FIRST THINGS FIRST
© Rev. Dr.
Gary Blaine
University
Congregational Church
September 9,
2007
Reading: Matthew 5: 25-33 (NRSV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more than food, and
the body more than clothing? Look at the
birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
of more value than they? And can any of
you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory
was not clothed like one of these. But
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little
faith? Therefore do not worry, saying,
“What will we eat?” Or, “What will we
drink?” Or, “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all
these things. But strive for the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well.”
We
are gathered this morning to inaugurate a new church program year. Sunday school classes have organized. Your new minister is in the pulpit. The choir has returned. The church is buzzing with new hopes and
plans for the future. There are many
decisions to be made about next year’s budget, stewardship, program growth and
development, worship, and outreach. I am
hoping that after we have received the survey from the Hartford Seminary we
will take time to digest its contents and analyze its meaning. I hope it will inform us about the strengths,
needs, and hopes of our congregation. I
hope that we will take that information along with the years of experience that
are represented in our church’s leadership and create a ministry plan with
specific, achievable, and measurable goals for the next three years. You can bet that I am more than eager to get
started! I am excited about the future
we will forge together.
My
temptation is to rush forward with plans and activities without reflecting on
the purpose of the church and its ministry; without some thought as to the
foundation of our church’s mission; without a recovery of the formative values
that define us. I think churches are
sometimes like the airline pilot of a trans-Atlantic flight. After a few hours into the flight he
announced to the passengers, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have some bad news and I
have some good news. The bad news is
that we are hopelessly lost. The good
news is that we are making excellent time.”
Steven
Covey argues in his book, First Things
First, that we have become addicted to urgency and we spend much of our lives
responding to what is urgent. The
computer beeps when a new email has arrived and because it has beeped we feel
compelled to check the email and respond to it – and while we are at it to
search the web for various and sundry information. Our wristwatch or palm pilot sounds an alarm
and we scurry off to the next meeting.
The cell phone rings and we feel obligated to answer it, regardless of
what we are doing, even if it is in the middle of dinner, or the theatre, or an
intimate conversation, even in church!
We keep telling ourselves that these are labor saving devices and that
they help us multi-task. We think we are
more efficient. But I wonder if we are
just making excellent time while we are hopelessly lost.
Covey
argues that it is essential for individuals to know what is the focus of our
lives. What are the “first things” that
we must order and attend to, rather than the autonomic responses of someone
else’s emergency? What is the most
important thing for a man or woman to do?
“Knowing and doing what is important,” he wrote, “rather than simply
responding to what’s urgent is foundational to putting first things first.”[1] While the dynamics change for an
organization, I think that we too must know what are the “first things” of our
congregation’s mission. What is the
inner fire or focus that determines our ministry? Or, are we simply going to respond to every
emergency and human need that demands our services? Trust me, a week does not go by that an
emergency knocks on the door of our church or the pastor’s study. I am asking if that need, or program, or
organization, or personal agenda is at all compatible with the “first things”
of University Congregational Church.
Are we going to be a church that operates on a crises management model or
a church that is mission centered with focused outcomes of that mission?
What
are the “first things” of University Congregational? The answer is found in the church’s
constitution as the purpose and covenant of the congregation. Part of it is printed on the order of
service. Let me read the entire
covenant:
In the love of truth, and in
the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, this church exists to serve those who
believe that the Christian faith affords our clearest insight into the nature
and will of God. Accepting that faith as
our guide, we join one another to worship and work so that peace, justice, and
brotherhood may prevail in this world.
Our covenant has identified us as a
congregation that affirms the life, teachings, and ministry of Jesus. By such lights we dare claim something of the
nature God and God’s purpose for life.
We do not claim exclusive knowledge.
We do not presume that other faith traditions are in any way
defective. We freely admit that this is our clearest insight. We do not presume the insights of
others. This is the faith path that
defines us. And as we claim it, so are
we claimed. This covenant makes a connection
to the life of Jesus and the call to worship and work in the world so that
human life may be whole and just. We are
a people of faith called to the ministry of transforming humanity into a family
of peace and justice.
Those
are the first things of University Congregational Church. We further stipulate that all persons who
affirm this covenant are welcome to membership.
The covenant does not say a word about your race, nationality, gender,
gender orientation, ability, or age. The
covenant does not say a word about your political party affiliation. The covenant is without doctrine or creedal
formula that requires your loyalty. The
church’s constitution states quite clearly, “University Congregational Church
shall welcome into its membership all persons who accept the Covenant of this
church.”
I
want to tell you this morning that your covenant is one of the reasons that I
became interested in the position of senior minister. It is a fine covenant and one that I freely
and wholeheartedly embrace. I was also
compelled by the ad that your search committee placed in The Christian Century. It
stated that you are an inclusive congregation and hinted at progressive
tendencies – right here, in Wichita, Kansas.
To the best of my ability, it is my commitment to serve you toward the
fullness of our covenant. I am honored
to take my place with you in the pledge of faith that promotes the welfare and
security of the entire human family.
I
hope that you realize that our covenant is not a covenant of creeds. It is a
covenant of deeds. We do not offer the
sure and certain assurance of faith without question. We will not wave the Bible at the human
condition and hope that God is in his heaven and all is right with the
world. What we will do is worship God
with such integrity of heart and mind as we can offer. From this sanctuary we will return to the
world to engage the human condition in all of its glory and degradation. We will walk through valleys of death, fear,
indignity, and terror to restore a bloodied and paranoid world. Where there is oppression we will work for
freedom. Our covenant reminds me of the
prayer of St. Francis:
Lord,
make us instruments of your peace.
