5th Sunday at First Congregational, Rock Springs

Enfolding Love
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Psalm 8; Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16


When Paul and I first moved to Rock Springs, there were a number of people who were very active in giving us little vignettes about the history of Rock Springs. This was very helpful in helping us better understand our new environment. These stories came by way of mouth, books and pamphlets. We also have learned bits and pieces of the history of this church. The most talked about piece is where the church first worshiped; upstairs over a bar. Quite frankly that was one of the selling points to me by the search committee when we were discussing First Congregational.
This week I have been working on a short press release about my arrival and so the history of the church has been on my mind a good deal of the time. As I tried to learn a bit more about the churches history I finally found a couple of sources that had a brief history of our faith community. Let me share some of our history with you.
First Congregational Church began with a Sunday school meeting in a one-room school house in 1876, and in 1881 was organized as the first church in the city, under the name of “Union Congregational Church”. Financial difficulties in the early 1890’s resulted in the loss of the first building on “B” Street, but the church re-organized with a new name “First Congregational” in 1891, and began a new building on “B” Street, after meeting for a few months in a vacant saloon on North Front! With additions and remodeling, that building served the congregation until 1970, when the property was sold to Mountain Bell, and a new structure was completed at our present location and dedicated on October 4th, 1970. Today Ladies and Gentlemen, we are celebrating our 39th year in this location. I think that deserves a big applause of Rejoicing! The mortgage was burned in the Centennial Celebration in October of 1981.
Just a little more history about who we are: The Congregational church had its beginnings with the Puritans and Separatists in England in the 16th Century, and the Pilgrims of the Mayflower and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the first Congregationalists in the “New World”. Congregationalists were called that because of their belief the individual congregation was the ultimate authority in terms of Christian faith and action as well as church governance.
The United Church of Christ was founded in 1957 as a merger of the Congregational Church with a “native” America “Christian Church” body and with two German language and history bodies, the Evangelical Synod of North America and the Reformed Church. The resultant denomination has become a Prophet voice among Protestant churches with a strong interest in education, missionary activity, health and welfare, and social justice as well as a determination to take the Bible “seriously rather than literally”. Let me say that again, we are a part of a denomination that takes the “Bible seriously rather than literally.”
I want to bring that to your attention because today’s lectionary readings can either be taken literally and cause a great many people much pain and heartache, or we can take the Bible readings, “seriously rather than literally”, which still might bring a good deal of discomfort and anguish for those whose view of what marriage is suppose to look like or who is and who isn’t allowed to be married.
Take my relationship with Paul as an example; there are people who think that I am single, which is not true, Paul and I are as much a couple as anyone that has a certificate of marriage from the courthouse. We are taking aquatic aerobics at the Family Rec. Center and one of the ladies who teaches when Sharon Pribyl isn’t there asked me the other day “if my friend” was coming to class that evening. At the front desk we had a discussion with the person who issues passes whether or not we were going to be able to purchase a “family” pass, since we were in fact a family. These are questions that we are having to ask and discuss because we are living in a state that does not recognize equal rights to all of its citizens. This is quite a challenge for Paul and I who moved away from a state that is very conscious about civil liberties and equality.
The Pharisees came to Jesus asking about not the morality of, but rather the legality of divorce. There was already a legal system set up that allowed for it, in fact, it was Moses who allowed men to divorce their wives. Jesus chose not to give voice to the matter of divorce. He did say however, “divorce is the by-product of a hardened heart.” Then in private Jesus goes on to say that “Anyone who remarries commits Adultery against their former spouse”.
I would like to share some of the thoughts that were shared this week on the UCC website about today’s text: Jesus is asked a legal question, a technical, down-to-earth, question about every day, lived reality, and he answers with an ideal that is, to be honest, almost impossible to achieve, at least for most of us. One can ask the question, “Has Jesus turned law-giver, seeking to impose an especially stringent law on his followers” Would he insist that a man who remarries after divorce be put to death, as the law prescribes for adultery (Lev 20:10)?” In our hearts, we sense that Jesus was not about ordering people to be put to death because they had disobeyed the Law, even if the Law seems to call for it. What is the lesson here? What do we hear in this passage?
At first, it might sound too easy just to say that Jesus was holding up the ideal of marriage in response to the Pharisees’ preoccupation with divorce. But isn’t that exactly what needs to happen in our own time: don’t we need strong voices that lift up the ideal, the intention of God from the very beginning, of two people joined together for life, faithfully loving each other? In the “defense to Marriage Act”, those who propose to keep marriage to be defined as one man and one woman, argue the fact that any legal recognition other than that, would in fact destroy the integrity of the “family”. My question to this is what is happening to the integrity of the family when the divorce rate is 50% and that it isn’t uncommon in today’s world to find people married up to three times before there seems to be any stability within that institution of marriage. These figures are of coursed based on the only system we have, one man, one woman marriages.
Are there ways for us in the church to focus more energy on the ideals of lasting, faithful, loving unions that are a sign of God’s love in the world? We could strengthen our support systems for married couples and our marriage preparation programs, and perhaps even consider a measure of holy hesitation before marrying every couple that asks. Are we spending too much time in the church thinking about other ways to “defend” marriage? Is it possible for pastors, in the pulpit and in other settings of the life of the congregation, to speak about marriage in encouraging and hopeful ways that also affirm those who have had to leave a marriage in order to seek wholeness and healing? And if salvation is about healing and wholeness, then the possibility of remarriage seems not only a matter of compassion but a question of justice.
James J. Thompson in the book , “feasting on the Word” wonders if we might “ask whether the human was created for marriage, or marriage for the human?” In the book “Provoking the Gospel of Mark” Richard Swanson writes: “This basic ritual of intimacy and support is figured as a field on which we encounter God. This is an important understanding, especially because it takes place at the heart of human life. Encounters with God are often imagined as taking place on the edges of existence, in retreat from ordinary life.” However, in marriage, “encounter with God takes place in the mist of the ordinary rituals of daily life”.
Its true then, that marriage is sacramental, a means of God’s grace in our lives. Of all people, then, faithful followers of Jesus should take marriage seriously, and should hesitate before denying anyone this means of encountering God.” It is this type of taking the Bible “seriously but not literally” that the UCC at the twenty-fifth Synod issued a statement in support of marriage for all people, whether it be between one man and one woman or between same-sex couples.
Today’s lectionary is speaking on primary human relationships and they do so by affirming God’s purpose in creation. God’s acts and God’s intent can never be negated or superseded by legal permission. As Hebrews stated, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways, by the prophets, but in these days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the world.”
Yes, “ God is still speaking” to us today, through scripture and through the sciences and through thoughtful deliberation about social justice and equality. It is God who out of love created humanity and it is through basic relationships like the sacrament of marriage that we can live and celebrate that love. It is my hope that as we celebrate 39 yrs of worshipping in this building and as a faith community with history of over 133 years in Rock Springs, that we continue to wrestle with what the Bible has to say, taking its words “seriously but not literally”; and as Jesus told his disciples not to turn away or discourage the little children from receiving his blessing, we recognize that every human being is in truth a child and that we truly open our doors so those who wish to receive God’s blessing, can in truth and in safety find it here! Amen