“Getting Wet”
(The sermon preached on the day the congregation voted on the “Open and Affirming” declaration)

Though confession is not a sacrament of the Protestant church, I must confess this morning my struggle regarding the next fifteen minutes. My struggle is not in deciding how I feel about the Open and Affirming statement. What I have sought to discern is my role on the day you, as a congregation, will vote on this declaration.

I am sure some of you wonder why I would have any struggle at all – after all – preach what you believe – speak your mind. To those who hold such an opinion, please understand how sacred I hold these 6 square feet of space where I stand on Sunday mornings. I am careful with my sermons – constantly evaluating whether my words are born of personal politics or prejudice, or an honest and prayerful discernment of God’s will. I am well aware and respect the fact that the sermon is a monologue – thus it needs to be seen as such and not treated as if there is a dialogue going on – where others can voice their thoughts and discernments.

To help me decide, I went back to the moment of my ordination, and what words were used on that day almost thirty years ago. The Association Minister stood and, leading the ritual of ordination, asked among other questions: “Will you be zealous in maintaining both the truth of the Gospel and the peace of the church, speaking the truth in love.”

Well, there you have it – the two charges that can, at times, seem to clash. Speaking the truth of the Gospel and maintaining peace in the church. How does one discern what is truth in the Gospel: with blind loyalty to the written word or rigid recitation of traditional interpretation? Do I seek a living word that transcends the written scripture? Who am I to challenge the theological greats of the past twenty centuries if I find it difficult to accept the scripture as recorded and revered?

On the other hand, at what point does seeking peace for the church conflict with speaking the truth in love? What and when does a minister hold back, if by saying it, he or she knows it will upset the tranquility of the congregation? I remind you, there are no happy prophets in the bible. Name any one of them, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, Amos, any one of the prophets, and you will be speaking of someone who spent his life as the object of derision and ridicule from the very people he was trying to save.

Three and a half years ago you called me to be your pastor and teacher. Three and a half years ago we entered into a covenant that did not demand we agree on everything, but that in everything there would be respect - a relationship I hope is one of mutual appreciation and trust.

I have sought to honor that covenant. When I arrived, this was not a church with a recent history of tranquility. It seemed that our floors were not so much of tile or carpet, but eggshells as I tried to engender health and joy. Through your work and commitment, look how far we have come! But we are not done yet.

I know that my recent sermons have emphasized the issue of being a welcoming body of Christ – pushing for the outreach that meets the needs of this community and the world. And I know that some of you think I have been preaching on the ONA statement even though I have not used those words – that there has been some sort of kind of a “wink-wink” going on.

In truth, what I have sought, is to make us all aware of the breadth – the length – the depth of what it means to be faithful to Christ – as I experience that grace and as I hear His voice.

One day a friend found W C Fields reading a bible and asked what he was doing. “Looking for loopholes, looking for loopholes.”

Simply stated, if not well said, I can find no loopholes in God’s demand that we are to be a people of justice and welcome. I can find no loophole in Christ’s affirmation that all people are invited to the feast of his grace and love.

I believe the Open and Affirming statement is about this congregation doing what we, as a church, are called do and be: a witnessing of Christ's love, transforming the community and the people. We are called to do what is easy or convenient, but to do what is right. Ours is not always the easiest of roads and sometimes the way is not as clear as we might prefer. For change is seldom easy and often brings tension and resistance. There is comfort to be found in the old traditions of both liturgy and practice.

In an article on a church being Open and Affirming, Jim Swanson would remind us that many cling to the comfort we find in traditions and the way it always has been. But even as we find the reassurance in the status quo, we can become paralyzed by our fear of the unknown and find spiritual and moral death.
 
Can we possibly find contentment in our silence as others stand in the front of the line and risk all for the cause of justice? Can we possibly watch from the safety of our comfortable pews as others do the very work in which we are called to share? As Mahatma Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see."

And the best description of where I believe we should be as a congregation is found in a wonderful story of the Israelites at the Red Sea as they escape from Egypt. You know the narrative well – with Pharaoh’s chariots chasing and close behind, the people of Israel find themselves against the mighty waters of the sea. Going back meant to encounter the spears and arrows of Pharaoh. Going forward was impossible because a great sea lay before them. In the bible we read how Moses touched his staff to the water and it parted, allowing the Israelites to cross over to safety.

In the Talmud, a collection of ancient wisdom written by the great rabbis of Jewish history, the story has a little different telling. In this version, when Moses touched his staff to the water, nothing happened. The Egyptian army was closing in – when suddenly, from that vast throng of newly freed slaves, a single man came forward. He approached the water’s edge and, looking forward and then back, began to walk in the water.

Nothing happened as he walked out – to his ankles, then to his knees – to his waist – but suddenly, as the water got deeper and deeper, the water began to part – exposing the safety of dry ground on which the people could pass.

The Talmud was saying, even as great of a prophet as Moses was, it took someone willing to get a little wet, for the water to part. As powerful as was the voice and staff of Moses, words and gimmicks were not enough. It was the commitment of a single person – someone willing to go into the water and get wet, that changed the circumstance.
 
To the members of this congregation I remind you – you are part of the United Church of Christ – a church that has always been willing to get wet for the cause of justice. When the entire Christian tradition was declaring and defending that only men could serve as pastors, the UCC got wet and said women were equally gifted to serve Christ.

When the Christian Church said no black man or black woman could be ordained, it was the UCC that first said no to prejudice and welcomed people of color to the ministry.

When the Christian Church said only those who are of heterosexual orientation can receive the rite of ordination, that no gay man or lesbian woman could serve Christ, it was the UCC that stood beside Bill Johnson some 36 years ago and said: “Welcome, brother.” A few years later we stood beside a lesbian woman and said: “Welcome sister.”
 
I believe every generation of faith must encounter its moment of justice as it seeks to be relevant in its time and place. This is not to say there are no absolutes – there is absolutely the requirement to love, to show kindness and mercy, and to seek justice.
 
I would say to you on this day, that it is time for LCC to get wet! It is time to reaffirm our baptism and get wet once again! It is time to express our unity with all our brothers and sisters – those for whom the church doors have not been open portals but closed gates – the differently abled who found stairs and narrow stalls limiting their experience of church; the person who needed a different way of learning.

It is time to express our unity with people of color, with our brothers and sisters of all rungs of the economic ladder; and yes, with differing, God-given sexual orientations.

This ONA statement is not about genitalia, but is about the church saying – we know who we are – we know the depth of our welcome and the breadth of our affirmation – and we declare it with pride and vigor – this is who we are!

During the congregational forums on ONA in the last several months, we have all heard the question, "Why do we need to vote or say anything on Open and Affirming? Aren't we already open and affirming?" I fully believe the questions are honest and heartfelt.
 
But, louder than that question is the pain of those who have been told through generations, "Just wait! The church will move on this issue or that issue. If you wait, good things will happen." The Rev. Timothy Ahrens, speaks of the essay, "Why We Can't Wait!" written by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In this essay, Dr. King lays out a history of black people in America up to 1963. He points out that in various periods of the early 19th century, there were as many black people in America as white people! Nevertheless, here they stood 150 years later waiting for the same equal rights and civil rights of their white sisters and brothers.

This is the day we say to all our gay brothers and lesbian sisters, to the physically challenged and the poor, we say to those of different abilities and mental acuities, to all who have been told to wait – that at least here – in this place – with us – your wait is over. We are open to the fullness of the variety found in humanity’s cloth of both many colors and differing abilities – we are open to the gifts each person brings to our community of faith – and we are affirming that all life is precious and worthy of the grace we claim to experience.

As Paul wrote long ago – there can be no division between Jew or gentile, slave or free, male or female - for all one in Christ. My beloved friends – let’s get wet!