In worship July 4th we read Romans 12:9-21. If you don’t have your Bible out, we used the New Revised Standard Version, here’s the story. It’s advice from one of Jesus’ greatest followers, Paul to a young church like ours in Rome. Here’s the quote:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. No, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The short version, again and again in this letter, and everywhere else is love, love and love. So why is the Gospel of love dividing America?
Dan Merchant, an author & film maker, set out to have a conversation with people across America about one simple question, how can people who follow Jesus, bring so much hatred and judgment upon the world, when Jesus came to bring God's message of love? It just doesn't make sense. Why is the Gospel of love dividing America? And so he went across the country talking to people, engaging in conversation, in a variety of ways, and making this film about his conversations. The film is called "Lord Save Us From Your Followers.", and we’ll be showing it at the Village July 10th @ 7PM. And here is why. People all over, including dozens of Cheri & my friends, are saying this, people who have given up on ever being part of organized religion. They say, they like Jesus. They think he's great and had some great ideas and had it all right. But they don't SEE Jesus in his followers.
Several years ago, a friend, we’ll call her Laurie, who is a government official I regularly deal with, called me into her office very urgently. She was visibly upset & perplexed. It turns out a colleague, call him John, had decided to give his witness to her. He told her how he was praying for her as she was currently going to Hell as she was a non-believer. I was floored.
Never mind that John regularly put his client’s wishes in the hand of Laurie, a person he had just told that she was going to Hell. How was this supposed to work? How do you degrade someone and say “now, join me in a faith which will have you doing this to others”. Join us in this spreading of judgement and intolerance.
She asked me, flabbergasted, as she knew I was a follower of Jesus, “how can you be in the same faith as that man?” She said she knew me as a person of love and peace and
acceptance. I paused for a second, said a quick prayer asking for God to give me wisdom in my words and wait for a response to come. How in the world do I respond to this? How do I leave even a chance of the door to a life of faith open for this person.
The answer I was given was to talk about love. I did not attack John. I said that he came from a tradition where he was taught that he needed to judge and correct those who are living wrongly. We worship the same God and read the same book, but come at it from different angles. John wants everyone to live the way he and others live or interrupt the scripture. My way, which I believe is more true to Christ’s way, is to love: Laurie, John, everyone.
Jesus did not preach legalism, but love. Jesus stopped a stoning, he helped those others rejected, he healed people on the Sabbath, and hung out with those society would not dine with. I told Laurie I respected John’s belief, but I disagreed with John. I told her that if I’m getting into heaven, she was likely going to be there and we would both blow John’s mind by being there.
Laurie laughed and went back to her day. I’m not convinced Laurie will ever step foot in a church, let alone The Village. But Laurie feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, gives shelter to the homeless, both in her “day job” and in her volunteer activities. And she did so long before meeting John or me. But that’s the problem.
A recent study by research firm The Barna Group, the experts in demographics for churches, (documented in Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity. . . And Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons), shows these were the three most common responses to the question, "How do you describe people in the Christian faith?" 1) anti-homosexual; 2) judgmental; 3) hypocritical. This is what we are known for. Not for feeding the poor; caring for the sick; building schools in third world countries; helping lead the charge to end slavery; or taking the lead in the Civil Rights Movement.
As Cheri said in her sermon “Friends, I gotta tell you, I take the information from this study and then I take the words from our scripture for today and from the song Ashley sang for us and it feels like when you take two magnets and you have them turned so that the poles don't match up and they push against each other. We have a serious problem. The Gospel message of love that we have to offer - it's not getting through out there”.
Well Dan Merchant took one small step to get it through. We showed it in worship. He did it at a Pride Festival. He got this crazy idea to set up a confessional booth. The confessions were not attendees to Dan, but Dan confessing and asking for absolution from those attending the event. He confessed our sins as a faith community, as followers of Christ in showing hatred and violence and discrimination and fear and anger and resentment, especially during the early stages of the AIDS crisis, rather than the love and comfort and acceptance Jesus called us to show. He even got former Senator Rick Santorum, you know the guy who compared homosexuality to bestiality and being a pedofile, to confess to that sin.
Now here is the challenge for us today friends. Many of us in this conversation, have been on the side of this conflict where you have been the one that some Christian has used the Bible to beat you up. Some misguided Christian has said, because you are ____ you are a sinner and you are going to hell. Back in West Texas Cher was told because she wanted to be a pastor she was a sinner and going to Hell. But she read scripture, and had some good Christian mentors who showed her there was another way to interpret the scripture. And she prayed and she carefully discerned that God was saying something else to her.
Now we are all sinners. But we are not all sinners for the reasons that some folks have tried to tell us we are sinners. So let's go back and read that scripture again. Because here is the thing. I think it's easy to read this and think about those mean people that have judged us - and been mean and hateful to us - those misguided folks that hold up signs that say God hates ___ (you fill in the blank).
But friends, we all have someone that we hate. Or at least, we all have someone whose actions we see as evil, and so it makes it very hard for us to separate that person from their evil action. But when we act out of hate we are no better than those folks that have been hateful toward us. And Jesus calls us to do better. Jesus is about love. Love never fails.
We can get angry when people aren’t loving. But needs to work on us. We can hate, well hate, but not the “hater”. We have to love. God has made this clear, LOVE. The leaders of the Reconciling Ministries Network (churches, like The Village, who believe in welcoming all in full inclusion, including Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender persons), have taken this message to heart. Despite vicious attacks, they show love and hospitality. At Methodist events, they often do acts of welcome, opening doors, etc.
Cheri closed her message and I’ll close my blog with using the Bible passage above as a prayer: “Let us love genuinely; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; Let us love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not let us lag in zeal, but be ardent in spirit, Let us serve the Lord. Let us rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Lord, let us contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Help us bless those who persecute us; bless then and do not curse them. Help us rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Help us to live in harmony with one another; May we not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; not claim to be wiser than you are. Let us not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on us, let us live peaceably with all. May we never avenge ourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Help us to act like this, if our enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not let us be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. Amen.
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