Fun fact: our scripture is Mark 9:38-50. But if you are using a modern translation, you might notice that there is no verse 44, and no verse 46. Early manuscripts of Mark’s gospel had these verses, but scholars and translators now agree that those verses were not originally part of Mark, and so they are left out of most translations...So today we have verse 43, followed by verse 45, followed by verse 47...
Many of you know that Bixby Knolls Christian Church is joined in covenant with well over 100 congregations throughout the Pacific Southwest Region; and our region is one of 32 regions that make up the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada.
Our roots stretch back over 200 years to a group of Christians in Pennsylvania and Kentucky who wanted to form a church free of denominational barriers. In those days, if you wanted to receive communion in a Methodist church, you had to be Methodist. If you wanted to receive communion in a Presbyterian church, you had to be Presbyterian.
Denominations in those days - I’m not talking about denominations now; denominations like Presbyterians and Methodists have a lot more respect for each other today - but back then, denominations often preached that only those who followed the beliefs and practices of their particular denomination were true Christians, and those who followed the beliefs and practices of other denominations were false Christians.
Alexander Campbell, in addition to having rather impressive eyebrows, was one of those who helped start our movement. And even though he was originally a Presbyterian minister, Alexander Campbell thought these denominational divisions were wrong.
Here’s a quote from Alexander Campbell: "I have no idea [that is, no intention] of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."
That was a radical idea in his time.
Here’s another Alexander Campbell quote: “Who is a Christian? I answer, Every one that believes in one’s heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of one’s sins, and obeys him in all things…”
From the ideas of Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and other leaders, our movement began; and from the beginning, unity has been our polar star. Our movement has been dedicated to ending the divisions that have plagued Christ’s church.
I grew up in the Disciples of Christ Church, attended a Disciples of Christ university and a Disciples of Christ seminary, and am ordained by the Disciples of Christ. So the idea of Christian unity is important to me. It flows in my blood.
It’s really, really hard for me to say of any person that they are not a true Christian, just because they have different opinions than I do. I believe in an open table and a membership that is open to all, even those who understand things differently than I do.
But I gotta tell you, these days I’m really being tested in this. I hear what many Christian leaders are saying in public these days, and it just sounds so far removed from the way of Jesus, that I really do wonder how it can even be that anyone considers them to be Christians.
The things they say and the things they do are offensive to the way of Christ, and what troubles me the most is that their words and actions cause many to turn their back on the church and turn their back on Jesus.
In today’s scripture we heard Jesus say this: "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”
I see too many Christian leaders placing great big stumbling blocks on the path of those who want to follow Jesus. And because of these stumbling blocks, many have given up walking that path. People have stopped going to church. Many have stopped believing. Because they look at what these so-called Christian leaders say publicly, and they do not find anything of Jesus.
And because so many are losing their way because of the stumbling blocks placed before them by these so-called Christian leaders, I feel compelled to call these leaders out, and to state unequivocally that their actions and their speech are not Christian.
For example, there is nothing Christian about cutting taxes for the rich, and cutting services to the poor to pay for those tax cuts. That is so contrary to the biblical witness. The gospel, the law, and the prophets all bear witness against those who enact such immoral policies.
We have a widening gap between rich and poor that is getting wider and wider at an exponential rate. In the 1950s, corporate CEOs made about 20 times what the average worker made; today, however, corporate CEOs make hundreds of times what the average worker makes. Some of you have shared on social media the statistic that just eight men in our country have more wealth than four billion people combined. That’s obscene and immoral. And yet our government thinks it’s necessary to continue cutting taxes for the wealthiest among us, increasing our nation’s debt, and cutting services to the poor to try to pay for all those tax cuts. In that and other ways, our economy is being shaped and fashioned to work better and better for the few at the top, but it is increasingly working against the wellbeing of everyone else.
And when Christian leaders like Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress voice enthusiastic support for leaders in government who enact such anti-Christian policies, I don’t know how else to describe it except to say that they have sold their soul to the devil.
They have aligned themselves with power and wealth instead of with Christ.
And the stumbling blocks they have placed before so many have become insurmountable.
If only they had read and understood the gospel.
One of the things I love about the Harry Potter books is how much the themes of those stories reflect the themes of the gospel.
Albus Dumbledore, the great headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, admitted at the end that power was his weakness and temptation. His desire for power caused him to make seriously grave mistakes - deadly mistakes - when he was young, and he lived with the consequences of that for the rest of his life.
Of course, many of today’s Christian leaders would never read Harry Potter; they can’t see past the skin of witchcraft and wizardry to realize that, at their core, these books are really about love and sacrifice, ideas that seem so far from their self-serving agendas.
