Surrender or Else

Jeremiah 17:5-10 1
Corinthians 15:12-20


Rockville United Church
The Rev. James L. McDonald

February 11, 2007

When Suzanne asked me to preach here this morning, I began to think about what I would say. I thought to myself, well, maybe I should just preach the lectionary texts and see where they lead me. But then, I also thought, well, maybe I should preach about Bread for the World and the politics of hunger. And then, I also began to wonder if maybe I should say something more directly about Rockville United Church and your search for a new pastor after a very long run with Kasey Kaseman.

Being the good Presbyterian that I am, I decided to go with the lectionary texts, which at first reading seem rather difficult and abstract. But you know what? The more I worked with these texts, the more it seemed likely that I would actually touch on both of the other subjects. That may seem like a stretch to you now. But bear with me. These passages are full of insight and wisdom into our current circumstances. I hope that by the time I’m finished talking this morning you’ll agree.

Let me start with a question. Why has the Church put a text about resurrection in this season? In the church year, we are in what’s called “ordinary time.” Most of the church year is designated “ordinary time.” This season between Epiphany and Lent begins with Jesus’ baptism and ends with the story of his transfiguration. It’s about Jesus’ life here on earth. The texts are mostly about his ministry – his miracles and teaching, the call of the disciples, his journeys around Galilee. So why has the Church brought in these texts about resurrection? Why not save them for the season of Easter?

To answer that question, we need to consider the whole of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, which our text is taken from. Paul was writing to a community in serious conflict, a community divided along leadership lines. People were arguing with each other, and backing their arguments with claims about their allegiance to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Christ. This drove Paul crazy. “Has Christ been divided?” he asked rhetorically. “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

So, Paul’s letter is one long argument about why this divisiveness into factions was so antithetical to the Gospel itself. So, in this amazing letter we hear Paul talk about freedom and responsibility. We hear him cite the words of Institution that we now use whenever we celebrate Communion. In chapter 12, Paul gives his famous speech about how there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, varieties of service but the same Lord, and how we, though many, are one body for we all partake of the same Spirit. And he talks about how every part of the body needs every other part of the body, and how that’s just the way we need to think about the variety of gifts we have in a community.

And of course everyone knows chapter 13, Paul’s great hymn to love, the more excellent way. And now Paul is one a roll and in chapter 14 he just keeps pounding home the point that we need to pursue love in all that we do.

And then comes chapter 15. Here Paul seals his argument. Paul talks about the centrality of the resurrection to our proclamation and our credibility as Christians. “If Christ has not been raised,” he argues, “your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Those are tough words. Without a belief in resurrection, Paul says, it’s all in vain. So, why does resurrection matter in ordinary time? And, what does resurrection have to do with how we maintain our community and live the life Christ calls us to live?

The key for me is that we are the body of Christ. If Christ himself had not been raised from the dead, what does it mean for us to say we are Christ’s body. If Christ is dead, then so are we, and as Paul says, then we are of all people “most to be pitied.” But Paul was trying to convey an essential element of our faith. This is not about a doctrine. It is not a question of scientific evidence. It is fundamentally about our own self-understanding. When you and I act in Christ’s name, we are not simply pledging allegiance to the memory of a great leader or an amazing healing, or to a set of teachings of a moral man who lived and died 2000 years ago. When we act in Christ’s name, we are asking Christ’s very Spirit to guide and infuse our actions. We are placing our sacred trust in the hands of a living God, who raised Christ from the dead so that we might live through him. We are asking Christ’s Spirit to knit our lives together in unity so that we can be the very body of Christ on earth today, in this community and this world.

Ordinary time had better be infused with the Spirit of the Resurrected Lord or we of all people are most to be pitied. Resurrection is about life now not an event 2000 years ago. Resurrection is about the power of God to transform human life and change history in 2007.

This Gospel truth is being tested here at RUC as you move from what you have been under the leadership and guidance of Kasey, to what you are now under the leadership and inspiration of Suzanne, to what God has in store for you under the leadership of a new pastor. The temptation will be boil it all down to pastoral leadership. Like the Corinthians, there may be a temptation for some to say, “I belong to Kasey, or I belong to Suzanne, or I’m firmly in the new pastor’s camp.” At one level this is only natural and human. We all have our affinities and preferences for style. We make attachments. Any pastor who has “been there” for you at those critical moments in people’s lives – a birth, a baptism, a marriage, a divorce, a crisis, the death of a spouse, child or family member – holds a special place in our hearts.

