“Titus isn't Speaking to Me,” Tuesday Morning Eucharist, Titus 2:1-8

Tuesday Morning Eucharist, Harvard Divinity School

Titus 2:1-8, 11-14

Samm Melton, MDiv ‘19

Reading: Titus 2: 1-8, 11-14

“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us….For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

While I very much love the passage we hear from Luke this week, I don’t often have the chance to preach on the book of Titus, so I thought I would take my chance while I have it.

In case you missed it, the annual AAR conference is coming up next week and as always around this time of the year, there seems to be a buzz of anticipation on campus. Perhaps this is simply anciness for the Thanksgiving break or the extended number of days off that this conference offers us, or maybe it is the busyness of preparing papers for presentations that have yet to be written. Whatever the reason for the buzz, there is no doubt that this experience is unique to Religion departments and Divinity Schools across the United States this week.

I remembered this most deeply when speaking to others outside of the Div School world. Subtle reminders of our little bubble here at HDS, come often to me when working at the Cabot Science Library. While it’s only a couple minutes walk from our own campus, as I journey into the newly remodeled Science Center every week for work and walk through the media studios covered with DNA models and past the whiteboards full of physics equations, I often feel as though a spaceship has dropped me off on a new planet.

This new planet is full of words I do not recognize, people I do recognize, and a culture I very often, do not recognize. And so this past weekend, as I mentioned that I didn’t have classes on Monday and Tuesday next week because of AAR to an undergraduate History of Science concentration student, I realized in his look of confusion, I was once again reminded, that even within Harvard, which is often its own world, the Divinity School is also its own kind environment. For example, it took me years to finally remember that Harvard College doesn’t have ‘majors’ but instead has ‘concentrations.’ And to this day, I still can’t quickly recall that AAR stands for the American Academy of Religion and that this is different from the SBC, or something like that, and “The Academy” is simply referring to the field of religious studies and no one of the academies in particular. Like many academic disciples, it is indeed, its own little world.

And I know this isn’t a surprise to you, I don’t think I am telling you anything new. Actually, just this past week, I laughed along with a TF as he shared his AAR BINGO board full of insider puns with me. I too, find it funny, in like a sarcastic way, that I also seem to be okay with people offering monologues as questions to panels, that ill-placed MLK quotes are used far too often in academic papers, and that there is no doubt to be a mansplainer in the audience of any woman presenting. These are simply squares on the BINGO board, because they are so ingrained into this culture, they will undoubtedly appear at AAR throughout the week. I know I am very much apart of this culture. I too, find myself a part of it and recognize this and I can see the complexities of this, but I also wonder how often we stop to think about the implications of this little bubble that has been created?

The book of Titus, one of Paul’s disputed books, offers us a text within a similar kind of bubble. Chances are, if you identify as a liberal or feminist Christian like myself, or simply as someone who is always on the lookout for gender inequalities in scripture, the first half of our passage today perhaps also made you uncomfortable. And it makes me uncomfortable too. I have lots of questions. Why is it the wife’s job to “manage the household?” And why the hell do they have to be “submissive?” Who is defining “godly living”? What is exactly is going on here?

And so, while preparing to preach today, I was quick to dismiss this text and simply turn to Luke, but I soon came to realize that so often, my own uncomfortability with scripture is a sign that I need to look into it further; I need to dig deeper and give the scripture a chance, even I don’t want to, I should at least, allow God the chance to speak in some way through this scripture.

So, as I half heartedly tried to do this, I found myself skimming commentaries and old sermons, and very quickly found that I was simply peeking into another bubble. Another bubble in which I don’t belong to. The writer of this book is warning the Christian community of false teachers. And while of course, there is much here that we may be able to take in regards to our current world, false teachings and leaders, I question if I, as a young queer woman is the kind of false teacher this writer is warning against. While I don’t honestly believe this, I do fear that it may be coopted in this way and I find it helpful to be reminded yet again, that this is simply a very small glimpse into a larger conversation that offers context for the words of this writer. And while this in no way dismisses the gender assumptions that are written into this text and certainly does not offer it justification for the ways in which it has been weaponized for centuries, it does provide some context. And context, at times, can also offer an opportunity for grace. And maybe this doesn’t rid me of my uncomfortability, it does offer me a bit of solace, at least enough, to open back up to book of Titus.

So while, I can’t take away from this scripture that I should be submissive to my husband, one because, well, I don’t have a husband... but two, because I’m not so sure this writer is speaking to me. And so instead, what I find in this passage, what I find God speaking through this passage, is a series of questions that challenge my own tendencies of speaking internally, to only those who are sitting in my own bubble with me, allowing myself to question what those words spoken inside the bubble may sound to those on the outside. For me, this text is asking me, who are you speaking to and how are you speaking to them?

And while this is no revolutionary question, it is indeed a very timely reminder for our community during this season. I wonder together, on the eve of AAR, on the edge of final papers, in the midst of communal conflict, who are we talking to? Why are we talking to them? What is our vocabulary saying? Is it accessible, timely, faithful? And most importantly, most importantly, who are we excluding when we speak in these ways?

The writer of Titus is not speaking to me. Yet, God is. I find God, the divine, the sacred, pushing me in this season to think of who I’m excluding with my own language. Who am I not talking to? Who is not at this table, not able to eat of this bread and drink of this wine?

And again, while perhaps not revolutionary, it is a nudge of a reminder for us right now and I invite you to continue to ponder this along with me, along with our community, this week. As a reminder from our text, I leave you the words from the writer of Titus, while perhaps not in the way they intended, nonetheless, we leave with this blessing, a reminder that, “The grace of God has appeared and offers salvation to all people.”

Amen.