Gordon E. Ellis
June 18, 2006
AGREEING TO DIFFER AND DIALOGUE
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people, for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
THAT’S quite an IMAGE, isn’t it? The law of GOD written on HUMAN hearts: Can you IMAGINE it? Well thankfully, the prophet Jeremiah COULD imagine it. Facing SQUARELY into the greatest DISASTER in the history of his people, their captivity in Babylon; with NO illusions about his people’s goodness or righteousness; and NOT wearing rose-colored glasses; the prophet foresees a DAY when people will take to HEART the DOING of God’s will, a DAY when people will LIVE their faith, and live it FROM the HEART. It’s really a BEAUTIFUL image, isn’t it? Oh, how I WISH that WE could DO it!
Now, maybe GOD is doing it CONTINUALLY! There’s a man named Pete Rollins, who talks about faithful BETRAYALS. And HERE is what Jonny Baker WRITES in his BLOG it: The notion of faithful BETRAYALS is that SOMETIMES, when God breaks into our lives, it causes SUCH a RUPTURE with what we KNOW that it is LIKE a BETRAYAL. BUT, because GOD is in it, it leads BEYOND what we knew BEFORE and leads us to SEE in a very DIFFERENT way. The BEST example I can THINK of in the BIBLE is when Peter has a vision of ANIMALS that are pronounced UNCLEAN in his Scriptures, and IN the vision, God tells him to KILL and EAT. IF he is to OBEY the VOICE of God, he will be DISOBEYING the WORD of God in scripture. A DILEMMA! He DOES trust the Spirit in THAT situation, and it LEADS him to seeing that the gospel IS for the GENTILES. Well, THAT’S the notion of a FAITHFUL betrayal…. The best example I can think of in my OWN experience was when I read the book Don’t Be Afraid Anymore, by Troy Perry, the founder of the Metropolitan Church (a GAY church). IN that book, there is a passage where the Spirit is OUTPOURED at a gathering of the denomination with HEALING, prophecies and so on. When I READ it (with my evangelical background), I was SHOCKED! Could God REALLY be present in that way in a GAY church? It caused the SAME kind of RUPTURE. I HAD to radically RE-THINK and find that God was BEYOND MY limited understanding of God. I subsequently ATTENDED a service at the Metropolitan Church in Bath, where I WAS at the time. And sure enough: as far as I could DISCERN, God was PRESENT, and I worshipped there HUMBLED and ASHAMED of my own PREJUDICES. So friends, MAYBE God IS writing the LAW on our hearts, ONE heart at a time. But WHAT do we do in the MEANTIME?
I’ll be leading another TOUR of the HOLY Land next March. I LOVE that sacred land, in SPITE of all its problems. And in Jerusalem, we’ll be visiting the HOLIEST site on EARTH for Christians. It’s The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is SACRED because it stands on the traditional SITE of Jesus’ crucifixion, GOLGOTHA. It’s a HUGE church, BIG enough to house not only GOLGOTHA, but also the place where Jesus was BURIED, the TOMB. And it’s a noisy, smoky, smelly, dirty, holy MESS of a place, which just EXUDES history and drama, as well as a SPIRIT alive. Well, 6 different Christian GROUPS claim to OWN this sacred church.(1) And at CERTAIN times, they all conduct worship services simultaneously, and in DIFFERENT languages, trying to OUT-SHOUT one another. Yes, it’s just WILD and CRAZY in there sometimes, because they just DON’T get along, even though they’re all CHRISTIANS, sort of like Christians in the United States TODAY. Well, when they were renovating the inside the church’s huge DOME a number of years ago, the SCAFFOLDING remained in place for 50 years, because these 6 religious bodies could not AGREE on HOW the work should be DONE or WHO should PAY for it. Yes, EVERYTHING there is a STRUGGLE.
Daniel Rossing was once the official representative of the Israeli government to these 6 different Christian groups within The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. HE used to try keep them from arguing with each other, and he has some great STORIES to tell. One story goes like this: Beneath the huge dome of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is a small free-standing structure -- a church building WITHIN the church -- that has been particularly NEGLECTED. Ownership of this small chapel is claimed by 2 groups, neither of which will acknowledge the existence of the other. SO, nothing can be DONE to this chapel without igniting their long-smoldering feud. Well, one afternoon, Daniel Rossing got a call from the Patriarch of ONE of these groups, who said: I just want you to know that the light bulb in the chapel is burned out. FIRST thing in the morning, our people will ATTEND to it. Rossing said that he would INVESTIGATE the situation and report back. He KNEW the call was NOT just informational, but a WARNING. Within a few minutes, a SIMILAR call came from the leader of the OTHER group, who said: The light bulb in the chapel is out. In the morning, we will attend to it. Again, Rossing promised to investigate. Well, very EARLY the next morning, Rossing called the FIRST leader who had called HIM, and he PRETENDED to be ANNOYED, saying: Yesterday I went ALL the way over to the Church to investigate that light bulb, and I ASSURE you that it is functioning quite NORMALLY. The Patriarch apologized PROFUSELY for having BOTHERED Rossing unnecessarily. After cordially ending THAT phone call, Rossing called the OTHER leader and had the SAME conversation. But at NO time did Rossing mention to EITHER of them that WHEN he went to investigate, he took a NEW light bulb. But ALL of them KNEW it. Now, on ONE level, it’s a funny story about stubbornness and diplomacy. But on ANOTHER level, it’s a TRAGIC example of what HAPPENS when people CANNOT agree to differ.
