A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, October 10, 2010
Habakkuk 2:1-4
I can only listen to so much news on the radio before I experience overload. And TV – forget about it. Even NPR, my favorite source, has a heavy doze of mayhem and tragedy in the line-up. Deaths in the war in Afghanistan that has just entered its tenth year; corporate disdain for public well being, from BP to the chemical company in Hungary where millions of gallons of toxic sludge have burst from the containment dam and are oozing over villages and homes and into the Danube River.
Add to that the cruel antics of Christian clergy, such as the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, whose members picket the funerals of fallen soldiers and carry disgusting signs that this is God’s judgment on us for tolerating homosexuality. The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether this is protected free speech. And then there’s the Rev. Jones in Florida who threatened for weeks to burn Qurans as a slap at Muslims.
The computer industry simply reminds us “garbage in – garbage out!”
I want to be well-informed… but can only stomach so much murder and mayhem in my daily diet. We become what we think – and it’s obvious that angry, negative voices have prevailed for a long time.
The Apostle Paul wisely wrote in Philippians 4:8 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”{New Living Translation}
To look at the best, our highest hopes and dreams and ideals doesn’t mean we ignore the world’s pain, but voices of reason and generosity, harmony and hope are an essential antidote to the darkness. Without courageous words and actions of goodness and reconciliation, the world would be in a far worse mess.
I celebrate the work of the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination here in Maine, of which Elsa and I and dozens of other clergy are members. And I applaud Elsa’s letter to the editor in last week’s Press Herald lifting up the signs of hope as we work together to confront discrimination in all its disguises and to celebrate the ever-richer variety of God’s people with whom we share life in this beautiful corner of the nation.
I also offer a “thumbs up” to our Senator Susan Collins who spoke at the Washington Cathedral on Tuesday evening during a forum on cooperative political process. She pointed to the increasingly negative, even vicious taint in our legislative and political discourse. We see it in the tone of campaigning, and we see it in the increasing polarization of our nation.
We desperately need voices of courage and cooperation in state house, school house, and meetinghouse; in Times Square and the public square, Wall Street and Main Street.
Today’s lesson from the Hebrew Scripture comes from the seventh century BCE, when the Assyrian empire controlled Israel. The prophet Habakkuk, cried out in the fear that God had abandoned the nation forever. So he demanded of God an answer. And the answer came: “Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so the runner may read it. {3} For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end — it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”
Write a vision; that seems about as helpful as shouting into a hurricane. But wait – we become what we think, don’t we. When we fill our thoughts with anger and frustration we spiral downward. When we bristle at the feeling that others are getting their share and we’re getting cheated, we spiral downward.
When we struggle to articulate our hope, and share it as a vision, we can spiral upwards. The martyred South American bishop Dom Helder Camara once said “when we dream alone it is only a dream. But when we dream together it is the beginning of reality.”
That’s also what God said to Habakkuk. That’s what God says to us: post the vision on a billboard so distracted drivers and preoccupied commuters won’t have to stop or even slow down and look closely, but can still see it and know it. That’s a part of writing the vision as well. There are many people racing by us who will not slow down to see what we have written, so we must write it large.
Figuratively speaking, we have one expression of that vision right out front on a banner than can be read by the thousands who pass it each day. The most prominent word is “Welcome,” and it shares the affirmation with which we begin worship every Sunday: “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey you are welcome here!” That came out of the United Church of Christ identity campaign several years ago and it rings true in the life of our church.
Of all the growth and change I’ve seen over twenty years shared in ministry with you, I believe this is the richest. We have learned to live that claim – where all are welcome. That has become our identity.
But a couple of years ago, there were many conversations about whether we have a unique vision as a church – a clear vision – what someone called “an elevator speech moment” meaning not a sermon but a phrase that you could remember easily and speak simply.
After conversations within the Church Council, Elsa Peters, Dave Allen, Debra Andrews, and Chris Dow accepted the challenge to develop the vision statement. Now there’s an old proverb that says people who love sausage and people who love the law don’t really want to see how they’re made. Maybe the same is true of a vision statement!
They began with a survey circulated to all of you, and carefully considered your responses to the five questions:
1) Why do you go to church?
2) How does being a part of our church help you on your spiritual journey?
3) How do you think our church is perceived in the community we serve?
4) How do you think our church is growing?
5) If you could describe our church in one or two words, what would they be?
Your responses and many long hours of conversation brought them to a draft which they brought back to the Council and with a bit more wordsmithing yielded this:
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
A Christian Family
Loving, Welcoming, Serving
Couldn’t any church articulate the same vision? Maybe so – but even if the words were the same, the way in which we live into the vision is unique. For the vision is what we intend to grow toward.
We have a potted plant on the coffee table in our living room, and the only natural light comes from the windows on the south. This plant it so drawn to the light that it bends almost horizontally to reach for the light. So Andrea faithfully turns it and in a couple of days it starts its swing in the opposite direction. That’s what a vision statement offers us… it’s the light that draws us.
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
A Christian Family
Loving, Welcoming, Serving
We know we’re congregational – autonomous and self-governing. We know we’re United Church of Christ – seeking the common and shared witness across the country and around the world. We know we are a family and specifically a Christ-centered family, seeking the will of God through the life of Jesus.
But then we are more. I really liked Elsa’s phrase in the recent Beacon:
We are a family that is seeking to be something. We need verbs that masquerade as adjectives to reveal what we’re trying to be in this community. We might not be perfect. We might have a lot to learn but these are the things that we hold most sacred about who we are in this Christian family. We are loving, welcoming and serving
Then she said there was discussion about the order of those words. I wasn’t part of the discussion but I like the result. They lead us from the inside out.
We begin inside these walls and within our hearts – loving God, loving each other, seeking wisdom and truth. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. We learn from loving God and each other and then we are ready to extend that love to others. We welcome. We have grown a lot in our welcome of others. We have figured out that every person who walks through these doors is a beloved child of God.
We no longer welcome others in the hopes that we can make them conform or act like us. We welcome them because that is the essence of the faith – the very way Jesus lived it. And when we welcome we know that we risk being changed – transformed, really – and that can be frightening and very, very exciting.
Loving and welcoming leads to serving. Sure we serve each other within the church. From teaching Sunday school to hosting fellowship hour to ushering and singing. But I read here the kind of service that is giving without expecting anything in return – except to know that we’re engaged in godly work and ministry and mission. So we serve through Crisis Ministries, and food pantry and clothes closet and rummage sale and Preble Street soup kitchen and Habitat for Humanity and countless other ways, letting our light so shine that others may see it and know that our actions are a sign of our love of God and each other.
As we look ahead to Consecration Sunday in two weeks, as we prayerfully consider how each of us will further our ministries and shared life, don’t think of dollars first – think of vision and spirit and light.
The light and grace of God shine into this sanctuary and into our hearts.
Then, our light shines from this sanctuary, through your lives and hearts and hands, as Christian family, loving, welcoming and serving.
“Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so the runner may read it. {3} For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end — it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”