THE UNPOPULAR CHURCH

The Reverend Dr. Lillian Daniel

June 7, 2009

First Congregational Church, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, UCC

www.firstconge.org

630-469-3096

Scripture: Romans 8:14-15, Isaiah 6:5-8

Romans 8:14-15

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.

Isaiah 6:5-8

And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

Sermon:

Today is an historic occasion. At the end of this service, we will move into our annual meeting, but this annual meeting will be different from others before it. We will do our usual business of approving the budget, nominating leaders to our small and hardworking committee structure, and we will even spend a moment on our by laws. And note here my prayer, that we will spend a moment on our by laws.

Because then we will move into a historic congregational vote, as to whether or not to approve an Open and Affirming Statement, the fruit of a process of two years of deliberate study, prayer and discernment.

At First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, we rejoice in our community of faith, strengthened by diversity, including diversity of culture, economic status, age, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and physical or mental abilities. We affirm that God is glorified when we welcome all people to our spiritual community, as Jesus did. Wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

If that statement is approved today, we will be added to an official list of Open and Affirming churches, which have explicitly welcomed all people, with all kinds of differences. People who are looking for that kind of church can find us by going to that list. It’s like an underground railroad marker that lists this church as a safe place – a sanctuary for those who have not felt safe or welcomed in other churches.

Now, we’ve actually been living this out for a while.

Our unique statement has been crafted by so many people, discussed in so many ministry teams, it’s even been approved by our church council, so much has already been done that some of you are probably thinking, can’t we just do this already? In fact, my suspicion is that the Open and Affirming information table we’ve had up in recent weeks drew its visitors primarily for the home-baked cookies, not for further debate and discussion. I mean, I know what I was doing there.

Furthermore, I’ve preached on inclusivity countless times, consistently noting that the church has no business excluding folks from ordination, church leadership or marriage based on their sexuality. I did that long before we started the Open and Affirming process. I still have a job. So what’s the big deal? Can’t we do this already?

Well, this morning, I want to tell you this is actually a big deal. This process has taken two years because it needed that much time. This moment deserves our prayerful and careful attention, because, friends, we are about to become an unpopular church.

When I say unpopular, I mean we are about to take a stand that the vast majority of Christianity does not agree with, in this country and, even more so, around the world. That’s a big deal, not something to be done lightly or irreverently.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” As the leader of this remarkable spiritual community, I want to tell you, I believe we have been led by the spirit in this process, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be up here today. This is not about politics, it’s not about ideology, it has to be first and foremost for us as a church, about the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Are we doing God’s will? If we’re not doing it for that reason, it’s not worth doing as a church. Politicians and voters can do politics, lobbyists can influence legislation, activists can take on civil rights, and we can do all those things on our own time – but if we’re doing this as a church, we had better be confident that is it of God and for God.

For Paul says, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God,” and I believe, for the last two years, we have been led by a beautiful and loving Holy Spirit. That spirit has been working through wise members of this church who have been leading the rest of us in a careful and slow process.

Now for those of you who take the Bible seriously, this may seem odd for me to be quoting Paul on the Sunday of our Open and Affirming vote. It is Paul who says some of the less than open and affirming things in the New Testament. It’s Paul who denies women leadership in the church, it’s Paul who condemns gay men.

Jesus, as you well know by now, says nothing about either matter, by the way, but Paul, one of the early church leaders, did.

Paul joined a church where women were worshipping alongside men, and the surrounding culture was appalled by that. Paul, influenced by his patriarchal society made certain statements in certain settings that reflected the commonly held prejudices of his day. I think he was trying to take an unpopular religion and make it a little more popular, by saying, “See. We’re not so weird. We keep our women down, too.”

Why would he even be having to make that point, if women in the early Christian movement were not already exercising enough leadership to cause a stir? This is what I love about First Congregational. We get to ask these questions of scripture. We take the Bible way too seriously to take it literally. We don’t need to believe that Paul was perfect.

When Paul writes about his experience of God, of being touched by the Holy Spirit, I have to tell you, he speaks right to my heart. How beautiful to hear him say, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Most of Paul is about that sort of thing, the good stuff, the God stuff. You have to hunt around for the negative stuff, because there’s just not that much of it. There’s a lot more of Jesus’ loving message that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” No exceptions. Anyone can be led by the Spirit.

As we studied last Pentecost Sunday, that’s how the Holy Spirit works. It can land on anyone from any country, from an Ethiopian eunuch to a Greek reading tax collector to an Aramaic speaking carpenter’s son. Anybody. That’s the heart of the message. We’re all children of God. Paul takes it further, saying, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.”

I believe our vote this morning will be a choice between falling back into fear or receiving a spirit of adoption.

You see, a spirit of fear excludes, but a spirit of adoption includes.

A spirit of fear says no and a spirit of adoption says yes.

A spirit of fear denies access and a spirit of adoption says “come on in.”

For who would adopt a child and not adore it? Not God. We are adopted by God, chosen to be loved and treasured, every one of us, just as we are.

