MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012
8:30 am    Flower Girls Flower Delivery
8:30 am    L.I.F.T. (Laity Involved in Free Transportation)
12:00 pm    First Word Worship Planning
5:30 pm    PPR Meeting (Rm 204)

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012
7:00 am    Tuesday Study Group (Rm 204)
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
10:00 am    Program Staff Meeting (First Cup Cafe)
11:45 am    StewPot (First Presbyterian)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
9:00 am     CDC Chapel
11:00 am    Weight Watchers
(Parlor, Study, and Chapel)
12:00 pm    Book Club (First Cup Cafe)
5:30 pm    Sanctuary Bells (Rm 250)
5:30 pm    SWAG (Youth Studio)
5:30 pm    First Word Band (Gym)
7:00 pm    Chancel Rehearsal (Choir Room)

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
10:30 am    Companions in Christ
12:00 pm    Pastor’s Bible Study (Rm 204)

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
8:30 am    Flower Girls Flower Delivery
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
12:00 pm    First Word Worship Planning
5:30 pm    Communications Committee (Rm 212)

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012
7:00 am    Tuesday Study Group (Rm 204)
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
10:00 am    Staff Meeting (Rm 204)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
9:00 am     CDC Chapel
11:00 am    Weight Watchers
(Parlor, Study, and Chapel)
12:00 pm    UIC (Fellowship Hall)
5:30 pm    Sanctuary Bells (Rm 250)
5:30 pm    SWAG (Youth Studio)
5:30 pm    First Word Band (Gym)
7:00 pm    Chancel Rehearsal (Choir Room)

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2012
8:30 am    L.I.F.T.
10:00 am    CDC Graduation Practice (Sanctuary)
10:30 am    Companions in Christ
12:00 pm    Pastor’s Bible Study (Rm 204)
6:00 pm    Youth Band Rehearsal (Gym)
7:00 pm    Ensemble (Jean Rolf’s)

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012
10:00 am    CDC Graduation (Sanctuary)

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012
5:00 pm    Rebecca Berry Recital (Sanctuary)

He moved to our small rural town right after graduation from USC in Los Angeles.  We had to say it that way, “in Los Angeles,” because no one really knew much about USC in Pea Ridge.  He was tall and good looking.  He was also brilliant-had graduated Magna Cum Laude.  His mother told us what those Latin words meant, in case none of us knew—after all (I’m in danger of repeating myself) this was Pea Ridge.  He moved all the way from Southern California to rural Northwest Arkansas to help his aging parents with their newspaper which they had bought, almost on a lark, to have something to do in retirement.  There seemed to be nothing that brilliant young Cal didn’t know about-he was an expert.  I began to see why he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Cal also loved the Lord.  I enjoyed his youthful enthusiasm and zeal.  He seemed to be the kind of young person who could “set the world on fire” if given the chance.  Perhaps even the kind of which John Wesley spoke of… “Get on fire with Jesus and folks would come from miles away, just to watch you burn!”  Unfortunately, however, this would never happen.

After a while, it became evident that Cal believed he was being called to preach.  I did my best to counsel him through the steps required for being sanctioned by your own local congregation first in order to be eligible for a vote of the annual conference for approval to attend seminary.  I enjoyed that stage of the “call to preach” journey in our particular United Methodist pathway, because it afforded me the rare opportunity to illustrate where UMC preachers and pastors come from—they come from the congregations!  No UMC pastor, no matter what his or her theological leaning or political persuasion, sought endorsement at one time or another from his or her own local congregation through the PPRC-without their approval, the candidate (as they are called) would get nowhere.

So, the time came for Cal’s interview before his own local congregation’s PPRC.

All nine of the members were present that night.  They sat down with Cal and tried to visit with him, asking the questions the UMC Book of Discipline required them to ask such as, “Do you have faith in God?”  On and on they went, until their questioning was completed and Cal was asked to wait in another room.  Finally, it came time for the vote which was done (as required) by secret ballot.  Voting 9 to 0, they voted to NOT recommend him.  He was angry and very upset.  He refused to come back into the meeting room and left before they could say anything to him, showering gravel on everyone’s cars as he sped away from the church’s gravel parking lot.

Phillip Gulley calls it preferring Right Belief over Gracious Behavior and claims it’s yet another one of the reasons the Church really isn’t seen as “Christian” by many in America.  If the Church were Christian and truly desirous of re-discovering the values of Jesus, it would value gracious behavior over right belief.  But Cal didn’t grasp that.  His fellow church members weren’t dismissing him from their fellowship; they were saying they weren’t ready to endorse him for ordained ministry.  They were saying they were willing to teach the Magna Cum Laude scholar some things not taught in the Los Angeles classroom.

Or some put it this way:  “People won’t care what you know until they know you care!”[1]  I had heard that old saying many times before but was stunned to hear it coming from the mouth of the man who, at the time, was the known as American’s top people person, who served as Executive Vice President of People for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc..  Dr. Coleman Peterson, had the distinction of being the Chief Human Resource Officer of the world’s largest private workforce (1.5 million associates world-wide).   I had the good fortune of not only meeting the man who, in 2003, was the highest ranking African American on Wal Mart’s executive team, but also interviewing him.  I was nearing the completion of my doctoral project at SMU and was also on the Board of Trustees of Philander Smith College along with Dr. Peterson.  So, I jumped at the chance to ask him what his thoughts were on the topic of “pastoral-supervision,” the theme of my doctoral project.  I wanted to know from this man who obviously knew how to supervise others effectively—“What does it take to supervise effectively?”  Peterson echoed what I had heard many times before from the lips of more-seasoned navigators in the giant (and sometimes choppy) sea of “people-work.”  More than 30 years earlier, I had heard it from older pastor-friends who lovingly took some of us young know-it-alls under their wings so they could help us not blow a gasket in our first few years of ministry—“people don’t care what you know (hear that intellectuals!!) until they know you care.  It’s good advice.    I

Here’s what Gulley says:  The Christian life is an invitation to awareness, to be mindful of our rightdoings and wrongdoings, our deeper impulses and motives.  Valuing gracious behavior over right belief begins with awareness, our willingness to temporarily suspend a good thing (doctrine) so we can be faithful to a better thing (grace).  Grace, since it is not instinctive, begins with mindfulness and our deliberate intention to act with loving kindness when we could have justifiably done otherwise.[1]

I’m pretty sure that had Cal given his PPR a chance, they could have taught him some important things about grace.  He had “right” belief-orthodoxy down perfectly.  What was seriously lacking was his gracious behavior.  People really do care and they need to know others care.  That’s why the Wal Mart Executive was right—in the end, people don’t care what you know until they know you care.

I certainly agree with what Gulley says about grace and rigidity.  “Too often the church has been the caboose on the train of moral progress, at times a drag on grace and compassion.”  In fact, he writes, “Certain attitudes foster grace, while others attitudes diminish it.  Dead seriousness and religious rigidity often go hand in hand.  But when we can find the humor in a situation, even though the circumstances are very important, we give ourselves the necessary freedom to act more graciously than we otherwise might—fear and seriousness are almost always the enemies of grace.  Fear seizes control and demands compliance.  Grace shares power and trusts others to make their own moral decisions.  Fear provides no room for error and is always in a hurry to have its way.  Grace is expansive and gives us the time and space to learn and grow.”

If the church were Christian, being “right” might not be nearly as important as being gracious and accepting.  Why not try that kind of response, just for a week and see what happens?  Instead of getting all the ideas down just right that you think you’re supposed to believe about Jesus, why not just try one week actually following his example of love and service that you see over and over again in the Bible?  Your might be very surprised.                                                            1250 words

[1] “The Role of the District Superintendent in Deepening and Enhancing the Ministry of Supervision in The United Methodist Church” March 2004—SMU Bridwell Library, SMU Library, Dallas, TX– Dr. Michael L. Mattox-p. 53.

I want to begin with a confession today.   When we started this sermon series on “If the church were Christian – Rediscovering the Values of Jesus”, I remember Rev. Mattox shared with us in that first sermon, that he always loved the church.  My confession is that I did not – always love the church.  When I was growing up, it did not feel like a comforting, safe place to me.  Over time, I developed a view that the church was filled with hypocritical people who were more concerned with judging others than they were with following the ways of Jesus.

Like the author of this book, the church of my youth didn’t urge me to think more deeply about the nature of forgiveness and reconciliation.  It urged me to think deeply about sin and how I might disappoint God and go to the “hot place”.  It urged me to judge people who sinned. God’s judgment was a dominant theme. But, there wasn’t much mention of how I might actually relate better to and improve my relationships with my fellow human beings.

So, this is my personal historic lens through which I read Phillip Gulley’s book. I wasn’t buying all of that judgmental, condemning way of thinking then and I don’t buy it now.   I do love the church now.  Is it because I think the church has changed and become less judgmental?  No…in many ways, its still the same, we just have more modern terms for it.  But it’s because I realized that I was just like them– no better – judging the church for being judgmental. I chose to leave instead of staying to learn more about my fellow companions on the journey. I chose to leave instead of realizing we are all after the same thing – to know and love God better. I chose to leave instead of staying to be in conversation with people and to try to make a difference by offering another perspective –that God’s love could be the dominant theme – instead of God’s judgment.

