastor something much greater. Because King realized, I can't do work in Jerusalem. I've got to risk my life and get beat down. Because there's some Good Samaritans in Pawtucket, there's some good Samaritans in Central Falls, there's some Good Samaritans on the east side. But if I don't leave College Hill, if I don't leave Newport, if I don't leave, if I don't leave downtown Providence, I'll miss the Good Samaritans if I don't get beat down. The work doesn't happen in Jerusalem. The work doesn't happen when you're up on the hill. The work happens when you risk your life and get beat down on the way down. King's example was the people that will help you, the people that are mend your wounds, the people who have to hook up in the other city are not the people who are with you in Jerusalem. It's the people who risk your life on the way to Jericho. My question to you, how many Good Samaritans have we missed because we refuse to risk Our lives on the way to Jericho. Yeah. How many people have we overlooked? Because we love Jerusalem so much, Pastor, I love my robe so much. I love my pulpit so much. Senators, you love your seats so much. You love your title so much that you refuse to leave Jerusalem. So you have security guards usher you through Jericho because you don't want to get beat down on the way down. That's the. College Hill is nice. My church is in College Hill. Newport is nice. I love eating in Newport. Marcus Vineyard is nice. Downtown Providence is nice. Because everybody loves Jerusalem. Nobody wants to go to Jericho. I remember we moved here in August. Deacon Metz mentioned this. We moved in here in August, and my wife and I moved to Central Falls. And so I'm so excited. I finally got my dream job. I'm living in Central Falls. So we come here, and I was meeting randomly in a coffee shop, and someone asked me, justin, where do you live? And I put my shoulders back. I was so excited. I live in Central Falls, Rhode Island. And the first thing somebody said was, you live in Central Falls. I take off every single Friday. I take off every single Friday. And I found this nice little coffee shop in Pawtucket. I hang out in Pawtucket. I love hanging out in Pawtucket. And somebody said, justin, why are you hanging out in. Sorry, Pawtucket. Why are you hanging out in Pawtucket?

Excuse me.

Why are you hanging out in Pawtucket? And I said, I like this coffee shop in Pawtucket. They said, justin, why Pawtucket? There's so much stuff over by Brown. Why don't you go hang out over there? And I realized the reason that so often we miss the great coffee shops and miss the people who are living great lives in Central Falls is because so many of us love living in Lincoln and living in Westerly and living in Providence and living in College Hill and living in Newport that we miss that. There's some great people that still live in Central Falls. The ones who voted for you, the ones who can afford to give us your fundraisers. Pastor, it's the people in your church whose ties don't equal that of the other givers. Leaders. It's the people who aren't educated enough to have that conversation with you. You. But you'll never know they exist until you risk your life and get beat down and let them show themselves to you, because that's the Good Samaritan that'll push you where you need to be. When you look at King's life, King was great. Not because of what he did in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, Pastor, King was great because King hooked up with some good Samaritans he met when he got beat down. Do you know why King's marches were so powerful? It wasn't the pastors that marched with him. It weren't the hundreds of pastors and people that were on the front line with him. But, pastor, it was the thousands of janitors, the people who've been beaten by illiteracy, poverty and hunger, that walked with King and said, before, I'll be a slave. I'll be buried in my grave. Pastor, you know why King was safe when he had firecrackers and bombs on the front doorpost of his house every single night? That King didn't stay with other pastors in Atlanta, King had some folk that lived in the ghetto of Atlanta that said, king, pastor, come stay with us. Because King met these people on the way down. The march on Washington wasn't great because all the politicians and leaders there. The march on Washington was great because black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, brown men and brown women, white women and black white men marched together. Gay men and gay women, straight men and straight women marched with King and said, we're going to march with power. King wasn't great because of what he did in Jerusalem.

King was saying, if I die on.

My way to Jericho, I'll die on my way to Jericho.

If they tear me apart on Twitter, tear me apart on Twitter. If they kill me on Facebook, kill me on Facebook. If they kill me in the Providence Journal because I'm here for such a time as this, am I talking to anybody in this room? So as I sit here this afternoon.

What our community needs are fearless leaders who will risk your life to show us some good Samaritans. So, senators, when you try to pass those bills and the other side is giving you so much opposition and your fearful that it won't go through, let me tell you something. Risk yourself and get beat down. When Twitter wants to tear you apart, when the Providence Journal tells you that you're inadequate, risk yourself and get beat down. When you sit there and say, we want to make sure every high school student has access to college, risk your life and get beat down. Because the good news is there's some good Samaritans on the east side, there's some good Samaritans in Central Falls, there's some good Samaritans in Pawtucket, there's some good Samaritans downtown. And I wish I had some good Samaritans in this building that can affirm Every politician on this stage and say.

If you risk your life, I'll fight for you. If you risk your life, I'll vote for you. If you risk your life, I'll pray for you. If you risk your life, governor, I'll walk all over you because I know that God's hand that's on my life will cover your life. Am I talking to anybody in the building that can take 15 seconds and begin to thank God for every politician on this d. You're not leaving this place. God, cover every person so I can show them there's a good Samaritan who when they go down and I talk to in this room.

Pastor, you said I can holler tonight, right? I'm finished. I'm finished. I'm finished. The good Samaritan.

The good news.

The good Samaritan has been walking with you the whole time. The good news, the good Samaritan knows where to hook you up in the city. The good Samaritan knows where to put you so they can't find you. The good Samaritan knows how to close up your phone so nobody shows you how bad you are, because the moment you get beat down is the moment you get to see some good Samaritans in the city. And so I'm going to risk my life and get beat down on the way down. So I wondered how to conclude this, Pastor. I wondered how to conclude this. And he said, I recently graduated from college. And so I love. I love wooden pencils. My mama gave me wooden pencils every single year when I went to school. And so my mom would give me wooden pencils. I love wooden pencils. I love technology, but I love wooden pencils. And so, pastor, if you've ever sharpened a wooden pencil, a wooden pencils have a full process of being sharpened. So I got wooden pencils, Pastor, and I have to put the wooden pencils in a pencil sharpener, Put the wooden pencil in a pencil sharpener. And so when I put the pencil in the pencil sharpener, pastor, it would rip the pencil, it would tear the pencil, it would break the pencil. I take it out, I blow on it, I put it back in. It would rip the pencil, it would tear. Tear the pencil, it would break the pencil. I take it out, blow on it, put it back in. It rips the pencil, it tears the pencil, it breaks the pencil. And somebody saying, justin, how long did you leave the pencil in the sharpener? Pastor I left it in there until it got the point. I was shaw.

And the reason that King lived the.

Way he lived is cuz when he marched on Washington they ripped him.

I was Shaw when they got rid.

Of o' Connor these for him. But the reason reason we're still here.

Today is because he got the point.

And am I talking to anybody in Ebenezer on Martin Luther King's birthday that can help a black preacher?

Honor a black preacher and say God, spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me, Melt me, mold me, feel me, rip me, tear me, break me, let me march so I can get the point. Is there anybody in the building that can say I'm a work in progress.

But rip me Jesus, rip me on the streets.

I'll march down the streets so my.

First generation college student will graduate from Brown University.

My first generation child will graduate from uri.

I wish I had some old folk who can help me shout this evening.

Won'T he do it?

I said won't he he do it?

Won't he do it if you know he will toss your head back, open up your mouth, lift up your voice. Let's have church and let everything that has breath, that wants to be ripped.

And wants to be taught say yes.