Endurance by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

WARNING: the scripture for today is a tough one. Last week was hard, too. We talked about death. Today is not as hard as last week. Here is the deal. We are nearing the end of the church year.  The church year ends in November.

On December 1^st this year, we begin the season of Advent. That is the beginning of the seasons of the church year. Advent is that wonderful time when we prepare to receive the baby Jesus. It is a time of hope and expectation.

There is a rhythm to the scripture readings in the church year (called the lectionary). And at the end of each year, we hit some hard texts. The point is to make sure that preachers don’t just pick our favorite stories and just the feel good ones, but that we preach the whole story of scripture. I know last week was a challenge for some of you so I thank you for coming back this week!

In this week’s reading which you just heard Jesus talks to the people about the future destruction of the Temple. Just a little background here: The Temple was the social, religious and political center of Jewish life. Even if a Jewish person never traveled to Jerusalem, they revered the Temple as the home of God. For Jesus to predict its destruction was devastating to the people. But equally as troubling was the prediction that before the Temple falls, the people would be persecuted. This was scary for the people to hear, even more frightening for them to live through. You see, the Jewish people were living under an occupation army. The great Roman Empire had taken over their country. And in time, just as Jesus had predicted, the Romans destroyed their Temple. This was about 70 years after Jesus was crucified.

He was telling them to be prepared for terrible times ahead. They would be betrayed by family and scattered to the countryside. “You will be hated, because of my name,” Jesus says. But then he says: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Life for my followers will be hard, he says, but persevere. You will have fullness of life because of your faithfulness. Stay strong. Remember that I love you. God loves you.  You’ll gain your souls.

Fifty years ago, in Birmingham Alabama, a young pastor was in jail. A group of Bishops and other religious leaders published a public statement asking this young troublemaker to go back home to Atlanta. They called him an outside agitator. They said he and his people needed to be more patient – to wait. They would get what they were asking for all in good time.

Of course, you know that young pastor was Martin Luther King Jr. Two of the bishops who wrote to Dr. King were the Methodist bishops in Alabama. They were white men, trying to keep the status quo.

Dr. King wrote an eloquent response to them now known simply as “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail.” He said to them that he was not an outsider; that everyone in these United States had a reason to be concerned about segregation. He wrote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

He addressed their request that he and his people wait and be more patient. He said they had been waiting for over 300 years. He wrote:  “History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily….For years now I have heard the word ‘wait’”…but “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Then he talked about laws and why they were willing to break laws by sitting at lunch counters and doing other nonviolent acts. He said: “There are two types of laws. There are just laws and there are unjust laws.” “I would agree with Saint Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.”

King was accused by the bishops and others of being an extremist and he asks: was not Jesus an extremist? Was not the apostle Paul an extremist?

Then he writes: “So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. expresses his great sadness that the white churches do not, for the most part, join them in their efforts. That is the shame of our church.

“So here we are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a tail light behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice.”

(source: http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-birmingham-city-jail-1)

Dr. King, with his letter, was responding to his critics. He was also calling his followers to endurance. He knew the road ahead was a long and arduous one. He wrote this five years before he was assassinated. There would be beatings, fire hoses, houses fire bombed, lives lost. But progress was made. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law.

They endured because Dr. King and the people around him were grounded as followers of Jesus. He would have known this scripture. He would have known well what it feels like to have your Temple destroyed, as black churches in the South were fire bombed on a regular basis. He knew persecution, but he kept his eye on the goal. Justice for people of all races. By their endurance, Dr. King and all the people around him gained their souls.

There were many people around Dr. King during those days. One was another young black preacher, now a United Methodist bishop, retired, a black man by the name of Melvin Talbert.

I want to tell you about Bishop Talbert because he went to that same city recently. He went to Birmingham. He broke the law, church law. He went against the status quo. And this week, his own church turned against him, our own church, the United Methodist Church.

