92.5K
Downloads
667
Episodes
Foundry is an historic, progressive United Methodist Church that welcomes all, worships passionately, challenges the status quo, & seeks to transform the world.
Episodes
Sunday May 31, 2015
Sunday May 31, 2015
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC May 31, 1st Sunday after Pentecost.
Texts: Genesis 12:1-9
One of my favorite places in DC is the Arboretum. And one of my favorite places in the Arboretum is under a particular, huge “Southern Magnolia” tree. This tree is massive. You can walk into it and see the roots growing out and up within it—forming a kind of “jungle gym” within its glossy green leaves and smooth grey-green branches. I like to perch on one of the low growing root-branches and feel the cool of the earth and shade and observe the life that the tree supports: birds, insects, other plants, all thrive within the ecosystem that is this tree. Lately, the huge ivory blossoms emit their fragrance, that pungent sweetness fills the nostrils, the spirit, and reminds me of the sheer wonder and beauty and gift that is creation. Maybe I’m drawn to this tree because, as a child, I used to go to our little magnolia in the front yard as a retreat—though our magnolia was only a bit taller than I was at 10 years of age. I wonder if that little magnolia will ever resemble the audacious specimen at the Arboretum. Some years ago, my folks sold my childhood home and 20 acres in Kiefer, Oklahoma to relocate to Texas, so I may never know how large the tree will grow…but one thing is for sure: it will take many, many years for it to grow even close to the size and grandeur of the one at the Arboretum. That kind of growth takes time.
Even those of us who are not professional earth scientists know that when a tree is cut down, you can observe the stages of that tree’s life and growth by looking at the rings found in the trunk. Written into the very matter of the tree is the story, the history—the journey if you will—of that particular tree. The largest, grandest trees have been growing a very long time, growing by stages, adding to their girth ring by ring. //
Trees are counter-cultural. We live in a fast-track world and our culture breeds impatience with anything that takes too much time. I don’t have to point out all the daily evidences of this, though I must say that for me the most consistent evidence in my own life recently are my interactions with my computer at home. I get really impatient if things don’t move at the speed that I think they should be moving!
And we human beings tend to get impatient with our lives, too, when things don’t happen as quickly as we’d like them to. Relationships, learning new skills, attaining a certain level of achievement or stature or rank in our vocations, recovering from an injury or loss, clarity about our direction in life, losing weight…all these things and many more can frustrate us when they take longer than we want them to. This impatience also shows up in our spiritual lives. Perhaps there are those of us who had, at some point, an initial burst of energy on our faith journey. We decided to get involved in a faith community and to make a commitment to follow Jesus. However, after a while, the energy seemed to subside; perhaps the kind of relationship or feeling or knowledge you wanted weren’t immediately forthcoming…and so commitment flags, energy fades. For some of us here, perhaps we have been very committed…even doggedly so…and yet the spiritual growth that we want just doesn’t seem to happen…we still struggle with anger or insecurity or self-destructive habits or anxiety or malice or laziness. And we think to ourselves: “If God wants me to be healthy and whole and I want the same thing and am asking for it—why hasn’t it happened yet??” Sometimes, we decide to just give up when it doesn’t happen when we think it should happen. Oh, and we get impatient with community life as well—we want things to get better in our city, nation, and world. We know the way our faith community needs to be changed. And we want it NOW.
Today in our scripture, Abram is called by God to “GO” and so he and his family set out and journey from their home, not certain of where they will finally end up. And they journey into Canaan. And they pass through to the place at Shechem; and then they move on to the hill country east of Bethel. In the last verse of the passage we hear, “And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.” They journeyed on by stages… Two things I want to highlight. First, in order to discover the place to which God is calling him, Abram had to agree to go. He had to wake up every day and continue the journey; he had to choose to keep moving, to keep looking and listening for confirmation that he was headed in the right direction. Second, notice that this journey takes place “by stages.” In order to get to the hill country, he first had to travel through Shechem; in order to get to the promised land, he had to keep moving toward the Negeb, passing through this land and that town, through this river and over that mountain. This kind of journey takes time. It takes commitment. It takes patience.
Of course Abram could have chosen to ignore the call of God, could have stayed comfortably secure and safe in his home country with all his familiar surroundings and kindred. He could have stopped moving when the journey took too long or when the terrain became difficult to move through. He could have given up when he got tired from the constant searching and moving. The story of our faith would have been quite different if he had made any of these choices. The choice to follow where God was leading made a difference not only for Abram and Sarai, but ended up making a difference in the history of the world. // The point for us today is that Abram didn’t get to where God was calling him overnight. He was up in years before he ever even received the call! And then the journey took many more years, many more stages, many more “rings of growth” if you will, before he lived into the name by which we know him, “Father Abraham.”
