- A Creature of the Night
Once upon a time, a boy named Bruce Wayne was born to Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, two very wealthy and charitable Gotham City socialites. Bruce grew up in Wayne Manor, and led a happy and privileged existence until the age of eight, when his parents were killed by a small-time criminal named Joe Chill.
That night, Bruce Wayne swore an oath to spend his life fighting crime. He engaged in intense intellectual and physical training; however, he realized that these skills alone would not be enough. "Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot", Wayne remarked, "so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible ..." As if responding to his desires, a bat suddenly flew through the window, inspiring Bruce to become Batman.
Every hero has an origin story, and Batman’s origin story is one of the most interesting. The origin story is history, but it’s more than history. It explains the motivations and actions of the hero that person becomes. It helps us understand the “why” behind everything that hero does.
Often, origin stories are not the first story we hear. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27, but his origin story didn’t appear until Detective Comics #33.
For other comic heroes, it might be years before the origin story appears.
- Repent, the kingdom has come near
Do you ever think of the Christmas story as Jesus’ origin story? It’s been a month now since Christmas, when we heard the story of Jesus’ birth, in the manger, surrounded by shepherds and angels, and visited by the magi…
But like many origin stories, the stories of Jesus’ birth actually came later. The earliest Christian writings we have are the letters written by Paul, and they don’t mention anything about Jesus’ birth.
Of the gospels, the first written was the gospel of Mark. Mark, also, does not mention Jesus’ birth. If we think of Jesus’ birth as his origin story, then we have to wait a little longer for that story to come along.
The gospel of Mark actually starts with John the baptist, and the baptism of Jesus. For Mark, the story of Jesus’ baptism is enough of an origin story.
Jesus’s story, his ministry, begins at his baptism. It continues during the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. The origin story concludes when Jesus declares: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the good news.”
Well. Matthew - written several decades after Mark - extends Jesus’ origin story further back, by describing, first, Jesus’ genealogy, and then the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth.
Matthew then includes Jesus’ baptism, his time in the wilderness… and, as we heard today, his declaration “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” which is almost the same statement Jesus speaks at the beginning of Mark’s gospel.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
So even though Matthew and Mark present Jesus’ origin story in different ways, they both have that statement, about God’s kingdom, and they both have the call to repentance. For both Matthew and Mark, that statement marks the conclusion of the origin story, and it prepares the reader for all that is to follow.
Repent - a word that means, change your heart, change your life.
The kingdom of God (or, the kingdom of heaven) - a phrase that means the world as it should be, as God desires it to be. The beloved community.
Has come near - a phrase that means it has arrived. It is now beginning.
So: Repent (change your heart and life) because the world God desires has now begun…
- BKCC’s origin story
Bixby Knolls Christian Church’s origin story centers on the last Sunday in January, 1946. On that day the first worship service took place here, on this property, though the sanctuary in which we worship today wasn’t built until 1963.
At that opening worship service a statement was presented… that statement said that this new church “will strive to serve the whole community. While it is a congregation affiliated with the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), it will not practice a narrow denominationalism, but welcomes into service those of all other religious bodies who may wish to worship here … This church wishes to serve you, your home, your children, and the community. ‘The world at its worst needs the church at its best,’ and this church will attempt to measure up to the day and the needs in which we live.”
Like Jesus’ statement to repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near, this statement is important.
It was meant to guide the ministry of this church in the years that followed.
This statement is rooted in the origins of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). While our congregation is celebrating 74 years of ministry, the movement of which we are a part began over 200 years ago, in what was then a rural Ohio River Valley.
- Campbell, Campbell, & Stone
It began with two immigrants from Scotland, a father and son named Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and an American-born man named Barton Warren Stone. You can see their images, in the stained glass windows of our narthex, and in the stairway by the office. And, the x-shaped St. Andrew’s cross in our chalice logo is there to honor of the Campbells’ roots in Scotland.
To simplify and shorten this origin story, Stone and the Campbells separately decided that the contentious divisions in the church between denominations was contrary to God’s desire, and they all wanted to do away with such divisions. In a sense, they wanted to restore the church to its roots, and draw upon the church’s original origin story in the book of Acts.
In 1832, their separate movements united into one. Their churches, they decided, wouldn’t bear the name of any denomination, but would simply be “Christian” churches. We would be a fellowship, a movement - but not another divisive denomination.
The movement grew and expanded. It spread throughout the United States and Canada, and to places like Puerto Rico and the Congo...
Things started changing in the 20th century. For one thing, the denominations stopped fighting and started working together.
Our own movement saw its own changes. In 1968, we officially reorganized, and accepted the label “denomination,” not to distinguish ourselves apart from others, but so that we could be better organized, and so that we could more easily work with all those other denominations that were now working so well with each other.
Drawing upon this history, we have today an identity statement which says we are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
That statement also clarifies that we are part of the body of Christ - not the only part - and that we welcome all to the Lord’s Table, as Christ has welcomed us.
The original vision set forth at the founding of Bixby Knolls Christian Church - and the original vision of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Warren Stone - have grown and evolved over the years, but these origins still make a good foundation for the open, inclusive ministry that we are today, a ministry that is affirming of all people, people of various ages and genders, races and nationalities, sexual orientations and gender identities.
- Kingdom Come
A look back at our congregation’s history shows how we have carried this vision forward, learning and growing along the way.
In 1979, when BKCC was just a little more than three decades along, a time when female preachers were rare, this church supported the ordination of Jo Ann Westerlund, who had come here as a student ministry intern.
In 1983, we became a Shalom Congregation. Also in the 1980s, we joined with other congregations in resettling Cambodian refugees coming to southern California.
Even back then, the people of this congregation understood the importance of extending welcome and hospitality to immigrants and refugees.
For many years, BKCC has had a partnership with the South Coast Interfaith Council. In fact, this congregation’s openness to interfaith work is something I myself have learned from.
For many years, BKCC extended grace and love to those in the LGBTQ community, even as our own understanding was growing and evolving. This was not done in spite of our faith, but because of our faith.
In 2013, BKCC realized that it was important to let our community and world know that this is an important part of our identity, and the church voted to officially become Open and Affirming.
Today, even though we are a smaller congregation, BKCC is one of the few racially diverse congregations in a nation where the vast majority of churches are still segregated by race. I’m not saying we’re perfect in that regard, but we continue to learn how we can be better neighbors to one another, and better welcome people no matter how alike or different they may be. We still have some learning to do in this area, but at the same time, I believe that we have something to share and something to teach others when it comes to diversity in the church.
We are multi-racial. We are intergenerational. We are gay and straight. We are American-born and immigrant. We are people whose brains are wired in all sorts of different ways, allowing us to see and respond to the world in different ways…
And we continue to extend a wide welcome to all people, in membership as well as in leadership, as we allow God to use us to help build that kingdom of heaven on earth, that new world which God desires.
It is the world in which all people find healing, wholeness, and salvation.
It is the world in which the poor are lifted up, and the hungry are filled.
It is the world in which even creation itself finds healing.
It is the world in which foreigners and immigrants are welcomed and loved - a world in which every neighbor, no matter who they are, is loved.
This is what we celebrate today: that God has continued to work in us, helping us grow, transforming us so that we can be about the work of transforming the world. God’s Spirit is at work, changing our hearts and our minds, leading us to repentance, and building - through us - God’s kingdom of shalom on earth.
Thanks be to God.
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