On October 26, Bishop Talbert went to Birmingham and presided at the wedding of two United Methodists: Joe Oppenshaw and Bobby Prince, who have been in a committed relationship for 12 years. In so doing, the bishop broke church law of the UMC. The Bishop would agree with Dr. King and with Saint Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all, and that our law prohibiting clergy from presiding at the union of two men or two women is an unjust law. Last year at our General Conference, after we were once again unable to get our church to change its stance, Bishop Talbert stood before a crowd of progressive United Methodists and gave a call to Biblical obedience. 

He said to the crowd: “I stand before you here this afternoon and I declare that God has already settled this matter: all human beings are created in the image of God. There are no exceptions, no exclusions. We belong to the family of God.

“At the same time, I declare to you that the derogatory language and restrictive laws in the Book of Discipline are immoral, and unjust and no longer deserve our loyalty and obedience.”

Talbert said that the “time has come for those of us who are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to do what is required of us.” The retired Bishop went on to remind the crowd of the old story of Jesus’ teaching to love God and neighbor, according to the Gospel of Luke.

“As Jesus said to the young lawyer, ‘you have answered rightly: do this and live,’” Talbert said to the gathered Coalition. “My brothers and sisters, I declare to you that same Gospel imperative: do this and live. In light of the actions taken by the General Conference, the time has come to act and to invite others to join what I’m calling an act of Biblical obedience.” (source: http://www.rmnetwork.org/gc-2012-altar-for-all/).

Then at the end of October Bishop Talbert went to Birmingham and officiated at the wedding of Bobby and Joe. This week, the Council of all the United Methodist Bishops from around the world met for their regularly scheduled meeting. On the agenda was a discussion of what to do about Bishop Talbert. They recognized that our church is divided, but in the end they advised their leaders to request that a complaint be filed against Bishop Talbert by his jurisdiction, which is in the Western part of the US. He could, potentially, be brought to church trial and lose his ministerial credentials. We don’t yet know how this will play out. But I can assure you, Bishop Talbert is clear about who he serves. He will endure the persecution even from his own church that he loves and serves. I heard him speak this summer. He said that he sat at lunch counters in the South and risked his life during the Civil Rights movement 50 years ago, and he is not afraid to put his life on the line again.

You see, Jesus was warning his followers that they would be called upon to suffer persecution. Their most prized Temple would fall into ruins. Some of them would even become martyrs. But as a group they would endure, and God’s love would never die. Justice would prevail.

So our question for today is this: will we stand with the early disciples, with Dr. King and with Bishop Talbert? Are we willing to suffer ridicule, alienation, to even risk personal harm if necessary, in order to stand up for justice and compassion in our community?

Will we take some risks?

Will we get outside of our comfortable homes and do something to change the world? I know some of us are already enduring persecution by who we are. I get that. Others of us are enjoying privilege that comes with being white, or educated, or straight in this country. But whatever our situation, we still have a choice. The poor uneducated black people living in the South who were enduring great hardship under segregation had to decide whether or not they were going to sit at home or go out and join the bus boycott or be trained to sit in at the lunch counters and not respond with violence.

Our church is broken right now. We can write letters to our bishops and let our voice be heard. In Ohio you can be fired or denied housing because you are gay. We can get involved in the work to pass laws to change that. We can also speak up, in the name of Jesus, when we hear anyone being racist or judgmental toward someone who is poor.

There are so many ways to follow Jesus and change the world. One of them is not to hide out at home and hope that the problems will go away, or that someone else will fix things. Jesus knew that his disciples would endure persecution for their beliefs because he knew they would be out in the world living their faith – doing the right things, living with compassion and speaking up for justice.

But remember, he promised them, and us, that our work is not in vain. Yes, we will suffer some setbacks as we work for justice, but we will endure. AND, we will gain our souls. We will have true life. We won’t be lifeless bodies just walking around. Our lives will have meaning.  I have a hunch that Bishop Talbert is sleeping well these nights, because he knows that he has been faithful.

So my friends, don’t be afraid to follow Jesus. Stand up for justice and be compassionate even when it is unpopular. You can endure the abuse of those who do not agree with you, because you will gain your soul. Amen.