July 5, 2009 ~ Franklin Circle Christian Church
Mark 6:1-13
The Essence of Worship: Prophetic Witness
Rev. Allen V. Harris

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[Before we begin, I would like to ask a question that you may either text to my cell phone or call out at the appropriate time in the sermon. The question is: “Where is there brokenness in the world, and how do you see yourself or this church responding to that brokenness?”]

As luck would have it… perhaps bad luck at that… and with a large dose of my terribly intense college rebelliousness… I was scheduled to preach the Sunday prior to the Independence Day holiday 1984 in the church of my childhood upbringing. I was serving as a summer intern at First Christian Church of Roswell, New Mexico and had just spent the previous year as an organizer of the Phillipians Peace Fellowship at Phillips University. I was all hot and bothered about the attitudes and actions of one Ronald Reagan, and took that discontent home with me for the summer.

My sermon that Sunday was on Matthew 5:23-24, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” I was feeling young, invincible, and bold, and so I decided to name names. The “you” in the text was the United States of America and the “brother or sister” was, none other than the Soviet Union. I spoke out forcefully against the arms race, the loud beat of the drums of war, and, in particular, President Reagan’s approach to it all.

It wasn’t a very good sermon, but that’s not why it failed. It did land me a meeting with the entire Board of Elders of the Church the next day who reminded me that several of them had long military careers and a few had lost family members serving our country. But, as difficult as that reprimand was, it wasn’t the reason my sermon ultimately failed. The reason that early sermon of mine did not carry the gospel of Christ in the way that it should have is because it began and ended with my anger rather than the world’s brokenness. And that is why I want to talk with you today about the Essence of Worship being Prophetic Witness.

Today’s scripture echoes for me my feelings following that sermon years ago. I felt so much like Jesus, being discredited by the very people in my hometown that had come to know me so well, and who had gladly supported my call into ordained ministry just a few years before. I could just hear them saying, “Why, isn’t this Sara’s son? Isn’t this Pat, Bill, and Lynda’s brother? Where did this guy get all this arrogance? What is this unpatriotic, anti-American gibberish he’s spouting? What has HE ever done worthwhile?” I heard it all as if I were the savior himself being beaten and abused.

So, other than the fact that I had a bit of a Messiah complex, which I clearly needed to get over, is their anything else all of us should learn from this text? Yes, and it is that there most certainly is a prophetic word that needs to be given to the people and the church, but it comes out of a recognition of the brokenness of the world and is given to a people desperately in need of pastoral care. For in this beautiful scripture text these two ways of being for the faithful come together, justice and compassion, intertwined forevermore.

Now, in the gospel of Mark, this story of the religious leaders dissing of Jesus comes immediately after Jesus’ exorcism of the demoniac, the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage, and the healing of Jarius’ daughter. This context is important to my point, so don’t forget it. But I would rather use as a backdrop the text we read for our opening Call To Worship, from Luke 4

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ (Luke 4:16-22)

Jesus got in trouble with the religious and political authorities of his day not simply because he healed people. Others did that, and many more claimed they did. Jesus didn’t get in trouble simply because he spoke out against the injustices of his day, those perpetuated by the hands of their Roman oppressors and those closer to home instigated by the religious leaders who had become complacent and comfortable with the imbalances of society and the marginalization of the masses. There were others who did that, especially the Zealots who were speaking out and acting up quite boldly already.

No, Jesus didn’t get in trouble because he just did one or the other of these things, healing or prophesy, compassion or justice, benevolence or advocacy. He was persecuted, tried, and crucified because he dared to do both, and do them in sync with one another. And, he brought them both into the sacred space of worship. Notice something quite interesting: both in Mark 6 and Luke 4 the trouble starts when Jesus speaks out and acts up in the temple. Whoa there, Jesus! Anyplace but here!

