Sermon for April 15th 2007 ...

This past week at Presbytery one of our ministry personnel spoke of serving a community not far from a First Nations’ community. She said that her community prides itself on being an open, loving, and inclusive community. But then one Sunday just as worship was about to begin one of the elders of the church approached her looking distressed and concerned.

“Two native men have just come into the sanctuary,” the elder said, “should we ask them to leave ??”

The minister was shocked, then angry …

A nervous gasp passed over the Court of Presbytery in that moment as we were discussing the place of Gays and Lesbians in our Church and the ways in which we are challenged to live out the words – “All Welcome” that so often graces the front of our Churches on our signs …

Too often in the Church those words “All Welcome” hold a hidden caveat … a hidden warning … a hidden condition …

I’ve witnessed it innumerable time in my journey in the Church, where we boldly say – “all welcome” but what we live out is very different …

I remember once being in a setting in a church where we were discussing that very idea and one of the elders of the Congregation said – “oh we’re a welcoming place. We take in everyone. If some shows up, we’d make them feel welcome and be happy to see them …” As she spoke, as though on cue the door opened and very inebriated, very dirty, first nations man walked in the door of the lounge and asked what we were doing. We answered “Bible Study,” and unbidden, he sat down and joined us.

What was painful in that moment was not that he entered the room. We had the words – all welcome on the front of the church. He was welcome. But the reaction of the participants and the elder who had been speaking when he entered ran counter to those two simple words. All of them quickly grabbed their purses and possessions and tucked them safely under their arms, away from the man …

The eloquent words of welcome crashed on the harsh rocks of reality …

All Welcome are easy words to speak … they are easy to speak when we are in a place where we know and like everyone around us. They are easy words to speak when everyone around us are “the same” as us. But they are words that become a challenge to live out …

And it is that kind of context that Peter and the disciples find themselves within in our reading from the book of Acts.

The time after Easter was a yeasty time. A time of potential.

Jesus had been crucified. And now the group of men and women who had barricaded themselves away behind locked doors had suddenly found not only their voice, but their courage to go out into the markets and the temple and to speak openly and boldly about the Risen One – about the message Jesus had left them – about the transformative power God offers.

They went from the story in John where they were locked away in a darkened room – fearful and even terrified of everyone and everything … to where they stood before the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, and BOLDLY defended not only their right to speak openly and publically, but the very content of what they had to preach.

This is a moment of high drama when Peter stands before the Council and they say – “We asked you to stop. We told you what you could say. We told you to shut up …”

Peter likely smiled and said – “we are witnesses to these things …” He wouldn’t shut up … he couldn’t shut up … he had to be true to his faith …

We are witnesses to these things …

What does it mean to be a witness to these things? And for that matter what are we, citizens of the 21st Century, some 20 Centuries removed from the events of Jerusalem, witnesses to??
How can we speak of Resurrection, if we have no idea what it was?

This week is a time and place where we, that is our Worship committee decided to mark College Sunday and highlight the work of St Andrew’s Theological College in Saskatoon. So, I spent sometime this past week looking up and reviewing information on St A’s and what it offers the United Church.

Bear in mind, I am a Queens’ grad, so St A’s is one of the unwashed others that train our ministry personnel. But I quickly realized that what makes St Andrew’s College different is its commitment to training ministry personnel and laity in the “prairie context”. The college has consciously chosen to ground itself in the very soil which so many of its graduates serve in ministry.

They want the training to not only be relevant – they want it to be current to the issues and crises that ebb and flow across the Prairies. Depopulation, economic crises, aging and dwindling congregations, increasing irrelevancy, … the list is long, and if we took time here we could no doubt add to it if we looked around and honestly assessed the situation of the modern church.

But within that – St A’s seeks to proclaim the certainty of the Hope we have in the Resurrection.

They want to serve the Church in a way that is relevant and real to the context in which we live …

As I considered this I realized that for the first time in two millennium we in the Church have
returned to the place where we began. In the New Testament Church the world was opposed to the Church – the Jewish council was only the tip of the ice berg. The Roman authorities didn’t care for the Christians either … so, to be a Christian was a risk.

Today, the world doesn’t so much oppose us. The world doesn’t really care one way or another.

Over the last few months I have noted the number of people I meet who “used to attend” the United Church. We lost some over the conflict that arose in the 80’s when the place of Gays and Lesbians was debated, but the majority of people have been lost because they don’t care any more for the WAY in which we who remain continue to live out our faith.

The reasons for their departures are legion … there have been dozens of books written about it – but the thread that runs through all of it is one simple painful truth – “they simply don’t care any more.”

The Church – you and I – have become irrelevant to them, to the world and perhaps even to each other. We are an anachronism that we are desperately trying to maintain, while every indication is – no one cares any more and we are DYING. We have failed to be witnesses to our faith, and instead have been busy preserving something that no longer speaks to the people out there. We can say – “all welcome” but if when they arrive, they are met with hostile glares – they won’t be back.

We can say – “we’re inclusive” but if when the newcomer comes they don’t feel welcome or included, we’re not living our words.

We can say we are a community, but if we spend our time dithering over money and bickering over how things are done, and stabbing each other in the back – there is NO community.

What I have found startling in my time in ministry is the staggering number of people who have walked away from the Church not because of anything they’ve heard from the pulpit, but because of how the congregations have lived, or not lived out their faith …

But all is NOT hopeless yet … The church is in a place where there is great potential. We ARE after all a Church that proclaims their certainty in the presence and power of the Resurrection.

What we need – what you and I as members of this community of faith – is courage like Peter’s to stand up for what we believe in, and to not only say – “we are witnesses to this …” but the courage and the boldness to LIVE OUT those words.

If we hang the words – All Welcome, on our front door – then we need to etch those words in our hearts as well, and those words MUST be found. We in the United Church of Canada stand in a place today where we must each chose whether we will cast our lot with the Council and silence those voices that make us uncomfortable and that tell us that the way we continue to be and do things is not acceptable, or will we cast our lots with Peter and his crew and go into the world not just saying the words – “all welcome” but living them out …

The challenge we face is to be open, not just to the “prairie context” in which we find ourselves, but to the changing context of the society around us. Church is no longer what we do here once a week – Church is so much more …

We need to open our minds, our hearts and our arms to embrace that simple fact … Then when the drunken stranger staggers in, or when the member who hasn’t darkened the door in 25 years or more comes home, they will NOT be met with hostile glares, but they will hear and experience the words – “welcome home …”

We are called to be the Church – the place called HOME - to witness to, and to live the Resurrection … and it begins with love and kindness

May it be so … thanks be to God …
Let us prayer …