“On Mending Fences”

Ephesians 4:1-16

A Sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

August 20, 2006

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

 

            Hear these words of the writer of Ephesians:  “Lead a life worthy of your calling with all patience, lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love eager to attain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” (4:1-4)  Anne Supplee sent me an e-mail and told me it was her favorite scripture and one of the first she memorized.

            Today’s Scripture reads like a graduation speech.  We have heard them all before.  “You now go on to your destiny…; Don’t forget the sunscreen..”

            Graduation speeches remind us of all of the hard work that we have done so far and the great vast opportunities that await us around the corner. 

            Graduation speeches are full of high ideals and great morality.  They are what we strive for in the idealistic time of embarking on a new journey.  And yet, truth be told, they are quickly forgotten.  They are sloughed off.  They are pleasantly ignored in the “real world”.  All of that idealism isn’t going to get us ahead after all. 

            How soon we redefine what a worthy life is, from peacemaking to making a buck; from looking out for others to looking out for number one; from loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you to hating your enemies and plotting to get revenge; from helping out your friend or neighbor to hoarding your intellectual property so someone does not steel your idea.  I’m not saying you graduates or anyone else in this room is going to do this or has done this, but it is the tempting way of the world. 

            That’s why we come to church Sunday after Sunday.

            We come to remind ourselves of the higher ideals for which we strive. 

We come to remind ourselves why we are here. 

We come to prayerfully ask ourselves if we have lived lives that are worthy.  How do we make our lives worthy?

            There is a theological conundrum in the Bible.  In some parts of the Bible, it says that you have to earn your salvation by your discipleship.  That would certainly be the perspective of the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle of James.  Whole church institutions were built upon this belief.  Indulgences were sold so that you could garner yourself a seat at heaven’s throne.

Then there is the line of thinking in the Bible which says that you cannot earn your salvation at all.  It is rather a gift from God.  It is free.  It is the grace of God to all who believe.  This is the perspective of the Gospel of John and the Apostle Paul.  Gone are the ethics of Jesus in Paul’s writings.  Gone is the concern for this world and its suffering people.  In its place is a sense of salvation in the hereafter—where God reigns with all those who believe.  This is not something you earn.  It is something that is given to you freely from God as a gift.  All that is required is faithfulness.

Then there is the gospel of Mark who is clearly not interested in salvation, but is interested in discipleship and calling us to be the good soil which means living ethically and taking as many risks and suffering and triumph as did Jesus Christ.  That will save the world, according to the Gospel of Mark.

So which side do you come down on?  Wars were fought over this.  The church was split over this.  We still fight over this and we cynically call each other spiritualists or activists, thinking that the other side has it wrong.

I guess whichever side you fall down on, whichever perspective you resonate with, the important thing must be your faithfulness to God.  How you live your faithfulness is how you earn your life.

The writer of Ephesians says that we are to live a life worthy of our call.  Not so you can earn salvation, but so that you can witness to the new life which you experience.  Clearly the writer is talking about the church community.  He implies that part of our worthiness comes through recognizing the worthiness of others: Recognizing the gifts of others for ministry--that’s why he says “grace was given to each of according to the measure of Christ’s gift...and his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers…all to build up the body of Christ.(the church) until we attain the unity of the faith and knowledge Christ and no longer be tossed too and fro by every wind, but speaking the truth in love we are to grow in Christ.”  That’s how we become worthy.  We recognize each other’s gifts and we continue to grow throughout our lives. 

As Elizabeth O’Connor says in her book, Journey Inward, Journey Outward, “there is no Christian community not rooted in service, and no Christian service not rooted in relationship.” (p.40)

The basis of the committed church, is to earn the sacrifice of Jesus.  Jesus died on that cross so that we could realize how one sacrifice could change the world.  Therefore, what we are called to do is to continue the process of changing that world. 

·        To make this a place where peace reigns with justice, where there is no distinction between Gods children,

·        where the table is extended to all of God’s people and all are offered the opportunity of salvation, both individually and collectively. 

·        Where we are not concerned so much with ourselves as we are concerned with the plight of another, not out of pity, but out of compassion. 

·        Where we are committed to looking at and building a world where there is joy born of right relationships and the recognition of God’s creation in every bug, bird, plant and person.  That’s how we live lives worthy of our calling.

My favorite quote from Henry David Thoreau is from Walden.  “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essentials facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die discover that I had not lived.”

How do we know if our lives our worthy? 

I believe it all has to do with mending fences.  If we could measure our lives by the number of fences we have mended, this would be a worthy life indeed. 

