Why Church? by Rev. Linda Olson Peebles - Jan. 17, 2010

• Back to the Sermons

Reading from A Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

        On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here?Y Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

        Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise?

        There was a time when the church was very powerful. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.

        But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the Y spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning.

        Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Georgia with us. Ythey have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour.

Why Church?

by Rev. Linda Olson Peebles, Jan. 17, 2010

        Who are you? And why are you here?

        Almost fifty years ago, Martin Luther King, a young pastor sittiing in jail, wondered who is it who is in the churches -"What kind of people worship here?”

        Let us broaden the word church to Acongregation@ to be inclusive of the entire pantheon of organized religious communities – mosques, synagogues, temples, societies and meetings – Who is it who is in our congregations? And why?

        Take a moment right now, to think back into your past -- your childhood, your adolescence, your emergence into and through the ages and stages you have lived. Do you remember yourselves?

        Now be honest – how many of you, now or in your younger self – would be surprised to find yourself sitting in an organized religious congregation on a Sunday morning?

        And maybe if you aren’t surprised that you are at a Sunday morning service, how many of you are surprised to find yourself in a UU church?

        If it is a surprise – why? What changed in you? And if it isn’t a surprise, why? How do you see that your life leading up to this moment makes perfect sense for you to be here?

        For me – I’d probably answer this question differently at different times. But it is a question that I find myself asking not just every Sunday morning – but every day. And I think we need to ask ourselves – why church? Why organized religious community? You each probably have your answers for today – and it may seem like I am preaching to the choir. But I am also preaching to you and me in those moments which come and go – and they will come again – those moments when it seems like church is a distraction, or a silliness, or even a disappointment. There will come a time that the need you felt has been filled – and you haven’t found a reason to stay, a larger need which you could help fill. There may come a time when you forget why you believed in the importance of religious community. In moments like those, I think of people like Martin Luther King Jr. And how, sitting in jail, he remained a person committed to church, in spite of it all.

        This week our eyes and ears have been awash in the tragic and urgent reality of what it means when the ground of being – the foundations of the earth – shake up a community. Reminiscent of the tsunami in Thailand and the hurricane in New Orleans, a disaster like this creates in us all an urgent need to respond, to rescue, to reach out. And for those who can take the time to ponder, it creates the need to examine the resources - and lack thereof - for a community to sustain such a blow. Underlying weaknesses are revealed when the waters rush in, when the power goes out, when the ground gives way. And we say – Ah! There is so much more here, centuries of neglect and oppression, injustice which have led to the sad condition now broken open by natural disaster.

        Caring people jump to action. We are needed. We send money! It’s amazing in a recession that in just a few days over $100 million was tweeted and transferred from caring people, money to pay for food and water, and to support the teams of trained emergency responders who go to rescue and heal.

        It will be so important that when the media lights have left, when the next disaster has drawn attention away (and there will be another disaster), when the adrenalin-pumping crisis turns to chronic background noise, it is important that someone is remembering and caring about those underlying, systemic ailments.

        Who will remember? We need people who remember, just as much as we need people who rescue.

        Another example close to home just this week: Leading up to his inauguration yesterday as Virginia’s newest governor, Robert McDonnell made a visit to a shelter for people without homes in Alexandria – Carpenter Shelter. While he admirably drew attention to the very real need to serve these people, he also said that because the state and local governments were so broke, it was up to individuals to support private non-profit agencies like Carpenter Shelter. Yes, that is important, but why are there so many people without homes? Who will say to the power structures, to we-the-people and our elected leaders, that the poor should not be ignored, and the systems that keep them poor should be changed? We need those truth-tellers.

        I know that many people, many individuals, are saying this truth, wise people, caring people, smart people – you are among them. And I know the political realities and complexities make all these things very difficult to solve. And I know there are many organizations, agencies, bloggers, teachers, leaders working on all this. But all those varied voices are not nearly as unified, as organized, as powerful and capable of making change – all those voices are not as strong as the power-realms of governments and of money, which perpetuate the status quo.

        Where is the realm of all the people in pain? Who can organize and assemble the voice and power of the many separate voices? Maybe -- just maybe, as King believed – it could be faith communities. Not separately; and not all faith communities; but those who care and can rise to the challenge, coming together, and answering the call, the crying need for a CONSCIENCE in this world of politics and money.

        Martin Luther King Jr. said - “The church is not the master of the state, nor the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state.”(1) King was committed to his faith, to his calling, as he continually deepened his understanding of it – of what Isaiah wrote - to preach good news to the afflicted; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captive. He was a scholar, not just of the Bible, but of theologians like Tillich and Unitarians Howard Thurman and Henry David Thoreau; of Gandhi and of community organizers like Saul Alinksy. He was smart and savvy about the ways of politics, and the historic systems that could perpetuate the sins of hatred and injustice and poverty. By the end of his life, which came when he was only 39 years old, he was convinced of the truth of not just non-violent disobedience, but of pacifism, discerning the links between oppression and violence.

        What moves me today – and what inspires me in my moments of doubt and hopelessness – is that with all he knew, with all his talents and smarts, he chose to stay with organized religion. He did not give up on churches, even though they so often have fallen short of what they could be, and too often only comfort the comfortable; even though so many congregations have actually hurt people through teachings of hate and judgment. King chose to stay with the church. And he believed that the church – when it lives up to its calling, its best aspirations – is not the master of the state – not the servant of the state – but is the CONSCIENCE.

• The church is not the master of the state. King believed in a democracy that did not take orders from any one theology or religious doctrine. And he himself did not seek to govern. He advocated for the separation of church and state.
• The church is not the servant of the state. The church should never let itself be used as a tool to support partisan politics, or even to endorse the type of patriotism which never asks questions of our elected leaders. And the church should never be expected to fulfill the roles better played by the people’s elected government – roles such as human services, safety, health, education. I know churches do this a lot, but it is my belief that focusing on this as its chief role in society sidetracks the church from its most vital calling – to be the conscience of the state.
• The church as Conscience must maintain its separate and unique role, owing allegiance to nothing but the deepest callings, the highest values; and accountable to no one but the weakest and least powerful. And as the Conscience, while the church may help the state out in feeding the poor and sheltering the homeless, it must never forget that its unique role in our human community is to remember that underlying the needs of people are the injustices, the systems of oppression, the abuse of power. So the church must never abdicate its role as conscience, must never sooth its own conscience by being content in just providing aid. The church’s power lies in its authority as conscience.

        King, the teacher, reminds us from his jail cell almost fifty years ago, that organized religious community must serve as conscience. And not just for the world out there. But for ourselves within the church. Conscience reminds us all that we are not to be complacent and self-satisfied – but we should always be seeking to hear the smallest voices within ourselves and our congregation, paying attention to the nagging questions, seeking to discern what our calling, our purpose can be. We together, as a community, can teach children and everyone – that we have souls, that we have consciences, that we should never be satisfied with the status quo, that we are in a relationship not just with the government and commerce of the world, but that we are in relationship with something more – something bigger – something that calls to us, that can sustain us, that holds us, that assures us that we have worth and dignity.

        That is why I love Peace Camp, and covenant groups, and all our education, social action, arts and spiritual practice groups. They are ministries to support us in our discovering our conscience, our humanity.

         That is why I love VOICE -- our interfaith organization for community engagement, congregations joined with others. We can be a conscience to one another, and to the larger world.

        That is why so many of us will find great joy in worshipping tomorrow at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service with our neighbors from Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic church and Mt Zion Baptist church.

        Brother Martin asked us, so long ago now – “Who are you, these people in the church, the synagogue, the temple, the congregation? Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?” King stayed with the church, organized churches, and helped them lead so many other people to challenge the status quo. King believed that religion could rise to its calling to be the Conscience of the world. Do you believe it?

        If I said, “We’re going to answer King’s question and make our congregation part of saving the world,” – if I asked you to believe it – would that be reason to stay committed to this work in this faith community?

        The world needs a conscience.

        Conscience calls to and needs faith communities to save the world.

        Faith communities need people of conscience to commit to this.

        You are needed. Do you believe that you are needed?

         That Church is needed?

        Martin believed. Deep in my heart, I do believe. I join my hands with yours, I cast my lot with yours, I take my heart into the world with yours. Thank you, Martin. Thank you, beloved religious community.

(1)Martin Luther King Jr., advocating the separation of religion from government, as quoted from Kenny Byrd, "Bush unveils faith-based initiative; critics raise church-state questions," issued by the Baptist Joint Committee (early 2001).

Photos of The Service

Recommended Reading

• McNatt, Rosemary Bray. Power, Religious Faith, and Social Change. UU World Magazine (March/April 2003). Two books take up the knotty challenge of citizen participation and the democratic process.
• Osterman, Paul. Gathering Power: The Future of Progressive Politics in America. Beacon Press, 2002.
• Gecan, Michael. Going Public. Beacon Press, 2002