A Future With Hope: Acceptance
First United
Presbyterian Church
“A Future With
Hope: Acceptance”
Rev. Amy Morgan
Jeremiah 29:11
For surely I know
the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for
harm, to give you a future with hope.
Matthew 21:23-32
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the
people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you
doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I
will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also
tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from
heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we
say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But
if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John
as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them,
‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said,
“Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later
he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same;
and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will
of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you,
the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead
of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not
believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even
after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”
I have here an expensive piece of paper, which, in
Latin, reads, “Since the right has been granted to us by the State of New
Jersey not only to teach sacred letters but also to promote to degrees of
sacred theology, and since the candidate, Amy Renee Morgan, a woman of
blameless life, Christian Faith, well versed in humane letters, learned in theological
studies, upon due examination held before us has demonstrated herself to be
worthy of public honor, therefore let it be known that we have determined that
the above said candidate be made a Master of Divinity.”
I cannot think of anything more authoritative than
this document. It bears the seal of the revered institution of theological
studies, Princeton Seminary, and the signature of then-President Dr. Ian
Torrance. If anyone should question my authority, I could inform them that I am
certifiably a “woman of blameless life.” It doesn’t get more official than
this.
And yet. This piece of paper means very little to
someone who is struggling with questions of faith. My mastery of divinity is
little comfort to someone wondering who they are and where they belong in the
world. Someone who wants to know where God is in the suffering of humanity will
not be looking to the State of New Jersey to grant me the right to offer them
guidance in these matters.
I dearly love this piece of paper, as I loved my
experience of theological education. But I have had to come to terms with its
relative uselessness. I have discovered that each person who walks into the
church is another Jesus, turning over tables, confounding tradition, threatening
authority with the authenticity of their experience. Each person I talk with
who will no longer darken the doors of a church building is one of those “tax-collectors
and prostitutes,” if you’ll pardon the crude comparison. They are those despised
by church authorities for being self-centered, undisciplined, misguided, and
uncommitted. Meanwhile, they are leading the way into the kingdom of heaven.
According to agnostic
thinker Robert Ingersoll “To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you
do not know. The Church,” Ingersoll asserts, “does neither.”
The word “heresy” comes
from the Greek word “to choose.” What
we, as Christians, over the centuries have labeled as misguided or wrong or
outright evil is, in fact, simply people choosing for themselves what to
believe or how to live their faith. Rather than relying on the authority of
church doctrine, of institutional dogma, heretics choose what they believe,
typically based upon their experience.
But people choosing for themselves terrifies those
in positions of authority, especially in times of turmoil. The chief priests and elders questioning
Jesus’ authority were desperately trying to keep the peace between their people
and the Roman governement in a time of high tension. In the early life of the
church, Christians were fearful for their lives and livelihoods. During the Reformation, Christians were
fearful of corruption. And today, we’re
fearful about the survival of the Christian faith itself. We must seriously consider the possibility
that the faith as we know it will no longer exist at some point in the
foreseeable future. And so doubt,
inquiry, heresy, choice are all dangerous things.
But we live in interesting times. As those of you
participating in the study of Diana Butler Bass’s book, Christianity After
Religion, will note, the church’s grip on authority is slipping, along with
other institutions in our society. Bass asserts that we live in a “choice-based
society, one driven by preference and desire instead of custom and obligation.”
This has led to a “crisis of legitimacy,” a questioning of assumptions and
long-held beliefs.
And churches have been reacting to this crisis for
some time now. Many are holding up their papers scribbled in Latin, their
official seals and signed documents, their Books of Order and Robert’s Rules,
and asking the heretics, “by what authority are you questioning our beliefs,
stepping outside our practices, claiming you belong?” And when they answer our
question with a question, as all good heretics do, we are left as speechless as
the temple authorities.
Many churches are confessing their faith, writing
new creeds and issuing official statements, requiring potential members of
their club to sign documents attesting to their beliefs and agreeing to what
they say are the tenets of orthodox faith. But they are not going out into the
vineyard to work. They are not doing the work of Jesus, the work of bringing
good news to the poor, release to the captives, healing and justice and peace.
Meanwhile, those claiming no religious affiliation
are faithfully tending the vines, pruning back the powers that oppress the
poor, tending to the imprisoned and advocating for their restoration, fighting
off disease and injustice, and creating an environment where all life can
flourish. These “unaffiliated” heretics, who choose what they believe and do
without the approval of any religious authority, are the fastest-growing
religious group in the United States today. They are following Jesus, tending
the vineyard, and leading the way into the kingdom of heaven. All the while, churches
and denominations sit wringing their hands, questioning their authority, and
claiming exclusive rights to ultimate truth.
These authorities are guilty of the same charge
Jesus leverages against the temple leaders: they refuse to accept Jesus, even
when the evidence of who he is and the authority he wields is right in front of
their faces. Tax-collectors and prostitutes, those despised and degraded by the
religious authorities, are heading out into the vineyard, doing the work of
repentance and restoration. And the temple priests and elders still won’t
accept the message of John the Baptist, the message preparing the way for
Jesus, the one he declared to be “the Lamb of God, come to take away the sins
of the world.”
But this church, I think, is a little different. We
claim acceptance as one of our core values. Not authority or orthodoxy or
tradition. Acceptance. Acceptance of the heretics, the ones making their own
choices. Acceptance of the tax-collectors and prostitutes, the ones on the
margins of society. Acceptance of Jesus, wherever we see him at work, inside
these walls or outside our doors.
We are a group of heretics ourselves, which is a
crazy thing to say to a bunch of folks that includes numerous retired clergy
and life-long church-goers. Nobody knows what we’re supposed to believe and do better than you all. But you all know
that authority doesn’t come from official seals or historic landmarks, years of
tradition or approved hymnbooks and biblical translations. While all those
things may be very important to some of us, we still accept one another’s
choices. We don’t always agree with each other, but we accept each other.
We accept the widows and widowers who experience
Jesus in the companionship of friends and choose to believe they have a friend
in Jesus. We accept those without a home who experience Jesus in the shelter of
our building and choose to believe God will provide for their needs. We accept families
of all configurations who experience God as a loving parent and choose to
believe God has made us into one human family. We accept those whose lives are
effected by substance abuse or mental illness who experience Jesus in 12-steps
or treatment and choose to believe in a power stronger than their affliction.
We accept those with disabilities or chronic illness who experience Jesus in
compassionate care and choose to believe God can use their gifts and abilities.
We accept people who come from a variety of faith traditions and experience
Jesus in a variety of faith practices and who choose to believe that God is
bigger than all our theological boxes.
We accept all these, and more, at 1st on
4th, because we accept Jesus Christ. We accept him as the one who
ate with outcasts and sinners; the one who healed the blind and raised the
dead; the one who welcomed children and touched lepers. We accept Jesus Christ,
the host of this table we will come to today, this table where all are welcome
and accepted.
God knows we live into our value of acceptance
imperfectly. There are times we say we will help and do not. There are times
when we are tempted to trust in an authority other than Jesus Christ.
And there is always more we can do. There are so
many good heretics in this town who do not know they are accepted – by God, and
by the followers of Jesus. They’ve seen the “keep out” signs posted around
Christianity by the defenders of religious tradition, orthodoxy, and
self-righteousness. They need to hear the good news of acceptance. They need to
know there is a place for them here.
And so, in the coming year, our communications team
will work to improve our ability to share this good news of acceptance. Our
Christian Education team will work to develop faith formation that engages our
heretical questions and doubts. Our Deacons will continue reaching out, member
by member, with love and acceptance. Our Mission and Social Justice team will
meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our town. Our Buildings and Grounds
team will continue to create a space that is accessible and hospitable and safe
for all. Our worship team will encourage all of us heretics to gather – with
all our questions and doubts, all our courage and hope – to accept and praise
God in Jesus Christ in word and sacrament and song. Our personnel team will
make sure the contributions of our staff are valued and accepted and that we,
in turn, share that acceptance with you all and with our community. Our
stewardship and finance teams will ensure that all gifts are valued and
accepted and used wisely and well to promote acceptance.
As we prayerfully consider what we can each give to
the work of acceptance at 1st on 4th in the coming year,
we don’t need to appeal to the authority of a church doctrine or ascribe to a
formula of stewardship derived from an obscure Old Testament reference. We are
heretics. We can choose. We can choose to give in a way that is filled with
meaning and rooted in deep gratitude. We can choose to give whatever amount or
percent will help us to grow in faith. We can choose, with Jesus, to turn over
the tables of the money changers to make room for an authentic expression of
faith. We can choose to give to a church that accepts tax-collectors and
prostitutes, heretics and doubters, and follows them into the vineyard to work,
follows them into the kingdom of heaven.
To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.
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