5th Sunday of Easter, First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY

This sermon is my first attempt to write a dialog sermon. It is obvious in most places where the worship leader is reading, the other places are in Bold letters. Most of the italics are indicating references from the UCC weekly sermon study guide. Hope you all enjoy the read about "inclusion" as it was lots of fun to write and give.

Who Is In God’s Family?
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY May 2, 2010
Based on Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35


In every Worship service we hear readings from scripture. Many times we listen to three differing readings, usually one from the Hebrew Bible, another from one of the letters to the church, we call the Epistles, and then one reading about Jesus’ ministry from one of the Gospels. From these three readings then, I am charged with the task to reflect on what we hear from these varying readings, and bring together some type of cohesive thought. When we are listening to these readings we sometimes forget that these come from a variety of books that have been accumulated into this volume that we refer to as The Bible.
I am a person who loves books. I love the way a book feels in my hands, I love the smell of the paper that is used in creating a book; I love the fact that by reading a book, my mind has been affected in some fashion. Out of my love for books, I find it very difficult to walk past a book store, so I usually will go in and start to browse through the shelves filled with books. I am also a people watcher and I think book stores can be very telling about a person and what is of most interest to them. What I mean by this is just watch where any person heads who goes into a bookstore, or a library for that matter. For me, I instinctively head directly over to the religious section, and then from there I head to the psychology and self-help section, and then find my way to the architectural section and lastly stopping off at where the novels are shelved.
In selecting each week’s scripture, I use the Common Lectionary. It is designed to present over a three year cycle something from almost every book that is found within the Hebrew and Christian Bible, thereby forcing me to deal with books I might otherwise pass over. It asks me to think upon books like Revelation, which is one of those books that I never want to deal with. By nature, I tend not to want to deal with books that have become cornerstones for apocalyptic preaching. People, who think only with a “doomsday” frame of reference, generally focus solely on topics of “Salvation” and ignore issues that surround “social justice”. After all, why worry about social justice issues when people need to have their souls saved because Christ’s coming is just around the corner? I am in good company with not wanting to deal with the Book of Revelation, Martin Luther gave this book a secondary classification, Ulrich Zwingli flat out denied it scriptural status, and John Calvin largely ignored it.
Thank goodness for modern theologian Marcus Borg who does respect this book enough to tackle what it brings to the total collection of the Bible. Borg paints a larger picture of Revelation, not only about its writing and origin but also the reaction of those in the church who really didn’t see it as Holy Scripture, such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and yours truly. Borg reminds us that this book was written to seven specific churches that are about one generation old and perhaps already straying from their original vision. “The issues facing the communities,” he writes,” are persecution, false teaching, and accommodation to the larger culture.”UCC study guide
(Worship Leader): Ah excuse me Pastor Steve. I apologize for interrupting you, but I have to just ask, “Why, if the book of Revelation is so ‘not holy writing’ to you, why then are you preaching on it this morning?” Granted, what I read this morning is one of those passages that I often hear quoted at funerals, when I am looking to be consoled, to think of a future time with no more tears, and no more pain, even no more death.UCC Study Guide But really, what does a book like this have to really say to us here this morning? We’re not attending a funeral, but rather this is communion Sunday, where we think about remembering Jesus’ life and his teachings and about life beyond the grave.
Jonathan, that’s a very good question and quite frankly I am happy that you think enough about what I think to ask that question. Let me address it with this thought. While our passage today starts off with a beautiful and all-encompassing vision of a new heaven and a new earth, there is a very specific city, the New Jerusalem, at its center. “Remember the bible in Genesis, begins with the Garden of Eden, but in Revelation it ends in the City of New Jerusalem.” ucc study guide Remember, Jonathan, that the writer of Revelation most likely was a person who survived the Jewish-Roman war between 66-70 AD that ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
So why would a city be important? Cities are places where people live together in dependence upon one another. In the Garden of Eden, it was a story of only two people, Adam and Eve, not a story that deals about living in community with other people. “A city works when everyone in it does something to contribute to its welfare. It is the welcome place where people arrive home at the end of a long and sometimes confusing journey. For the writer of Revelation, it is where God lives.”Feasting on the Word
What an intriguing way to spur our spiritual imaginations about our own city of Rock Springs, as a place where God lives. Imagine what Rock Springs might look like for everyone who lives here, if we didn’t live in competition and anxiety but in a grace filled community, welcoming people home and inviting them in. Such a vision is the opposite of destruction, separation, loneliness, and exile, which is familiar to the author with the fall of the “old Jerusalem.” ucc study guide For this reason, Jonathan, we can look at Revelation as the bookend, when we think of Genesis as the other end of the Bible. We start out in isolation but end up in community, very much representative of our spiritual journey, don’t you think?
(Worship Leader) Well, I suppose that might explain why you are at least willing to look at a book that generally gives you a knee-jerk reaction. But how does that tie into the story that you had me read where Peter has this vision about a sheet coming down from heaven filled with all sorts of food, food that up to that point was considered as unclean? What was God trying to tell Peter? I mean, after all, I’m not Jewish, so what does this have to do with me? I don’t have a problem in eating pork chops, just like I love eating shrimp. I mean, what does this story about God telling Peter it’s okay to eat any food that was in front of him, on that sheet, have to do with what you were just saying about “God living in Rock Springs?”
