January 28, 2007

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Reconciling in Christ Sunday (RIC)

Pastor Richard Andersen

St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

 

ARE YOU AN EXTREMIST?

Luke 4:21-30

 

The gospel for today tells of Jesus’ return to his hometown Nazareth.  The townspeople “spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.  Is not this Joseph’s son?”  The people welcomed Jesus with open arms.  But this welcome turned to unwelcome very quickly.

 

Jesus went before the congregation in Nazareth and preached an unwelcome message. He tells the people that sometimes God chooses to do his work, not among his own chosen people, but among the Gentiles.  He is bold to say that God’s own people are sometimes the ones least receptive to his work and his word.

 

The widow of Zarephath was an outsider because she was a woman, a widow and a Gentile.

Naaman was no only a leper but he was an Arab leper who bathed in the Jordan, the sacred river of Israel.     

 

And, even though he has Hebrew texts to support what he has to say, Jesus message is extreme—perhaps even heretical.  The people respond with anger.

 

But Jesus was not just making an unorthodox observation from scripture; he was speaking directly to the people gathered pointing his finger at them.  The thrust of Jesus message was not theoretical about Elijah and Elisha, it was about them.

 

So, here in Jesus home town, an incensed mob wrestles Jesus out of the temple to the edge of the cliff.  They meant to throw him over the cliff and kill him; yet, as Luke reports, “He passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”

 

This is the same Jesus who walked on the water, the same Jesus who had the authority to cast out a demon, and to call Lazarus from the tomb.  This is the Jesus who can walk through a crowd of people who are intent on killing him. 

 

We read in the Gospel of John, “No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.  I have received this command from my Father” (John 10:18).

 

Today’s Old Testament lesson reminds us that Jeremiah, the servant of God, received an unwelcome assignment from God.  God’s instructions to Jeremiah are blunt and no-nonsense:  “You shall go to all to whom I send you.”  Jeremiah is not encouraged to pick and choose.  He is to go wherever God sends him and he is to say, “Whatever I command you.” 

 

We are reminded of Jeremiah’s tough assignment and experience, then, when we get to Jesus’ appointment at the Nazareth synagogue.  Jesus recounts the truth of God’s own people being antagonistic toward God’s prophets; and then he experiences it himself in the extreme.

 

God’s tough assignments will be unwelcome news.  And God frequently calls extremists to do the work.

 

At the first Wingspan steering committee meeting I attended last week, Joan Duke read our opening devotion.  Here Joan quotes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’ Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream?’ Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus?’ Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ‘Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God’…So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we be?  Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”[1]

 

What kind of extremists will we be during this year of interim ministry? 

 

During this first week on the job I have sat down with members of the steering committee of Wingspan to get acquainted.  One such meeting was with the congregation’s co-president, Lee Snook.  At the conclusion of our conversation Lee encouraged me to study the Word of God, saying that this is the most important request the congregation will have of its pastors during this interim period.  I understand this admonition to “remain in the word of God” as the anchor for our work together during this interim year.

 

Today is “Reconciling in Christ Sunday.”  As a community of the people of God, we are called to minister to all people, knowing that the world may be an unjust and unloving place.  Our world at times is a place of alienation and brokenness.  Christ calls us to reconciliation and wholeness.  We are challenged by the Gospel to be agents of healing within our society and denomination.  We affirm with the apostle Paul that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.”  Christ has made us one.  We acknowledge this reconciliation extends to all people.

 

You have called me to serve as interim pastor of Wingspan so that together we may advocate; network; educate, provide pastoral care and work together for the sake of this ministry with and on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons and their families.

 

What kind of extremist will you be during this interim?  You have called an openly lesbian pastor and, now, an openly gay pastor.  What’s next?

 

With others I have been following the daily reports that have come from Atlanta, GA as the trial of Pastor Bradley Schmeling has taken place.  Pastor Schmeling was called by St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta.  At the time of his call he was open with his bishop and congregation about being gay.  Then, when he became partnered with Darrin Easler, he, again, was truthful with his bishop and congregation.  Upon hearing that Bradley and Darrin were partnered, Bishop Warren asked him to resign.  When Bradley refused to resign, the bishop took him to court.  The trial was a closed session.  No one who was part of it or testified was allowed to speak about what they said or what happened until the decision of the committee is reached. Although the trial has concluded we may not know the outcome for a week or two.

 

Sometimes speaking the truth is unwelcome.

 

I was left with several impressions as I read reports from the many who were gathered at St. John’s Lutheran Church during the trial this week.

  • We gathered downstairs for prayers at the start of the day.
  • Tonight at St. John's we had Prayers at the Cross, a time for quiet reflective intercessory prayer…prayers based on the no anger, bitterness, and hatred.
  • The roof was raised; the Lord was praised; the soul calmed and one's spirit refreshed.
  • During the service, there was laughter and some tears as prayers were being offered up.
  • As with the service on Thursday evening, we began with a reminder of our Baptism.
  • Prayers were offered for the participants, the committee itself, and all those people who have in the past been victims of this problematic policy.
  • Pastor Bradley appeared to be centered and calm, both at prayer in the morning and throughout the day.

 

As I gathered impressions this week I was also studying today’s Epistle lesson from I Corinthians.  You may recognize I Corinthians 13 as the “love chapter”.  Many people think of it as the “wedding chapter” having heard it so often at weddings.  I Corinthians 13 is, however, the church “conflict” chapter.  It comes in the middle of Paul’s discussion about who (and whose spiritual gifts) is most important in the congregation.  Consequently, its message has value in nearly any context, given that Paul writes it as God’s solution to conflict.  The larger discussion at this point in I Corinthians is the gifts of the Spirit, both in the lives of individuals and in the life of the church.  The chapter suffers somewhat from the fact that it is associated with wedding ceremonies.  We have taken it out of its original context. The initial point Paul makes is that the other gifts are proven empty and lifeless without love.  Then, having established the essential importance of love, Paul follows with a several-verse description of what love is and what it is not.  Paul argues for the eternal quality of love.  The rest of the gifts are temporal in their necessity and usefulness, but this love “never ends.”

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an extremist and wrote about other extremists from the Birmingham jail.  He encouraged us, as Jesus did, to love people who hate us.  He taught us that we should not hate people who are different than we are or who do not believe what we believe.  Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for what was right, and he did it in a way that was not violent, mean or hurtful.  When he felt his enemies were right he worked to help them; when he felt his enemies were wrong he lovingly worked to change things.  He used I Corinthians as his guide.

 

During this Epiphany season we are guided by the light of Christ.  We have God’s word.  We have the sacraments, and, in community, we continue to experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We have been given all we need to be extremists for love. 

 

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

 

Pastor Richard Andersen

St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. April 16, 1963. [ N. B. All typographical errors are from the original source and therefore have not been corrected. A PDF version can be found here. ]AUTHOR'S NOTE: This response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama (Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray. the Reverend Edward V. Ramage and the Reverend Earl Stallings) was composed under somewhat constricting circumstance. Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me. Although the text remains in substance unaltered, I have indulged in the author's prerogative of polishing it for publication.