Let’s Get To Work!
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Wallingford Presbyterian Church
Isaiah 52:7-10; Ephesians 1:15-22; John 1:1-5, 14; John 4:1-14
What we believe is supposed to make a difference in how we live our every day lives. It is the 'so what' of faith. It is in dialogue with Scripture, with our cloud of witnesses, our communities, and with our confessions. They are to be for us, these theological documents wrestled into shape over time in a variety of historical circumstances, our constitution, to constitute us, to root us in the ground of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to scaffold our faith. We call them the Book of Confessions as they are what our witness is supposed to be. They are the stuff of which we are made as Christians in The Reformed Tradition. It is why it is so important for us to know what we believe and to take a stand for our beliefs. Especially in times of intense turmoil in our country and our world.
I turn us once more to The Belhar Confession.. You may remember I told you I was a part of the GA in 2010 that approved this document for presbytery study and vote. It is the first confession from the Southern Hemisphere Church, created in the deep fires of apartheid in South Africa. In 2016, enough presbyteries had accepted it as an addition to our Book of Confessions. This was a major act as we have no other confessions written from the voice and history of persons of color.
They called the White Church their oppressors yet they did not call them enemies. They spoke the truth in love. They lived their confession, Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church and it is to Him they bow down. This is their story. Christians from all over South Africa labeled Colored or Black, some called mixed race, read the Bible and realized this: if Jesus IS Lord, there is no separation or division because of the pigment in our skin. It was illegal for them to gather, to worship together, to go visit one another, to marry, across color lines. They could not vote, they could not elect their own leadership. They had no voice.
Except what Scripture gave them. They heard the message of the Messenger of peace and good news and they resisted the demonic system of apartheid.
Apartheid, began in the church, not in the government. Our sisters & brothers in Christ of the Dutch Reformed Church distorted the gospel for their own comfort and well-being. A sin that is not so distant from the rest of us.
The church justified it as God's will, like the white church did with slavery and Jim Crow segregation in our country. The church says each people group should worship with their own kind, in segregated churches. Unity of the church was only spiritual & invisible (say twice). It was not long before the White Leaders of the church equated the church with the nation, saying it was GOD"S DIVINE WILL for the entire country to embrace apartheid. Say twice. We’ve heard this same kind of rhetoric from some of our conservative brothers and sisters in Christ during this election season.
The Dutch Reformed Church, our brothers & sisters in Christ, laid the theological foundation for the political and legal rules of apartheid. The world had just witnessed the joining of church & government during WWII in Germany and the devastation wrought in the annihilation of 6 million Jews along with millions of other quote, unquote, undesirables. Yet, by 1948 the church and the government were joined in state theology in South Africa, that is, a Christian nation, quote, unquote, with only white people allowed to vote or run for office.
I remind you of all this because of the situation we find ourselves in today. 80% of White Evangelicals voted for President Trump. Our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even if we don’t understand their way of thinking or practice, we are required to pray for them that we might be reconciled in Christ. We must examine the mote in our own eyes to be sure we are rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only then can we call out distortions and heresy that support white nationalism or the false historical fact of the United States as a Christian nation. Let me remind us: We never have been and we never will be because of the First Amendment of the constitution: Because the 1st amendment says there cannot be a state religion.
This was written in direct opposition to Britain’s establishment of the Anglican Church. Freedom of religion and from religion is the hallmark of this democracy. It protects us all, believers and non-believers from coercion and state-sanctioned oppression.
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches of which we are members through PCUSA, met in Toronto, Canada in 1982. The Alliance voted overwhelmingly to declare apartheid a heresy and to remove the Dutch Reformed Church from its membership. The Name of their report is “The Kairos Document” - we live in Chronos time, but God calls us into Kairos time - the right, critical or opportune moment. Let’s get to work!
This act empowered Christians of Color to continue their stand against oppression in South Africa. In 1991, apartheid ended. Nelson Mandela was set free after 27 years in prison. He publicly declared his forgiveness of his jailers. Without the blood and violence everyone expected, he was elected president.
This happened in part, because the new government, led by Mandela, in consultation with the churches, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Victims and perpetrators of violence came forward to tell their horror stories, to be held accountable and ask forgiveness. Tutu said, "there is no way forward without forgiveness." South Africa continues to strive to be an integrated society.
In 1994, Bishop Tutu voted for the first time in his life. He was 64 years old and waited in line for 8 hours.
I am convinced that when we understand our faith more deeply, we will act our faith more clearly. Listen to one small part of the Belhar Confession, Section #3:
3. We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ,
*the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world
the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker
the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Cor. 5:17-21; Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 5:9; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21-22).
God's life giving Word and Spirit has conquered the powers of sin and death, and therefore also of ire-reconciliation, hatred, bitterness and enmity,
God's life giving Word and Spirit will enable the church to live in a new obedience which can open new possibilities of life for society and the world. Unquote
Let’s get to work.
We too are the salt of the earth.
When Christ's light shines in us, We too are the light of the world.
We believe God has trusted us, given to us, allowed us to carry this message of reconciliation. As hard as it is. We must get to work.
We can understand our faith in Jesus Christ as a protest against empire. In fact, Jesus is the ultimate protest of God. He lives out mercy, justice, compassion over against the oligarchy of get as much as you can and keep it for yourself. We are called to stand for racial justice, by standing with our sisters and brothers who cry out Black Lives Matter and suffer from all forms of racism. The gospel of John tells us to welcome the Samaritan woman in our midst, the foreigners, the immigrants. We are the Gentiles who have been brought in through God’s great mercy in Jesus Christ to the Covenant of Israel. Our work? To extend that mercy out into our neighborhoods, cities, country and world. To seek economic justice, shelter for all, food security. It’s why we are deeply involved in support of Family Works! Any little thing we can do to ease the load of our neighbors, housed or unhoused.
And we have to listen to the shouts of the forgotten--who perceive no place for them at the table. I believe we want to be a congregation that sets a very large and long table, whereby we are free to express our political, intellectual and theological differences without recrimination. A lively discussion kind of table scaffolded in the great love given to us in Christ.
We do not have to be afraid. Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. That's where our power comes from. His light, his life, his love. There is no reason to fear. In 2020, in these beautiful, bent, broken United States? There is every reason to hope. Let’s get to work. Amen