Chosen family
1 Corinthians 1: 10-18
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
January 22, 2023
So we’re talking about “Why Church?” because maybe you’ve been asking that question yourself. In a recent edition of The Atlantic, one article addresses the reality that participation in traditional church is on the decline but people are creating community and organizing around prophetic issues in other ways. The usual metrics of measuring viability and vitality— “butts, budget, and building”—are getting harder to measure. We have so many views of our worship service on Facebook but we can’t identify who is watching. There’s less of the feeling of “all of us together” and yet don’t we all know the feeling of being in solidarity with people we are not in physical contact with, like when we ask for prayers. How does one measure faithfulness? How can we objectify love?
We’ve long known that one does not need Church in order to be good, moral, and just. There are plenty of people in the world who are good people, who make a material difference in the lives of others, who also do not participate in organized religion or don’t even believe in God. After all, if we need religion in order to be ethical and moral, to know what is right and what is wrong, what we lack is empathy, not religion.
It used to be that Church was the center of communal life. A generation of parents in this church still refer to themselves and their young adult children as The Village, as in, it takes a village to raise our children. I’m probably not the only one who met their partner through church. Church is the people with whom we gather when we grieve and comfort and celebrate and serve and make a difference in the world. And yet people are finding other ways to do that. So, what is church community for then?
According to Paul’s account of the church in Corinth, you’d think the purpose of church community was to argue. It’s human nature to have an opinion, to disagree, but if all we did was engage in conflict, we’d never get anything done. At some point common ground must be sought if community is to survive. Paul isn’t naïve enough to think that Christians must never disagree, but he did think that following Jesus is sufficient for the cohesion of Christian community. Following Jesus means loving who Jesus loved, disrupting our lives for those Jesus disrupted his life for: the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned.
The people in Corinth were more concerned about their own lives, their own salvation, their own spiritual gifts, their favorite preacher, the one who brought them into the Church. It’s the way our culture talks now about sports or politics or church denominations or even our own survival, as if everything is competition, a zero-sum game, winners and losers, when Jesus was all about liberating those who suffer from such a grind. Competition separates us from our shared humanity, our shared being that has the power to bind us together in solidarity, rather than divide and conquer.
Paul laments rightly that the cross of Christ is being drained of its power. Our post-modern privileged capitalist society has no use for it but for those who continue to be persecuted and prosecuted because of who they are, the cross of Christ can be life-giving. Let us remember once again who this Christ crucified is, othered and executed by the state. This Christ is Black, brown, Indigenous, and Asian. This Christ is disabled, poor, fat, and queer. This Christ is transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, genderqueer. This Christ is a drug user. This Christ has nowhere to live. This Christ lives with mental illness. This Christ is chronically ill. This Christ is neurodivergent. This Christ is aging out of the foster care system. This Christ is a refugee and an immigrant. This Christ crucified is the earth itself. This Christ is fighting for their life.
It is the queering of Christianity, the othering of Christ, that gives us the boldness to claim the identity of being a Christian. If Church serves any purpose, it is to be in solidarity with this Christ crucified. It is to be chosen family for those who have none. It’s to be accessible and meet people where they are, not as we wish they them to be. It’s knowing that none of us have to face life’s most difficult transitions alone. It’s loving wastefully, extravagantly, unconditionally. It is this Good News that liberates us out of loneliness, out of our self-imposed limits, out of the lie that we are somehow broken, out of the notion that we are the main character in our story.
What is Church for if not for real life in the real world? John Shelby Spong reminds us that we are “a community of people called into life, called into love, called into being, called into wholeness, called into God”, the Ground of All Being, the Source of Love and Life. We practice incarnation when we understand the interdependence of all life, when we live into the fullness of life, our authentic selves, and celebrate with others when they do the same. It is through relationships, our communal life, the kindom that we find the pathway to the divine, the sacred in our lives, how we understand what is good, holy, and true. It is together that we are capable of courage, risk, daring acts of justice and kindness, and persisting against hate.
We do this as well as we can for as long as we can. Every living thing has a lifespan. To say otherwise would be disingenuous. To be Church is not about our survival but being the body of Christ in the world, Christ crucified and Christ risen. To be Church is not about whether we will continue but whether unlimited, unmerited, undeserved love will continue. To be Church is more about planting seeds than outliving what has been planted. To be Church is to enhance life, to expand love, to know the fullness of being, and to trust that it will continue beyond our life together.
When we know God as Being itself, as Life experiencing itself, as Love reaching beyond our limitations, we begin to understand that there is nothing that can separate us from that love and that there is no end to it.
Let us become with God as God becomes with us. Amen.
Benediction – adapted from Fred Rogers
From the time you were very little
You’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling,
People who have talked you into talking,
Sung you into singing, loved you into loving.
Think about someone who has helped you along the way.
Let’s just take some time to think about those extra special people.
Some of them may be right here.
Some may be far away.
Some may no longer be with us in this lifetime.
No matter where they are,
Deep down you know they’ve always wanted what’s best for you.
They’ve always cared about you beyond measure,
And have encouraged you to be true to the best within you.
You are one of those people for someone else.
You are chosen family for someone who needs it.
You are loving someone, something, this Church, this world into loving.
Amen.