So now as a congregation, we make the logical and theological leap that if God promises to do all that, the church really ought to do it, too. We affirm that God is glorified when we welcome all people to our spiritual community, as Jesus did.

Ironically, by putting that into writing, into a specific statement, we get to be in the minority. We get to be the unpopular church.

We will be the only church in town to take such a stance boldly, publically and explicitly. Because I believe that this is of the spirit, I have no doubt that others will follow us.

I know that other pastors are watching right now, because they have told me, they’re watching to see how this unfolds for us, before they venture into this territory. Until they do, we’ll be out there, out in front, and early, by standards of the church at least, on a key issue of the day – early, bold and unpopular. Unpopular faith movements tend to attract unpopular people.

Let me tell you about one of them, the prophet Isaiah. He was called by God to take stands that the rulers of his country opposed. When God asked him to step up and tell the truth, Isaiah couldn’t believe that he was worthy. We heard his call story today. Isaiah was an ordinary man before that, a civil servant of his day, someone with a good job and a comfortable life. God wanted him to proclaim justice to the captives, to stand with the suffering, to call out the religious hypocrites of the day. Isaiah must have thought, “Me? Why me? Why would an average guy like me want to stir things up?”

In fact he said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; (In other words, everybody’s doing it) yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” After a live coal touched his lips (because being called by God can sometimes be painful), Isaiah felt suddenly forgiven and worthy. When God asked him, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah said, “Here am I; send me!”

With that, Isaiah, our spiritual ancestor, ventures out from the past, to walk by our side with a mighty cloud of witnesses, as we move into unpopularity of the very best kind.

We come by this naturally, from our historic Congregational roots.

Just so you know, we are doing nothing trendy here. We’re really being fairly traditional, for the United Church of Christ. We already come from an unpopular denomination.

In 1620, were we popular when we had to flee England in boats in search of religious freedom in the new world? God said “Whom shall I send?” and the Pilgrims said, “Send me.”

In 1700, were the Congregationalists popular for publishing a pamphlet against slavery, one hundred years before the abolitionist movement? Absolutely not. God said, “Whom shall I send?” A minister named Samuel Sewell said, “Send me.”

In 1777, when the English wanted to melt down the Liberty Bell in Allentown, Pennsylvania, it was a brave and unpopular church that hid that bell under its floor boards as an enduring symbol of freedom of conscience.

When God said, “Whom shall I send?,” and someone from the basement of the Zion Reformed Church said, “Send me. I’ll keep that freedom bell ringing.”

In 1785, were we popular for ordaining the first African American pastor, Lemuel Haynes?

Or in 1846, were we popular for organizing the American Missionary Association—the first anti-slavery society in the U.S. with multiracial leadership?

In 1853, were we popular for ordaining Antoinette Brown, the first woman minister to lead a church, not just in America, but in history?

Were we popular in 2005, when we became the first Christian denomination to support marriage equality for all people? I don’t think so, because I remember that one.

When God said, “Whom shall I send out in the world to take a stand that is unpopular but faithful to Christ’s spirit of love?,” our tradition has consistently been willing to say, “Lord, send me.”

We are, at our very core, a nonhierarchical denomination. The denomination can’t tell us what to think, what to believe or how to act. Really, as Congregationalists, none of that history matters unless we take it into our hearts in our local church. That’s why we, as Congregationalists, need to take this vote for ourselves. That’s what’s going to let that proud and brave history live on.

It’s just a dusty history book unless we remember their bravery and continue it. It’s a just broken bell in a church basement if we leave it there, but when it’s taken out and admired, it’s the symbol of liberty.

My question today is: Do you have the courage to be the unpopular church, not just out there in the national and historical level, but right here in this place?

Do we have the courage not just to cast a vote, but to actually live it out?

Can you take your unpopular church with you into the grocery store, and the golf course and the school cafeteria, and stand up for those who others talk down to?

Will you defend the rights of the downtrodden as well as you defend your own?

Will you challenge people who do not see the child of God in every face, even when you are surrounded by those who think you are wrong.

When God says, “Whom shall I send?,” will you say, “Send me.”?

Here’s my answer. I will if you will. We’re going to need to do as the body of Christ, join our voices to a great cloud of witnesses who had the courage throughout history to say, “Send me.”

It’s an unkind world out there, and some of the worst of it is taking place in the great Christian tradition that I love and that I will not allow to be hijacked by small minded hypocrites who peddle the common prejudices of their day to a mass market in search of a church club where they can all be popular together. Jesus did not die on the cross for that petty shallow vision.

Can we be a different kind of church? Send me.

Can we follow Jesus who welcomed everyone? Send me.

Can we discern God’s will to embrace the differences among us even within our church, because we have work to do here? Send me.

Can we take on tyranny, cruelty and prejudice, in an unkind world, even when we feel like one small voice? Send me.

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.”

Will you be an unpopular church? Oh Lord, let me at it. Send me.