The Rev. Sara Warfield
Scripture: Philippians 2:1-13
I have such an ambivalent relationship to this passage in Philippians. On one hand, it’s gorgeous. Verses six through eleven are a hymn or a piece of liturgy that Paul either wrote himself or copied down for the church in Philippi. Perhaps the community at Philippi sung or recited it together as a reminder of what their faith in Jesus calls them to, which is to empty themselves of their own interests in order to serve others—as Jesus did.
On the other hand, though, it makes me wonder: Who has been asked to empty themselves more throughout human history? Who is more often taught to relinquish their desires, their authority, their bodily autonomy, their ambitions, and sometimes even their own safety in order to serve the needs of others?
In a heterosexual couple, who is more likely to quit their job to care for the children? And who does the majority of cooking, laundry, housecleaning, and coordinating of the kids’ schedules even if they also work full-time?
In a business setting, who does the boss usually ask to get the coffee for a meeting In that meeting, who is permitted to get loud and angry and who is expected to stay quiet and polite?
In The Episcopal Church, who do you think makes up the majority of senior rectors of larger, more resourced parishes? And who do you think hold the majority of the part-time priest positions?
Who has never been elected as President of the United States of America?
Throughout the centuries and even still today, women are expected to be more ready to serve, more ready to sacrifice their own needs and wants for others, more ready to empty themselves.
And yes, I know this isn’t true for every heterosexual couple, for every business, for every large parish and every part-time call. But plenty of recent studies have borne out these trends in all of these spaces—and I’m fairly sure very few women here are surprised to hear it.
So I’m uncomfortable with the generic call to “regard others as better than yourselves” when some of us have been asked and socialized to do this much more than others.
So before we can talk about serving others, emptying ourselves on behalf of others, we need to talk about power.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited…
I think it’s fair to say that, according to these scriptures, Jesus is the most powerful human who ever lived. And, what these scriptures tell us, it was in the way he chose to exercise that power—or not—that made him the figure he is to us. And it is in the way God exercised power through him—or not—that describes what God values most highly.
The point is that, even when he was a human who walked among us, Jesus was fully empowered in every way. He walked on water and calmed storms. He turned water into wine and fed more than 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. He had the power of God at his beck and call. He could have commanded armies and destroyed the occupying Romans, as many of his fellow Jews hoped he would. He could have called down angels to rescue him from the cross, as the Roman soldiers taunted him to do.
Instead, in dying he emptied himself of all the power of this life and was resurrected through the power of God not to conquer but to forgive, not to serve himself but to love others.
But first Jesus needed to understand and step into that power. And that’s what he spent his ministry on earth doing: teaching, healing, working miracles. He wasn’t quiet or even, in many cases, polite. But he DID share his power, empowering the disciples to teach, heal, and work miracles themselves. To step into their own power so that they would know what it meant to empty themselves when God called them to.
So I propose that you let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus: to recognize that you are made in the image of God. God gave you unique gifts to step into and power to wield and to share.
The kind of self-emptying our culture teaches many of us to step into requires skipping that part about cultivating your gifts and power. And not just women—we’re all taught to shut some parts of ourselves down at some point.
But shutting yourself down, making yourself small, is not what it means to empty yourself. Making yourself small is ironically just another way of focusing on yourself. No, self-emptying means to use your gifts and your power to lift all of us up rather than what we so often see, which is using power to lift just one’s self up. It is to empty concern for self only and pour it into concern for all. And when all of us are lifted up, you are also lifted up—just as Jesus was lifted up, was resurrected after the ultimate self-emptying.
Yes, a few have been called into this ultimate self-emptying. Joan of Arc, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Óscar Romero all stepped into their power when people around them were demanding that they make themselves smaller. They used their own voices and gifts on behalf of all of us and were killed for doing so.
Very few of us in this world are called to that kind of self-emptying. But each and every one of us is called to step into our voices, step into our power in order to lift all of us up. Even if it means making people around us uncomfortable. Even if it means to speak up when no one else is.
—
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Paul writes. We need to remember that Paul is not writing to an individual person, but to the community of Jesus-followers in Philippi. What he’s saying is, Work this out together. Practice this together. Take risks with one another in the church so that when those risks are demanded of you in the world, you’ll be ready.
That’s what we do here at St. Luke’s. One of the most beautiful and powerful parts of my work as your rector is watching people step into ministries they’re not sure they have the gifts for and then absolutely shining. I’m thinking about a few people I’ve asked to serve as Senior Warden. At least three of them told me in one way or another, I don’t know if that’s who I am. One ended up guiding us through the pandemic. Another stewarded our community into financial stability. And another oversay the resurrection of this sanctuary.
One was quiet, leading mostly by example but knowing exactly when the power of her voice was needed. One was a passionate and boisterous presence, wonderful at connecting our work to our faith, using her gifts to keep us together through very trying times. And another led like a shepherd, moving at the speed of the flock, checking in with those who were coming along more slowly and using her power to slow us all down so that no one was ever left behind.
They each lifted up this community in such different ways. And it all started with them deciding they were not going to make themselves small, they were not going to shut down this opportunity to step into their gifts, to step into their power.
That’s what Paul calls us to through Jesus’ example. That’s what we practice in this place. That’s “God at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.” Amen.
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