John 15:12-15 (Message)
This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
Sermon: “From Corporate Officer to Incarnational Leader"
(#8 in a series on the book Weird Church)
I am in the middle of a sermon series on the book, Weird Church, which talks about shifts that the church needs to make in terms of ministry, in order to better shine the Light of God’s Love in the world. I want to acknowledge that some of the stuff in this book is hard to read because it calls us to stretch beyond our usual comfort zone. Some of you have read the book, and I’m guessing you might feel the same. I found the chapter on which today’s sermon is based--chapter 7-- particularly difficult to get through, because it talks about how church, in general, has a bad reputation these days, and really, who wants to hear that?
Part of me wanted to say, “Yeah, yeah, we know that some people don’t like church. Let’s not go over that ground again. Let’s move on. Quickly.” But it occurred to me that all change requires an accurate assessment and true recognition of our weaknesses as well as our strengths, before we can recover and thrive.
It’s like when my left arm hurt a few years ago and I diagnosed myself; I thought my main problem was weak triceps muscles. Unfortunately, the exercises I had found on the internet to strengthen triceps were making my arm hurt worse. When I finally talked to my doctor, it turns out that my main problem was my left shoulder, not my left triceps muscle. Who knew? I needed a whole different set of exercises to address the real issue. My point: until I looked at what wasn’t working, consulted with an experienced expert and got accurate advice on how to move forward, I couldn’t recover.
So, I am asking you to bear with me as we look at some of the things that aren’t working with the church at large, not to be down on ourselves but so that we can hear the advice of these experienced authors who are currently helping many churches move forward into the future in a healthy way.
This book points out in Chapter 7 that in the eyes of the culture at large, the church has a bad reputation. Not only are church people stereotyped as judgmental, boring, and hypocritical, the church, as an institution (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox), over many centuries has colluded with governments to oppress nations and peoples. I will share just a few concrete, historical examples:
· In the 1500 and 1600’s, Christian priests were actually loaded onto sailing ships along with soldiers who went out to conquer nations in the name of various European countries.
· After that, for more than 2 centuries, the church, as a whole, sanctioned slavery. In the words of this book, the church sanctioned a “human trafficking economy, chasing down people like large game in Africa to ship them abroad as free labor.”
· Final example: From the 20th century through to the present, the church has missed many opportunities to speak out against the unethical behavior of large, multinational corporations that put profit above people and exploit their workers, while executives rake in millions of dollars.
Even if we argue that church has stopped doing the first two things--and many churches, thanks be to God, do speak out about the third, this book points out that church systems may still be more intertwined in these ills than we recognize. For instance, most church organizational structures still mirror the corporate business structures that arose in the last century. And just as we can and should critique the behavior of corporations out in the world when that behavior causes damage, so too we can and should critique--and change-- our own corporate structures when they actively cause damage or are so outmoded they sap our energy and no longer function in ways that help us live out our purpose.
The authors propose that change to our church corporate structures needs to begin with a change in our thinking about the function of pastoral leadership. The title of Chapter 7 is “From Corporate Officers to Incarnational Leaders.” We--pastors and people--need to stop focusing so much on the business of running the church and focus more on living out, embodying, the love of God that we see in Jesus. To quote from page 74:
“[We need to make] The shift from church leadership as a business enterprise to a spiritual enterprise [that is] bathed in prayer, and deep, deep listening as a group of friends seek to discover what is possible with God. Once the God stuff becomes clear, you can find the help to write a reasonable busines plan in a day.”
Which brings us to today’s Scripture Reading, where Jesus calls the disciples his “friends” and spells out what that means. His words are rather challenging. Particularly when he tells his followers to “Put your life on the line for your friends.” Probably most of us hearing these words jump to the conclusion that Jesus is speaking literally, telling his followers that some of them may face literal death, as Jesus did, when he challenged authority and stood up for the marginalized in society. And that was true for many people in the early church and some martyrs today. However, if we read this passage only from that perspective, we may gloss over it, think it doesn’t apply to us, because, in our society, most of us will not be called upon to literally give our lives for the people that we love.
(Though, as I prepared this sermon, it occurred to me the literal meaning of these words--physically putting yourself in harm’s way for the sake of others, is something that police officers and military personnel do every day, and perhaps we do not tell them often that we are grateful for their service.)
But “Put your life on the line,” as the Message paraphrase reads-- or “lay down one’s life for one’s friends” as the New Revised Standard version of the Bible says--can also be taken less literally. I believe it can also mean, as Jesus says elsewhere in the Bible, that there are times when we need to choose to put others first. There are times when we need to set aside our own understandings, privileges and preferences so that we can listen to and learn from others. This passage calls us to the mutual give and take of friendship, where one person chooses to put their own preferences on hold for a time, so that someone else can get their needs met--and then the other person does the same in turn.
It’s like when you are trying to negotiate activities at a large, family vacation. Aunt Agatha doesn’t get to dictate the plan for everyone for the entire week. Rather, everyone shares what they would like to do, and they make compromises. Sometimes they go play mini-golf instead of visiting the museum that Agatha would have preferred. You know what I’m saying. (I am guessing that almost every family has someone like the proverbial Agatha. And sometimes more than one!)
And I know that was a superficial example. The mutual give and take of friendship goes much deeper than that. In this passage Jesus calls the disciples “friends” and says that he wants them to understand what he has been thinking and planning. In other words, he invites them into relationship with him, and relationships, as we all know, involve listening to and learning from each other. Asking questions and putting our own thoughts-- or rebuttals-- aside long enough to truly understand what the other is thinking and feeling.
I watched a very powerful documentary film this week called the “Wisdom of Trauma,” featuring the work of medical doctor, Gabor Mate, a holocaust survivor who asks and answers the question, “Can our deepest pain be a doorway to healing?” The film acknowledges the brokenness, disconnections, and polarization in our world and examines ways we can heal through deep, compassionate listening to one another.
I highly recommend this documentary--and associated talks--which are available over the internet. (Again, it’s called, the Wisdom of Trauma.) One of the things Dr. Mate says in the film is that when people around us say or do things that hurt us or others, rather getting defensive--or just screaming in our heads, “What’s wrong with them!?” we need to reframe the issue in our minds. We need to have a compassionate mindset, asking instead, in our heads, “I wonder what happened to them? What traumatic event has shaped their lives, leading them to behave like this?” And then, from that place of compassion, we can begin to respond in a way that fosters friendship with those around us.
As we interact in the world in these divided times, as we have conversations with friends and family members and church members about important things-- like if and when it’s appropriate to ask each other to wear masks (something that I know we are all talking about)-- let us remember that Jesus calls us to engage as friends. Jesus calls us to practice setting aside our own understandings, privileges and preferences to listen to each other. To collaborate. To pray. To learn and grow together. As we embody and prioritize this kind of friendship in our lives and in our church, God will bless us and help us change our world for the better. May it be so.
Our next hymn is #530. “I’ve Got Peace Like a River,”
May this hymn help ground us in the Peace, joy, and love of God,
which provide the foundation for our friendships--and any change
we may make in the world.
Let us pray:
Loving God, you call us to be kind, compassionate friends to one another and to all people. And it is not always easy to do. In fact, we can’t do it by our own strength alone. We need your Spirit, your strength, your power to put our own understandings, privileges and preferences aside for long enough to listen to those around us. Help us to do this in the church in all our interactions, whether we are just chatting with each other during fellowship time or engaging as leaders or members of a ministry team. Change our mindsets to be like the mindset of Jesus, who despite having the power to dictate change, chose instead to collaborate with those around him and listen to those whose voices and cries of pain were largely ignored.
And now, O God, hear our prayers for our communities, our nation and our world, as we figure out how to work together to protect each other from the Delta Variant of the virus. Help us to see each other with eyes of compassion, not blame, and help us to find a way forward that strengthens our relationships.
[LOOK AT PHONE]
- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream… [PAUSE]
- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing…. In Jesus name, Amen
PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER
- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA