In a detective novel our book club read recently, the chief inspector said that there are two wolves inside each of us with different motivations who fight to determine our actions. His assistant asked, “So how do you determine which wolf wins?” Ah… said the inspector, that depends on which one you feed.
Which wolf will you feed? This isn’t a biblical image. But I invite you to look at the scriptures for today with this question in mind.
In our first lesson, Amos makes it pretty clear which wolf the landowners were feeding. They didn’t have money as currency in those days so the value of grain and everything else was determined by weight. So, if the balances were uneven, and the landowner included chaff and dirt along with the grain, of course the grain would cost more and ordinary people were forced into poverty just so that they could feed and clothe their family. Which wolf were the landowners feeding? It was not the wolf of faithfulness, love and generosity – Amos makes clear that the landowners don’t really want to stop working to honor God even on the sabbath but are eager to get out fill their pocketbooks. Instead, they are feeding a wolf concerned with their own pocketbooks, a wolf of selfishness and greed.
But Amos reminds them – God sees and remembers their injustice. In our Gospel, Jesus reminds his followers of the lesson Amos taught – you cannot serve both God and wealth.
In other words, we can feed the wolf of love, generosity and faithfulness or the opposite – a wolf of hatred, greed and self-reliance, an assumption that one does not need anyone else.
When phrased like this, it is easy to choose – of course we want to be faithful, loving and generous. But because we are human, and imperfect, the lines get blurred, especially when we take these words out of the abstract and put it into the increasingly violent world that we live in.
The letter of Timothy was written at a time that was also violent – and it was dangerous to be a Christian. And yet, he writes, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.” This encouragement to pray for everyone is not new. But he also encourages them to pray for “kings and all who are in high positions” - this despite the hostility and violence of the king and the rulers towards them as Christians. The reason, “so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity,” sounds like he is encouraging Christians to “keep your head down” and don’t make waves. But prayer is not necessarily passive. For Prayer has power beyond the one who prays, for when you pray, you are inviting the Holy Spirit to intercede. And prayers can change both you and the world around you because prayers can lead to action. In fact, prayers for peace can and have led to incredible actions.
In 1989, Germany was still a divided country, split by the Berlin wall. East Germany was ruled by the Communist Party and the Stasi, the State Security Police. There was no public neutral space to gather except for the churches. And so, a youth group from eastern Leipzig started “peace prayers” every Monday at 5 PM at the Nicholas church in which they would light candles and pray. Soon other people yearning for peace joined them. It became such a large gathering, that the Stazi and officials from the Communist Party came to see what was going on. And when applicants for emigration and other regime critics came, along with Christian and non-Christian citizens from Leipzig and other parts of East Germany came the Government reacted. It closed access roads to the church, and conducted large-scale checks at the train station. Some people were arrested or given “temporary detentions.” And yet, the people continued to gather.
By September, the 2000 seats in the church were filled and people coming out of the church were joined by tens of thousands waiting in the Square outside. All held lighted candles in their hands and slowly they began to move toward the ring road that surrounds the city center. As a retired professor at the University of Leipzig said: “It started with 5 or 6 but each week there were more of us praying for peace. Eventually we filled the church and then the square around the church and then we spilled onto the ring road surrounding the old part of Leipzig. Eventually there were 300,000 of us marching past the Stasi headquarters. Chants of ‘We are the people’ began and then soon changed to ‘We are one people.’ But there was not one broken shop window and there was no violence.”
On October 7, 1989,… the authorities cracked down and for ten long hours uniformed police battered defenseless people who made no attempt to fight back and took them away in trucks…The press, [which was run by the state] published an article saying it was high time to put an end to the “counter-revolution,” if need be, by force.
And then…on Monday, October 9th, 1989, the order to shoot the protesters was given.
On that day, 1,000 communist party leaders had been ordered to go to Nicholaikirche, St.Nicholas church. 600 of them were in the church pews by 2 PM.
Rev. Fuhrer, with compassion for the party leaders, said,
“They had a job to perform like the Stasi personnel who were on hand regularly and in great numbers at the peace prayers. And so it was that these people, including [the] party members, heard from Jesus who said: “Blessed are the poor”! And not: “Anyone with money is happy.” Jesus said: “Love your enemies”! Instead of: “Down with your opponent.” Jesus said: “Many who are first will be last”! And not: “Everything stays the same.” Jesus said: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”! And not: “Take great care.” Jesus said: “You are the salt”! And not: “You are the cream.”1
The Holy Spirit was clearly at work. The prayers of peace ended with a blessing and the call for non-violence by respected leaders. And then, Rev. Fuhrer reports, “as we – more than 2,000 persons – came out of the church-- I’ll never forget the sight–tens of thousands were waiting outside in the Square. They all had candles in their hands.
He reflects, “If you carry a candle, you need two hands. You have to prevent the candle from going out. You cannot hold a stone or a club in your hand. And the miracle came to pass. Jesus’ spirit of nonviolence seized the masses and became a material, peaceful power. Troops, industrial militia groups, and the police were drawn in, became engaged in conversations, then withdrew. It was an evening in the spirit of our Lord Jesus for there were no victors or vanquished, no one triumphed over the other, and no one lost face. Not a shot was fired. 1
And it all began with a small youth group in a church holding peace prayers and carrying candles. As one former community party member said, “We had planned everything. We were prepared for everything. [guns, pitchforks, rocks and clubs] But not for candles and prayers.”
Friends in Christ, our world, our country, has become increasingly violent. I cannot close my eyes to the deaths and injury of the children at Annunciation church and the death of so many other children in this country. I cannot close my eyes to the killings in churches from Emmanuel to Annunciation. I cannot close my eyes to the political assassinations here in Minnesota of State Senator Mellissa Hortman and her husband and of Charlie Kirk in Utah. I cannot close my eyes to the violence that is happening as immigrants are being grabbed in the street or at their work and deported without due process. I cannot close my eyes to the violence that is happening in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Africa and the list could go on. And neither can you.
And so… I must be very, very, careful about which wolf I choose when I speak or when I act. And so must you. Because it is tempting… oh so very tempting to speak and act with hatred, to divide ourselves up into us and them, to embrace retribution instead of reconciliation, to desire a “win” for me and mine and let everyone else fend for themselves. But this is the way of the wolf of hatred, greed and selfishness – is not the way of Jesus.
For hatred cannot conquer hate. Retribution only leads to more retribution. “Winning for me and mine” means someone is “losing.”
This is not the way of Jesus. For Jesus has shown us that the only antidote to hatred is love. The hard answer to violence is not retribution but reconciliation. The answer to division is unity. The way forward is through prayer. Candles can help too.
Sometimes it is tempting to turn off the media, shut my ears to the problems around us in this world. But you and I cannot live in a protective bubble when the world around us is full of violence, hatred and greed. We are a part of that world.
And so, which wolf will you choose? The wolf of hatred, greed and self-reliance or the wolf of love, generosity and faithfulness.
Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, and direct us and guide us to embrace the love of God, the communion of Christ and the joy of your Holy Spirit. Amen.