Solid Rock or Stumbling Block?
Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for
you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
It was only last week we read:
…he asked his disciples, "Who … do you say that I
am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the
living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son
of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church…
Knowledge and understanding are not always synonymous and although the
disciples say the right words they do not grasp the meaning of all that
is contained in Jesus’ Messiahship. Nor am I so sure that we are
much better than they at understanding. We know what to say but
how do we live out the meaning of our confession? It seems that
the church can go from rock – the solid foundation through which
eternal life breaks into present reality – to stumbling block with
alarming speed and most often in ignorance of the impact of our words
and actions.
Last week I shared with the folks at St. Thomas a recent e-mail that
came to St. James’ through our website. I think we should hear it
in the context of today’s reading as well. The e-mail (from an
unknown writer) asked a couple of content-loaded questions:
1. What is the church’s teaching on abortion?
2. What is the church’s teaching on homosexuality?
Unsure of the writer’s motives or interest, I responded in a vague sort
of way hoping to encourage the inquirer, if he was seeking a serious
response, to expand on his questions. And so he did.
The second e-mail read:
Thank you for responding to my questions on church
teachings. I guess I know nothing about the Episcopal Church and
possibly most churches. That is part of the reason for my
questions. I thought the word rabbi means teacher and the
prophets, Jesus, priests, and reverends were teachers. I thought
churches were to teach us to know, love, and serve God. If you
have time please tell me why the Episcopal Church exists and what it
does.
Wow! No uncertainty there – those are questions that truly go to
the heart of the matter – to our understanding: “Why does the Episcopal
Church exist? What does it do?”
Perhaps you recall the questions Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori
invited us to consider when she came to Little Rock to consecrate Larry
our Bishop last year? She asked:
Who are we?
Why are we here?
What are we doing it about it?
In Cursillo, this is the thrust of the Fourth Day, of our living into
our calling. [I must put in a plug here for Cursillo 77 which is
coming up in October and encourage you, if you have any interest to
talk to me or any of the folks who have been to a weekend.] The
3-day Cursillo weekend is designed to put us on the path to the Fourth
Day – a sort of jump-start to the rest of our life – and help us to not
become stumbling blocks to Christ.
Larry Benfield, reflecting on the just-concluded Lambeth conference,
said a low point for him occurred when one of the other bishops stated
that there is only one way to interpret scripture. As Bishop
Benfield said, “If that were true we would only need one sermon, the
first one preached 2000 years ago.”
But reality is that we are not the people to whom the first sermon was
preached, nor even those to whom the words of scripture spoke a week
ago. We change; our world changes. And the living Christ,
the resurrected Son of Man, lives today in the people of the church –
that’s church in its widest sense, its catholic being. The Holy
Spirit is continually reviving her people.
As we open our hearts to the process of seeking a new vicar, it is
essential that we think on what it means to be the body of Christ.
We are not primarily a social club, though gathering is important to
building us into a community of Christ. It was, after all, in
breaking bread that Jesus identified with those to whom he had come –
the sinner, the outcast, the broken and hurting of the world.
We are not a business, though we organize ourselves and function in a
world of modern economics, commerce, and merchandise. Our
stewardship is a reflection of where our minds are set yet we must be
careful lest in building, planning and even in giving and sharing what
we have, we become so attached to the physical things of the church
that we begin to make merchandise of the souls of men and women.
The story of the church records that we have done exactly that
throughout the ages.
Nor are we followers of a charismatic leader whose gifts bring joy and
comfort to us when we blindly follow that leader’s commands. As
simple and easy as that might sound, discovering and living out the
kingdom of God is not always a comfortable task; there is ample room
for mistakes – on all our parts.
What we are called to be is an incarnational community - a community
that is open, inclusive, accepting, risk-taking, and
transforming. Hear again the words of Jesus:
If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who
want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for
my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain
the whole world but forfeit their life?
It has taken me many years to discover how easily I can become a
stumbling block, how easily the world creates fear within me. I
find myself, at times afraid to take risks, afraid of what the crowds
might think, afraid of being seen as a failure, afraid of losing my
life as I think it should be…
To me, Paul’s words are among the best antidote for breaking loose from the worldly spirit:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to
what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another
in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve
the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality
to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who
weep. Live in harmony with one another…
I wish I could live that way at all times but quite honestly, I need
the support, the prayers, yes, the admonition of you all if I am to
hold fast to that way of living. As much as I might wish I had
the eloquence of Paul, I have to offer my meager speech instead.
But I can at least offer it with sincerity and love for the church.
And so I wish to share with you my response to our e-mailer’s questions:
You ask questions I wish more of our parishioners would ask - Why do we exist? What do we do?
You are correct to say that rabbis, priests - whatever word you choose
- are to teach us to know, love, and serve God. We are not people
who are more special than others however. Pastors are servants
with hearts to transform the world by transforming the lives of those
in the communities where they serve. We try to show the love of
God and invite others to experience that love.
As a Christian church, we understand our relationship to God through
the life of Jesus Christ and through his teaching, in the stories about
him, and finally in his death and resurrection.
We exist to continue the ministry Jesus initiated on earth.
Unfortunately, our history as a church and as reflected in what we do
often seems to contradict what Jesus began. Yet his antagonists
when he was on earth in flesh were, after all, primarily the religious
folks.
As a priest, my role is often to get people out of their comfortable
place to see how actions and attitudes create rather than solve
problems. A church is not a collection of good people - it is a
family of broken, hurting, and imperfect people seeking solutions to
their problems and help for their needs.
It is not about ritual - ritual serves as an image of a greater and
often mysterious truth or reality nor is it about telling people what
to do and what not to do. While our faith and relationship with
God can inform our moral ethic, at the heart of being church is that
regardless of what we do or whether we even like one another, we are
part of a family - the family of God.
One of the best ways to learn more about Christianity is in a community
or church. Unfortunately, many churches seem to function more as
businesses, clubs, or social service organizations; as places to
exercise control over people rather than as places of transformation
and healing. It is worthwhile to visit and listen to your
intuitive sense about a group before becoming too committed.
I hope you can find some answers to your questions - they are good ones.
I hope we often pause to ask ourselves who we are in Christ and what we
are doing. And as often, let us remember to petition God to
“increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring
forth in us the fruit of good works.”
Amen
The Rev. John Dryden Burton
August 31, 2008
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