January 16, 2000

Douglas S. Long

North Raleigh United Church

I'm going to use a portion of the time normally allotted for the sermon at this point to both introduce the reader of the scripture, the Reverend Dr. Richard McBride, and at the same time reflect a bit on the gift of relationships… both individually and corporately.

It has everything to do with the journey of faith, a journey we all share, and the guidance God provides along the way.

When I first met Richard McBride I was a young, eager college freshman… He was young too… but further along… Richard was one of the Chaplains at Wake Forest University. (I heard, by the way Richard, that WFU played Carolina this week. Did anybody get the score of that game?)

Back to the mid- 1970's… 25 years ago… First year of college, now I was part of the organization that Richard oversaw… the Baptist Student Union… Interestingly, three others here were in that same group…. Mike and Sandra McKeown, and Denise. And it was a large group that was often considerably more …what shall we say… traditional in its theology than our esteemed leader, Richard.

We BSUers came to Wake Forest knowing all the Christian campfire songs and that 'Jesus saves.' What more was there?

We were brash, and pretty sure of ourselves, but Richard patiently, often quietly, stretched us, challenged us, to a larger Gospel and a Jesus who resided almost always outside the church buildings we equated with Christianity. The seeds of my first sermon, in the Baptist church I was a youth minister in at the time, was gleaned from a box of material Richard gave me… It was entitled… "Go To Hell"… Did you ever hear about that Richard? I don't know if the Chaplain's office got a call about that or not. The gist of the message was that there are hellish places here on earth… "Go to hell," says God, "and I will go with you."

There was a fall conference one year… big convention… Baptist students from all over the state traveling to Ridgecrest… Baptist Mecca in the mountains… and there were two keynote speakers… John Claypool, very pastoral, very personal…

And C. Eric Lincoln, very prophetic, challenging the social system

And I know it tore Richard up that I said a week later in a small group of students that I loved the pastoral Claypool, but I could do without the prophetic Lincoln. I know this because the next meeting he brought a cassette tape of C. Eric Lincoln's address and played it for us to hear again.

Yeah… we were a little young an needed guidance.

Richard, I can't help but consider my youth and inexperience in those days, verses your experience, having traveled the journey a little longer… I couldn't help this week considering that relationship of these two congregations, North Raleigh United and Hillsborough UCC today.

We NRUC's are young… we are first year students… and we welcome the Hillsborough congregation's maturity and experience.

Now Richard and I hooked up again, six or seven years later when he was the Chaplain at Elon College, where he still is now, and I was pastoring a small UCC congregation in Burlington NC.

…and suffice it to say that in those seven years, between WFU, and Burlington/Elon much had happened in both of our lives. It was wonderful to re-establish a relationship… and to together work with students and the community in a variety of ways. I simply say this because the relationship has continued to be very important to me… and in 1975, I had no idea that 25 years later we would still be a part of each others lives. Neither of us could have envisioned that we would be here today enthusiastically representing two congregations not yet born in a denomination at least one of us had not yet heard of.

So… this is to say that I am more than hopeful for the relationship between North Raleigh United and Hillsborough UCC to prosper and grow. We know within the United Church of Christ there is a wide spectrum of theological orientations. While the denomination as a whole is on the progressive end of the scale, some UCC churches are quite conservative, and, in all honesty, here in NC, the scale is more weighted on that end than in many parts of the country. For that reason, it is with deep gratitude and appreciation that I acknowledge the support and energy that you from Hillsborough provide today. Where will we each be a year from now? Ten years from now? I cannot say… but I suspect that we will be allying with one another along the way.. at Associational meetings and Conference gatherings and times we could not now possibly predict. I have hopes that Lisa and Harding will have each others phone numbers, that the youth of our two groups might join with a couple of primarily African American congregations nearby and jointly work on repairing the grounds of the Franklinton Center, that the relationship that your pastor in Hillsborough, Kaye Crawford, has already formed, Kaye was a member of the external steering committee for North Raleigh United, that Kaye will be known and loved here too. There is so much promise, so many possibilities, so much work, so much joy to be shared in the journey ahead.

You are not an old congregation yourself… 13 or 14 years. .. but that puts you far enough ahead of us on that journey that we value your wisdom greatly. So may we continue to grow as siblings… wed to the same vision of just peace, counting the costs and joys of discipleship together, singing from the same source of all love, we know as God.
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The end of each year and beginning of each new one brings with it dozens of lists of the best and worst of the year, or decade just passed. The last few weeks have been, of course, been exceptionally filled with such lists because some lists have been for the year 1999, some for the entire decade of the 90's, some for the entire 20^th century, …and of course, a few have attempted to encompass the past 10,000 years…. the millennium. To realize such lists are arbitrary and full of speculation goes without saying… For example, I don't think I've heard mentioned, on any of the lists that have hit my ear or ear, a single person from ….the most populous country in the world… not one.

I wonder if he had displayed his prowess in the 1950's instead of the 1990's if the vote would have been any different……but maybe, according to one poll, Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete of the century…You'll certainly hear no argument from the Nike Corporation on that score.

…So subjective and weighted and even skewed, our opinions.

A few years ago, it was with a whole different level of interest that I read a review of a book about a "most influential" list… and I was partially interested because the book came out at a particularly unimpressive point of reflection, the mid-1990's, … not the end of any year or decade… but just a reflection by its author, Michael Hart, on the 100 Most Influential Persons in History. This wasn't considering a decade, century, or even a millennium… it was all of history. So I glanced at he beginning of the list… any guesses at number 1? Any?

… Mohammed. (I wanted to see a few more.)

Second?… Isaac Newton.

Third? …Jesus.

Jesus came in third… Not bad in all of history… still, …third.

Now the reason for placing Jesus in this position, third, was that, according to the author, Jesus' most original and distinctive ethical teaching, to love one's enemies, was never practiced by his followers. If Christians had followed that teaching Hart says he would have placed him first, but the truth is, concluded Hart: "But the truth is that they (Jesus' teachings about enemies) are not even generally accepted. Most Christians consider the injunction to "Love your enemy" as- at most- an ideal which might be realized in some perfect world, but one which is not a reasonable guide to conduct in the actual world we live in. Continues Hart, we do not normally practice it, do not expect others to practice it, and do not teach our children to practice it. Jesus' most distinctive teaching therefore, remains an intriguing but basically untried suggestion."

What an indictment!

Put another way…

The followers of Jesus don't follow him.

I was reminded of this same thought last week as I pursued an annual ritual.

Each January, I pick up a volume of the essential writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and re-read a portion of it. "A Testament of Hope" is filled with speeches, excerpts from books, letters, and sermons of King. I am always amazed when I read these writings, though written in the 50's and 60's, how completely up to date and still entirely on target many of them are.

This year my eye was drawn to one of King's collections of sermons… The Strength to Love… and to a particular sermon within that collection… A Knock at Midnight.

King's sermon is based on the parable Richard read to us earlier, sometimes referred to as the importunate friend. Importunate is not a word in my daily vocabulary, maybe it is some of yours, but just in case it isn't, it means 'persistent.' …the persistent friend.

You go to a friend's home at midnight, after their spouse who doesn't like to be awakened is asleep, children too, and you knock on the door to ask for bread …You wake your friend up and you hear the reply… "Go away. I'm in bed. We're all asleep."

Now King takes this parable and masterfully says… People are knocking on the door today. And it's the door of the church…. And the church is saying, implicitly… 'go away.'

But let me not jump too far ahead…. Hear a few of King's words from… A Knock at the Door.

Excuse King from his non-inclusive language and see for yourself if his words are not still pertinent for the church today.

Harking back to the imagery of the parable, and the friend at the door at midnight… King's words:

As in the parable, the midnight today is interrupted , says King, by the sound of a knock… on the door of the church. …King notes that the church of his day is growing… It has more members than at any point in history. But then says.. We must not be tempted to confuse spiritual power and large numbers. Jumboism…some have called it…. A larger membership does not necessarily represent a correspondingly increased commitment to Christ. Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better.

Finding themselves in an increasingly impersonal world, a traveler comes and knocks on the door of the church asking for three loves of bread.

And I'll quickly summarize the three loaves he explores… the bread of freedom, the bread of peace, and the bread of economic justice.

King observes that in the church of his day… The bread of freedom is sought by African Americans but the church is filled with leaders who are more "cautious than courageous" and more "prone to follow the expedient than the ethical path." One of the shameful tragedies of history is that the very institution that should remove man from the midnight of racial segregation participates in creating and perpetuating the midnight.

Now, does the church today, 35 years later, finally offer this bread to those who knock?

Here's another way to ponder the question…. Would Jesus come in third on the list of most influential people of history judged by how his followers have answered this request for equality… this knock at the door?

Another knock in King's day…The bread of peace… Says Martin… In a world gone mad with arms buildups, chauvinistic passion, and imperialistic exploitation, the church has either endorsed these activities or remained appallingly silent…. A weary world, pleading for peace, has often found the church morally sanctioning war."

Now, in the year 2000, does the church finally offer this bread to those who knock?

Would Jesus come in third?… Would Jesus even be on the list?

The final loaf requested, for King, economic justice. Again King, "In many instances the church has so aligned itself with the privileged classes and so defended the status quo that it has been unwilling to answer the knock at midnight…The church must be reminded that it is not the master or servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travelers at midnight.

Now, today, Jan .16, 2000, does the church finally offer this bread of economic justice to those who knock? Economic justice…

On a list of the 100 most influential persons in history, where would we place the one who embodied love…. not place him with our pens, but place him with the actions of our lives.

Jesus might better take the third place finish of Hart and run.

… but we are not yet done… nor is God.

Of the many stories that come from the march from Selma to Montgomery, there is one I treasure particularly deeply. Along the 4 day trek in which 8,000 persons participated, there was drenching rain and baking sun and violent opposition. Bodies were tired and sore and at one point a seventy year old woman was offered a ride for a portion of the journey. She declined. When questioned why she would continue the arduous, painful walk she replied… "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested."

Folks… most of us have knocked on the door of the church at some time and not been answered… some more than others. Many of us have, I know, have almost given up on the institutional church at some point in our lives. I dare say that is why we are a part of the two congregations we represent now. NRUC and Hillsborough UCC…

We want to be a part of the church that opens the door to those who are knocking.

Tired feet don't deter us.. it is rest for our souls, this day, that we seek.

… because we do believe that what is required is to act justly, to love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

…because we are strengthened by the knowledge that we act together, and with thousands more who know the Gospel as love embodied for others and not love confined to ourselves…

…and because we know that God is not yet finished with any of us, individually or collectively…

and because we want Jesus to do better than third.

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