“All In” (1 Corinthians 12:12-26)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, September 22, 2019

            Who’s heard of Korey Cunningham?  Anyone?  How about Joe Thuney?  Ok, who’s heard of Tom Brady?  The Quarterback out of Michigan is widely considered the greatest player in the NFL at his position.  But if his left tackle, Thuney, his left guard, Cunningham, and the rest of the offensive line didn’t block, he would not have time to throw all those touchdown passes.  He needs his line’s protection.  He needs his receivers to catch the passes.  He needs his defense to stop the other team.  Brady may be who people know, but there are many essential roles on a football team.

            Take another example, the presidency of the United States.  Everyone around the world knows President Trump, President Barak Obama, President George W. Bush, and so on.  I’ve been reading the autobiography of Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State.  She gives an insider’s perspective of everything required to make things run in the executive branch of the U.S. government.  There’s one president, but how many people work in the executive branch? There’s the vice-president, 15 cabinets heads, and 4 million employees.  In order for the president to be successful, those unknown workers need to do their jobs well.

            In church we aren’t trying to perpetuate the New England Patriots’ dominance or cement Tom Brady’s place in the football Hall of Fame.  We aren’t trying to support the leader of the free world.  Our calling is much higher.  We’re here to glorify the one true God whom we know through Jesus Christ, God in human flesh.  We want to worship and exalt him, love one another in his name, and draw to Him all who do not know Him. 

            I keep saying “we” because we can only be God’s church when individuals comes together to form one body.  First Corinthians 12:12-26 is about the church – the church universal, all Christians everywhere; and, it is about the local church, our specific congregation.  We discover unity and show the world Christ when we celebrate our diversity as each of us brings our unique qualities together for one work, building one community, and giving testimony to the one God.  The church is diversity because Christ is diversity; the church is unified because Christ is one. 

            As verse 13 indicates, “all-in” means all people are welcomed into the body of Christ.  Jews or Greeks; ethnicity does not matter.  We could just as easily say, North Koreans or South Koreans; Jews or Arabs; black or white; Tar Heels, Wolfpack, Demon Deacons, or Blue Devils; well, in that last example, we might need to check some nicknames!  Verse 13 also says, “Slaves or free.”  In other words, just as unity transcends ethnic and racial backgrounds, it also transcends socio-economic classes.  In Christ, black and white, rich and poor, stand side-by-side as brothers and sisters.  The church will not be its full self until it is open to and full of people from all expressions of humanity.  All are invited to (1) repent of sin, (2) die to self, (3) receive forgiveness, and (4) begin new life in Christ.

            Once you are in church, in the body, it quickly becomes clear that all have an important role to play.  The left tackle is as important as the magazine-cover quarterback.  The government worker matters as much as the president.   In a church that has 4 or 5 services per weekend, with thousands attending each service, the pastor is recognized, maybe even famous.  Media outlets rush to interview him.  From a Biblical perspective, the front door greeter matters just as much.  No one will remember the usher’s name, but in God’s way of seeing he is just as valuable to the church.  In fact, verse 22 says, “The members that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor.”

            Everyone matters.  You matter because you are you.  Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback church authored The Purpose Driven Life an immensely popular book that talks about what it means to be a Christian.  I find chapters 30-32 to be the most helpful.  In that portion of his book, he says everyone has a ministry “shape.” 

            S = Spiritual Gifts

            H = Heart (your passion)

            A = Abilities

            P = Personality

            E = Experience

            Last week the sermon was about spiritual gifts.  You can listen to it on our website, get the text by reading my blog honesttalkwithgod, or email and I can send the manuscript to you. 

            The ‘H’ in the acronym is ‘heart.’  This is your passion, what truly motivates you.  Some believers are fired up about worship.  Others get excited when they are involved in justice ministries.  In our church are attendees who faithfully do the tutoring ministry on Saturdays and they love it.  What is your ministry passion? 

            The ‘A’ indicates your abilities.  Last year when we built a ramp for a family with a family member in a wheel chair, David Seng and Tom Ross both used their construction and carpentry abilities from their professional lives to lead on that project.  Next week, we’ll look at the story of Dorcas in Acts chapter 9.  We’ll pay attention to her heart’s passion and her abilities and the way God blessed others through her life. 

