Breaking The Silence

Isaiah 35:4-7a, Mark 7:31-37

A couple of years ago I helped facilitate a conference for United Church of Christ Seminarians. It was an interesting conference, one where no pre-
 planning was done except to plan that we will have topics of interest suggested by the attendees, followed by breakout sessions where nobody would really be in charge. The concept was new at the time, and since then many organizations have adopted what is now called a non-conference style.

One of the more remarkable things which came out of this non-conference is that we filled 2 and a half days with a total of 20 breakout sessions, all of which came after the initial gathering where the attendees, Seminarians of the United Church of Christ, were invited to write on a few sheets of poster paper what they wanted to talk about. The topics for our breakouts varied from “learning how to keep a church’s non-profit status” to “how do we deal with church conflict” to “how can we have a more online presence for our shut-ins” to “how can we recognize when professional burnout is coming”.

My co-facilitator and I sat in as many of these outbreaks that we could, listening and participating in the deep, and sometimes personal, conversations. I can honestly say that the United Church of Christ has some very good Seminarians out there, each of them ready to face whatever God brings their way.

After the final breakout was done and the leaders of the conference gathered to debrief, we each had stories which we thought were important enough to share. As we shared our stories there was one which really stood out above them all.

A common theme had developed during the 3 days those UCC Seminarians were together; as a denomination we do a terrible job at letting people know what we stand for. In other words, we are inadequate Evangelists for the truths which our denomination represents.

One of our Seminarians told a story of how he was taught in the church of his childhood that being gay was a sin whose path would only land him in the fires of eternal abomination. As a young man, he attended one of those programs that promised to remove the gay from his humanness, which horribly failed at what it set out to do. He told us that he was basically mentally and physically persecuted until he no longer felt the need to be in a same-gender relationship. He came out of that program celibate, but still held onto the knowledge he was gay.

Because he wasn’t allowed to openly share his love with a partner of his choice, his life became meaningless to the point where drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity became his only escape, and therefore became the norm of his existence. After all, he told us, if there is a God who loves everyone except him, why bother trying to live a good life.

As he continued his story he told us that one day he woke up from one of his drunken and drugged induced binges and knew, absolutely knew, his life had to have meaning; and that meant he needed God in his life. So he went on an intentional search for a church in which he would be accepted. He said he found churches which proclaimed complete acceptance, only to find out after attending for a few weeks that they really weren’t. Those churches still had an underpinning and behind the scenes whispering that would cause him to deny the person he is, as well as begin his new church relationship with a set of mistruths.

He kept seeking and on one Sunday he walked into a United Church of Christ. He listened to a message about unconditional acceptance by God and met people who truly accepted him for the person he was. He knew without a doubt he was being held in the loving arms of God. What this man said next is what we felt was the single most important thing that came out of our non-conference – he was upset at the fact that he had to go through physical and mental pain and suffering before finding a church filled with this kind of love. He was upset that the United Church of Christ didn’t do a better job at Evangelizing

After reading this week’s passages I’ve thought a lot about this young man and how his words helped us to develop the idea of Progressive Evangelism, which we shared with some of the National UCC leaders.

Progressive Christianity is defined as a contemporary religion characterized by a willingness to question tradition in an acceptance of human diversity. There is a strong emphasis on social justice for the poor and the oppressed as well as an environmental stewardship of the Earth. Progressive Christians strive to live Jesus’ instruction to love one another by following his teachings through focusing on compassion in promoting justice, mercy, and tolerance. Progressive Christians work towards solving those societal issues through social and political activism. The United Church of Christ is a Progressive Christian denomination.

Evangelism is defined as the spreading of one’s religious beliefs through personal witness and public action. In other words, to evangelize is to tell others how God is working in your lives either with your words or through your actions or a combination of both.

I see the words of Jesus as that of a first century Progressive Evangelist. Jesus questioned tradition. Jesus accepted human diversities with a strong emphasis on social justice for the oppressed and the poor. Jesus focused on promoting justice, mercy, and tolerance through compassion. Jesus did all of that through social and political activism. Yes, without a doubt Jesus was a Progressive. Should it be a surprise, then, that the book of Mark tells a story that is meant to show how Evangelism was meant to be.

