August 5, 2012 Proper 13
4th anniversary of Community Christian Church of Springfield, MO
Roger Ray, pastor
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
I went a little "postal" Wednesday evening. The whole Mike Huckabee call for a "Chick Fil A Appreciation Day" had not shown up on my radar until some church members told me about driving past the fried chicken restaurant and saw cars lined up for blocks. They were giving me a ride home from church that evening and I asked them to drive by our local Chick-Fil-A so that I could see if it was still going on. Sure enough, at 9 p.m., there was still a line stretching down the road for blocks.
I was, of course, appalled but when I saw a huge campaign bus for one of our gubernatorial hopefuls here in Missouri turning off of Glenstone and taking their place in line..... well, that was just too much. I jumped from the passenger seat of Mike and Carolyn's van and ran over to the bus and began shouting at the candidate..... "You are trying to get the hate vote? Is that why you want to be governor? You want to encourage people to murder gay people? You want to export them from the USA?"
If you did not know it, the owners of Chick Fil A have donated more than $5 million to causes supporting the political decision in Uganda to execute anyone found to be gay and another group advocating for the expulsion of gay people from America. This is hardly a free speech issue..... this is advocacy of genocide and ethnic cleansing..... a point perhaps lost on folks who were there because their right wing pastor told them to be there but certainly not lost on a political candidate for the office of governor.
Of course, Dan Cathy, the Chick-Fil-A's president says that he is not anti-gay but rather he is just, in his own words, "very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit." Now, by that, he does not mean the Biblical view of the family in the majority of scripture.... He isn't advocating for polygamy, concubinage and having sex with slave girls as most of the Bible does but rather, he favors the more narrow implied definition in the New Testament. Still, if he were being honest, surely we would see him trying to repeal no-fault divorce laws, or wanting to make infidelity a criminal offense, or restrict the cohabitation of unmarried persons of the opposite sex. He has not spent a cent on those measures but has donated more than $5 million to violent anti-gay causes.... So, as in most cases when people say, "I'm not anti-gay, I'm just in favor of free speech," they're really anti-gay.
I was seething with anger but, angry outbursts are not very helpful in such situations. I went home, dug my white alb that I reserve for baptism ceremonies out of the closet and put it on.
I then went, looking like an out of place monk, and stood in front of Chick-Fil-A until they were closed and all the cars were gone. I didn't argue with anyone, I just smiled and passed out copies of a newspaper article detailing how the owners of the restaurant used profits to further their Neo-Nazi agenda..... but I did it in a nice way.... You would be proud of me.
I know all too well that such actions don't change anyone's mind but may I remind you of that old Civil War story about the old woman who came running off the porch of her cabin holding her broom over her head to join the army as they ran to the battle front. A young soldier said to her, "You better go home grandma, you can't do much out here with that broom." And she replied, "Yes I can, I can show them whose side I'm on."
I know that I must have looked like a crazy man, out there all alone, but I felt that someone had to stand up for the gay people who were being so hideously maligned by this public display of homophobia. I had to at least show them that there are Christians who don't join them in their violent hatred.
Let me ask you to take a look at the cover of your bulletin where we print the 8 points of progressive Christianity every week. Number 3 says, "By calling ourselves progressive, we mean that we are Christians who seek community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to: conventional Christians and questioning skeptics....Believers and agnostics, Women and men,...Those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
Those of all classes and abilities....
The 4th point illustrates what we mean by this too as it adds that we know that the way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe.
On this day when we are celebrating the 4th anniversary of our church's founding, I want to talk about community. We were not named accidently, after all. It is our intent to form, not simply a church, but an intentional community of faith. Creating community, especially in the social environment of the 21st century, is very difficult. We divide ourselves so eagerly along political, gender, economic class, race, language and age lines.
The famous psychiatrist, M. Scott Peck, wrote a book about building community entitled, The Different Drum. In it, Peck argues that one of the most crucial aspects of community is that it must be ferociously inclusive. In fact, I have heard Peck say on several occasions, to build community, you have to be tolerant of everything except for intolerance. That is, you must push yourself to be accepting, forgiving, inclusive of especially the people with whom you disagree, the people who are different from you, the people who may even offend your sensibilities. But the one thing that a community must reject is intolerance.
In fact, after the first time that I heard Scott Peck say that in a lecture I went to my study and looked up every time that the gospels describe Jesus as being in heated conflict with someone. The Jesus of the gospels is known to socialize with tax collectors and sinners.... Which in our parlance is traitors and prostitutes....
He visited with, had dinner with, and partied with the people we might be afraid to be seen with but the only people he got into a shouting match with.... Indeed, the only people he told to go to hell, were religious bigots who refused to accept the people who lived on the margins of society. He said to the Pharisees (Matthew 23): 13 'But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Passivity does not create community. Being neutral in ethical matters doesn't create community, it just creates victims. It takes courage to create community. It takes a willingness to invest energy in understanding one another, forgiving one another, loving one another.
Mega-churches fill warehouses with thousands of members who do not ever have to engage one another in conversation. House churches self select people who are carbon copies of themselves so that they never feel the discomfort of being around someone who voted differently in the last election or who has a disability, or a sexual orientation that might make them feel slightly uncomfortable.
Real inclusivity is much dirtier business. In a real community you live in close enough proximity to know the people around you. You know who is unemployed, who has cancer....
You know who is divorced and who is straight, gay or bi....
You break bread with people of different races and political parties. You disagree about issues and beliefs but you never let those things make you reject that person, unless they predicate your friendship on your willingness to join them in rejecting, judging, executing or deporting someone else.
As Karen Armstrong so clearly states: "If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, or self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God's name, it was bad theology."
We have rejected the part of our religious heritage that masked cruel, unkind or violent behavior by blaming it on God. We have forsaken the church that asked us to sit quietly and dream of heaven while those around us suffered a hell on earth. We are striving to give birth to a faith community that is safe, that is affirming, that is inclusive, healing and prophetic.
In fact, fours years into this journey together, as we sit here in this building surrounded by thousands of pairs of shoes that will begin their journey to the poor of Nicaragua tomorrow and as you make plans for how you will once again meet and feed the homeless here in Springfield this week, I say, that you have done it.
Most weeks you generously applaud my meager effort at preaching but today, we should turn the tables because it is you who deserve applause.... You have swum against the current of religious irrelevance, you have rejected the religions of prejudice, judgment and guilt, you have sent a message or forgiveness, acceptance and justice all around the globe.
I appreciate you. I applaude you! I love you!