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
January 22, 2023
 |
| Photo of a group of 15 people, including children, standing in a line on the beach at sunset, some holding hands, some with arms around each other's shoulders, facing away from the camera. |
So we’re talking about “Why Church?” because maybe you’ve been asking that question yourself. In a recent edition of The Atlantic, one article addresses the reality that participation in traditional church is on the decline but people are creating community and organizing around prophetic issues in other ways. The usual metrics of measuring viability and vitality— “butts, budget, and building”—are getting harder to measure. We have so many views of our worship service on Facebook but we can’t identify who is watching. There’s less of the feeling of “all of us together” and yet don’t we all know the feeling of being in solidarity with people we are not in physical contact with, like when we ask for prayers. How does one measure faithfulness? How can we objectify love?
We’ve long known that one does not need Church in order to be good, moral, and just. There are plenty of people in the world who are good people, who make a material difference in the lives of others, who also do not participate in organized religion or don’t even believe in God. After all, if we need religion in order to be ethical and moral, to know what is right and what is wrong, what we lack is empathy, not religion.
 |
| Poster with a faded light brown background, various religious symbols (Christian cross, the Ankh, Star of David, the sacred Om, the Buddhist wheel of Dharma, the Yin/Yang, the star and crescent moon, a Shinto shrine gate, the Pentagram, the Hamsa hand) in brown print, and brown type that reads "You don't need religion to have morals. If you can't determine right from wrong, you lack empathy, not religion." |
It used to be that Church was the center of communal life. A generation of parents in this church still refer to themselves and their young adult children as The Village, as in, it takes a village to raise our children. I’m probably not the only one who met their partner through church. Church is the people with whom we gather when we grieve and comfort and celebrate and serve and make a difference in the world. And yet people are finding other ways to do that. So, what is church community for then?
According to Paul’s account of the church in Corinth, you’d think the purpose of church community was to argue. It’s human nature to have an opinion, to disagree, but if all we did was engage in conflict, we’d never get anything done. At some point common ground must be sought if community is to survive. Paul isn’t naïve enough to think that Christians must never disagree, but he did think that following Jesus is sufficient for the cohesion of Christian community. Following Jesus means loving who Jesus loved, disrupting our lives for those Jesus disrupted his life for: the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned.
The people in Corinth were more concerned about their own lives, their own salvation, their own spiritual gifts, their favorite preacher, the one who brought them into the Church. It’s the way our culture talks now about sports or politics or church denominations or even our own survival, as if everything is competition, a zero-sum game, winners and losers, when Jesus was all about liberating those who suffer from such a grind. Competition separates us from our shared humanity, our shared being that has the power to bind us together in solidarity, rather than divide and conquer.
Paul laments rightly that the cross of Christ is being drained of its power. Our post-modern privileged capitalist society has no use for it but for those who continue to be persecuted and prosecuted because of who they are, the cross of Christ can be life-giving. Let us remember once again who this Christ crucified is, othered and executed by the state. This Christ is Black, brown, Indigenous, and Asian. This Christ is disabled, poor, fat, and queer. This Christ is transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, genderqueer. This Christ is a drug user. This Christ has nowhere to live. This Christ lives with mental illness. This Christ is chronically ill. This Christ is neurodivergent. This Christ is aging out of the foster care system. This Christ is a refugee and an immigrant. This Christ crucified is the earth itself. This Christ is fighting for their life.
It is the queering of Christianity, the othering of Christ, that gives us the boldness to claim the identity of being a Christian. If Church serves any purpose, it is to be in solidarity with this Christ crucified. It is to be chosen family for those who have none. It’s to be accessible and meet people where they are, not as we wish they them to be. It’s knowing that none of us have to face life’s most difficult transitions alone. It’s loving wastefully, extravagantly, unconditionally. It is this Good News that liberates us out of loneliness, out of our self-imposed limits, out of the lie that we are somehow broken, out of the notion that we are the main character in our story.
What is Church for if not for real life in the real world? John Shelby Spong reminds us that we are “a community of people called into life, called into love, called into being, called into wholeness, called into God”, the Ground of All Being, the Source of Love and Life. We practice incarnation when we understand the interdependence of all life, when we live into the fullness of life, our authentic selves, and celebrate with others when they do the same. It is through relationships, our communal life, the kindom that we find the pathway to the divine, the sacred in our lives, how we understand what is good, holy, and true. It is together that we are capable of courage, risk, daring acts of justice and kindness, and persisting against hate.
We do this as well as we can for as long as we can. Every living thing has a lifespan. To say otherwise would be disingenuous. To be Church is not about our survival but being the body of Christ in the world, Christ crucified and Christ risen. To be Church is not about whether we will continue but whether unlimited, unmerited, undeserved love will continue. To be Church is more about planting seeds than outliving what has been planted. To be Church is to enhance life, to expand love, to know the fullness of being, and to trust that it will continue beyond our life together.
When we know God as Being itself, as Life experiencing itself, as Love reaching beyond our limitations, we begin to understand that there is nothing that can separate us from that love and that there is no end to it.
Let us become with God as God becomes with us. Amen.
Benediction – adapted from Fred Rogers
From the time you were very little
You’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling,
People who have talked you into talking,
Sung you into singing, loved you into loving.
Think about someone who has helped you along the way.
Let’s just take some time to think about those extra special people.
Some of them may be right here.
Some may be far away.
Some may no longer be with us in this lifetime.
No matter where they are,
Deep down you know they’ve always wanted what’s best for you.
They’ve always cared about you beyond measure,
And have encouraged you to be true to the best within you.
You are one of those people for someone else.
You are chosen family for someone who needs it.
You are loving someone, something, this Church, this world into loving.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment