Test Time
(Rutgers, March 1, 1998; First Sunday in Lent, Year C )
Deuteronomy 8:2-7; 6:10a, 12-14, 16-17 (OT, pp. 183, 181-182);
Luke 4:1-13 (NT, p. 62)
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
where for 40 days he was tested by the devil." (Luke 4:1-2a)
There in the wilderness, for 40 days, Jesus confronted
that force within our world that seeks to defeat love
and to deprive us of wholeness and well-being,
the force that tempts humankind with the Faustian bargain:
"I'll give you wealth and power
if only you devote yourself to me.,
At the end of those 40 days, the devil put Jesus to three final 'tests
And each time, Jesus drew on the Holy Spirit
and on a passage from scripture to face Satan down.
In the second of those tests,
the Evil One led Jesus upward, showed him in a flash
all the kingdoms of the world,
and then said to him,
“To you I will give their glory and all this authority...
if you will worship me.,
In his refusal to do so, Jesus quoted words from the Book of Deut.,
words that Moses had spoken long before to the people of Israel:
"Worship the Lord your God,
and serve God alone!"
Now, for all of us who are seeking to be followers of Jesus,
this year's 40 days of Lent are also a Test Time,
a time when we are confronted by forces
that seek to defeat love
and to deprive our world of wholeness and well-being,
the forces that would have us devote ourselves
to something other than God.
For each of us, then, this Lent is a Test Time.
Will we surrender to those forces working against
love, wholeness, and well-being?
Or will we, by drawing on the power of scripture and God's Spirit,
stand firm against those forces, overcoming them with good?
One test posed for us this Lent
comes to us not from the figurative "wilderness"
that lies beyond the walls of our houses of worship,
the wilderness of "the world out there."
Yes, one particularly difficult lenten test of our commitment
to love, wholeness, and well-being
comes from within the American Protestant Church itself.
For as the great Christian apologist C. S. Lewis
observed so insightfully in his book The Screwtape Letters,
the devil is very much at work among us Christians!
Over the past several months of Sundays,
the many congregations that follow the lectionary
have encountered a number of scripture lessons
that call upon the church to stand up for justice and
to stand with those of God's children who are oppressed.
Since early December, the beginning of Advent,
we here at Rutgers have encountered both
in the Gospel of Luke and in the preaching from this pulpit
Jesus's clear teaching that the task of the Messiah
is to turn the hopes of the oppressed into reality,
bringing them both liberation and restoration.
We have seen Jesus teaching, preaching, healing, and moving among
those excluded from human fellowship by standard cultural norms,
those marginalized by society.
And through Luke's gospel, we have heard the good news
that in the person and ministry of Jesus
God's purpose of liberation has begun to be fulfilled,
and that we followers of Jesus
have been called to continue his work
by carrying out in the name of our Messiah
the kind of preaching and ministry
that was characteristic of our Lord.
So here's the test being posed to us this Lent
from within the American Protestant church.
Will we yield to the forces that are urging us to retreat from the
Messiah's ministry of liberation and restoration, a ministry of love
that seeks to foster the wholeness and well-being of all persons;
or will we, by the power of the Spirit and scripture,
stand firm with Jesus?
Case Study #1 of the test that is coming to us this Lent
from within the American Protestant church-
the temptation to retreat from Christ's call
to a ministry of liberating love
that seeks to restore all persons to wholeness and well-being.
On Wednesday, March 11th, just ten days from now,
the Reverend Jimmy Creech goes on trial in a church court
for the so-called "sin against the church" of
blessing the union in love of two women in his congregation.
Mr. Creech has been the pastor of the First United Methodist Church
in Omaha, Nebraska, a congregation of some 1900 people.
Last September he officiated at a covenant ceremony
between two women members of his church
in explicit violation of a "social principle"
added to the United Methodist Book of Discipline in 1996.
That principle reads:
"Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions
shall not be conducted by our ministers
and shall not be conducted in our churches."
