Mark 9:38-50
“All for One and One for All”
September 30, 2018
Let’s say you’ve been invited to a big party and you only know the host and a few other folks. You start mingling and inevitably the conversation turns to where are you from or how do you know the host or what kind of work did you do or are currently doing or talk turns to children or grandchildren or what was the last good movie or television show you enjoyed. You make small talk that seems pretty easy to go along with and fairly non-threatening, even possibly for introverts.
If the party is here in Vermont, unlike down South as I distinctly remember from living in Virginia, my guess would be that it would take quite a while until the conversation would get around to whether you belong to a local faith community and if so, which church – that is of course unless you’re a minister and then once the “what do you do?” question is answered many folks suddenly have to make a phone call or apologize for any words they used in the previous few minutes that they think might have offended you.
Many of us were taught that in social situations or maybe even at family gatherings, one was not to talk about politics or religion as they had the potential to have folks take sides and maybe arguments would ensue and this would break up the intended festive mood and so we mostly stick to those who vote like us and worship like us and the great divide just increases in depth and width. Just as the chasm of our times when it comes to the political atmosphere is not only widening but spewing more poison in the name of righteousness, so too the religious divide is deepening within the church of Jesus Christ. Who gets to claim the name of true believers? Some of us find ourselves, as one writer pointed out using the words of politics in identifying “true Christians. For example:
You cannot be a true Christian if you…(this is where we fill in the blank): – Voted for Donald Trump
Didn’t vote for Donald Trump
Are Pro-Choice
Are Pro-Life
Aren’t LGBTQ-friendly
Advocate for LGBTQ rights (David Lose, “In the Meantime”)
The side-taking in our country has rarely been as pronounced and with such determination as this week in the aftermath of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanagh. For many folks it has been a truly painful week in which memories of abuse and assault and harassment have been brought to the surface and the old scabs have been broken open. What will it take for us to be healers in the midst of what might be a long process of change that we are all a part of now? What is the cup of water that we will offer going to look like if it is bearing the name of Christ? Will we be able to see beyond the differences to recognize another water bearer when we see them? Can we listen to understand and not just react?
The national grassroots work of an organization called Better Angels is trying to reduce the polarization and it is already at work up in Rutland. The effort started in 2016 and it works “by bringing liberals and conservatives together to understand each other beyond stereotypes, forming red/blue community alliances, teaching practical skills for communicating across political difference, and making a strong public argument for depolarization.” They do this with Red/Blue Workshops where 7 conservative-leaning and 7 progressive-leaning participants get together for moderated discussions. They also offer Skills Workshops which help develop practical skills to use so as to have better conversations with friends and family with whom one has serious disagreements. As an organization they also make sure to be evenly split in the make-up of their board and staff and workshop participants. Their name comes from the words of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address when he said, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Our fellow Americans are not our enemies nor are our fellow Christians.
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem it seems that there were increasingly greater obstacles to getting there and often these were created by those who thought they were protecting Jesus’ best interests. Jesus is clear in pointing out that whenever we work to serve others in need, we can use his name.
We, in this church, certainly should know better than many what it means to build bridges between different traditions trying to live into our identities as Christians. In this sanctuary today we represent easily at least a half dozen or more different Christian denominations into which we were born or raised. Somehow we have found a way to reconcile our diversity. Perhaps this is easier because we are now one church out of what was once two and before that started as one. Our ancestors in the faith had the wisdom and courage to recognize that there was more strength in unity than in trying to compete with each other. Of course, compromises and negotiations took a decade or two to finally get these two congregations to think of themselves as one. We will need such determination as we forge a future and determine how we will be water bearers to a thirsty world.
Cooperation for the greater good was valued by Jesus over who was more entitled to claim the name of “good Christian.” The disciples at this point have witnessed and been encouraged to help spread the message but what seems to have happened is that they in their work by Jesus’ side, have made themselves into gatekeepers who feel as if they should be empowered to use Jesus’ name but then be quick to dismiss those who are not following them. This sounds an awful lot like the territoriality we build around Jesus. It is tempting to think we have the right vision and have heard the correct call as disciples and we can be quick to dismiss those who have a different take on what it means to be followers. As we approach a future filled with distrust for most things that have the word religion attached to them, we find ourselves living among folks here in Vermont, in this least religious of states. What will we who identify as Christian be called to do?
There are a dozen different types of salt in the world, each harvested in varied ways, some coming from mines and others from the sea and others still originating in volcanoes. These various salts also have different purposes from preservation to flavor enhancement to keeping food warm. They add different things to food and yet they are all called salt.
What is it that we add to the world? As long as we work to be at peace with one another, perhaps we’re going to need to find a way that doesn’t replace or deny the importance of other Christian traditions but rather recognizes that there is no single path behind Jesus. As long as we keep offering the cups of water as best as we are able to all those who thirst, we will have plenty to keep us busy in this Kingdom of Heaven on earth work, here and now. Maybe we can release our need for others to recognize that we have the way and make room to journey side by side, following Jesus’ lead. Amen.