Readings

FIRST LESSON

The first lesson is from Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile by John Shelby Spong

Worship to me is not a peripheral activity. It is, rather, central to the meaning of our humanity. To be human is to see ourselves self-consciously in terms of what is ultimately real. Worship is the name of the way we practice that self-definition. So worship may well have to be defined anew in every age, but worship must always be an aspect of our humanity. Since worship must be located somewhere, then something like a church as a center or place of worship must always be a part of our future.

Both the activity of worship and the structure of the church may be very different, but my conviction is that we cannot be fully human without them. The question for our time is, can worship and the Church escape its theistic understandings, which will guarantee the deaths of both as we know them? Can both move from where they are today to where they must be tomorrow without a complete break with yesterday? Must a death to the past be a prerequisite to life in the future for these aspects of our humanity?

SECOND LESSON

The second lesson is from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 13 verses 1 through 8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am the one!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

This Week's Sermon

Date: November 15, 2009

Title:Remember the Future

Message Delivered By: Rev. Dr. Joe McMurray

One evening, after having dinner by the fire and preparing to camp under the stars, an old Cherokee, who had taken time out to bond with his grandson, shared an important message with him about one of the harsh realities of life—he described the battle that goes on inside people’s hearts and minds.

He said, "My son, the battle all people face is an incredible struggle. It is a struggle that cannot be ignored. No one can escape having to confront this conflict, because, you see, it is between two fighting wolves that live inside us all.

“One wolf represents ‘evil’—it is a symbol of anger, envy, jealousy and rage. It is filled with sorrow, regret, greed, and arrogance. It’s key components are self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other wolf represents ‘good’—it is full of joy, peace, love and hope. Its qualities include serenity, humility, kindness and benevolence. And it’s key components are empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

They sat together for several minutes before, finally, the young grandson broke the silence. He quizzically looked up at his grandfather and asked, "Grandfather—which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The winner will be the one you feed."
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Will you pray with me? God, let us feed on the joy you provide; let us satisfy ourselves with banquets of kindness, compassion and truth; let us feed our sisters and brothers with benevolence, serenity and peace. Let us become the people you have called us to be, and help us, with humility, to focus our efforts on the needs of those who are anxious to know you, and desperate for your love. And may my words and all of our thoughts be filled with honor and praise to you. Amen.
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Two weeks ago, as our Pledge Campaign continues, we remembered the past—we looked back to those who had an idea, a compulsion and a calling. And from that awareness, they beheld a vision that helped them to think out of the box, to look at the needs of their sisters and brothers, to hold to their best understanding about what they thought God was trying to tell them at the time, and then to react to that by creating something new as a response to all those things.

Last week, we remembered the present. While we expressed gratitude for the groundwork that was laid giving us what we have today, we also saw some of the twists and turns from those days—these are the things we have adapted to, these are the ways we grew in the face of changing times. As people’s needs changed, our ministries changed. The way we worshipped changed. The way we engaged God changed. The way we treated one another and invited the stranger in also changed. We saw different things in our present than our forebears saw in their futures; things they could not have even dreamed of.

Today, we’ll remember to look ahead to the future—yes, we’ll still honor the history and intention of what was done, we will be informed by what we’re doing, and we will look to what we have yet to do. We must become the visionaries of our day—like the prophets of old who read their own futures based on what they believed God led them to do—we will try to read the wisdom of God as we understand it, and proclaim it for God’s people in this church and in this community.

This is certainly a daunting task for us—one that is filled with tremendous possibility and great responsibility. For we must consider, even in good faith as we pray for God’s wisdom to guide us, that we may make mistakes. We must acknowledge that some of our choices may not turn out not to have been the best for our time or for the future. But in all of this, if we honor our relationship with God, if we trust in God’s faithfulness, and if we keep God near us, we will give our best effort and avoid the harsh judgments of future generations.

Have you ever considered that the present lasts only for a fraction of a second? By the time we even acknowledge the present, the present has already become the past.
Anytime we look forward in time—seconds, minutes, hours or days—we are already glancing at the future. So the future is not necessarily some distant time and place of no impact. The future is now.

So what do we want to be when we grow up?

I use that phrase a lot because we are ever-changing and ever-growing. In fact, our growth never ends. While physiologically it’s true that parts of our bodies die every day, we also continue to grow—though sometimes it’s true our bodies grow where we’d rather they not grow.

But when we ask the question spiritually, “What do we want to be spiritually when we grow up?” I hope that our answer will not be a quick one, but a thoughtful one to which we give much time and attention.

Many institutions challenge themselves with how they want to grow by first looking at who they are now. They establish a mission statement that accurately describes the organization. From there, they create a vision document that describes where it is they think they’re going to go to fulfill their stated mission.

The organization then looks at its core values and principles—the things they rely upon as their solid base, the stabilizing features of the church that act as its foundation. And then they create a plan—a statement that describes where, as an organization, they hope to be two years, five years, maybe even ten years from now.

