Irvine United Congregational Church                                                            Rev. Paul Tellström

“We All Work Here” First Service                                                                May 14, 2006

Gospel: Matthew 25: 34-40                                                                              word count:  1,955

Epistle: James 1: 22-27

My former pastor, Bill Coffin, once said, “Too many people use the Bible like a drunk uses a lamppost—for support rather than for illumination.”  It has become a favorite quote.

During the last election, we heard a lot about voting for moral issues whose foundations were biblical.  With so many moral issues around us, including the war in Iraq, I was surprised to find that the single largest “moral issue” that showed up to conquer and divide was that of a proposed Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman, based on the teachings of the Bible.

I resent the selective use of scripture to uphold a prejudice, and in this case, I resent the use of the Bible to uphold “traditional marriage” when what passed for traditional marriage in biblical times resembled more closely what was exposed in the two-part article in the Los Angeles Times this week—the lifestyle of the polygamous and male-dominated community of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.¹  Upholding biblical standards, teenage girls are given as brides and property to older men, and have no say over their own destiny or that of their children.  Out in the open in Colorado City, Arizona, their lives are invisible.  The priests and the upholders of the law are complicit—there is no legal or religious recourse for these young girls, or young boys, for that matter.  Yet, I daresay that the mores of this community more closely resemble the traditional families of ancient Israel more than the equal partnerships mutually made that we call “marriage” today.

Bill (Coffin) also said, “When everything biblical is not Christ-like, we Christians need to remind ourselves of our heritage of keeping an interpretive theory of scripture.  The love of Jesus is the plumb line by which everything is to be measured.  And while laws may be more rigid, love is more demanding, for love insists on motivation and goes between, around, and way beyond all laws.”²

Like the young women repressed by religion, our own way of interpreting scripture is becoming more invisible and repressed in the current religious climate.  If we are going to talk about that which is biblical, is it a scripture here and there, or is it something greater?

And…something else about being invisible again—there is an invisibility of ethics involved when we don’t do, even live, what our faith story indicates we are supposed to be about. 

There is an invisibility of the message itself when we misapply its teachings to fit a culture that embraces unlimited certainties and prejudices masked as virtues, and served up in institutions such as the church itself.   And so I looked for a way to show a visible, three dimensional exegesis, if you will; a tangible symbol of what we are called upon to do.  And here it is.   I call this “sermon in a bag.”

(Open trash bag full of shredded papers and lay them on the table.)

I helped organized a town hall meeting for Jim Wallis about ten years ago—Jim is the editor of Sojourner’s Magazine and the author of “The Soul of Politics” and “Who Speaks for God?”  His newest book is called, “God’s Politics—Why the Right Gets It Wrong, and the Left Doesn’t Get It.” 

A group of us went out to dinner later, and Jim talked about a young seminarian who looked for and found a single priority in the Bible.  He searched the entire Bible, verse by verse, in order to this.  What he found were thousands of verses about the poor and oppressed.  Those who are marginalized and forgotten by everybody else, those who are mistreated and abandoned on the bottom of society keep appearing as a central concern.  The Bible, he discovered, was full of poor people, and God is depicted as the deliverer of the oppressed.

            In the Hebrew Testament, the subject of the poor is the second most prominent theme, just under idolatry, and the two are often intertwined.  In the New Testament, he found that one out of ten verses are about the poor, and in the gospels, one in seven.  In the book of James, it’s one out of five.

            At a time when selective literalists are finding condemnation in their cause du jour, the idea of breaking down the main themes of the Bible away from selected quotes led me to come up with this.

            Here is a stack of paper, one sheet for every page in my New Testament.  I checked several versions and printings, and came up with a variable of between 270-300 pages.  To bring alive the example that seminarian talked about, I took the corresponding percentage of pages from this stack that might represent God’s concern for the poor, and put them in a paper shredder.  In a minute I’ll show you some other shredded parts as well, but for now, just look at what is sitting on that table and consider the sheer volume of what our scriptures give us in terms of depicting a God whose main theme and concern is about the poor, and the clear charge of faith activated through deeds that is laid out on the common table.  Here is the church’s call to address justice issues squarely, or else what are we all about?

You may be looking at Jesus’ first sermon at Nazareth where he told us he was anointed to bring good news to the poor. Where he said he had come to let the oppressed go free.  You may be seeing the Beatitudes- “Blessed are you who are poor,” “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.”  You know that today’s gospel is sitting there in shreds, “When I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty, drink, when I was sick and in prison you visited me,” and “That which you do unto the least of these you do unto me.”  You have the entire epistle of James, and the injunction not to treat the rich differently from the poor, as well as today’s lesson, which compels us to put our faith into action.  “Be Doer’s of the word and merely hearers.” 

You have the letters of John telling us if we don’t love our neighbors in need, we simply don’t love God.  And the early church writings are there too; where goods and property were shared freely, and there were no needy among them.  You have all these and more.  But what do we do with all these bits of paper?  How do we make them come alive, become visible actions in the world? 

Today a new American Christianity has a different take on what it means to be a Christian.  What I remember as a tradition that had a passionate moral concern for “the other” has become morally inconsistent.  Jim Wallis, writing in “Who Speaks for God?” says:

“Their advocacy for human life seems to extend only from conception to birth.  After that, it transforms itself into fighting against equal rights for women, civil rights for homosexuals, public policies to aid the poor and redress racial injustice, regulation for environmental protection, school lunches and virtually every program for children.  It is painful to see how that organized concern for life has developed into a group that fights for more nuclear weapons, expanding the death penalty and the numbers of people in prison, decreasing welfare for the poor, and creating a nation that most benefits people who are middle class, suburban, and Christian.”

And now I’d like to show you the parts of the New Testament that appear to be most important to this group: 

(hold up larger baggie) Here, in this bag‚ are the Pauline verses that are used to subjugate women and deprive them of their full equality.  (hold up smaller baggie) Here is the space taken up by scripture with regard to homosexuality in Romans, Corinthians, and Timothy.  And finally, (hold up empty baggie) here is what Jesus has to say about their gospel.

This is a different kind of king.  A King bearing no resemblance to the one that stood for the outcast and the poor.  (invert baggie) Their king wears no clothes.  This is the Emperor’s New Theology, an empty bag.  It’s invisible.  There’s no substance here... But there, in front of you; that was what Jesus talked about.

            Martin Luther wanted to omit the Book of James from the canon.  His reading of Paul’s justification of faith became the cornerstone for the Protestant Reformation.  Luther had no use for the Book of James because it suggested that our works play a part in our salvation as well as our faith.  In context we find that the Roman Catholic Church’s tradition of selling meritorious works in the form of indulgences was opposed through a total rejection of the human part in salvation, because of this abuse by the church.  In that context only do we understand what Luther was saying.

            Today I hope we stand poised to begin a counter-reformation to a body of Christians who feel justified by faith in political abasement where the elect are its chosen members and the outcast is deservedly an outcast.  Good deeds, Yes!  But for whom?  The poor and the outcast are invisible in this empty theology.  For biblical teaching to be put at the service of the powerful instead of the oppressed, of war instead of peace, turns Christian teaching upside down.  To fuel racial tensions, to block the progress of women, to demonize the gay and lesbian person, to undermine care for the creation and to actually encourage a public policy that abandons our poorest children; this runs counter to Christian scripture, tradition, and history.  What has been accomplished is an almost complete reversal of Christian teaching, and all in the name of God.

So in the name of God, what are we to do?  Perhaps we need repentance for abdicating our responsibility in not standing up to these forces who don’t believe that the future can be everything we need it to be to provide dignity for every human being.  It’s not enough to come to church to fill’er up on faith to run on through the week.  The way we get recharged is to put our faith into action by our deeds.  We all work here.  This is where we work.  As James tells us, faith, in the absence of good deeds, is quite empty; indeed invisible in the world for all the purpose it serves.

Unlike his namesake, Dr. Martin Luther King believed in good works.  Dr. King once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is—what are you going to do for others?”

One of the many attractive aspects of the life of this particular church has been the desire to work for justice, and you have made ripples in the water around your community and in the consciousness of your sister churches in the conference.

One of the things I want to do with you is to discover what your passion for justice is, and find a way to channel my energy into it.  For eleven years, I have been working on issues of hunger and homelessness through food pantries and feeding programs.  Perhaps we can find that venue here, or perhaps there will be another concern.  Be thinking about it!

            As the church, we will continue the tradition of doing justice for the oppressed and speaking up for the outcast.  But the Words we are compelled to live by lay torn apart all around us.  Let’s lift those words up, activate them, and make them come alive in our mission here together.  It’s our gospel job- we work here 24/7.  AMEN

Sermon Resources

1) David Kelly and Gary Cohn, “Where Few Dare to Disobey,” The Los Angeles Times, May 12

    & 13, 2006.

2) Bill Coffin—I heard this quote, and have reconstructed it to the best of my memory.

Scripture for Sunday, May 14, 2006

“We All Work Here” (first service)

James 1:22-27

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.  For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.  If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Matthew 25: 34-40

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.  Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'  Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'