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Sermon text 8.25.24

LAKEWOOD/TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South  St. Petersburg, FL  33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: August 25, 2024
Scripture Lesson: Romans 12
Sermon: Something Happens Here
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

We begin with a story from a Catholic missionary to Africa. 

“When I served as a priest in Tanzania, I spent a year preparing a group of Maasai for baptism.  I had to decide who seemed ready and who needed more study.

“Ndangoya, the oldest man, stopped me politely but firmly.  ‘Padri, why are you trying to break us up and separate us?  During this whole year you have been teaching us.  We have talked about these things when you were not here, at night around the fire.  Yes, there have been lazy ones in this community.  But they have been helped by those with much energy.  There are stupid ones in the community, but they have been helped by those who are intelligent.  There are ones with little faith in this village, but they have been helped by those with much faith.  Would you turn out and drive off those lazy ones and the ones with little faith and the stupid ones?  From the first day, I have spoken for these people — and I still speak for them.  Now, on this day one year later, I can declare for them and for all this community that we have reached the step in our lives where we can say, ‘We believe.’’

“I looked at the old man.  ‘Excuse me, old man,’ I said.  ‘Sometimes my head is hard and I learn slowly.  ‘We believe,’ you said.  Of course you do.  Everyone in the community will be baptized.’” 

[From Once Upon a time in Africa: Stories of Wisdom and Joy, compiled by Joseph G. Healey.  This story comes from Father Vincent Donovan. p. 50.]

The Christian faith is fundamentally a religion that is realized in community.  Our faith holds many promises.  We are promised that we are loved and that we have the capacity for great love.  We are promised comfort and solace.  We are promised new life and transformation.  We are promised forgiveness and reconciliation.  We are promised a life of abundance and joy.  We are promised healing and support through troubled times.  We are promised that broken hearts can mend.  We are promised peace at the end of this life.  These and so many more promises are part of our commitment to the way of Jesus.  And the New Testament, the gospels and epistles, make clear that the promises of our faith are borne out in community, in relationship with other people. 

This should not be surprising because Christianity emerged from the earlier tradition of Judaism.  And Judaism is based on the story of the relationship between God and the Jewish people who were called to embody the love, the shalom, the peace, the justice, and righteousness of God in community as a model for the world.  Judaism has always had a communal orientation. 

So it should come as no surprise that Jesus, a Jew, began his ministry by calling a group of disciples, followers.  They are to embody the gospel, the good news, of Divine Love.   And this group stays with Jesus to learn, to grow, to mess up, to misunderstand.  And yet they stick together because somehow, someway, they experience the reality of God that Jesus talks about manifesting itself among them. 

Several weeks ago I was part of a panel discussion for “Florida This Week” on PBS with Rob Lorei.  And one of the most interesting comments to me was made by Rev. Russell Meyer, head of the Florida Council of Churches, a Lutheran minister, and a close colleague.  He mentioned that the group of 12 disciples were people who would never have been closely associated in their regular lives.  They were diverse and disparate and would not have been part of the same group.  And yet these are the ones that Jesus called to embody the reality of God.  And, eventually, they do!

The early Christian communities were known for their love.  Church historian Tertullian, writing at the turn of the second century, tells us:  “What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our practice of lovingkindness: ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another!’”  [Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, Elaine Pagels p. 10.]  They were known for referring to each other as brother and sister, family.

The Christian faith, the teachings of Christianity, the Christian religion is meant to be lived out in community.  Together, we practice love for one another and for those beyond the faith community.  Together, in relationship, we learn to forgive.  Together in worship we experience awe, transcendence, and the reality of Divine Love.  The promises of our faith are made real in communal relationships and experiences. 

Yes, there is a strand in our tradition from the earliest days of monasticism.  Those who separate themselves from society to draw nearer to the Divine.  But even monastics are known for devoting themselves to prayer for the well being of others, of the world.  And even monastics who live in community face challenges that require them to learn and grow in Christian love as they seek to live together for God and for good. 

The gospel of John begins, the word became flesh.  Ours is a faith of incarnation.  Love expressed in flesh.  Yes, even yours and mine. 

