Gather with Caldwell members and friends tonight at 7 p.m. at Leroy Fox Restaurant in Cotswold as we continue to examine the topic of the growing number of Americans who are religiously affiliated (often called the Nones).
We will be discussing Martin Marty’s interview on Krista Tippett’s radio program “On Being.” The entire interview is about 52 minutes long, but you can glean a lot by just listening to the first 20 minutes or so. Here’s the link: http://www.onbeing.org/program/americas-changing-religious-landscape-conversation-martin-marty/65
Hope to see you there.
Dear Caldwell,
Last night, as I watched portions of the marathon Charlotte City Council meeting concerning a proposed extension of the city’s non-discrimination policy to the LGBT community, the idea of “birth pains” came to mind.
One day Jesus’ followers asked what signs would indicate Jesus’ final return and the beginning of the new age, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said:
“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” – Matthew 24:4-8
Last night, all sorts of people stood at the podium and, in the name of their Christianity, and spoke against expansion of civil protections. They quoted scripture and, at the very least, suggested we should expect a range of calamitous outcomes if council voted “yes:” political backlash, civil war, divine retribution and the end of times.
In the end, Charlotte City Council voted 6-5 against a watered-down version of the proposed ordinance, after its most controversial clause had been removed. The majority of speakers citing their faith spoke against the ordinance, citing fear and safety concerns, subtly coloring LGBT people as dangerous.
For others who claim Christ, it was a painful evening. They are the ones who look to Christ as a welcoming, suffering servant who identify with the outcast and the oppressed. Some were active on social media. As my family watched, after about the first 20 minutes, someone said quietly, “God is weeping.”
That’s right, I think. God weeps when God’s people are in such conflict. God weeps when God’s name is used to advance fear and division and, however subtly, discrimination. God weeps when “the church” fails to live into its identity in Christ as a place of refuge and healing for weary souls.
The verses I referenced above from Matthew have been interpreted in all sorts of ways. I see them as a promise that the Kingdom of God, a place of justice, mercy and love, is always advancing and will prevail in full, despite what we see on a given day. In the meantime, we are all midwives to the incoming of the Kingdom, and we must feel the pain, as we did last night. And we must continue to push for what is right.
Another phrase I was “raised on” is the reassurance often attributed to the unparalleled wisdom of King Solomon, “This, too, shall pass.” Scholars debate whether that phrase appears in any translation of scripture, but its promise is true, nonetheless.
“This, too, shall pass.” Or, stated another way in a phrase attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Last night, the advance of equality for all – things as simple as ensuring that gays and lesbians cannot be refused service in a place of business based on their divinely ordained sexual orientation – was temporarily interrupted.
But, remember Jesus’s words in Matthew 24, “ … see to it that you are not alarmed.”
And those attributed to King Solomon, “This, too, shall pass.”
In Christ,
John
p.s. – If you are wondering about Richard Campbell, his pacemaker battery was not quite ready to be replaced yesterday – but will be soon. No procedure was performed and he is feeling well.