The Rev. CeCe Armstrong encourages doing more than ‘just enough’ to help those in need
Co-Moderator also urges Young Adult Advocacy Conference participants to 'fight repeating unfair injustices today'
LANSING, Michigan — The Rev. CeCe Armstrong offered a three-point guide for changing the world in a sermon in which she also discussed how difficult it is for the wealthy to inherit eternal life if they’re benefitting from systems that lead to the suffering of others.
“No one gets into heaven without a reference letter from the marginalized,” said Armstrong, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Armstrong preached at the recent Jesus and Justice Young Adult Advocacy Conference, placing emphasis on Mark 10:17-31, the story of the rich man who ran up to Jesus, kneeled and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The annual PC(USA) conference was designed to teach people, roughly ages 18-35, how to sharpen their advocacy skills in order to stand up for what they believe in. Along with worship and networking time, it also included an immigration march and vigil as well as workshops on a number of issues and topics, such as advocacy in the church, reparations in the local area, the need for peace in the Israel-Palestine region, and combatting Christian nationalism.
Before diving into one’s mission, Armstrong said, it’s important to remember that Jesus provides AAA (a play on the emergency road service club). Those AAAs are know your assignment, set an action plan and be accountable.
Following that AAA plan and doing more than the minimum for people in need will lead to fresh fruit instead of strange fruit, Armstrong said.
Using each letter in the word "fruit," she said it’s important to “'fight repeating unfair injustices today,' so that when others think about us, speak about us, see us or hear us, they will know that Christ calls us to do more than just enough and helps us to bear fresh fruit.”
Earlier, she had examined the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus with the all-important question about eternity.
After briefly discussing the commandments, which the man is already following, Jesus tells the rich man that he’s missing one thing — he needs to sell all of his possessions, give them to the poor and follow him.
The man, who has many possessions, leaves the conversation disappointed, and the encounter leads to an exchange between Jesus and his astonished disciples. Jesus tells them, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
In her sermon, Armstrong speculated that the rich man was actually seeking to puff himself when he approached Jesus.
“See all this guy's life, his riches had granted him access, favor and special consideration,” Armstrong noted. “When he went to see Jesus, he was probably seeking one more 'attaboy!' to add in his collection of pats on the back. He perhaps thought, ‘I worked hard. I got into a top-notch university. I volunteered at my church. I should be all right. But just to make sure, let me get this Jesus endorsement.’”
But, to his surprise, Jesus had something different to say. The rich man “was directed to quit looking for wealth, status and affirmation and instead, to start relinquishing power and money and privilege.”
What does the rich man have in common with folks today?
“It’s hard for some of us to see ourselves as privileged or arrogant,” Armstrong explained. “It is hard for us to see that we are the very individuals who keep the systems in place that continue to marginalize people.”
The marginalized include those who are disadvantaged by “an unfair tax code” that benefits the rich.
“It has been a tough couple of decades, not only for the poor, but also for the middle class, who have seen their gains in salary and benefits fall away as many of them slip below the income level that made them middle class,” she said. “The poor, the overtaxed and the economically burdened have no advocate — no one, that is, except a righteous God and the prophets who serve that God — and if we're going to be the prophets, then our actions are going to have to be better than just enough. If we're not going to be the prophets, then we must accept the fact that we are responsible for this new, strange fruit that's coming along.”
An example of doing “just enough” would be making a financial donation to a charity or just coming to gatherings like the advocacy conference without following it up with action.
“If you think that that's all we need to do is come to the conference and then not go do the work that our hands and feet have been given to do, then you can stop listening right now,” she said.
Other examples of doing just enough include dropping off clothes and goods that you no longer want to Goodwill or the Salvation Army for a tax write- off, she said.
“Now, there's nothing wrong with doing these things, but God is not pleased with just enough," she noted. "When we do just enough, we create new, strange fruit that relies on our actions and our deeds, and not on the power of God. When fruit is cut from its source, it eventually dies.”
Lying out the AAAs of Jesus, Armstrong first stressed knowing your assignment, noting that Jesus gave the rich man additional work to do. “Jesus is giving him a way to implement the task that has been assigned,” she said, adding, “the commandments require our whole being. Following Jesus requires giving up participating in systems that oppress others and overturning them, even when those systems benefit us.”
It's also important to be accountable, she said. “Accountability turns our way of operating upside down and places a mirror on ourselves as we do the work of justice.”
Also, “if we are going to ask God to lead and direct us by way of the Holy Spirit, we have to Let Christ be before us,” she said. “Make a point to pray about what it is that God's calling you to do. Get ahead of the game by saying, ‘Christ, you go ahead and set it up so I’ll know what to do once I get where I’m going.’”
And always remember to be humble, she said. “Let Christ be above you, so that you don't get too high on yourself.”
Finally, she urged, “allow Christ to be the one that speaks for you when you're asked to open your mouth” and “trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge God and let God direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Read about the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins' sermon on how Jesus and justice go together here.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.