Some continue to grieve the loss of Kasey, his sense of humor, attention to detail, community leadership, and passion for justice. Others of you have come to love and appreciate the pastoral presence and wise counsel of Suzanne. Both are marvelous, each in his and her own way. And when that new pastor comes, you will be tempted to cast the fate of RUC at that person’s feet. (“Lead on, O King/Queen Eternal.”)

We carry high hopes for our congregation and its ministry. And every high hope is matched by an equally high fear. In a moment of transition such as you are now experiencing, anxiety about the future rises. But listen to Jeremiah:

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
And make mere flesh their strength,
Whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when relief comes.

And,

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
Sending out its roots by the stream.

As a pastor, let me say how much I appreciate the deference to pastors that you and most church people give. But let me say too that deference to pastors is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. Pastoral leadership is important, but it’s not everything, not by a long shot. And it’s certainly not the way to think about the Body of Christ in the world. So, when that new pastor finally arrives, open your hearts not just to him or her, but to the Lord and to the whole congregation.

The future belongs to God. And if you want to participate in God’s future, you’ve got to surrender your future to God’s. As Paul says later in the 15th chapter: “We shall not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

Bev Phillips, now retired and living in Arizona, was a Bread for the World organizer in the Midwest for many years. She tells the story¹ of five members of a church staff sitting around a large table in a conference room. The church’s shrinking budget is the first topic on the agenda. The pastor brings the meeting to order with a call to prayer. Everyone bows their head, and the pastor says, “Lord God of all, help us resign.” She pauses. There is an audible gasp. She continues: “from being directors of the universe.” Her petition was for each of them to stop thinking and acting as though she or he is in control of all that happens everywhere.

Bev goes on to comment: “Wanting control is a common human desire. Instead of trusting God both to have a plan and to carry out that plan with our help, we think we know best and can trust human activity to bring about [the reign of God.]” But if RUC is going to thrive, it’s going to have to change and attune itself to the new thing God is doing in your midst. The old is passing away. There is a dying you are experiencing, but you are not without hope because you have placed your trust in Christ who was raised from the dead. No one but God is in control of resurrection. So, as you pray for RUC and your search for a new pastor, I hope you can pray that the new pastor and, indeed, all of you will be guided by God’s Spirit into an unknown, but exciting future. This is not so much resignation as it is surrender – surrender to the One who truly is the “director of the universe.”

In the very beginning of Bread for the World in the 1970s, Art Simon and the other founders said that the work we do on behalf of people who are poor and hungry requires that first we all ground ourselves in worship, in the God, who loves us all. We need to trust that God will guide our steps and supply the courage, wisdom, and perseverance required to work against systems that cause hunger. I have found this to be essential in my work at Bread for the World. God is indeed present in politics and in our advocacy efforts for poor and hungry people in this country and around the world. There have been times when I was absolutely sure that nothing we could do would change the way Congress was going to deal with our issue. Things seemed to be at a standstill, gridlock and petty politics seemed to be holding sway. And then, all of a sudden, in ways least expected, something would move, an opportunity would open up, a heart would be changed.

As we began 2007, none of us thought we would see Congress increase funding for poverty-focused assistance to poor people in Africa and other parts of the world. Bread for the World members had engaged Congress in record numbers last year. As part of our One Spirit Offering of Letters effort, more than 300,000 letters, phone calls and visits were generated, urging Congress to boost poverty-focused development assistance to keep our country’s commitments to hungry and poor people around the world. And Congress was on track to approve an increase of a little over $1 billion for such assistance. But the outgoing Congress decided it was not going to finish passing 10 of the 13 spending bills for the current fiscal year, and the new Congress said it was going to just continue to fund all those programs at the same level as the previous year. All our work seemed to come to naught.

But miracle of miracles, the House has passed and the Senate is likely to also pass this week a measure that will increase poverty-focused assistance for things like HIV/AIDS, malaria, education, clean water, not by $1 billion, but by $1.5 billion! To me, that’s a miracle, and proof that God is able to raise the dead and is at work in some very unlikely places.

From our vantage point, the world is falling apart. Our hearts ache for the violence we see in Iraq and the Middle East and here in our city. Our spirits groan because of the suffering we see in Africa, Latin America, Asia and here at home.

But there is another reality as well. There is a realm wherein God’s Spirit is at work and Christ’s Body is proclaiming Good News to the poor, the captive, the blind, and the vulnerable. God is doing amazing things in the world. Hundreds of millions of people are being liberated from hunger and poverty. Reconciliation is happening in unlikely places. And God invites us to be part of this amazing work.

If we are to be the Body of the Risen Christ, we need to resign from being directors of the universe. Surrender your spirit to God’s Spirit. We are not in control. We don’t have to be. The future is God’s. And that is all the Good News you and I need to know. Amen.