“God’s On My Side!” “No My Side!”
Rev. Erik Swanson
June 22, 2025
You can watch the entire sermon here.
Over the past few days, I’ve found myself overwhelmed — angry, appalled, and heartsick over what’s happening in our world. When the U.S. president ended his speech last night with “God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless the United States,” I felt sick to my stomach. Whose side was he trying to convince us that God is on? Because it certainly didn’t feel like a statement rooted in genuine faith. I honestly wanted to yell, “Get God’s name out of your mouth!” That blessing wasn’t about following God — it felt more like a justification for actions that have nothing to do with the divine.
Choosing Sides
This week has been filled with pain. More innocent lives lost in Palestine, Israel, Iran, Ukraine, Sudan — the list goes on. I’m deeply afraid that these decisions will cause lasting harm and further cycles of violence and fear. And yet, I’m not surprised. Many of us saw these patterns coming, watching as the lines were drawn in news cycles, in legislation, in rhetoric. Everyone seems obsessed with choosing sides — politically, militarily, morally. But what troubles me most is the way people are so quick to claim that God is on their side.
Let’s be clear: we need deep, collective soul-searching. If we claim to be people of faith — if we say we’re trying to follow God in both private and public life — then we need to wrestle with this question honestly: Whose side is God on? Because we often use that idea to justify power, violence, or exclusion.
God Doesn’t Take Sides
Here’s where I land: God doesn’t take sides in the way we do. Or maybe God is on everyone’s side, in the sense that every human being is beloved. But the second we start proclaiming that God is aligned with our military actions, our politics, our dominance — we're on dangerous ground. Throughout history, people have used “God is on our side” to justify horrific acts: genocide, racism, colonialism. And today, it’s happening again.
God’s Blessing Is Not Where We Expect It To Be
What Scripture actually teaches us, particularly through the Beatitudes, is something radically different. In Luke, we’re reminded that Jesus didn’t preach this message from a mountain above others — he came down to a level place, stood among the people, and proclaimed blessing on the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the outcast. He offered woe to the rich, the comfortable, the satisfied. This vision flips our values upside down. God’s blessing is not where we expect it to be.
If we take that seriously, we have to admit that God’s heart is with those who are suffering, who are oppressed, who are being bombed, exploited, or excluded. And yes, that applies to racism, heterosexism, economic injustice — all of it. As one quote I read this week says, racism isn’t just hate; it’s a system, a structure that benefits the powerful, often unconsciously. And God weeps at that. God is not on the side of systems that tilt the scales toward the privileged and powerful.
God Is On The Side Of Justice, Love, Equity and Peace
The beatitudes offer us a clear moral compass: God is on the side of justice, love, equity, peace. If we find ourselves supporting policies or actions that do harm to others, that separate families, that increase wealth for the few at the cost of the many, then we’re not on the side of God—no matter what blessing we try to invoke.
Last night was yet another reminder that we haven’t evolved much from “might makes right.” Bombing and threatening other nations is not divine justice. If we are serious about following God, then we must stand with the poor, the brokenhearted, the peacemakers. That’s the side we need to be on. And I pray we find the courage to live into that calling. Amen.