Standing on High Ground or Stuck In the Mud?

This was the sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, 15 September 2002.  I presented this message at Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church and the Scriptures were Exodus 14: 19 – 31, Romans 14: 1 – 12, and Matthew 18: 21 – 35.

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The story is told about a man who decided to travel across the country, east and west, north and south seeking all the churches he could find. And so he did, ranging from the great Gothic-style cathedrals of the east and the modernistic churches of the West Coast to the small country style churches that dot the heartland of America.

And in each of these churches he found prominently installed in the nave of the church a golden telephone with the sign “Calls to heaven — $1000.” It did not matter the size of the church or its location; the phone, the sign, and the price. That is, until the traveler came to a small little church in rural Tennessee. There the sign read “Calls to heaven — $1.00.” Taken aback by this great difference, the traveler rushed to find the pastor and find out why. When asked, the pastor smiled and told the traveler “Son, in all those other churches it was a long-distance call. But this here is God’s country and it is only a local call.”

As one who was born in Virginia, raised in the south for the early part of life by a mother born in North Carolina, there is some truth to the saying that “I am Southern born and Southern bred, and when I die I will be Southern dead.” I come to my church life and my way of thinking about the Gospel and its impact on life in a manner often associated with a Southern way of life.

But don’t think that my way of thinking is stereotypical Southern thinking. Though by birth I am Southern I was raised in many different parts of the country. I have as much right to speak with a Missouri twang or the slow drawl of someone from Texas as I do to speak with a Southern tongue.

And my politics are definitely not what one might think of when one thinks of the South. Though they were singular episodes of life long perhaps best forgotten through time, I can still remember my experiences with the quaint Southern tradition of segregation. Meant to separate the races, segregation’s impact transcended race. The laws of this country demanded that all children be treated alike and so they were. The school district where I attended 7^th grade simply gave no schools, be they for black or white children, funding for schoolbooks. This forced parents to buy the books for their kids and if you did not have the money, so be it; you did without.

When I came to Tennessee in 1966, the situation was a little better in that we got school issued textbooks. But the music programs only got $100.00 ($50.00 for the band, $50.00 for the chorus) to cover any expenses, music, instrument repair, etc. for the entire school year. Any additional fund had to come from the parents and if the parents were poor, then not much was provided.

Segregation did as much to separate the rich and poor as it did whites and blacks. And it was only when people began to realize that segregation hurt everyone that meaningful changes began to take place in the South.

For me, the most frightening thing about all of this was the number of clergy who held on to the antiquated view and supported the repression and brutality associated with that era. If you preach a Gospel of peace and brotherhood, it is not possible to preach hatred and bigotry; but there were those who did so.

And it is sad to say that the issue of slavery and segregation has impacted on the history of our own United Methodist Church. Though the Conference of 1784, which laid the foundations for the Methodist Church in America, outlawed slavery many members of the church in the south still owned slaves. The conflict between those opposed to slavery and those who, for whatever reason, supported it lead to the formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1843.

In 1844, the church voted to suspend a bishop from Georgia who could not legally free his slaves (they belonged to his wife). In May of1845, Southern congregations organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The division of the churches existed until 1939. Then, the Methodist Protestant Church (an offspring of the early church which came because of disagreement over how the laity would be involved with the clergy in the management of the church), the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Episcopal Church, North united to form the Methodist Church.

And still, even with our history of division and reconciliation, I still detect cries of discourse amongst the various churches that call themselves United Methodist. There seem to be cries among the churches to ignore our historic stand for justice and peace and throw out those who don’t fit into a predetermined mold. Instead of a historic call for each individual to follow the call of Christ, there are churches that feel that they can dictate how each member of the church is to think and act.

