Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12.
This is not so much a sermon this morning as it is part of a family discussion. It’s about things here at Sojourners, which in itself is not so unusual. My sermons often are related specifically to our life together as a community of faith, or grow out of issues and concerns that are specific to us. One way to look at what we do on Sunday morning is that we get together to ask questions and to think together about what it means to be a Christian, as an individual, or how we are going to be a community of faith. These are matters that are always specific to us. It is my job to consider what it means for me to be a Christian, not to be worrying myself over what it might mean for you to be a Christian. It is our job to consider what this community is going to look like not to be concerned with what someone else may be doing. And when we share joys and concerns in prayer time, we lift up those joys and cares that are specifically present here, not just some vague generalities. So in a certain sense every time we gather, we are dealing with in house kinds of things.
But maybe especially so today. Later I want to make a few proposals, put a few things on the table, that have to do with family business, and then after church, during the congregational meeting there will be an opportunity for everyone to respond, or to put things on the table yourselves. And it is the intention that these matters be part of a continuing discussion over the coming weeks and that we be involved in seeking consensus on some of these matters. I realize, and I apologize for the fact that family discussions can seem exclusive since we are talking about things that “the uninitiated” may not understand or be interested in or be able to participate in. On the other hand, I bring family business to this table, I bring this to worship because this is not just our business but is God’s business, and I hope that if you are visiting today there will be something in this conversation that will be relevant to something in your life.
Just a few comments to put what I have to say a little bit in context. As many of you know, I have just returned from Cleveland where I spent four days with a group of about 60 ministers of new or renewing churches that are receiving support from the denomination, as we are for another year and a half—through the end of 2001.
This was a very diverse group of people. We were divided basically into four groups, but there was enormous diversity even within each group. One group consisted of Asian Americans, but of course they were not Asian American. They were Laotian, Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Samoan, Japanese, and Hawaiian. There were Latinos from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, and Central America ministering in South Florida and South Central L.A., in Seattle and San Antonio. There were African Americans from Atlanta and Chicago and San Francisco and Philadelphia. And there were European Americans serving churches in Fairbanks and Juneau, Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine, Phoenix, Birmingham, Raleigh, Centreville, and Charlottesville.
I love being part of such a wonderfully varied, diverse group of God’s people. And the best part of it is…the worship. Somehow when you worship with such a richly textured group of people, there is a rightness about it that makes worship a moving experience no matter what we say or sing. Of course there were times when things took twice as long because the scripture had to be translated from Korean into English (since none of us knew them by heart), and there were times when a prayer was said in Spanish or Laotian and not translated. But as one of our preachers said, she didn’t necessarily understand exactly what was being said, but she understood the spirit of what was being said, and she found that more inspiring than most of the words she hears every day that are spoken in a language she does understood. And in fact there are a lot of words spoken in English that we understand all too well—words that hurt and separate. Thank God for words that come from the heart and that are spoken in love, no matter what language they are spoken in.
The bad news—I’ll call it bad news for now—about the diversity of the group is that it meant there were few of us who were in similar situations. Not just because of the racial and ethnic and geographic differences but because of differences of personality and because some of the churches, like us, had been going for a while, some had a spurt of growth but then fell victim to various troubles, some were just beginning or had not even had the first worship service. The group was so diverse in so many ways that there was little that could be said that would apply to everyone, or even anyone, else.
Just as individuals all have their own walk with God, so every congregation has its own walk with God. And the nature of that walk is going to be different for every person and for every congregation. There are people who want to put us in some kind of a mold, individuals and churches. There are people who think they know who someone else is because that person happens to be African American. There are people who think they know who a person is because that person is gay. And there are people who think they know all about new church starts: who think they have the formula for success, who know how big we ought to be, who know what kind of music we ought to sing, who know at what point a new church should begin to walk and talk and turn somersaults.
What this gathering made abundantly clear to me is that there is no mold. Who we are needs to be worked out between us and God. I do believe—and this is just me, I can’t account for this belief or rationalize it or explain it—I believe that God has something in mind for each of us and for each congregation. In this sense, as Psalm 139 says, God knows—no one else does, but God knows—who we are from the inside out, what our inmost nature is, what it is that we are intended to be and do as the unique creatures we are. And it’s when we try to measure up to some other standard, imposed on us from the outside, that’s when we lose our way.
So anyway, one thing I do not bring back from Cleveland is some golden nugget of wisdom or insight or advice that tells us what’s next for Sojourners. That needs to be a matter of prayer, which is to say a conversation between us and God as to what God may have in mind for us. But I do have some proposals. The thoughts I want to put on the table are not new ones. They have grown out of discussions I have heard or been a part of in the last three and half months, discussions I have had with myself in my own head, and to some extent discussions that occurred over the last week with colleagues and denominational people which served to confirm or modify what I had already been thinking.
My first proposal is that we create a task force on Mission, Vision, Space, and Location. Of course location is a key word here, but not the only word. It has been impressed on me from several quarters that congregations can very easily make a mistake in buying property, building buildings, or renovating buildings too soon—trying to do things like this before they are ready to. But it is never too early to begin thinking about the issues. And the issues are not of course just: Do we want or need a space of our own? Where should it be? Can we afford it? How big should it be? What do we want it to look like? The question of location is not about location. It is fundamentally about who we are as a congregation and how we are going to give that essential core of who we are its fullest expression. It also of course has to do not just with who we already are but what we aspire to be as a congregation and what dreams we may have, or believe God has, for us. There is a lot to sort out here, and I am not at this point proposing any answers, just that there be a group of people who are beginning to think and pray about all the concerns that may affect where we want to be and what kind of space we want to occupy.
A second proposal is that we take another look at the way we organize our time on Sunday mornings. Just as location is not really about location, so schedule is not really about schedule. I have suggested one possible way of reorganizing Sunday morning in some settings, and I want to throw it out again, still more as a possibility than a proposal. My concern is that we set aside some time each week to talk to each other about things that matter. One way of doing this might be to continue to have breakfast at 8:30 but to have a community hour starting at 9:00 and going to 9:45 with worship going from 10 to 11. During that first hour we might talk about the Bible, about theology, about the United Church of Christ, about things going on in Charlottesville, about issues of common concern, about our dreams for the church, or about ourselves. We might have speakers or speak to each other. We might do things in large group or small group or intergenerationally. But my concern, which is what I am putting on the table this morning, is that we allow ourselves more time to be in conversation with each other in open forum, not just in private conversation or small committees.
A third proposal came most directly out of a discussion held in social justice exploration group meeting some time ago. The suggestion was that we find some way to adopt some priorities for the congregation say for 6 months or a year’s time. As I remember the original discussion it had to do with social justice priorities that would help us focus our energies in that area, but it might be extended to include priorities in other areas of church life as well. If we found a way to do this it might help guide the work of many groups in the life of the church.
A fourth proposal is in a sense a negative one, that we not tinker with the structure of the church too much, that we keep the committees already established, but that we not think all aspects of church life have to come under one committee or another. That we encourage and give freedom for new groups to come into being which we might think of more as ministry teams or task forces, that exist for a specific purpose, that can be created and disbanded according to changing circumstances, that have no determined membership, that do not necessarily require meetings, I can think of three such groups I would propose right now. I believe because of who we say we are and who we in fact are we need a specific ministry team to monitor and act upon issues of racial justice, especially as related specifically to the Charlottesville community. And a ministry team to monitor and act upon justice issues related to sexual orientation. And a third ministry team or task force to look at concerns related directly to our becoming a self-sufficient congregation by the end of 2001. Again structure is not really about structure, and it is certainly not about just introducing new terminology. The concern that lies behind this is that everyone have a way of participating meaningfully in the life of the church according to his or her gifts. That means not according to what slots need to be filled at any given time on the established committees, nor to think that if you agree to be part of some group in the church it will necessarily mean coming to meetings. There are other ways to do ministry. And even in a church with a relatively small membership, there may be a wide variety of ministry teams. In fact we already have them, and to some extent it may simply take acknowledging the ministries that are in fact occurring so that they are available as options to people who may not be able or want to serve on a worship or missions committee.
So much for proposals. That’s enough for now. We can talk about these or other ideas later. I will just close with a thought that comes from some reading I was doing during Holy Week. Someone I was reading in my own preparation for Easter used the format of a eulogy to reflect on the death and crucifixion of Jesus. The writer reflected on who this person was in the manner in which we might give a eulogy for a friend or a teacher. And this person closed the eulogy with this thought: May he not rest in peace, this Jesus, may he not rest in peace, may he rise up to keep troubling our consciences, and getting us to give up our easy securities, may he keep on inviting us to ask questions, and not be content with the world, or with ourselves. And of course the idea was that he didn’t rest in peace, that this is one way of understanding the meaning of the resurrection, that Jesus did not rest in peace, and therefore that we do not rest in peace.
I am not clear what specific directions we need to go as a congregation. I have tried to put forward a few ideas to renew the conversation this morning, and I’m hoping others have ideas they are thinking about too. What I am clear about is that, to paraphrase the eulogy for Jesus, we cannot rest in peace. May we not rest in peace. But may we, as we travel, also know what the writer of Psalm 139 would have us know: that wherever we go, God’s hand will lead us, God’s hand will guide us and hold us and strengthen us. By the grace of God may we know this to be true in our lives. Amen.
Jim Bundy
May 21, 2000