And so the epistles are full of instructions for those in emerging faith communities about how to live together in Christian community and so experience and be transformed by the power of Divine Love.  These people are often dependent on their faith community as their only family.  They have been ostracized by their biological or social families and communities of support.  The attraction to the transforming power of love in community has led them to be part of a Christian community.  They are seeking a new way of being, of belonging, a new reality, a path of love.  And there is much direct instruction that is needed for people to understand and participate in and benefit from the power of this new community.  And so as we heard, the writer of Romans, probably the apostle Paul explains: 

“I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. . . For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.  We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. . .”

The writer goes on:

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor  . . . Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.  Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

And there is more which bears hearing again: 

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  . . . ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t do this by myself.  I need help.  I need encouragement.  I need inspiration from others.  Friends, we cannot do this work alone.  We need each other.  And the world desperately needs the witness of people who truly love each other, love themselves, love strangers, and love enemies.  Perhaps, this message is needed now more than ever. People need to see what it is to love.  And this is what we are about as a faith community. 

Church is about giving us a community, a context, in which to embody our divinity, our love for one another.  Here the promises of God, the goodness of the gospel, becomes reality.  And I am going to share just a few examples of that within the context of this congregation. 

One Sunday, a young man came to church who had recently been released from jail.  He was white.  He was gay.  After church, he made it a point to talk with people.  And he specifically told them that he had just gotten out of jail.  He expected them to turn and walk away, or maybe politely excuse themselves.  But that did not happen.  Each person he spoke with asked him how he was doing.  How things were going.  They engaged with him and took an interest in his situation.  He told me later that was the last thing he expected from people at a church.  He would be back.  And he did participate in the church until he moved away from the area.

Then there was the Sunday that a church member wore a new dress to church.  On the way out of church another church member asked her, Is that a new dress?  Yes, it is.  Well, the other woman remarked, It doesn’t do anything for you.  And she walked out the door.  The woman with the new dress laughed.  She did not hold it against the other woman.  There was no umbrage between them.  She just let the whole thing go.  We can learn that here at church.  To be forgiving.  To let things go.  To concentrate on what matters. 

Then there was the time that a church member asked for meals to be brought to her and her husband for two weeks.  They were home bound because of health issues.  The meals could be dropped off or the people could stay and eat with them.  We passed around a sign up sheet on a clipboard on a Sunday morning.  After the service people were complaining:  By the time the clipboard got to them all the slots were filled.  What a beautiful expression of Christian community!

There was the Sunday that a random family, two parents and two children, from Columbia, showed up at church.  They did not speak any English.  And yet we were able to find them a place to stay, give them money for food and other necessities, connect them with others who could help, and they have gone on to make a home for themselves in Tampa. 

And then there was the first Sunday of October last year.  The first Sunday that Trinity and Lakewood officially worshipped together as partners in cooperative ministry.  A person from Lakewood shared a heartfelt prayer concern and was moved to tears.  A person from Trinity, sitting one seat away, moved over and put an arm around the person who was crying.  These were two strangers who did not even know each other’s names.  Yet here they were in church, part of the faith community and embodying the gospel of love.  I knew then that things would be ok between Trinity and Lakewood whatever actually unfolded. 

The promises of God, the good news of the gospel is meant to be experienced in community.  In community we practice how to love one another and ourselves.  We are relieved of the loneliness, isolation, and separateness that can undermine our truest humanity and our deepest joy.  We become part of the larger reality of the realm of love.  In community our souls are nourished and we experience transformation. 

I can also tell you that there have been people who have left the church because being part of a Christian community was ‘working on them.’  Changing them.  Re-forming them.  Making them more loving.  And they resisted and left.  This happens.

Being part of a faith community, a church, it changes you.  I know that being part of this church community has changed me.  That is probably why I have stayed here so long.  I am continually challenged to grow in love and trust.  I find out new things about myself.  I am given the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them without condemnation.  I learn from all of you ALL the time.  How to be a better person.  How to be more forgiving.  How to reach out in love.  How to trust.  How to face adversity.  So many things I am learning from all of you all the time. 

The promises of our faith, the joy and abundance, the comfort and solace, are all made known to us in relationship.  Divine Love is bestowed upon us by other people.  We express our connection to the Divine through our love of others.  This is the source of our faith, our trust, and our joy.  And so the writer of Romans tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  [Romans 12:2]

George MacDonald, a Scottish clergyperson and writer, who lived from 1824 to 1905 emphasizes:  “This love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.” 

Here, in church, we become the body of Christ for one another and for the world.  May it be so.  Amen. 

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.

Sermon text, “Christian Voting,” 8.25.24

LAKEWOOD/TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

2601 54th Avenue South  St. Petersburg, FL  33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961

lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: August 18, 2024
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-46
Sermon:  Christian Voting
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

The novel This Other Eden by Paul Harding features a community on an island off the coast of Maine in the early 20th century.  I was attracted to the book because our nephew married a woman whose mother lived for a time on an island off the coast of Maine.  When we met her last Thanksgiving she told us some stories about the culture of island life that were extremely compelling and unforgettable. 

So, in the book, This Other Eden, there is a small community that has been living on an island for many generations.  They are descendants of people from all over the world, various races and colors, an amalgamation.  A person from the mainland, Matthew Diamond, a retired teacher who has become a missionary, goes to the island in the summer to open a school to help to uplift the children and youth of the community.  But Diamond brings to the island his whiteness, his ignorance, and his racism.  The people of the island are not white.  They are of mixed race.  And we know that mixed means Black, or people of color, but it does not mean white.  There is a young man on the island who appears to have talent as an artist.  So Diamond comes up with a plan to have the young man stay with a colleague on the mainland and receive training in art.  This is possible because the young man appears white though his parents are clearly of mixed race.  So, Diamond reflects on this situation:

“Jews married Egyptians and Moabites Jews.  The patriarchs took wives from far and wide.  There was that on the one hand, and on the other there was the fact that Noah’s family peopled the world after the flood and therefore, like it or not, Scripture unquestionably told that every man and woman with whomever you are confronted is a member of your family . . .”  [This Other Eden, Paul Harding, pp. 91-92.]

This is what the character Matthew Diamond thinks of as he creates this deceptive scheme to help this young artist.  He is trying to use his Christian faith to undermine his ingrained racism and it’s not easy.

While we might not adhere to Diamond’s literal interpretation of scripture, it is a fundamental premise of Christianity that all people are part of the family of God.  All beloved and imbued with the image of the Divine. 

And while Christian people may have many disagreements about scripture and doctrine and theology, another foundational claim of Christianity is concern for the ‘least of these.’  We heard the story of the sheep and the goats again this morning.  People devoted to Jesus, people who claim to be Christians, are people who take action to minister to those who are suffering – including, but not limited to – those who are hungry, those who are thirsty, those who are strangers, those without clothes, those who are sick, those in prison.  Not only are followers of Jesus expected to directly minister to those in need, when they do so, they are ministering to Christ Jesus.  That is how we engage with the Savior.  In this story and throughout the gospels, Jesus directly aligns himself with those most in need.  So how you treat others is how you treat Jesus.  And this especially applies to those who are suffering most. 

Unsavory as these two major threads of Christianity may be to some people, they are fundamental.  One human family.  The least of these.  You can add lots of other doctrine, dogma, and interpretation, but these are basics that are part of defining Christianity.  They express the fundamental orientation of the Christian life. 

As Father John Dear, the Catholic peace activist explains in his monumental commentary, The Gospel of Peace:  A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, “Every time we do something ‘sheepish’ – that is, gentle, peaceful, nonviolent, and loving – we move closer to Jesus and step into the reign of God.  Every time we act like ‘goats’ — that is, mean, selfish, violent, and bullying — we move away from Jesus and step away from God’s reign.”  [p. 127]

So, as Christian people, we are always committed to addressing the suffering and pain in the lives of others with healing love and material assistance.  We look for Jesus in the least of these.  We welcome the opportunity to move more fully into the realm of love and peace with our orientation toward the needs of others. 

