THE RISK OF REJECTION
St. Peter’s Post December Newsletter
For the last couple of years this pastor has rung a bell for the Salvation Army during the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. (No, that does not qualify this ringer to become a member of The Bell Choir!) It used to be that my location was in front of K-Mart near the parsonage. This year the location is Wal-Mart, which might be considered Carteret County’s “public square.” (On any morning or afternoon or evening, local pastors can visit a good portion of their churches simply by walking the aisles of Wal-Mart for a couple of hours.)
There is something risky about putting on the red apron and ringing the bell. Whether they contribute to the kettle or not, most people who pass by are extraordinarily cordial. But every once in a while, looking straight ahead, a spiritual descendent of Scrooge hurries by with a bah-humbug expression on his or her face. When that happens, there is a touch of rejection that strikes this bellringer. That’s the way it goes in the life of a Salvation Army ringer.
It must be said: rejection is simply a part of the Christian life. This side of the Kingdom of God coming in glory, it will never go away. Some people will always reject Christianity, the Church, Christian calls to charity, proposals of Christian truth, anything related to Jesus Christ. And it seems like those who reject are becoming ever more aggressive in their rejections. Therefore, to be Christian, in word and deed, is to risk rejection.
Rejection is nothing new to the Gospel, to The Story of the World. God’s Word has often been rejected. God’s prophets have often been rejected. The Bible is full of incidents where God’s enemies, and even His people and their leaders, have been ready, willing, and eager to reject Him. Yet, in His loving work in this world, God has been willing to risk rejection.
When God became a human being, in Jesus Christ, He risked rejection as never before. When the one, true God took on flesh in a baby, born in a barn, He became very frail, very vulnerable, very open to rejection. But divine love was much greater than any risk of rejection. God’s love cast out the possible fear of rejection.
Reborn and recreated by the love of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, fear not the risk of rejection. Live as Christ would have you live — even at the risk of rejection.
LOVE BRIEFLY CONSIDERED
St. Peter’s Post November Newsletter
According to the Bible and to the Church’s faith, love (agape) is sacrificial love. That is, love sacrifices for others. Picture the Cross. The horrible, yet glorious, picture of God’s love for the world is Jesus nailed to the Cross. Again, love sacrifices. Likewise, if you truly love a person, you will sacrifice for that person.
However — and today this is often missed — love sacrifices for the good of the person who is loved. We do not lovingly sacrifice to make ourselves feel good. We lovingly sacrifice for the genuine good of the people we love.
For example, I could withdraw $100 in cash from our bank account, drive downtown, and give the cash to the first person I met on the street. To be sure, I would have sacrificed. And the stranger’s grateful smile and joyful “Thank you!” would give me an emotionally warm sensation. But I do not think this gift would make this person a better person. After all, he might take the full amount and immediately purchase several lottery tickets. Love that sacrifices, but is not concerned with making the loved one a better person, is really just sentimentality.
Another example. I could withdraw $100 from our bank account and offer it to a young man, if he would do 15 hours of needed work around the parsonage. Again, that would involve my sacrifice of $100. And if he did the work well, he would learn something about giving himself through work. He might even grow in his understanding of the work ethic. In those ways, he would be made a better person.
According to the Bible and the Church’s faith, love sacrifices for the good of the beloved. This reflects the death of our Lord for the good — for the salvation! — of the world.
TEACHING: THE ANSWER TO A CRISIS
“When Gregory I came to the See of Peter in 590, the future of the Catholic Church — and whether the Church would have a future — was far from clear, and the papacy had little by way of worldly power to confront the crisis. The Church was besieged from without and troubled by dissension within. Rome lay in ruins about him, its population less than a tenth of what it had been during the closing days of imperial glory two centuries before. The barbarian tribes vying for control of Italy and much of the rest of Europe were either Arian or pagan, without loyalty to Rome and the papacy. And they were literally at the gates. One of the most important acts of Gregory’s pontificate was to negotiate a peace with the Lombard chieftain Agilulf, saving Rome from complete destruction.