I realized that the Church is just like us…. It is us. We Christians are humans who are sometimes wonderful, sometimes flawed, but necessary because the Church represents community.  We are not meant to live our lives alone and having a community of faith is important.  This central idea is what brought me back to the church after living all of my young adult life without it.

But it is this central idea that causes us all sorts of trouble in the church – this notion of “being in community” of how we relate to one another in and outside of the church.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus preaches some pretty harsh-sounding warnings to us about the consequences when we fail to practice righteousness in our lives.  Jesus uses  vivid metaphors to tell us that we must simply stop doing the things that harm others or ourselves before those behaviors destroy us.

Today’s particular words focus on anger and they are addressed to the bickering, resentful bitter parts inside us, as well as inside those early crowds to whom Jesus spoke.  As a good Jew, Jesus starts with the Ten Commandments, saying, you shall not murder.  But then he digs even deeper.  He suggests that each one of us is a murderer in a sense.  Each one of us is a killer of life and love when we harbor anger and contempt toward another person. And he makes it clear that the hard part of reconciliation must start with us – with our decision to be reconciled to God and to neighbor. And we are to do this no matter who is at fault.

This morning Jesus tells us that we must balance the passion of anger, hatred and judgment with the discipline and reason of love. And he reminds us that the law of love can best be fulfilled, not through rules, but through RELATIONSHIPS.  SO HERE WE GO AGAIN – IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS.

Jesus is not talking here about short bursts of anger or frustration.  He’s talking about the agonizing, pervasive kind of judgment of others that can eat away at us – as if a poison to the soul.  This is the kind of toxic poison that destroys relationships, leads to malicious gossip, character assassinations, and just down right ugly and hateful attitudes about a person or entire population of people.

Let’s ask ourselves some questions today:

• HOW OFTEN DO YOU LABEL OR STEREOTYPE OTHERS WHO MAY DISAGREE WITH YOU?
• HOW WILLING ARE YOU TO HOLD ONTO AND SAVOR ANIMOSITY OR BITTERNESS TOWARD FRIEND OR FAMILY IN ORDER TO HOLD ONTO YOUR OWN PAIN, YOUR OWN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, YOUR OWN BROKENNESS.   

They say that old habits are hard to break.  That which is familiar is hard to part with – our own habits, behaviors and attitudes are at the top of the “familiar” list.  Sad to say for us good Christian, church-going people…judging those who think, behave or believe differently from us is a habit that is hard to break.  How easy it is to turn other people into a CATEGORY, rather than seeing them each as a beloved child of God who just happens to see things differently than I do.

In the movie, “The Spitfire Grill”, a young woman, Percy Talbott, an ex-convict comes to the small Maine town of Gilead in the hope of finding work and a place to start her life over again. With the help of the local sheriff, she lands a waitress job at the Spitfire Grill, eventually winning over the crusty owner Hannah and fellow waitress Shelby with her hard work and trustworthiness. Percy even finds a potential love and befriends a hermit who lives in the nearby woods and is regularly fed by Hannah. When Hannah falls ill, Percy devises a scheme to help her sell the café in a national contest, but Shelby’s husband doesn’t trust Percy’s motives — and his suspicion leads to tragedy.  When she begins working at the grill, people are looking at her and treating her suspiciously – judging what she must be like since she’s an ex-convict.  So, she decides to call them out on it, saying out loud in the café… “Oh, don’t forget to mention that I’ve been in prison for the last 5 years and only got sent to solitary twice – imagine that.” Later, when the town falsely accuses her of something she didn’t do, she seeks solitude in an abandoned church.  She says, “I thought in someplace small like this there might just be a chance, but it seems that after what I’ve done, it doesn’t matter where I go.”  It’s a story of friendship, hope and finding a place called home.

Probably no one attends church with the intention to judge and condemn a fellow being, but honestly – the temptation is greater in no other place than the church.  We have ego, pride, arrogance in church. Yet, we must be committed to healing and reconciliation or all of our convictions –theological, political, personal – don’t mean anything.  I read a quote that says, “In order to have peace with your enemy, you have to make war with yourself.” In other words, we must battle our own judgmental instincts. 

Or to summarize Jesus, before you offer your peace plans on the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother or sister. Love, according to scripture – is not boastful, arrogant or rude.  LOVE DOES NOT INSIST ON HAVING ITS OWN WAY.  IT BEARS ALL THINGS, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, HOPES ALL THINGS AND ENDURES ALL THINGS.

Friends, hard-core Christian love is not about warm fuzzy affection and friendship.  It is about forgiveness and reconciliation.  Reconciliation is the cornerstone, the root, the end all and be all of the ministry and way of life of Jesus Christ. 

            You know, in many ways we have developed an “ala carte” Christianity – meaning we pick and choose the parts of it that we like.  If we are going to pick any part of it – the whole deal of Christianity is about RECONCILIATION!

So, how does this look in our everyday lives?  Aren’t most of us trying to turn our lives toward God, turn them around, to get our relationships on track in some way?

• If you want to be healthy…stop doing things that harm you.
• If you want harmony in your life…stop doing things that cause discord and conflict.
• If you want peace in your soul…stop doing things that tear you apart inside.
• If you want a closer relationship with your children…stop doing those things and saying those things that build walls between you.
• If you want to rekindle  romance with your mate….stop doing things that create animosity, boredom or distance.
• If you want to live in a close-knit community…stop hiding behind your front door.
• If you mess up, make a mistake, hurt someone feelings…own it.  Go to that person and make amends; Love does mean saying you’re sorry!
• Don’t hold on to resentment or judgment of others…it’s like holding your breath for too long…it will suffocate you.
• Surrender pride, surrender ego…surrender the privilege of being right.
• Never lose sight of the larger purpose of being Christian – to bring wholeness to broken lives- immersing everyone – even your antagonists in God’s grace.
• If you want a spiritual life that fills you up…stop pouring all your energies everywhere but toward God…and take responsibility for your own spiritual care…don’t depend on an institution to provide it for you.

Here’s the thing…the opportunity for reconciliation will wait on you for a time when you’re ready for it.

What if the person you need to reconcile with is yourself?  Forgiving oneself and not letting past or present mistakes define you is important to spiritual wholeness. We are our own worst critics.  How do we do this?

• Create a new story for yourself.
• Use your situation to give back…use that energy to serve the world.
• Most importantly – stop beating yourself up.

One of the most precious commodities we have is our souls.  We must tend them because our souls matter to God.  But the greater truth is that EVERY SOUL MATTERS TO GOD!  And every soul ought to matter to us – the church.  Simply being obedient to whatever rules we perceive of our faith is not enough. When we allow God to capture our hearts with the truth of the Gospel – the truth of the way of life of Jesus; when we allow God to disturb and challenge and grow our hearts; to challenge our attitudes and convictions, ensuring that we are filled with Christ’s love; that we are right with God and others – then we become those who value Reconciliation over Judgment.  We become those who redeem people. We – the community of faith are called to be beacons of light and hope to the broken among us.  This is the Good News of the Gospel.  May it be so for all of us.

Poem by T.S. Elliiot and Prayer

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well

When…the fire and the rose are one.

Yes, when..all manner of creatures are one.  And all manner of Christians are one.  And the broken and fearful of the world and its creator are one.  And the Church and its Lord are one.  Thank God for that ever present and not-quite-yet gift of reconciliation, in the name of the one in whom such reconciliation is found, and no other, Jesus Christ.

If the Church Were Christian

Click to listen.

In this fast-paced Twitter-age we live in, I’m looking for quicker and faster just like the rest of you.  I realize that today’s sermon title is way too long.  So, the Twitter-title could really be:  “Affirming instead of Condemning.”  Or, I’d be happy with “How Zacchaeus Grew Up.”  I’ll get to that “wee little man” who climbed trees, even as a “grown” man in just a minute, but first let’s look around and see where we are on the theological landscape.

Heaven knows, I realize you’re not supposed to put all that much stock in what folks say to you after a sermon.  Sad to say, but when we preachers stand out there on the porch of the church or wait out in the narthex of the church and try to shake hands with you, what are you supposed to say?  By and large, you’ve been very kind and supportive…thank you!  If I were to take a survey, though, of what folks have said to me in those moments of handshaking and Sunday “after the sermon” greetings, by a wide margin, the more complimentary remarks come when folks say something about the sermon being a real doozy!  They’ll say something like, “Preacher thank you… you stepped on our toes today and we really needed it!”  Or, “You really jumped all over us today—you just let us have it!”  Or, “You were a straight-shooter, preacher!  You let us have it both barrels!”

If there’s any correlation between the psychology of behavior modification and preaching, I’d have to surmise that the more you praise the “stepping on your toes” preaching and letting you have it “both barrels” the more you’ll get of the same.  But, is that what makes the Church more Christian?  Probably not.  Not by a long shot.

The Week magazine reported last week that the fastest growing “religious” category in America is something called Nones.  That new name is taken from questionnaires that ask the responder to declare his or her religious affiliation or simply report “none.”  “19% of the American public spurns organized religion in favor of a non-defined skepticism about faith” and mark “none” to identify themselves, making them the fastest growing group in America and 2/3 of them are former believers.[i]

Political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell ponder why such a backlash of believers would lead to such an exodus of people from the Christian Churches that once held them, and in their book, American Grace, they “argue that the religious Right’s politicization of faith in the 1990s turned younger, socially liberal Christians away from churches, even as conservatives became more zealous.”[ii]  Philip Gulley puts is quite simply, “I can imagine few things more destructive than regular exposure to some churches that foster what he calls a spiritual lethal environment dominated by guilt.”[iii]  Listen to how he describes the toxic religious environment:

Guilt is their weapon of choice.  Guilt for being born into sin.  Guilt for experiencing unavoidable human passions.  Guilt for not relieving with sufficient zeal.  Guilt for questioning settled beliefs.  Guilt for doubting.  Guilt for minor lapses in proper conduct.  Guilt for not spreading the church’s so-called gospel.  Guilt for enjoying “unholy” pleasures.  Guilt for marrying outside the church, then guilt for divorcing.  Guilt for skipping church, guilt for attending the wrong church, guilt for questioning the church.  And finally, when people muster the courage to leave the church, guilt for doing so.[iv]

That, my friend, is a lot of guilt.  It’s no wonder the “Nones” are growing at such a rapid pace.  Gulley wrote about a friend who was perplexed about such a toxic environment who said, “I can’t believe people are willing to go there every Sunday to hear how bad they are, but the sad fact is true that there will always be people willing to be told the worst about themselves, and there will aways be churches eager to tell them.”[v]

Isn’t there a better way?  I think there is—and the answer is closer than you might think.  The Bible.  A President places his hand on it when he’s sworn into office.  A witness places his hand on one when she’s sworn in as a witness.  A third-grader receives one as a gift from his congregation.  A newly-ordained pastor places her hand on one when she kneels before a bishop to be ordained.  And, hopefully, you open one each and every day to find guidance for the day ahead.

In our country, you even hear of churches who describe themselves as “bible-believing” churches.  You hear of nationally-renowned teachers described as “bible-teaching” and you even hear of “biblical principles,” but have you ever considered what all that really means?

While it’s true that even amongst United Methodist congregations you’ll find great variance in how the Bible is interpreted, I’m glad our heritage has been one of holding vital piety and rigorous scholarship close together.  Fervent and heart-felt passion about our faith is encouraged as well as intellectual probing and discovery.

And for all those who have been put-down and condemned because of some preacher’s “cherry-picking” of scripture passages that would seem to sanction abuse of women or the blessing of violence, Gulley makes a distinction between those who view the Bible as a rule-book of immutable laws and those who believe the Bible is an unfolding drama of Israel’s relationship with God.[vi]  It’s a terribly important distinction.

If the Church were Christian and intent on rediscovering the values of Jesus, what would take up more of its time—affirming human potential or condemning human behavior?  There is a better way, and it’s found right here in the Bible itself!  As I said earlier-it’s the story of how Zacchaeus grew up.

There in the Gospel of Luke you read his account of Jesus’ encounter with a very unsavory character most people were more than happy to condemn, not just your ordinary every-day tax collector but the chief tax-collector.  That means he was the one who had contracted with the Roman overlords for the right to collect revenues or tolls in the district.  Living and extracting such taxes and tolls in Jericho, of all places, meant he was smack-dab in the middle of everything—the optimum place to make lots of money.[vii]

When Luke writes that Zacchaeus was “short in stature” and you let your imagination loose a bit, you might begin to wonder that not only was he a Danny DeVito-type character who annoyed almost everyone but also merited being held in such low esteem by his townspeople.  So, no wonder he was up a tree.  Not just to see better because he was so short—but because who else really wanted to be around him?  I can imagine Zacchaeus cared little for them either!  Jesus’ reaction startles everyone, including Zacchaeus.

