On May 16, 2004 the phone rang in the middle of the night.Actually it was more like the wee hours of the morning.Carol answered the phone and it was Rev. Elder Jeri Ann Harvey.Immediately that raised red flags, as Jeri Ann’s health was not that great.After a little bit of discussion, Carol covered her hand over the receiver and turned to me and said, Gill (Rev. Elder Gill Storey who was our regional elder at the time, Jeri’s partner) was sick and was supposed to preach at Gainesville in the morning.Can you go instead?
Well, all kinds of things were racing in my mind.First, being a new seminary student, I had not yet had a preaching class.Nor did I have a file of sermons to draw upon. Second, I am not very good on lack of sleep. And third, I thought, how can I stand in front of this congregation who is excitedly expecting our charismatic, popular, regional elder and say, “Surprise, you get me instead!”
So, I got up and sat at the kitchen table and started writing a sermon.I continued writing the computer from the back seat of the car while Carol drove.
When we arrived here at the church, C.J. met us.Carol said that she needed coffee and Marcia promptly accommodated her.C.J. helped with printing out my sermon while making the comment, “Wow, that ‘s a long sermon.”I assured him that it was just big print.
I gave my sermon two titles and said that you could pick the one you like best:“Answering God’s Call” or “Saying Yes When Jeri Ann Harvey Phones in the Middle of the Night.”
That started my experience at Trinity MCC, and I have been endeared to you ever since. I came to preach after that and then again on Easter Sunday in 2005.
Some people say that church is like a soap opera.If that is the case, I guess you could say that I have been one of those characters who appears in and out of the story from time to time.So, here we go again:As the Church Turns
These past five months have included some pretty interesting story lines.There was the Sunday in the church office when a mouse sauntered across the floor while I attempted to hold my composure.Rhandi said, “Oh, we forgot to warn you about that.”There were the subsequent Sundays when the odor was not too appealing, but we smiled and endured it anyway.There was the Sunday we arrived to find a natural disaster with the falling of the tree on the social hall.There was the time when I was stuck on I-75 in traffic, frantically calling every Board member and Deacon’s number I could find and the church office and no one would answer my call.There have been leaks in the roof, termite damage and sighting of rattle snake on the memorial trail.There have been surgeries and sickness, love affairs and tragedy in the loss of one of our main characters in C.J.This is what community is all about – all of our characters joined to form a story about life and struggles, about faith and triumph and our support of each other.
So, as your story now moves in another direction, I encourage you, As the Church Turns, to turn in directions that are pleasing to God.
1.First, may Trinity MCC always turn to look at each other with love.
Several years ago I participated in an event with about 200 teenagers who were enrolled in an alternative education program.The event was held in a gymnasium .It was called Challenge Day.There were fun games and times of sharing, but the most meaningful experience was when the leaders lined us all up on one half of the gymnasium and then they started asking us questions:
“If you have ever been assaulted verbally or physically because of your cultural background or race, walk to the other side and turn and face the group.”
“If you have ever been laughed at or told that you were ugly, fat or unattractive, step to the other side.”
If you or your family has ever been poor, been on food stamps or if you have ever gone to bed hungry, step to the other side.”
And somehow in those moments, there were no longer any dividing lines.Instead, we were simply individuals all looking at each other in the vulnerability of our pains and differences.
In our Gospel reading today, I somehow think that Jesus may have been trying to create the same effect.Luke says that Jesus comes down from the mountain and he stands on a level place.For a carpenter, it seems that a level place is where one sets the sets the foundation.
On this level place, we are told that great multitude gather around Jesus, I imagine forming a circle, pressing in to hear.On this level, place Jesus levels with them.He says, blessed are you who are poor.Blessed are you who are hungry, blessed are you who weep.And as Jesus was speaking the multitudes had no option but to also look across into the faces of those who were hurting.They were people from different walks of life, different classes, different cultures.They had come from Judea and Jerusalem and the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
Jesus has a way of reminding us that we should always turn to look at each other.
2.Number two, As the Church Turns, may Trinity MCC always turn to blur the lines of difference between you.