“To a large extent Gregory the Great met the problems of his time simply by teaching the faith. In sermons, pastoral instructions, exegetical works, and lives of the saints, he sought to display the inherent beauty of Christianity and of lives shaped by the gospel. He made no claim to originality but merely presented the core teaching of the Church, the faith of Nicaea and Chalcedon, of Augustine and the Church Fathers, and did so in a clear, precise, and attractive manner. His originality lay at the level of particulars, a by-product of his extensive effort to teach in his own time what he had received from Scripture and the Fathers.” –Dr. Bruce D. Marshall, a professor of Christian Doctrine at Perkins School of Theology (SMU), from “Reading the Gospels
LIKE A SYMPHONY
St. Peter’s Post October Newsletter
This article — on a dense, theological topic — will likely get its author in trouble. (Trouble with whom, the author will not confess.) To lessen the amount of trouble that awaits, I will do two things here at the beginning: apologize and promise. First, I apologize for writing this piece and including it in our church newsletter; but I am compelled to do so. Second, I promise to try to write this editorial in an engaging and interesting way.
A Christian congregation can be like a beautiful symphony in concert. The local church’s numerous activities — worship services (including funeral and wedding services), Sunday School classes, children’s and youth ministries, men’s and women’s ministries, small group gatherings, committee meetings, special events, covered-dish luncheons, home visitation, mission projects, and many others — all make their contributions to the music of the whole. When all these contributions are taken together, beautiful music results — sometimes soft and sometimes loud, sometimes slow and serious, sometimes quick and light, sometimes sad and sometimes joyful. Like a symphony in performance, the local church lives into the future.
But a symphony plays best when all its musicians are playing from the same music. Likewise, a church lives best when there is taken-for-granted doctrine (including morals) that is officially in place. (Not everyone in the church agrees 100% with this doctrine, but it is the doctrine with which everyone must deal, one way or the other.) This doctrine exists because God has spoken His Word (most fully in Jesus Christ), because the Word of God has been heard (by Israel, by the apostles, and by the Church), because the Word of God has been written and transmitted and translated (Bible), and because the Word of God has been faithfully interpreted. Without doctrine, based on God’s Word, a church becomes uncertain, tries to become self-reliant, and attempts to make its own way in the world.
Erik Peterson (1890-1960) was a German professor of New Testament and early Church history in the early 1900s. In a letter to another professor, he warned that a church trying to live without doctrine would probably end up taking one of three (3) unfortunate directions. First, a church without doctrine might try to order its life according to what the larger society takes to be true. So, the “truths” of the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal might become an unfortunate substitute for doctrine. Second, a church might rely on religious experience, instead of doctrine, for its foundation. Third, a church without doctrine can get busy, very busy, engaging in countless activities (that often involve missions and evangelism) to keep its life going.
To be sure, a church should engage the thinking of its time, should include religious experience in its life, and should be active for the sake of the world. But those pursuits were never intended, by Christ or the apostles, to become the foundation of a church’s life. Good, solid doctrine — Biblically anchored, Christ centered, Spirit inspired — was divinely given for that purpose.
With doctrine in place, though often not acknowledged, the ongoing symphony of church life can heard at its most beautiful. The music can become so beautiful and so loud that it can be heard by those outside its walls.
St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, play on!
(And again, my apologies…)
THIS AND THAT
St. Peter’s Post September Newsletter
Irene
Hurricane Irene arrived. Hurricane Irene did her dirty work. Hurricane Irene departed. Hurricane Irene is, or will soon be, history.
Over the weekend that Irene paid her destructive visit to Carteret County (August 26-27, Friday-Saturday), it was very good to see so many people (nearly 20) seek shelter in the St. Peter’s United Methodist Church building. Our people were embodying what the Isaac Watts hymn celebrates: “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home!” (No. 117, stanza 1)
In typical Methodist fashion, the shelter was run in a very orderly — or methodical — fashion. Rooms at the inn were assigned in the educational wing. Temporary beds were set up in most classrooms. The dining hall was in the Fellowship Hall with tables moved end-to-end. And as usual, the food was memorably good.
