On Rainbows & Church Unity

Sometimes I pull an old sermon from my father's barrel and I find that it reads as though it were newly penned to be preached today. With Christians now so sharply divided over hot-button political, social and theological issues, these words that my dad wrote for his congregation in 1984 might as well have been meant for us over thirty years later:

"Too often we see partnership and unity in the Church replaced with factionalism and suspicion. An outsider observing us would wonder whether we consider it more important to be about our mission or to quarrel over issues such as female ministers in the Church, or whether we should use only male terms to refer to God, or conservative versus liberal theology, or the place of homosexuals in the church and its ministry, or many others.

Unfortunately, today in many people's eyes it is not enough to say you are a Christian. If you do, you will be pressed further to reveal whether you are a liberal or a conservative, whether you're straight or gay and where you stand on those issues, whether you're high church or low church, whether you're charismatic or fundamentalist or evangelical, whether you advocate a theology of liberation or feminism, whether you are part of a denomination or an independent.

Christians are preoccupied with choosing up sides over various hot issues and consolidating their strength to protect their own turf. This is a very serious challenge to partnership and unity within the Church; it is damaging to our credibility and our Christian witness before the world. In the days of the early Church it is reported that outsiders looked at the Christian fellowship and said, 'See how they love one another!' It seems today that our factionalism is more of a distinguishing mark than our love for one another.

Our partnership and unity as Christians comes from the fact that before the cross all of us are absolutely equal. The criminal and the PTA president, the unemployed laborer and the corporate executive, black and white, male and female, socialist and capitalist, gay and straight. Before the cross, the only thing that differentiates us is whether or not we have accepted God's forgiving, transforming love. All of the other stands we take on social issues, political issues, economic issues, moral issues are minor compared to the stand we take at the foot of the cross. The cross may have been on a hill, but at the foot of the cross the ground is perfectly level. No one stands higher than anyone else there.

Solidarity is often little more than an enlarged form of self-interest. Communities and churches that are made up only of 'birds of a feather' are not the fulfillment of the Gospel. We call Jesus the Light of the World, so it might be helpful to think about how light works. We know light by what it lights up, by the way it is reflected. Light is the perfect mixture of the full spectrum of colors. Most objects which the sun's rays hit will absorb some colors in the light and reflect others. We see only the colors that are reflected. Those colors, we know, are an outstanding variety of shades and contrasts -- never just one uniform color.

It is exactly the same with each different person on whom the Light of Jesus Christ shines. He shines on each one of us, and we each look slightly different because we each reflect slightly different parts of his light. And so, one of us under Christ's light is a fighter against social injustice, while another is zealous for personal conversion. One advocates order and dignity in worship, while another calls for freedom and spontaneity. One pushes for change, while another cautions us not to lose the value of tradition. Doesn't every human being color the pure light of Christ to some degree and in some direction? Should this always be understood as the tragedy of our imperfection? Or might it be a blessing of diversity, like a rainbow that in a sense opens up or unfolds the sunlight?

Through his cross, Christ revealed himself most fully as the Light of the World -- a light that at one and the same time enhances our differences and yet draws us together because it shines on all of us from one true source. We should not be frustrated with diversity and contrast in the Church. We must thank God for every new tint that shines forth to the world. None of us individually, but all of us together in true partnership, can reflect the pure light of God to a darkened world. This is the Good News we have to give: 'God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.'"  

From: "Toward a New Partnership in the Church"
Scripture: Philippians 1:1-11; II Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:10-15
Preached at: Paoli U.M. Church, Paoli, PA  (1984)

Spiritual Weariness

I'm on vacation ... a week away from the pressures of work and the daily grind of life. This break came at a good time, at a point when I felt like weariness might have otherwise swamped me. I'm sure you've been there. Who hasn't? Getting away from it all certainly helps to give us a fresh perspective and to refuel us for the journey ahead.

But what is the best prescription when our weariness is spiritual? What if our frustration is not simply from the stresses of a job, but with a God who seems absent or at least asleep at the switch? My father once wrote that such spiritual weariness "is epidemic among us today. It's easy to grow weary of a God whose only claim to divinity is what he did back in the hazy past. It's like dozing off while listening to the reminiscing of a once-great person, all of whose excitement and accomplishments in life lie in days gone by. That kind of god becomes dull and old-hat, lacking in power and relevance for the now of our lives. Consequently, our church-going, our praying, our Bible reading, and even our Christian service becomes obligation, dull routine. Finally, it may even fade away entirely."

"People lament. They say, 'What has happened to the Church? It has lost its power, its zest.' The answer is that the Church -- you and I (for the Church is not something other than you and I) -- the Church is looking for God in the past rather than in the present. It is not enough to study the Bible to find out what God did back then. It is not enough to recall what God did in years past in any congregation. Isaiah says, 'Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.' Now he didn't meant that it was wrong to go back to those things. He certainly did enough of that himself in his prophecies. But we go back to what God did then in order to get a handle on the present, to be able to discern what God is doing now, not to live back there. We are failing to ask, 'What is God doing among us now?'"

"What is God doing in my life, my job, my family, my marriage? What is God doing in my church? What is God doing in the world? These are important questions. The Biblical promise is: 'Ask and ye shall receive.' It is absolutely certain that if you ask these questions in faith, really wanting to know, you will be overwhelmed. Your life, your church, the world around you will dance, alive with the Spirit of God. You cannot grow weary of a God like that."

"I recently heard of a pastor who begins each meeting of the congregation's governing Board by asking the members a question: 'Where have you seen God at work -- at work anywhere -- since the last time we met?' The answers bring a sense of excitement and thrill to the meeting and to the church itself. These people are training themselves to look for God's activity, and they are finding God every day, in their families, in their neighborhoods, in their church, even in the news headlines. It is a search that never goes unrewarded."

"God is alive and moving right now. The more you sensitize yourself to this, the more you realize that the earth is crammed with heaven, and no situation, no matter how terrible, is outside the redeeming activity of God. The Bible is not God's prison, and heaven is not just our retreat where we go in the sweet by-and-by when the world is finished using and abusing us. 'Behold, he is doing a new thing right now. Do you not perceive it?'" 

So now I have some questions to ponder as a paddle my kayak across the lake: What new thing is this God doing in my life, my family, my marriage, my workplace, my church, my world? I'm guessing that the answers to questions like these could be as energizing as any vacation.

From:"Weary of God"

Scripture: Isaiah 43:14-25