Kirkland Congregational Church United Church of Christians

Rev. Tod Gobledale

October 11, 2009

Hope and Transformation

Mark10:17-31 ...for God all things are possible.

Pray with me: God, may the words of my mouth, this sermon, and the thoughts of all our hearts, all of us hearing this sermon and responding to its message, may they be acceptable to you—building your heavenly realm in this earthly place. Amen.

Ana: Turn to the person next to you... What are some issues today that a community of faith should be speaking out about and taking action on? Each of you take a few moments to share. (The War, consumerism, health care, the environment,).

Thanks. Remember the issues you brought up for later.

Tod: Arrrrgh!!!! I silently scream in my mind. It drives me crazy when good people choose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the world around them! At the least we are called to reflect upon and discuss, in community, the events around us, even, even if we decide not to change.

For weeks my fellow students and I face the stonewall of our seminary's administration. Now as I hold what we have sought for all these weeks, I shake my head in disbelief.

Ah, ...the missing details.... I sit in Doctor Shelby Rooks' office, the Reverend Dr. Shelby Rooks, President of Chicago Theological Seminary, CTS, my seminary. Dr. Rooks hands me a sheaf of papers. I now hold a computer print-out of CTS' financial investment portfolio. As I scan the companies and note the millions of dollars invested, a knot forms in my stomach. I feel ill. Our worst fears realized. I do not want to believe what is black and white before my eyes, because, from these investments I receive my scholarship.

Doctor Rooks, sitting in his three piece suit, gazes across his desk at me. Summoned to his office on short notice, I arrive in my casual student garb-- work boots, a flannel shirt and bib overalls. I so wish I had taken time to put on my one tie and jacket.

“Well,what do you see?” Dr. Rooks asks in his rich, bass, great-preaching voice. This man, thirty-five years my senior, commands my respect for the fifteen months I have studied at CTS. At least he did command my respect. But now I feel let down, deeply disappointed.

It is 1981. I am enrolled in my second year of a Masters of Divinity degree programme which I need in order to be ordained in the United Church of Christ. With the guidance of my ministers in New Hampshire, and because of the full scholarship CTS offers me, I select CTS, a UCC seminary. This church's former pastor, Ron Hutchinson, is a CTS graduate.

In my first theology class, the professor is adament: Christians in general and people in pastoral leadership in particular must approach the world with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

In the early eighties two issues feature prominently in the newspapers we are holding. First, in a world already awash with nuclear weapons, the United States busily builds more bombs. AND... a proposed anti-ballistic missile system—remember so-called... “Star Wars?”-- threatens further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The second issue in our newspapers: South Africa and South Africa's legalized racism, apartheid. What a word, so descriptive. In Afrikaans, pronounced apart-hate: it means separation, the races separated, apart from one another. Apart, where ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds... hate—apart-hate. Apartheid disenfranchises and dehumanizes anyone of colour. Anyone not white in South Africa automatically relegated, at best, a second-class citizen, at worst, not a South African citizen at all. Imagine, being Black African and not being a citizen in the land of your birth, in the land of your heritage.

Nuclear arms proliferation and apartheid command and captivate the minds of journalists [hold up newspaper] and faithful people [hold up Bible] around the world in the early eighties. How to respond?

Although raised in the church, I am new to the machinations, the politics, of church life. Jesus may have divinely inspired the church, but make no mistake, the day- to-day operations of congregations, seminaries, pension funds, and all the other ancilliary operations of a denomination such as our United Church of Christ, rest in the hands of mere mortals. Self-interest and pragmatism, in the guise of fiduciary responsibility, often overshadow Christian ideals and values when shaping decisions.

Back in Dr. Rooks' office, he asks, “Well, Tod, what do you see?”

I respond, “I see that we, CTS, we have no investments in tobacco or alcohol...”

As I pause to take a deep breath to continue, Dr. Rooks jumps into the gap explaining, “The seminary has always shunned investing in liquor, cigarettes and gambling, those businesses and industries which threaten and destroy the lives of so many.”

Gulping... here is my opportunity, and my responsibility, I gather gumption to respond, “But, Dr. Rooks, what about these two companies involved in the construction of nuclear weapons? And what about these three, making money off the backs of Black South African cheap labour? Surely nuclear weapons and apartheid also threaten and destroy lives? ”

Dr. Rooks zeroes in on the thorny question of divestment from South Africa. “Young man,” he says to me, “many people argue that international business in South Africa, 'constructive engagement,' better hastens the demise of apartheid.”

“But Dr. Rooks,” I reply, “in the meantime the vast majority of South Africa's population suffers under apartheid's oppression. Nearly six hundred Black students were slaughtered by the South African police while protesting the sub-standard education forced upon them. How can we not respond when we see that photo of Hector Pietersen being carried limp, bloody and dying while lying in the arms of a fellow student? Dr. Rooks, The South African government has clamped a state of emergency across the country. People are detained without charges. They disappear into the maw of South Africa's prisons. The African National Congress is banned.”

“Don't you preach to me. The issue is complex,” he insists.

I fire back, “And how do you justify our investments in the nuclear weapons companies? Shouldn't we at least be talking about this, as a seminary community, with our supporting churches, and with others in the United Church of Christ?”

