AngloBaptist's blog

Sermon: the 26th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
The Community Church of Wilmette
November 9, 2008

Trimmed and Burning

Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that an African-American man would be elected President of the United States of America in our lifetime?

I am not sure that I truly believed it. I still have images of the intense segregation of my home town, Richmond. I still struggle with the deep divisions and segregation that exists in Chicago. Those wounds run so deep. The struggles and the blight of racism is still so very real...even here in the so-called enlightened north.

I was so disappointed the day that I realized how divided Chicago was. I came here thinking Chicago would show me a different way of living in a multi-racial community.

I never thought I would ever see an African-American elected to the highest office in our country. Never.

So, the national press corps had their shot at Rev Wright yesterday. Did anyone get a chance to listen to the footage? I wonder if there is a podcast of it.

Anyway, once again I am inspired to write an editorial for a local paper to express my frustration at the popular misunderstanding of the power of the pulpit...especially as it exists in the congregationalist traditions. There seems to be this notion that the preacher wields tremendous power from the pulpit...not influence, but dictatorial power. If the preacher says it, then I gotta run with it. It's simply not so. And there are few if any Christian traditions who hold to such a view.

I think that the media forgets this. No matter how flamboyant the preacher, no matter how clear the logic, the freedom of the hearer to embrace the preacher Word is sacrosanct.

What do you guys think about this? Am I missing something?

Sermon The Sixth Sunday of Easter
The Community Church of Wilmette
April 27, 2008

Acts 17:22-31
John 14:15-21

Who Are God's Children?

A little more than a week ago I attended the National Workshop on Christian Unity. We spoke about our work together as denominations. We learned about the theological accords and debates that are still ongoing. And Michael Kinnemon, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, in his keynote address challenged us to recall that any real unity will come through God’s work and not by our own efforts. We cannot make idols of our agreements our Councils or even our shared charitable work. Unity is in God. It was in incredible indictment and the statement rang true to most in attendance.

The passage from Acts this morning challenges me to find ways to embody this kind of ecumenism in my personal faith life and in our shared faith life. What of our personal faith traditions have become idols? What of our traditions is of God?

Sometimes people read this passage as a proof for the "spiritual but not religious" approach to faithfulness. It’s more accurate, however, to say that this passage is about being "faithful but not idolatrous." Paul is trying to undo idolatry, not religion.

Sermon: Easter Sunday Year A 2008
The Community Church of Wilmette
March 23, 2008

Ps. 118:1-2, 14-24
Acts 10:34-43
Mt. 28:1-10

Indeed, No Partiality

The theological is in the news once again. If we are going to have to see it in the news, I want you all to know a little something about what theology is behind all of the hubub. Today is Easter Sunday. Today we make the most profound theological statement available to us as Christians.

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!
The Lord is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Once again the theological is in the news.
Jeremiah Wright, the now retired pastor of Trinity UCC in Chicago, preached a sermon following the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001 that has come back to haunt him and the presidential candidate he loves so well, Senator Obama.

Have you all heard this news?
Do you know the words from the sermon?
Take a listen.

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no. God damn America – that's in the Bible – for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

Sermon: The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A 2008
The Community Church of Wilmette
March 9, 2008

Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45

Founded upon Tears

The church of God is founded upon tears.

This is one of the truest things I can say about the church. It is founded upon the tears of Christ. It is upheld by the tears of the followers of Christ. And how often I forget this truth. I become distracted by other things…

Today’s passage from John is fraught with distractions for me. John has chosen to write it in such a way as to force us, to compel us to ask theological questions. He puts theology in the mouths of those around Jesus.

Martha says, “I know that [Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” This is a stoic confession of faith, a correct statement. It covers her grief and in this way it upholds her.

She also says, “I know that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A 2008
The Community Church of Wilmette
March 2, 2008

Psalm 23
John 9:1-42

Free to See

The thing that is most surprising to me is this:
The man who had been blind since birth,
the same man who had been begging outside their walls
for years,
their neighbors’ son,
is someone that they did not recognize.

All this talk about sight, gaining it, healing it, and,
for the Pharisees at least, losing it,
and it is so easy to miss this simple little point:
Before Jesus had come along and healed the man
no one knew who he was. And no one cared.

I love a trial scene as much as the next guy,
and this one in John’s gospel is pretty famous
all things being equal. Someone who has received
grace is being blamed for it…being blamed for being healed.
He was healed on the wrong day.
And he wasn’t supposed to be healed at all.
It was not supposed to be possible.
No one had ever done it before.

And this presents a familiar problem for the Pharisees.
It’s familiar to me at least. I hear old complaints in my mind.
Doesn’t he know his place in society?
Doesn’t he know that he’s not supposed to get better?
Doesn’t he know how to stay anonymous?
And why won’t he tell us who is to blame?
Who sinned? This man or his parents?

This is the trouble with some types of blindness.

Sermon: Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
The Community Church of Wilmette
February 24, 2008
John 4:5-42

Digging Out

There is a really deep well inside me.
And in it dwells God.
Sometimes I am there, too.
But often stones and grit block the well,
and God is buried beneath.
Then God must be dug out again. – Etty Hillesum

There is something about a well. It’s a rich symbol, practical and yet mysterious, frightening and yet life-giving. We dig them. We cover them. We send Jack and Jill up a hill to fetch a pail of water from a well. We fall into them.

There is a well on my father’s property. Actually, there are two now. The first one dried up and Daddy had to have another one, a deeper one, dug in the back yard. Out in the country where he lives there are no water mains, no civil infrastructure to provide water for everyone. People live too far apart. So, every family has their own well.

Sermon: The Second Sunday After the Epiphany, Year A
January 20, 2008
Martin Luther King Sunday
Community Church of Wilmette

The Jesus We Know

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world grant us your peace.

One of the prayer habits I have is to stop what I am doing, whatever that is, and praying those words.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on me.

Sometimes I change the pronoun to the singular so I’m just praying for mercy for myself. You know, sometimes you just have a rough day and you need to know that God is as focused on you as upon anyone else.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on me.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world grant me your peace.

Our story from John’s Gospel this morning presents a great many subjects to preach upon, but I would like us to focus on just one aspect of the story; the many names for Jesus. And here they are:

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (v. 29)
Son of God (v. 34)
Rabbi (which translated means Teacher) (v. 38)
Messiah (which translated means Anointed) (vs. 41)

All these names for Jesus…

Sermon: Epiphany Sunday
Community Church of Wilmette
http://www.communitychurchofwilmette.org
January 6, 2008

Journey.
Pilgrimage.
Quest.
Odyssey.

This is the archetypical language of human myth.

The quest for the Holy Grail…or the sorcerer’s stone or the Golden Fleece…or following a star.

On Epiphany we once again encounter this truth within our own tradition. If there is nothing else you take from today’s service please understand that our faith is about the journey to Christ. Like the Magi from long ago, we are all following a star to a manger where we encounter God enshrouded in humanity and humanity enshrouded in God.

That’s all.
And this is the central truth to all Christian discipleship:

It is by its very nature a journey.

The journey to Christ encompasses the entirety of our existence. It involves all who we are. It is mysictal. It is practical. It is political. This is what the journey story of the three Magi teaches us.

Three men have embarked on a quest. They are following a Star. They are unsure exactly what the Star may be leading them to, but they are men who make a habit of listening to dreams, and even paying attention to strange astrological events in the night sky (Have you read your horoscope today?). They pack up their things and search out where this strange star has settled.