Acts 7:54-60
MP3 File
I want you to do some musing with me this morning about Immanuel’s ministry. The text we just heard from the Book of Acts is the conclusion of an extended speech given by Stephen, one of the first deacons selected to wait on tables during the distribution of food. Stephen would have been like one of the volunteers in Immanuel’s Food Pantry. That’s an interesting, important & threatening perspective from which to view Immanuel’s ministry. I say threatening because Food Pantry volunteers tend to be people who are full of compassion and not too patient with aspects of institutionalism that might get in the way of compassion.
Too many institutions have failed & too many physical structures have distracted from the real mission of God’s people. That’s what Stephen communicated in his speech. Stephen’s speech debunks any illusion that God will protect institutions or physical structures that get in the way of the Spirit’s mission. Immanuel is currently engaged in conversations and actions that focus a lot on this institution and its buildings in order to sustain Immanuel’s ministry in the years ahead. This passage raises important and uncomfortable questions about all that – questions that we avoid to our peril and engage to our benefit. Stephen incarnated those questions in his speech to the council, and he did not mince words. Of course he was about as well received as Rev Jeremiah Wright would be in the Bush White House. You remember Jeremiah Wright, don’t you? He is the retiring pastor of the Trinity UCC in Chicago who officiated at Barack Obama’s wedding, baptized his children, and shaped his faith. That association has been about as helpful to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign as an association with Stephen would have been to a member of the Sanhedrin.
But we dare not try to escape the likes of Stephen, because to deny a connection with Stephen is to deny the founding story of the church – namely, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The parallels with the story of Jesus cannot be missed – from the rage of his enemies, to the forgiveness offered to them, from the covering of the ears to keep from hearing an alternative version of the story to the focus by the victim on the will of God.
What do we need to hear from Stephen at Immanuel at this point in our history? For several years now the leadership of Immanuel has been addressing the matter of the sustainability of this ministry. In the past year the pace of that work has increased. Currently we are engaged in a feasibility study to determine how much money we could raise to restore this beautiful and well used building so that it can continue to be a center of activities for the many communities it serves, including & especially this congregation. We have also been working diligently to develop affordable housing on our parking lots that will both meet a huge need in this community as well as help sustain Immanuel’s ministry financially.
At the same time we continue to nurture relationships with tenants and potential tenants who can share this space in ways that serve the community and share in the expense of our building. A key piece of that strategy involves our efforts to establish a partnership with the Korean Church of Peace, so that after the Open Door Church leaves to their new building next year, we might participate in a ministry among Korean people in this community that is congruent with our own ministry.
Yet another group of Immanuel folks has been looking at all these factors and developing different scenarios for our future. When we put them all together, what options exist for Immanuel? That is a tough question, but it is necessary that we ask it. We are stewards of Immanuel’s ministry. Prior generations established this church, built this space in which we carry out our ministry, and participated in life-giving mission around this city and around the world. We have a responsibility to discern how best to go forward with all that.
What does Stephen’s threatening message have to teach us in the midst of that institutional work? I believe there are several lessons. I want to focus on four: Don’t forget the people. Expect opposition. Keep listening. Practice forgiveness.
Don’t forget the people. Stephen’s sermon was mostly about people. He told the stories of Abraham and Sarah who had to leave the settledness of life in Haran; of Joseph who worked with the Pharaoh of Egypt to save the family that had rejected him; and of Moses and the women who sustained his life when it was threatened. He concludes that those who held the reigns of power, who ran the institutions and inhabited their palaces and temples, were often on the wrong side of history.
What does that mean for Immanuel as we work to sustain our institution and buildings? I want to suggest that it means we dare not focus exclusively on funding this ministry by squeezing every last penny out of our property. We are a congregation that is too small for this building. Look at us. We rattle around in this huge sanctuary. Many of us have arrived at this church wounded from other church experiences. Some of those churches focused a lot on growing in numbers. So most at Immanuel are loathe to do anything that smacks of church growth.
But we have been told by many that Immanuel is one of the best kept secrets in Los Angeles. The truth is there is probably only a small slice of Los Angeles that would be attracted to our ministry. Our model of ministry is threatening to many Christians; and those who want what we offer aren’t expecting to find it in a church. But even a small slice of a city the size of Los Angeles could easily double or triple our numbers. If you have walked or driven around this neighborhood, you see all the new apartment buildings going up. Many new neighbors will be moving in to this area. Will any of them find Immanuel?
