07/05/2009 SPEECHLESS

SPEECHLESS

 

And he could do no deed of power there…  And he was amazed at their unbelief.

 Mark 6: 6-7 (NRSV)

 

During her senior year at Albright College, Deb spent a semester working with special needs students at the 13^th & Union Elementary School in Reading.  One of the new, kindergarten students that year was deaf.  He was also Amish.

 

While the Amish had their own schools, they had no teachers skilled in American Sign Language.  The custom of the Amish was to keep a deaf child at home, perhaps do some home schooling, or as was more often the case, not school him or her at all. 

 

Risking a reprimand from their bishop, or perhaps even shunning from the congregation, the boy’s family took a leap of faith by enrolling him in the public school.  22 years ago, it was the only place to properly accommodate his need.

 

Deb was amazed that the family, let alone their restrictive faith community, would allow for this kind of “adventure.”  The little boy was privately chauffeured scores of miles each day.   He donned the traditional Amish hat & garb that made him stand out among the other students.  He joined a class with far more racial, ethnic, & religious diversity than his siblings, or any relative, had ever encountered. 

 

Deb often wondered what his family would think, if they had the opportunity to see him at school.  Part way through the semester, when it was time for the annual parent-teacher conference, Deb got her chance to learn what the family thought. 

 

On that day, the parents & siblings – all hearing – filed into the classroom … as did both sets of grandparents, aunts & uncles & cousins.  It was impressive!  Behind them were neighbors, as well as the farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen, & local business persons that comprised their full church.  They came on buses which they chartered.  And when the teacher greeted them using sign language, everyone signed back.  

 

The teacher & Deb were stunned, speechless. 

 

The congregation’s signing, though, went beyond that opening greeting.  Everyone engaged in complete, intelligible signing conversation. 

 

Once the teacher recovered from the shock, she remarked how pleasantly overwhelmed she was by their signing.   Responding to the teacher’s surprise, one man, whom they later learned was the bishop, stated in a matter-of-fact way so characteristic of a pragmatic Dutchman, “How could we share life & faith in Jesus, if Jacob couldn’t understand us?!?” 

 

Here is an example of the best of the Christian faith: of imitating Christ; of not only accepting, but embracing differences; of making disciples; of sacrificing to save someone. 

 

In stark contrast is our gospel passage – lessons of rejection.  Jesus is rejected in his hometown of Nazareth by his kin & neighbors.  The 12 Disciples are rejected when Jesus sends them out among the villages of Galilee.  And in the next set of verses beyond the assigned ones, John the Baptizer is given the ultimate rejection.  He is beheaded for preaching the truth to an evil, grudge-bearing queen.  John’s words convicted Herodias of her sinful behavior & she would have none of that.  It was off with his head.

 

Rejection is depressing.  The verses remind us of times when we were rejected -- emotionally painful memories.   This lesson also reminds us about when we have done the rejecting -- memories eliciting anger with ourselves.  We have been sinned against, sometimes, & we are guilty of sinning at other times.

 

These verses also evoke our rejection of Jesus – his teaching, his message, his hope, his death & resurrection.   At times we reject his grace & love.   We reject his life’s purpose for us to die to ourselves.  We reject his desire for us to live for God. 

 

What are concrete examples of how we may reject Jesus?

• If a child in our parish was deaf, would we all learn sign language?  Or, would we not have the time in our busy schedules?  Would our unwillingness to learn a new language be a rejection of one of our own?  Is it a rejection of Christ?
• While many of us welcomed our Interfaith Hospitality guests last month, (&, of course, some folks have other obligations, there are persons who have never participated in helping these homeless families.  When the convenience & comfort of our own beds precludes a night at church in June, when our personal & family schedules take precedence over sharing with the homeless a meal from our own bounty, when the price of gasoline keeps us from driving a working mom to work, are they a rejection of Jesus?
• When Jesus’ ultimate act of love on Calvary is memorialized in holy communion, presenting his love & grace in the bread & wine as he commands, “Do this,” & we only “do this” occasionally, is that a rejection of Jesus?  Why not welcome his love & grace at every opportunity? 
• When we bypass a stranger standing in the church lobby, a stranger who has an accent or looks different, because of clothing or skin color or deformity, is that a rejection of Jesus?   
• When we allow political opinions to deter or mar what could be vibrant, healthy relationships of learning & growth in one another, do we reject Jesus?   
• When church becomes a social club, when Sunday worship time is an opportunity to sleep in or do something else, when mealtime prayer is not uttered at a restaurant (even silently), when the Bible goes unread except for Sunday, when sermons must always uplift, but rarely challenge & convict, when we find faith lacks genuine, life-changing meaningfulness & unbounded joy, is it (all) because we reject Jesus?

 

Perhaps, when we confront the pain of rejection, personally, we can welcome & invite Christ & others.  When we acknowledge our rejection of others & Christ, we can receive Christ’s forgiveness & acceptance of us. 

 

For centuries, the Amish knew rejection, & the persecution that comes from it.  That’s why they came to Pennsylvania.  That’s why one congregation learned to sign. 

 

     That’s why many of us engage in the ministries that we do.  Yes, we are guilty of rejecting Christ at times, but there are also examples of welcoming him & serving him.  Rejection is a depressing topic, that is, until rejection is transformed into welcoming, acceptance, & ministry.

 

Your efforts at hosting visitors from the Czech Republic are a testimony to welcoming the stranger.  Your caring, the willingness to open your homes & give of your time, your organizational skills, flexibility, & grace were exceptional.  Thank you.