Mr. Creech dares to believe what we believe the Holy Spirit and
scripture have led him to affirm:
that committed love between homosexual persons is
something wonderfully liberating,
something that fosters wholeness and well-being
something that is consistent with the love
made known in Christ,
something to which his congregation committed itself
when it adopted a statement of purpose
that welcomed and celebrated
"the diversity of God's children," including all
"sexual orientations" and "marital states."
Y et in conformity with present Methodist church law,
Bishop Joel Martinez has suspended Mr. Creech from the pulpit of
the First UM Church, and a trial to decide whether or not Mr.
Creech may continue to minister in that denomination
will be conducted this Lent, beginning on March 11th.
Be sure to follow the case in your newspapers!
Case Study #2 of the test that is coming to us this Lent,
a temptation coming from within our own Presby. denomination-
a temptation to retreat from Christ's call
to a ministry of liberating love that seeks
to foster the wholeness and well-being of all persons.
According to a reliable source, on this coming Saturday, March 7th,
just six days from now, the 83rd presbytery of our denomination
will vote against the proposed Amendment A to our Book of Order,
sealing its defeat
and leaving imposed on our churches for a long time to come
a constitutional prohibition on ordaining as officers
many categories of person considered by those presbyteries
to be marginal, including those gay and lesbian Presbyteri-
ans who have chosen to fulfill their sexuality in a love
expressed through long-term, committed relationships.
By action of our church Session, of which I am the moderator ,
Rutgers last year filed with our denomination
a covenant of dissent from this paragraph,
which had just been added to our Book of Order.
Seven weeks ago, the Session reaffirmed that action,
passing a resolution proclaiming that we are indeed
"an active, professing More Light Church, which welcomes
all of God's children into full, active membership and
participation in the community of Jesus Christ, regardless of
whatever action the denomination takes on the issue of
the ordination of gays and lesbians."
With the impending defeat of Amendment A this coming Saturday,
the majority in the Presbyterian Church will soon be calling for us
and other More Light congregations in our denomination
to retreat from what we know to be Christ's call,
to retreat from a ministry of liberating love
that seeks to foster the wholeness and well-being
of all God's children.
I have every reason to believe that during this crucial season of Lent
Rutgers will be steadfast in facing down any temptation to retreat
from the stand we have taken for Jesus's inclusive love-
in facing down any temptation to submit to those forces
within our denomination
that seek to limit our witness to such love and
to deprive many of wholeness and well-being.
But we need to be realistic about the cost of discipleship
that probably lies ahead for More Light churches.
Now that that paragraph of the constitution
from which our Session has dissented has been fixed in stone
for some time to come in our Book of Order ,
the sort of church trial that will be getting underway
next week among Methodists in Nebraska
for the Reverend Jimmy Creech
could well be set in motion at any time
in our own denomination
for More Light pastors like me
or Bob Brashear of West-Park
or Dave Dyson of Lafayette Avenue.
And if the Presbytery of New York City were to so choose,
the Session of our church could be set aside
and replaced by an administrative commission of
elders and ministers from other congregations.
Fortunately, our own presbytery has so far been supportive of
the principle of Christ's fully inclusive love,
and I believe that we as a Session and pastor
are in no immediate jeopardy.
But none of us should live under a delusion;
some one or more of our sister More Light congregations
will be faced by a church trial within the next 2 to 3 years.
I and the Rutgers Session have felt called in conscience
to resist those forces in our denomination
that seek to limit our witness to Christ's liberating love and
to deprive many Presbyterians of wholeness and well-being.
This Lent a severe test is being posed from within the denomination
to More Light Christians.
I pray that we may be empowered by the Spirit and scripture
so that we, like Jesus, can resist
every temptation that would divert us
from our God-given ministry of More Light.
As a way to renew our pledged commitment to Christ's inclusive love
at this the beginning of Lent,
I invite all members of the congregation
to join with me and the members of our Session,
in reciting together the last two paragraphs
on the inside back cover of your order of service-
thereby reaffirming
both our church's More Light statement
and its Mission Statement.
[Read the Rutgers More Light Statement and Mission Statement]
Let us pray:
O God, the way ahead will be a time of testing for our faith and
for our commitment to Y our liberating love. Fill us with Your Spirit,
and endow us with the wisdom of Your word that we may worship
You and You alone. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
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