June 13, 2010

Romans 14:1-13

Franklin Circle Christian Church

Rev. Allen V. Harris
 

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Second Sunday Circle Celebrations Vignettes
Meditations on Romans 14:1-13

Vignette One

One: Hey! So, it’s Second Sunday Circle Celebration day, isn’t it? I get so excited on days like this.

Two: Why? Isn’t it just another worship service, only in the Chapel.

One: Well, it is, but it’s also the time that we sometimes come forward to take Communion. I LOVE to come forward for communion.

Two: You do? Yech! I just hate taking communion that way. What do they call it? By “intinction?” That must be Latin for “put your grubby hands all over what I have to eat!” You practically have people man-handling the bread and washing their hands in the juice! It’s disgusting!

One: I’ve never seen anyone do that! Besides, it represents the unity of Jesus Christ: all of us, his Body, eating from one loaf and drinking from one cup. It’s practically magical!

Two: Magical? Magical? Magical is right… I want someone to wave their magic wand and make me disappear the moment I see a chalice and a loaf of bread on the Communion Table. Give me individual plates passed to me down the pew. Now, that’s good theology: every person gets to serve the bread and the juice to their neighbor. You can’t get more “priesthood of every believer” than that!

One: Oh no… Now I find that boring! Those little prepackaged chips of bread, which you can barely taste at all! They disappear in your mouth like a cheap breath mint! And the little plastic cups! What a way to over emphasize the individualism that is killing this society already! I don’t want to have to touch anything you’ve touched… that might be human or something!

Two: Did you not learn anything from the flu epidemic this past winter? I’ve almost left this church because they communion that way.

One: Well, I’ve almost left this church because they don’t do communion that way enough.

Two: Well, let’s see who wins today!

[The two walk away mad at/frustrated with each other.]
 

Vignette Two

Three: Good morning! How are you today?

Four: I’m dong GREAT! I just learned that it is NOT “Circle Sabbath Sunday.” Hooray! I hate the last Sunday of every month, because I really like Community Hour after church, and I’m usually really hungry after Pastor Allen’s LONG sermons.

Three: Well, I can understand that… but you do know why we have Circle Sabbath Sunday’s, don’t you?

Four: Yeah. Because people are lazy and we couldn’t get enough folks to host Community Hour.

Three: NO! That’s not it at all! We have it because scripture is full of encouraging words about keeping the Sabbath. We church folks have a hard time doing that because we fill up every day of the week with activities, in addition to work or school if we have those.

Four: Awwww… I don’t see why “keeping the Sabbath” is such a big deal. I pray every now and then, and I honor God with the way I help others and serve God through my church work. It’s a thing of the past to have to set aside a day just for God. No one, but no one can do that nowadays.

Three: But we have to! It’s one of the biggest things we’re supposed to do in the Bible. It’s so important it is one of the Ten Commandments!

Four: Ah ha! But we worship on Sundays, don’t we? That’s work! If I remember what Pastor Allen said in a sermon last summer, worship is literally “the work of the people.” So there!

Three: Yes, but it is and it isn’t. Worship is the only kind of work we’re supposed to do on Sunday. It’s work to “glorify God,” not accomplish things for ourselves.

Four: I think you’re trying to have your Communion and eat it, too! I think God worries about how we live our lives, day in and day out, that’s important. Not whether we take a day off or not.

Three: But it’s not a “day off!” It’s a day devoted to serving God and not serving our needs. You just don’t get it!

Four: All I know is that I wish you weren’t so uppity about your holier-than-thou faith and that we had food to eat after worship service on the last Sunday of the month!

[The two walk away mad at/frustrated with each other.]
 

Vignette Three:
Five: Boy, did you hear about all the fights that are going on in the church?

Six: Yeah! Who would have thought that Holy Communion and Keeping the Sabbath Holy would lead to such conflict.

Five: Well, from what little I know about the early church, it was exactly such things that caused the most conflict. I guess people took their faith seriously.

Six: Yes, but should our faith be the cause of conflict? Shouldn’t things like worship and faith bring us together, not divide us?

Five: Absolutely, but I still can’t help but think it’s important to take our faith sincerely enough to stand up for what we believe.

Six: Well, what do you believe? Do you think Communion is better when we pass the plates or share in one cup and one loaf? Or what about not having Community Hour and meetings after church on Sunday?

Five: I definitely have my opinions on both those topics. Don’t get me wrong. But I also believe that it’s possible for both positions to be right, at the same time. There may actually be even other opinions than the two that are right.

Six: Aren’t you making faith all relative, where there’s no right and no wrong?

