A sermon by Associate Minister Elsa A. Peters, August 15, 2010
Romans 16:1-20
Wait, the psalmist calls. Calls us to worship. Calls us to praise. Calls us to lament. Calls us to pay attention to what is happening within us. Wait, we hear the call. Wait for the Lord. Our souls wait. Again and again. Wait… Wait… Wait.
Paul can’t wait. He doesn’t wait. Paul can’t wait to get to Rome before he writes this letter. Usually, when this apostle pens a letter, it’s composed affectionately to a Christian community with whom he’s actually met – but he’s never been to Rome so this letter is a little weird. For you see, Paul never went to Rome. Not once. He went on three long missionary trips on three separate occasions, but he never once went to Rome. So, it’s safe to say that this letter is a little weird.
But, for some reason, Paul can’t wait. It doesn’t make the letter easy to read – because as you know, it’s not all that easy to be remotely compelling or instructive to a group of people you don’t actually know. That relationship is established over years and layers trust. It doesn’t just arrive in a letter but maybe this community of early Christians couldn’t wait either. Maybe they needed that encouragement to “keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses.” For surely, when worrying about dissensions and offenses, it’s difficult to wait. It might be wisest thing to do but it’s really difficult to wait for the Lord.
Paul urges the contrary. Don’t wait. “Keep an eye out” and “avoid them.” There’s not enough time to wait – though that’s also a tad weird because the early Christian community was all about waiting. They were waiting and waiting and waiting for Jesus to come back. They believed the end of the world was imminent.
Their focus was upon that next life, not this one. There was no code for them about how to live. (Remember, the Gospels hadn’t been recorded yet. Paul was writing in 50 CE and the Gospels weren’t written until 70 CE.) So, in the midst of their waiting, these early Christian communities started fighting. If you are relatively new to church and are somehow under the illusion that we don’t fight here, let me be the first to introduce you to the fact that Christians have always fought. Mostly with each other.
Today, our churches are more likely to argue over interpretations of homosexuality – and even more often, the details of the Christmas Fair (not that we have that problem with the Holly Daze Bazaar, of course). Back then, in the first century of our faith, the early Christian communities in Corinth, Galatia, and even Rome fought because they didn’t know how to wait. They were ready and they were impatient. They couldn’t understand why it hadn’t happened yet. They couldn’t understand why they were still waiting.
So, Paul wrote letters to remind these early Christian communities to keep the faith, to continue waiting – and more often than not, he wrote to tell them to love each other. It’s repeated several times in different ways, but the most familiar is addressed to Corinth, where Paul writes:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The reminder in this passage to Rome is the same. Don’t be rude. Don’t assume you know everything. Love is the most important thing. The message is the same. Paul hopes for peace to be realized among these believers. No matter how freaked out they are, or how much they are arguing with each other, the message isn’t about rejection of others but is focused on encouraging each member of the community to be attentive to his or her inward life.
Wait… Wait… Wait… Again and again. That inward part of us calls. Wait for the Lord. Our souls wait. But, what is it that we are waiting for? The early Christian communities were waiting for Jesus to come back. Is that what we are waiting for? Are we waiting for a letter to arrive? Or are we waiting for the messenger that will finally make the message clear?
That was Phoebe’s task. Paul didn’t deliver this message himself. As you know, Paul never went to Rome. Not once. And so, he sent a messenger to deliver his message. In the other letters Paul writes, there’s just one messenger. Just one person that holds the responsibility. Not here. In this letter, there’s a whole long list of names. There’s a whole list of people that Paul names to this community that is waiting… waiting… waiting… for the message to finally be clear.
Phoebe is first. She’s recognized as “our sister.” She’s a benefactor. Phoebe’s got “social power” to benefit those whom she chooses. She’s a good person to know, if you stay on her good side, which Paul obviously did with these two verses that honor her. However, Paul doesn’t merely honor Phoebe. He commends her. Paul commends her as a “deacon of the church.” Not a deaconess. She’s a deacon. And so, the Romans should “welcome her in the Lord.” After all, that is what is “fitting for the saints.” Saints, which is to say Christians, are to be helpful in the ministry of Jesus Christ in whatever way they can be helpful.
Of course, with the list of names that follow, it’s clear that Phoebe isn’t the only one that’ll be helpful. There’s Prisca and Aquila “who risked their necks for [Paul’s] life” and might even do the same for this Roman community. There’s Junia who was imprisoned with Paul and even converted before him (which I would think gives her rank over Paul). There’s Rufus’ mother, who is like a mother to Paul, and will presumably care for this church in the same motherly way by Paul’s commendation. There are other women. Some of them are grouped with men. Others are recognized for their faith. They don’t share Phoebe’s wealth. In fact, many of them are slaves. They may have found faith through their masters but something has drawn Paul’s attention to recognize them each by name. Let me say that again. They have names. They are no longer ladies in waiting. They’re not any different from the men, as it’s clear that Paul understands each of these women to be in ministry. Every last one of them. Every last one of these nine women.
It might not seem like enough to you. It might be too subtle to recognize the power in these words – especially when there are others that will quickly point out Paul’s dismissal of women in 1Timothy: “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.”
To those, I can only say, Paul didn’t write that passage. Someone else did. Now, I know, this fact doesn’t erase that church has recognized that particular degrading passage as holy, but this passage is holy too. This passage was actually written by Paul to a group of Christians that were trying to live in the ways of Jesus Christ. And nine women were a central part of that message. And so, we wait. As faithful members of the United Church of Christ, we believe that God is still speaking. There is more to be said. There is more that God will do. Wait… Wait… Wait… Wait for the Lord. Our souls wait.
I know that there are lots of ladies still in waiting. There are women waiting to be ordained in traditions that won’t allow them. There are women that are waiting to teach Sunday School. There are women waiting in silence. There are women that are waiting for the church to change in all kinds of ways. Most of them “remain committed to Christ,” but not all of them remain within the confines of organized religion as Anne Rice famously announced last week. Anne Rice quit Christianity. In her own words, she explains:
It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious and deservedly infamous group. For 10 years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else … In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.
Like Anne Rice, some of us are waiting for the right messenger. Some of us are waiting for the fighting to stop. Some of us are just waiting for it all to make sense. Wait… Wait… Wait… Wait for the Lord. Our souls wait.
But, some of us can’t wait. We’re ready and impatient. We can’t understand why it hasn’t happened yet. We can’t imagine why we should still be waiting. Like so many of the ladies still in waiting, it’s too hard to wait for that slim chance that someone will regard your work as ministry. It’s too painful to be imprisoned by a faith that doesn’t even allow you to have a name. It’s too difficult to work toward good news that doesn’t include you.
Wait, the call is heard to worship, to praise, to lament, to pay attention to what is happening within us. Wait… Wait… Wait… No matter how hard these words are to hear, don’t attack the speaker. Don’t dismiss her. Anne Rice is not the one that causes dissensions or offenses. But, instead, pay attention to what is happening in you. Be aware of why you stay. Acknowledge that part of you that can’t leave. It is your inward life that speaks. It is that voice you hear. Keep an eye on your own heart for it is that voice that is speaking to you. It’s the same voice that has spoken to ladies in waiting for two thousand years. Wait… Wait… Wait…