Message by John B. McCall, D. Min.
Matthew 21:33-46
There was a time you could speak of the Christian Church and everyone knew what you meant. Those days are behind us. You can’t really say “Christian” without needing to add some adjective, some qualifier. I think that’s healthy… I’m a Congregationalist.
Christians are Roman Catholic and Orthodox, Anglican and Episcopalian, all stripes of Protestant, evangelical and fundamentalist, Pentecostal and cahristmatic. There are strict Christians who claim they’re right and everyone else is wrong; there are liturgical Christians who emphasize worship and the sacraments, very concerned that everything be done in the Right Way using the Right Words.
There are Christians who believe they belong to an exclusive club for which potential members must study and pass muster; and other Christians who believe that church should be like a feast with an invitation that says “y’all come!”
Last weekend some churches passed the offering plate a second time to raise money for the political action group “No Special Rights” which intends to defeat the same-sex marriage referendum next November; and other churches whose members marched in the Pride parade carrying a rainbow banner that says “God is still speaking.”
No one kind of church suits everyone. Each denomination, each individual congregation has its own personality. You may have to look for the place that’s right for you, and when you find it, it’s like a homecoming.
Our church is not unique but it’s unusual. The United Church of Christ, and this – the First Congregational Church – are not the right church for everyone, but we’re a place and a people where many have found their spiritual home.
I was reminded of that as I looked through my notebook from previous Maine Conference Annual meetings and found my notes from a few years back when our keynote speaker was Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald who appears twice a week in our Portland Press Herald. He was born and raised in Orange, California, as a Southern Baptist. He broke into newspaper work in 1991 as a music critic, and within three years was writing a regular column on popular culture. He’s been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his commentaries.
Pitts is now based in Washington DC, and lives in suburban Maryland. And he’s a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ. He got into the UCC as an adult because of a young woman – a sixteen year old whom his son wanted to date.
On Sunday mornings his son was up and ready for a ride to church so he could sit next to his sweetheart. And dad was the chauffeur. As Pitts told it he hadn’t been inclined toward church for a long time. He’d definitely stopped being Southern Baptist and hadn’t really become anything else.
He told our conference gathering: “Finding a UCC church told me I’m not crazy… or at least if I am I’m in good company!”
I’d like to reflect on that with you this morning. Do you suppose that would work as our new church motto – maybe on a new banner out front: “if we’re crazy, we’re in good company?” Or “If you’re crazy, you’ll fit right in!”
The point, of course, is that we give our best and best feel the spirit when we have a sense of belonging – of being at home with others. I can’t speak for you but I want to be more specific about some core convictions that place us in good company with our sisters and brothers right here on Meetinghouse Hill. See if these fit.
1) You’re not crazy – you’re in good company – if you believe “God is still speaking.” The Bible has two kinds of narratives. One is a particular history of a particular people at a particular time in covenant with God. That part is specific to the culture and knowledge thousands of years ago. The other kind of narrative in the Bible is universal principles that are always true. But the Bible doesn’t always tell us which is which. We have to figure that out. So, we’re rooted in scripture and the ancient story of what God has done. At the same time we believe that God has more to say to us, to the human condition, and to the crying needs of the world. We have to be familiar with the Biblical story, then figure out what is changeless and what has evolved. This view isn’t Christianity Lite – this is a faithful, hopeful way to live in harmony with God.
2) You’re not crazy – you’re in good company – if you believe God is more interested in how you live than in what words you use to express your faith. We don’t use creeds or rules as tests of how good a Christian you really are. Instead, we’re guided by covenant and community. We talk to each other and listen to God, and we always submit our own ideas and convictions to others. So, our worship isn’t for the preacher or pope to tell you how how you must believe. It’s rather our time to acknowledge our humanity and our shortcomings and together to offer them up to God – and then to accept God’s grace shown so clearly in Jesus Christ – then to offer our thanks.
3) You’re not crazy – you’re in good company – if you embrace Jesus’ assertion that everything in the scriptures is captured in two commandments: “love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.” Imagine our world if we all got response to the young lawyer who asked him what was the greatest commandment: “love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.” Imagine our world if we all got those two right! We get all tied up and bogged down in fancy words and concepts. Jesus knew that. He showed his holy impatience when he said there are only two things to remember: Love God, love your neighbor. Show it. Let God be the judge, the arbiter, the authority. And let us treat each and every person with the dignity, respect and love that we so deeply desire.
4) You’re not crazy – you’re in good company – if you feel that following Jesus isn’t a burden or a test, but is more like a joyful response to God’s invitation. Many of us were taught that God is like an angry father watching our every move; waiting to trap us when we inevitably do something stupid; waiting to spring the trap and convict us of our sin; waiting to pronounce condemnation.
There’s another faithful way to see it and say it. Today’s scripture deserves an entire sermon of its own, but simply tells us of the workers in the vineyard who first ignored, then killed, the messengers the land-owner sent. So the owner reasoned they’d listen to his son and sent him. They did the same, only worse. “How would you treat the tenants,” Jesus asked his listeners? They answered quickly that they’d seize all the wretches and throw them to the wolves; then they said “wait a minute – he’s talking about us!”
The parable punch line is simple: if you don’t want to live like Jesus’ joyful followers, God will extend the offer to someone else, someone who wants to live in tune with the spirit. In fact God is always offering the invitation – through others’ lives, through the words of scripture, through bread and cup, and baptism… No matter how often God offers, we have to reach out to receive the gift. That’s where the joy comes from. If we reject the invitation, God will call others.
I know what I’ve just said rings true for many of us, I think for most of us. I also know that for some it’s a stretch. We’re in good company when it comes to that, too.
Because here we know and love each other in Jesus’ name. Here we do our very best to welcome others as we have been welcomed. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.