Five: No, not at all! There are things that are clearly right or wrong. For example it’s always wrong to take advantage of someone who is weaker than you are. It’s always right to honor God. But I do think there’s a whole bunch of stuff that is important, but has no one right or wrong way. How we take communion, and how we honor the Sabbath, are examples.

Six: You remind me of one of the quotes we learned in New Member Class: “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials: liberty. In all things: charity.”

Five: Now that I would agree with one hundred percent!

Six: You think we can get those who are divided in our church to listen to that idea, and try to live by it?

Five: Oh, I don’t know. People really like to believe there’s only one way to do things. “It’s my way or the highway,” they say. I’d like to believe it’s possible to have a church where differences in opinion and faith are seen as gifts and not dividing walls.

Six: Well, why don’t we recommend to the New Worship Inititiatives Team to do something about this at the next Second Sunday Circle Celebration? I know! They should do a skit!

[Both walk away arm in arm, happy with one another!]

Sermon:
I just love the Children’s Minute Claire Munley shared with us about blue spots and yellow spots, and how the little children shall lead us. How on earth did we ever get to the point where blue states and red states mattered so very much! Ooops! I meant to say “blue spots” and “yellow spots.” Forgive me.

It seems the things that caused for such controversies in the early church are silly and pointless for us today. But we mustn’t let talk about eating food dedicated to idols, circumcision, and keeping the Sabbath fool us into thinking these texts don’t have much to say to us today. They do… for these concerns were the Pro-Life/Pro-Choice, Gay Marriage/Family Values, No-War/Pro-Patriotism fights of our forbearers, and thus how the disciples, apostles, and early church leaders dealt with them should guide us in and through such debates today. If we let them, they will guide us to a more faithful and harmonious way.

At the core of the early church’s problem, and our problem in the world today, is that we have allowed our faith to be hijacked by those who maintain it is all about beliefs and doctrine, that who we are as Christians is defined by a laundry list of do’s and don’ts. This will always get us into trouble, because very few people agree on what are the essential tenets of the faith, and much ink, both liquid and cyber, is spilled on trying to narrow the way between “me and God” and widen the chasm between “us and them.”

Melanie Morrison, in her wonderfully healing book, The Grace Of Coming Home, uses the phrase “mutually exclusive extremes” to speak of how our world has been unfairly, and unfaithfully, divided up into two camps, always at war with each other. She says, and I think rightfully so, that many who have claimed to speak the truth for everyone, see and proclaim a world that is simplistically and unrealistically divided into two camps, those who are right and those who are wrong, and the single goal we should have is to force our way, the right way, to the top and wipe out the “other’s” way, the wrong way from the face of the earth.

And into this poisonous atmosphere, comes a word from the early church: “Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.” Romans 14:1. You mean, there may be two thoughts that are correct? There may be three valid positions on an issue? Four people may have a part of the truth in what they say or do?

Yes. That is what this means.

Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of the journal, Sojourners, is part of a movement, led by people of faith, called a Covenant For Civility. A growing number of faith leaders are naming the lack of civility – no, the outright rage and violence – that is being put forth in our public discussions about topics of great concern to us all, is unacceptable. He confesses, and so should we, that all-too-often those of us in the church have stoked the fires of this uncivil shouting matches and divisive behaviors. Quoting Ephesians 4, the Covenant for Civility urges folks to “put way from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with malice, and be kind to one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:31-32)

But doesn’t this compromise our faith? Well, if your faith is dependent upon a list of do’s and don’ts, it probably does. But if your faith is following in the footsteps of Jesus, it is precisely what we are called to do and how we are called to be in this world.

A perfect example of this is in regards to abortion, one of the most fought over topics of our lifetime. If one listened to the pundits and politicians, there are only two responses, mutually exclusive extremes, that can be considered: An end to all abortions for all women in all cases OR allowing for abortions in all situations for all women. This debate gets us nowhere, and only raises money for those who are shouting about it.

But a new perspective emerged a few years ago called “abortion reduction,” which found middle ground in the areas of teen sexuality education and pre-natal care and early childhood support for young mothers and women in poverty. Many, if not most, of those involved in Abortion Reduction have not given up their beliefs on abortion and a woman’s right to choose. What they have given up is the need to have those beliefs prevent any real change in society, for problems that are just as real and maybe even more important to the human beings who are struggling with the issues “on the ground.”

So, beloved, let us take the wisdom of our forebears, both those wise voices in the early church, those discerning souls in our world today, and many fine people of faith in-between, who remind us, “In essentials, liberty. In non-essentials, liberty. And in all things, charity.”

Amen.


 

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


 

Copyright 2010 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096