      Now, when I speak about fences, I am talking about the kinds of fences that keep people safe, not the kind that keep people bound up and imprisoned.  A good fence makes a good boundary.  It helps the livestock from getting hurt.  It helps people live more freely.  Fences are different than walls.  You can see through fences.  Fences can foster good relationships with those on the other side.  We have great conversations with our next door neighbor Anne over our back fence.  We’re each on our own little space and we can choose to have a connection with each other without invading another’s space.

      A wall on the other hand is not porous.  It is a barrier.  It is imposing.  It is not meant to foster relationship.  It is meant to keep people apart.  I think of the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the new wall around Gaza and the West Bank and the proposed wall along the US/Mexican border.  I think of the figurative walls out there, the walls of political parties, the walls of belief systems, the walls of prejudice and the all-too-familiar walls of indifference.  When a fence becomes a wall, then there is little hope left for relationship.  A fence might not appear as safe as a wall, but it is far more worthy.

      The writer of Ephesians speaks of people having different gifts and that all of us are needed in order to build up the body of Christ.  The Apostle Paul said something similar in I Corinthians 12 when he likened each of us to a part of that body.  But if we are separated by walls, then we can’t see the essential body part that is on the other side.   The writer of Ephesians must have known of some strife in the community in Ephesus, for he calls the people to recognize each other and the way that we need each other.

      My systematic theology professor at Union Seminary was James Cone.  I was intimidated by Dr. Cone long before I got to Union.  As a college freshman I had to read his 1971 book, “A Black Theology of Liberation” in my introduction to Philosophy and Religion course.  I thought I was a good liberal open-minded guy.  I had many friends who were people of color.  I thought I was a tolerant, welcoming and affirming type of a guy.  But this book called the white race complicit in the denigration and oppression of the black race. 

      He said that we white folks had no clue about what black folks had gone through and could not see Jesus in the same way.  We’re too co-opted and compromised.  I’m paraphrasing here, but it was the first of the radical truth-telling books of the black theology movement.   I hated that religion class and it was the only one I took in college—vowed I’d never take another one.

      Long story, but I went to Union Seminary in part because of Dr. Cone.  He made it so dang hard to be a complacent white Christian.  If someone or something really gets under your skin, then they have something to teach you.  He was a great professor.  He was passionate about lifting up and hearing the voices of the voiceless who have had their voices walled off and even expunged from the scriptures.  And yet their voices cried out to us in Dr. Cone’s classroom.  He re-released his book in 1986 and modified its tone and rhetoric to match the way his theology had developed over the years.

      The most important thing I learned from him was that we must never build up walls with our opponents.  He said theology cannot be truly done by reading books or silently praying.  Theology can only be done in dialogue. 

      While not compromising your beliefs, you need to know what your opponent is thinking.  You need to know what your opponent is saying.  You need to make sure that you not only hear your opponent, but that your opponent can pause to listen to you.  True theology cannot be done without a friendly fence or two—because the goal is not triumph over your opponent, but transformation of your opponent into a friend.  This might well mean you may need to modify your beliefs, too.

      So think about this as you go your way today or into your new academic year.

      Think about the fences that you might help to mend out there.

      Think about the walls that might need to come down.

      Think about the opportunities that might avail themselves if we find ourselves brave enough, wise enough, worthy enough to work with our opponents over a fence or two.   For the work we do in mending fences is the most important work we do in our very lives.

      On Wednesday, I joined a small group of young people the Roseville National Guard Recruiting Center.  These young people had made applications to join the National Guard.  When they revealed that they were not heterosexual, they were denied the opportunity to enlist.  Across the country, similar sit-ins occurred on Wednesday in a new movement called “Right to Serve” which challenges the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  It was the kindest, gentlest sit-in I had ever encountered.  The National Guard representatives were respectful and supportive.  They made clear that they did not set policy and that they simply had to enforce policy.  They laughed and joked with the protestors.  They provided a big thermos of water and multiple copies of the many-paged federal statute barring LGBT people from serving in the armed forces.  In what could have been an adversarial confrontation, both sides were respectful and tolerant and willing to listen.  When it came time for the inevitable arrest, the guard informed the group that they were welcome to stay on the lawn overnight or for as long as they wanted. They had even set up a tent for shelter.  But if they decided to remain in the building after closing time, then they would have to call the police.  Kindly, the guard asked if they would be leaving the building at closing time.  When the protestors said no, the guard said that he would call the Roseville police.  The guard and the protestors thanked each other, shook hands, smiled and both sides went about their business.  In the process, I witnessed people on both sides doing the holy and worth work of mending fences.

      So I encourage you young people preparing for college or your next chapter of life to teach us, older, more jaded, more cynical ones how to mend a fence or two.  Help us to live lives that are worthy.  Maybe together we can remember or rediscover who we are called to be.  May all of our lives be worthy of our calling.

Amen.