Christmas Eve Sermon: When Hope and History Rhyme

A brief introduction. Last year I decided to forgo the usual Lessons and Carols service for Christmas Eve. I have always found the service a little stale. It is great if you are at King's College, Cambridge, and all of the dignitaries of the town and university community come together, along with a live taping by BBC Radio, but you cannot replicate it stateside. By the way, at least one or two new carols/hymns/anthems are commissioned for the service. The energy, finances, and resources cannot be duplicated. So I jettisoned the service and modeled a service after the Christmas Eve service at Memorial Church, Harvard University, I'm not a Gomehead for nothing. This idea also emerged after the realization that people can hear and sing carols 24/7 from Thanksgiving on and Linus does as good if not the best job ever at retelling the gospel story. So here is a full and proper Christmas Eve sermon. I figure this is the one or two chances a good number of people are in church so why not give them something worth listening to; thus a sermon on peace.



When Hope and History Rhyme
text: “…from this time onward and evermore.” (Isaiah 9:7)
Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 97; Titus 2:11-15 & Luke 2:1-20
Christmas Eve 2010 6:00pm
The Rev’d G. Travis Norvell


Lord take our hands and work through them
Take our eyes and see through them
Take our minds and think through them
And take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen

Easter is the magical morn; Christmas Eve is the magical night. Only an angel or two shared the Resurrection; on Christmas night a multitude of the heavenly host along with the angel of the Lord sang in the birth of the Messiah. On Easter only three women reported the empty tomb; on Christmas night the shepherds in the field, the magi from the east, and the animals in the manger witnessed when the days were accomplished that Mary delivered the babe. The aura of this night is puzzling to say the least, for this night neither attained significance in the early church nor major status in the medieval church. Christmas as we know it is a modern phenomena. We can have Christianity without Christmas but not without Easter. Why then does this night above all nights still remain a high day in our religious sensibilities? Why does this night possess more promise than Easter morn? Why did the heavenly host sing with gusto? Why did men drop their livelihood and come to the manger? Why did nature honor the occasion with a new celestial body? Why does this night cause the range of emotions to well up within us? Why is this promise so prevalent tonight?

Every Sunday is a small “e” Easter; we continually celebrate God’s honoring of Jesus’s life by Resurrecting him with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm. Only once a year do we celebrate a birth with all the promises of new life wrapped in swaddling clothes. Once a year the promises of new life once again cross the threshold, once again you and I and all of creation have another chance with the retelling of this story. Once a year our lives are reset: with the hope this year will be better than the last, this year there will be no deaths, this year love will flower, this year I will laugh more than cry, this year, this year will not be so damn difficult. That is the hope of Christmas, once a year we are reminded of not just of new life in the presence of the babe but of transformed life in the presence of the Christ.


In the 1960s before he died the theologian Paul Tillich proposed that we place a 100 year moratorium on Christian terms: love, God, salvation, grace, & etc. But he did not, whether intentional or happenstance, include peace. Perhaps peace was too important a word to cease using. Tillich knew the horrors of war; he was a chaplain in World War I; he said stated indeed there were atheists in foxholes.

Peace was too important to let go. Peace, I offer is what has brought us all here this evening because of the promise and prospect of peace; real peace both now and forever more. For in the birth of this child was the peace of God made incarnate, helpless, vulnerable, powerless, exposed, unprotected, and defenseless. Which simply means if peace is to come in our lives, if peace is to reign then we must help usher it in, care, nurture, cultivate, tend, foster, support and raise Peace within our hearts, within our homes, within our churches, and within our world. To put it more succinctly: on Christmas we are reminded that our lives matter and are needed for an approximation kingdom of God to come in our lives. On Christmas we are reminded that we are not automatons simply waiting for godot. On Christmas we are reminded that God did not create us without a greater purpose in mind. On Christmas we are reminded that the prospect and practice of peace is not out of step with the world but that the world is out of step with the Christian message. On Christmas we are reminded of why, as translated by William Tyndale, And straight way there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly soldiers, lauding God, and saying: Glory to God on high, and peace on the earth: and unto men rejoicing.

This promise, this imaginative prospect, this generative poem was not written on the shores of calm waters but in the midst of a living hell. It was wrought out the inevitable destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom as well. The thundering army of Assyria was surely on the way, the sure event of defeat and destruction was given. Would Israel surrender and become a vassal state? Would Israel align with other nations and mount a defense? Or would Israel trust in God and God alone?

Under these austere auspices the prophet Isaiah received his call and worked out his salvation. He was the one who spoke the word of the Lord, both uplifting and damning to the kings and people of Israel. The message of peace was clear throughout his message: swords beaten into plowshares, spears turned into pruning hooks, wolf and lamb, child and asp lying down together, and as tenor sang in the “The Messiah,” When every valley shall be exulted, every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight, the rough places plain.

At one point it appeared the message of peace would prevail when Hezekiah was made king in 729 BCE. He was keen on religious reform, progressive thought, and engineering aptness. Upon his mantle the southern kingdom placed their summation of hope: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Notice that the personal names are for God who will perform this through this person, they are not prescribed for the person. Hezekiah by all measures for kings was a great king, he ruled from 729-686 BCE but he did not live up to his promise. In 705 saw an opening in the Assyrian armor as his chance for Israel’s freedom. He entered into alliances with Egypt and Ethopia to counter Assyria. The prophet Isaiah went nutso. For three years he walked barefoot and naked as a symbol of what would happen to Israel if she entered into alliance with Egypt and Ethopia to fight Assyria. The message worked during Hezekiah’s time but the bond of trust had been broken. This act set off a series of complicated and historical events which led to the eventual destruction of the southern kingdom in 586 BCE when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were led off in chains to Bablyon.

The description and promise of Hezekiah would lay dormant for roughly 800 years until the early church began searching for the right words to describe the one whom God resurrected. Their words did not emerge from the shores of calm waters, as a people subjective to Roman occupation they searched for a proper way to not only describe and define but interpret they turned to the generative poems, primarily, of the prophet Isaiah. For Jesus was not the normal “ruler.” He did not participate in the warrior myth, he was not a general who led troops into battle. Ponder this for a moment not only was Jesus not a warrior but none of Apostles or members of the early church were warriors. Christianity was not an armed movement. It did not seek blood.
The authors of the gospels turned to Isaiah and woke up the dormant words for Hezekiah and transformed them as the titles to describe Jesus as Lord, and with the choir from The Messiah we sing: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Or as John Wycliff’s disciples in the late 14th century would translate directly from the Latin Vulgate, Forsothe a litil child is borun to vs, and a sone is youun to vs, and prinsehod is maad on his schuldre; and his name schal be clepid Wondurful, A counselour, God, Strong, A fadir of the world to comynge, A prince of pees.

Isaiah’s poetry funded a Christian imagination of non-violence & peace for the new world to come. This book emboldened the creativity of an embryonic movement to see a greater vision. The prophet Isaiah enabled them to see beyond the war torn and crushing occupation of Rome, beyond the defeat Rome at all costs voices. Isaiah gave them the necessary imaginative seeds to proceed on with a non-violent movement. Christianity at its core has been, is, and always will be a non-violent movement heaven bent on changing the world, heaven-bent on making real a new reign of peace.

Every Christmas we are reminded once again that God’s Son, our Saviour is a Prince of Peace, whose kingdom is always but coming, and whose way on this earth is non-violent.

Yes there are wars and rumors of war. Yes there is still an enmity between you and I, between nations, between tribes, betweens clans, between peoples everywhere. Yes, nations need to be able to defend themselves. Yes, this is a troubling world with people who possess a singular vision to eliminate elements of western society. Yes, this is a fragile world with nuclear arsenals abounding and in production by unreasonable regimes. But is our only salvation to the world an eye for an eye? Our times were no different than those of Isaiah and of the New Testament – they were just as fragile and just as warring and yet they still had the confidence, albeit wavering confidence for sure but confidence nonetheless, in a greater vision then what they saw in their world: a greater vision for peace, real peace both now and forever more.

