“Sunday’s Coming,” She Muttered with Dread

Nov 3

Nov 3 “Sunday’s Coming,” She Muttered with Dread

“I’m not ashamed of the gospel: it is God’s own power for salvation to all who have faith in God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. God’s righteousness is being revealed in the gospel, from faithfulness for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous person will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17, CEB translation)

“…and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31, CEB translation)

[Jesus] replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40, CEB translation)

[Jesus] responded, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27)

“I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:34-35, CEB translation)

Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, CEB translation)

An impossible task is before many of my friends this week. They have to preach this Sunday.

I am grateful beyond words that I am not one of those people (assuming my senior pastor, Michael Roberts, stays well – I regularly pray for him, but this week he is getting extra prayers). Stepping into the pulpit this Sunday is a losing proposition. And I mean that literally. Because I do not care what you preach, some people are going to hear it this week and leave. And never come back.

Now note that I am writing this blog on Tuesday. I have no idea what the outcome of the presidential election will be. I don’t even know if we will know on Sunday what the outcome of the presidential election will be. But I also know that it does not matter what the outcome is. Some people, maybe many people, are going to hear a sermon at their church this weekend and walk away.

I also know on this Tuesday that many of my friends are writing or polishing up their sermons. The sermons are already written. Ahead of the results, again if there are any. Why? Because they want clear pastoral and prophetic heads. Because honestly, honestly, most of us did not go into this work to shove what we believe (especially our political leanings) down people’s throats. We went into this work to serve God as faithfully as we know how. And this week, that means for many of us writing ahead of whatever the political results will be. Because it does not matter who is elected president. We still don’t live in the fullness of the reign of God, and we still have work to do to get there. A whole helluva ton of work.

But as I said, I am not one of the brave souls who has to step in the pulpit this week. I can’t imagine what that would be like this year. My senior pastor has eight years of relationships with the people we serve. For the vast majority of them, I am still a character on a TV show. Who would listen to a television character in this moment? And yet I know many of my colleagues are in exactly that position. I pray for you, my friends.

I don’t know what that is like. But I do know what it is like to preach to a new congregation after a contentious election.

In 2016, the Sunday after the election, I stepped into a fairly new pulpit (I had been there 4 months) to preach a sermon on Romans 1:16-17. I know it is at the top of this blog, but to keep you from having to scroll back, here it is:

This passage had been picked out months ago, and it was finishing up a sermon series challenging us to be bolder about sharing the Good News with others. And that was the central point of our message that day. But considering how divided we were, I did give some background into the conflict between Jews and Greeks in the Roman church. I pointed out that Paul spends the first 3 chapters of Romans spelling out their complaints against each other. Then he hits chapter 4 and basically says, “None of that matters. All those ways you are judging each other get in the way of the Gospel. We are all family. We are all the children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. That is what matters. We are supposed to love one another and live beside one another in spite of our differences.”

And then I said this: “It is so funny how people think the Bible has no applicability to today.”

Then I went on with a challenge to speak the Good News into our world, while I watched a parishioner stand up and walk out of the church.

She left. She left for good. When I followed up with her out of pastoral concern, she told me she was leaving because I had used the pulpit to get political.

Yeah. I told a bunch of people who profess to be Christian that they need to remember they are brothers and sisters and love one another. I suppose right now that is political, because we have made hating each other a political stance.

But last time I checked, loving each other is central to our faith. And central to the message of the Gospel. And exactly what Jesus wants us to do and who he wants us to be. Every day. Every day. Every day.

But I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Are you?

Still, that is how I know that every pastor who is going to step into the pulpit this Sunday faces losing people. Because the Gospel is too offensive to people. Because love is too hard. And because our political stances have become our real religions.

So I pray for all of you who are going to be intentionally and accidentally prophetic this weekend. And I remind you all that we do not actually work for the church. We do not work for the biggest givers. We do not work for the Staff Parish Committee. We do not work for the Bishop, or whatever supervisory structure our churches have. We work for God. I know, I know, that is definitely easier said than done. But hold on to that truth as you face the continual pain that is this year.

And for all of you laity who continue to come, thank you. Thank you for seeking to love. Thank you for disagreeing with us and holding us accountable, but still holding us in prayer. You get it. You know we speak with human tongues and sometimes those are noisy gongs or clanging cymbals. Sometimes we don’t do it perfectly. Actually, always we don’t do it perfectly. But you know when you come to church you are not worshiping a pastor. You are worshiping God. And no matter who is in that pulpit, the Holy Spirit is still there too. As are all the messy people you are called to love. We are called to love. Followers of Jesus Christ are called to love.

Lord, in your mercy….

Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash