Jesus Says: ‘Believe in God’
Jesus said: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Or as it says in the translation I used this morning, Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” — John 14:1b
I have, several times before, spoken about the Reverend Carol Anderson, the person I consider my first mentor in ministry, the one who initially pointed me toward the path which eventually— many years after her initial push— led to my ordination. When I attended All Angels Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, Carol was the rector there. (To be clear: Rector is the Episcopal term for Pastor.)
Carol retired recently. Her last pastorate was at All Saints Church, Beverly Hills, California. Yup— 90210. Now, at a much earlier time in her life, when she was in college in the early 1960s, Carol did what many college students in those tumultuous times did. She headed South and took part in Civil Rights protests and marches.
A couple years after finishing college she heard a call to ministry and went to Harvard Divinity School. There was a problem, however. Good Episcopalian that Carol was, at that point in time Episcopalians were not ordaining women. She went to Seminary anyway. She had, after all, heard a call to ministry.
Having graduated, Carol was consecrated a Deacon, something which is, under normal circumstances in the Episcopal system, a step toward full ordination and at that time Deacon was a post which could be held by women in the Episcopal Church. She served in the role of Deacon for several years at Saint James Episcopal Church on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
Times do change and in 1976 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. Carol, ready to be ordained, was ordained in January the following year in a ceremony at Saint James and became their Associate Pastor.
Next Carol served as the Rector at All Angels for seven years, where I first met her. From there she went on to start the Institute for Clergy Renewal. The institute, supported by grants and still active, is a place where clergy can go for up to three months at a time to be on a retreat and work with Carol one on one as they rediscover themselves and explore a basis for their ministry.
Now, just based on the name ‘Institute for Clergy Renewal’ you might ask, ‘what’s that about?’ Why do clergy need renewal? Don’t pastors and priests get a full month of vacation each year and some extra time for education and even an occasional sabbatical? Well, yes— they/we do. But Carol was trying to address something other than vacation-like renewal with the Institute.
Carol’s idea for establishing this Institute developed because of her experience and because of what she had seen happen to other clergy. Indeed, Carol initiated the Institute in part because of what she had seen when she joined those protests and marches in the South in the Sixties.
Let me unpack that for you. It is good to be behind a cause. On a personal level, it was good for Carol— a tall, blond, very Anglo-Saxon looking woman— to join protests and marches in the South as many, many people did. It is good to be among those who work for equal rights and justice for all people.
But a deeper question needs to be asked: ‘why?’ What is the reason one might want to take part in protests and marches? Why be behind a cause? In fact, why should a person support equal rights?
After all, events both past and present, show not everyone is in favor of equal rights for all people. Some people oppose equality and justice— sometimes in very sly ways— but it is or it should be obvious just on reading the newspapers or listening to news broadcasts that not everyone is in favor of or stands up for equality and justice.
And that very issue— discovering the ‘why’ of social justice— is what led Carol to start the Institute for Clergy Renewal. What she realized is many clergy get involved in social action and social justice only for its own sake.
They take a stand on social action and social justice only for the sake of social action and social justice. Put differently, they take a stand without understanding why this is a good thing. And that is why, after a while, people who take such stands are in a large danger of just burning out.
Put differently again, many clergy get involved without remembering why. They get to the point where they take positions, support causes and totally forget there is a Christian basis for social action, for social justice. And here is a deep truth: look for the heart of God. At the heart of God, you will find justice. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the Gospel we know as John— Jesus said: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Or as it says in the translation I used this morning, Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” (Slight pause.)
There is no question about this: the Gospel we call John was written last among the four and is among the latest writings in the Christian Scriptures. As such, it displays what scholars call— get ready for a $64 term here— as such, it displays what scholars call “high Christology.”
This high Christology says Jesus is more God-like in John’s Gospel than the other three Gospels. Even so, these words clearly separate God and Jesus. It, hence, leaves the answer to the question attributed to Jesus: “Who do you say that I am?” unanswered. (Slight pause.)
About the fourth century the church answers that question as well as it can. And the answer is the Trinity: the church proclaims that God, Jesus and the Spirit are intertwined. In other words, with the doctrine of the Trinity the church strives to explain how God, Jesus and the Spirit are one but at the same time are three.
In her retreat work with clergy that’s exactly the area Carol covers. ‘Who is God. Who is Jesus. ‘Who is the Spirit?’ She strives to help people answer the question: ‘how do you understand of this?’ And why does she do that? Unless a concern for social justice has a basis in theology, burn out becomes a given. (Slight pause.) And if you look for the heart of God you will find justice. (Slight pause.)
Last week, when Bonnie and I were in Cincinnati sharing family time with our niece, Phoebe, who graduated from her residency program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Linda Oehme shared the word here. I’ve listened to the CD. If you were not here, let me tell you she was wonderful. [Thank you Linda.]
Her sermon title was The Dash. The dash— often engraved on a tombstone— the time between a date of birth and a date of death.
Hence, the topic of the sermon was ‘what do we do with our time?’ Do we use it seeking equity, seeking justice? Put differently, do we use the brief time we are given to further the Dominion of God, the work of God, the world as God might see it. Do we use it in an effort to bring our hands in seeking some justice, some equality and some love. (Slight pause.) Look for the heart of God and you will find justice. (Slight pause.)
Let me come back to Carol for a moment. Among the first women to be ordained in the Episcopal Church, she was painfully aware of how privileged she was. For two millennia of history in Christianity women had heard the call to ordination. That call was, mostly, ignored by the church. It still is in some quarters.
But what Carol also understood is who was calling. You see, she realized that if getting ordained was simply a matter of social justice— rights for women— she probably would have burned out long before the church had allowed for the ordination of women. But because she was grounded in and grounded on who was calling, that sustained her.
In short, Carol understood that trusting God, trusting Jesus, trusting the Spirit is central. (Slight pause.) And if you look for the heart of God and you will find justice. (Slight pause.)
So, why do we, the United Church of Christ, First Congregational of Norwich, gather as a church? Why do people come here on a Sunday. You will hear a lot of answers to that question.
The music ministry is great. Our outreach is wonderful, our social action fruitful. I enjoy being with the people who worship here. Have you seen the worship space? It’s beautiful. These are all good reasons. They are all true.
But I want to suggest that trusting God, trusting Jesus, trusting the Spirit is central. (Slight pause.) Look for the heart of God and you will find justice. Seeking the heart of God is what makes us church. (Slight pause.)
Trust in God, trusting the heart of God, is necessary if our mutual ministry is to be really empowered. Indeed, I want to suggest that God is central to what we do as church. God is central to who we are as a church. Amen.
05/22/2011
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I do get out and around in this town a lot and I am fairly well known. What I am about to mention happened yesterday and the reason I want to mention it is because it happens so often. Someone came up to me and said: ‘Your church is wonderful. What your church does is wonderful. The people in your church are wonderful.’ Why, yes. We are. And yes, we do. But maybe, just maybe, we need to invite some of those folks who think so highly of us to join us on a Sunday morning. Why? So we can share with them the thought that the reason we are so wonderful is that, as Jesus did, we seek the heart of God and we trust God.”
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