The national business meetings of both of our denominations were last month. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) had their General Assembly in Memphis Tennessee, and the United Church of Christ had their General Synod.
At these meetings there are resolutions passed: some resolutions make changes to how the denomination works, and some are resolutions that call on the church to do something. The latter kind of resolutions are often political, and some are controversial.
Why do denominations even permit such divisive resolutions?
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, to help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus sounds a bit scary.
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!”
– Luke 12:49, NRSVue
Does that sound like the Prince of Peace? Well…
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”
– Luke 12:51, NRSVue
Jesus talks about how households will be divided. What is Jesus doing?
Jesus is talking about change. Change is messy. Change can be dangerous.
If you’ve ever seen a frozen river break up during Spring thaw, you know it can be dramatic. You really don’t want to be near it as the water starts rushing through the melted ice dams.
There was a rather famous flood here in 1964 when the combination of heavy snowpack, warm weather, and rain added up to a lot of water coming out of the mountains.
How much water? At Miranda, the south fork of the Eel river crested at 46 feet. Homes and businesses were destroyed or washed away.
We know the damage earthquakes and tsunamis can do. We’ve seen towns destroyed by wildfire. Where I come from, tornadoes destroy towns in the summer, and heavy wet snow collapses roofs in the winter.
The Earth is ever-changing. And that’s good – things that don’t change are dead. But change can be dramatic, or dangerous.
We live in a time when there is a bit of resurgence of interest in religion, including things like posting the Ten Commandments in schools and making sure that curriculum is consistent with what the Bible teaches. And this adherence to the one right way might seem attractive: we have a list of ten things to do and not do, and at the top is God.
Of course, it might get a little awkward teaching kids about Adultery.
And that last commandment that says to not covet anything that is one’s neighbor’s… that seems a hard one to keep.
The modern count of Jewish laws is 613: 248 things to do, and 365 things to not do. In other parts of the Gospels, the Pharisees condemn Jesus for breaking the law, and Jesus condemns the Pharisees for following the letter of the law but not the spirit.
I believe Jesus studied with Hillel the Elder, a rabbi of that time who famously said
“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.
That is the whole teaching; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!”
– Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
Jesus famously said
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
– Matt. 7:12, NRSVue
Do they sound similar?
At the time, Judah was under Roman occupation. The Pharisees, teachers at the Temple, did not like the Roman rule, but didn’t want trouble.
And Jesus was trouble. Jesus threatened the power structure. Jesus taught that, though rules were important, it was more important to love neighbors – and even enemies.
Perhaps worst of all, Jesus was taking attention away from the Pharisees. And this was causing division.
Households were divided because of Jesus: some wanted to follow his teachings as prophetic, and others rejected those same teachings as heretical.
Jesus said things that were controversial. Jesus upset a lot of powerful people.
And we are better for it.
When the church calls for things like:
- protecting immigrants
- protecting LGBT people
- protecting social programs
- supporting foreign aid
it upsets people.
It upsets people who don’t like immigrants, LGBT people, social programs, and foreign aid. It upsets people who don’t want anyone to be upset – who just long for peace.
But peace is not like a frozen-over river in winter: quiet, with increasing pressure. Peace is like a river flowing naturally, with all the life it brings along its way. The way from a quiet, frozen river to a naturally flowing stream is rarely gentle.
Change is difficult.
We are not called to keep things quiet. We are called to bring things back to life.
So my challenge to each of us this week is to seek out those things we are called to change.
Maybe read the resolutions from our denominations.
Maybe find a different source of inspiration.
Let us be part of the fire cast upon the Earth.
Amen.
Let’s sing NCH 391 In the Midst of New Dimensions
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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