Our vision of peace is not passive, inactive, and acquiescent it is active, engaged and aggressive. Christian peace is not even the cessation of war or violence between people or nations. The angels did not raise their voices, the heavens did not create a new star and we are not gathered to celebrate a worthless vision of peace. Christian peace is in the words of the Apostle Paul, a more excellent way. Christian peace is the practice and implementation of the healing of the nations, of bridging the enmity between you and I, between you and God, and between you and yourself. It is about the increase of love of God, neighbor, and self. Christian peace is about praying for those who persecute us and loving our enemies both personally and abroad. It is about changing this world from the inside out. It is the active seeking out and practice of reconciliation, of healing the brokenness in our own souls and in the world we inhabit.

On Christmas we are reminded of the vision of Christ’s peace and the invitation to participate in its fulfillment. What is needed is a new human being, a new Adam, a non-violent way of life.

As World War I approached Harry Emerson Fosdick, the pastor of FBC Montclair, NJ, eagerly volunteered to promote the war effort. He traveled from coast to coast preaching at every fort and training facility he could to promote the war and civic duty of armed service. Then he took a trip to Europe before the armistice; he saw the blood soaked barren land of the Western front, the gas stained trenches, and the mutilated corpses thrown in mass graves. Upon his return to the US he vowed never again to be a pawn for war and worked like mad for peace. His stance was put to the test when the drums of WWII began to beat Fosdick angered the majority of his congregation, Riverside Church NYC, with his pacifism and calls for peace. We connect to his devotion to peace each instance we sing the second verse to God of Grace and God of Glory,
Cure your children’s warring madness,
Bend our pride to your control.
Shame our wanton selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal. Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal


For weeks and months and years the voice of violence, might is right, and war get the upper hand but for one night for one glorious and majestic night of Christmas, let us mimic the birth of our Saviour, let the message of peace seep into your heart, let it sneak into your consciousness, let it arrive unannounced into soul until you and I and all of the heavenly multitude sing in one accord, Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth.

Amen and Amen.

Stewardship Sermon

A Church that Didn’t Get the Memo
Psalm 100 & Ezra 5:6-17
14.November.2010

Brothers and Sisters the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray:
God of wisdom and life grant that we your children might know the vastness of your love, that your love has no end, that your grace can never be consumed, that you center is everywhere and your circumference is yet to be discovered so that we might live in this world as your children: loved, graced, forgiven, transformed, and healed. But Lord just as we seek not to take you for granted do not take us for granted either. We need thee, every hour we need thee. Do not hide your love, do not assume we will know about you and your love for us. In this moment come to us, speak to us through the scriptures and through life both now and forevermore. Amen.

If some authoritarian body were to write an official memo on church life today it would look something like this:

To Those Who Still Bother.

On average those in your situation close their doors at the rate of 75 a week or 4,000 per year. On average at the rate of 52,000/week of those who make up your houses of worship walk away from church altogether or 2.7 million per year. The median of those who still bother to worship is 75 a Sunday and their clergy are part-time. Of those who still bother to give 17% say they really tithe but only 3% actually tithe, the rest contribute 2.6% of their after tax income. Finally of those who still bother the recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed atheists and agnostics know more than you about scripture and religious practices in America.

Good Luck.

J. Walter Knowitall

I am sure a similar memo was delivered to the Israelites after the Babylonian Exile. Their city was destroyed, their temple lay in charred ruins, there was in fighting between those who returned from exile and those who remained, there were those who said forget it and there were those who wanted more than anything to enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise. Eventually the Temple was built and with it Jerusalem was re-established. In the midst of the rebuilding project some Persian emmisaries asked the Israelites what on earth they were doing. They simply responded, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago…”

Last year our theme for our stewardship campaign was survival, simply put this church made it! Despite the storm, despite the loss of members, despite the loss of income, despite all of it, despite the discussions whether close up shop and relocate or dissolve, despite the uncertainty of the future of the city this church made it…and had the fortitude, courage, and audacious hope to call a new pastor. Now what?