In Jesus’ culture, going into a home was considered a blessing.  Not only would you bless the home-owner with your presence, you would depend upon the home owner for sustenance, rest, and relaxation.  So, when Jericho heard Jesus say, “Hurry down for I must stay at your house today!” it’s no wonder the grumbling began.  It appeared to them Jesus was affirming Zacchaeus when he should have been condemning him!  Their grumbling finally gave way to outright declarations, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner!”  And, oh, haven’t we heard that before, Church.  “Why should the church spend money on those kids?”  “Why should those programs be in our church budget?”  “Why should we let the church be used by that group?”

I don’t know how long their grumbling and complaining went on, but somehow, over the course of some time, Zacchaeus grew up.  In the presence of Jesus, feeling right at home there in his palatial home built by bilking his own people and serving as the “middle-man” between a suffering people and their Roman occupation-force, short-in-stature Zacchaeus really grew up in a deeper sense.  Luke says nothing at all about what Jesus and Zacchaeus talked about that day.  Luke says nothing at all about Jesus lecturing Zacchaeus about the immoral and unjust practices he engages in.  But there is talk about possessions and fraud, yes, indeed.  There is talk about cheating and reparations, but it comes from Zacchaeus, not Jesus. All we know is Jesus sees Zacchaeus as a “son of Abraham” just like all those others who saw themselves as “sons and daughters of Abraham.”  Jesus didn’t make distinctions and draw circles of acceptance or rejection that drew Zacchaeus out.  He drew circles that drew him in and going to his house, though highly despised by the condemning crowd, resulted in radical transformation.  In fact, Jesus declared as much—“Today, salvation has come to this house!”  (Luke 19:9)

Gulley asks some probing questions, “Could Jesus’ spirit of generosity be replicated in our churches?  That’s not to say that our churches would be blind to human brokenness and failings but that we would come to believe that such failures simply aren’t the whole measure of the stature of one’s life.  Could our churches become communities where belief in human transformation and potential come naturally and instinctively?[viii]  When we can answer yes to those questions, I believe Jesus might say of us what he said to the people of Jericho—Today, salvation has come to this house—to this church—to this community!  Yes, truly, it’s time to “grow up” and be the people Christ would have us be.  That’s what Jesus saw in Zacchaeus.  He sees it in

Click to listen.

Philip Gulley is no stranger to First Church.  His 2010 book, If The Church Were Christian—Rediscovering the Values of Jesus has been the centerpiece of lively discussion in small group settings this past year.  The Unity Sunday School Class, one of our fastest growing Sunday morning small groups, studied it together last year.  The “Companions in Christ” Thursday small group studied it as well then went on to focus their weekly conversations around yet another one of Gulley’s books, “The Evolution of Faith—How God is Creating a Better Christianity.”

Philip Gulley is a Quaker pastor and writer from Danville, Indiana. He has written 16 books, several of which have nearly gotten him defrocked.[1]  –The Huffington Post

From his blog on the World-Wide-Web, “Grace Talks,” here’s how he describes himself:

At a recent speech, the woman introducing me used the word iconoclast.  It had been awhile since I’d heard that word, so when I got home I looked it up in my dictionary to discover what the woman thought of me.  Iconoclast:  1.) one who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration 2.) one who attacks settled beliefs or institutions.

I don’t recall ever destroying a religious image, so I’m assuming she was referring to the second description.  I do enjoy dismantling settled beliefs, not for the sake of wanton destruction, but for the sake of building something more helpful and beautiful in their place.[2]

My first exposure to Gulley occurred two or more years ago when a seminary friend in Texas wrote about him in her monthly periodical called “The Connection.”  She had just read If the Church Were Christian and dared her preacher friends (she is not herself a preacher but loves to annoy and “trouble the waters” of those who are preachers) to at least mention Gulley’s ten statements which became so provocative.  Statements like this, of which Barbara Brown Taylor, prolific Episcopal priest and writer says, “The chapter titles alone are worth the price of the book (!)”[3] No wonder; they are indeed provocative… here are just a few:

1. If the Church Were Christian… Reconciliation Would Be Valued Over Judgment
2. If the Church Were Christian…Encouraging Personal Exploration Would Be More Important Than Communal Uniformity
3. If the Church Were Christian…It Would Care More About Love and Less About Sex   (Can you believe it?  An entire chapter on just that one topic!  I suppose I’ll preach from that chapter just before I leave you to go serve in Hot Springs!)