Where
there is hatred let us sow love;
Where
there is injury pardon;
Where
there is discord, union;
Where
there is doubt, faith;
Where
there is despair, hope;
Where
there is darkness, light;
Where
there is sadness, joy.
I cannot think of a prayer more
appropriate for a congregation whose vow it is to work so that peace, justice,
and brotherhood may prevail in this world. This is a “first things”
prayer. This is what we are about. This is what we are called to do.
Commitment
to such a covenant makes University Congregational Church unique among many
members of the Body of Christ. For some
other denominations membership means a commitment to a set of beliefs. This is called orthodoxy, or right belief. If you were to join a United Methodist Church
or an Episcopal Church your membership would require you to affirm a set of
faith statements. For example, in the
Episcopal Church the Baptismal Covenant requires you to answer a series of
questions. The first is: “Do you believe in God.” The appropriate answer is, “I believe in God
the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” The second questions: “Do you believe in
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The
correct answer is: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy
Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He
suffered under Pontius Pilot, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the
right hand of the Father. He will come
again to judge the living and the dead.”
You
recognize this, of course, as the Apostle’s Creed. My hunch is that if I asked you to recite
with me the entire Apostle’s Creed some of you would not. Others of you would probably edit. Something like: “I believe in God, Jesus, crucified, died,
buried.”
Please
understand that I am not in any way criticizing the Episcopal Church. They are also committed to many of the issues
of peace and justice that we are. I am
only observing that the basis of membership in the Episcopal Church follows the
orthodox path of faith. University
Congregational Church follows a different path of faith within the Christian
communion. And let there be no doubt
that we too belong to the Body of Christ.
Our path is the path of orthopraxis, meaning, “right practice” or “right
behavior.” That is to say, UCC is
focused on just relationships, ethical discernment, and moral agency as
understood in the life and teachings of Jesus.
This is the heart of our covenant and what it means to be a member of
this church.
I
believe that is what the ministry of Jesus was all about. The term that he used was “the kingdom of
God.” I believe that Jesus offered a
radically inclusive community of faith that invited everyone to the table of
life. I believe that faith with Jesus
means that if someone is lost we organize a search party and find them. If someone is hungry we set another place at
the table and feed them. If someone is
thirsty we give her a glass of water. If
someone is lonely we go and sit with him.
If someone is in danger we protect her.
If someone is disenfranchised from the economic and political life of
the community we empower them to all the institutions of freedom.
Christian religious educator, Thomas Groome
has written that the church is meant to be the sacrament of the Jesus message
in the pursuit of peace, freedom, justice, and life. He declared:
“To be a credible sign of
the Kingdom, it (the church) will have to embody within its own structures the
values it preaches. Further, it will
have to harness its ministry and whole way of being in the world toward helping
to create social/political/economic structures that are capable of promoting
the values of the Kingdom..”[2]
These are the first things, the
order of values that shape the ministry of our church. For these reasons the University
Congregational Church joins other congregations in the annual Crop Walk. We share our resources in the building of a
Habitat for Humanity house. We scoop up
the family of Tameka Gross and provide her with the means to raise her own
three children and those of her murdered sister through education, housing
assistance, and hygiene needs. This we
understand to be the way of the cross.
These acts of compassion form our way of being church and affirming the
values of the Kingdom of God. This is
what we understand to be our “Christian lifestyle.”
Jesus
taught that the Kingdom of God is identified as that place where we love our
neighbors. How do you know you are in
the Kingdom of God? Because in the
Kingdom the people love one another; they love the children; they love the
disposed and the disinherited; they love the ones that everybody else has given
up on. In fact, Jesus taught us that
when you love these little ones, the broken ones, the frightened ones, the
scarred ones, the wounded and bitter ones you love God. As a matter of fact it is not possible to
love God in the abstract. The only way
to love God is to love the neighbors – all of the neighbors!
The
brothers Grimm told the story of the old woman whose husband had died. Her own health was failing and her eyesight
dimmed. At last she was forced to move
into the home of her son and daughter-in-law.
Her health continued to decline.
With such poor vision and the shaking of her feeble hands she began to
make a mess at the table. She would
spill her food on the floor or on her dress.
Soup drooled out of the corner of her mouth and down her chin. The sight of all of this disgusted her son
and his wife. So they decided to move
the mother into a dark corner of the house where she would be out of
sight. At every meal she ate alone,
tears running down her cheeks. Sometimes
they might say a word to her, but it was usually to scold her for making a
mess.
One
day the son and wife were watching their little daughter playing with her
building blocks. “What are you making?”
the son asked his daughter. “Oh,” she
replied, “I am making a table for you and mother so that you can eat in the
corner when I am bigger.”
That
evening the grandmother was brought back to the family table. She dined there until the day she died.
In
the Kingdom of God no one is excluded from the table of life. It is our mission as a congregation to bring
everyone to the table. Our covenant with
each other is to break the bread of justice for everyone who hungers for it; to
share the cup of peace for everyone who thirsts for it; and to celebrate the
human family and to honor everyone’s place within it. This is our covenant, and welcome to
University Congregational Church!
Finis