Having affirmed this orientation, we turn to three of the sermon topics requested this summer:  Voting rights, systemic racism, and election and partisan stress.  These are undeniably turbulent times.  We are facing issues that many of us would never have thought would be front and center in 2024.  Issues that threaten the functioning of our society as we have known it and threaten rights we thought were undeniable in this country. 

We start by looking back.  In the book, A Pilgrimage to Eternity, New York Times journalist Timothy Egan shares the story of his journey along the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route in Europe from Canterbury to Rome.  I found the book not so much about a walk as about a journey through the history of Christianity and the church.  Egan’s stops at towns, churches, and shrines, provide the impetus for discussions of many chapters in church history – including the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And there is a lot of bad and ugly despite the beautiful foundation of Christianity that we outlined at the beginning of this sermon.

At one point, Egan discusses the contrast between Savonarola, who was a Catholic priest who terrorized Florence in the 1400’s, and Francis of Assisi who established an order of poverty and generosity and respect for nature. 

Egan tells us about Savonarola who “turned his fellow friars into warriors, and the most cultured city in Europe into delirium.”  [p. 280]  Savonarola became obsessed with the book of Revelation and the punishment that humanity was going to receive at the hands of God.  Egan tells us Savonarola “denounced sodomites, gamblers, and blasphemers, as well as the Medici family, the wealthiest in Europe, enriched by a monopoly on the material used to dye clothes granted them by an earlier pope.”  [p. 281]  Savonarola’s goons went house to house confiscating, Eagan tells us, “perfume, art, poetry, chessboards, playing cards, mirrors, tapestries, musical instruments, books of poetry by Dante and Petrarch, statues, vases, portraits, fine clothes — anything of material beauty, anything that brought pleasure.”  [p. 282]  Then it was all set alight in the Bonfire of the Vanities on Feb. 7, 1497.  Eventually, Savonarola was arrested and killed.  His body was burned and the ashes were disposed of in the Arno River so that there would be no relics or grave. 

Then there is Francis of Assisi of the 13th century, who also eschewed wealth, taking his clothes off in the town square and returning them to his father before heading off to a life of asceticism as a monk.  Choosing poverty, chastity, and obedience.  But also choosing peace, non violence, and harmony with nature.

Egan uses Francis and Savonarola to capture two different tendencies within the Christian faith.  Eagan writes:  “Savonarola and Francis of Assisi were not unsimilar.  Both practiced self-denial.  Both rejected the material gluttony of their spiritual overlords.  Both sought a purified Christianity.  But Francis

was not afraid of poetry; he wrote some of the best verse in Europe.  Francis did not turn against music, laughter, and art.  He was a troubadour.  Francis did not call for the execution of people deemed sinful; he befriended the shunned.  The spirit in him had wings.  In the dichotomy of these two men is the dichotomy of the Christian faith, one side struggling against the other, an open heart against a fist.”  [p. 283]

Here we see the contrast between using the gospel of Jesus Christ to foster life and peace and joy and using the Christian religion as a tool of control and terror and violence.  There are so many instances of harm being done in the name of the church and the Christian faith.    Christianity has had these two streams flowing throughout its history since Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century.  There has been the tension: to be taken in by the forces of control, domination, Empire, and violence.  Or to lean into our natural inclination to love, care, compassion, generosity, and sensitivity.   We see these two impulses, these two divergent streams, these two manifestations of Christianity continuing to clash today. 

So what we see today is Christianity being used as a weapon to implement power hungry political aims.  This is nothing new.  Christianity has been used to kill, and kill, and kill again as well as to foster injustice and suffering.  It was used to justify slavery.  It was used to justify the Holocaust.  Now it is being used to make war on women’s bodies, and to criminalize poverty, and to demonize the stranger.  This is nothing new.

And, yes, all along, there have been expressions of Christianity concerned with the least of these.  Concerned with seeing all of humanity as one family.  And finding joy, celebration, community,  and goodness on that path. 

So, the situation we see today with the misuse, the manipulation, indeed the coercion associated with Christianity in the politIcal sphere of our country, this is nothing new.  


