Seventh Sunday of Easter 2025 - Rev. William H. Lamar IV

This week Rev. William H. Lamar IV challenges all who would hear to confront the injustices within society and the church. He emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and the need to hold up a mirror to America, urging individuals to come out of the oppressive systems that perpetuate inequality. Through biblical references and personal anecdotes, he calls for a collective awakening to the realities of our world and the necessity for change within the system. He urges that we not shy away from the cracks in our foundation, for the system will indeed crack at the foundation.

Revelation 18:1-14
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined by his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    It has become a dwelling place of demons,
a haunt of every foul spirit,
    a haunt of every foul bird,
    a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.
3 For all the nations have fallen
    from the wine of the wrath of her prostitution,
and the kings of the earth have engaged in sexual immorality with her,
    and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,“Come out of her, my people,
    so that you do not take part in her sins
and so that you do not share in her plagues,
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Render to her as she herself has rendered,
    and repay her double for her deeds;
    mix a double dose for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
    so give her a like measure of torment and grief.
Since in her heart she says,
    ‘I rule as a queen;
I am no widow,
    and I will never see grief,’
8 therefore her plagues will come in a single day—
    pestilence and mourning and famine—
and she will be burned with fire,
    for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
9 And the kings of the earth, who engaged in sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning; 10 they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,“Alas, alas, the great city,
    Babylon, the mighty city!
For in one hour your judgment has come.”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo any more, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, slaves—and human lives.14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
    has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendor
    are lost to you,
    never to be found again!”


Chapters
00:00 The Call to Reflection
04:12 The Mirror of Self-Examination
15:24 The Challenge of Truth-Telling
25:12 Living in the World, Not of It
29:53 Cracking the Foundation of Injustice