Monday, January 30, 2012

Trouble Voices

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 30, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
Mark 1:21-28
“Troubled Voices”
            When I was in Israel I had the opportunity to visit the town of Capernaum.  In that ancient city there is a synagogue.  It was the same place where Jesus went in our passage this morning.  It is believed that the worshiping community numbered close to one thousand.  That seemed strange to me because we could have fit that building inside our sanctuary two and a half times.  Our tour guide had no information about the people who worshiped in that place but we did get a great deal of information about the architecture.  You could see the original foundation stone which was black stone.  Built upon that was limestone which, we were told, would have to have been brought from a great distance.  I should have been awestruck standing in the place where Jesus first became a troublemaker.  But all I could really see was the ruins of a religious community that just could not accept the new thing that was happening in their midst. 
            We have no record of the content of Jesus’ message on that day.  Clearly, it was about the kingdom of God being revealed in the sacred scriptures.  But whatever the content, what we do know is that his message stirred up some powerful reaction.  When faced with passages with spirit possession we need to tread carefully.  There are a number of ways to read this passage.  One is to see the conversation about the man with an unclean spirit as the way these folks in antiquity understood mental illness.  What we now know and understand as mental illness was often labeled as demon possession, uncleanliness or worse.  Even in our own time the stigma for those living with mental illness continues.  And the church must walk carefully about appearing to teach people that with enough faith it can be overcome or equating it with evil.  The church, at its best can be a place of support for medical professionals far more qualified at addressing these needs. 
            The text itself gives us a clue that this is most certainly NOT what is happening.  It is not another story of Jesus healing a solitary individual.  It is meant to carry a deeper and possibly more troubling message.  It is unlikely that a man with an unclean spirit, whatever that spirit might be, would be in this place of worship.  Being unclean, at that time, was an automatic exclusion from the community of faith.  Instead, it is safer to see that the writer of Mark’s gospel is showing us the beginning of Jesus’ struggle with the community of faith.  As soon as he starts teaching a spirit speaks these words, “we know who you are, have you come to destroy us?!”  This is just the beginning of the struggle between Jesus, and the religious folks who are not particularly excited about the change to come because of the Good News. 
            In our passage from last week we have four people who drop everything they have to follow in the Jesus movement.  They hear the good news and the invitation to follow and begin living transformed lives.  The life changing reality of the Gospel is really the only work of the followers of Jesus.  But when Jesus takes this message to the official religious places he faces the most resistance.   And the only thing left of the first place Jesus encounters the resistance is the stones that were left behind.  The good news first preached in that place did not die there, like the community.  Instead, it continued on as Jesus moved throughout Galilee and as those touched by his life shared with others.   
            Resistance to change is a hallmark of the church.  Too often we take our personal preferences and desires and allow them to take center stage in our faith communities.  This truth has recently been powerfully revealed but comedian Stephen Colbert.  Talking about issues of poverty and the role of the Christian faith in our nation he said, with a sly smile,
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus is just as selfish as we are or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition. And then admit that we just don’t want to do it."
These words might make us laugh or even want to cry.  Some might want to argue about the premise of being a Christian nation.  But it is a good example of the struggles Christians face when we forget about the heart of our faith and create idols in the place of kingdom work. 
            Every generation of Christians has struggled with how to change, and how to deal with new people and ideas.  When Saint Paul came along he began to push boundaries about letting gentiles into the faith.  The faith community has always struggled with welcoming and affirming the gifts of people who do things differently.  And in every age the church faced splits over it.  We have struggled to affirm the gifts of black folks, women, and gay and lesbian folk.  We have struggled with the inclusion of children at communion and will always struggle over worship style.  For many, these issues were and are central to the life of faith, but they are not.  They are simply our human sinfulness which turns our fears and prejudice into religious doctrine. 
            There is a growing movement in the church in North America called the emerging church movement.  I am excited about this movement but also recognize that it might just be another way to create community of like-minded folks.  While they are reaching people most of our churches are not, they might simply be the next generation of the church not to get what will come after them.  Nadia Boltz-Weber is pastor of just such a community.  She recently wrote a rather insightful blog entitled, “Are Gen Xers: the New Baby Boomers?”  In it she mused on the fact that one day my generation will be the ones the next generation will complain about hanging on to power too long and needing to learn how to change.  It happens to every generation.  However, she isn’t wrong.  I just hope we will have the wisdom to hear and not simply say… “You are still young... you will learn...”  And that is exactly what the writer of Mark’s gospel is getting at with the literary use of the man with the unclean spirit.
             What faces Westminster and the church in North America is unlike anything any of us have ever seen.  None of us has any more wisdom or experience or education to face this new day.  But we do have the ability and the calling to go back to the basics.  We are being called to go back to the essence of the Good News.  Invite, share what you have, live with authenticity and joy.  In other words, we are called to live as if our faith matters beyond the walls of the church.  But, when we do that, when we open ourselves up things will change and we might just find ourselves saying… are you trying to destroy us but doing things that way?!
            What will be the story told about us when all that remains are stones?  Will people know that Westminster was here?  It really does not matter at all.  What matters is that we share and live with authenticity and joy.  And who knows, what began here may be remembered, not simply for our beautiful architecture but for the ways lives were changed.  Amen.