And on and on.  Just by glancing at three chapter titles, you might see why (As the Huffington Post says) he’s been nearly defrocked!  But that’s hardly a reason to launch an entire sermon-series on his work.  Even as this series begins today, I’m torn.  I love the Church into which God has called me in ministry.  Like Gulley, it’s not the church I grew up knowing.  He was raised a Roman Catholic and became a Quaker.  I was raised in the Assembly of God Church and became a United Methodist.  Like Gulley describes in his opening pages, there are terrifying moments that can become forever etched, sometimes painfully, in our memories.  For Gulley, it was the image of Jesus on a grisly cross.  Here’s how he remembered it:

Behind the altar hung a magnificent figure of Jesus nailed to a cross. The statue was so realistic as to be frightening.  Nails protruded from Jesus’ wrists and ankles, blood mingled down in a grisly read, his body striped with angry lashes.  The figure loomed (high) over the priest, inescapable.  It had to be gazed upon.  Without my mother telling me so, I deduced this Jesus was to be revered.  Had the statue been anywhere else, had it been avoidable, I do not think it would have captured my attention to the extent it did.  But its being placed behind the altar, squarely in the center of the worshippers’ attentions, forced me to gaze upon it, brought it sharply into focus, and required a response.  It was clear from the priest’s words and from the hymns we sang and prayers we offered that the required response was veneration.  This Jesus was to be worshipped.[4]

I remember kneeling at the altar (a mourner’s bench) in a small Assembly of God Church in Conway, Arkansas in 1972.  My father, a Pentecostal preacher most of his adult life, was struggling with cancer.  Though never afforded the opportunity of preaching in large churches, he was beloved by his colleagues and known throughout the state as a poor country preacher.  His quiet and dedicated life of service spoke volumes.  Kneeling that night in prayer, my emotions overcame me– I was upset and broken.  So, a kindly older gentleman knelt down at the altar beside me and pushed my long hair away from my ear to whisper in my ear what he considered to be a hope-filled word, “Son, your daddy is very sick and may die, but God will restore him to health if you’ll cut your long hair—you, young man are the reason he is dying!”  I got up from that altar with tears in my eyes and walked out of that church and never came back.

So yes, I know some of the religious and psychological trauma that comes with trying to live faithfully in “Religious” America.  We can easily become our own worst enemies!  It is not some outside sinister force that threatens us and wreaks havoc; it is that which is right here within us that can destroy us.  No wonder comical but bitterly satirical bumper stickers appear on the cars and trucks of the jaded—“Save Me Jesus… from your Followers!”  Though it is painful to do so, there must come forth a realistic and thoughtful self-examination process.  We must ask the painful tough questions.  We must “take our own medicine.”  Gulley remembers a visit to a museum and writes:

Several years ago I visited a museum and saw the skeleton of a dinosaur.  As I read the plaque, I learned only a handful of the bones were original, that the remainder had been fabricated based on a paleontologist’s extrapolation from the authentic bones.  In many ways this is similar to what the church has done.  There are only two passages in one gospel (Matthew 16:18 & 18:17) WHERE Jesus mentions the church, and even those references are dubious.  Many scholars suspect the Matthean verses were not original to Jesus but were written back into the text by persons hoping to bolster their theological and ecclesial positions by placing them in the mouth of Jesus.  We should never delude ourselves into thinking that today’s church sprang directly form the mind and witness of Jesus.  All we have is extrapolation, a few bones upon which have been erected a larger organism.  If Jesus intended to create the church, he did a questionable job.  He left no clear directions about its structure or purpose.  The apostle Paul and others would later do that but Jesus didn’t.  If the disciples were his first board of directors, he chose poorly.  Jesus did none of those things essential to forming a viable institution.[5]

This is strong medicine, indeed.  It’s a far-cry from the syrupy-sweet sentimentality of which American-legend, Paul Harvey was pleased to write the forward in one of Gulley’s much-earlier works, “Front Porch Tales—Stories of Family, Faith, Laughter, and Love.”  Some kind preacher gave me that book for Christmas one time many years ago when I was a District Superintendent.  The kind of book you might hope to find in your Christmas stocking—one you can curl up on the couch and read slowly with a cup of hot chocolate in your hand.  But this one—“If the Church Were Christian” is much different.

It is not my purpose at the end of this ten-week preaching series to invite us all to become Quakers!  While I applaud the Quakers for their witness in areas of peace and justice that outshine our own efforts as United Methodists, I remain loyal to the United Methodist Church.  It is not my desire to confess a non-Trinitarian Christian faith or encourage others to do the same.  My Easter faith compels me to affirm that Jesus is the son of God, and I do so without reservation, even though Gulley does not.  But I want to join Gulley and others like him in calling the Church to be truly more like Jesus.—or as he says “more Christian.”  In only 9 days, United Methodists will gather from all over the world to examine and test our effectiveness.  World-wide, United Methodists in Africa or Asia see needs and issues very differently from United Methodists in North America or Europe.  That gathering which we call a “General Conference” meets only once every four years and meets, this year, in Tampa, Florida.  We must lift up the conference and its membership in prayer that when the ten-day conference concludes we are more determined to be more Christ-like.