Now what? This year I offer the Israelites’s answer as our answer, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago…”

Brothers and Sisters I ask that we live our lives and dedicate our hearts as if we didn’t get the memo, that we didn’t get the word that churches like this are not supposed to grow, succeed, or thrive. Churches like this are not supposed to focus on evangelism, stewardship, youth groups, small groups, prayer circles, reaching out to young professionals, build with and for college students, hopes a certain quarterback yearns some morning for his Baptist roots, logging in hours feeding the hungry, speaking up for the voiceless, basic Christian education, & etc. But that is exactly what we are going to have to do to get this ship moving.

We can all assert and assess that our sights are above the horizon, all signs are pointing upward: new members, increase in giving, and general sense of gonna make it.

We can all assert and assess that the needs are vast and numerous as we move forward. My thought it is to use every creative angle I can to network and leverage help and aide for this church. That means foundation grants, underwriting of programs and positions, seminary and college interns. I am going to lean on you for connections and support. I am going to lean on you for odd jobs and requests. Every day the Queen of England receives hundreds of letters – obviously she cannot answer each and every one yet she thinks it is important that each receive an answer she asked for a group of retired women to answer her letters for her. This group of women is called the Queens Ladies in Waiting. I need a group of “ladies-in-waiting” to help organize our membership lists, file away papers, help write grants, send out correspondences, make phone calls to simply say hello, check up on folk, & etc.

Paul Powell has volunteered to come on board at the start of year as a coordinator of Christian Education to help in this venture. I believe I have a post-seminary graduate intern lined up for 2011 (we need to come up with health insurance only). I believe I have several seminary intern for the summer. In the Fall an architecture class from Tulane will be looking at how to redesign our building space as a class project. And I am hoping for a few college interns in the Fall to help with the business aspects of the congregation. We are also applying for a worship and the arts grant to initiate a jazz and gospel Sunday evening vespers service or camp or early morning alternative service. We have to act like we didn’t get the memo that this type of work can’t be done.

After Christmas we are going to delve into a congregation wide study on Christian practices. Over the course of Lent I am going to charge the congregation to break up into specific small groups to experiment with these Christian practices then convene after Easter and share about your experiences. The hope is to jump start the experience and practice of small groups.

In 2011 I also hope to re-connect with our sister churches in Cuba, organize a mission trip to Haiti through International Ministries, and ask every person for every hour in worship you spend an hour in mission work somewhere in the church or in the city.

All of this will take money. We are a generous giving congregation. We are on target to give approximately $270,000 from members and supporters. For a church of 125-150 active members that is a phenomenal number. We are, I am, asking for everyone of us to continue to increase our giving as much as we can for the next coming year. If you have never filled out a pledge card I challenge you to do so this year. We need as accurate financial number more than ever to form our budget this year. Historically this church, like all churches has had a hard time fulfilling its budget. My research over the past few weeks revealed countless examples of pleas by the pastor to fulfill pledges in December. My personal goal is that we begin to change the church culture of giving. That at the end of the year when we have a surplus we do not reallocate it to savings but we have a grand/excitement filled meeting where we decide how we are going to give our extra money away to missions or fund new ministry initiatives. We have to change and act like we didn’t get the memo about how to live out our calling as Christians – I think it is our only way to grow.

In closing, let me share a story. The Sunday before I started Lou Irwin preached a sermon titled A Ministry of Reconciliation. It was a fine and proper sermon. But there was something about it that I didn’t like. I suppose it was the fact that it did not fit with my own hopes and dreams of helping to reawaken a Baptist cathedral. I mean you cant grow a church with a ministry of reconciliation. It is not like I didn’t feel an affinity, even a co-dream of a ministry of reconciliation but it just didn’t seem possible. Apparently no one from the search committee gave Lou the memo about how we were going to flourish.

A few weeks ago I began preparing for this sermon and this day by looking over historical documents of this congregation. I kept coming back to the mentioning of the dedication and naming of the baptistery, this is the formal Purser Memorial Baptistery. I googled, tore up the history and safe room, and asked everyone I could if they knew anything about the men for whom the baptistery was named. All anyone could tell me is that they were Baptist ministers. Finally I unearthed some stories, finally my birddogging produced a useful find.

David Ingram Purser and John Frederick Purser were brothers, both Baptist preachers and both served, primarily, congregations in Alabama. David Ingram was a Confederate solider of the Seven Stars Artillery company and was participated in 16 hard-fought engagements. After the war he started a business and became quite wealthy. In 1870 he was ordained and because of his previous success in business never accepted a dollar for his work as a pastor.

John Frederick Purser was a minister from the start. He always lived in the shadow of his older brother but all admit that David would never have been the success he was if it weren’t for John.

In 1906 Morehouse College, in Atlanta, GA, elected its first African-American president, Dr. John Hope. Sitting on the board who elected Dr. Hope was John Frederick Purser.

Neither in 1906 or 1925 when the baptistery was memorialized in the Purser name could anyone have imagined the ministry of reconciliation that emerged from Morehouse College. In 1923 Howard Thurman graduated from Morehose, went to Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, NY then onto Boston University to serve as Dean of Marsh Chapel. While serving as Dean of the Chapel another Morehouse graduate and Crozer Theological Seminary graduate (both schools merged to form CRCDS, my alma mater) was pursuing academic study, his name was Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men offered America the greatest ministry of reconciliation our nation has ever known. King was obviously the public figure but Thurman was the chaplain of the civil rights movement. King carried a copy of Thurman’s most popular book Jesus and the Disinherited with him wherever he went, it was in his briefcase when he was assassinated in Memphis, TN 1968.

In this simple and ornate baptistery, named for two Baptist preachers is a legacy of a ministry of reconciliation, it is our tradition and it is our challenge and charge as a community today. In this city, in our lives, in our world.

Stewardship is not about giving money to keep the lights on, to pay the pastor, to mow the grass although your giving does ensure all of that. Stewardship is about giving so that we can be the people God has called us to be, is desiring us to be, is challenging us to be. This congregation has a ministry of reconciliation. The memo says you cant grow a church with that tradition, challenge, and ministry. But we are going forward as if we didn’t get that memo. We are going to grow with integrity, with grace, with love, with an intentional ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation is where God is at work in this world, may we be a part of God’s work too. Amen & Amen.

Sermon.3.Oct.2010: The Cost of Discipleship

I have not published a sermon on this blog for some time. I am breaking this tradition by offering the sermon from Sunday. I spent a few minutes this morning cleaning up the sermon from Sunday but it is not a mirror image of what I delivered on Sunday morning. I suspect I deviate from the text around 23% of the time. I am hoping to spend some time over the next few weeks polishing all of the sermons from the Parable Series and see if I can do something with them, like publish or bind them...

The Cost of Discipleship

Sixth Sunday of Kingdomtide – 3.Oct.2010

World Communion Sunday

Luke 14:1-35

The Rev’d G. Travis Norvell

George Carlin burst onto the stage of pop culture by forming a routine on the Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television. The English language is both poetic and beautiful, nevertheless, it is a crude language formed by crude people. But it aint just the English, the French, the German, go back further to the classical languages of Greek and Latin and go back even further into Hebrew they all contain harsh, crude, and uncouth words. But I offer that none of them are as harmful, demeaning or crushing as hate. You can call me every name in the book laced with profanity and it won’t bother me, all that much. But look me straight in the eye and say, ‘Travis, I hate you’. Or imagine the defeating feeling if I looked you straight in the eye and said I hate you and you know that I mean it.

In the 14^th chapter of the Third Gospel Jesus told a parable concerning the great banquet. When he finished telling it to the crowds he turned to his disciples and shared these words, “If any man, come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, year, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

The rape of Tamar in Judges and the killing of the innocents in Matthew both rank as the most horrific and terrifying portions of scripture. They reveal the inhumanity of humanity. Their only redeeming value is the hidden brokenness of God’s heart throughout the narratives. But they pale in comparison to the passage from Luke. Jesus not only condones but demands the hatred of mom and dad, of sister and brother, of children, of progeny, and yes our very self. Jesus instantly morphs from loving Saviour to scary cult leader.

