Everybody knows that to keep polite company, there are certain things you do and don’t do. If you’re invited to dinner at someone’s house, bring something, whether a small gift or a bottle of wine. Compliment the quality of the food and thank the host. And for goodness’ sake, don’t talk about religion or politics. If you are struggling to make conversation and don’t know where to start, you can at least talk about the weather.
Talking about the weather is a rather shallow level of conversation. That’s not to say that I haven’t spoken of the weather to make small talk. I do it all the time. But talking about the weather is not really making conversation.
At its most benign, talking about the weather is simply a way of engaging another person, especially if you don’t know them well or are at a loss of words. At its worst, though, talking about the weather is more sinister. It’s more than just a way of trying not to offend the dinner host. It’s a way of isolating oneself from Christian responsibility.
It’s not only about what we say or don’t say. Talking about the weather is about our nonverbal actions as well. I’m sure you know how this goes. You can’t do that in church because it’s political. You can’t point out the racist comment of a dear friend or family member lest you offend them or endanger our friendship. We know we shouldn’t do business with that company because of their unethical practices, but the prices sure are right. That article on child poverty was incredibly sobering, but I have too many problems on my hands and there’s nothing I can do. Time for the comics section.
But listen to Jesus’s words: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” If I’m honest with myself, they make me want to talk about the weather. These aren’t easy words. Who wants Jesus to talk about division in a nation so deeply divided? Who wants Jesus to talk about the destructive effects of fire while wildfires are raging in some parts of the country? In an overcommitted and stressed-out culture, who wants Jesus to talk about the rigors of a baptismal life, a life that requires death to individualism? No, it’s better to talk about the weather. The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
It’s easy to talk about the weather. We have all the meteorological means of predicting when it will rain, when we need to water our plants just a bit more, and when we need to walk the dog before the storm hits. In the Church, too, we are skillful at predicting the weather. It’s summertime, so attendance will be low. It’s a holiday weekend, so we better not schedule the big parish party. It’s November, so get your checkbooks out. The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
Perhaps, though, we have some good reasons for talking about the weather. Why, indeed, would we wish to linger on news of divisions, scandals, and catastrophes when our Lord himself has called us to peace, love, and reconciliation? We are a people of the good news. We are intended to bring people together. We are charged with making peace. We are asked to love our enemies. And so, our churches, maybe even our homes, become refuges where we don’t talk about certain things. We are intent on keeping the peace. If we can make our homes and hearts safe enough, we don’t have to let the bad world in.
But the bad news does get in. We learn that 1,400 people have been shot so far this year in Philadelphia.[1] How many people turn the page and move on to the real estate section? The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
Sobering statistics on poverty just miles from home, searing images from an unending war, neighbors on the next street without money to see a doctor. Hearts melt for a time. Then it’s time for the book review. The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
It’s true that probably not one of us wants to hear Jesus talk about necessary divisions or bringing fire to the earth. Why would we? It most likely confuses us, but it almost undoubtedly disturbs us. The simplest reading of Jesus’s words can also encourage the most destructive behavior. Some Christians relish division because it will pit the good against the bad in the name of Christ. Nations attack other nations because God is on their side and Jesus spoke about division after all. How can there be real peace, especially when we must use violence to defend Jesus’s honor?
But others eschew such violence as a way of following their Lord. They are disturbed by Jesus’s talk of division and lack of peace. His language sounds harsh and angry. Better to talk about the weather. The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
It’s only when we let Jesus call us hypocrites that we have something to learn. We hear the sting of his words, not to become mired in shame or guilt but to wake us up to who God is calling us to be. Because if one person suffers, we all suffer. No, the weather is not always nice outside. It’s frequently rainy and stormy. It’s cloudier in some communities than in others. And if we’re all members of a human family, when there’s one cloud in the sky, there’s a cloud over the whole earth.
The mere absence of conflict or division is not necessarily encouraging. It’s not necessarily good or right. Talking about the weather is one more way of “making peace with oppression,” to quote the language of our prayer book.[2] Talking about the weather is hunkering down in our biological families of origin, refusing to share any sympathy with those of our larger family in Christ. Talking about the weather is reading about poverty and violence and systemic injustice and deadly isolationism and then turning the page to the comics. The weather sure is nice outside. Sunny, low humidity, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
Jesus didn’t come to bring violence. He didn’t come to disturb the peace as a stereotypical knee-jerk radical. Jesus came precisely as he was sent by the Father, as the Son of God, as truth itself enfleshed and dwelling among us. And this truth, peace, love, and righteousness cannot coexist easily with a world that only talks about the weather. Jesus’s truth burns unrighteousness away. It disturbs corrupt world orders and complacent systems of oppression and power, all because it’s good for us. But those who talk only about the weather can’t help but perceive that as violence to their easy lives.
The unjust worldly violence we rightly abhor only ends in destruction. The just violence of Jesus’s life, work, and witness is different; it disturbs us into being the people we have been called to be and ushers in God’s kingdom. An easy peace is no peace at all. In a strange way, the presence of division among us, of tension, even of conflicting ideologies might point to some good news that God has prepared for us. If people are not just talking about the weather but are instead disturbed because of injustice, then just maybe, with God’s help, a different future is possible.
Believe it or not: today’s Gospel has good news for us. It always does. You and I have a choice to make. We can talk about the weather. Or we can risk division and conflict to talk about what God is ready to change through us by making us fully alive. Because the weather isn’t so great outside. It’s cloudy with a chance of storms. But thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. God has something different in mind. Let’s stop talking about the weather, and then through God’s marvelous grace, the sun can shine again.
Sermon by Father Kyle Babin
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 14, 2022
[1] “Everybody Is Armed’: As Shootings Soar, Philadelphia Is Awash in Guns,” Campbell Robertson in The New York Times, August 11, 2022 (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/us/philadelphia-gun-violence-shootings.html?searchResultPosition=1)
[2] The Book of Common Prayer, p. 209