Anger clouds his face, Dr. Rooks dismisses me, “If you do not like it, Mr. Goble, you can leave. Study somewhere else.” Again I ruminate on the full scholarship I receive from CTS' investments, which pays for my studies.

As Jesus “was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him....” “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” asks the man. Jesus replies clearly and succinctly. He first cites five of the ten commandments, and then throws in a sixth for good measure, “You shall not defraud.” The Greek word ap-os-ter-eh'-o usually translated as “defraud” also can be translated as “make destitute.” Make destitue.

“I have kept all the commandments since my youth,” says the man.

Jesus lovingly looks at the man, and says, “Go, sell what you own, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Mark tells us the man “is shocked. He goes away grieving, for he has... many possessions.”

Not only the man is shocked. The disciples are shocked, too. Jesus says to them, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

Astounded, the disciples ask, “Who then can be saved?”

To which Jesus answers, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

I hear this passage, and I must pause. I have money in the bank. I am wealthy on any honest world-wide scale. According to these words of Jesus, it will not be easy for me to enter the kingdom of God. I am doomed, damned!

But... I remember the God made known to us through Jesus. I breath a bit easier. Our reconciliation with God, our return from this world into the mystery that is God, depends not on what I can do or accomplish, because that will always fall short of God's perfection. That is the nature of the divine, perfection. Rather, our return to God depends on God's mercy, God's grace, God's love. Good News, Good News.

This sermon could end here. We could focus on forgiveness when we are not perfect. We could all justify keeping our wealth, and go home feeling okay with God's on-going mercy.

But this sermon does not end here. Just as our scripture reading does not end with Jesus' loving look at the man. Jesus delivers a discipleship call to the man. Here is the one call to discipleship which gets rejected – the only one that is rejected. And it is a sad ending.

The wealthy man walks away downcast. He knows Jesus has cut to the chase. He knows that in this lifetime we are to respond to life's issues and challenges. [Hold up newspaper.] Do not cause destitution, share the wealth.

Mark's wealthy man, blessed with gifts-- how he acquired his wealth, we are not told-- in this little story, it does not matter-- what matters is the use of that wealth, those gifts. We hear Jesus, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” Those who have are required, and expected, to spread the wealth, bless the poor, work for peace and justice. Do not let your actions make others destitute. Pause...

I realize that many of the messages Ana and I preach are addressed to you as individuals. Our culture teaches and values the individual. But in the time of Jesus, the culture valued the group: Jew, Greek, Samaritan, Caananite, Roman, Ethiopian-- to name a few-- groups distinct from one another. Jesus surprises everyone by mixing those groups together. He does not scatter them as individuals, as our culture does, but he gathers them into one group, God's community. Jesus heals all manner of men and women. He includes children in the circle. He breaks bread and feeds all -- everyone. He preaches and teaches that God's love, God's realm, embraces all humanity, all creation.

Jesus' call to us is not as individuals, but rather as a group. Friends, we are all in this together. Our adult study on a theology of ecology reminds us of this reality. The world's woes worry and concern not just a few of us, but all of us! A corporate responsibility confronts us.

What were those issues you shared with the person next to you? [Hold up the newspaper.] Let's hear them. [Congregation shares.]

You do not face these issues alone, but rather we face them as members of this body, this fellowship, and part of a larger community, working to realize God's realm and rule. How have we said it before? Not the kingdom of God, but the Kin-dom of God.

With anger clouding his face, Dr. Rooks dismisses me, saying...remember his last words to me? “If you do not like it, you can leave. Study somewhere else.”

I am sorely tempted to leave CTS. I have shared with you how my faith has been powerfully shaped by my Mum when she chose to leave a little southern church following its deathly silence the Sunday after Martin Luther King was murdered. I am tempted to leave on principle. But, my departure will not constructively address the issue at hand. How do we, as a community of faith, faithfully and constructively respond to the issues of the day? [lift the newspaper] Anyway, I have my full scholarship, no?

But with my queasy stomach and disappointment, I cannot in good conscience keep my scholarship, ironically the President's Prize Scholarship. I count the cost of my discipleship, and I count my pennies. I cannot make the payments myself. Fortunately my bride of six months bites the bullet and says, “I have the money, and if we must take out loans we will do so.”

Nations around the world choose to isolate South Africa economically because of its racial policies. UCC churches divest themselves from businesses in South Africa. I enter my third year of seminary. With other students and a growing number of faculty and staff, we continue to be a thorn in the side of Dr. Rooks, the CTS president and his administration. But CTS does not divest from South Africa in my time there.

Upon graduation, Ana and I take up our first call to ministry as missionaries in South Africa. Dr. Rooks moves on to head the national church's Board of Homeland Ministries. Under the new president, CTS divests.

On life's journey, Jesus lovingly looks at us, challenges us to share, and reminds us, “wherever two or more are gathered, I am with you.” We are not alone. Here is hope, here is the opportunity for transformation. As Jesus calls out to you, what is your response? As Jesus calling out to us, what is our response?

Let us pray: God, you sent Jesus among us to wake us up, to shine light upon the destitute and to call upon those of us with wealth to share. In your son, Jesus, we find hope. In your son, Jesus, we find the catalyst and courage for our own transformation. Forgive our fear and selfishness. Help us not walk away downcast. Empower us to change, to make a difference, to bring equity and justice into our world. Through Christ, whose direction we long to follow. Amen.