Every year, toward the end of September, the Disciples of Christ emphasize the ministry of reconciliation; and although reconciliation occurs in many ways and circumstances, it is usually racial reconciliation that we are talking about.
Our denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), has set forth four priorities to guide us. One is to develop 1,000 new congregations. Another is to revitalize 1,000 existing congregations. A third is to develop and train leaders. And the fourth is to be an anti-racist, pro-reconciliation church.
Our reconciliation emphasis includes the opportunity to contribute to an above-and-beyond offering for reconciliation ministry. Every year, I feel called to connect my preaching to this important ministry. This year, however, three questions have been nagging at me:
1. Why should racial reconciliation be a priority for the church?
2. What good is accomplished by our reconciliation ministry?
3. Who am I to speak about such things?
The last question is, for me, the most difficult. I can only think of one time that I ever experienced racism myself—and, being so unaccustomed to it, I didn’t even recognize it for what it was.
My family had taken a camping trip. Three teenage boys, participants in our church’s youth program and frequent raiders of our cupboards and refrigerator, came with us.
We pulled into the campground, which was privately owned, as the sun was setting. We had a reserved campsite, and I slowly drove through the campground looking for it. Because the light was fading, we couldn’t find it, so we parked, and started walking around, searching for the campsite that was ours.
After just a few minutes, the campground manager came out of his office and hobbled over in my direction. Great, I thought; he can help me find our campsite.
I said hello, but he neither smiled nor offered a word of welcome. “This is a family park,” he grumbled. “Come in a little easier next time.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, since I had made a special effort to drive slowly and watch for children playing in the road. So I said, “Excuse me?”
He said, “Our quiet hours are at 10:00! Try and be respectful of others.”
I looked at my watch. It was 8:30.
I was really upset by this. Why was he treating me so rudely? I looked at Ginger. I looked at Ethan and Tristan. I looked at the three teenagers: Dallas, with his bleach blond hair and freckled cheeks; Spencer, with his long, black cornrows pulled back from his dark brown face; and Stephen, with his straight black hair almost—but not quite—hiding his slanted eyes….
I still didn’t know why the camp manager was so upset….Which is why I ask, “Who am I to speak of such things?” But the teenagers knew. And when I suggested that we leave and camp at a different campground down the road, they quietly agreed.
Why should racial reconciliation be a priority for the church? To answer that, we turn to scripture. Scripture tells us that, in the kingdom of God, there are no divisions. In that new world that Christ proclaims, the boundaries that divide people from one another are erased. The walls are torn down, laid low by the power of love. Leaders become servants, and servants become leaders. The first become last, and the last, first. Those who seek honor for themselves are humbled, and those who humble themselves are lifted up, for all are one in the eyes of God.
This is what was on Paul’s mind when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. In that letter, he writes: “I hear that there are divisions among you…”
These divisions are troubling to Paul. Apparently, when the Corinthians would gather for worship, some were insisting on taking a place of honor; something that they were used to doing whenever they’d gather for a banquet.
After all, Corinth was a Greek city, a focus of commerce and trade in the heart of the Roman Empire; and in the Roman Empire, “social and economic order was built on an elaborate and interlocking system of hierarchies bound together by ‘patronage.’” (I’m quoting Rick Lowery, a Disciples seminary professor.) There was a stepladder of rank and hierarchy, which extended all the way up to Caesar himself, the one who was said to be the “son of God” and the “father of the fatherland.” (Remember that from last week?)
At any public gathering in the Roman Empire, people—men—situated themselves according to this hierarchy. It’s the way it was always done. It’s what they were used to, especially in Corinth. To change to a new way of doing things is hard. The church today knows something about that, right?To change to a new way of doing things is hard!
Paul writes to the Corinthians to tell them that the way they are doing things is the way of the empire; and the way of the empire, Paul says, is inconsistent and incompatible with the way of Christ.
For those who follow the way of Christ, there are no social divisions!
For those who follow the way of Christ, there is one Spirit. There is one body. And there is one table.
And at this one table, all are welcome. Men and women. Slaves and free. Jews and Gentiles. Rich and poor. Mighty and meek.
And at this one table, they are united in the body of Christ. There are many members, all joined together in one body.
