Nobody is Right, If Everybody is Wrong

Nobody is Right, If Everybody is Wrong

Proper 8, Year B, 2015

(link to scripture readings for day)

The Rev. Jack Alvey

Audio Version

One of my friends often tells why he joined the Episcopal Church.  Before the worship service, he went to the Sunday forum where members of the congregation were engaged in rigorous debate over the issues of the time.  My friend was a bit on edge for most of the class and, to be honest, couldn’t wait to check the Episcopal Church off his list before trying out another denomination.  Being polite, my friend endured the conversation.  However, something caught my friend off guard at the end of the discussion that changed the rest of his life. 

          At the end of class, the priest asked the group to stand and in a circle for prayer.  My friend remembers the priest giving thanks for those varying opinions saying that each voice was needed in the conversation.  Above all, my friend remembers the priest inviting the class to the Lord’s Table where their differences are reconciled through the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

          This prayer was enough to catch my friend’s attention and invite him into the mystery of faith.  He saw a different way of living in this world.  He saw away to live together in unity despite differences in opinion, theology, and political preference.  And this way of unity is made possible through the mystery of the Word made flesh—Jesus, God’s Son.

          As you have heard me quote before, Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby recently said about the Church, “We cripple our witness when we are not united.  But when we stand visibly united we release a witness into the world that is impossible to exaggerate. That is the way that we will see the world brought face to face with Jesus Christ.”

          While the Church often strives for unity, there is no doubt that the Church has crippled its witness to the gospel over the years—even the Episcopal Church.  The Church universal has broken and fractured too many times to count.  But God is faithful and continues to entrust his mission of reconciling the world to himself through the witness of the Church.  And some point we must wonder why?  After all these years of falling short?  Why is God still entrusting his truth to us? 

          From a certain point of view, it seems that the Church is more inept as ever to witness to the good news in response to what is going on in the world and in our culture.  For starters, too much of our energy is focused inward.  We constantly ask questions like, “How can we grow?”  “How can we raise enough money to keep the building running?” “How can we save the church?” 

And when we do focus outwardly, we focus on the sin of others.  We are better at pointing at everyone else’s sin instead of staring our own sin in the face.  And with the social media and mass media, how can we not be overwhelmed with the world’s sin?  The last couple of weeks have been evidence enough of the strife that is going on all over the place. 

For beginners, the face of evil and hate showed up in a 21 year-old who murdered 9 people in a church in Charleston.   And unlike other such mass shootings in our country, the aftermath of this shooting has resulted in highlighting our country’s division rather than our unity.  In addition to the Confederate Flag controversy, at least 7 predominantly black churches have burned in the southeast and three have been ruled arson.     

This past week the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that marriage between couples of the same sex is now constitutional.  This ruling has caused secular and Christian communities alike to celebrate and this ruling has caused many Christian and secular communities to lament.  This is more evidence that our country and Church is fractured.  Even more, our own Episcopal church is experiencing some dissension over the General Convention’s decision to allow liturgies for same-sex marriage.       

Looking outside our bubble, the reality of religious persecution for Christians in the Middle East at the hands of ISIS is ever present.  The Islamic State murder of Christians not only continues to highlight the chasm between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East but these killings also strain the relationship between Christians and Muslims in our own country. 

Some Christian leaders go as far to say that we are living in the end times.  Then again, Christian leaders since the days of St. Paul the Apostle have been saying likewise, and Jesus clearly says that no one knows the day or the hour—not even Jesus knows, only his Father in heaven knows. 

I don’t think it would be unreasonable to say that we are beyond gridlock in most aspects of our common life together—secular, social, political, religious.  It seems that few are willing to budge from their position on whatever issue they are passionate about in whatever arena they find themselves in the most.  In the church, I find this gridlock very troubling because these differences in opinion distract us from the mission of the gospel.  Like the Buffalo Springfield song that defined the late 60s says, “Nobody is right if everybody is wrong.” 

While I am not one to predict the end times, I do sense a strong call from God for the Church universal to repent.  Like a sports team who has lost their touch, it seems that the Church needs to go back to the fundamentals.  Like they say in golf, I think we have a bit of the shanks—Episcopalians included.  We need to go back to the basics—repent for the kingdom of God has come near. 

