Justice, Reconciliation & Unity

PCUSA has a book of confessions. Not to be confused with a confession of sin - a church’s confession – is a confession of faith. Every one of our confessions – from the Scots to the Westminster, to our Brief Statement of Faith – tells the world what we do and do not believe. The writers of the Belhar Confession of faith tell the world three things they believe. They believe in Justice, reconciliation, and unity. Now Christians and church’s have given a whole lot of lip service to justice, reconciliation and unity for close to 2000 years, so these things aren’t anything new….but they are new when we consider why this confession was written in the first place. And the reason was Apartheid – which means Apart-hood – kind of like the opposite of brotherhood – Apart hood –Apartheid- is the total and complete separateness of two groups of people. Apartheid became the law of the land in South Africa in 1948. The minority white population – who arrived in South Africa in the late 1700’s -made sure that they were totally separate and segregated from those who had always lived there - the black African population. The government – led by the minority whites then forced 3.5 million Africans to leave their ancestral homes and the property their families had owned for generations and relocated them in areas far removed from the whites. And with that the military became very active, making sure that everything the blacks did was either limited, stopped, or monitored. All political representation for the black Africans was removed – leaving them without a voice; their citizenship was revoked, and any kind of services – from housing, to education, to medical care was either inferior - or completely non-existent. Blacks suffered malnutrition, lived with no public sanitation services; which resulted in astronomically high mortality rates. In 1970 the government began to control and limit black Africans’ ability to marry or have children. Anyone who had nerve enough to speak out –was either silenced, eliminated or imprisoned – think Nelson Mandela. And it was out of these circumstances that the Belhar -which confesses justice, reconciliation and unity was written in 1986 by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church. Interestingly enough this was the same church who for 40 years were staunch believers, defenders, and fervent advocates of apartheid. Who can say what changed their mind – what motivated this group of whites to speak out against what they had always believed, speak out against the government, and against their own culture and society – risking their lives and the life of that denomination to publicly profess this statement of faith – is truly – nothing short of the miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit active in the world and changing the hearts and minds of the members of that church. Officially Apartheid finally came to an end in 1994 – a church, a people, a country who believed that the native population of Africans were inferior on all levels and deserved to be treated as less than human – believed -- blacks to be nothing short of the enemy – now came to a place where they spoke of justice for all people, reconciliation and unity. The Assyrians were ruthless in war – they took no prisoners – their kings bragged about every –and there we many - military victories – ancient ancient writings speak of streets running with blood, bodies of the defeated piled high and from one end of a town to another – Assyria was feared, and hated, and for generation after generation Assyria was the enemy of Israel. And too bad for Jonah – Assyria’s capital was Ninevah. If you have ever wondered why Jonah refused to go to Ninevah – to the point of losing his own life by being thrown overboard and into the sea – now you know why. Who in their right mind wants to preach a word of grace; a word of hope; a word of possibility to the people you hate? Who in their right mind want to preach justice, reconciliation and unity to your worst enemy? It would be like God telling you to Go and preach to Isis, go and preach to Boko Haram, the drug cartels, the bully. Go and speak justice reconciliation and unity to the political party you hate the most. Thing is that when the Ninevites heard Jonah and God’s word – they listened! They fasted and prayed and put on sackcloth – and the Lord saved them from destruction – and THAT made Jonah really mad! Why? Because as far as Jonah was concerned – those miserable Ninevites didn’t deserve a second glance or a second chance from God – The pouting Jonah was mad because God didn’t do what Jonah wanted; mad because God’s wasn’t operating the way Jonah thought he should. “This is what I said when I was safe and comfortable in my own house, Lord – I knew you were gonna change your mind which is why I got out of town and signed up for the ship what was headed to Tarshish – I know you relent from punishing and that you are gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love – but those people don’t deserve any of those things. I’m mad because you think it’s OK to extend this kind of grace and forgiveness to people I hate. And because it looks like maybe more than your chosen people are included in your plan Lord – I am going to fuss and complain and sit in the beating-down sun and wish for death because I can’t bear the thought that grace abounds – can’t stand the thought of justice, reconciliation or unity for those people – it is totally out of the question – So – if this is where believing in you is gonna take me – if this is your plan for this thing you call the kingdom of God – well Lord, I just can’t go – so Kill me now Lord because I can’t take it anymore." I asked Andrew to tell me some things he didn’t like. That was a child’s question. The adult question is – who don’t you like – who are you afraid of, mad at, who do you think isn’t good enough or right enough to be covered by God’s persistent and all embracing grace – who are you going to throw off the boat? Name the ones who you call enemy. Who is on your Apartheid list –who do you consider to be them, who for you is the other, the untouchable….and then remember that the hated, the leper, the unclean, and the outcast were the very ones –– for whom Jesus came and who Jesus served. Remember it was Israel’s enemy Assyria who God pursued; it was to Israel’s enemy that God offered hope, and a the possibility of a future. Like Jonah, the Jonahs of the world will probably continue to pout and get aggravated at God for being a god of mercy and grace …sadly, the Jonahs of then and now continue to insist on living in an us and them world. Is this who Jesus calls us to be? Or has Jesus taught us and shown us a more excellent way? If the church is to be a true reflection of heaven on earth; and if we profess that all are invited to sit and feast at the Lord’s table; and if we like to call ourselves family and say things like our congregation is warm and welcoming…then perhaps…going the way of the Belhar is where we want to go – not by offering one more day of lip-service, but by actually being the repairers of the breach, by actually being the ones who not only confess, but live out justice, reconciliation and unity.