So good that at least one member of the MCPD caught a good whiff of the bacon cooking from blocks away. That officer communicated with other officers. And some 15-20 members of the local police department wound up enjoying a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning at the church — in the midst of Irene’s mayhem. (Was this simply the Soup Kitchen changing locations and clients on that Saturday?)
In the middle of a serious storm, in the midst of so much uncertainty and fear, there was much good cheer at St. Peter’s Church over the weekend. The storm brought out the very best of our congregation.
Worship
Though Sunday’s activities were cut back to the minimum, St. Peter’s Church did hold Sunday School and the Service of Worship. And there was even breakfast to boot!
Long ago, this pastor was convinced that the Service of Worship will be held — through rain, sleet, snow…and hurricanes. If the Post Office can deliver the mail, we can worship God as scheduled. There is something divine about seeing God’s people assemble for worship after a serious storm. With fans in hand working away, we gave testimonies, sang hymns, prayed prayers, encountered Jesus Christ in Word and Communion, and were empowered and sent out to clean up and help out!
At the end of the worship service, I was compelled to retell one of those very funny stories from our beloved Paige. While in Rose Hill, a hurricane had banged up our community pretty badly. But right on cue, when Sunday morning arrived, we gathered around Christ, Word and Sacrament, in worship. After the worship service that Sunday, Paige wrote in her little diary, that Marsha recently discovered, something like this: “Dad was pleased that the Baptists in town had only 3 at worship, while the Methodists had a Fellowship Hall full.” (Please know: this was all in fun.)
Leaving the church after Sunday’s service, one of the brethren said: “Preacher, that story you told about the Rose Hill Church was naughty.” And he was exactly right! And writing about it, in this editorial, is doubly naughty!
Sorry….
HUMOR IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
St. Peter’s Post August Newsletter
It was a late, Saturday afternoon walk with Lady, our dog. The weather was miserable — firecracker hot and pressure-cooker humid. Lady was feeling it even more than her human companion.
We rounded a corner in Mitchell Village. The corner yard had its sprinkler system on full blast. Lady noticed. She tugged — no, jerked! — at the leash to get into some shooting water. The water shot at her body, then at her snout, then into her mouth. Didn’t matter. She wanted it that way. She sprawled out on the grass for full, extended impact. At times, the forceful water pushed up her upper black “lip” to expose her longest teeth. Lady looked like she was ready to bite the water. The dog was perfectly content to endure the high-impact shower. She did not want to leave. (Though one of the corner lot’s owners, who was near a window, was probably not thrilled by the scene unfolding before her.)
All of this caused this pastor to laugh out loud. And as our walk resumed, this funny incident also sparked a brief reflection on the essential role of humor in the Christian life.
The Christian life is about some pretty serious stuff — following Jesus Christ and serving others, the Triune God and humanity, original sin and amazing grace, repentance and salvation, sin and good works, vocations and avocations, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, life and death, heaven and hell.
Furthermore, our church father, Rev. John Wesley, did not leave us with much exemplary humor. He seemed single-minded about pushing forward the Wesleyan Revival in England and beyond. The popular image of Rev. Wesley pictures him in a nearly humorless life and ministry.
In the midst of all this seriousness, humor provides a wonderful, and needed, break for United Methodist Christians. Besides, if God is truly sovereign, if Jesus Christ is truly the Lord of all, and if the Holy Spirit is truly at work in the Church and the world, then we should relax every now and then, and enjoy a good, old-fashioned laugh. After all, God our Father created us with the ability to laugh, so He probably intends that we do just that more often than every now and then.