It is time to name honestly everything that divides us and how the Church is a part of the problem.  It is time to name honestly, like we promise to do in our Baptismal Covenant, the evil powers in this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.  And we are only kidding ourselves, if we pretend that the evil powers of this world don’t come from the Church.       

Instead of pointing the finger at someone or something else for all the world’s problems, what if the Church took a good look at itself?  What if the Church had faith enough to say, “Gosh, we’ve really let our neighbors down and let God down?  We seem to be sharing more bad news than good news.  What if we are part of the reason why church membership is declining? We are not acting like the people that God has called us to be.”?  How powerful might this confession be to a world that is eager to cast blame, in a world that is obsessed with excuses and self-justification?   

Even more, what if we took a good look at the people we point our fingers at and those who point their fingers at us?  Like we promise to do in our Baptismal Covenant, what if we treated everyone with the dignity that we all have because we are all made in the image of God?” 

What might we see if we look beyond the finger?  Perhaps, a heart that is broken and angry and sad, a heart that is thirsty to be healed through the good news of Jesus Christ?  News that says, “You are called beyond your failure, you are called beyond the failure of the world, and even the Church and live a life where love is stronger than hate.”    

And lastly, what if we took seriously the truth that God is calling the Church, our church, to speak these truths on God’s behalf.  God is calling you and me to make the truth of God known in the world.  Yes, God has faith that you can do that!  I know that sound scary.   

In fact, one of our tradition’s greatest prophets, Ezekiel was just as terrified, if not more terrified, than you are to respond to God’s call to make known his truth to an “impudent and stubborn people.”  I know about impudent and stubborn people because I am one of them.  But Ezekiel faced the possibility of death while, in all likelihood, we do not—at least not a physical death—death of status or standing in our community—maybe. 

As scripture tell us, God gives Ezekiel confidence to grow into his new identity as prophet.  Ezekiel doesn’t necessarily grow more confident in himself.  Instead, Ezekiel grows more confident in his identity as one of God’s chosen people.  Ezekiel grows more confident that the Word of God is what will truly save people from the depths of despair and death.   

In today’s gospel lesson, we see Jesus give the same sense of confidence to his disciples whom he sends out two by two.  In essence, Jesus tells the disciples not to worry about whether or not the people receive the message or not—if they don’t believe, shake the dust off your feet at their door and move on.  Jesus isn’t sending his disciples out to sell a product. 

Instead, Jesus is calling the disciples to share news and not any news but good news.  Jesus is sending the disciples out to tell people that there is a different way to live in our broken and sinful world.  There is a way to live in peace and unity and that way is through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is sending the disciples out from a place of love—for God so loved the world.

In the same way that Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, he sends us out two by two to witness to the good news.  God has chosen you to share the good news.  As some have suggested, this is the Episcopal hour to witness to the truth of God.  It is our hour because our tradition was born out of a spirit of unity during a time of division and strife. 

Our tradition is a witness to how an encounter with the Almighty can break down the walls that divide.  Our witness reminds the Church universal that the most important thing isn’t about where you stand on an issue.  Rather, it is about kneeling and worshiping our risen Lord who only has the power to make us one. 

  Once again, the Episcopal Church witnessed to this truth last week when the House of Bishops debated the issue of same gender marriage in the Episcopal Church in light of the Supreme Court decision.  While the bishops did not come to a consensus or total agreement on the issue, they all stayed around the same table and recognized a power greater themselves at work in the conversation.

A friend of mine said it like this, “Perhaps there is no more hopeful message we can deliver to our church and our society than a display of unity in the midst of difference, and the value of dialogue over dismissal. The gift of the Anglican tradition is that our table is much more expansive than we would like to believe. What we have to remember is that it is not our table, but God’s table."    

At the end of the day, how can we mess up that kind of news?  How can we possibly fail when Jesus has already set the table and where an invitation doesn’t depend on your worthiness rather on your unworthiness and this is good news because aren’t we all unworthy? 

No matter how scary or impudent or stubborn they may look like on the outside, there is good news that all of our hearts long to hear.  God has chosen us to share news that has the power to make us one through the flesh and blood of Christ our Lord.  May we have the grace to share news that calls us beyond our sin and brokenness into a world where the only thing that really matters is the truth that God loves all his children beyond measure.  Amen.