The challenge to voting rights, something some, including Lyndon Johnson, thought we had laid to rest in this country, this is nothing new.  It is yet another expression of systemic racism that is woven into the warp and woof of our society.  It is inherited.  It is absorbed like the plastic that is in our food and water that is killing us.  So is systemic racism. 

So we come back to what we have always known in Christianity.  Joy comes from being engaged with others, especially those who are suffering.  It comes from looking for the Christ in each and every person.  It comes from seeing ALL others as your siblings.  It comes from treating every person the way you would treat Jesus and letting that become second nature for you. 

Should we vote?  Yes.  But no government or state or candidate will be perfect, or will perfectly embody the Divine Love, universal acceptance, and profligate generosity of Jesus or of God. 

As for candidates that claim to be Christian, we must look at their behavior.  At their concerns.  At their attention to the least of these.  Do they treat every other person as if the person were Jesus?  Would these candidates who claim to be Christians hurl the lies and insults toward Jesus that they hurl toward other politicians?  Are they really even trying to be sheep? 

Recently I was part of a conversation about food being offered in the schools.  Like a food bank so that kids aren’t hungry over the weekend.  And I read an article about All Children’s Hospital here in St. Pete offering a free grocery store to patients, families, and staff.  And, yes, on the one hand, this is beautiful.  To be reaching out to the hungry.

But Jesus tells us to look for the truth.  So we must go deeper and ask why are all these people, especially these young people, hungry?  In the richest country in the world, why do children need to take home free food to eat so they will not be hungry over the weekend?  This is where the role of the government, elected officials, comes in.  There are changes to the system that need to be made to address the most pressing issues of the day:  violence, war, hunger, healthcare, racism, and most important, though seldom mentioned in political debate, climate change.  While good people like us are busy recycling and driving hybrid cars, scientists and climate experts tell us that the only way to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change is through government policy that addresses the use of fossil fuels.  Period.  And this takes us back to voting. 

The way to vote as a Christian, is to vote as a Christian.  To remember that we are all one human family.  Every single person on this earth is our sibling and every life form part of our family.  And to remember that however we treat another person, especially someone in need, is how we are treating Christ.  It is not about voting for people who say they are Christians, it is about voting for people who have the values of the gospel at heart.  Whatever their religion.  Or lack there of.  And there are precious few. 

Sheep and goats.  It’s up to us.  Who we will be?  And what kind of society we will be part of? 

I recently attended the memorial service for GW Rolle.  Some years ago, LUCC hosted a group of about 30 houseless people at the church for about three months.  GW was among the houseless.  He was also involved in running the project. 

As a young man, GW was convicted of manslaughter.  He served his term in prison.  Having paid his debt to society, he went to college and got a degree in English and Philosophy.  He served in the merchant marines.  He became a chef.  But through it all, his past continued to create obstacles and impediments related to employment and housing.  We live in a society that leans into being punitive and judgmental.  There is that tendency in Christianity.  The fist.  But we can learn to lean into grace and transformation and forgiveness.  The heart.

We saw this contrast again recently at the Olympic Games.  Twenty nine years old, married, a father, and on the Olympic Team for the Netherlands as a beach volley ball athlete, was Steven Van De Velde.  When he was 19, he raped a 12 year old girl with whom he was having a relationship.  He was tried and convicted.  He did his time in prison.  He participated in rehabilitation.  Experts saw no likelihood of recidivism.  So, he played beach volley ball for the Netherlands in Paris.  [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5645577/2024/07/25/van-de-velde-child-rapist-volleyball-olympic-games/]

The Netherlands is not a very religious country, not like the US, and yet they are leaning into grace, transformation, and forgiveness.  That is that other stream of Christianity.  The heart. 

So, despite the many obstacles that he faced, GW Rolle, here in the US, also leaned into the heart.  He had a heart for the least of these.  He was a tireless advocate, not just for those without housing, but for the dignity of each and every person.  He truly saw each human as his sibling.  He was an ordained Christian minister and served with Rev. Sam Picard at Missio Dei.  GW embodied the best of the gospel.  He lived a life of struggle and joy.  His bottom line:  “I consider myself the lesser of no man and the superior to no one.” 

When did we see you?   Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.