But in so many of the Gospel stories, there seem to be immediate miracles— One after another, folks seem to “immediately” change. Tax collectors like Matthew who, when Jesus calls, jumps up from his toll booth to immediately follow—from tax collector to disciple in the blink of an eye! But we all know that those who followed Jesus as disciples struggled and misunderstood, they goofed up and didn’t get what was really going on. They, too, journeyed by stages. They, too, had the choice every day about whether or not they’d keep walking with Jesus. It was only after they’d gone the distance with Jesus that they began to come into their own power as disciples of Jesus Christ. It was only after they’d walked all the way past the cross and the grave that they saw what Jesus was really trying to share with them.
There are wonderful stories of instant healing and miraculous, immediate changes in the Bible. But you never know what had taken place prior to a seemingly “immediate” change. What had it taken for the woman with the flow of blood to get herself to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment? What events had led Bartimaeus to cry out to Jesus with such determination? What had happened in the life of the paralytic to make him receptive enough to what Jesus offered that he was empowered to “take up his mat and walk?” To get to the place we are being called, it takes time. It takes making a choice again and again to keep journeying, to keep living, learning, looking and listening. //
We want what we want and we want it today. That’s the general mode of our world. And perhaps we aren’t so different from those who came before. Living in the 4th century, Saint Augustine said, “We take for granted the slow miracle whereby water in the irrigation of a vineyard becomes wine. It is only when Christ turns water into wine, in a quick motion, as it were, that we stand amazed.” Do we really want “slow miracles?”
Over the course of the last several days at the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, I found myself reflecting on this idea of “the slow miracle.” Slow miracles often involve not only time, but struggle, frustration, hard work, and commitment. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake addressed the conference saying that she would prefer not to have to go through “stuff”—but that in the midst of the dark days, she is seeing so much good, she is learning and growing and being inspired and encouraged by the strength and faith of people in Baltimore. The “slow miracle” of healing, justice, and reconciliation in Baltimore is well underway. But it will be a journey by stages and will involve struggle, disappointment, and challenge… While at conference, I heard from Pastor Ben that the DC Council had unanimously approved a budget that will increase spending on homeless services and affordable housing. If you didn’t know any better, you might think that had happened out of the blue. But of course, there has been a consistent, organized effort by so many people and organizations—Foundry included—that influenced the vote. The “slow miracle” of ending chronic homelessness in DC is underway…happening by stages. Last week, T.C. Morrow, Foundry member who completed her Masters of Divinity degree ten years ago, met with the District Committee on ordained ministry and was approved to move forward to the Provisional Exam—so that at this time next year, by the grace of God, we will be celebrating her commissioning. And yesterday, our own Leo Yates was commissioned as a provisional Deacon along with many others who were commissioned and ordained into Christian ministry. And in a couple of weeks Pastor Ben will be commissioned as a provisional Deacon in the UMC. For many if not most of us in this vocation, the journey toward ordination is a “slow miracle”—sometimes much more slow than we would desire. // And the movement in our denomination to become a truly and fully inclusive church is another of those places where the miracle is underway—the BWC overwhelmingly approved a petition that will be forwarded to General Conference to remove the harmful language toward LGBTQ persons from the Book of Discipline. There remain daily reminders of the harm that is being done. It is a painfully “slow miracle.” But I believe it really is underway…emerging by stages.
Whatever stage of life or growth we find ourselves in today, we have to choose what we’re willing to do and what we will endure to get where God is calling us. We have to choose not just once, but each and every day of our lives what we’re living for and whom we are going to follow and whether we will hang in there over the long, slow, haul. You can’t get to the promised land—whatever or wherever that is for you—without waking up every day and choosing whether you will keep trusting God to walk with you and to guide you and to give you strength for the journey.
It may make us feel tired to contemplate “slow miracles” in our lives. But when we’re living our lives with intention and purpose, seeking to follow Jesus’ way of life that is a life of love and mercy and justice (for ourselves and others!) even being tired can be OK. I remember our former bishop telling a story about some kids who had just returned from a mission trip. The pastor walked to the parking lot outside the church and found the teens lounging on their duffel bags and pillows and said, “So how are you?” And one of the kids said, “We’re so tired. But you know what? It’s the best tired I’ve ever felt!”
It takes time to let our roots grow deep into the places where we will find nourishment and sustenance, healing and freedom. But the “slow miracle” of becoming more whole—as persons and as communities—is worth all the waiting and the struggle. Because, in the end, our lives will provide places for others to find a shady, cool place to rest and a vision of the strength and beauty that comes to all who love and follow Christ.
Sunday May 24, 2015
Sunday May 24, 2015
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC May 24, 2015, Pentecost Sunday.
