Pentecost 13 C: Pursuing a Faith That Matters
Dear Partner in Preaching,
What does it cost us to go to Church? I’ve been wondering of late what our people would say if we asked them that. A free Sunday morning? A chance to sleep in? The ten or twenty bucks they put in the offering plate? Odds are, if we stop to think of it, it costs us very little to be a Christian today, as even in an increasingly “post-Christian” culture, going to church, if no longer quite the norm, at least occasions little comment.
Not so, of course, in Jesus’ day. As Jesus indicates in this complicated and, if truth-be-told, somewhat off-putting passage, those who followed him were regularly thrust into conflict and division, often with their own family members. To follow Jesus, you see, was to question the religious and economic and even political status quo. If you were Jewish, it meant accepting as the Messiah this itinerant rabbi who hung out with the disreputable, accepted sinners, and preached a message of love and forgiveness. It meant, that is, accepting as Messiah one who looked almost nothing like the warrior king David they had expected. If you were Gentile, it meant accepting as the Messiah this itinerant rabbi who hung out with the disreputable, accepted sinners, and preached a message of love and forgiveness. It meant, that is, accepting as Messiah one who looked almost nothing like what the culture held out as powerful or important.
Moreover, following Jesus meant not merely adopting new beliefs, but a new way of living. To be a follower of the one who accepted and even honored the disreputable meant that you needed to do the same, rejecting the easy temptation of judging others and instead inviting them into our lives. To be a follower of the one who preached love and forgiveness was to practice the same, particularly when it comes to those who differ from you even, and maybe especially, in terms of what they believe.
I began this reflection noting a major difference between Jesus’ day and our own, as naming yourself as a Christian had a much greater societal cost and even personal risk associated with it then it does now. But I wonder…. I wonder if we might also find ourselves thrust into conflict and division with those we care about if we welcomed into our homes and congregations and social circles those whom society shuns. What would be the reaction of our family and friends and co-workers if we really acted like Jesus did?
Across the Old Testament, the purifying fire Jesus seems to reference here is most often associated with the fire that burns away impure religious practices. Not impure as in “not liturgically correct,” but rather impure in that they tended to make religion a source of false comfort. Right religious practice and beliefs, too many have thought over the centuries, should exempt you from the suffering or disaster or poverty or even death all around you. In this regard, I believe little has changed. Think, for instance, of the popular Christian obsession with “accepting Jesus into your heart” as the means by which to escape eternal punishment and secure an eternal reward. But what if faith wasn’t about guaranteeing future bliss but rather was an invitation to live differently now, to see those around us neither as souls to be saved or threats to be deterred, but rather to see them – everyone! – God’s children to be loved, honored, and cared for?
Or, perhaps closer to home in this election season, think of how routine it has become for political candidates to close every speech with “God bless America.” Yet throughout the biblical witness blessing always comes with an expectation, even an obligation to extend that blessing to others. America has been blessed – richly – and from those who have been given much, much is also expected. So what would it cost a candidate to close speeches with, “God bless America so that American can be a blessing to the world!”?
Now, the temptation at this point may be to imagine a sermon that chastises people for their easy faith or acceptance of what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” But what if instead we simply asked people how we could our time together on Sunday in worship, education, and fellowship to encourage each other to live like, not just believe in, Jesus? How would we imagine worship, preaching, Sunday school, even coffee hour if our goal was to equip people to enter more deeply into their faith so that it might shape more palpably their life. I am absolutely convinced that our people desperately want their faith to matter, to be useful to them, to shape the way they think about their work, their families, their money, and more.
So what if we invited a conversation this weekend that helped us see Church not as an obligation or spiritual destination, but a place to come to be encouraged, equipped, and sent to make a difference to the world. And a place to return to when living like Jesus creates division. Because it will. But it will also create joy. Because the one who sends us out was himself baptized by fire – note, it’s his own baptism Jesus talks about in these verses – and is both with us and for us as we come to church to be reminded of our identity as God’s beloved and are sent out again in mission to tell others in word and deed that God loves them as well.
This is a life that takes courage, and your sermon, aided by the power of the Holy Spirit, will help create that courage. Thank you, Dear Partner, for your faithfulness in and out of season and even and especially when our witness to Christ creates division. Blessings on your life and ministry.
