Holy Pep: “Let’s Get Loud!”

In my freshman year of high school, I had what I have come to learn was a “via negativa” experience. Via negativa is a philosophical or theological concept of understanding what something is through describing what it is not. For example, saying “God is not a man,” does not mean that God is not not a man or that God is a woman. It means that God is something bigger than the sex and gender binaries that we find here on earth. For me, this via negative experience was living into something, an identity, that was clearly not me, as a way of understanding better who I am. A lot of us have those experiences in our youth.

In the early 90s, I spent approximately 8 months, as… a high school cheerleader (see photo for this blog entry). This sport was part of my discovery of who I am and who I am not. I didn’t mind the yelling part; I actually liked that quite a bit. I did not like the perpetual smiling. And I labored my way through the choreography to cheers like, “K-I-C-K, kick that ball,” and “Hey, it’s first and 10, let’s do it, do it, do it again.”

It wasn’t me. The halftime routines. The cartwheels. The bouncing and robotic clapping. I learned that I wasn’t bobby socks, Jock Jams and a high ponytail. I was more Doc Martens, Tom Petty and an oversized flannel shirt. Those 8 months were a valuable lesson in learning who I am by spending some time being who I am not. However, that period of time taught me an incredibly valuable lesson on the power of “pep”- how the right message delivered to a crowd at the right moment can lead to a rally, can inspire a movement toward victory.

You’ve seen these things in action before, right? How a crowd can be transformed and unified and it can shift the energy and even the outcome of what is happening. I had one such experience earlier this year. This past Martin Luther King Jr Day, our dear Memphis Grizzlies were down by double digits at the half. They were not playing well, and the crowd had fallen into quiet grumbling. But it was Memphis, and it was MLK day. The inspirational videos, presentations, performances and speakers got the crowd all feeling some kind of way. So, we got louder in the second half, and louder. And the team responded, and the playing got better. They pulled out a win in the final seconds, which was met with roaring cheers, hugs and high fives among strangers. Surely you’ve all been a part of some experience where the right pep talk at the right moment leads to something incredible happening. It’s one of those peak human experiences.

Our lesson today in the Book of Hebrews reminds me of such an experience. This is a letter in the New Testament, whose authorship is unknown, but is attributed to someone in the Pauline school. The writing style of this epistle is very polished, and not the same as the style as the letters biblical scholars most confidently think were written by Paul himself. However, we have reason to believe that the author of Hebrews knew Paul, was a close ally of Paul, and probably spent time with Paul. 

This letter is a pep talk to Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who were facing persecution, and likely were considering going back to their old lives, their old ways, and their old religious practices. Being a Christian at that time and in that place was hard – we know that from Paul himself. Paul was imprisoned at least twice, probably more. He stated, he “bore the marks of Christ,” which is probably a reference to scars from being beaten up for professing his faith. Being in a minority, fringe religious movement was not for the faint of heart under the Roman Empire.

Hebrews stands out to me as a book because for me, most of the writings attributed to Paul and the Pauline school seem to paint him as kind of a serious person, who was maybe even a little grumpy at times. He was a single guy, possibly with some sort of handicap, since he describes a “thorn in his flesh,” which many scholars believe refers to some sort of chronic illness or affliction. Most of his letters, though opening with words of affection, quickly turn toward correctives. His letters offer guidance and teachings on particular doctrinal and behavioral issues, but there’s often a subtext in many of his writings that, in my mind, sounds a little like, “That’s not what I said! You’re doing it wrong!”  

In other words, I don’t think of Paul are being much of a cheerleader-type. Brilliant writer, yes. Profound scholar and architect of our faith, yes. Extremely devout, absolutely. “Yay, Christians, you can do it!?” Not so much. And that is why I love this letter to the Hebrews, written by someone who knew Paul and was closely aligned with him. This author knew that this particular community, needed a Holy pep talk. Listen to these lines from our text today:

“So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"

 And

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!”

They almost sound like a cheer. This particular passage we read in the letter is reminding Christians of the basics of the faith:

·      Show hospitality to strangers.

·      Remember those who are in prison or tortured for the sake of our faith.