Text: Acts 2:1-21
“Forget the Church, Follow Jesus.” That was a Newsweek cover story several years ago.[i] The story by Andrew Sullivan makes plenty of good points about the ways the so-called “institutional church” has been sullied by all sorts of bad behavior. You’ll find no argument from me on that. But the notion that one can “forget the church and just follow Jesus” struck me then and now as being just a little too glib. One can reasonably argue that Jesus may not have had in mind the specific institutional varieties of church that we see or experience. But in the scriptures Jesus consistently calls people to “come and see,” to “follow,” and to do the things that he himself did. Jesus creates a community by calling people and sending people and sharing life with people. Jesus, as a practicing Jew and itinerant Rabbi, lived and taught within the “organized religion” of the day and participated in the life of the Temple. He railed against the injustices being practiced within his religious tradition, but he did not abandon it. To follow Jesus inherently involves being in community—not only because this is the model set for us by the man himself, but also because when Jesus left we were given the work to carry on—to be Jesus’ hands and feet and voice—Christ’s body—on earth. That is simply not something that we can do alone. To be the Body of Christ, requires the myriad gifts that each of us bring.
It is tempting sometimes to “forget the church,” as promulgated by the Newsweek piece. After all, the church is a “broken, compromised, human organization.” But who here today isn’t at least a little bit compromised or broken? “As the old joke runs, I would like to find and then join the perfect church, but as soon as I join it, it will be imperfect.” Once, GK Chesterton was asked what was wrong with the world. He replied, “I am.”[ii] As flawed as the church is, we do well to remember that Jesus is clear that the mission is to be a healing and saving station for the sick and broken, not a trophy case for the strong and righteous. And thanks be—since that means that people like me and you can fit in here. We, all of us, are drawn into this messy reality of community in Christ. And it is in this context that we are offered healing grace and given opportunities—often because of the messiness of the church—to practice being more and more human, patient, generous, brave. We practice here so that we can manage it elsewhere once in a while.
Students of systems theory will know that any organization is deeply affected by the conditions, personalities, and actions of the founding leader or group. That is to say, what happens in the beginning imprints itself upon the proverbial DNA of the community for years to come—for better or for worse. This is good news in our case, because even in the midst of all the brokenness of the institutional church, we are assured today that we have good DNA. Because what we know as the church started within the context of the covenant relationship between God and Israel, was renewed and reformed through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and then enlivened and embodied through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Not bad as “founding pastors” go! The church has full inclusion in its DNA, because when the promised Spirit appears in our story today, folks from “every nation under heaven” are there and Joel’s prophecy, used by Peter to interpret the event, specifically speaks of women and men, young and old, and of “slaves”—those who would be understood to be on the margins of society. Upon “all flesh” the Spirit of the Lord falls. And when the Spirit is poured out into receptive people, signs and wonders happen. People speak and are understood, hear and understand one another. The thing that divided them is overcome. Unity happens—a unity that defies all human understanding. This is in our DNA…
In light of this, the brokenness of the church and of the world seems even more discouraging. After all, it has been more than 2000 years since all this went down and we still have the long list of broken places, exclusion, and radical disunity. A deeply broken justice system, racial and ethnic divides, Muslims and Christians killing each other in Nigeria, Israel and Palestine locked in a seemingly endless conflict, ISIS exploiting every possible religious tension, churches everywhere continuing to fight over who is “in” and who is “out” while thousands get fed up and say, “forget the church.”
As a Christian pastor, I must admit that there are times when I find myself tempted to believe that it is up to me to fix the church. I come by this temptation honestly, living as we all do in a culture permeated with what I call the “I can do all things (without Christ or anyone else)” bug. I can self-help my way to a brighter future …I can get what I want if I just work hard enough…I can save myself… Individualism and self-sufficiency permeate everything. In addition, we have created amazing technologies that can make us feel like we can do anything, control anything, fix anything. I am told it is possible to experience virtually anything “virtually.” Maybe this is why it is so tempting to think that we can control or create any reality that we desire.
Every year in my worship planning, I catch myself wanting to make Pentecost happen…to create the special effects—you know—the sound of a mighty rushing wind, maybe with one of those giant fans at the back of the sanctuary—and to light enough candles to set the place on fire…and then I realize that scenario wouldn’t happen…they’re kind of mutually exclusive… And then I realize that the special effect that I really want to create is not so much the stuff that Hollywood can produce—those effects like wind and fire. What I really want to create are the real miracles of Pentecost:
- All people receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit—regardless of age, gender, race, orientation, or anything else—and those gifts leading them to see God’s vision and to dream God’s dream…
- People who are REALLY different speak in ways that are not only heard but understood
- People who are really different listen and recognize that others are speaking their language at a deep level
- Those who have experienced the saving love of Jesus having the courage to share that experience with others.
