My Sermon Response to the PCUSA 220th General Assembly

Following is my sermon for July 8, 2012, based on the Revised Common Lectionary, and in response to this General Assembly. These are my reflections, and my reflections alone, meant to be edifying as much as informative.

<2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Mark 6:1-13>

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you, O Holy Mystery, our Rock and Redeemer.  Amen.

I pray forgiveness if this sermon comes across as a little bit raw; I endeavored to keep it from becoming so, but I do not know if I succeeded.

As I mentioned last week in worship, I wear this stole today to show my mindfulness of those who are serving the church throughout this past week by being at our denomination’s General Assembly.  Throughout this week they have labored long in committee meetings, plenaries, and worship to guide our denomination into the next years to come.  These commissioners and advocates have labored for long hours, even into the wee hours of Saturday morning, recessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:30am, after starting business at 8:30am the previous morning.  There has been much heated discussion and debate, with most of it respectful, but I must confess that I am saddened by many of the decisions that have been made.

“[Jesus] called the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff…So they went out, and proclaimed that all should repent.  They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

I’ve always been fascinated with this account of the disciples being sent out in mission.  As Jesus deals with the incredulous response he received from his own hometown, the disciples are sent out to continue the work that he began, and has now called them to.  They go out, presumably to the other towns in the region, and they do all the things which we still understand to make up the proclamation of the Good News: they healed the sick and afflicted, they made whole the broken aspects of life, they lifted up people who were down and in need; in word and deed, the disciples made known that the Kingdom of God was drawing near to those who were yearning for it, those who were desiring to see it in their lifetimes.

Now, often, when I read this account, I try to imagine what it would have been like to be one of those disciples, performing such deeds and spreading the gospel invitation.  I wonder what it would take today to accomplish such feats of faith and compassion.  But it’s a simple answer, really.  In fact, it’s so simple that I usually overlook it, trying to discover something flashier, something more grand.

Synergy, in today’s parlance, is often used to describe the exciting result of the interaction of two separate items, meaning that the sum of the whole is greater than the individual parts.  But to put it in terms of the faith and the church, I would argue that synergy could just as accurately be used to describe the reality of a person living a life that outwardly reflects an inward awareness, of making one the exterior and the interior of a person.  It is the simple reality of synergy in one’s life that makes such living out the Kingdom of God possible.

Case in point: In our reading from 2 Samuel, we see that David has synergy.  The people approach him, declaring that he is to be their next king in the wake of the spectacularly-gone-awry experiment of Saul.  They know that he, David, will be a better and more faithful king because, even when he wasn’t king he acted as if he was.  Oh, not in the sense that he proclaimed himself king wherever he went, regardless of who was actually on the throne.  In fact, quite the opposite!  Wherever David went, he approached the people and interacted with them as one would expect a king to do, with the best interests of the people’s safety and welfare at his own heart.  David treated the people as a king ought to treat his people, and David did so before he ever sat on the throne.  His outward actions reflected an inward awareness of how his relationship with others was affected by his calling from God.  In such a self-awareness and synergy, it did not ultimately matter what his title or status were; he treated the people in such a way because he knew it to be the right way, and his conscience, his authentic self would not let him act any other way.  His actions showed his heart, and they were in line with what he spoke.  He did not say one thing, while doing another thing, and holding a third view within.

It is this same reality of living into this authenticity, between action, proclamation, and self-understanding, this synergy, that allows the disciples to fully and truly proclaim the good news, inviting people into deeper relationship with God, and moving away from the actions and lifestyles that fostered division.  After all, if someone came up to you, preaching good news of an invitation to a richer, fuller life, and then did not live out such a lifestyle himself, would you listen?  Of course not!  You would look at him and think, ‘He doesn’t even believe in the things he’s telling me; why should I believe him, then?’

The disciples go out, two by two, not simply to proclaim the Kingdom of God and the healing that goes with it, but to live out the Kingdom of God and the healing that goes with it.  By taking nothing but what is absolutely needed, they are freed from material distractions and concerns.  By going out in community with another disciple, they are living out the communal nature of the Kingdom, and showing the fullness of edifying relationship that marks the Kingdom for what it is; a place where concern for your brother and sister is the driving force of relationship, as opposed to what others will think of you, or what you’ll get out of the relationship.

And the lesson that comes with this understanding of what it is to live out the gospel is still one that we need today.  I mentioned earlier that I’ve been very frustrated with the PC(USA) General Assembly this past week.  I have spent long hours tuned into to the live feed on the internet, watching and listening as commissioners and advisors deliberated and voted.  And, though I say this cautiously, I must say that what I heard and saw does not show me a denomination that, in this past week, has followed the example put forth by our readings this morning.

Early in the week we elected a vice-moderator for the assembly, in good order and duly so.  Later in the week, she felt forced to resign her post, as those who still disagreed that she should have been elected in the first place threatened to manipulate the system to make sure nothing of the assembly’s business was addressed.  Where, I ask, was the discipline of loving your brother and sister, and working with the will of the assembly that had broken no rules in the election process?

Then, later in the week, the issue of divestment was discussed.  Some of the stock holdings of our denomination are in companies that profit from the violence between Palestine and Israel in the Middle East, and thus promote the oppression of a nation.  There was a resolution to urge the divestment of stock from such companies, opting not to receive income from companies and situations that purport violence.  We as a church proclaim the peace of the Kingdom of God, the peace that Christ has offered us and this world, and that such peace between neighbors and countries is one of our goals that we work toward.  The vote to make our perspective known by divesting from such companies and their practices was defeated; our denomination will continue to receive earnings from these companies, and from practices that allow for violence and oppression.

Finally, the discussion came to the issue of same-gender marriage.  And without recreating the discussion among us, because I know that we as a congregation are not of one view, it will suffice to say that in some ways it comes down to an understanding of whether or not we welcome people who have personally experienced Christ in their lives to have all the benefits of the church.  We claim, as the church, that anyone who seeks Christ more fully is welcome at the Table, that anyone who has been called by the Spirit has a place in our communities, that anyone who loves as Christ first loved will be invited in.  And regardless of what your understanding on this issue may be, the reality is that when we claim this as who we are, and then vote in such a way that does not honor people for who they are, the only message that the outside world receives is that we say one thing with our lips and another with our actions.  This vote, also, was ultimately defeated.  No authenticity.  No synergy.

We claim to be a church that wants to create and make known the peaceful Kingdom of God in this world, and yet we implicitly, if not explicitly, support violent climates in the areas where Jesus walked.  We claim to be a church where everyone is welcome, and yet we tell people that unless they look, act, or think like us, then there is no room for them here.  We claim to be a church that is creating a place for future generations, and then we talk about young adults as if they weren’t in the room with us, and as if we know what they really want, instead of listening to their voices and heeding their advice.  The actions of our General Assembly give me little hope for the future of our church, when this is the outcome of the week’s work for all the world to see.

And yet.  And yet, I still have hope.  There is still hope to be found.  Jesus was rejected in his hometown, unable to do any great acts of power, and yet his ministry did not stop there.  The disciples went out, sent out two by two, and continued the ministry begun, preparing the way for Christ to come in person and invite people into the full love of God.  Throughout all of this and even beyond the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, Jesus continues to bring healing to the world!  This is still the work that is before us today; what good news!  I may be saddened by the actions of this General Assembly, but it does not mean that the work of the Spirit for the increase of God’s Kingdom has ceased, and I am still called to such.  Each of us as disciples is still called to this.  Personally, I will abide by my denomination’s decisions; I am Presbyterian, and I will keep to the church’s decisions.  But I will not stop engaging the conversation, or proclaiming the good news as I have seen and experienced it.  I will not stop seeking the healing of Christ for a hurting and broken world.  Such is the calling of every disciple; not to be caught up in uniformity, but in unity to proclaim the good news as each and every one of us is called to do – with our own lives, our own experiences, our own synergy.  When we, in word and deed, continue to make such proclamation, then God’s Kingdom will be increased, and those who yearn for peace and wholeness will find it.  May God’s Kingdom truly come…Amen.

 

A Year of Service for a Lifetime of Change

…or, “Why I am the way I am.”

I’m very partial to the Pentecost offering of the PC(USA).

I know that our denomination does all kinds of special offerings throughout the year, and as a minister I, too, share the sometimes dubious joy of attempting to promote/support all of them throughout the year, on top of our regular offerings, all in a rural church that is struggling financially (like so many others).  I really do attempt to support them all, and space them out appropriately.  But I’m very partial to the Pentecost offering.