Many of us know the name of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his amazing work and witness in the Civil Rights movement, but few of us have heard of Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was a Quaker and was a master strategist and tireless activist, not simply to break down the walls of prejudice, racism, and bigotry against African Americans, but was also equally dedicated to economic rights, peace, and human rights and fought for workers rights and was proudly a gay black man who would not hide his God-given identity. His most well-known accomplishment was to organize the 1963 March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Dr. King made His amazing “I Have A Dream” speech. (1)

But years earlier, when Rustin was trained by the Quakers as an activist, he participated in the writing of a booklet which was given a title from a quote he is credited with: “The primary social function of a religious society is to speak the truth to power.” (2) To “speak truth to power” has become a phrase and organizing principle that is vital to my own spirituality and ministry, and I believe absolutely necessary for healthy spiritualities of all God’s children, and a necessary component to worship.

Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize as a young man preaching my ideas and opinions in the pulpit of my home church 25 years ago, and many activists today, is that the “truth” that needs to be spoken to power is not the truth of power itself. The truth, that we saw lived out in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that is made real to us again and again in our lives and our ministries, is that the truth that needs to be spoken to power is a truth of compassion, of vulnerability, and of love… a truth, dare I say, of our brokenness and of God’s healing power. Our prophetic witness is nothing without love. It is as a sounding gong or a crashing cymbal. But our prophetic witness with love is TRANSFORMING!

I think of the phrase “tikkun olam” from the Jewish rabbinic tradition, which means to “heal, repair, or transform the world.” (3) That’s what social justice should always be: tikkun olam, to heal the world.. That’s what advocacy for the poor and marginalized should be: tikkun olam, to heal the world. When our religion has become focused too much on the self, and piety overwhelms prophecy, then we should restore a balance and seek to “heal the world.” Likewise, when our spirituality becomes too focused on getting out the votes and changing public policy, we need to remind ourselves that our task is the “heal the world.” And all of this, like Jesus’ example, should begin in the sanctuary, dedicated to God.

I’ve asked folks to respond to the question, “Where is there brokenness in the world, and how do you see yourself or this church responding to that brokenness?” I’d like to share your responses now:


So let us take these cries of brokenness, from our world, our communities, and the lives of those around us and pray on them. Let us lift them up to God, ask for the presence of Christ to be with them, and the power of the Holy Spirit to embolden them. Then, once we have named them as being in God’s divine prerogative and offered them to God for repentance and renewal, discernment and direction, empowerment and energy, then let us pour out into the streets and do something about it.

As Jesus left the temple to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and free the oppressed let us also go forth and act on our faith and speak truth to power. As Bayard Rustin left the trainings and the “clearness committees” to protest poor working conditions, fight the racism of society, and, yes, protest the war, let us go forth to act on our faith and speak truth to power. As Jesus left the temple to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, and sight to the blind, let us go forth and act on our faith and speak truth to power.

But always, always let our prophetic witness be deeply and irrevocably grounded in our heartfelt awareness of the brokenness of the world and our com-passion to be vessels of healing and hope. The Essence of Worship IS Prophetic Witness that seeks to Heal A Broken World. Is this the patriotic message I should preach this Independence Day weekend? I believe so. Is it the faithful message I should preach in this temple this Sunday? In God, I trust it is so.

Amen.

I believe the song we will now sing comes out of just such an understanding of the prophetic birthed by the pain and heartache of the world. Julia Ward Howe’s beautiful and haunting lyrics birthed in the very midst of the greatest conflict on America’s soil: the Civil War. She was a staunch advocate of the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, prison reform, and education. (4)

(1) “Brother Outsider” website, dedicated to the new film about Bayard Rustin. The primary website address is: www.rustin.org, but my information is from two pages: http://rustin.org/?page_id=2 and http://rustin.org/?page_id=11
(2) There are several attributions of this quote, but the one that seems most legitimate is at: http://wildapples.typepad.com/harvest/2006/01/speak_truth_to_.html
(3) There are many places this can be found, but I was most helped by the blog by Kid Oakland at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/1/16148/29663/876/466962
(4) http://www.juliawardhowe.org/bio.htm
 

Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2009 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096