My freshmen year of college I tried out for the tennis team. At the time, I was oblivious that my teammates had all been recruited and were on scholarships and had grown up playing in tennis clubs compared to my free park facility.Therefore, they were at different socio-economic classes than me.
One day the tennis team was invited out to a really nice restaurant.Well, I had come to college with some new clothes and I had this polyester baby blue pant suit that I just loved.It even had a vest, so it was a three-piece polyester baby blue pant suit.As we were all sitting around the dinner table one of my teammates said that they liked my suit to which I beamed until my roommate said in front of everyone, “Where did you get it, K-Mart?”I was embarrassed and said, “No, I got it at J.C. Penneys,” which made her laugh even harder.At 18 years old I did not even know what designer clothes were, but that day I realized that I was from a different class than most of my teammates.
I ask myself, “Why do we do this to each other?”Why do we draw lines and divisions between each other?Money is not the only way we me divisions.We do it through gender, race, over who is conservative and who is liberal, who believes this way or who believes that way.
As Jesus preaches his famous beatitudes, he initially appears to do the same thing as my roommate, except with opposite values.He starts by saying, blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, but woe to you who are rich.
At first reading it seems that Jesus was engaging in a class warfare, condemning the rich and blessing the poor.But in reality, Jesus was blurring the lines and divisions that society had created.
It was challenge day on that level plain that day.“Woe to you who are rich, full and laughing,” was not a condemnation.The “Woe” was a lamentation.Jesus is saying, “My heart breaks for you too, because society has taught you that being blessed has somehow earned you God’s favor, but really you are destitute without God.”
And that challenge day, the rich had to look into the eyes of the poor and the poor into the eyes of the rich and realize, they really were all in the same boat.Spiritually, they were all destitute in the same way and in need of Jesus.
Whatever causes divisions amongst us, As the Church Turns, may you always turn to blur the lines of difference and together follow Jesus.
3. Number three, may Trinity MCC always turn to reconciliation.
The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. 1For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
These divisions must have broken Paul’s heart.It was so contrary to what he had hoped for in a church.The sad reality is that this old letter and old story from Paul is really a new story.From church to church to church, from workplace to workplace, from family to family we often hear about conflicts and divisions.
I know that was the story in this church not so long ago.
Some of you have said or thought, “I belong to Rev. Paul.”“I belong to Rev. Joe” and in the future some of you might be tempted to say, “I belong to Rev. Vickie.”But Paul challenges us, “Has Christ been divided?”
Several years ago, I ruptured my Achilles tendon.It just tore right in half.Half of it rolled up to the back of my knee and the other half down to my heel.Initially, I did not realize what had happened.The trainer came out to the court, examined me and told me to flex my foot. My brain was trying so hard, but my foot would not flex. There was no more pain, the division had already occurred, but I certainly could not walk properly.
When division occurs in a community, the same happens to us. We can’t walk right either!Not only can our community not walk right, but when something we love becomes divided then as individuals we can’t walk right either.When there is division around us, our hearts and souls become broken and divided too.
Well, I was certainly glad there was a medical procedure that could reconcile the two halves of my Achilles tendon so I could walk again.But this is when the real pain began:cutting and stitches and elevation and ice and rehab and re-stretching.
Reconciliation is hard work, but it is God’s work. The Rev. Right Steven Charleston from Episcopal Divinity School wrote a resource booklet for churches needing to reconcile, and he said that Jesus placed reconciliation above anything else.He said that Jesus went to the cross because he placed reconciliation above resolution.The message of the cross is that reconciliation is more important than being right.Reconciliation like that of the cross says, “Father-Mother forgive them for they know not what they do.”
In this church, many of you have come to the same conclusion.You have had to do the work of reconciliation.There is healing in this place today.I feel it.May you know that the work of reconciliation is never done.It is something we are called to work on each and every day.
Trinity MCC.I will miss you.I will miss you tremendously.But know, that my coming and my going, like a character in a story, has all been in the planning. I truly believe that God’s hand is in all of this and the timing.
As Rev. Jim comes next week, I want nothing more than for you to embrace him and love him and accept him the way that you have me.
And as your story continues on, as the church turns…
May your story always turn to reconciliation.
May your story always turn to blur the lines of division.
May your story always turn to look at each other with love and compassion.