            The final two letters in the acronym are ‘P’ for your personality, and ‘E’ for you experiences.  In July we took the Growing Young congregational survey and in October we’re having everyone in the church take a spiritual gifts inventory.  We don’t want to wear church members out with questionnaires and surveys, so we won’t do this now.  But at some point it really would be helpful if everyone involved in our church took the Meyers-Briggs personality type indicator. 

            I used to hate personality tests, but now, I find it useful in understanding myself and in understanding those around me and how I relate to them.  The Meyers-Briggs assigns letter combinations based on how you answer the survey questions.  The last time I took it, I came out as an ENFP.  I’m slightly extroverted and more inclined to intuition than to sensory data.  I’m going to respond more to feelings than thought, and I pay more attention to how I perceive the world in the moment than to judgments that are made.  The fact that I am a P and not a J has really helped me understand why some leaders in the church find the way I plan to be frustrating. 

            This matrix that is unique to each person, as understood by the S.H.A.P.E. acronym, has the potential to make our church life vastly more enjoyable, efficient, and effective.  Take the final letter, ‘E.’  When I am talking to someone new in the church, if he’s into sports, I can draw on my experience playing college football, even though I only played on season.  It’s a point of contact.  I can draw on my experience in army basic training to relate to someone with a military background.  Last week we had a first time guest and I as heard his experiences, I realized one of our members had similar experiences.  I introduced them and within seconds they were talking like they had known each other for years.

            We all have Spiritual Gifts.  Every one of us has a passion, a heart for some aspect of God’s truth.  We all have abilities we’ve developed in our lives be it video gaming, cooking, or design.  Everyone has a personality and everyone has experiences.  You have a unique combination of these five that no one else has.  Paul’s metaphor in verse 21 is apropos.  The body needs ears, eyes, hands, and feet.  The church needs the outgoing greeter, the quiet servant working in the background, the devoted pray-er, the committed small-group attendee, and the on-stage personality.  Paul cannot be clearer.  Each and every one is a valuable member of this body.  “All-in” means use what you have to glorify God, lead others to Christ, and build the church.

            At the end of verse 24 we realize that when we’re part of the body, we’re not just doing our share, meeting our responsibility.  We also enter God’s joy.  God’s hand guides the diversity in the local church.  The second phrase in verse 24 says, “God had so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member.”  When we are humble and give our best, each one of is that inferior member honored by God. 

            All are included.  All are important.  All are honored.  In verse 25, we realize all in the church must be invested in faith and the work of the church.  God has arranged things “that there may be no dissention within the body” Paul writes in that verse.  We don’t come with our own agendas.  We don’t participate in church in order to assert our rights and have our voices heard.  Our mission is to follow Jesus, love others, and share hope.  In the final words of verse 25 we read that church members “care for one another.”  Disagreements are O.K.  When we have passionate, respectful debate over topics of great importance, we all get smarter and stronger.  As long as in the end, we agree to glorify God and build up Jesus’ church.  We welcome healthy disagreement but allow no place for dissention.  All-in means we believe God has a purpose for this church and we are committed to advancing the mission of this church.

            Finally, all-in means we are connected to each other.  “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, we rejoice together.”  That’s verse 26.  America has promoted individualism from our nation’s very beginnings and American churches are plagued by this individualistic mindset.  When we are in Christ, we belong to one another.  We are accountable to each other in love. 

            If we are all in, what exactly does the church look like?  Hopefully, we’ll find out.  I close by inviting you to consider Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 12.  Are you all-in with Jesus?  Are you all-in with the church universal?  Will you be all-in with HillSong Church, soon to be Hillside Church?  Serve God with joy, out of your gifting, strengths, and experiences, and enter into intimate relationships of trust with other church members.  If we have enough people committed to that, then we will be the church God wants us to be.  If we are the church God wants us to be, we will hear God say to us, “Well done, my faithful servants.  Come, enter the joy of your Master.”  That’s really what I long to hear from God.  How about you?

AMEN

Racial Justice: Coming Together

            A play date!  That’s what Deidra Riggs said fixed things.  She was talking about a when her husband Harry was 4 years old.  At a birthday party, he and another 4-year-old almost came to blows over a helium balloon.  His mother decided the way to solve this pre-k feud was to call the other boy’s mom and schedule a play date.  The boys became good friends and stayed that way for over 50 years.[i] 

            Oh that we could settle things with playdates. 

Oh that we could all see as 4-year-olds see. 

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus said that (Matthew 18:4). 

I know the issues that divide people are complicated.   As a white, educated, middle class, American male, I am acutely aware of particular divisions between people perpetrated by individuals like me.  White males of means displaced, killed, and emasculated the indigenous people in the Americas.  We (white males) enslaved Africans, hauled them to the Americas in the horrific middle passage, and then tried to strip their humanity in ‘the peculiar institution.’  We replaced slavery with Jim Crow, and Jim Crow with mass incarcerations.  We put American citizens of Japanese descent in internment camps.  And today millions of white Americans, blissfully ignorant of any of this history, profess their innocence and their disinterest. 

Understanding our own collective racism is too complicated.  We just want to be happy and go to Heaven when we die.  Dealing with the complexities of generational, systemic, institutional racism is too messy.  To get into discussions about privilege threatens us with guilt.  We came after slavery and Jim Crowe, we say.  Those things aren’t my fault.  We want to claim we are “colorblind” and then spend our energy and resources pursuing our own happiness. 

It’s not that simple.  But it is.  Riggs’ book is not about playdates.  But it is.  She knows how complicated and how simple human relationships are.  Her book is about loving God and loving neighbor and doing the work to overcome divisions that separate people. That I am reading her book as I enter a Sabbatical from pastoral ministry is providential.  Matthew 10:39 (‘those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake will find it) is the theme verse of my Sabbatical.  I am learning what it means for me as a disciple, as a dad, as a husband, and as a pastor to ‘die to self.’  Deidra Riggs’ book One is one of my primary non-Biblical texts.

My church has sent me away for four months of rest, renewal, and new focus.  One of the things driving me on this Sabbatical and, I believe, in the future of my ministry life is the call of God on the church to bring people together in Jesus’ name.  Uniting diverse people is a direct effect of the Gospel of the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Look at Ephesians 2:11-21.  Look at Revelation 7:9-10.  Read the entire book of Acts.  Crossing cultural lines and breaking down racial barriers in order to unite divergent groups in Christ is rooted in the Gospel.  All who are a part of Christ hold in their hearts a deeps concern for crossing racial barriers for the sake of loving the neighbor and bringing people together in Jesus’ name.  Let me restate that for the sake of emphasis and clarity.  To love and follow Jesus is to actively oppose racism and to actively advocate for justice and the coming together of all people in Jesus’ name.  The Christian cannot be indifferent concerning racism and still be a Christian.

This, by the way, is a blanket condemnation of Christians who supported Jim Crowe and segregation (not to mention slavery).  There can be no lionizing of our predecessors in Christianity in America or anywhere else where our forbearers tolerated and even promoted the degradation of one racial group while simultaneously exalting another.  Such blatant racism is foreign to the Gospel and that was as clear in 1865 as it is today.[ii] 

Unity, equality, diversity – these words have a Gospel aroma when they are understood in light of the passages I mentioned above as well as John 17 and other New Testament passages.   The yearning for these things is a yearning for the Kingdom of God, where people of all shades and backgrounds joyously come together as one family in Christ.  I believe the church in North America is positioned to sound a clarion call for unity and togetherness.  I especially believe those with privilege (middle class educated whites) are called to sacrifice our own tastes and preferences and to willingly give up power so that minorities who have been held down by systemic racism can have a seat at the table of leadership.  The church is called to set the pace as this generation moves toward equality for all people.  If we, church leaders, can do this, we will help the church show the world the goodness of the Kingdom of God. And that’s our mission, to help people enter the kingdom of God as Jesus’ disciples.

With this sense of calling in mind, Riggs’ observation about how we (“we” humans) approach conversation and interaction is a guide for the Christ-follower.  First, she quotes U.S. ambassador Samantha Power who says, “Some people put themselves at stake when they get involved in a cause.”  My opposition to abortion is as much about my ability to defend pre-birth life as it is about the pre-birth life itself.  I find myself more concerned about how I advocate for the Ethiopian orphan than I am worried about any particular orphan.  No matter what the cause is, when I become strident (for or against it), I am more worried about my own image, which I happen to have attached to said cause.  Ambassador Power’s point is well made.  Whether or not I ever prevent an abortion or a child from starving, I want to make sure my identity and ego are preserved in how I represent myself.

Opposite this self-aggrandizing approach, Riggs makes this salient point.  “Our identity is not impacted by whether or not others agree with us, or even by what others think about us.  Instead, finding the right perspective on who we are is based on understanding whose we are.”[iii]  Hear this.  We are God’s possessions, God’s children, people made new in Christ.  He is master, we are disciples.  He is Lord, we are servants.  Advocating for the unborn and the orphan and the victim of racism and injustice – these are all stances we take and works in which we invest ourselves as a part of our discipleship. 

I don’t fight racism for the sake of fighting racism.  I fight it because that’s what a Christ follower does.  I fight it because in Ephesians 2, we read that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall.  This is true for any cause or in any decision or interaction.  I try to act and think and speak in ways that align me with Jesus.  When I do that, I find myself forcefully rejecting racism.  I find myself exhausted by the yearning for diversity, the longing to see the church today stand as a living embodiment of Revelation 7:9-10.

Riggs shows just how difficult this step into the work of reconciliation is.  She shares a litany of people represented by actions you may support or decry:

-      Women who have had abortions.

-      Men who dress in drag.

-      White people who shoot unarmed black men.

-      People who shoot up crowded movie theaters and elementary schools with automatic rifles.

-      Adulterers.

-      Cheaters.

-      Gay teens from Fundamentalist Christian families.

You may go through her list and wonder how she compiled it.  Maybe you sympathetically identify with some on her list and angrily despise others.  Maybe it is offensive that some on this list would be cited along with others.  I know Deidra Riggs could make a list 2 or 3 times longer than this as could you or I, with people much more divergent than those listed here.  There is but one thing that unites everyone on this list, and this is the author’s point. God loves everyone on this list.[iv] 

Christ followers have two assignments, straight from Jesus.  First, we are two love these people just as God does.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  It’s easier to draw a line in the sand and determine who’s on our side,[v] but God wants us to see it his way.  So, we have to die to our own sense of injustice, to our self-perceptions and self-righteousness.  We have to die to self and see as Jesus sees and love everyone as Jesus loves them; even those we would hate.  Second, we have to help people who don’t know Jesus come to know Him and become his followers. 

That second assignment comes later and in most cases what we actually do through words and actions is witness.  We testify to God’s goodness.  Whether or not people become Christians after hearing our testimony is between them and God.  But whether they ever do or not, our call is to love and to be God’s agents of reconciliation.

            “Reconciliation invites everyone to the table, the wraparound porch, the picnic on a summer afternoon.  All of us, even those we wouldn’t have necessarily chosen to invite.  And isn’t that the point?  We are not in charge of the guest list.  We are guests along with everyone else.”[vi]  Remember, it’s not about who we are, but about whose we are.  Meeting for coffee or talking over beers is the way adults have playdates. 

            I went to a playdate like this a month ago at a Durham (NC) mosque.  There were Jews there, Muslims of course, and Christians.  The food was delicious.  As a “faith leader,” I was, at the last minute, added to the program.  I knew that might happen and had a few remarks prepared.  But when my time to speak came, I shoved my notes in my pocket and ignored them. 

Instead, I began my speech by thanking our Muslim hosts for their generous hospitality.  Then, I repented of the ways Christians have demonized and “hated on” Muslims.  I didn’t affirm Islam.  I didn’t deny the evil done by extremists.  I just stood up, and with a voice that surprised me by its cracking said, “I am sorry.  On behalf of Christians who have been hateful, I am truly sorry.”  Why did I do that?  Because on a playdate, you have to say sorry if you hit your friend.  Also, I did it because when the Holy Spirit prompts us, we need to follow that lead.  

            I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to go on Sabbatical and prompted my church to celebrate this decision.  I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to study racial reconciliation as an act of discipleship and to read One as a part of my study.  I now proceed seeking to learn, to love my neighbor, and to follow the next prompting of the Spirit as it comes. 

---

[i] D. Riggs (2017), One: Unity in Divided World, Baker Books (Grand Rapids), p.24.

[ii] In this paragraph, I am not suggesting that specific individuals who claimed faith in Jesus but also supported racist systems and held racist thoughts in their own hearts are condemned to Hell.  Eternal destiny and eternal condition are God’s to determine and I make no effort to say who’s going where after death.  What I am saying is white people who grew up in the Jim Crowe south knew it was wrong at the time.  Failure to stand up to racism is a sin of omission.  To stand idly by and watch as black people are lynched and degraded is as bad as participating in the lynching and degradation.  

[iii] Riggs, p.26.

[iv] Riggs. p.33.

[v] Riggs, p.34.

[vi] Riggs, p.41.

Moral Imagination - a Gospel Response to Tragedy and Terror

If murder is poison, we need an antidote. The chaos, violence and the unholy permission of certain ideologies toward wanton destruction and brutality need undoing. That undoing is calling all our names to act with honor.

We have a powerful moral imagination born of the great Creator God who sees the value of each human life and the hope of building beloved community through mutual sacrifice and love of neighbor. As black, white, blue and brown Americans, we have a moral imagination for justice. Our nation was born of a commitment to human rights and civil institutions that enable people to participate in making true justice and honoring life together.

These comments come from Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter in the wake of the murder of 3 Baton Rouge police officers on July 17, 2016.  Her entire statement can be read here, https://cbfblog.com/2016/07/17/paynter-honor-moral-imagination-are-antidotes-to-the-poison-of-murder/.

I love her phrase ‘moral imagination,’ and I love that she links this phrase to our ‘Creator God.’  God is many things.  Lord, Savior, Sustainer, and Creator are a few of the roles God fills.  In God’s original creation, the word to describe what God had done was ‘good.’  God looked and saw that it was good (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25). 

God is still creating good things today.  One of the numerous insidious ways acts of evil undercut human thriving is the way they are magnified in our thought.  Good stories just don’t grab our attention the way horrible ones do. 

Children’s Hope Chest provides education and food for economically struggling children in Kombolcha, Ethiopia.  No one reports it.  Isis soldiers make a public spectacle of beheading people they’ve captured: it’s the BBC lead.

Habitat for Humanity brings Christians from five different denominations together to help people into the life of home ownership as an entire block of new homes goes up in Chapel Hill.  WRAL in Raleigh doesn’t utter a peep.  Police officers kill unarmed black young men; and then police officers (not the ones who shot the young black men, but rather those keeping order so a protest can be possible) are killed.  News outlets go crazy (as does Twitter and Facebook).

HillSong Church (and many other churches) gives away hundreds of dollars each month to help struggling families pay their utilities’ bills.  CNN doesn’t know and does not care.  A terrorist kills dozens of people in France by running them over with a truck.  It’s broadcast worldwide.

My point is not that the tragedies and horrors should be ignored.  They shouldn’t.  They need to be faced, confronted, and especially, followers of Jesus must actively opposed evil.  No, my point is not that these stories of terror and sorrow should be swept under the rug.

My point is that these aren’t the only stories.  There are good stories to be told of how God is active in the world, helping people thrive.  God is doing this through His body, the church.  Using our ‘moral imagination’ (thank you Ms. Paynter for this wonderful phrase), we followers of Jesus move in rhythm with the Holy Spirit to unlock the creativity God has planted in our minds.  We imaginatively tell the good that God is working in the world.  Moreover, we seek new places to join God as God works to save the world that’s fallen in sin and sinking into destruction.

Through imagination that leads to constructive conversations and to actions that help people thrive, the body of Christ competes with evil.  The Enemy collaborates with the media’s lust for headlines.  The body of Christ counters with stories and actions of love that promote health, spiritual and relational wellbeing, and help people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.  We Christians insist that our narrative will compete with the sad saga of evil, and our good news will win out because it is nourished by the Spirit of God. 

There is a time to weep and to lament, but our tears are most moving because beyond the sickly gray of death is the blinding illumination emanating from the empty tomb.   Our Lord Jesus has defeated death and his resurrection provides hope this summer of terrors cannot dampen.  Jesus told us to let our light shine.  He is our Light.  We tell his story and evil is vanquished. 

I pray Christians will, through worship and prayer, tap into our moral imagination that we might offer our competing narrative, a tale of transforming, saving love.  I pray the summer of 2016 will be remembered for the way the good news of Jesus became the dominant story.

Sermon in response to Shootings in Charleston, June 17, 2015

“Living God’s Story” (2 Cor. 6:1-13; 7:2-4)

 June 21, 2015

        Paul pleads with the Corinthian Christians, “Make room in your hearts for us. … I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy” (7:2, 4).

        In this church, rich Christ followers looked down upon impoverished Christ followers and sometimes flaunted their wealth.  Within this church, there was serious misunderstanding about appropriate sexual ethics for followers of Jesus.  The Corinthians Christians struggled with how spiritual gifts should be exercised worship.  In some cases people with particular gifts were elevate above others even though the gifts were supposed to be from God.  The Corinthian Christians struggled in their understanding of resurrection.  And they did not know how to leave behind paganism and polytheism and give full devotion to Jesus.

        The reason much of the best practical teaching in the New Testament comes from Paul’s letters to Corinth is the believers in that church struggled in so many areas.  Paul was at his wits’ end trying to show these new believers how to live as a community –the body of Christ, the family of God.  Furthering complicating his task were other teachers who came claiming that the Corinthians should ignore Paul.  These others who, according to Paul claimed to be “super-apostles,” made his task of shepherding this complicated group even harder. 

        At times Paul came down quite hard on the Corinthians.  Numerous commentators I have read believe he saw himself as a spiritual father to the Corinthians and the father’s discipline is apparent in both letters.  Yet, he tenaciously holds onto joy. 

Make room in your hearts for us. 

I have great pride in you.

I am overflowing with joy.

Today, churches across America must cling to joy and love and fellowship.  We must cling to who we are in Christ tightly for I fear what is coming.  Recently a 14-year-old African American girl at a pool party was roughed up by a stressed out white police officer.[i]  This was the latest in an unfathomable string of racially-motivated incidents.  I know authorities say it wasn’t about race.  They always say it isn’t about race.  Yet, coincidentally, these stories have a consistent theme; unarmed minority youths are bullied, abused or killed by armed white people, often white law enforcement officers.  The story Texas was the latest until this past Wednesday, June 17. 

On that day, Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC was doing what thousands of churches across America do on Wednesday night.  They were having Wednesday night prayer service.  I have probably been a part of close to 1000 of these services in my life.  It is an activity that is a normal part of church life in many traditions.  In this case, it was a small group, all African American.  And a white man came asking to see the pastor.  This church community did what the church does.  They brought the man in, welcomed him, took him to the pastor, and made him feel like he was a part. 

Clearly he looked different, but when we are in Christ, our differences are signs of God’s beauty.  We celebrate our uniqueness as we join our hearts to one another.  They were doing what churches do.  That’s what really gets me about this story.  The Emmanuel Church was creating safe space for Dylann Roof to seek God.  He sat in that safe space for nearly an hour, and then violated it as he killed 9 people who were welcoming him into their circle.

When we recite the names – Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and the rest, and the places – Staten Island, Cleveland, Baltimore, Missouri – and now we add this sad chapter, I fear America is on a collision course with a violent explosion in racial tension.  I believe the worst is coming.  But that does not have to be all that is coming.

We who bear the name ‘Christian’ can to take this time to show what it means to be ‘in Christ.’  We must do this.  We have to go out of our way to hold up a competing narrative to the one that’s ripping across our nation.  We have to stand in the power of the Gospel and say, “There is another story, one in which people, black and white, Asian and Hispanic, male and female celebrate one another and love each other.”  We have to tell that story as the story of racism rages loudly. 

A part of our proclamation of the Gospel is to weep for Clementa Pinckney, Daniel Simmons Sr., Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Susie Jackson, and Ethel Lance.  These people are brothers and sisters – our brothers and sisters in Christ.  When our family dies, it hurts.  When death comes as the church is being the church, we weep loudly and deeply.  That must be part of our statement of faith.

So too we must commit to being the safe space where all can come and find the love of Jesus.  Make room in your hearts for us, Paul said. I am overflowing with joy.  Even now, even through tears, anticipating days of darker violence, we have joy in Christ. 

I have had the experience the pastor at Emmanuel had.  Someone comes asking for the pastor.  The person appears to have some things very wrong in his life.  When the pastor responds to the unsettled individual, there is no telling what will happen.  That is the point where a voice in my head says, ‘this could get very interesting.’ 

I talked for over an hour to a suicidal man who thankfully finally allowed me to escort him into the hospital emergency room.  I have received bomb threat phone calls.  I testified in a court in trial involving gang-violence.  These personal experiences of mine by extension are the experiences of the church. I, no we, have been through these things.

I have read articles about churches being “soft targets.”  That is kind of the point when I say we need to be safe space.  “Safe” means it is emotionally and spiritually safe in the same way Jesus was a welcoming presence to the most sinful of people.  In his day, the religious institution, represented by temple and synagogue, had become corrupt.  Sinners did not find hope in these places but rather condemnation.  The religious powers that be were not safe for people whose lives were a mess.  They would come broken and ben made to feel worse. 

On the other hand, Jesus was safe for people who had major problems.  People who had really failed in their lives could come to Jesus and receive love and hope, not condemnation.  Thus, Jesus’ church must be safe for lost people including those who are hurting, unstable, unbalanced, and maybe even dangerous. 

Emmanuel Church was Jesus to Dylann Roof, a mass murderer.  They extended his grace.  Paul tells the Corinthians, “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”  The word “vain” can mean empty.  With all the struggles the Corinthians had, Paul feared they would receive the grace but never live graced lives.  They would continue to live as pagans, to listen to competing preachers who put Paul down, and show no signs that they were filled with the Spirit of God.  They would mouth words of belief in the Gospel but it would make no difference in their lives. 

America is about to explode in racial violence.  I pray the welcome Emmanuel Church gave to Dylann Roof was not in vain.  I pray their hospitality does not come up empty.  I pray the story of churches across America is a story of God’s people standing up to hatred and violence with love, compassion, hospitality, and grace. 

At some point, anger will reach a boiling point in some African Americans.  How could it not?  That anger will bubble over into violence.  Some in white America will respond defensively or judgmentally.  Others in white America will try to insulate themselves from the struggle.  This will especially be the case in more affluent communities.  If the violence, the blowback, and the indifference and isolation become the defining narratives and only stories told and heard, we will have failed as people charged with proclaiming the gospel.  The grace of God we have received and Emmanuel Church showed will be in vain.  Grace comes up empty.  The world is fallen. The stories of violence and hate will play out.  They cannot be the only ones. 

We have a better story to tell.  Paul tells the Corinthians, “now is the acceptable time.  Today is the day of salvation” (6:2).  He doesn’t mean today is the day one decided to entrust his life to Jesus, although that is a starting point.  When Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6 that “today is the day,” he means today is the day to live into the salvation we have been given.  How do we do that?

As I discussed these matters with church friends at VBS this past week, one said in response to the Charleston shootings, “I want to do something.”  I understand how she feels. I hope others feel this way.  I suggest reading stories.  Pray until your knees wear out.  Participate in marches and community discussions.  Travel to Charleston and sit in on memorial services.  Go out of your way to develop friendships with people from backgrounds different than your own.  Try to see the world from a perspective that is different that your culture vantage point.  Acknowledge your own prejudices and ask God to help you get those biases out of your life.  Do all these things. 

If you hear this and you don’t have any emotion and you don’t find in yourself any sorrow over what happened, check your heart.  Jesus is weeping at the death of his children.  If we call ourselves Christians, then we weep when He weeps.  We grieve as deeply as He grieves.

Live into salvation.  How?

I want to do something?  What?

We as a community of faith have to tell the alternate story – the grace story.  In the middle of the coming story, we have to be the story of hope.  We do this by opening our doors and ourselves to the lost and hurting people in the world.  Yes, churches are soft targets because broken people need a soft place to land.  Hurting people need to meet Jesus in an atmosphere of love. 

Paul knew the Corinthian Church was full of heartache.  In chapter 6 verses 4-10, he recites all the difficulties he has faced as a servant of Christ.  Yet he said to them, “Our heart is wide open to you” (6:11).  And he begged them, “Make room in your hearts for us” (7:2a).  He risked being wounded again because he hoped he could help the church become the community where people meet Jesus and come to life, a life lived eternally in love and grace.

By being a safe place, a soft target, we risk everything.  Dylann Roof could walk in here.  Or someone without a gun but with a dangerous agenda could attempt to infiltrate our community.  Our commitment to being a people who welcome all leaves us open to such risks.  But we embrace that because God has given us a particular mission.  God calls us to live a story in which people of different backgrounds are brothers and sisters who embrace each other in the love of Jesus.  God calls us to stand in the midst of the violence, throw open our doors, and say to the world, “Come in, you’ll be loved here.  You’ll be valued here.  You have a place here.  In the heart of God, in God’s Kingdom, you have a home.

In coming days, it will become harder for us to tell this story and live this mission.  But we will do it no matter the cost because God enables us as God calls us.  And we will do it with great joy because God’s story is a grace story and a joy story.  The hope for the world is in the telling and living of that story.  Now is the time.

AMEN

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[i] http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/us/mckinney-texas-pool-party-video/