It is very easy to allow the way of the empire to influence life in the church, because the way of the empire includes and encompasses just about everything we experience. To open one’s eyes to the way of Christ involves a huge leap of faith. It’s like in the movie The Matrix, when Neo, the main character, learns to open his eyes to a whole new reality, a whole new world, one that is so completely different from everything he thought was real. Indeed, the kingdom of God is a whole new reality.
A new world in which social divisions do not exist was a difficult thing for the Corinthians to understand. I think they knew enough to recognize immediately the truth of Paul’s words. But there’s still a large gap between knowing what the kingdom is like, and living in that kingdom. So often, the influence of this world is just too strong.
Is it really all that different today?
The Disciples are, as a recent issue of DisciplesWorld magazine pointed out, “amazingly diverse…. The denomination’s roots in the Christian unity movement predisposed it toward inclusion rather than isolation, further clearing the way for today’s diverse collection of congregation’s and members.”
The number of racial and ethnic minorities in the Disciples church is growing amazingly fast. The past decade has seen the largest increase in new congregations in our history, and 80 percent of our new congregations serve minority groups. It may surprise you to learn that Haitian congregations alone account for almost 20 percent of all new Disciples congregations.
But still, as DisciplesWorld magazine points out, we are “part of the larger society. The church struggles with the legacy of racism and exclusion in North America. The church has participated in broad systems of interaction and organization that benefit from racism, even if the individuals in the systems have not intended to do so. Struggles around race, but also gender, sexual orientation, and theological differences, continue to haunt the church.”
So… We know that racism has been the predominant social divider in American history; we know that, despite our best efforts, racism has influenced our life as a church; and we know that racism, thought it may reflect the ways of the empire, it does not reflect the way of Christ and Christ’s kingdom.
That is why we continue to work to be an anti-racist, pro-reconciliation church. That is why we still have a reconciliation ministry.
To look at it on a more personal level, I’d like to tell you about a friend of mine. We went to seminary together, she and I, and discovered that, at least when it came to theological understanding, we had a lot in common. We became conversation partners, discussing the different theological ideas that were presented to us, and I was always amazed by her insight. When it came to theology, she was sharp.
However, unlike me, she could not find a church to serve. Some churches wouldn’t call her as their pastor because she spoke with an accent. Other churches had no problem with her accent, but would not call her because she was a woman.
These days, I can hear the bitterness in her voice; and is it any wonder? The social divisions of the world continue to creep into the church.
That is why the reconciliation ministry of our church is still so important.
So what good is accomplished by our reconciliation ministry? When I was in northern California, I would attend the regional assemblies that took place every year. One year, the First Mongolian Christian Church youth choir performed, to the delight of the assembly.
First Mongolian Christian Church has an interesting history. Several years ago, Ogi Luvsan began attending First Korean Christian Church of Oakland. He was fluent in both Korean and Mongolian, and began inviting other Mongolians to join him. With help from the region, translation devices soon began translating the Korean worship into Mongolian.
Eventually the Mongolians, under Luvsan’s leadership, founded their own congregation. A reconciliation grant helped them start English language classes. They help immigrants find jobs. And they continue to demonstrate that the church is inclusive of all people by inviting women to preach and be leaders in the church.
At our own regional gathering, taking place a few weeks from now in Fullerton, I expect that worship services will be translated into several different languages. We have not yet achieved perfection when it comes to tearing down the walls of racism and prejudice, but we have made a lot of progress. It is always exciting to see social divisions overcome when many members become one body at the table of the Lord.
Who am I to speak of such things? I said that that was a difficult question to answer, but now I realize that my answer came even before I asked the question. I started this sermon by saying that I feel called to preach on reconciliation. Who am I to speak of such things? I am one who is called.
I am one who is called to preach reconciliation. I am one who is called to cast aside the social divisions of our world. I am one who is called to follow the way of Christ, to live in Christ’s kingdom, where there are indeed many members, but one body, and one table.
The following sources were used in the preparation of this sermon:
Rick Lowery, “Reconciliation Offering Bible Study”. (www.reconciliationministry.org).
Verity Jones, “A Beautiful Tapestry of Diversity” DisciplesWorld, July/August, 2009.
Joel Brown, “Mongolian Immigrants Find New Home in Disciples Congregation” DisciplesWorld, July/August, 2009.
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