We see in our passage 2 distinct ways of sharing how God is working in our lives. The first is by Jesus. We see that instead of being bombarded by the usual crowds he is approached by a few men. This is Mark’s way of introducing to us that what is about to follow is meant to be personal. While the crowds are still present, the interaction between Jesus and the men is meant to be intimate.

While alone with Jesus, the men bring to him another man who is deaf and who could hardly speak.  We’re not told if this man is a relative or a friend, Mark doesn’t seem to be concerned with the finer points of storytelling, but we do see that Jesus furthers the intimacy by removing this man to a private place. Here he does something rather descriptive; he plugs the man’s ears with his fingers and spits on his tongue. This action, combined with the words commanding the man to “open up”, immediately causes the man to be able to hear and speak clearly.

Jesus is breaking many of the laws of his days by performing this act of healing. No one is supposed to heal outside the temple and under the proper and approved conditions. In fact, no one is supposed to be doing any kind of healing unless they are duly ordained by God through the temple priests, and it is a given that someone like Jesus, someone who consistently goes against the expected norm of his religion and society as a whole, would never be ordained to do such healings.

Yet, Jesus shows us his willingness to question and defy tradition in order to place the acceptance of human diversity through compassionate mercy above oppression. Jesus is a Progressive Evangelist and has done his work in the intimate privacy that is between one’s self and their God.

Jesus has done his part to bring the news of God’s ever-present love into the world, and now it’s the people’s turn. So, how do the people respond? They respond with overwhelming eagerness. Which is sometimes how the love of God needs to be shared? Sometimes our lives are so drastically changed by the knowledge that we have a God who accepts us regardless of who we are that we can’t help but tell everyone we meet.

I’ve met with a few of you about my journey and how I’ve come to my unique relationship with God through Jesus. I’ve told you about where my life was heading before I made the decision to once again put God at the center of my life, and how through my relationship with Jesus I met a God who has helped me to stand before you and say, without a doubt, that Jesus Christ is my savior, and without him in my life I would not be in this world.

What some of you may not know is how the United Church of Christ has played a huge part in me being where I am now. It is through the UCC that I was able to ask the questions which challenged my faith. It was through the UCC I discovered a God who welcomed these questions and struggled alongside me until I found the truths which today bring me peace and joy in life. It is through the Progressive Evangelism of the United Church of Christ that I know, absolutely and forever, that God is a God who is in my life as much as I dedicate that life to God.

This God is the same God of which Isaiah proclaims we should let the entire world know when things seem to be at their worst. When the United Church of Christ stood against slavery while this country was deeply divided on the issue, it was because we were united in our Progressive Christianity. When the United Church of Christ ordained and called America’s first woman pastor at a time when women’s rights were unheard of, it was because of our Progressive Christianity. When the United Church of Christ stood side by side with the LGBT community by ordaining this country’s first openly gay minister in the 1970’s as well as by being the first mainline denomination to affirm equal rights in marriage 8 years ago, it was because of our Progressive Christianity.

I submit to you, my friends, that it’s through Progressive Evangelism the prophetic voice that is ours to speak will open the eyes of the blind, clear the ears of the deaf, cause the lame to leap like deer, and make sing out the tongue of the speechless. We, brothers and sisters, are called by God to be united and uniting in God’s love, and to spread the good news that God lives on in our lives today.  We are to say with complete conviction that God is still speaking.

Our denomination is one which has always stood on the right side of justice, even though we haven’t always stood on the right side of society. We have always been the one to listen to those directly affected by the issues and find a way to be Christian and to let others know what being Christian is. It’s time for this church, Ewa Community Church, United Church of Christ, to become the Progressive Evangelists God visions us to be.

So, my friends, I ask you to follow Christ Jesus and do as he did – be open to new ideas, put into practice new ways, and share how God has changed, and continues to change, your life.

God is with us all.  Amen