I’m not talking about proselytizing people to believe something they don’t want to believe. I’m talking about sharing a specific version of the good news with people who are looking precisely for what we offer. Who will find those people? My sense is that most of us believe someone else will. But I’ve got news for you. There isn’t anyone else. While we strategize about how to get new groups to lease space on our property, Stephen’s message to us is “don’t forget the people.” We also need a strategy to reach the people. We are here to minister to people, not to be landlords. The staff and Session can take care of the landlord part. But all of us need to reach out to and minister to the people. Will you step up to the plate?
The second lesson I see in Stephen’s sermon is “Expect opposition.” Jesus and Stephen are dangerous characters to know. There is no response we can make to Jesus that will protect us from experiencing danger of some kind. If we try to escape the danger by avoiding Jesus, or by hiding from the truth he awakens us to, we will remain locked in fear. Fear leads us to all kinds of dangerous behaviors. If we actively reject or oppose Jesus or his followers, we end up on the wrong side of history, which means the wrong side of justice, compassion & freedom. Stephen was accusing the council of being on the wrong side of history. On the other hand, if, like Stephen, we embrace Jesus and his mission, we expose ourselves to danger from all the forces that feel threatened by the changes Jesus brings into history, all those who oppose the arc of justice. So the best way to move forward is to consciously expect opposition so that it doesn’t discourage us before we build up momentum.
Immanuel has taken positions on many issues that have led people to either actively oppose us or simply avoid us. Some people left when we started having a bilingual service each week. Others left because of our inclusiveness with the GLBT community. Still others oppose our hospitality with undocumented immigrants. We’ve engaged opposing forces in the struggle for affordable housing, better schools for the children of this neighborhood, and a host of other issues. Sometimes I’ve been shocked and discouraged by the opposition. Some days the struggle feels too hard. I want to learn the lesson from Stephen that we need to expect opposition.
Thirdly, we need to keep listening. As the members of the council heard Stephen call them “stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and hears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit… they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen… he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look’, he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’” In response, we are told that “they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.”
Now the members of the council weren’t evil people. They were like a council of bishops, or like a Presbytery, full of the most committed people among the faithful. They had good intentions & truly wanted to serve God. But they had stopped listening. They had put ministry on auto pilot and moved forward. When they heard something that sounded familiar but that didn’t fit in with their current plans they “covered their ears” in an attempt to avoid the dissonance of the message with their current priorities.
Notice that there are two moments of listening. There is the ongoing listening required to stay attuned to God’s Spirit, so we don’t go astray ever so gradually into ways that make all kinds of sense at each tiny step. Each & every one of us needs to pray, to meditate, and to reflect on our lives on a regular basis so that we don’t get too far off track. But it is practically inevitable that at certain periods we will get off track. That’s when the second moment of listening matters so much. We hear that voice calling to us from a place on the very path from which we have grown distant. Because of the distance the voice sounds discordant. We are tempted to reject it. The challenge is to listen to it, to attend to it, to allow it to break through our resistance and hear its urging to keep taking risks.
The final reminder from Stephen’s story is to practice forgiveness. Like Jesus before him, Stephen prayed that God would forgive his persecutors: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” One writer (Gil Bailie, in Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary) pointed out the difference between Jesus and Stephen on the one hand, and John the Baptist on the other. All three were persecuted as innocent victims. Like Jesus, Stephen keeps his eyes on God, so that he can do what needs to be done right there: forgiveness. The only one in the position to forgive is the victim. In going around and forgiving people, Jesus was using his power as the "Lamb slain since the foundation of the world." This is what Andrew McKenna calls the "victim's epistemological privilege." He's the only one with perfect lucidity at this moment. But John the Baptist was glaring back at Herod, his accuser. He was into that little scandal, and nothing would come of it.
Julian of Norwich says this in one of her writings: "God lays upon everyone he longs to bring into his bliss something that is no blame in his sight, but for which they are blamed and despised in this world. Scorned, mocked, and cast out. He does this to offset the harm they should otherwise have from the pomp and vainglory of this earthly life, and to make their road to him easier, and to bring them higher in his joy without end." Being in that position of being the accused, cures us of a lot of our craziness.
So, as we move forward at a critical juncture for Immanuel, Stephen’s words speak important truth into our reality: Don’t forget the people. Expect opposition. Keep listening. Practice forgiveness. We could do a lot worse than remembering those truths. So, “Listen, sisters, brothers, to the news that we proclaim.”
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