“What is the world coming to?” Have you heard this question before? It won’t surprise you that I hear this in many visits where nostalgia is a common theme. It might surprise you to know this comment comes from all age groups, both genders, long-standing members of the community and recent arrivals. The comment is rooted in an assumption that things used to be “normal” or at least closer to how they “should” be. There is a lingering feeling that something is missing, that we as a society are adrift, that we are heading in the wrong direction.
There is no doubt there are some aspects of our current culture that did not exist in previous times and virtues we witnessed in bygone eras that would be difficult to replicate today. I think as we watch the current political, social and religious response to climate change we can all wish our generation had the notion of shared sacrifice that sustained our forbearers. Remember our grandparents went through an economic depression, the scourge of various diseases and a world war. They did this aided by a mantra “all for one and one for all”, the idea that each would sacrifice for the other, that there was a larger common interest to be honoured.
Given how we have become such an individualistic society and how much we are suspicious of all public institutions it is very difficult for me to consider the possibility that we could address something like climate change with an ethos of shared sacrifice. I can hear it now, “you want me to pay more for my gas?” “You want me to drive a fuel-efficient car?” “You want me to pay for public transportation?” And no one is willing to trust the public institutions that are telling us climate change is at a critical point.
But on so many other issues and challenges our current culture has far surpassed previous generations in the quest for justice and right relationships. Where can I start? Whether it is the relationship between Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches, the opportunities and safety and respect afforded to women, or the inclusive spirit that now confronts racism and heterosexism at every turn, you can’t say we aren’t better off today than they were in years past. Every time I hear that refrain, “what is the world coming to?” I ask the person if they remember the families who stopped talking to one another when a Roman Catholic married a Protestant, or when women were told they could be teachers, secretaries or nurses (that was it) or when people were shunned, beaten or worse because of their sexual orientation or the colour of their skin. They do remember.
And let’s not forget residential schools and the theology that aided this effort. There was a clear belief that our way of expressing belief, our cultural practices and our societal structure was the only way to be. We used our power and control to make people do as we pleased and the resulting fallout is still with us.
I’ve never really understood the blatant, mean-spirited racism that infects some people on this planet. I don’t understand how anyone can look at another person and think of them as some kind of sub-human animal. But once again I must insist that is not the way in which the Bible presents the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the God and father of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. The God of the Scriptures is the God who is concerned about “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:3). With that in mind, and given Jesus’ acceptance of all people, we might want to believe that the church would be a “hate-free” or “discrimination-free” zone. Unfortunately, it is not. Apparently, it wasn’t even in the days of St. Paul.
Part of the situation Paul was addressing was a church in which Jewish Christians joined together with gentile converts. In order to understand the problems that caused, we have to understand that one of the aspects of Jewish identity was the belief by some that they were chosen by God. Some of the Jewish leaders at that time thought that their election meant privilege rather than call. Some even called these new converts the “gentile dogs” (that is, all non-Jewish people). Of course, if the gentile “sinners” wanted to, they could convert and become Jewish, and they would be part of the privileged people. Otherwise they remained outsiders and should stay outside.
Likewise, the gentiles, like generations before and after, were infected by a deep-seated antisemitism, a hatred of Israel. The distain felt by these Roman citizens towards the Jews was palpable. Well, when the Christian gospel started bearing fruit among all the people groups outside Judaism in the First-Century world, the Jewish Christians had some challenges with it. In fact, some of them insisted that people must first convert to Judaism before they became Christians! But Paul saw that for what it was—not only an affront to the Gospel but also an affront to the God of Abraham, who called Abraham and Sarah and all their descendants for the benefit of “all the families of the earth.”
Following that logic, Paul extended the language of election to include gentiles who converted to Christian faith. This was a major leap for any Jewish person in that day. It meant that those who had been outsiders were now insiders, and in some cases that those who had been insiders were now outsiders. It turned the world upside down!
I think in our day and time, we should follow Paul’s lead and extend his thinking to include the whole human race as God’s chosen people. If we’re honest with ourselves and each other, we would have to admit that the Christian church has often taken Paul’s scandalous overturning of the system of privilege and discrimination and turned it into a whole new means of looking down on others. We have turned our Christian faith into an exclusive mark of superiority over (you fill in the blank). But it would seem to me that the God who created all things and all people, the God who called Abraham and Sarah and their descendants for the benefit of all people, and the God who in Jesus Christ came into this world to redeem all people, is the God who has chosen to love the whole human family. Truly, in and because of Christ Jesus, we are all beloved “children of God”; we are all chosen to be “one in Christ Jesus.”
When it comes to this enterprise called faith, just as much as in life and work and all other areas of human endeavor, we are all in this together—and that includes Muslim imams and Catholic nuns and Jewish rabbis and Buddhist priests and Hindu monks—along with people of every other stripe and variety. We can no longer look at others as “other;” we can no longer look down on “outsiders.” Rather when we look at another human being—any and every human being, we must see that person as one whom God has chosen to love every bit as much as you or me. The Good news of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ is that God has chosen us all without exception!
Hear Paul’s good news: Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore, in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
For our forbearers the thought that Roman Catholics and Protestant were “one in Christ Jesus” would be somewhat problematic. For our forbearers the thought that women and men could both serve as Elders and clergy would have been challenging. For our forbearers the idea our God is the same God whom Hindus, Muslims and Jews call upon for blessing and revelation, that would have been very difficult to imagine.
The United Church of Canada has come a long way on the issue of sexual orientation. In 1988 large numbers of our members left the church because we were opening the door to gay and lesbians serving as clergy. At Maritime Conference that year the elected General Council delegates were grilled with deep-seated anger and outrage because these women and men had dared to vote for the compromise resolution that allowed each congregation to determine for themselves if they would be open to a gay or lesbian minister. I know some of those representatives and they tell me it was the most difficult thing they ever did, the most hatred they ever received.
One of the people who dished out that anger at that time was a member of a church I later served. I remember he told me I wouldn’t see him for two weeks, he and his wife were headed home to Newfoundland for a granddaughter’s wedding. I can’t recall how it came up but he shared that his granddaughter was marrying another woman. He could see the surprise on my face. I will never forget his comment, “when it’s your own grandchild it’s hard to imagine God would make her this way without a reason, that if God loved her as she was why couldn’t I?” I think that kind of epiphany and transformation happened in more than one Maritime home.
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. What are the boundaries in your heart that Jesus is challenging? A few weeks ago there was a funeral held for an Anglican Priest who once served the parish where Kim’s family attended faithfully. Kim recalls telling this priest that she felt the call to ordained ministry. The priest had to be honest, he told Kim he was not sure how he felt about female ministers. He would need to pray about it. Sometime later he told Kim that the Spirit had showed him the way, that it had revealed the expansive nature of God’s love and thus how could he, a mere mortal, argue with the Divine. This priest became Kim’s strongest advocate. Kim always appreciated his honesty, his integrity and his openness to consider what the Spirit was doing.
May the Spirit’s call upon our hearts be heard and acknowledged and affirmed. Amen.