Morning Prayer: Shannon Cook Choral Amen Hymn of Presence *Spirit* Witness of Scripture: Acts 2: 1-21 Anthem *Blessed Be the Name of the Lord* Dale Grotenhuis. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *A Response to the Community* David Spain
Recorded May 28, 2023
In what will come as no surprise to you this morning, the sermon that had been written for this day no longer seems right for this moment. That sermon was distributed to those who ask for advance copies, but what will be spoken this morning that was written early this morning varies significantly from what was sent to you as the original sermon for Pentecost Sunday.
To state the obvious, the last 36 hours have been beyond agonizing. Perhaps the truest words to say this morning is that there are no words to say that can address fully what we are thinking feeling. However, just because our words are inadequate is no excuse for saying nothing. So, recognizing the imperfection of what will be said, it is right and necessary to offer these words to you this morning.
For the few who may not know, one of our staff was arrested Thursday evening and that news became public Friday afternoon. Since then, much work has been done in response to that news, work that will establish the groundwork for all that needs to happen in the days to come. All staff have been involved in a meeting yesterday morning, and the primary church leaders including the current President and the President Elect of the congregation, along with the Elder and Deacon Chair have been notified and consulted. Countless and almost constant hours of communication by phone, text, and email have been carried out since late Friday afternoon when the news came to my awareness. Those kinds of details are less important in this moment, but you need to be assured that your church is responding, including thanks to two of our wonderful women who have stepped in at the eleventh hour and led our children’s Sunday School this morning. Thank you very much.
To state the obvious, we are a church that is in deep, almost unfathomable grief. We are shocked, appalled, distraught, scared, angry, and fearful. It is important that we hear and honor each other’s deep and powerful emotions. If there is one thing the Biblical story says over and over again, it is that God hears the cries of those who are grieving, of those who are frightened, of those who are in deepest distress. This is a time when I have fallen back on that deeply held belief even though at times during the last 36 hours we have all felt profoundly and frighteningly alone.
By faith we proclaim we are not alone…we have each other, and we have God who hears us when we cry and when we are afraid.
And so it is that we must, as God’s people, listen deeply, openly, non-defensively to whatever we need to say to one another. That is first and foremost. The old saying that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care must be foremost in our minds. With all the thoughts and emotions that have been stirred since Friday afternoon, we must practice the sacred gift of lending our deep and loving listening to each other—listening that comes without judgment and with deep acceptance of where each of us is in this moment and in the days to come. We can only be the church, and the church at its best, when we give each other our ears.
Pentecost, for all that it is, is first and foremost the gift of listening, the gift of hearing each other, the gift not of uniformity but of compassionate community in which we recognize that God’s Spirit poured out onto all flesh means that we have the grace, wisdom, and care to listen to and seek always to understand one another. Therefore, we must be open to tears, disappointment, confusion, anger, sadness, and who knows what else. We are not here to fix or correct anyone; we are here to listen, and we will do that.
That being said, we must also do more than listen. When we sing “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” we are not speaking of sappy sentimentalism of cuddly emotions. We are speaking of a faith both courageously held and vulnerably offered. And so it is incumbent on us that every question that needs to be asked must be heard and answered—and it will be; every concern both immediately present and lingering later must be heard and answered—and it will be; every doubt or uncertainty that has been stirred must be heard and answered—and it will be. As was stated on the church website and on the First Christian Church Facebook page, our staff is fully committed to the truth and will cooperate fully in every way with any investigation and any inquiry. And most importantly, whatever changes that we discern need to be made will be made. We will do this together, openly, transparently, honestly, courageously, lovingly because this is the time to be fully Christian by our love. To that end, any staff member is available to listen to you and to care for you. At the same time, I have encouraged the staff to encourage all of you to reach out to me with any question or concern you have. While we are congregational church and the power is vested in you the people, and we the ministers are all your shepherds, I am the shepherd in the corner office, and in that position I bear that responsibility fully. As you might expect, the volume of communication has been constant, so even though it is always my intent to respond to
you immediately, I must also be responsive and fully present to the person who is in front of me. My pledge and our pledge is to be fully present to you, and we will accept nothing less than that in our ministry.
To be sure, with such a public event there has been the rush of media and social media. The church has received some scathing criticisms from those who are ready to assume the worst and lump all of Christendom into one hateful evil. While each of us is responsible for his or her reactions to this, such blind hatred directed at this church in particular is unjustified. I have no intention of responding to those who are ready to pounce when a story like ours hits the news. Thankfully, such caustic rhetoric has not come from any of you, not come from any who are members of this church, and who are acquainted with the ways of this church. The vast majority of responses since Friday have been in the form of deep prayer, deep care, and the willingness to offer expertise as any have that expertise and willingness to offer. At least on my phone, and I can imagine on every other staff members’ phones, that message of prayer and care has been readily offered and repeated. So thank you for the ways you are ministering to the staff, and the ways you will minister to one another. This Christ-like courage and care is part of what makes First Christian Church of Norman the incredible gift that it is.
Going forward, we will be striving to find our balance. That this has shaken our foundations is obvious. So, we must operate in two lanes all at the same time. On the one hand, we must deal fully and completely with all our concerns and questions as has already been affirmed. On the other hand, we must never lose sight of the ministry God is still calling us to embody on Christ’s behalf. There are still the hungry to be fed, there are still the homeless to be housed, there are still the thirsty who need a drink of water, there are still those in tattered clothes who need a decent pair of shoes, there are still those who are strangers and feel alone who need the hospitality of Christ’s Table, there are still those who are sick in body and heart sick and each one of them deserves our best care, there are still those who are imprisoned either in a building or in their own souls or know someone who is who need the compassionate care. That we are currently dealing with this terrible news in this church—and deal with it we will—does not mean we are any less responsible for caring for those whom Jesus said he resides in—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the unclothed, the sick, the imprisoned. Jesus said this is our ministry, and that has not changed. Jesus calls us to this good work of redemption and healing. On this Pentecost Sunday, particularly on this
Pentecost Sunday, we commit ourselves to this redemptive, restoring, reconciling work, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Amen.