 

     Recently, Don Albacker has been feeling led to share his skills regarding career change, & handling finances amid those changes.  He’s offered to meet with our friends who are out of work or looking to change careers.  When persons experience uncaring rejection in the marketplace, Don offers an alternative that is welcoming & affirming.

 

     Last month, five persons stepped forward & received the initial training to minister to the lonely, sick, & shut-in of the congregation.  A testimony to any church is how we include & care for the weakest & neediest among us. 

 

     I could go on.

 

     Suffice to say, each of the persons & groups I mentioned follow Christ’s leading to welcome, witness, & serve.  We’re not a congregation that just has programs to involve people & keep them busy (we’re busy enough!), but a church of various ministries which the Holy Spirit creates & calls spiritually-gifted persons to lead & live.  And they’re never too busy to do what God’s laid on their heart.

 

     I leave you with this illustration.

 

There were 25 members comprising the United Methodist Church in Milford, Delaware.  They were all senior citizens.  Milford UMC was a declining congregation numerically, financially, & most of all, spiritually.  The only way they increased was chronologically!

 

Foreseeing the inevitable, one bold member of the church suggested that they should begin taking Jesus at his word by searching the scriptures for his will & wisdom for the congregation.  Maybe they would discover that Jesus could be taken at his word, that is, if the persons who proclaimed to be his followers took his word to heart.  They realized that churches don’t decline when they do what Jesus says.  Churches decline because they don’t follow Jesus.

 

In Milford, they thought that they followed Jesus & that knew Jesus, but not really.  They knew information about him.  How can you go to church or Sunday School for so many years & not learn something?  What they did not know firsthand was Jesus’ power & grace.  They read about them.  They heard about them.  But, they did not know Christ’s power & grace personally. 

 

Clearly, they took great comfort from Jesus over the years.  They availed themselves to him when they needed him, when it was convenient, when his teaching fit their idea of church.  But they had not opened themselves to having the Holy Spirit in their midst.  They had not availed themselves to his challenges when Jesus needed them.  They did their respectable Sunday club the way they always did, the way they wanted, not the way the Bible taught the church should be.  No wonder they were a dying lot.  How can you be open to others when you’re not even open to Christ?!?  How can you welcome persons who don’t know you, when you don’t even welcome the person who knows you best?  They learned: strangers weren’t the real threat to their congregation.  They were.

  

Amid the decline & spiritual desolation, those 25 seniors knew to pray.  They did.  They also read their Bibles … with fresh eyes.  No physical changes were noted in the church for a while, but the people realized something was happening inside of them, inside their hearts, in the heart of Milford Church.

 

     Their encounter with holy scripture prodded them to look beyond the church building’s four walls, something they had not done for decades.  They saw what they had been denying for so long: the neighborhood around them no longer looked or sounded like them.  A whole lot of persons were Latino.

 

     David, a seminary friend who serves churches in Texas once told me, “Ironically, I haven’t pastored an Anglo congregation that failed to die.  And I haven’t pastored a Mexican congregation that failed to thrive!”

 

     Now, the Milford church members knew what Jesus said in Matt. 25 about welcoming the stranger, in this case, Latino strangers.  They read that.  They knew that Jesus was only made known to Cleopas & his friend on the Emmaus Road when they shared a meal together in Luke 24.  They read that, too.   Good Methodists that they were, they could invite their neighbors to a dinner.  Or could they?  Best intentions aside, they didn’t speak their neighbors’ language.

 

     Learning to speak a foreign language is not easy, especially when you’re a senior citizen, but they found that it goes a lot easier, & is a lot more fun, when all 25 friends decide to pool their money & hire a Spanish teacher.  All 25 became Spanish students!

 

     You see, the members of Milford UMC could not realize God’s promise for them – their church & their individual lives – until they genuinely availed themselves to God’s will & wisdom.  As Mark’s gospel teaches, “Jesus could do no deed of power there because of their - their! - amazing unbelief.”  They chose not to believe Christ.  Oh yes, they believed in Jesus.  They just didn’t believe Jesus -- what he taught & what he promised, what he promised them.

 

The Milford congregation had to open their hearts & minds & doors to discover what God was promising them about new life.  But first, they had to confront the hurt of their dying church, their dying lives, & their dying souls.  They had to realize that rejecting others was rejecting Christ.  For only when they found healing within their own lives & church did they establish a personal connection with God & see God’s work amid their lives.  The epiphany, the holy encounter, the meaningful faith they so longed for, but never really had, they now experienced together.

 

     These long-time church folk burst onto the 21^st century very different from the way they left the 20^th.  They had been, as U.M. Pastor Tom Bandy describes, “very conscientious, often intolerant, always worried, merely friendly, & never, ever ecstatically happy,” but the congregation that emerged in Milford “is extraordinarily caring, often irreverently humorous, always curious, profoundly intimate, & never dull.”[1]

 

     I’d love for us to learn another language, too.  It could be sign language or the Spanish language.  In this area, Korean or the Indian tongue, Tamil, would serve us well.  Better yet, for starters how about personally pledging to become more fluent in the Bible’s language of faith?  How about becoming students of the language of transformation?  Learning & living the life language of Jesus Christ would actually leave lot of folks speechless!

 

In the Name….                         Copyright 2009 by G.D.Knerr at Lansdale, Pa.  All rights reserved.