09/17/2023 ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 19 ~ Exodus 14:19-31; Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21; Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/866812227
Meat and Potatoes
“Welcome those who are weak in faith but do not quarrel or argue with them.” — Romans 14:1a.
I think there are people we meet in life with whom we have an immediate connection. And so it was when I first met the Rev. Dr. Chris Xenakis.
Perhaps the connection happened because we are both veterans and both pastors. Reasons don’t matter. We connected.
Chris has an interesting background. Born into an Eastern Orthodox family, during his late teens Chris shifted to a fundamentalist group but is now a United Church of Christ pastor. Here’s a translation of that shift: it is— pardon this assessment— a shift out of a fringe into the mainline. The interesting background does not end there.
Ordained in 1979, Chris is a retired Navy Chaplain, has two doctorates— a Doctor of Ministry and a Ph.D. in World Politics. I sometimes kid Chris and sometimes say he should be addressed as the Rev. Dr. Dr.
He’s published many articles and just one of his several books has the daunting title World Politics and the American Quest for Super-Villains, Demons, and Bad Guys to Destroy. Chris also published a web article about church that went a little viral— Is Autonomy Turning Ministers and Churchgoers into Turtles?
What are turtles? In Chris’s definition, turtles are those who might hide in their shells, withdraw from interactions with settings beyond the local church— other local non-profits, local churches in other denominations, the local Association, the Denomination.
Chris drew on the work of sociologist Robert Putnam in this article. Putnam says American life, itself, is based on social capital. Social capital refers to networks people need to facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit.
We Americans were not as isolated from one another in the past as we are now, says Putnam. When de Tocqueville visited the United States and wrote Democracy in America in the 1830s, it was our propensity for civic association— our investments in social capital— that impressed him as the key to making American democracy work. A neighbor’s barn burns down? The entire community comes together to help rebuild it.
Social capital encompasses the connections of friends, neighbors, community, institutions and, by its nature, the connections should keep expanding, become more broad. Indeed, life is much easier in a community blessed with substantial, expanding social capital. But Putnam argues social capital is in short supply in America today.
Chris, in turn, took note of people pulling back in many arenas from scouting to clubs like Rotary or Masons. And, if this pulling back trend is happening outside the doors of our churches, we are not immune inside the doors. The end result of pulling back is it reinforces thinking which says only our own autonomy is central.
Hence, churches sometimes treat any ties with local organizations or a denominational associations like they are distant, remote. But is autonomy a healthy response?
Chris quotes Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber who says if you insist there is no need for others it is not about independence, strength, not about wanting to make your own decisions, or even about saying you are strong. Rather, saying there is no need for others is about… fear.
When we allow someone else’s need, she says, we make ourselves vulnerable to betrayal and/or the vulnerability we attribute to appearing as if we are weak. Hence, when insistence on autonomy is the overwhelming factor, it is really fear— fear of vulnerability, fear of looking weak which overcomes us. (Slight pause.)
These are the words find in Romans. “Welcome those who are weak in faith but do not quarrel or argue with them.” (Slight pause.)
In this reading Paul addresses some specific quarrels and articulates a theological framework for dealing with them. Many might recognize the dilemma Paul faces here.
How can quarrels be mediated without destroying the fabric of the community? It is the theological framework for unity, not the fissures Paul really addresses.
Indeed, what is most striking about the response of Paul is there is no attempt to decide any specific issue being raised. To translate it into the modern vernacular, the Apostle says, “You mean meat and potatoes matter? Tell me, who… really… cares? Let’s talk about what’s important!”
To be clear, it is plainly stated no one needs to chastise or limit another’s rights or beliefs. It is however and also, clear the health of the whole community takes precedence over autonomous rights or beliefs.
Paul asserts it this way: we belong to God. God created us and in the Christ-event God claimed us. That relationship takes precedence over all other needs, wants, desires without exception. What matters is the integrity of the relationship with God, not our own specific practices.
This text places the pluralism of Paul’s era and the pluralism of our era firmly within a community context. The entire section of this letter begins with “Welcome those who are weak in faith.” And then the “welcome” is heard again (quote:) “…God has welcomed them.”
What Paul seeks in this passage is not merely the tolerance of diversity. Tolerance means a grudging acceptance of the inevitability of differences. Instead, Paul articulates an active welcome for those with conflicting views and practices.
Paul’s argument is if Christ, through God, welcomes all people, then we must find a way to welcome one another and respect the integrity of one another. But it would be a mistake to take this passage as an endorsement of any and all behavior. Why? Paul insists on the reality of limits in other places in this Epistle. So primarily, Paul is moving us beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. (Slight pause.)
Debates will always characterize the life of the church, as one or another emphasis comes to the fore. But the debates should not prevent a common understanding of Who God is, a common understanding of the reality of God. The debates should also not prevent a common understanding of who we are and the truth that there is a need for all people to seek the will of God together. (Slight pause.)
My friend the Rev. Dr. Xenakis says we live in a time of tumultuous cultural and technological change and the church is changing, just as American society is changing. And because of our humanity— our humanity — we do not like change. Congregations resist change; pastors resist change, but change is what we are all facing.
Chris says modern American life brings out the turtle in all of us as people pull into their shells, lock themselves in. Chris then quotes the motto of the United States and says perhaps we need more E Pluribus Unum— out of many, one— in our time. He says diversity and community might be exactly what we need to help us survive in the Twenty-First Century— more E Pluribus Unum. [1] (Slight pause.)
In a recent book the Reverend Mary Susan Gast writes there is a mobility, a flexibility, in the treasured concept of covenant. Covenant yields a way of life which is always mobile, flexible, always on the move. God summons us to change and change can be sustained when we move beyond our own comfort zones to faithful obedience.
I think that is where Paul takes us in this passage. Paul takes us from being the turtles Chris addresses, the turtles autonomy can make us into, and leads us toward a path where we can live into freedom, mobility and the flexibility of faithful obedience.
Why would I say that? Paul puts it this way: “whether we live or whether we die, both in life and in death, we belong to Christ.” It is, you see, not about us. It is about community in Christ and the community of Christ. Amen.
09/17/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Today’s sermon title was Meat and Potatoes something of an American icon. Another American icon is autonomy. Can you say Sylvester Stalone as Rambo or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones? One individual triumphs autonomously— American icons. In this passage Paul is letting us know it is not about meat and potatoes, not about autonomy, not about our icons. It is about the community of Christ— our lives together— that is what the community of Christ is about.”
BENEDICTION: We have observed this day to honor God, who promises to be with us as we go. We do not live or die to ourselves for Christ has claimed us. Hence, we are taught to value every person. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the love, knowledge and companionship of the Holy Spirit this day and forevermore. Amen.
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