Now, maybe agreeing to DIFFER doesn’t sound like much to YOU. But MAYBE that’s because you haven’t been arguing about issues that are ALL that IMPORTANT. It’s EASY to agree to DIFFER when the things we DISAGREE about don’t MATTER very much. But it’s NOT so easy to agree to DIFFER when we feel very STRONGLY about something. Sometimes in the church, it seems like we really PRIZE having a ripple-free SURFACE: having no waves, no splashes and no noise. But BEING in community with a LARGE group of PEOPLE, the ONLY way to have a ripple-free surface is NEVER to acknowledge our DIFFERENCES. But DIFFERENCES and disagreements are NOT the ENEMY of COMMUNITY? SILENCE is the ENEMY of community! After all, God MADE us all DIFFERENT. And SO, to EXPECT differences, and RESPECT them, is EXTREMELY important, IF we want to be a TRUE community. And THAT means that WE need to agree to DIFFER AND to DIALOGUE, because WE believe that DIALOGUE is the WAY to discovering greater TRUTH. WE Congregationalists have ALWAYS believed that we get SMARTER when we exchange ideas, when we DIALOGUE about and STRUGGLE with the ISSUES. Somehow WE believe that GOD, and God’s WILL, are REVEALED more FULLY IN the give and take, IN the DIALOGUE, IN the STRUGGLE!
Now, SOME people don’t like that! They say: For God so loved the world that God DIDN’T send a COMMITTEE! Well, THAT may be TRUE, but the FIRST thing that JESUS did was to FORM one! OTHERS will say: Well, TRUTH isn't a matter of NEGOTIATION! But that’s just not TRUE! It IS a matter negotiation! Consider MANY of the great TRUTHS of our Christian faith, like the full HUMANITY or the full DIVINITY of JESUS, OR the decision about WHICH books to INCLUDE in the Bible and WHICH books to leave OUT, OR the decision about whether Christianity should reach out to the Gentiles or just remain a SECT within Judaism. HOW were these decisions MADE? They were MADE by COMMITTEES called councils, conclaves and synods. Yes friends, we agree to DIFFER, and we agree to DIALOGUE, because AS we DO, GREATER truth is REVEALED. I find it so SAD that, over the centuries, MANY have been persecuted, tortured, and burned at the stake because THEY or OTHERS were UNABLE to agree to DIFFER, and then to DIALOGUE. Friends, THIS is NOT just about LIGHTBULBS. This is NO SMALL thing! It is VERY, VERY important!
Now, WE can all AGREE, or at least I HOPE we can, that, as Christians, WE are committed to LOVE. Jesus said that the TWO greatest commandments are the LOVE of God and the love of neighbor. And THAT’S what WE, AS His followers, are to be ABOUT! But, WHAT that means in PRACTICE is OFTEN difficult to DISCERN. And THAT’S why we often DISAGREE and need to DIALOGUE! You know, friends, WHEN we disagree in the church, our disagreements must NOT be about what WE like or don’t like, or what WE want or don’t want. It’s NOT about US, even though we live in a CULTURE that makes EVERYTHING about US! No, when WE disagree in the CHURCH, our disagreements NEED to be about what LOVE requires of us, because THAT’S what GOD requires of us. SO, WHEN we are dealing with the thorniest, most difficult, most emotionally-charged issues of our TIME, we SHOULDN’T be worried about our OWN wants, needs or phobias. OUR objective must CONSTANTLY be to determine what it means to LOVE, and what the response of LOVE needs to BE. And that’s USUALLY difficult to KNOW….
Here at First Congregational Church, we talk a LOT about being on a spiritual journey; but it’s NOT just ANY journey. It’s a journey having to do with GROWING in our love for God and neighbor, and NOT love that is a warm, fuzzy feeling, but love that is an act of MORALITY, a deliberate seeking of the well-being of another, even at the expense of oneself.(2) LOVE is concern for the wholeness, health, peace and welfare of others, as well as of ourselves. And THEREFORE, resolving to LOVE means resolving NOT to turn our backs on people in need; NOT to wall out the rest of the world; NOT to seek our own comfort and security, entertainment and ease, at the expense of OTHERS; and NOT to accept and allow BARRIERS like wealth or class, race or social standing, to DIVIDE people. It means relating to people we don’t LIKE! It means being HONEST when we’d rather NOT! AND, it means taking RISKS that we’d rather AVOID! Friends, LOVE is NEVER easy! And THAT’S why it takes RESOLVE! LIVING the love of God and neighbor IS the ULTIMATE fulfillment of God’s will! And UNTIL it is written on our HEARTS, as Jeremiah promises, it will CONTINUE to be messy and sloppy! And we will CONTINUE to make LOTS of mistakes. But UNTIL that day comes, we HAVE to keep WORKING at it! We HAVE to keep STRUGGLING with the issues, and DISAGREEING, AGREEING to DIFFER and DIALOGUING! But the GOOD news is that, IN the process, WE will discover the FULL, meaningful, and ABUNDANT life that Jesus came to OFFER us, because it REALLY is ALL about LOVE! Amen.
1These six groups are: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Coptic Orthodox. See Charles R. Page II and Carl A. Volz, The Land and the Book: An Introduction to the World of the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, p.265.
2See Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking. New York: Harper and Row, 1973, pp.53-54.