Yours in Christ,
David
“Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Pursuing a Faith That Matters”, especially the second and third last paragraphs, should be a routine church function. But in over 50 years of regular church attendance (Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist and United as I had a transient career in Northern Alberta) I have learned that church culture generally supersedes such personal mission development. If the personal mission doesn’t fit within a proprietary initiative of the church or its hierarchy, it is not going to happen.
You have written many times about individual mission and church support of each person’s mission development, but in my experience that continues to elude practice. At the age of 72 I am in a Spiritual drought. While I continue to attend church I currently find it too draining to honour its reality in mission development. In the meantime I will continue to attempt working outside of the church setting but it’s hard to get synergy on your own. Not sure how the concept contained within “Pursuing a Faith That Matters” is translated into practice.
David, I recently had a married couple who were avid Trump supporters leave my congregation because I as the minister sent a link to the Rev’d William Barber’s prophetic address to the DNC to our church council — I’d be interested in how you have managed the balance in your preaching and teaching between ‘comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable,’ especially related to addressing political issues of the day?
Richard+
It is not easy…whenever I send anything, I am always clear on why I am sending it, especially if it is a message given in a certain context. What is it about the message that particularly struck me. What is it that I want my leaders to ponder? Otherwise, they can misconstrue it as a blanket endorsement of one opinion over another.
People who are that sensitive will never be happy in a church that challenges their thinking. I didn’t see Rev. Barber’s message, but I imagine it was enlightening and worth sharing with your leaders.
We are continually challenged as Christians and leaders to define what it means to “live out the Gospel” in this day and age of soundbites and “twitter baiting” . The call to “stay the course”, “swim upstream” and “disturb the comfortable” continues to be that of Jesus, even today. It can be uncomfortable to preach a challenging sermon and believe me, I did not want this text, but realized I need to walk into the storm, not away from it. Thanks, David for your thoughtful words! Blessings!
Erin, yes, you make some great points about how to ‘frame’ distributing something like Rev’d Barber’s DNC address (btw, here’s a link to it — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3PUghqlAA) And yes, I do think the couple who left our fellowship felt that church was not the place to have their political thinking challenged! Which I guess is where this week’s gospel lesson comes in? 🙂
I am sure my brother that the sentiment goes both ways. Sometimes it is the preacher need to be afflicted in Comfort. And of course as you stated, the adverse is true as well. God bless you tomorrow.
Richard+, this is the first time in all the years I have been reading David’s commentaries that I have ever responded to anyone’s reply. I am grateful you were led to pass on Dr. Barber’s speech.
I went to jail with Rev. Barber (actually, I was in the May 13, 2013 wave, which was the week after he initially submitted himself to bear witness here in North Carolina and he was there praying for us that week). Among the many things I learned from that experience conversing, praying and singing in jail with people like Dr. William Chafe, distinguished historian from Duke and Dr. Rodney S. Sadler, Professor of Bible at Union Presbyterian Seminary here in Charlotte and with the “Raging Grannies,” a group of mostly octagenarian ladies, was that the message of Jesus by design both culls out and calls together.
It culls out those who are content with ascriptive faith as merely a means of reinforcing preferred cultural or political norms from those who live faith as a means of finding deeper intimacy with Jesus. The message of Jesus, especially here in Luke, calls together those who understand that the only real way for the world to be reconciled to God is through challenging people with stark differences, without regard for pastoral balance, to take a stand for their common humanity, no matter what the cost. I know this is counterintuitive. I have been a pastor for nearly 37 years so I understand intimately the challenge and discomfort this can present.
This “calling together” is Dr. Barber’s theology of “Fusion Politics” in a nutshell. That is why I placed my body on the line (and why I continue to do so). This is also why I lovingly in my heart “release” any who cannot bear witness to these ideas with me, to go where they are led. I am always aware that these convictions I hold may also one day demand my release. Wherever (God) leads, I’ll go.
Peter, thank you (and thanks be to God) for taking the time to respond to me with such a godly reply, forged as it is in your experience of a costly personal discipleship — certainly the Reverend William Barber is one of the great prophets of the American church today. You mentioned the counterintuitive cost of ‘releasing’ those whose faith is a part of their loyalty to class or race or party or lifestyle — there are many other idols, I am sure. My additional concern as a pastor far less experienced than you is discerning the balance between the need for such a release and the need to make sure the released know that our fellowship’s door is always open to them for dialogue. Sincere thanks again for your comments which I found so encouraging and inspiring.