The Stallsworth’s of Garden City, Kansas, at Dad’s insistence, maintained (and at times enforced) “Rule G:” “Don’t take yourself too darned [edited for family friendliness] seriously.” In other words, lighten up at times. In other words, employ some humor when you can.
David Downum and Jack Adams, Jr. often greet the pastor with the nickname “Pope Paul.” Laughter follows.
When the pastor says with a straight face, one more time, that “world Christianity depends on my ministry,” it brings laughter. When a very wise parishoner hears the line, walks away, and mutters, “Poor guy…,” the laughter heightens.
Back in the late 1970s, appointed to be associate pastor at First United Methodist Church of Elizabeth City, I was blessed to minister with Rev. Clyde Tucker, the senior pastor. Rev. Tucker was an excellent mentor — faithful, hard-working, intellectually honest, and theologically serious. But he also enjoyed humor. It was one of his greatest gifts to others.
So, have a long laugh. There is plenty to laugh about. It’s good for us. And it honors God.
THE CHURCH CONFESSES
St. Peter’s Post July Newsletter
THE SWASTIKA CROSSED OUT AND THE CROSS RISING. A protest and witness against Nazi tyranny and any effort to take the role of God and control of the church.
THE FIRE. The suffering and death which follows from defense of the faith against tyranny, as for some of the Barmen signers. But the cross survives such persecution and the crisis of war, rising out of the flames.
[Source: The Book of Confessions, Presbyterian Church (USA)]
Every so often, when the Christian faith comes under challenge and becomes uncertain, the Church needs to confess the faith anew and afresh.
For example, during the 1930s in Hitler’s Germany, the Church and the Church’s faith were being overrun by Nazi ideas. Therefore, in 1934, a small group of German Protestants confessed the Church’s faith by adopting, and promising to be guided by, “The Barmen Declaration.”
For another example, during recent years in the United States, the Church and the Church’s faith have been challenged by ideas that undermine the Christian community and faith in America. Therefore, a small group of Christian pastors and laity, in Carteret/Craven counties, have written “Pro Ecclesia (For the Church): An Ecumenical Confession.”
During the Sundays of July, August, and early September, St. Peter’s United Methodist Church will be exploring “The Barmen Declaration” and “Pro Ecclesia.”
At 5:30 p.m. each week during these months, the Sunday Evening Study will watch the DVD of a sermon preached on “The Barmen Declaration.” These sermons were delivered at the Beeson Divinity School’s Hodges Chapel — at Samford University in Birmingham, AL — by various pastors and professors. A brief, lively discussion will follow each sermon.
Each Sunday morning during these months, the Service of Worship will include a sermon that is shaped by the claims of “Pro Ecclesia.” The sermons will cover the confession’s introduction and nine (9) articles.
Copies of “The Barmen Declaration” are available at www.sacred-texts.com/chr/barmen.htm or in the narthex. “Pro Ecclesia (For the Church): An Ecumenical Confession” can be picked up in the church narthex or emailed to you (send a request to stpeters@mail.clis.com). Please get your copies and hold on to them for the duration of the series.
For your information, what follows will be our schedule, God willing, for the weeks to come. The date is followed by the “Pro Ecclesia” topic for the Service of Worship and then by “The Barmen Declaration” sermon for the Evening Study.
July 3: “Our Circumstance” and “To the Winds Thy Fears”
July 10: “I. Father: Sovereign of the Church” and “The Road to Barmen”
July 17: “II. Son: Builder of the Church” and “What Hath Barmen to Do with Harlem: Barmen and the Problem of Racism”
July 24: “III. Holy Spirit: Sustainer of the Church” and “Sophie Scholl and the Sanctity of Life”
July 31: “IV. Marks of the Church” and “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”
August 7: “V. Mission of the Church” and “Barmen and Preaching: Telling the Truth in a Hard Time”
August 14: “VI. Ministry for the Church” and “Relativizing the Regime: What Baptists Need to Learn from Barmen, and from a Rider of a White Horse”
August 21: “VII. Worship by the Church” and “Doing Theology as Though Nothing Had Happened”
August 28: “VIII. Obedience of the Church” and “Barmen and the Bible: Do We Still Need the Old Testament?”
