I'm
so grateful for Matt Tebbe's willingness to preach and guide you in worship
yesterday, and from what Anna told me, his presence was a real blessing. Anna
especially appreciated the deeper consideration of what it means to move into
God’s Kingdom with a childlike faith, and I pray God used his words to speak to
you.
Matt’s
willingness to preach also gave me the opportunity to do something I don’t get
to do very often: go to church as a
parishioner and as a visitor. It made me
realize all over again what you and others are looking for when you make your
way to church on Sunday mornings, or – at least – what I was searching for.
It
had been a wonderful weekend in many ways.
My dad agreed to accompany me on a trip down about an hour south of
Knoxville, Tennessee for a bicycle ride up the Cherohala Skyway, a circuitous
route up the jagged Smokey Mountains. It
meant a lot to me that my dad was willing to expend so much time and energy
just to support one of my crazy interests, especially given that sheets and
sheets of rain continued to whip right through Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee
as we made our way down, and his willingness and support was even more
meaningful as Father’s Day neared.
Of
course, traveling so many miles was also tiring and disruptive, and by the time
we got home late Saturday evening, I was ready to get back to some sense of
normalcy. Lying in bed, I also realized I
was wanting and needing time to be in God’s house. Our trip had been a success and not just
because it was free from injury, and I wanted to give God thanks. But, deeper than that, I was also deeply
aware that not all was okay in the world.
As we stopped at a rest stop on the way home, I saw scores of people crisscrossing
the grass lawn to use the restrooms and take a moment of sanctuary. It was a diverse company that perfectly
represented the America we live in today:
diverse, eccentric, and interacting briefly before going our way
again. I couldn’t help but think of the
tragedy that occurred down in South Carolina last week, and how that spiritual
house of relief had become a place of great tragedy. So, as I faded off to sleep on Saturday night
with all of this playing in my heart and mind, I felt a desire to be in a place
where I knew that the pastor would be sharing a word from the Lord about the
tragedy of Mother Emmanuel. I was
searching for some stability and some word of assurance, and God caused me to remember
a minister I had met a few years ago that pastors a church near downtown Indianapolis: Rev. Michael Mathers.
My
point is not to put the spotlight on Rev. Mathers, although I was indeed
grateful for his honest words and ability to share a word from the Lord about
the tragedy. My point is that
yesterday, I was able to see church from your perspective – how you come
looking for a word from the Lord, how you come seeking that place that gives
you assurance and stability, how you come looking for means to express the
jumble of emotions that bounce around within you including your grief and your
joys.
As
I sat through the service, I realized what a gift worship is. How it orients us. How it orders us. I realized how it speaks a word to us that we
really can’t get anywhere else. I
realized how it takes the wild events of our wounded world and frames what we
hear, see and experience within the reality of God’s grace, God’s sovereignty,
and God’s love. I realized as I listened
to the congregation sing “We Shall Overcome” and a soloist sing “Bless the Lord,
O My Soul” that music brings our hopes and fears out of us and turns them into
prayers before God who sits upon his throne.
And, I realized my opportunity and call is to stay close to the heart of
God amidst all blowing winds of the world so that I might have a word to share
with you come Sunday.
It
sounds like God used worship yesterday to do the same for you, and I’m so
grateful God used Matt and Cheryl and the rest of you who stepped forward to
lead the people in worship.
Lastly,
I wanted to pass along one other piece from the worship service I attended
yesterday. It was something Rev. Mathers
said to the congregation near the beginning of the service regarding the
tragedy of Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal. Let these words also be a reminder to us as
we carry and share the peace of Jesus Christ this week through our own actions
and attitudes:
---
By
Rev. Michael Mathers
We gather together this
morning, to pray, to read scripture and to sing.
Our hearts are heavy with
grief and shame at the sin and brokenness of our nation. And yet - we gather to pray, to read
scripture and to sing.
We grieve with the families
of all those who have died. We grieve
with our sisters and brothers of Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Charleston, South Carolina - a denomination formed out of the
discrimination and racism of the Methodist Church who also gave birth to this
church - Broadway. We gather together
today to repent of the sin that continues to divide us, upon which our nation
and church was formed, and in which we continue to live. We gather together this morning, to pray, to
read scripture and to sing.
Let us pause for a moment
today…and think on the words
we are about to speak. These words are
nothing but a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal if we just speak them this
morning and do not live the sentiments we so easily voice.
We will greet one another
in a moment with the words “peace
be with you.” And
people will respond “and
also with you.” But
if we leave those words hanging in the air of our sanctuary and not in our
homes, our workplaces, our streets - it would be better that we do not say them
to one another now.
These are not “nice”
words for us to say in the sanctuary - they are challenging words for us
to live in this world. When people’s hearts are broken - to offer peace,
is to offer hospitality - to welcome someone into your arms and into your
home. When someone is angry at the
injustice done - to offer peace is to offer a listening ear, to offer
solidarity to walk alongside that person in their anger and grief and despair. When people offer hateful and ignorant words
and actions, to offer peace is not to walk away, but to stand there, to
challenge the offensive words and actions, by NOT turning away.
We gather in a sanctuary -
because we think of sanctuaries as safe places, safe havens - but we gather
this morning with an all to visible reminder that this is not so. The horrific violence in the church in South
Carolina is a brutal reminder that no place is safe.
A church I know told a new
person on their staff not to walk the couple of blocks from their church building
to a nearby drug store. They told her it
wasn’t safe. This very same church had dealt with child
abuse by trusted people inside the walls of their church building - and yet,
they were telling their new staff person it wasn’t safe to walk the streets.
Let us offer peace
reminding ourselves that every place needs your peace…and that you are present in the broken places - which is to
say everywhere.
When we offer peace to one
another this morning - remember this is practice to offer the peace to all we
come across.
My sisters and brothers…Peace Be With You.
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