Conservative commentators have, by and large, ignored this passage. This is not the family values Jesus. Liberal commentators have gone out of their way to justify this Jesus in this passage, they have sugarcoated Jesus’s words then thrown more lumps of sugar on their interpretation in order to lighten the passage, come see the softer side of Jesus. Jesus did not really mean for people to hate their parents, siblings, children, and ourselves he only wanted to them to realign their understanding of community for in the kingdom of God it is not blood that is thicker than water but water (baptism) is thicker than blood (family). I think that is the end point of the passage but it skips over the difficult portion, no one adequately deals with the hating part. I think the entire meaning of this passage and of discipleship is lost unless we deal with the stone in the path. We can avoid it and still arrive at the same destination when we “deal” with it. Unless we “deal with it” we feast on what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace.

Hate is one of the strongest feelings we possess. Once you hate someone they cease to be human, they can be deconstructed, they can be killed.

Loathe, detest, despise, dislike, abhor, execrate; be repelled by, be unable to bear/stand, find intolerable, recoil from, shrink from; formal abominate. Antonym love.

You must hate father and mother, sister and brother, children, and your own self. In other words we must hate everyone, everybody, and everything! Can you imagine if we put that on the marquee, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve come from, or how much money you have we reserve the right to hate you with extreme passion. Yet that is exactly what we have to do. When we hate someone or something we expect nothing in return. If I hate you then I don’t expect you to hate me back, I don’t care if you are hurt, your interaction with me is done and erased forever and ever . And that is exactly the destination of discipleship. At that point we operate from an altruistic and disinterested fashion and we can only get there by hate, not by love. By hating everyone, everything, and everybody we arrive at the point where we are no longer in control or manipulative. Hatred enables us to pierce through and transcend this parable explanation to the new place discipleship. Hatred enables us to experience a new form of love.

In 1994 Saturday Night Live produced a commercial for a new car called The Lenox Paradox. Two automotive design teams produced two completely opposite cars (e.g., one was the most expensive car ever, the other the cheapest; one was the safest, the other designed to throw flaming victims hundreds of feet in a crash). One had 18 doors, the other had one giant door; one had the best brakes in the industry, the other had no brakes. In the end, the two were combined to create The Paradox. I offer this as a comical door to the language of Jesus, for it is paradoxical. Jesus calls us to hate everything, everybody and everyone in Luke but Jesus also calls us to love everyone. Jesus calls us to hate everyone, everybody, and everything but he also calls us to pray and love those who hate us, our enemies, and those who persecute us. Only by hating first will we be delivered from our desire to control, manipulate and dominate others. By hating first we paradoxically are able to for the first time truly love another, our neighbor, creation, and ourselves.

An exercise in hatred: This week we all learned the tragic story of Tyler Clementi the 18 year-old freshman at Rutgers University. Two classmates videoed him making out with another male, broadcasted the video and “outed” him as a homosexual. The boy was so distraught that he committed suicide. The media has responded in usual fashion but I have yet to hear hatred from the reports. Everyone agrees that it was a terrible incident but agreeing it was terrible will not change anything. People have to be moved to a healthy hatred of tragic consequences of a society that seeks to punish, demean and ostracize the other, any who differ from the norm. They have to get to the point where they hate that LGBT folk cannot fully live out their sexual orientation without being ridiculed, teased, bullied and yes humiliated to the point where the only escape is suicide. Only when our emotions reach the point of hatred can we honestly react.