September 4: “IX. Perseverance of the Church” and “Hitler’s Cross: Lessons for the Church from Nazi Germany”
September 11: “Barmen and the Unfettered Word” (Evening Study only)
September 18: “The Gospel Does Not Change” (Evening Study only)
Your participation in these series is invited, encouraged, and essential! Please do join us. God, according to His promises, will be at work among us.
SANCTUARY ARRANGEMENT: HOW WE WILL DECIDE
St. Peter’s Post June Newsletter
Please allow two words of thanks.
First, thanks to those who rearranged the sanctuary on May 14. So many sanctuary matters were discussed, and so many chairs and other things were moved, on that Saturday morning in a fairly brief time.
Second, thanks to the entire church for discussing the rearrangement of the sanctuary, and for discussing it in such a reasonable and constructive way.
On May 19, the Administrative Council met. During the meeting, the Council sketched how the congregation will decide how the sanctuary will be arranged. What follows is the decision-making process that the church will follow. The present sanctuary arrangement will remain, as promised, until June 5. On June 5, during both Services of Worship, the congregation will vote by secret ballot on the sanctuary orientation. Ballots will be inserted in the June 5 bulletins; and completed ballots will be returned through the offering plates. All members and friends of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church will be invited to vote. The result of the vote will be announced to the congregation at the Services of Worship on June 12.
Prior to June 5, write any questions or concerns about the sanctuary arrangements — the original one and the new one — on a piece of paper, along with your name and telephone number(s). Then deliver the paper to the Church Office. As soon as possible, someone will call you.
If the congregation votes to maintain the sanctuary in its present arrangement, small changes in the sound system will have to be made.
No matter how the congregation votes, there will be ongoing discussions, especially in the Worship Committee, about how the sanctuary might be “polished” in various ways.
Thank you for your participation in this project. Your patience has been essential and exemplary — and a result of the presence of the risen Christ.
Be faithful, to Christ and His Church, for the sake of the world.
SANCTUARY
St. Peter’s Post May Newsletter
A few years ago the Staff-Parish Relations Committee conducted an “Assessment of the Health of the Congregation.” Over the several meetings, the committee discussed all aspects of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church’s faith, life, and ministry. One of the topics discussed was our sanctuary, its appearance and arrangement.
To follow through on considerations regarding the sanctuary, the church’s leadership asked Mr. Robert W. Self, an architect (and United Methodist layman from Alamance, NC) who has been involved in many church projects, to visit St. Peter’s Church and offer his suggestions. Mr. Self traveled to Morehead City, consulted with several church leaders on a Saturday morning, and later submitted his suggestions through a drawing.
The Administrative Council then asked our own Rodney Guthrie to complete two drawings of the sanctuary — one with the seating as is (generally facing the west), and one with the seating moved to generally face the north. Rodney’s drawings, along with Mr. Self’s, have been posted in the narthex, and many have provided comments, as requested.
On April 14, the Administrative Council voted to conduct a temporary experiment on the sanctuary’s seating arrangement. On four (4) Sundays — May 15, 22, 29, and June 5 — sanctuary seating will be turned to the north. (The sanctuary will be returned to its present arrangement for the June 12 services.) This is being done to see how the whole church responds to the new arrangement and compares it with the present arrangement.
Up to the present, the main question in our congregation about this matter has been, “Which sanctuary arrangement do I like best?” In the days to come, it would be helpful to ask, “Which sanctuary arrangement best honors the risen Christ?”
Know that a hasty change of the sanctuary will not take place. Know also that all of us will be involved in future discussions and decisions on this issue. And know that all of us will want to love God, and love our brothers and sisters, during our conversations on the sanctuary.
DIGGING DEEPER
St. Peter’s Post April Newsletter
Many in the media attempt to simplify the world for their listeners, readers, and watchers. They report on a controversial issue. They find someone to speak in favor of the issue. Then they find someone to speak in opposition to the issue. There, you have it: two sides, one side for and one side against. Issue understood. Let’s move on to the next issue and its simplification. Unfortunately, this approach to understanding this world hides positions that, this pastor believes, are more merciful and truthful.
For example, consider the Westboro Baptist Church and its disgusting protests against homosexual behavior at the funeral services of fallen soldiers and others (e.g., Elizabeth Edwards in Raleigh). The media will often jump to cover such events. In their reports, they usually include interviews with people who oppose the Westboro Baptists, who believe that homosexual behavior is just another lifestyle choice. So, according to the media, there are the two sides to the issue: for the Westboro Baptists and for anti-homosexuality, and against the Westboro Baptists and against anti-homosexuality.
But the larger Church knows that there is ground between — or better, above — the Westboro Baptists and their despisers. The greater Church recognizes that the Westboro Baptists lack love, and their despisers often lack truth. The Church believes that the polarized, two sides — often presented by the news media — neglect the Good News that God loves all people, and offers amazing grace and personal transformation to all.
Another classic case study of media oversimplification concerns Reverend Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grandville, MI, and his recent book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. According to media reports, the book strongly suggests that all people probably go to heaven, that hell is probably empty or close to empty. That is, according to Rev. Bell, “love wins.” In response, those who most vigorously oppose Rev. Bell are labeling him a “universalist.” They imply or claim that they know exactly who is going to heaven and who is going to hell.
But the Church knows a position that is above universalism and its despisers. It is well represented by the likes of John Wesley, C.S. Lewis, Karl Barth, and Billy Graham. It knows that the God of the Bible is both loving and holy; and that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, and some will reject God’s love and salvation. As St. Paul wrote, “[I]n Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:19, RSV, emphasis added) God reconciled “the world” — not just believers, but the world. The Church also knows that some will not enter the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9-10). In addition, the Church knows that God alone, not any Christian, will exercise judgment over all history and all people. Therefore, the Church is wise to preach and live the Gospel, and leave the Final Judgment to God.
But to get to that position, we have to dig deeper. We have to dig through the layers of two-sided thinking that the media regularly puts out.
During this season of Lent, happy digging!
BISHOP MARION EDWARDS: A GENTLE GIANT
FOR CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH
St. Peter’s Post March Newsletter
Retired Bishop Marion Edwards died on January 24, 2011. He was 71 years old. Living his last days at Hospice House in Columbus, GA, Bp. Edwards lost his protracted battle with cancer that had begun in August 2009. Thanks to regular emails from the North Carolina Conference, St. Peter’s Church was able to keep up with Bp. Edwards’ changing challenges.
His last congregational appointment was to St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, GA. In that very sanctuary on the Saturday morning of January 29, a large congregation faithfully offered up this gentle giant of a man, now silenced by cancer, to God’s perfect mercy and judgment. Now he, at rest, awaits the general resurrection at Christ’s return in glory.
Marion Edwards was a thoroughbred Georgian. A native of Springfield. A graduate of Georgia Southern University. A two-time graduate of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. A husband, and a father of three Georgians. An elder in the South Georgia Conference. A pastor and a district superintendent who served all different kinds of churches throughout his home conference.
Only his election to the episcopacy was able to move Marion Edwards out of Georgia. (Perhaps nothing else could have accomplished as much.) In 1996, he was elected bishop and appointed to The Raleigh Area, or the North Carolina Conference, where he served until 2004.
Bp. Edwards had several characteristics that are notable and memorable.
First, he was strongly committed to Christ and His Church. That made him a servant of Christ and His Church. He was dedicated, in a powerful way, to the mission of the Church — near and far. Perhaps by providence, Bp. Edwards served eastern North Carolina when so many tropical storms ravaged the coastal area; for he helped lead the United Methodist response to those devastated.
Second, he was bold in stating where he stood on controversial topics, and why. The memory of Bp. Edwards, summoning his pastors to Raleigh and warning them of the bad teaching then afloat in the denomination, will not soon be forgotten by this pastor. He stood and delivered a marvelous account of doctrine in the life of the Church. It was an electrifying moment for the pastors present.
Third, Bp. Edwards was very human, and he could laugh at himself. During the consecration worship service in Raleigh, as he was beginning his episcopal service, he stumbled. But not to worry. He stood upright. He survived. And he served well until the end of his second term.
And fourth, during the 2000 General Conference in Cleveland, OH, I will never forget running into Bp. Edwards on the streets of the city late one afternoon. He never seemed entirely comfortable around people. True to form, he appeared a little uneasy during this chance, but friendly, encounter.
St. Peter’s Church had the honor and pleasure of hosting Bp. Edwards back in 2001. He preached from the pulpit, and later he engaged us in some serious discussion about The United Methodist Church. He did not intimidate anyone, though he could have. He did not pull rank on anyone, though he might have. He listened carefully. He responded, to the best of his ability, to questions. He served Jesus Christ. And then he went home.
A SERMON FROM A SNOWY SUNDAY
St. Peter’s Post February Newsletter
A version of the following sermon was preached at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church on January 23, 2011 — which was Epiphany III, Ecumenical Sunday, Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and a cold, snow-blanketed Sunday.
1. Timothy M. Dolan is the Archbishop of New York. He was recently elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The United States Catholic bishops, electing their leader, skipped over the next-in-line and instead chose Archbishop Dolan. Why? Because Archbishop Dolan is a strong witness for the God-given dignity of the human person in the public arena.
Archbishop Dolan’s ability to speak in public was demonstrated on January 6, 2011 at The Penn Club in New York City. Standing with the bishop of Brooklyn, the pastor of a Harlem church, a rabbi from the Jewish community, and an official from Democrats for Life of New York, Archbishop Dolan declared, in part: “For the first time in my happy twenty-one months as a New Yorker, I am embarrassed to be a member of a cherished community I now — usually with a lot of pride — call home. That 41% of New York babies are aborted — a percentage even higher in the Bronx and among our African-American babies in the womb — is downright chilling. This New York community is rightly celebrated for its warm welcome to immigrants, for its hospitality, sense of embrace and inclusion, and gritty sensitivity for those in need. But we are tragically letting down the tiniest, most fragile, and vulnerable: the little baby in the womb….” (www.archny.org, 01/06/11)
Let us be clear about Archbishop Dolan’s concern. During the year 2009, over 87,000 abortions were performed in New York City. That means 41% of all New York City babies were aborted. Forty-one percent is double the national rate. In New York, 20% of white babies were aborted. In New York, 40% of Hispanic babies were aborted. In New York, nearly 60% of black babies were aborted.
Thanks be to God for brave Christian leaders like Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan! He is willing to call all of us to our senses.
2. According to the Bible, the Good News is that: God breaks into this world.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) Because the Lord is our light and our salvation, we have nothing, absolutely nothing!, to fear.
“For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as on the day of Midian.” (Isaiah 9:4) The Lord is not just a spectator of history. The Lord is a participant in history. The Lord defeats oppressors in this world.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) As the Lord’s Kingdom comes close, we can repent. We can turn from our sins to the Lord.
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (I Corinthians 1:18) The cross looks like a bad joke to those without God. To those of us turning toward God, the cross is the power of God!
This is the Good News. God is loving and faithful toward us. But you and I are wondering and wandering and looking for the best deal. We separate from God and sin in a million different ways, most of which are not very imaginative. And yet, and yet!, God still loves us. God comes to us in Jesus of Nazareth. In the Jesus of the cross, God comes to us to forgive us and to remake our lives.
3. Not one of us has lived rightly. Therefore, the Church invites us to repent and receive forgiveness and start a new life.
In his magnificent “Gospel of Life,” John Paul II wrote some special words to women. In what follows, I have edited his words to address both women and men who have involved themselves in abortions: “I would now like to say a special word to those who have helped make an abortion possible. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision. The Church does not doubt that, in most cases, it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your hearts may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over, with humility and trust, to repentance. The Father of mercy is ready to give you His forgiveness and His peace. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost. You will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly help of other people and as a result of your own difficult experience, you can become a well-spoken defender of everybody’s right to life. Through your commitment to life, you can promote a new way of looking at the beauty and dignity of each person.” (edited, “The Gospel of Life,” 99)
4. The Church is privileged to speak up for the most defenseless of people. The Church is also privileged to offer God’s forgiveness to us when we have taken advantage of others. All of us have reason to give thanks to God.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
JAMES DAVID “J.D.” LONG (1925-2010)
St. Peter’s Post January Newsletter
Back in November, Mr. J.D. Long died.
J.D. was a devout follower of Jesus Christ and a faithful member of Christ’s Church (Marvin United Methodist Church near Fayetteville, NC). When J.D. lived in Cumberland, NC in the 1980s, he belonged to Cumberland United Methodist Church, to which this pastor was appointed from September 1980 until December 1983.
James David Long was born in Hoke County. He married well — Bettie Autry Long. They were blessed with two daughters and a son.
J.D. served in the US Navy during World War II and in the US Coast Guard until 1951. Then he returned home, started Long’s Quality Plumbing, and then became the chief plumbing inspector in Cumberland County before retiring in 1990.
J.D. was an excellent jack of all trades. He could do anything, and he could do it well. Fish. Hunt. Repair a car. Fix a home appliance. Build a house. Garden. You name it. He could do it.
J.D. had not spent a large number of years in school. Instead, he became a self-schooled — actually, a self-educated — man. There are people who have been schooled twice as long as J.D., but they are not as educated as he was. He knew the Bible, and interpreted the Bible, well. He was conversant in newspaper news. And he was deeply familiar with the worlds of ideas, culture, and politics. During the 1980s, he was a regular reader of Commentary, one of the most serious political and cultural journals available in America. As the obituary in his funeral bulletin put it, in the understatement of the year, “[h]e was passionate about politics believing in traditional values and limited government intervention.”
This pastor cannot resist the urge to pass along a few stories about J.D.
On my first or second Sunday as pastor of the Cumberland Church, word was sent that J.D. was ill. When I arrived at the Longs’ house that afternoon, he was stretched out on a couch in the living room and suffering considerable pain. Even so, within minutes, theological matters had arisen in our conversation. Within a few more minutes, the National Council of Churches and its propensity to play partisan politics were on the table. Though in pain, J.D. wanted to get serious about theology and Christian unity.
Then there was the time he took his rookie pastor fishing — in the ocean. On a calm day, the two of us pushed out and found his favorite fishing spot. In short order, J.D.’s questionable helper became very sea sick. He had to get down on his hands and knees for the entire return trip to the shore. (Never has this land-lover been so sick.) Needless to say, J.D. chuckled a time or two about his assistant’s condition on the drive back to Cumberland.
Later on, there were Bettie and J.D. renewing their wedding vows on their fiftieth anniversary. What a joyful couple.
Through the years, there were the district and conference church meetings in which J.D. would stand up and ask questions that nobody else would touch with a ten-foot pole. His courage gave others courage.
J.D. Long is a strong example of what God can accomplish, in a person and through a person, over that person’s lifetime. As J.D. maintained faith in Jesus Christ and faithfulness in Christ’s Church, he matured into a devout Christian, faithful husband and father, active builder and gardener and fisherman and hunter, and courageous churchman. His was a humble, striving, and significant life.
Thanks be to God for the gift of James David “J.D.” Long to this world! And may his presence be welcomed into the Communion of the Saints
