The 2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Walking Humbly with God
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
As you know, I preach most often on one of the readings assigned to be read from our lectionary each weekend, usually the Gospel lesson, but sometimes one of the other two or three lessons.
But not today.
I have found myself reflecting a lot these last weeks on what it means to be a Christian in 2018 and, for me, what it means to be a Christian pastor in 2018. I am sure these reflections are influenced by the intensity of my ministry these last weeks as well as marking my fourth year as your pastor here at Mt. Olive in April and later this month marking my 42nd year as an ordained pastor in the Lutheran church.
What does it mean to be a Christian in today’s world, especially when so many of the examples of Christianity we see in public are so negative. And, what does it mean to be a Christian pastor in today’s world, especially when so many examples of Christian pastors we see in public are so negative.
On Memorial Day Kris and I were walking on the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade when we first heard and then came upon two young men with huge signs and bullhorns. Claiming to be Christian, they were shouting that all the heathen people walking by them that day were certainly going to hell and that hell and judgement is what awaits people who do not get right with God, whatever that means.
I have to tell you, I had a visceral reaction. I started to rub my face as Kris tells me I do when I am upset and my stomach just sank. This, I thought, is what is wrong with so-called Christianity and Christianity today – we are seen as all judgement and no love, as the faith of NO. No wonder so many younger people list themselves as “none” when asked about their religion. No wonder Christian churches are struggling in so many places. As Rafael Malpica-Padilla shared with us back in February, if that’s Christianity, the church of NO and judgement and hate, I want no part of it.
The problem is that the shouters on the Promenade represent a local view of a nation-wide problem. Too many so called Christian leaders, at least the ones we hear about in the national media, too many so called Christian leaders are at best an embarrassment and at worst a force of evil in this world.
Take the Florida televangelist, a proponent of the misguided Prosperity Gospel, who has asked his followers to donate funds so that he can purchase a $54 million new airplane, his fourth! I would try to laugh this one off, but I know too well that so many of his followers, the ones who send him regular support, are elderly and poor.
Or the Texas Baptist Seminary President and leader of the Southern Baptist Church who finally resigned last week from his seminary position. He had advised women in his former congregation to stay with abusive husbands, even when they showed up at worship with obvious signs of abuse, and was proud of that advise. But that was not enough to get him fired. Finally, when it was revealed last week he had once advised a female student not to report a rape, finally that was enough to get his seminary to act and boot him out.
Then there is the founder and former head of Focus on the Family who this week advocated that transgender people using public bathrooms should be shot. Well, he did not use those words exactly, he said, speaking of seeing a transgender person in a public bathroom, “If this happened 100 years ago, someone might have been shot,” and continued asking, “Where is today’s manhood?” His implications were certainly clear.
And we could add the son of the most famous evangelist of the 20th century who spews hate for Muslims or the founder of the Willow Creek Community megachurch whose inappropriate behavior with multiple women went on for years.
My first reaction to all of this is anger, but mostly it just saddens me. These behaviors are an affront to those of us who also claim the Christian faith and a special affront to those of us in ordained ministry. If these men, and they are all white men, if these men are the example of Christian pastors, I do not want to be one.
And yet. And then.
And then I had a week, well two weeks, like these past two weeks, two weeks where I had the privilege of walking with children and adults, members and associates of our congregation and non-members, through some of the most difficult of times in their lives – health crises, marital abuse, threat of eviction just because they are older, all the most difficult times for them. I was blessed to be able to walk with them, to try to help them and, if nothing else, to pray with and for them and let them know they are not alone.
And then I co-officiated at the most wonderful wedding of two young women from our congregation. Their love and commitment and faith helped renew mine.
And then I helped our shelter raise more than $100,000 in one morning and celebrated with our student volunteers in their year-end banquet. If you want to feel good about the future of our nation and world, just spend time with the young people who volunteer to staff our shelter.
And then I got to spend more time than usual with our preschool children and staff and I wondered why I don’t spend more time with them all the time. As one of our teachers once told me, when asked how she can spend 10 hours each day, five days a week with often crying children, she just said, “150 hugs a day!”
Here’s the thing, and this is very good news – this is not James Dobson’s or Bill Hybel’s or Paige Patterson's or Jesse Duplantus' or Franklin Graham’s church, this is God’s church, this is Jesus’ church.
And, those men are not my examples for ministry. My ministry examples are my colleagues in the ELCA congregations in our area – Jim and Caleb and Peg and Scott and our Bishop Guy and my colleagues in congregations of other faiths in our community – Janet and Neil and so many more. They are all my examples in ministry.
And that leads me back to the questions with which I began: What does it means to be a Christian in this time and place? What does it mean to be a pastor in 2018?
For me, it all comes back to, it always comes back to this, the way I evaluate those who claim the title of Christian, the way I wish to be evaluated as a Christian and as a pastor and person – In the words of Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
And these two weeks have only reminded me, once again, that, no matter how it may seem, no matter how some Christians and so-called Christian leaders behave, the church of Jesus Christ is alive and well when it is busy loving the world and all of its people. And, the church of Jesus Christ in this community and around the world IS busy loving the world and all of its people.
I thank God for that as I thank God for the privilege of ministering with you in this time and place. Let us all continue to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.”
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, June 2 & 3, 2018
