The Three Way Covenant
“‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,’ Abraham and Sarah replied, ‘neither will they be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’” — Luke 16:31.
As you may be aware, I publish a blog on the Internet with all my sermons. Occasionally, I put other writing on the blog, but not often. On the other hand, several colleagues, pastors, publish things on their blogs other than sermons with great regularity.
I’ve mentioned one of those colleagues here before: the Rev. Mr. Michael Caine, formerly the Regional Conference Minister in the Metro Area of the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ, now serving the Old First Reformed Church, United Church of Christ in Philadelphia. This week, in a writing he did outside of a sermon, he recorded some thoughts on how people interact in church.
I’d like to share some of Michael’s thoughts on the topic. I will take the liberty of paraphrasing what he wrote in some places while expanding in others. But this is certainly the thrust of what he said. (Slight pause.)
Time, energy and anxiety are often dedicated in inverse proportion to the importance of the issue at hand in a church. Keeping perspective, letting go of minutiae, can help people focus on what the significant issues really are: justice, service, sharing the love God offers in our increasingly diverse world, a world which seems to us to be constantly smaller and smaller.
The long and the short of it is, wasting time on what doesn’t matter is not appropriate. Spending time on what does matter gives the church, gives people hope— don’t sweat the small stuff.
Next, with an interesting turn of phrase, Michael also said this: in a church the sky doesn’t fall very often, so don’t get yourself all in a twitter. After all, how many mistakes in church life and in the life of a church are either irreversible or deadly? Rare are the choices that warrant the kind of competitive, all or nothing, win or lose holy wars which sometimes, perhaps too often, get acted out in churches.
So, when we stumble (and we will stumble), we need to get back up, brush ourselves off and try again. Often mistakes are the best way to learn. Real growth, says Michael, growth in the sense of maturing, is almost always difficult and time consuming.
Unquestionably we, the church, need to strive to be good stewards. There are wrong answers. But there are rarely perfect answers. Therefore, letting go, trusting others, waiting to see and being patient over time are all spiritual disciplines and are key ingredients in living life to its fullest. (Slight pause.)
Michael also said it’s likely what a majority of people want is only what is best for a church. There might be disagreements, but given time, appropriate intentional process and rational behavior— underline that one— rational behavior— things can be worked out.
But and therefore, the people of a church also need to remember the church and the people of a church, have a history. And history is actually longer than any of our one on one interactions today.
The history of a church, and the effects of that history, you see, go back long before any of us were members here, and indeed, long before any of us were born. Whether or not we know it and whether or not we admit it, our own history, the church history, from a long time ago still has an effect on us today. And the history of this congregation and its involvement in the world in which we live is a long one.
In 1862 this church called the Rev. Mr. Samuel Scoville to be Pastor and Teacher here. Sam was the son-in-law of Henry Ward Beecher. Needless to say, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was the sister of Sam’s Father-in-law. And, while the story is apocryphal, it is alleged that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, the President remarked, “So, you’re the little lady who started the Civil War!”
Apocryphal or not, what that story makes clear is this church was deeply involved in the abolitionist movement. And, if you think the abolitionist movement was popular, you are sadly mistaken. (Many folks will tall you it did cause the Civil War.) But certainly to take a stand which says all people are equal still effects who we are, these hundred and fifty years later. (Slight pause.)
Now, as we all know, history can be more immediate too. Old battles between individuals who are currently members in a church may be and even are probably remembered. The wounds from those may smart.
However, when it comes to those places where individuals feel as if they are wounded, we need to give one another (to use a cliché) “the benefit of the doubt.” ‘Benefit of the doubt’— that’s a secular way of speaking about grace.
Here’s another way of saying this: collaboration is vital to church. Collaboration is key to church. Collaboration is at the heart of what it means to be church and needs to be at the heart of our mutual engagement. Collaboration gives us a great ability to listen and to learn from one another. (Slight pause.)
To sum up Michael’s reflections: whether we are talking about keeping perspective or maturity in relating to one another or our personal history or our institutional history, this is clear: the basis of church, the different label a church uses for that term collaboration, is called covenant— covenant relationship with each other. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the Gospel commonly referred to as Luke: “‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,’ Abraham and Sarah replied, ‘neither will they be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Slight pause.)
Another colleague of mine (not Michael) recently told me about a bumper sticker: “Non-judgmental Day is Near.” (Slight pause.) Please, please do not think the story of Lazarus and the person of wealth as having to do with any kind of judgment or even a judgment day. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The story of Lazarus— and by the way Lazarus is the only subject directly named in any parable Jesus told and the name means ‘God is my help’— the story of Lazarus and the person who had been rich is a story about relationships, not a story about judgment.
It is also a story about the human condition. It is a story about people closing their eyes to what is right in front of them.
Based on how the story is told, it seems unlikely the wealthy man even admitted Lazarus was even there. And, indeed, when Abraham and Sarah say “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead” the implication is obvious. You are offered all the help you need in identifying the situation. And you... did nothing. (Slight pause.)
As the Evangelist Jim Wallis likes to say: there are 3,000 verses in Scripture about poverty and injustice. Very few of those 3,000 verses are ambiguous. They describe God as being on the side of the poor and demanding justice for the poor.
To draw a contrast: there are a couple of verses about sexual behavior. And all of them are ambiguous. And on what topic does our society focus? Not on the Biblical topic— the three thousand verses. (Slight pause.)
The Census bureau released some statistics last week. The one which shocked most people said 43.6 million Americans currently live in poverty. That’s about 14% of the population, more than at any point in the last 51 years. (Slight pause.) And there are about 3,000 verses in Scripture concerning poverty and injustice. (Slight pause.)
If there is any message in today’s Gospel reading it is this: we need to listen for the Voice of God. We need to listen to what Moses and the Prophets say. And what do Moses and the Prophets say? (Slight pause.) There are about 3,000 verses in Scripture concerning poverty and injustice. Very few of them are ambiguous. (Slight pause.)
Now, you might be thinking, “O.K. But what can I do about a problem that big?” Let me assure you that you cannot fix it and that it is not your job to fix it and God is not calling on any of us to fix it. God is calling us to be in covenant relationship with one other.
The parable of Lazarus is not about judgement and neither is it about the wealthy person fixing the system alone. It is about the fact that the wealthy person had no relationship, no understanding of the covenant with Lazarus. It’s about the fact that the wealthy person did not even have a relationship, no understanding of the covenant with Moses and the prophets— the history of Israel.
A final word: the covenant with God is a three way covenant. It’s you and it’s me and it’s God all in covenant together. And then... and then... it starts all over again.
[The pastor moves from the pulpit and points at individuals and repeats what was just said.] It’s you and it’s me and it’s God. And it’s you and it’s me and it’s God. And it’s you and it’s me and it’s God.
The question is not ‘can we do this?’ Covenant is possible. The question is: ‘are we willing to do this?’ Amen.
09/26/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “We in the United Church of Christ, we in the Congregational tradition, tend to talk a lot about covenant. One of the things we need to remember about covenant it that it goes beyond this congregation to the other congregations in the Association, in the Conference and in the Denomination. Here’s an example: yesterday there was an Association meeting. I announced that this afternoon Chris Hedges would be speaking here and made some flyers about the event available. One woman came up to Bonnie and pressed a ten dollar bill into her hand for the speaker. That connective-ness, that covenant— she got it.”
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