And there is a very good reason for this, I believe: I would not be where I am now, who I am now, or have the story of faith that I currently have without this offering. At least, not without a program that this offering helps support.

I am speaking of none other than the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteers (YAV, for short) program – a national & international program of mission service for young adults of faith ages 19-30, which I spent two years of my formative life engaged with.  And to be honest, I could talk/write/impose my thoughts for quite a lengthy time on this topic – what it is, why I feel it’s important, why I believe you should feel it’s important.  But to be fair, I’ll simply list some of the highlights of what has formed me through this program, and let you simply absorb/reflect as you will.  (I try to practice with others the mercy of God I have received.)

1) My spiritual journey is richer for this program, and that has a direct affect on my ministry where I am now.  This is perhaps the most concrete and visible outcome of spending time between my undergraduate and graduate academic work.  During these two brief years, I spent time in small, rural churches (very similar to where I am now), learning by experience (trial-and-error) what it is to live in relationship with the people that comprise these communities, walking with them through good and bad, sharing the exciting and mundane of life.  But most of all, I learned to simply BE PRESENT with them.  I used to think that ministry was all about finding the right combination of programming to meet the needs of the people, and that once you put those pieces of programming together correctly – viola!  You had successful ministry!  It took living through failure in this model (more than once) to learn that ministry has almost nothing to do with programming, and almost everything to do with relationship – sharing Christ with one another, walking with one another, recognizing that you impact others and are impacted by others.  I would not realize this now had I not been a YAV.

It’s a little ironic that it took a mission program to make me realize that programs aren’t the end result of ministry.

2) I learned to live in community.  This piggy-backs off of point #1 enough for me not to expand too much on it, but to simply say that Simon & Garfunkel were wrong: I am not a rock, or an island, but live & move & have my being in the intentional living together with other people, whether we share the same roof or not.

3) I learned to live simply.  There are numerous resources out there on this topic, so forgive me for not going into a lot of detail about them here.  If you’re interested, visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble and search for the above topic.  But suffice it to say: When you’re on a limited income, you learn what’s important – truly important – and what you can do without.  I sometimes wonder if I’ve lost some of that understanding in my own life, and I oftentimes wonder if the Church particular has lost sight of that as well (each year around budget time, to be exact).  Someday I’ll readdress that aspect of my life, and perhaps find a bit more courage to help this gathered body or worshipers to do the same.  But the undercurrent of it all is that I have learned, and remember keenly, what is truly important, and what is adiaphora.

4) I learned acceptance.  Along with point #1, this is perhaps the most important.  I learned to accept who I am (which is constantly held in tension with striving for excellence in all I do – the two are not mutually exclusive), but more important to the ministry I am a part of now, I learned to accept others for who they are.  Throughout my time as a YAV, and now as a YAVA(lumnus), I have experienced so much grace, forgiveness, and love that I no longer know how to walk in relationship with others without offering them the same.  I don’t care where you’re from, what you’ve been through, why you’re here now or even if you’ll stay.  I do care that you know, even if only for a moment or two, that God loves you more than you can fully comprehend.  Having experienced this mystifying reality, I want you to know it as well, and I want to be one of the ones to help you realize it.  God has accepted me, faults and gifts all, and so I accept you as well.  What you do with that is up to you.

5) I learned that I don’t have all the answers, and this is a very good thing.  Graduating college, and heading into the mission field, I saw myself as something of an expert, or at least an authority, in the ministry I’d be undertaking.  Within six weeks I realized, hard, that this was not reality.  I was clueless, still, despite my years of education and experience.  I couldn’t have asked for a greater blessing moving forward.  In my years as a YAV, I learned that the only One who does have answers or any semblance of control is God, and learned moreso to be OK with that – to be at peace when I didn’t have the foggiest, and to trust that it was God’s leading when I did have an idea of direction.  It isn’t my place to provide the answers, to be the fixer of every situation – that isn’t ministry.  It is my call to be in relationship with others, and let that simply be; God will be at work in, through, and despite me.  This lesson ranks right up there with #1 above, in my mind.

In short, these are some of the aspects of ministry I learned as a YAV, a ministry which is directly supported (in part) through the annual, upcoming Peacemaking offering of Pentecost.  If any of this sounds worth-while to you, please consider ways in which you might give to the Peacemaking offering, or support the YAV program, as well.