And for a church that has long stood for education as one way of knowing Christ, such a discourse, such inflexibility can only lead to the destruction of the church. Paul found it necessary to address the issue of dietary requirements. At the time of Paul’s writing the passage from Romans that we read today, the great issue was a matter of what was acceptable to eat. Paul asked who should pass judgement on someone because of something they ate. Paul reminded the Romans that judgement was not up to them nor was it up to him, especially when it came to something so trivial as diet. If what is done in the honor of the Jesus, how could it be wrong?

It was Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed that a nation divided could never be free. And if we are to be divided because someone doesn’t believe the same as we, as far as it concerns the ways of the world, it will be very difficult for us to ever find peace on this earth. And we can never expect to find peace in heaven if we do not seek peace on this earth. “How is it possible”, Jesus asked, “to gain forgiveness from the Father in heaven if one is not willing to give forgiveness on earth.”

Those for whom their single-minded purpose is to throw out those who disagree with them remind me of the pursuit of the Egyptians after the Israelites at the beginning of the Exodus. As described in our Old Testament reading, the Egyptian army was so focused on destroying the Israelites that they failed to notice that the wheels of their chariots were getting stuck in the mud. And when the waters of the Red Sea engulfed them, the army was destroyed.

So to is it for us. Shall we seek the truth and stand on high ground? Or shall we be so single minded in our efforts to destroy our fellow humans on earth that we failed to see that our wheels are stuck in the mud and the incoming tide is about to drown us?

Jesus sought a world of peace, a world of devotion to caring for our fellow travelers in this life’s journey. If we forget the Gospel message, it will be very difficult for us to live, as Jesus would have had us do. But if we accept the Gospel message, take the Holy Spirit into our hearts, then it does become possible to help each other while holding disparate views.

Forgiving and Forgetting

This was the sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, 12 September 1999.  I presented this message at Walker Valley United Methodist Church and the Scriptures were Exodus 14: 19 – 31, Romans 14: 1 – 12, and Matthew 18: 21 – 35.

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When I first moved to Minnesota back in 1991, the department I was going to work for asked me if I wanted to use an IBM-type computer or a Macintosh computer. Now, having just completed a three hundred-page book and a number of other manuscripts on an IBM-type computer, I didn’t really feel like learning a new system. So I told them I wanted an IBM-type computer.

As it turned out, everyone else in the department was using a Macintosh and I was viewed with a cautious eye. And the caution turned to anger and shouting every time I tried to print something on the department printer. Every time I would send a print job to the printer, the system would “crash” and anyone “downstream” from my office would not be able to do anything.. Since I was the only PC user in the environment, the other users in the department naturally that this problem was totally and completely my fault.

Now, for the most part, these same individuals were new to the world of computers, by they PC or Mac, so this was a natural reaction. But as it turned out, it was not a problem related to the machine, per se, or the user of the machine. The fault was in a faulty network card, the piece of equipment installed in the computer to enable to work with devices on the network. Once the card was replaced everything was okay.

But this situation is emblematic of what we see happening in our society today. No matter what the problem is or how simple the solution, the first thing done is to fix the blame on someone.

Paul is addressing a similar situation in the Epistle reading for today. At the time Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, there was a serious division in the church. For some of the early Christians felt that to be a true Christian, one had to first convert to Judaism. But for others, this was not considered an important step. And much discussion had gone into whether or not one had to follow Jewish dietary laws and observe the Jewish calendar.

Paul basically told the Romans that they should forget the difference and recognize all that that was needed was to simply follow Jesus.

How we react to a problem and the solution that we offer is what the Gospel reading today is about. As a society today, we are just as likely to demand more from those whom wrong us than to offer to those whom we have wronged, traits not that much different from Jesus’ time.

I might add that the solution for the payment of debts that is offered in the parable that Jesus told was not simple an institution of Israel of that time. Up until the 18^th century, people could still be thrown in jail for not paying their debts and would not be released until such time as the debts were paid. Of course, there is a certain lack of logic in a solution that puts you in a place where it is impossible to do what it is you must do to get out. In many of Wesley’s early writings, you can read how he felt about the injustices of debtor’s prisons.