- A great conversion to love and justice and generosity and peace and mutuality—the formation of a new community with those things at the center
These are the “special effects” I want for Foundry, for the United Methodist Church, and for the world…And sometimes I really do labor under the illusion that it’s up to me. But these miracles we read about in Acts 2 didn’t happen through human ingenuity—because someone figured out a new technology for communication, or because a pastor dreamed up an innovative program, or because a congregation has such a great history and so many good and capable people. Pentecost happened—and happens—through the unmerited grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God is the one whose “effects” are so special that people aren’t just impressed by them, but are transformed, empowered, set free, brought back to life, and drawn into a new kind of community. I can’t make those things happen. Foundry can’t make them happen. And, frankly, when I remember that, I’m able to see and remember that not only is it not up to me, but God has the Pentecost Experience quite in hand. Then and now.
But that doesn’t mean that you and I have no responsibility, no role to play. The original Pentecost miracle wouldn’t have happened if the disciples blew Jesus off when he told them to stay in Jerusalem and to patiently wait, deciding instead to attend to their own agenda. It wouldn’t have happened if the apostles, the women, and other disciples with them (Acts 1:12-14) were not open to receive the strange and wonderful gift of the Spirit’s presence—an openness likely prompted by the prayers to which they were so devoted (Acts 1:14). It wouldn’t have happened if others who heard the sounds of the wind and the people speaking their language hadn’t responded with curiosity and open hearts. All of this is to say that, while the words of Jesus are our invitation and guide and the Spirit is always the instigator and power source, we have to decide how to respond. Some on the first Pentecost chose to “sneer” and label what was happening as embarrassing, bad behavior. But thousands of others—“about three thousand souls”—decided to respond by joining the Jesus movement. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) They became part of an intentional community, what we call the church.
Abandoning the church is not going to help the world become more whole, peaceful, or just. Being the church—grounded in our true DNA, the love, example, grace, unity-in-diversity, and power of the Holy Trinity—is what will really make a difference. The call, as one God-dreamer describes it is to, “surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, … live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, [and] enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love.”[iii] When we get right down to it, each one of us has to decide whether we are willing to get close enough to be set on fire with God’s love or get picked up by an unruly wind that will carry us into relationships and activities we couldn’t have imagined and may not fully understand. Each one of us has to decide whether we will hang back with those who sneer or take a step into the new life in Christ we receive when our hearts are open—risking ridicule from the “sneerers.” Each one of us has to decide whether to truly follow Jesus which will mean getting mixed up in the mixed bag of the church with people who are flawed and wonderful just like you and me.
You and I don’t have to try to create special effects. You ARE God’s special effects. We ARE God’s special effects! We are here. And God creates the best special effects ever—better than Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and the Avengers combined! The best special effects ever are when the Spirit keeps overflowing and seeping into the tiniest cracks in human hearts and minds, filling the brokenness, softening the cynicism, and forming and reforming people like you and me, here and there, now and again, into an ever more faithful, open, engaged, loving, and grace-filled church—the kind of church no one could forget…or would want to.
Monday May 18, 2015
Monday May 18, 2015
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, May 17, 2015, Ascension Sunday and the celebration of Baptism and Confirmation.
Texts: Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:44-53
What hope does God want us to know? In our first reading today, we heard Paul pray, “that …God … may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…” (Eph 1:17-18). What is that hope? We hope for all sorts of things in life, but Christian hope has a particular shape and content: freedom, forgiveness, peace, loving and just relationships, joy, new life—for ourselves and for the world. An even more particular vision of Christian hope is that goodness is stronger than evil, that death doesn’t have the last word, that human life has eternal value, dignity, and meaning, and that love has the power to save someone’s life. This hope isn’t just a nice idea. It is embodied in Jesus—made real in flesh and blood—so that we see our hope is not just wishful thinking.
Anyone here know the Harry Potter stories? Professor Dumbledore is the teacher who shows the students at Hogwarts School what it looks like to be wise, strong, and to control and use one’s powers for good. The students see in Dumbledore that their hope for their own lives and capacities are not in vain. They see what is possible. While no metaphor is perfect of course, Jesus is like that for us, not only being wise, strong, and powerful, but helping us learn to do the things that he does.
Christian faith suggests that we try to live in the world the way Jesus did—loving God, loving others, and walking gently and peacefully upon the earth. Because God loved the world, Jesus was sent TO the world. If we follow Jesus, we are also sent TO the world. Recently we heard Jesus say just that, “as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (Jn 20:21) Today Jesus says, “you are witnesses.” (Lk 24:48)
What kind of witness are we? A few years ago, I heard professor Leonard Sweet say that the top 3 Google results when you type in “Why are Christians so…” were “intolerant, mean, & crazy.” I did a test the other day to see what popped up. Here’s what I got: Why are Christians so… “hypocritical and judgmental,” “obnoxious and mean-spirited.” Related searches turned up “annoying, mean, arrogant, and ignorant.” No wonder rising numbers of people—across generations, genders, and racial and ethnic groups—are choosing NOT to claim the name “Christian.”[i] I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with a group who is hypocritical, judgmental, obnoxious, and mean-spirited. Would you?
But, thank God, this isn’t the whole story. When folks see Christian communities truly striving to live out the faith they profess with love, joy, and humility, it is not only appealing, but can be life-changing. I remember a conversation with a very intelligent, creative, generous woman who had lived most of her already long life being a solitary student of Christ, but thinking she knew all about those nasty Christians and wanting nothing to do with them as a group. A friend invited her to attend a Disciple Bible Study which she did; and eventually she went with her friend to worship. I remember her saying to me with a wry grin, “I realized these people weren’t so bad after all.” Another friend of mine who came to the church convinced that the whole enterprise was bogus had the same realization and, since being baptized, has given up his high-profile legal career, taken a vow of poverty, and created an intentional community where he lives with formerly unhoused men. I’ve seen a man whose guilt and self-loathing led him to do all sorts of destructive things and who thought he was beyond redemption or love be met with grace and support that led him into a meaningful feeding ministry in the church. Another who thought he was “all that” and was mixed up in all sorts of gang, drug, and sordid relationships stumble into Christian community and find that his life could be more than all that…he graduated from seminary a couple of years ago. These folks’ lives were changed in and through Christian community that—though imperfect!—was trying to witness to the hope that is found in Christ.
Friends, what we say, do, and experience when we are gathered together here is a powerful public witness. And perhaps even more powerful is how you allow your life to be so shaped and informed by our faith and values that it spills over into your everyday life. What kind of witness for Christ are you at work? At home?
In a world where there is so much despair, cynicism, and suffering, one of the most powerful things we can do is to be witnesses to the hope we have through Jesus Christ. This means taking the risk to believe
· That goodness is stronger than evil,
· That death doesn’t have the last word,
· That human life has eternal value, dignity, and meaning,
· That love saves,
· That the Holy Spirit is at work to change lives in real and powerful ways.
It is not only people with “special powers” whose lives can be shaped by this hope, who can be witnesses for Christ. Sometimes to be a witness for hope is as simple as getting through another day because you believe that things won’t always be this hard. Sometimes to be a witness for hope is to forgive someone—maybe yourself. Sometimes to be a witness for hope means to keep living and loving even after someone you love more than life has died. Sometimes to be a witness for hope is to believe in someone who’s kind of a longshot. Sometimes to be a witness for hope is to stumble into a church without knowing what you’ll find or even really why you’re there, but coming with just enough of an open mind and heart to receive grace. Sometimes to be a witness for hope is to stand up in church with your confirmation class and choose to take your place as a professing member, trusting that God will be with you and will help you learn and grow as you serve and lead as part of the Body of Christ.
Jesus embodies our hope and gives us the grace and power to put that hope to work in our own bodies and lives. We are called to make footprints on the earth in all the places where hope is needed. Perhaps that witness will inspire folks to say, “Why are Christians so loving, inclusive, thoughtful, generous, just, peaceful, and joyful?” Wouldn’t that just be something…
Sunday May 10, 2015
Sunday May 10, 2015
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC May 10, 2015, the sixth Sunday after Easter.
Text: Luke 12:49-56
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” [Happy Mother’s Day, y’all!] Let’s back up and see what we can make of these hard words from Jesus. I recently read through the entire Gospel of Luke to write reflections for inclusion in the upcoming CEB Women’s Devotional Bible that I’m editing for Abingdon Press. One of the benefits of reading a Gospel all the way through is that you begin to hear the story as a story; another is that themes and details begin to emerge that are harder to discern when all you get are little chunks here and there. A couple of things that struck me about Luke’s version of the story as I read it all the way through: in the midst of all the beautiful birth narratives, we get Mary singing about radical reversals—“[The Lord] has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:51-53) We also hear these words from the prophet Simeon to Mary: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed…” (Luke 2.34-35) It takes no time at all for Simeon’s prophecy of opposition to Jesus to be fulfilled. In chapter 4, Jesus gets run out of his own hometown and in chapter 5 we start to hear about the religious leaders taking issue with Jesus’ teaching and healing activity. By the sixth chapter, they are actively looking for a way to accuse Jesus.
All of this is to say, it should come as no surprise to us today to hear Jesus say “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Division, opposition, conflict… How do these things fit into a faith that we thought was about love, unity, reconciliation, and peace? Didn’t the angels sing about peace when Jesus was born?! Don’t we call Jesus the Prince of Peace? Have we gotten it wrong? Well, I don’t think we’ve gotten it wrong about love, unity, reconciliation and peace being at the heart of the good news. But I do think that we struggle to acknowledge the potential conflict that following Jesus necessarily entails.