Part of what we do when we decide what we want to be, is to describe very clearly what we do not want to be. I discovered so many examples of this when I went to write my sermon, it was hard to choose ... but I found a few.

President Obama recently signed the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which added crimes against people because of their gender or sexual orientation to the existent list of hate crimes. The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is planning to protest the new law because they are concerned it will infringe on the constitutional rights of Christians to speak out or react against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. So the Christians want to preserve their right to discriminate through hatred.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, DC threatened to discontinue its social service programs if the District passes a proposed same-sex marriage law. They feel they should be able to discriminate against gays and lesbians, and so have made their threat to withdraw assistance from tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care. The new bill, to be voted on next month, says that religious organizations would not be required to perform or provide space for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. So the Catholic Church is trying to blackmail Washington, DC by withholding help for the poor if they pass a same-sex marriage law.

And this is interesting: a new book by David Kinnaman examines recently completed research that catalogues the increasingly negative reputation of Christians by young Americans. Young people claim that today's Christians are best known for what they are against, rather than what they're for. Christianity, these young people say, is no longer the practice that Jesus intended it to be. In fact, the adjective most used by them to describe today’s Christians is "UnChristian," which also happens to be the name of the book.

I think we’re fairly certain as an inclusive community that this is not the kind of future we want. This is not the type of movement we want to be a part of. But it’s clear that our actions today say a lot about our future. This is true not only in what we say and how we practice our faith, but in the ways we treat one another, what we say to and about one another.

What plans will we make now for the future? We must either change our current direction so as to become part of a regressive Christianity that advocates enmity, disrespect, and all too often, hatred; or we must move toward a very clear position that says we understand what Jesus was trying to say—a position that says we understand what God wants us to do—a position that says we need to take our beliefs to the next level, the next understanding, the very future that will continue to allow our church to stand apart as a leader, not a follower in this community and beyond.

Most of us have read with interest many of the proclamations of John Shelby Spong, a retired Episcopalian Bishop from Newark, New Jersey. Bishop Spong has asserted, as have many of us, that the hierarchies of the Christian churches have lost their way—keeping their focus on dogma and doctrine, while losing sight of compassion and the ultimate directives of Jesus to love one another.
Bishop Spong believes we must recreate ourselves. We must look away from what has kept us divided based on our differences and seek ways to come together to embrace and celebrate both our likenesses and our differences. And in doing so, we must honor the past, even as we recreate the future. Without making this promise to future generations, we will, Spong says, cause the death of the church.

As Jesus speaks of the change that will come in the future—some believe he is predicting the destruction of the Temple, while others believe he is speaking of the end times of the Apocalypse—Jesus says that the drastic changes that any future holds are necessary in order for new life to take place.

While honoring the past and embracing the present, change also demands that we welcome a future that will come whether we have prepared ourselves or not. Will we be the ones who are prepared, who remain watchful? Will we be the ones who proactive seek change and embrace the opportunity for new life? Or will we align ourselves with those who resist change, who fight it with every breath, who stubbornly affix themselves to attachments that will keep them anchored to the past?

I say we must choose to be the proactive ones. We must choose to set the tone of the future, to decide where we believe God wants us to go. We must describe our own limits and boundaries, not be set by someone else’s expectations based on what they think we can or should do. We must be the ones to set the trends of the future, to leave the naysayers of in our dust. We must be the people of “yes” rather than the people who say “no.”

This does not mean we play loose with our parameters. We must be wise in our stewardship. We must be true to our mission and not say “yes” simply for change’s sake. We must be honorable and respectful to one another’s needs, as well as the needs of others. We must not stretch ourselves too thin, do too much at once so that the quality of what we do suffers, or take on things we have not thought through or that we are unprepared for.

But whatever it is we do is made possible only through you. We cannot do this alone. It is our collective faith, our corporate action, our combined sense of purpose, and the sum of our generosity and our giving that enable us to look at the future with great awe and anticipation.

One of the ways we face the future with hope is to increase our numbers. There are all sorts of opinions and programs on how to grow a church. Many of them are well-researched and make a lot of sense to specific communities.

But in my view, it’s not only the workshops and studies that grow a church. It’s not even the identity of a church that nurtures it to grow. It’s the life of the church, the actions of the church in the community, the spirit that lives and thrives within the church that draws people to it.

It’s not only the reputation of the past, but the promise of the future. It’s not just who we are—it’s what we do. It’s not just what we promise—it’s what we deliver. It’s not the value of the gift—it is the spirit with which the gift is given.

And for all sorts of good reasons, today we are proud to welcome six new members into the church. They have been attending for more than the required time to join as members. Most of them have already been participating in the life of the church. They are not strangers to many of you. And so, will the six people who fulfill the requirements of membership and freely choose to join the church please come forward.

And may we always continue to follow where God is leading. Amen.