I don’t often get mad, at least not publicly. But I am mad. I’m angry, because so many have lost their faith because of these Christian leaders. Or, perhaps a better way to say it is that so many have had their faith stolen from them.
The people have been lied to. We’ve been lied to, about what it really means to be a Christian. Many are too smart to believe the lies, but the stumbling blocks placed in their path were too great. They couldn’t find the path on the other side of the stumbling block, so they left the path completely.
Others have done even worse. The sex abuse scandals that continue to make headlines; church leaders abusing their power and the trust given to them; superiors afraid of losing power and covering up for them rather than working to protect the victims. It’s a different kind of power, I think, that has tempted them. The power they had within the church, and the power of the church itself to shape society. That power was their master, rather than Jesus of Nazareth. They didn’t intend to, but the stumbling block they placed in front of people caused many to lose faith and fall away.
And it makes me mad. It makes me angry.
I don’t know what to do… so let’s return to the text.
Jesus often criticized the religious leaders of his day for behaving exactly as too many religious leaders today behave: putting their love of power and wealth over all other concerns, and trampling on the poor and oppressing the needy in an effort to maintain their power. OK.
But this particular passage isn’t addressed to those leaders. It is addressed to the disciples. Jesus is warning them. He’s talking to those who are his closest friends and followers… Be careful that you yourselves do not put a stumbling block before others… In other words, for judgment, let God take care of others, you worry about yourselves…
That I can do. I may not be able to do much about the lies and abuses of others, but I can guard my own actions and my own words. I can work harder, every day, every moment, to let my words and actions be true, loving, kind, and helpful to those on the path of faith.
If I spend all my time seething in anger, criticizing and judging and pointing the finger, will that help those on the path of faith? Or will it turn them away from faith, given that they see just another angry, judgmental Christian trying to fight his way to power and influence?
Like in this quote I found this week: anger will only burn things down; but if you can transform your anger into power, into action, into hope, then you can set the world on fire.
What this world really needs today are Christians who truly follow Christ, who practice love and truth and kindness and hope. Christians who can set the world on fire, rather than burn it down.
Perhaps we need to resist the urge to give too much energy into being angry. Perhaps we need to direct that energy from being angry into being more loving and more hopeful.
Our New Beginnings process is asking us to give some things up so we use the energy given to those things for other things, things we’re really passionate about… Well, in our personal lives, maybe we need to give up being angry all the time so we can use that energy to become more loving. More accepting. More welcoming. And, more hopeful.
Especially hopeful. Because the world is in desperate need of hope these days.
This is what I’m trying to do. If I can’t find a way to turn my anger into something good, then I need to find a way to let go of that anger. Sometimes anger can be turned into something good and useful, but sometimes the anger accomplishes nothing good. Sometimes anger just consumes us, and fuels the anger of others. I’m trying to learn the difference, and to let go of anger that accomplishes nothing good.
We need to focus on doing what God calls us to do, what God calls all Christians to do: caring for the poor and the oppressed and the downtrodden. Showing hospitality to those in search of a place, a community, a nation that will welcome them.
Instead of always pointing the finger at others who fail to live up to Christ’s standards, we need to recognize that we ourselves have also failed to live up to Christ’s standards, and we are called to humble ourselves, seek Christ’s mercy and forgiveness, and recommit ourselves to following the path of peace, the path of truth.
We have a mission here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church: to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. If we do that, the path that is filled with stumbling blocks will open up, and others will find the way forward. The obstacles will be removed. The deep valleys will be exalted and the high mountains will be brought low, so that the path is a straight, level highway leading to God.
Seek justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.
This is what God calls us to. This is what we commit ourselves to. This is why we make pledges to support the ministry of this congregation for the coming year.
Sometimes our commitment to truth does call us to point out the stumbling blocks that are placed in the path. But most of our energy, we need to commit to love, not anger. Some organizations raise money by tapping into people’s anger, some raise money by tapping into people’s fear, but our stewardship campaign is about tapping into people’s capacity to love.
And when you give to the church, my hope is that you do not give out of fear or anger. My hope is that you do not make a pledge out of fear or anger.
My hope is that anything you do for the church, you do because of love and because of hope.
Last week, Gretchen mentioned in our stewardship moment some of the things we hope to accomplish in the coming year, and listening to her got me excited, because these goals are rooted in hope; they are rooted in God’s abundance. We’re setting our fear aside and making plans based on hope.
Let your commitment to the church come from the love and the hope that God has placed within you.
Let your commitment to the church come from the love and hope that you have for all God’s children, here in Long Beach, and around the world.
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