Church of the
Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
November 2, 2015
The Funeral of Nyheem
Jyel McKinney
Lamentations 3:22-26
Psalm 23
Revelation 21:2-7
John 14:1-6
Taking Our Alleluias Out to the Streets
The
Scripture passage I just read comes from a part of the Gospel of John when
Jesus is saying good-bye to his disciples.
All
along, Jesus had been teaching, predicting, warning, that he was going to be
arrested, executed, and rise again on the third day.
The
disciples must have heard Jesus talk like this many times, but you know how it
is. Just like us, the disciples were good at tuning out what they didn’t want
to hear – what they didn’t want to think about.
But,
now things were getting real.
The
time had come.
Jesus
is saying good-bye to his disciples, to his friends.
He
says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in
me.”
And
then Jesus says that he is going ahead to prepare a place for his disciples –
to prepare a place for us – where we will be together forever.
But,
first, Jesus had to face and endure a brutal and violent death.
You know, we’ve cleaned up the cross – sanitized it – turned it into beautiful decorations in our churches and jewelry around our neck making it easy for us to forget that the cross was an instrument of violence, pain, and death.
You know, we’ve cleaned up the cross – sanitized it – turned it into beautiful decorations in our churches and jewelry around our neck making it easy for us to forget that the cross was an instrument of violence, pain, and death.
But,
Jesus wasn’t play-acting on the cross. He experienced real violence and real
pain.
And,
real death.
So,
we know for sure that God really knows what real pain, real violence, and real
death feel like.
Now,
in Jerusalem, two thousand years ago, despite what Jesus had told them, the
hearts of the disciples were troubled. When Jesus was arrested most of
them ran away, abandoning Jesus in his moment of need. At least one, Peter the
so-called “Rock,” denied even knowing Jesus.
Troubled
hearts.
Well,
we know all about troubled hearts, don’t we?
Some
of us have had troubled hearts for a long, long time.
Our
hearts have been troubled by so few opportunities for our people, especially
young people, in most parts of our city. Our hearts have been troubled by our
neighborhoods with their shuttered storefronts, their empty litter-filled lots,
their sidewalks scarred by shattered glass.
Our
hearts have been troubled by the seemingly endless and senseless violence on
our blood-stained streets.
Our
hearts have been troubled by the wasting of beloved, precious, unique, human
life with the pull of a trigger.
And,
now, our hearts are troubled by the murder of Nyheem Jyel McKinney, killed with
his whole life ahead of him, leaving behind a heartbroken family, including his
two year-old little girl.
Troubled
hearts.
But,
we know something that the first disciples with their troubled hearts didn’t
know. In fact, we know the most important thing.
The
story of Jesus doesn’t end in the bloody violence of the cross.
The
story of Jesus continues on Easter Day – the tomb is empty – Jesus is risen!
Alleluia!
The
story of Jesus lives on forever.
And,
so we know that, although death is very real, the story of Nyheem – of “Jy” –
doesn’t end on the pavement over at the Junction.
We
know that his story continues with God forever and ever in the place prepared for
him – and for us all – by Jesus himself.
Now,
for Jy, it’s Easter Day every day.
So,
what about us?
Well,
you know, after the first disciples encountered the Risen Christ, they didn’t
keep the Good News to themselves.
With
their troubled hearts healed by God’s love and mercy and power, they went out
into the world and shared God’s love with everyone they met.
Near
the end of today’s service, even with our troubled hearts, we are going to say
that great old word of praise, Alleluia!
We’re
going to say “Alleluia” more than once.
And
I want us to shout that old word, “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
Because
I’m convinced that just like the first disciples we are called to take our
Alleluias out of this building, out of all our churches, and out into our neighborhoods
with their shuttered storefronts, their empty litter-filled lots, their
sidewalks scarred by shattered glass.
Alleluia!
Just
like the first disciples, we are called to take our Alleluias out into the
world, out onto our streets, stained with the blood of Jy and so many
others, beloved, precious, unique human life taken in an instant. We are called
to take our Alleluias out into these places of despair and death.
Alleluia!
And
we take our alleluias out of our churches each time we offer love, especially
to those who are hardest to love.
Alleluia!
We
take our alleluias out there each time, rather than seeking revenge, we choose
to forgive those who have wronged us.
Alleluia!
We
take our alleluias out onto the streets of Jersey City each time we set aside
our own differences and choose to work for peace with any and all people of
goodwill, no matter where they come from, no matter what they look like, no
matter how they worship God, or even if they don’t believe in God at all.
Alleluia!
We
take our alleluias out onto the streets of Jersey City when we see and treat
every single person as a beloved, precious, unique child of God – every single person – the illiterate and
the college-educated, the young and the old and the in-between, black, white,
brown, yellow, the drunk on the corner and the guy who sells him the booze, the
math whiz and the brilliant athlete, the young men huddled in front of the
bodega and the people who cross the street to avoid them, the rich and the
unemployed, the people sleeping in cardboard boxes on the church steps and
Donald Trump in his mansions, the lawyers, judges, police officers - and the
people they defend, protect, arrest and prosecute, the perpetrators and the
victims of violence, the saints and the sinners – every single person as a beloved, precious, unique child of God.
Alleluia!
The
truth is that it’s only when we take our alleluias out into the streets and
share God’s love with absolutely everybody that we will begin to end the
violence that took Nyheem, and takes so many from us, far too soon.
And,
so, today right now, right here in Jersey City, Jesus says to us what he
said to the first disciples long ago:
“Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”
Nyheem
is at peace.
And,
you and I, we have a job to do.
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Amen.
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