Indeed, Gulley poses a great question:  “What would it mean if Jesus were a model for living rather than an object of worship?”  Daily, what if WWJD became our heartbeat and not just a wristband?  What if we asked daily, “What Would Jesus Do?”  Over a hundred years ago, Charles Sheldon asked a very similar question in his book, “In His Steps,” as he posed that same provocative question and challenged townspeople to consider what steps Jesus might take.  It reminds me of the scripture when Jesus tells his followers, “Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord!”  It takes far more than just “right” belief and just the right words and phrases to make a difference in the world.  Instead, what if Jesus really became a model for living—what kind of difference would that make in our life together?  What kind of difference would that make here in our community, trying to serve faithfully in downtown Little Rock?  Consider the context in which Jesus lived.  Gulley explains:

Everything (Jesus) said and did grew out of his Jewish faith.  As in all religions, there were those in Judaism who’d forgotten and forsaken its principles.  What first-century Judaism needed wasn’t a new revelation, but the reminder of a previous one.  The prophets preceding Jesus had described well the priorities of God—mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion.  Jesus exemplified those virtues, expanded their meaning for his generation, and through the power of his good example, urged others to not only imitate his works, but to exceed them.[6]

But, time rolls on, and people in the Church veer off-course.  We forget the life, witness, and teaching of Jesus, heading off in other directions.  The needs of the poor become secondary.  The outcast and the hungry are pushed aside.  The church members themselves turn on each other.  Listen to how Katy Rice put it in her book, describing the life of this very church!

In 1884, the First Methodist Church, South, now thriving at its Center Street location, celebrated the centennial of Methodism in America.  On May 25, a day-long Centennial Day “Programme” was held.  Among the many speeches, prayers, and hymns was the historical resume, presented by C.S. Collins, Esq., a fluent and gifted orator.  (Here’s a portion of his speech): 

In 1879 we were quarreling with one another and abusing one another in a very unchristianlike way.  Divided and at outs on every question, large and small, each one insisting upon his own way and apparently believing that the world would come to an end unless his particular views should be adopted.  Something had to be done.

Churches, like individuals, that do not keep abrest with the times, must, of necessity, lose cast and give place to their more progressive rivals.  There is no such thing as standing still in this world.  Inertness in religion as well as in physics is the forerunner of death.[7]

And frankly, that’s exactly why I want to journey with you in this series during Eastertide, even if it means a journey with some troublesome questions that challenge even our time-honored assumptions.  I love Jesus, and I know you love Jesus too, so I invite you consider some very ordinary situations differently.  Like Gulley says, “If we in the church were serious about honoring Jesus, conducting ourselves as he did would be our chief concern.  Each generation must interpret the life and example of Jesus in a redemptive and relevant way.  Each generation must do this with Jesus, lest it be forced into stale beliefs that strain credibility and diminish life.  For the joy of Christian faith is not to be found in the rote recitation of dogmas about Jesus, but in modeling his mercy and love, which alone have the power to transform us and our world.”[8]

So, when you put it that way, it sounds very much like what we ought to be about right now…, right here!  Let’s challenge ourselves and ask some tough questions, especially now—“If the Church Were Christian…. What would happen?”                                  Amen.

2146

[1] www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-gulley

[1] philipgulley.org

[1] Back cover quote:  If The Church Were Christian—Rediscovering the Values of Jesus, Philip Gulley—2010 Harper Collins Publishing, New York, NY

[1] Gulley, p. 12.

[1] Gulley, p. 3.

[1] Gulley, p. 25.

[1] Katy Rice, A History of The First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas 1831—1981,Parkhurst-Eaton Publishers, 1980, Little Rock.  P. 43—45.

[1] Gulley, p.28.

While many denominations claim to be growing, the largest group in American religious life is the disillusioned—people who have been involved in the church yet see few similarities between the church’s life and the person of Jesus. In the midst of elaborate programming, professional worship teams, and political crusades, they ask, “Is this really what Jesus called us to do?” Join us for a new sermon series based on author Phillip Gulley’s book If the Church Were Christian starting April 15th.

This Week: Jesus Would be a Model for Living

Next Week: Affirming our Potential would be more important than condemning our Brokenness

Jenny Adair, C.O.M.E. Chairman