Hmm, Jonathan, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions, as a way of answering your question? {No, go ahead} Jonathan, how many nationalities does Rock Springs boast about being “home” to? {56 or so} Okay, and in broad terms what would some of those nationalities be? {well, there would be Caucasians, it would include, Chinese, Africans, and Hispanics. Those would be the major groups, I suppose.} Okay, Jonathan, now let me ask you this question, “How did we get so many different nationalities here in Rock Springs?” {Well that’s easy; it was because of the mines} So it was because of economics that Rock Springs has so many different nationalities. Now let me ask you this question Jonathan, “When you and your family moved here, from where did you move?” {Jean, Abbey and I moved here from Illinois} And why did you move from your home in Illinois? {We moved here because Jean had an opportunity to teach which she wasn’t receiving back where we lived.} So in essence you migrated here from your home in Illinois because of economic opportunities and it gave Jean an opportunity to use the degree that she had just completed at the time? {Yes, basically}
Jonathan, did you realize that today is Immigration Sunday on the UCC calendar? {No. I didn’t} Let me share these thoughts with you from Rev Persida Rivera-Mendez through her reading of today’s Lectionary texts. “For me it is interesting to read this Revelation text in light of the immigration situation facing our country. The heading in my bible on the text says, “The New Jerusalem,” and for me the immigrant is looking for the New Jerusalem, a place where God is moving and transforming the world. Yet there are Christians who question the motives of those coming into our country for a better life. There are those who have a misconception that people come because they don’t want to be in their own country. There are many people who feel that we should have stringent immigrant laws and there are others who feel that we need to reform our immigration system that is broken. There needs to be a balance of ideas and methods in place so that we may have comprehensive immigration reform that is just and beneficial for all, not just for a select few.
My question is, how do we, as followers of Jesus’ way, begin to wrestle with this reality that we are called to love one another, care for the least of these, and proclaim the good news of the gospel to all God’s creation, which also includes the stranger and the immigrant in our midst? Are we living out this commandment as it relates to our immigrant brothers and sisters?” ucc study guide
As I look around this room, I would first ask the question to everyone here, how many of us have our roots from other countries? I know that my earliest ancestor came from Germany, as an indentured servant. I can only assume that he came to this country to find a better life than what he had in Germany. I can only assume that the only reason he sold himself into servant-hood was to find a place that would allow him to become more than what he was, to find the New Jerusalem where he could thrive and contribute. When I look at places like Arizona and how they are handling the issue of immigration or at how we as a nation on the whole have been wrestling with the topic of immigration, then reflect upon where would I be had my ancestor not been allowed to immigrate into this country, or where would this congregation be, without families like the Strannigans, the Wesswicks, the Bunnings, the Willette’s, the Ghormleys, the Firmes, the Slaughters, or the Jon Anderson’s; and I don’t mean to slight anybody by not specifically mentioning your family names, for we all are products of immigration.
Jonathan, when we read scriptures out of Revelations that speak to the coming of the New Jerusalem and in Acts where Peter is challenged to eat food that had been religiously off limits, we see God challenging Peter and the new church that came out of the teachings of Jesus to take a second look at who was being excluded and who was being included. I then have to look at what we as people of faith need to be asking ourselves. Are we truly inclusive? Do we really care about the needs of other people who are different from us, or are we satisfied to hold on to what we have and not share with those different than us? In other words, am I comfortable using words that allow exclusion such as “them” and “us” instead of words that are inclusive, like “we” and “all”? Are we concerned about people in other countries that are risking their lives to enter into this country without proper documentation because life in their country cannot support their basic needs, or are we satisfied to close our borders and use labels like “illegal” aliens as a way to exclude?
As your pastor, I have to ask questions of this body of people who call themselves Christians: “What really matters to us today,” “What should matter to us today,” “What does it mean to be a people of faith: as followers of Jesus who trust in the goodness of God and seek to participate in God’s plan for the world?” “What should we Christians be thinking about, be planning for, dreaming of, and hoping for?” “What should our priorities be?” “What’s the big picture and where are we heading, individually and corporately?” ucc study guide “Are we here just to play church or are we here to learn what God has to teach us?” “Are we here to be challenged by God’s message to us?” “Are we here to reach out beyond who we are?”
(Worship Leader) So Pastor, you’re saying this story in Acts tells us, “This is what the church meetings were about in those days: who was in and who was not, and that the headquarters in Jerusalem was in an uproar over the report that Peter had been breaking some very important rules and boundaries in his ministry with the Gentiles?” So basically, we need to look at who we might be excluding without realizing it? In other words, our discussions on what being an Open and Affirming Congregation includes things like immigration issues as well?
Yes, Jonathan, that is right.” Today we come to the table of which Jesus says, “all are invited to eat.” We say that all are welcome, but when we close our borders, are we truly an “inviting people”; when we discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, are we truly an “inviting people”; when we are afraid of losing power or position, can we truly be an “inviting people”? The table of Jesus speaks to the hope of a New Jerusalem. Are we willing to be a Peter and eat with those who are on the outside, thereby bringing them into the fold? My prayer is that we are becoming that type of people. Amen