Sermon for January 15, 2012 - Remit 6

The Scripture passage for this sermon was 1 Samuel 3:1-20, 1 Peter 2:9-10

In Kelowna BC, in August of 2009, the 40^th General Council of the United Church of Canada met and approved a motion to add three statements of faith to the Doctrine section of the Basis of Union.  They are the 1940 Statement of Faith, the New Creed, and A Song of Faith.  Various other General Councils since Church Union in 1925 has approved each of these.  Subsequently, a remit has been issued to all presbyteries and pastoral charges across Canada.  We have been called upon to vote on this matter, and I think this provides an excellent opportunity to discuss this church we claim membership in.

So here’s what the next few weeks will hold for us.  This week, I’ll be talking about what exactly a remit is, and why remits are important.  More importantly, I’ll talk about why I think the polity and structure of the United Church of Canada is messy but wondrous. Next week, we’ll talk about the Basis of Union, about what doctrine is, and whether or not it is important, and I’ll also do a bit of an introduction to the 1940 Statement of Faith.  And finally, the next Sunday I’ll talk about why this particular Remit is important, and what it might mean to have three different statements of faith in our Doctrine.  I’ll also give an introduction to the New Creed, which you are familiar with as we say it every week, as well as the 2006 Statement entitled, A Song of Faith.

I won’t be reading aloud each of the statements.  For the 1940 Statement and the Song of Faith, that would be a sermon in and of itself.  But I will be leaving copies at the back of the church for those who are interested, and I encourage all of you to pick them up. And if we run out, I can print off more, or you can find them all online at the United Church of Canada website.

So I get it.  Some vote, that has absolutely no bearing on our lives is coming down from General Council, a body that is detached from the realities of church life in rural Manitoba.  Let’s just do whatever they want us to do, get them off our backs and stop wasting our time with meaningless measures.  Vote yes or no or whatever, and move on!

Sometimes I agree with that sentiment.  Sometimes I get so frustrated with the bureaucracy of the church that I want to throw up may hands in frustration at whatever form I need to fill out or whatever hoop I need to jump through.  Believe me, when you go through discernment and candidacy process to becoming a minister, there are a lot of those hoops.  I get it.

But while this bureaucracy does get under my skin.  I think the upcoming remit is a sign of incredible vitality within the church.  First off, what is a remit.  When we want to change the Basis of Union, the constitution of the United Church of Canada, a remit is issued to test the will of the church.  When it is a question of Doctrine, of asking what do we believe as a church, that remit has to go to all presbyteries and all the pastoral charges.  Fifty percent of the presbyteries and fifty percent of the pastoral charges have to vote “yes”, for the remit to go back to the 41^st General Council in Ottawa this upcoming summer for final approval.

So.  That’s what is happening.  We’re all caught up.  Onto the far more interesting stuff:  Why I think this is a sign of vitality for our church.

In our Old Testament Lectionary reading for today, we hear the story of God’s call to Samuel.  Three times, God calls, and finally it is the old Priest, Eli, who discerns that it is God, and that Samuel should answer.  It was Eli, the priest who discerned God’s will, who interpreted God’s words.  This was very much a function of priests.

In our Epistle reading today from First Peter, this is not contradicted.  What is different, is the claim that Christians are a holy priesthood.  This was a fundamental part of the Reformation, it is part of our identity, especially as a Reformed Church.  These words from First Peter, along with a few others throughout the bible, inspired the phrase “Priesthood of all believers”.  And though this phrase has meant different things over the course of Protestantism’s 500 year history, it is wonderful to grapple with.

For me, I struggle defining what, “Priesthood of all believers” actually means.  I don’t think it just means that lay people sometimes read scripture on Sunday.  Instead I see it resonate in all the ways that we are living the Way of Jesus Christ, that Way which we would ideally see embodied within the Church.  I see the priesthood of all believers as the myriad of ways we participate in the church, the ways we participate in trying to create a holy community.

In the United Church of Canada, one of the ways that we live this out, is through our grassroots, democratic structure.  Yes, at times democracy can be messy.  It leads to argument, it leads to debate.  It requires a tremendous amount of energy and resources to function, in its own inefficient way.  But in our church, in theory, every single person who wants a voice, can have one.  And it is the cacophony of voices that make us great. 

When we vote on these remits at the Annual Meeting, don’t think of it as another hoop that we’re jumping through.   Think of it as us interpreting God’s call to the Church.  Think of it as us as a large group of people across Canada, collectively trying to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit within all those voices.  Think of it as us fulfilling our role as a priesthood of all believers. 

There are a number of different ways of doing this.  If you’re coming to the meeting, great, read these.  Talk about them.  Ask questions.  Questions like, “Does this mean anything to me?  Does it resonate with my experience of faith within the United Church of Canada?”  Questions like, “Why would I include a document from 1940 as a statement of our doctrine if we’ve had two newer documents since then?”  Or, “Is this statement consistent with the way I encounter God through scripture?”  If you’re not going to be at the meeting, then talk to someone who is. 

The words around a remit are that we are “testing the church’s agreement”.  It is not some small group of people, saying “Hey, this is what your doctrine will be.”  Rather it is a small group of people saying, “Hey what is our doctrine?” So what is the church’s will?  You are all a part of something bigger than yourselves, so push yourselves.  Participating in democracy doesn’t just mean voting.  It means understanding what you are voting for or against.  It means listening to different opinions, struggling with new ideas.

You are priests, all of you.  This is what you are called to.  You are ministers, each and every one of you, and so you have a voice in this church.  Yes, I am a paid accountable minister, but the only reason I am is because I was elected to this office by democratic processes by people like you; by this institution which you support through the same democratic processes.  Do you wonder why I need to ask your permission to do baptisms?  Or communion?  You have been entrusted by the wider church to discern when baptism is appropriate, when communion is appropriate.  And again, in this remit, you have been entrusted by the wider church to discern whether or not to include these documents in our constitution.