I don’t know many people who truly enjoy conflict—though there are a few! Most folks I know do anything they can to avoid it. To be “conflict-averse” is a well-known trait, isn’t it? Churches are notoriously good at conflict-aversion, taking the path of least resistance, failing to make hard decisions or take risks, for fear of losing people or making folks uncomfortable or angry. Every church gathering I’ve ever been in chuckles knowingly at the phrase “the way we’ve always done it.” Disrupting “the way we’ve always done it” is a sure-fire way to create division and conflict. So it rarely happens.
In our faith communities and in our personal lives the lengths to which we go to “keep the peace” can be stunning. And it really is understandable because conflict is painful, emotionally and sometimes physically. Some of us have had more than our fair share—and for reasons completely out of our control. Conflict can mean that we lose friends or others who are dear to us. Conflict can bring about changes that disrupt what has been meaningful and life-giving in our lives. Why would we do anything that risks having those effects? And doesn’t our faith tradition call us to be peacemakers?
While the Gospel does say that the peacemakers are blessed, it also says (in the very next line) “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:10) And here is where we begin to understand what is going on in our text today. The truth is that Jesus created conflict and that many people were opposed to him almost from the very beginning. But Jesus didn’t create conflict simply for the sake of conflict. He created conflict “for righteousness’ sake” and was “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Jesus didn’t come into a world that was peaceful or whole or just. Jesus doesn’t come to disturb the peace in a peaceful world; Jesus comes to disturb the injustice of an unjust world. Jesus comes to disturb the things of the world that are not resonant with the Kin-dom of God. That Kin-dom is characterized by mutual love, respect, mercy, compassion, sacrifice for the sake of the other, equality, and so on. God’s Kin-dom is characterized by justice—not the eye for an eye, retributive kind of justice that we know and love, but rather the kind of justice that is restorative, that is gracious, that is, frankly, quite challenging for most of us in this time and place. Walter Brueggemann (renowned biblical scholar) says that “Justice is to sort out what belongs to whom, and to return it to them.”[i] The Kin-dom of God is good news for everyone, but especially those who have had what belongs to them taken away—whether that be their fair and equitable living, their dignity, their freedom, or their safety.
One writer says, “It's not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What's hard...is figuring out what you're willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about.”[ii] Why would we risk conflict and loss and division and painful changes? We take those risks if and when we decide to do what it takes to have our lives conform more fully to what we want to be about. Jesus was about the Kin-dom, about setting people free whether they were the oppressors or the oppressed…and he was in trouble all the time. If we choose to follow Jesus, there’s a good chance we will find ourselves in trouble. But that trouble is for a purpose, for the sake of sharing justice and every other good gift of the Kin-dom.
The point is not that we are supposed to go looking for trouble, or that we should “stir the pot” for no good reason. Jesus comes to change what is wrong—in our lives and in our world—and to show us how to get in on God’s project to make things better. Sometimes, conflict is a result…and sometimes some “stirring” is required to bring about change. One woman who has worked at the grassroots level for peace and non-violent change for more than forty years said, “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.”[iii] Clearly this peacemaker is a student of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who wrote from the Birmingham jail, “You may well ask, ‘Why direct action, why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? …Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”[iv]
This is what we are experiencing all over the country right now as communities rise up in peaceful protest, determined to dramatize the issues of police brutality and racism so that these pervasive realities can no longer be ignored. Pride parades and demonstrations like the one at the Supreme Court last week keep the call for justice for LGBTQ persons in front of those who would prefer to ignore or deny the injustice of the status quo. The creative tension extends into conversations between friends and among families as persons choose where to stand. Perhaps “creative tension” is not how you would describe what you experience with some of your family and friends when it comes to topics like racism, full inclusion for LGBTQ persons in the church, immigration, poverty, and politics in general. But one important aspect of faith is to prayerfully, thoughtfully, and humbly interpret the scriptures and the tradition, to choose where you will stand, and to risk creating conflict for what you believe to be loving and just. Today Jesus says in essence, “You are willing to discern the weather and plan accordingly, so put as much energy into discerning what really matters and then act accordingly!” (Cf. Lk 12:54-56) When you speak and act from a place of thoughtful, humble, loving discernment and, as a result, people challenge you, “unfriend” you on FaceBook, treat you like you are ridiculous, naïve, uninformed, or downright sinful for where you stand or for who you are, remember that you are in good company. The late, modern prophet Rev. William Sloane Coffin says, “Jesus knew that ‘love your enemies’ didn’t mean ‘don’t make any.’”[v]
In 1946, Jackie Robinson was signed by Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager, Branch Rickey. This broke major league baseball’s color line and, as result, both Robinson and Rickey stepped into the firing line of all sorts of hateful behavior. The 2013 film “42” gives the full Hollywood treatment to the story. It is clearly a tidied-up version, but it does portray the unabashed racism directed toward Robinson from every side—the press, the public, other players, and even his own teammates. Jackie Robinson’s courage and grace in facing the bigotry and death threats that proliferated the longer he refused to give up or to retaliate in kind are an inspiration. And, if the movie tells it true, Branch Rickey made the decision to sign Jackie Robinson because his Christian faith told him it was the right thing to do. In what is an oft-quoted line from the movie, Rickey, speaking of Robinson says: “He’s a Methodist, I’m a Methodist…And God’s a Methodist; we can’t go wrong.” Both of these men made a choice about what they would risk for the cause of what was right. Their choices created conflict and controversy, but ultimately and in the long run, helped usher a little more of the Kin-dom into the world. A great moment in the story is when Pee Wee Reese (beloved shortstop-originally from Kentucky) crosses the field, and puts his arm around Robinson. As insults are hurled at them both, Reese says, “Maybe tomorrow we’ll all wear 42 so nobody could tell us apart.” That is a little inbreaking of the Kin-dom right there…[vi]
My guess is that no one here today thinks that the world is as God would have it to be. Things need to change and conflict is often the “edge where change is possible.” It is a risky place to stand but the good news is that we can participate in God’s activity in the world to make things different. Like Jesus, we are called to embody the ways of God’s Kin-dom, to help usher it in, to make it real in the world, to challenge anything in the world that doesn’t reflect God’s love and justice. This will bring us to the edge, it may create conflict and even crisis. But, it will also bring us into God’s work for real peace—not the kind achieved by denial, but the peace that comes through sacrificial love. And we are assured that God will give us grace to persevere, courage to stand on the side of justice and peace, a reward that is beyond anything we can imagine, and most certainly a reality better than the way we’ve always done it.
[i] William Sloane Coffin, Credo, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 63
[ii] Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way, Zondervan, 2010.
[iii] Lisa Fithian, quoted by Teresa Berger in the article, “Disturbing the Peace” published in The Christian Century, August 10, 2004, p. 18. Article accessed at: http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3116
[iv] Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail, accessed 5/9/15 at http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/king.pdf
[v]Coffin., p. 67.
[vi]This event likely happened in some form, but probably in Robinson’s second season in 1948. http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/20917/undefined
Sunday May 03, 2015
Sunday May 03, 2015
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, May 3, 2015, the fifth Sunday of Easter.
Text: John 20:19-22
What is the Church? What is the Church for?
We tend to think of church as a place to go. And we might then think that the work of the church is to go “there and to get other people to go there with us… If the focus of our understanding of what the church is and is for has to do with a building, a place to gather, or a particular group of people, then it is easy to think that to be a Christian—a disciple of Jesus—is primarily about going to that place or being with those people. This allows us to say that if we just “go to church on Sunday then we are Christians. This, of course, is overly simplified, but I believe that this imbalanced view of what the church is and what the church is for is fairly common—if not intentionally, then at least in practice. The prevalence of this imbalance, I think, is one of the reasons that what is called the “Missional movement has developed within Christian circles and received so much attention. This movement focuses on the other side of the equation: Instead of a focus on people going to church, the focus is on the church going to people.
This is a natural and necessary reminder…because without this corrective, the church can end up contained, in a holding pattern, even with locked doors, somewhat afraid of going outside the familiar, protective walls… I just returned from the Princeton Youth Forum where I was challenged to think about the ways that the church can “hunker down and effectively block openness to new ideas and ways of being church that could help young people connect. We tend to do this out of fear—not of change per se but because we fear losing something precious to us in the midst of change. As my colleague Kevin Smalls reminded me the other day, the whole Christian movement began in the context of fear, with a group of folks huddled together with the doors closed and locked. Without regular reminders, we revert to that familiar place.
Today we see Jesus come into that place saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you… What does it mean to be sent by Jesus as Jesus is sent by his Father? If the accounts of Jesus’ life are our guide, then it means that we, like Jesus, are sent into the world to bring healing into places of suffering, hope into places of despair, mercy and forgiveness into places of sin, comfort into places of grief, peace into places of violence, love into places of hatred. To be sent as Jesus is sent is to be bearers of God’s life in the world, to put our lives on the line for the sake of justice, and to stand in solidarity with those who are hurt by the systems of the day.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are a people who are not only gathered into the family of God—those who “go to church, but we are also, inherently, a sent people.
