Doing the Right Thing by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

On April 12, 1963, a group of bishops and other religious leaders in Birmingham, Alabama, wrote a public statement aimed at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the Civil Rights Movement. In their letter these religious leaders called for the “outsiders” to leave Alabama. They called the demonstrations “unwise and untimely.” They said that their cause should be “pressed in the courts” and not “in the streets.” Among these writers was a Methodist Bishop. (source: http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09a/mlk_day/statement.html).  Simply put, they wanted Dr. King to take his non-violent civil rights demonstrations and leave Alabama.

In response to this statement, Dr. King wrote his now famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He had been arrested for demonstrating and was serving his time. He wrote a powerful letter about why the movement for racial justice could not wait any longer. He talked about what it means to break the law in the name of what is right. He wrote: “there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’" (source: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html).

He went on to say: “A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” (ibid).

You see, Dr. King understood that sometimes you had to break the law in order to do the right thing. He learned this from Jesus. One day Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. He saw a woman with a deformity. She was bent over and could not stand up straight. She had been that way for eighteen years. Can you imagine being bent over for eighteen years? Jesus walked over to the woman and healed her. Just like that! It was a miracle. The woman began praising God. The people were amazed. But the leader of the synagogue was indignant. Jesus had broken the law. No one must work on the Sabbath. Healing was considered work. Work was meant to be done on six days only, but the Sabbath was reserved for rest. The leader of the synagogue scolded Jesus.

Jesus said: “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” ¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Jesus broke the law. It was an unjust law, in his mind, and so he broke it. He did the loving thing. He healed the woman. His act reminds me of a saying from Martin Luther King Jr., “The time is always right to do the right thing.”

I hope as a church, we will remember this: The time is always right to do the right thing. I want to tell you a story about this. It’s a Village history story. On the first day The Village opened, for our very first worship service, lots of new people showed up. One person in particular, I remember. Her name was Edie. Edie was 60 years old and was a person just beginning her transition as a male to female transgender person. Edie was introduced to me after the service by someone who had been sitting with her during the service. Edie said she had read an article in the newspaper about The Village and how we are an LGBT welcoming church. She said, “Do you really mean it about the T part? Are you transgender welcoming?” I said, “Well at my last church I had lots of gay and lesbian people. I have to confess that I did not have any transgender people but if you will come to The Village I will do everything I can to make this a welcome place for you. I may make some mistakes along the way but I will do my best.”

Edie said that we needed a transgender support group in NW Ohio because the closest one was in Columbus. I told her I had been on the Board of Equality Toledo and we had been talking about this. I said if she wanted to start a support group that The Village would help her. Long story short, we started the first Transgender Support group in NW Ohio and 25 people came to the first meeting. That group is still meeting. They meet at Sylvania United Church of Christ now because we no longer have a building where they can meet. But they are still going strong.

Now, I need to tell you something about us starting that group. It cost us some things. At the time I was trying to get some other churches to give financial support to The Village because we were a new church start. Starting a transgender support group really put us out there on the edge in 2009. It made some of our potential partner churches uncomfortable. I’m pretty sure we lost some potential funding because of starting that group. We also got an article in the newspaper about how we started that group. It was great. It helped the group find new members. However, it marked The Village as the place that loves transgender people. Around the same time, my husband borrowed The Village to have a scout event for Jamie’s scout troop from his school. One family did not want to send their kids to a scout meeting at our church because we welcome transgender people. I can’t be sure, but I imagine that there were people who considered coming to worship here and were scared away by the fact that we welcome transgender persons.

But I’m not sorry we started that group. We did the right thing. It’s always the right time to do the right thing. We are a courageous church. This is something we can be proud of. To this day, transgender persons are welcome here. We are one of the only churches in NW Ohio that can say that. We welcome people who need a church home. This is what it means to be church, my friends. We break the rules. Just like Jesus did. 

So what about you? What is God calling you to do? Who is God calling you to love that it’s unpopular to love? One of the projects The Lead Team is looking at The Village getting involved with is Promise House. This is a project to help homeless teens, many of whom are LGBT. These teens get kicked out of their homes because their parents do not accept them for who they are. They end up on the street. Perhaps this is a ministry you are called to work with. It takes courage to work with homeless teens. They are hurting. They have lots of problems. They need to know they are loved by God but many of them have rejected God because they have been told that God has rejected them. Maybe you’re being called to work with Promise House.

I wonder what else God might be calling The Village to do next? Is there some group of people on the margins that we are being called to love? Perhaps it’s immigrants? Or people in prison? There are so many hurting people in the world. It takes courage to reach out. But it’s always the right time to do the right thing.

People told Dr. King to wait. They told him to be patient. But he was not patient. He wanted justice now for his people. We could have told Edie to wait. We could have told her it was too risky to start a transgender support group in Toledo. But we said “yes.” Because we saw a need and wanted to be part of the solution.

I will be leaving you soon as pastor. But you will be beginning a new season of life as a congregation. I believe God has new vital ministry in store for you as The Village Church. You have shown that you are a courageous church that takes risks.  Nothing held Jesus back from doing the ministry he was called to do. And nothing will hold you back. So listen to God in these coming weeks and months. Listen with courageous hearts. And when God calls you to do the right thing I know you’ll be ready to say “yes.” Say “yes” to God’s call upon your life as a congregation.

Let’s respond to this message by praying together.

God, Give us vision to be the church you call us to be. We have been courageous in the past and as we move into a new future we want to continue to be bold and courageous. Show us the people you want us to serve. Give us focus for our next ministry. We know it’s always time to do the right thing so show us the next right thing for The Village Church. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.