This is a sacred obligation.  As we discuss this, you are living out your Holy calling.  Do not take it lightly.

Sermon for August 14, 2011 - Divisions, Divisions, Divisions

The scripture readings for this sermon were Genesis 45:1-15; Matthew 15:21-28; and Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Has anyone else found this summer to be especially depressing in the news?  We have this horrible situation in East Africa, which is heartbreaking.  Even seeing a quick picture of the ongoing suffering and famine can bring a lump to the throat or raise significant questions.  There were the UK riots, and the response to the UK riots.  The ideological squabbles in the US that brought the nation (and the rest of the world with it) to the brink of economic catastrophe.  And there was that horrible day in Norway where a man, on ideological principle thought it would be best to kill a bunch of people from an opposing political party, (a party that has advocated against the exclusion of people from society based on ethnicity or religion), and his murderous rampage included children affiliated with this idea.

I found my heart being wrenched wide open practically every time I opened the newspaper.  We live in a divided world.  A world that is drawing more and more lines.  White and black, Christian and Muslim, Conservative and Liberal, Rural and Urban, the human world and the natural world, the economy and the environment.  There are so many that it is exhausting just to think about.

Divisions. Divisions. Divisions.  We live in a bitterly divided world, and this is not a new phenomenon.

This theme of division runs throughout our scripture readings for today.  In our Genesis reading, a division exists between Joseph and his brothers.  A division brought about by jealousy, Joseph’s brothers having sold him into slavery.  In the Gospel, there is a division between the Jews and the Gentiles, a division which Jesus initially advocates.  In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he describes a division between the Jews and the burgeoning church.

This divisive nature has continued on through the history of religion, certainly through the history of Christianity.  The church has often emphasized who is on the inside, and who is on the outside.  Who is saved and who is damned.  What is holy, what is unholy.  We have survived and thrived on the idea that we are the gatekeepers and none shall pass but those we deem fit.

We live in a divided world.  Divided on grounds of race, religion, ideology, gender, sexuality, wealth, nationality, even species.  Does anyone else find this tragic?

All of our scripture readings for today describe, not just divisions, but reconciliation.  Through forgiveness, Joseph is reunited with his family.  Paul explains that Jews and followers of Christ are bound within the Grace of God.  Even Jesus, has his mind changed.  He is taught a tremendous lesson from a Canaanite woman, as she reminds him that even Gentiles are not excluded from God’s love.  This is Jesus, remember!  Our Psalm for the day caps it off beautifully, “How lovely it is when kindred live together in unity.”

Every reading for today is a quite simple call to unity, a call to reconciliation.  And this is a call that resonates throughout the bible, throughout the gospels, embodied in the life of Christ, and the call which is made to the church throughout the epistles.  We are a reconciling church.  We are called to embody Christ who came to reconcile the world.  We are called to reconcile the world.

The church has not done well in its mission.  Rather than ending divisions, rather than ending hatred, oppression, ostracization and various bigotries, we have throughout our history advocated for them.  No wonder people are starting to question the legitimacy of the church when we don’t stand by our founding principles!  In many ways I’m surprised it took people so long to start saying, “Wait a minute!”  Because unity, bringing everyone together, seeing the whole world as the family of God, as one creation, is what defines us!

The life that Jesus lived, the life of God is the life that goes out and sees all people, all things in their fullness.  It is the life that says “Anyone who thinks they are morally superior, or better than someone else, MUST… MUST see that God is present in the other.”  He argued to the Pharisees that God was present in the unclean of the day.  He showed to the zealots that God was present in the tax collectors.  And in the lesson from the Canaanite woman, he showed that God is present even outside of Judaism.  This was radical, and it remains radical today!

If there is anyone in the world we think we are better than, the life of Christ invites us to know them intimately and see that God is present.  This is the Torah, the prophets, this is Paul, this is Christ.  If I think I am better than someone because I am able bodied, and they are disabled, I need to see that God is present in disability.  If I think I am better than someone because I am straight and they are gay, I need to see that God is present the LGBT community.  If I think I am better than somebody because I am white and they are first nations, or I have never committed a crime and they are in prison, or because I have one political view and they have another, the life of Christ invites me to see that God is present in them.

Here’s a pop quiz.  Does anyone know what words are written on the United Church of Canada crest?  Ut Omnes Unum Sint.  Does anyone know what that means?  That all may be one.  It’s a line taken from John.  That all may be one.

This vision, held up as the United Church of Canada’s mission in 1925 when the Methodists, the Congregationalists and a large portion of the Presbyterians joined together, today is so important!  And it goes beyond the vision of all denominations coming together.  That all may be one, should be the rallying cry of Christians everywhere, it is a call that we need to embody in our daily lives.

Paul said in his letter to the Galatians that “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  And that message continues today: In Christ there is no liberal or conservative.  In Christ there is no sinner or saint.  In Christ there is no Muslim or Christian, white or first nations, old or young, wise or stupid, cool or uncool, criminal or citizen, able bodied or disabled, human or animal.  All of us are sisters and brothers before God, all of us are of one creation before God.

As we move forward in an ever more interconnected and globalised world, this message of unity must be preached loudly, and must be embodied with great courage.  This is where the church must be present.  This is our tremendous opportunity to shine the light of Christ into a divided world, a world that is struggling with encountering new cultures and different ideas, a world that is trembling under the weight of division and fear.  Now is our time to claim our glorious heritage, to see the union of all things under one holy creation, and to declare that union with tremendous love in our hearts.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.