Epiphanies and Referendum (or is it Referenda? Referen-duh?)

A few weeks ago I was called to the room of a mother whose child had been admitted to the hospital.

As I approached the room, I noticed that mom looked frightened and held her son close.

I approached her carefully and said hello.

We quickly realized that my Spanish and her English was not going to get us too far. After a few awkward moments of rudimentary sign language and pointing, I came to the obvious conclusion that I needed some help.

I called an interpreter.

I had a choice with how to do this. I could talk to mom through an interpreter on the phone. This seemed a little impersonal. Or an interpreter could come to her room and we could talk together.

Now to do this, I had to make an appointment. All of which meant due to scheduling, I would not even get to speak to mom again. Another chaplain would.

I found the whole experience Frustrating and Inconvenient. Because of the language barrier, we could not express ourselves in a way that was authentic to either of us.

And we lost something in translation.


On January 22, 2009 Davidson County residents may consider a Charter amendment proposal that deems English as the only language in which the county government may do business.

Officially, this amendment states, in full, emphasis is mine:

English is the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

Official actions which bind or commit the government shall be taken only in the English language, and all official government communications and publications shall be in English.

No person shall have a right to government services in any other language. All meetings of the Metro Council, Boards, and Commissions of the Metropolitan Government shall be conducted in English. The Metro Council may make specific exceptions to protect public health and safety. Nothing in this measure shall be interpreted to conflict with federal or state law.


In December, I joined several local clergy members in the Glendale Baptist Church Fellowship Hall to discuss this amendment.

I would say we met under the cover of darkness in the basement but that simply was not the case. This overt operation included salad, chili, homemade cobbler, and iced tea.

The usual suspects were present. The serious conversations we had about inclusion and welcome was interspersed with laughter and concern about what it meant to be a witness to the life of Christ and a citizen of the world.

As faith leaders, your pastors (and intern) felt it necessary to talk with others who oppose this amendment, to share information, to share stories, to share the burden of leadership in times of cultural conflict.
Over lunch, we decided Epiphany Sunday would be a date to collectively preach upon what it means to welcome the stranger.

There are signs where I live that invite my community to “Keep Nashville Friendly”.
I reckon that is what we do in the South. I was told growing up to be nice. Be friendly. Bless their hearts.

But this amendment calls for so much more than let’s be nice to each other. It is about more than friendliness and the platitudes of propriety.

It is about prejudice and power and frankly fear.

Notice the language. It calls for totality of action. Words such as ONLY and ALL, No person. The amendment literally calls for voices to be silenced.

There is no room for any one else, in the inn or in the courthouse, or the city employment line.

In contrast, Matthew’s text tells the story of strangers at the bedside and a story of aliens as angels.

And if you saw our Christmas pageant a few weeks ago, the kids will tell you, the aliens are less scary.

To read this text again especially through the lens of local politics, one can clearly see the power dynamics. Herod fears this child. His power is threatened. He doesn’t know who or where this child is. But he fears him.

Later in Matthew it becomes clear to what lengths Herod will go to retain his power. Going on to murder all male children under the age of three, he wipes out a whole generation of Israel.

This amendment before us in essence wipes out a whole segment of our population as well.

UCC minister Kathy Huey suggests: “the biblical story leads us to ponder the meaning of visitors from the very places in the world that we seem to fear most right now.”

She suggests that we get a better sense of the reaction to these visitors if we imagine a visit to our local church (or government) by religious or political leaders from say Iran or Iraq. South Koreans or Chinese.
What is it we fear? What is it that drives this amendment?

Scott Hoezee puts it this way: "Matthew is giving a Gospel sneak preview: the Christ child who attracted these odd Magi to his cradle will later have the same magnetic effect on Samaritan adulterers, immoral prostitutes, greasy tax collectors on the take, despised Roman soldiers, and ostracized lepers."

In Matthew's story, then, of God at work in the world--the good news, the gospel--these foreigners, these Gentiles, represent us, too, in a sense. Remember then that Matthew, twenty-six chapters later, would tell of Jesus commanding his disciples to "Go, make disciples of all nations."

We are all in this big picture. The one that includes a big tent of a tradition of hope rooted in the prophets and embodied by Jesus Christ himself.

I recall stopping at a local bank one afternoon. I approached the ATM machine, already irritated that it was “talking to me”.

I put my card into the slot only to notice a message that I could receive my instructions in English or Spanish.

I was furious. Why is it that I have to choose I thought? I want English. I speak English. If I was in France I would have to speak French. No one would help me. I would be lost and unable to communicate or know what to eat or go to the bathroom….
In less than 5 minutes I had become a world traveler lost in Europe ..all from the comfort of my car which sat in a bank parking lot in Chattanooga Tennessee.

How did THAT happen? How was it that I became afraid of instructions on the ATM machine?

But do these arguments sound familiar?

After a few minutes and maybe a year or two later, I came to my senses a bit.

I was a management major in college. In reality banks aren’t going to reprogram their ATM’s just to be “friendly”. They are going to invest in where they will receive the most benefit.

To have instructions in English or Spanish is good business. That means our Latino neighbors might have bank accounts. They are contributing to the economy. They are helping me have a more diverse and rich life experience.

There is no word from our text as to how the magi interacted with Jesus or his family or the locals.
There is no word from our text as to whether they were wanted or not.

But they were welcomed. If nothing else, their story was deemed important enough to be included in our faith tradition.

Under the proposed amendment before us, this story would not be included. Thousands of stories will not be included. Lives will continue to be ignored and will be made irrelevant.

It isn’t to be “nice and friendly” that we should think hard about this resolution.

It is to realize that some resolutions are just mean spirited.

It is to remember that as our own table is set, all are welcome.

Our text does tell us is that the magi went home another way.

They chose a different path. They chose to travel a longer road. Perhaps one that was frustrating and inconvenient and required an interpreter.

But they knew that was the best path.

Let us do the same. Not for convenience but for community.

For welcome.

For the love of all of us.