Sunday, September 2, 2007
Luke 11:37-42
Senior Pastor
As I was reading this text and contemplating this time together, I was also aware that football season was starting this weekend. It reminded me of an old joke that was popular back when I was in school. OU’s football team had just won a couple of national championships and it seemed that there was a good deal more emphasis on football than on academics and so people enjoyed joking: “I hope OU can build a university the football team can be proud of.”
As I was reading this text from Luke, I was thinking, I hope we can be a church that Wesley would be proud of. Talking about all the wonderful ways John Wesley lead people in their Christian walk can be a bit overwhelming. We have talked about how his work began by focusing on people and including all kinds of people. We considered how he developed multiple leaders and motivated those in the Methodist movement to serve. Susan lead us in considering how we are connected and then these last two weeks we thought about the importance of knowing God and proclaiming Christ.
Our series has been called Walking With Wesley. Because he worked so tirelessly, there is a lot contemplate. But today we have one last chapter from the Lovett Weems book Leadership In The Wesleyan Spirit that I want to explore with you. In this chapter Weems tells us that walking with Wesley: seeks justice. He says that seeking justice goes beyond giving charity. Charity is important but this is something more.
Jesus makes that clear in this stinging indictment of the Pharisees. Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds… and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. (v. 42) Issues of justice usually include war and peace, poverty and hunger, classism and sexism. Social justice issues include advocacy for those without a strong voice in the public arena like women and children or refugees. But, in his analysis of issues facing us as United Methodists in America, Weems identifies racism as the most difficult issue before us. He argues that racism is the justice issue we need to face in this time in our life as a denomination.
He sights a couple of interesting examples of why he put this at the top of his list. First he points out a survey done by the United Methodist Church asking members what they thought God was calling us to address. Racism topped the list, but perhaps more disturbing were the answers to another question on the survey. How optimistic are you as to the church’s ability to address these issues? Racism ranked last. Methodists felt like we would be less effective in dealing with racism than any other issue raised. (p. 139-140)
Weems also shares some information out of a book about American public education. In part it deals with racial issues and what is happening on that front. In one situation a group of ninth graders were asked how long they thought it would be before children of all different races went to school together. There was a pause, then one of the student leaders said, “Give it another two hundred years.” The other students nodded in agreement. (p. 140)
I was aghast. That can’t be right. But then I think of the make-up of our different schools in town and you can see the segregation reflected there. Or even closer to home, we simply need to observe our own racial and ethnic make-up in worship to see that racism is still a problem in America.
Jesus challenges the church to do better. Woe to you who tithe and neglect justice and the love of God. Social justice ministry and the love of God you should practice, without neglecting tithing. Just as he does in the Great Commandment, Jesus ties the love of God to the love of neighbor. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength and your neighbor as yourself. These you should practice without neglecting other spiritual practices.
I remember the first time I came to First Church after being called by the Bishop and told they needed me to move over here. I came and met with the Staff-Parish Relations Committee. It was a kind of get acquainted meeting. The members of the committee had all introduced themselves and then it was my turn to give them a little background on my life and ministry. I told them a little about my family and where I grew up and was moving through my college experience when one woman stopped me. She said, “I am not sure we can go on. I am not sure this will work.”
I was taken aback. I did not know what I had said. I am sure I had a very puzzled look on my face. “Where did you say you went to college?” “The University of Oklahoma,” I answered. She said, “I am just not sure we can deal with that here,” – as she looked at other OSU grads around the table. Then she finally laughed. She was just giving me a hard time because we have different loyalties when it comes to colleges.
But I share this with you because it raises the issue that there are differences that can divide us. How big are they? How great is the gulf? And of course, the point is that our differences may be too great. We may not be able to deal with this one or that one. Where do you draw the line? With whom will you refuse to have fellowship? For some it is race, for others it is gender, for many these days it is sexual orientation. Others draw a line over socio-economic differences. Others do it based on ethnic background or national origin. Increasingly because of terrorist attacks many are thinking that religion would be a good dividing line.
But the Gospel teaches us that there is no difference that is bigger than Christ. There is no human difference that is too big for Christ to overcome. There is no gulf that Christ cannot span. That is the power of love. That is the call of Christ. Christ would not call us to battle racism or any other issue if it were not a part of an abundant life. It is hard for us to see through our fears and prejudices, but Jesus says there is blessing when justice is done. Not only for those who are helped, but for us. There is a richness and a blessing when our network of relationships is expanded to include the whole human family.
Do we neglect justice? Christ makes it even tougher on us when he ties questions of justice and the love of God together in the same breath. It is easy to think: why stir things up? After all I am a Christian. I love other people. I come to church, is that not enough?
Evelyn Underhill in her book entitled The
Spiritual Life answers our question this way. She says we would do well to “realize that our own feelings
and preferences are very poor guides when it comes to the robust realities and
stern demands of the Spirit.”
The she gives several historical examples. For instance she points out that St. Paul did not want to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He wanted to be a clever and appreciated young Jewish scholar more zealous than all for the Law. Neither did St. Ambrose or St. Augustine want to be overworked and underappreciated bishops but both were. St. Cuthbert desired solitude and freedom to contemplate; yet his call took him in another direction. St Francis Xavier wanted an ordered life close to his mentor St. Ignatius but with only a few hours notice he was sent out to be the Apostle of the Indies and never returned to Europe again. Henry Martyn, the fragile and exquisite scholar, was compelled to sacrifice the intellectual life, which he so enjoyed for the missionary life to which he felt he was decisively called. “In all these, a power beyond themselves decided the direction of life.” Yet, in all we can recognize the highest Christian response. Over and over in the history of Christianity we can identify the Spirit of God at work in a living and personal way drawing people into ministries of justice.
Hill says, when we consider this we can see “that the spiritual life does not consist in mere intellectual betterment, or assiduous attention to one’s own soul, but in a free and unconditional response to that Spirit’s pressure and call, whatever the cost may be.” (Quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Job and Shawchuck, p. 69-70)
I feel that call of God to do the work of justice. I sense the pressure of the Spirit to not sit idly by when hearing these words of Jesus cautioning us about neglecting justice and the love of God. I want to work on some of these justice issues as they present themselves in our community – especially the racial ones. Part of the dream of our Bridge ministry is to work on this. Lorenzo is going out in his new ministry to work on some of these issues. If you are interested in being a part of this kind of justice ministry, let me know. I invite you to contemplate these words from Luke and open yourself anew to God’s calling in this arena of social justice in your life. As we do, I am sure John Wesley, not to mention Jesus, would be gratified.
Amen and thanks be to God.
I hope we can be a church that ____________ would be proud of.
…walking with Wesley: seeks justice. He says that seeking
justice goes beyond giving ______________.
v. 42
…Weems identifies ____________ as the most difficult issue…
…survey done by the United Methodist Church…
____________ topped the list.
“Give it another ______ hundred years.”
Jesus challenges the church to do ____________.
Just as he does in the Great Commandment, Jesus ties the
love
of God to the love of ________________.
…there are differences that can ____________ us.
Where do you draw the line?
With whom will you refuse to have ____________________?
But the Gospel teaches us that there is no difference
that is
bigger than ____________.
…Jesus says there is blessing when ______________ is
done.
I come to ____________, is that not enough?
Evelyn Underhill… “realize that our own feelings and
preferences are very ________ guides when it comes to the
robust realities and stern demands of the Spirit.”
“that the spiritual life does not consist in mere
intellectual
betterment, or assiduous attention to one’s ______ soul…”
Kid’s Question:
What two loves does Jesus tie together?
The love of ______ and the love of ________________ .