As If...

I think reading this particular new testament passage should give us all pause. Reading these three verses only – we just may want to rethink what it means to be a Christian. Moreover, it might make us wonder what in the world is Paul saying to us. In order to understand these verses, we must not read them apart from the context in which they were written. If we do, we will only get a perverted understanding of how we are to live. If you are joyful – don’t act as though you are joyful. If you are in mourning– act as though you are not mourning. When you buy and surround yourselves with all your possessions – live as if you didn’t have any – and if you have dealings with the world = act as if your really don’t. And finally – if you have a wife – act as though you didn’t have one. Some wives may want to take Paul to task on this one. If we read these verses out of context here is what we learn – That: we are to fake our way through this life – that nothing we do is real or genuine – that the covenant of marriage is to be disregarded. Paul must be trying to tell us something important – but what? To figure that out, we have to read this whole chapter, and we have to understand the nature of the church in Corinth, and what was going on in that church 2000 years ago, and it might be a good idea to know where Paul is coming from. Paul has devoted his entire life to Christ - breathing, eating, sleeping, waking working – all is for Christ. He is a man who regards everything he has achieved in his life – every worldly thing - as garbage/as rubbish/as nothing in comparison to a life lived solely for Christ. He is a man who lives already as one crucified, who presses on toward the one and only thing in life that he believes is important – never being distracted, never looking right or left, but living in total and complete devotion to Jesus Christ. And always -what Paul wants the church to do is to be like him, to imitate him. In this chapter Paul writes: I wish that all of you were like me….totally devoted to only one thing – Christ and spreading his message. Well, we are not like Paul – but what he wants – I think – is for us to strive as best we can – to live AS IF the world has no hold on us – to remember that we belong to Christ and Christ along, to remember that our citizenship is not earthbound, but our citizenship is in heaven. One commentary explained it rather well: Don’t let your emotional state govern, or become the entire focus of your life. Devote yourself or the better part of yourself to the Lord. Don’t completely disengage from the economic sphere of life. Just don’t let it become the center of your allegiance. Devote yourself or the better part of yourself to the Lord. Don’t be overwhelmed by the stuff in your life. Don’t let your use of stuff become the focus on your life. Don’t be a mall worshiper, a worshiper of consumerism. Instead devote yourself to the Lord. Married couples have a holy duty to one another. But as you fulfill your covenant promises, be sure that you love God above all. Don’t let your marriage become your ultimate allegiance. Devote yourself to the Lord. The commentator continues: Paul admonishes us not to be engrossed in the things of the world: We can get all tied up with the surface affairs of life, with politics and finances; with sensationalism and gossip; with sports and relationships. But know that we are here only for a little while; and know that all of it will pass away – better not to get all bogged down in the junk of the world, better to devote yourself to the Lord. Somewhere between 51 and 53 AD, Paul wrote this letter and there was a lot of stuff going on…stuff that we truly cannot ever know or imagine. But what we do know is this: The church in Corinth was divided – rich poor; rules about food, abuses of the Lord’s Supper, quarrels about who belonged to who: Paul or Apollos or Cephas. There was undercutting and allegiances all around. And on the world scene - there was strife among the leaders of the Empire, the Temple, and the fledgling church, military skirmishes were cropping up, enemies threatened Jerusalem and a way of life. A doomsday feeling prevailed – like the world was facing a great upheaval. And within half a generation the whole Roman world would be turned upside down by civil wars; the murder of three emperors – one right after another; and the destruction of Jerusalem. Paul wrote that the time was short – but the use of the Greek word time – might be better understood to mean that the members of the church in Corinth – were living in a critical, crucial, time. A time so significant that they should live AS IF Christ’s return was moments away – prompting them - to devote their living and their lives to Christ. I am thinking that – despite the difficulties in the church, despite the fear of enemies, despite the craziness of the world, and the human tendency to hang on to worldly things – the Corinthian church and the present day church have a few things in common – each one situated in a time of great opportunities and possibilities. Living as Christ lived – living as Paul lived – is more than we are capable of. Living in the midst of changing times – limping along in an attempt to keep up – hoping things don’t change so quickly that we get lost – takes a toll on us. Letting go of what we knew, looking anew at doctrine in light of science and technology. Honoring tradition without turning it into a sacred cow – is not easy. But as we have the privilege of living in a time that does offer a possible renewal of the church – a time of yes – great challenge, and also – a time of great opportunity and possibility – the question mark that stands so starkly before us is this: What would it look like if the church and her members lived AS IF. As if the church was important; as if membership meant more than one hour on Sunday morning; as if knowing and learning and living the faith was important; as if Christianity offered much to a broken world; as if being devoted to Jesus made a difference. I wonder what would it look like if the church and her members lived AS IF.