Think for a moment of the life-giving rhythm of our bodies breathing in and breathing out. A healthy body needs to do both. The in-breath of the Body of Christ—the church—is the Spirit gathering us in to be loved, supported, fed, strengthened, and given purpose through sacrament and worship and study and community. Every Sunday the Body breathes in, takes in God’s grace and power. And the out-breath is like the Spirit of God blowing out across the chaos of the world at the very beginning, bringing peace and new life. The “sent-ness of the church is like that—the church moving out into the chaos and brokenness of the world to bring love, mercy, healing and hope. Every day between Sundays the Body exhales, breathing the Spirit into places thirsty for life and hope and kindness.
We often talk about the church having a mission—but it’s not so much that we, the church, have a mission, but that God’s mission has a church. To say that we are a sent people is to recognize that to be a disciple of Jesus is not just about “going to church in order to take care of ourselves or to save our own soul—though those things are certainly part of the deal. We “breathe in the gifts and grace and love and mercy of God as we are gathered in so that we can be breathed out, sent into the world to live our whole life in a way that participates in God’s mission of saving love and mercy in the world. Rather than just going to church, it’s about being the church all the time and in all the places that we find ourselves.
This past week we have found ourselves in some challenging, painful places. A week ago today, here at Foundry, there were brothers and sisters in front of our building who said and did hateful and hurtful things based on their interpretation of Christian teaching, declaring us all hell-bound because of our understanding and practice of the Gospel. One response might have been to retreat behind closed doors for fear of these family members who are against us (the equivalent of the “the Jews). But what I saw this community do was to open the doors and care for one another and stand as a witness for love and grace in the face of hatred; I saw you go out, pray, and bless those who curse us. On Sunday night at the Interfaith Prayer Service and on Tuesday morning on the steps of the Supreme Court building in the midst of the rally for Marriage Equality I saw you show up in all sorts of ways, sent to stand for justice and for love. Tuesday afternoon a group of you were sent to DC Councilman Jack Evans’ office to advocate budget priorities that will support efforts to end chronic homelessness in our city. When the riots broke out on Monday following Freddie Gray’s funeral, I witnessed you responding through prayer, organizing, and commitment to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Baltimore, culminating in the prayer vigil Tuesday night and the contributions we are gathering today. As I walked through the streets of Sandtown with Pastor Dawn and Pastor Ben and many other United Methodist clergy on Tuesday evening, I was aware that we were there as God’s “sent people, sent into the world just as Jesus was sent into the world, to be with, to show support, care, and love. And just to make sure I didn’t miss the point, there was a moment when, upon watching the pod of clergy moving through the intersection, a teenaged girl named Delilah said, “What? You gonna just keep walking? The community is over here. I moved toward her and she led all of us toward the parade that was coming up the street, an organized witness to the gifts of the youth in that place, complete with little marching girls and drummer boys, powerhouse drumlines, and some of the fiercest steppers I’ve seen.
Since last August and the events that unfolded in Ferguson, I have been in prayer and conversation to try to discover how and where Foundry can best be present with people in DC who are experiencing similar discrimination, who feel forgotten, who are desperate for their voices to be heard. We are not only sent by God to react to tragedy, we are to be sent to prevent tragedy. When the issues are so big and complex, when we know we cannot fix everything, it is easy to default to our familiar gatherings behind closed doors. Foundry is not one to retreat from the big, complex challenges. Our advocacy for affordable housing and supportive housing for the homeless is an important piece as is our commitment to continue deepening understanding and raising consciousness about racial justice through conversations like the one we will share with Rev. Wogaman today. But what Jesus did was show up. He reached out and touched people. He went into their homes. He saw and heard their struggles first hand. // For the better part of a year, I have been looking and listening for a “Delilah here in DC to speak up and say, “You gonna keep going about business as usual? The community is over here. I grow impatient waiting for someone to point the direction. Today I affirm that we will do all we can in response to what is happening in Baltimore. We will continue unabated in our advocacy and support for larger initiatives. But I’m particularly calling on our staff and leaders (some of you present today!) to identify a community in our own city where children walk through every day feeling unsafe, where there is not enough food, where drugs and addiction and violence steal hope and break down relationship, where gentrification and other economic factors threaten whole communities, and to figure out how we can come alongside Christ—who is always already there—to do what we can, to show that we care, to listen, to be God’s sent people who stand for justice, mercy, and love. It doesn’t mean that the community with whom we come into relationship won’t experience tragedy or riots, but it does mean that if those things occur, the folks in the community will know they are not alone and that we have their back.
// I have a tendency to go on sprees sometimes and buy bunches of cards to have on hand to send to family and friends for holidays and such. A couple of days ago, I came across a stack of Easter cards, neatly organized and awaiting inscription. Needless to say, the cards didn’t get sent. Because of that, messages of love were not received. WE, the church, are God’s love letter to the world. The words of God’s love and life and mercy and hope and joy are written on our hearts and minds. Once gathered and having received that precious word…We are meant to be sent.