'I Feel Hopeful'

Memo for Those Who Preach

by

First Sunday of Lent, Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13

This Sunday in Lent is usually devoted to the temptation of Jesus, and a call for fasting. My old teacher Fred Gealy had a wise thought on the subject. Fasting, dieting in order to reduce weight makes some sense to us, but to refuse food on religious grounds seems to us followers of Paul to be a work of the law. All of this fasting and giving up of stuff and obeying certain church law may make us a better church person, but it does not necessarily make us better Christians.*

Speaking of becoming better Christians, we have just gone through an intense meeting in St. Louis where prayer after prayer was offered. Wise words were spoken, bread was broken, and there was an outward show of beauty in worship, as hundreds gathered from around the world. 

But then the church settled back into the same old rut—got down to business—and came away a divided Church. I’m not sure it made us better Christians, but who am I to judge—I wasn’t there. But I do have a different take on all of this. I know how hard it was for our Bishop and many in our delegation. And because of them, I feel hopeful. Perhaps it is because I have been around for a while, and I have seen a thing or two.

I am a transplanted Texan, and as a young student at Perkins, I experienced a kind of insanity, only that time it had to do with the anger over allowing five black students into the school.** Parents cried out, “Where are they sleeping and eating—surely not in the dorm.” One of those students was Cecil Williams, of Glide Memorial Church of California fame. 

I feel hopeful. Maybe it is because I was part of the bittersweet struggle of the civil rights movement as we witnessed martyrdom, pain, and people warning that this will split our church. Out of that struggle, we in Iowa welcomed the first black Bishop to serve in a snow white Conference. Yes, there was fear and foreboding. But Bishop James S. Thomas was with us for twelve years, and we are a better Church because of him.  

Some will say this time it is different. Well, change is always different, filled with fear and foreboding. I keep saying to young people what Paul said when his boat was caught in the storm and about to break up: The people asked, “Should we abandon ship?” Paul said, “No, stay with the boat.” And they did! And we too shall stay, many of us.

When Jesus came down from that mountain of temptation, where he had fasted for forty days, he was hungry. He found the same old world, same old rigid laws in place to decide who is worthy. Jesus began to create signs of a new age, a new beginning. And that is our task: to create the signs that point to a new and different way to live, to love, to welcome the stranger. And as I recall, what Jesus started, the very gates of hell have yet to overcome. Yes, I feel hopeful, and here is why:

On Sunday, the Icono-class (Sunday school) will meet, a group of folks who welcome everyone, no litmus test required. On Tuesday, the Grace Free Clinic staffed by Broadlawns Hospital will welcome all who are sick and broken—a hot meal will be provided, and one can find a warm coat if needed. A mental health counselor will be on duty on Wednesday, and the weekend will bring the people gathered for worship. This congregation decided several years ago and took a vote for neighborliness.

Now here is the deal: Each church should see last week as a wake-up call. Like good politics, all true religion is local. Go create the signs of a new day, and for God’s sake, welcome the stranger—please, no litmus test. 

At the next Annual Conference, I will have attended my 63rd session, and I do plan to show up. And I have indeed seen a thing or two—Lord, have mercy upon this old Church of ours! I feel hopeful!

We are in Lent and reports are coming in regarding what happened in Saint Louis.

Jan and I went to Oxford, England. I had never been there and part of my wishing to go was to visit Saint Mary’s Church where John Wesley gave his great sermon “By Grace are you saved by faith.” The old church was being repaired but the usher let us in. On the pulpit there was a little sign which reported the date and stated that this was indeed where John Wesley gave his great sermon. Following that sermon, which took most of the faculty to the woodshed, the Usher asked Mr. Wesley for his notes to be given to the Dean. Wesley saw this as providential. He said now every person of note will have to read the sermon, some more than once. Had Wesley simply published the sermon few would have seen it. That was the last time he was invited to preach at Saint Mary.

We all know of Wesley’s conversion in 1738—the heart warming experience. But the real conversion occurred the next year 1739 when he decided to become a street preacher.  Church at that time was reserved for the well to do. The underclass were not welcome. In fact the usher carried a Betal stick to move the poor and unclean to make way for the nobility.   

In his journal Wesley reports that he had become a vile man—he went out to preach to the unclean, those who were not welcome; coal miners, the poor, women, the sinned against.  Immediately the response was enormous. All who felt judged and unwelcome because of things beyond their control believed they had a friend. The rest is history.

I bring this up on the first Sunday in Lent because of what happened in Saint Louis. 

I was sure that smart people would move us forward. But we could not get the traction needed because we are making ancient doctrine sacred and unchanging. 

In Oxford, the usher apologized for the work on the building. Then he said don’t tell anyone but we are paying for the repairs with lottery money. I said we would call that "practical divinity," to which the usher smiled.

*Gealy Fred, Let Us Break Bread Together, Communion Mediations for the Church Year, Abingdon Press, New York, Nashville, p. 48.

**Cuninggim, Merrimon, Perkins Led the Way, The story of how a seminary did not give in to the fears of that time and became open to everyone.

Th Rev. Bill Cotton is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Along with colleagues, he produces "Memo for Those Who Preach," an email newsltter. To subscribe, email him at revcottonhill@hotmail.com.