I know this congregation represents a wide range of views and interpretations on homosexuality but I also know this is the only Baptist church in the region where individuals can be openly gay and lesbian and be included and welcomed to the table. We need not hide this practice and testimony. We have the opportunity to openly practice a love that has transcended and passed through the waters of hatred, our hatred has been baptized and made new by God’s love. We want to exhibit a community practice whereby our children, youth, and community see us as a community with differing opinions yet still loving one another. The goal is not monolithic theological opinion but a church with a robust theological diversity whose heart at the end of the day leans a little to the left. We need to be the sanctuary and refuge for the Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, or UNO student who has grown up hiding their sexual orientation thinking they were lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut, condemned by God and church with no place at the table of God. We have to hate that situation. This is where I think the Christian Church has its greatest opportunity. Jesus calls us to hate so we can be re-educated, born anew, re-loved into a new existence.

Love, from a Christian viewpoint, is not normal. It is normal to love those who look like us, share our worldview, love the same people we love, express themselves like we do. But Christian love expressed in Jesus says we have to hate that kind of love and be re-taught how to love. We have to learn to expand our love to new heights and depths; so that our inner circle are those who have waded into the water and our outer circle is all of creation.

A few weeks ago this church dedicated W.H. We all pledged to help raise this child in the faith. We all pledged to love him into a new existence. Over the past few Wednesday nights different folks have turned out for the programs. I know even more will turn out this week to chef Susan Spicer. But none of our presenters holds a candle to the view I treasure each week when Lynn and W. enter the room. As the door opens and W. crosses the threshold from outside to the Fellowship Hall his whole demeanor changes. His face lights up, a smile from ear to ear forms, and the child hops, skips, and jumps into the room. He runs to give K. M. a hug, he runs to pass out high fives, he spins, he laughs, he is the closest example of the Tasmanian Devil, he overflows with joy and love as his freely exists amongst his new family. The freedom granted for Wayne to be W. is priceless. It is a gift of this congregation and it is a gift of an expanded love. When folk realize that we love this free…watch out.

But there is one part still left untended, saltiness. Allow me to end with a plea for the continued development of saltiness. Take a moment and look around, you will not find the usual church going suspects here. I treasure this congregation. I’ve never knew pastoring could be this much fun. A few months ago R. C. forwarded me an All Saints Day sermon by Dr. David Farmer, former pastor of this congregation. Dr. Farmer took the interesting angle by reflecting on some of the “salty saints” of this congregation.

My congregation in New Orleans was filled with salty saints. We left the standard piety to the Roman Catholic archdiocese and seminary as well as the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary--a hotbed for fundamentalism during my five years down there.

There was a core group in the church who had “talent parties.” These were parties at which the invitees had to perform in some way. The musical talent in the church was vast, so we always had many wonderful singing and instrumental selections. There were some comics in the group who performed by telling us funny tales; the writers would read their latest efforts. My ex-wife used to love to demonstrate beauty tips and accessorizing using the most macho man in the crowd as her unwilling model. One woman collected Jesus memorabilia and often showed us her latest find and discussed the importance of Jesus painted on black velvet, Jesus’ face--visible to all the faithful--in a wedge of bread pudding, and the bust of Jesus with eyes that followed you wherever you went. Retired organ professor, Beatrice Collins, would show up and wow us by playing yet another memorized Rachmaninov piece on the piano, her secondary instrument. There was once a skit in which I was a character, and everyone knew the character was me long before I caught on because he never put down his coffee cup.

Once a visitor showed up who happened to be a nun. When her time to perform came, she sang--appropriately--”Climb Every Mountain,” the wonderful Mother Superior solo from the musical, “The Sound of Music.” The only thing was, though, half way through, Sister yanked off her habit and her long black robe to reveal a scantily clad drag queen who modulated into the song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

Brothers and Sisters we are called to hate: to hate the injustice, to hate inequality, to hate the environmental destruction, to hate corruption, politicization, and abuse of the Christian faith. But we are not called to hate with scowls on our faces, we are called to hate this world with a good dose of saltiness. If we are going to participate in the renewal, healing, and reformation of this world by loving it into a new existence we are gonna need to do it with a smile on our face.

We are alive with the Spirit of God, we are being loved into a new existence and we are participating in the new love. Let us continued to be re-made again and again in God’s image. Amen & Amen.

Links: Rev. Dr. David Farmer's Sermons.

The Salty Saints Sermon referenced above.