·      If you happen to be married, don’t cheat on your spouse.

·      Don’t go chasing money, that won’t lead you anywhere good.

·      Do good and share with one another.

 This text reminds the community then, just as it reminds us now, that we gotta hang in here together. It’s gonna be rough sometimes to follow this path of discipleship. Stick together. Do it well. And be confident.

I don’t know about you, but I have found it more difficult to be upbeat and confident as a Christian in recent weeks. Whether it’s taking in the horror of images from wars overseas – in Gaza, and in Ukraine. Or whether it’s taking in the horror of another mass shooting at a school, this time in a chapel that claimed the lives of children who were worshipping together. Or reading another story about a family torn apart by ICE showing up at a scheduled court hearing. Or watching the mass exodus of physicians from the CDC and NIH. Or watching our leaders send national guard troops into cities to be deployed against fellow citizens. Or the fact that every nonprofit board I sit on is worried about grant funding and the impacts of a tougher economy. Or the increased volume of phone calls to the church I serve asking about our food pantry or whether we have assistance for utility bills because of the higher costs of groceries and energy. There is a lot to be worried about. There are lots of reasons to feel despair.

And it’s hard to feel like a happy and confident Christian when I’m really worried about our faith. I am worried about the rise in Christian nationalism. I’m concerened that our religion that follows the Prince of Peace has been co-opted by this nation’s gun-obsessed culture to the point that churches raffle off AR-15s at their annual fish frys. I am terrified that Christians think it’s OK to endorse anyone from behind a pulpit other than Jesus Christ, God almighty and the Holy Spirit. I’m saddened that our faith is being used as a tool to determine who is in and who is out in this nation, who counts and who doesn’t. I’m worried that the religion of Jesus, the one who moved toward outcasts to welcome them in, the one who drew the circles wider, the one who touched the untouchable and loved the unlovable, is being used as a tool of hatred and exclusion, and as a justification for intolerance and cruelty.

So I find myself needing a pep talk. A holy pep talk. I need a loud one, and an inspiring one. I need the kind of pep talk that makes Christians like the ones in the two oldest churches in Memphis get loud – really loud, in spite of our tendency to maybe be a little more more quiet. I need a pep talk that inspires us to be loud in spite of our sadness and in the face of our discomfort. I think this is the call for us as thoughtful and caring and devout Christians today. Just like that letter in Hebrews, sent to a bunch of uncertain and worried followers, we need to be seeking to give each other the kind of inspiration that comes from Holy pep, whatever that looks like.

These are the times when we need to remind each other to be loud about our faith, the true teachings of our faith. The “love your neighbor as yourself” faith. The “what you do for the least of these you do for me” faith. The “welcome the stranger faith.” It is incumbent on each one of us to figure out what it looks like for us to be a cheerleader to one another in this season - To look at the people around you and say, “I can see you falling into despair, but let me remind you that we won’t let our faith be re-written by anyone because, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  

And when you think, “No, no. That’s not me. I’m not a cheerleader.” Remember that you ARE. Remember that God has given each of you a prophetic voice and a confident spirit to be able to deliver your own message of Holy pep to the people around you. You ARE God’s cheerleaders. You ARE the church’s pep squad. And the church of Jesus Christ really needs you to be loud about it right now.  

So, that is my charge to you, my friends. Remember and Remind. Remember the faith that we hold dear, and just how very powerful it is as a means of doing good in this world. And remind each other of that power. If we believe, and faithfully act, then, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

So what will your Holy pep look like? Is it a cheer? Is it a song? Is it a chant? Is it a holy nudge?

I told you that back in the early 90s, I learned I wasn’t a cheerleader, but the truth of it is that I learned I wasn’t that KIND of cheerleader. I learned I was more Tom Petty than Jock Jams. But that didn’t mean, I couldn’t cheer. It just looks a little different, and goes a little something like this:

Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell
But I won't back down

No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won't back down.

 (Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”)

Find your version of Holy pep. Whatever it may be. Whatever it looks like. Whatever is authentically you. And get loud. We need it. The world needs it. Right now.

And all of God’s people who could said AMEN.