For many people, the only alternative to debtor’s prison was indentured servitude and that is how many people came to America in the early 18^th century.

But in the parable that Jesus is telling us, a master demands payment from one of his slaves, which the slave cannot make. Just as the slave and all of possessions, his wife, and children are to be sold to pay off this debt, the slave begs his master for mercy. The master quickly does so.

But when this now debt-free slave encounters another slave who owes him less than 1% of what he had owned, he demands payment, and failing to receive an immediate payment, he had the second slave thrown into debtor’s prison.

Jesus told his disciples that they should love one another, as they would have others love them. This parable is one that reinforces that commandment. If we are to expect mercy from our Father, should we not grant the same mercy to our brothers and sisters here on earth. Jesus pointed out that should we fail to do so, our master would cancel all that he has done as well.

The Old Testament reading is a clear example of the power that God possesses and what he can do to protect his people. The Pharaoh, after all of the plagues, the destruction and death, relented and let the Israelite people go only to quickly change his mind after they had left. The destruction of the Egyptian army was a clear demonstration that the Israelites were God’s chosen people and that He would protect them as well as a clear demonstration of what God’s wrath could be like.

A second point that the readings for today bring out is how we are to act in a society comprised of many different individuals and beliefs. Jesus spoke of a compassion that went beyond simple forgiveness.

One of His most characteristic activities was an open and inclusive table. “Table fellowship” – sharing a meal with somebody – had a significance in Jesus’ social world that is difficult for us to imagine. It was not a casual act, as it can be in the modern world. In a general way, sharing a meal represented mutual acceptance. More specifically, rules surrounding meals were deeply embedded in the purity system of the day. These rules governed not only what might be eaten and how it should be prepared, but also with whom one might eat. Refusing to share a meal was one form of social ostracism. In Jesus’ time, the meal was a microcosm of the social system, table fellowship an embodiment of social vision.

The inclusiveness seen in Jesus’ table fellowship was reflected in the shape of the movement itself. It was an inclusive movement, negating all the boundaries that society had erected at that time. At Jesus table back then, much to the chagrin of the Pharisees and Scribes, were women, untouchables, the poor, the maimed, the marginalized and people of stature who found what Jesus had to say attractive. We celebrate this same table fellowship as the Lord’s Supper today.

Communion, the Lord’s Supper, can be seen in two ways. There are those who see it as a memorial, a way of remembering what Christ had done fall humanity. But other see the Lord’s Supper as quality spiritual time, a means of becoming closer to God. As we come together for this occasion, we can see both of these visions.

On a number of occasions in the New Testament besides what we call the Last Supper, Jesus commanded the disciples to share in a fellowship meal. The Last Supper is the commemoration of the Passover, of the freeing of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. And telling his disciples that this was a meal that he really wanted to eat with them (Luke 22: 15), Jesus was showing the importance of Passover.

In 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 26 we read:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and, when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

One critical word in this passage is remembrance. In the Old Testament, remembrance is something God does. God remembers his chosen people in mercy and grace. Because God remembers, Israel is to remember. In the New Testament, remembrance is more that just a mental thought, it is an act. As God remembered Israel and acted, so to must Christians remember God’s action in Christ.

By remembering God’s action in Christ, Christians bear witness and testify to our gracious and loving God. In telling the Corinthians that Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me”, Paul was telling them to be an active witness to God’s love for humanity!” By doing this, we can refer others and ourselves back to God.

We live in a world that often times demands actions that simply make bad things worse. Peter asked how many times we should forgive our brothers. Jesus said not just seven times, but seventy times seven. The compassion that He expressed, both in how we are to forgive and how we are to live, is expressed in the communion we are about to partake.

What we do, we do because we remember Christ, remembering that no one was shut out from His table. We in the United Methodist Church serve an open table, inviting all that so desire to come. We do not set down any requirements that must met before hand but only ask that you come with an open heart and mind.