"Before the Cross of Jesus"

Over this past weekend I've found myself thinking about what it means to be "before the cross of Jesus." No, I'm not trying to be melodramatic particularly. What I am trying to say is that there is much to consider when confronted with the modern day "crosses" on which so many of our sisters and brothers around the world are hanging. And so, as some of these came to my awareness once again this past weekend a mixture of guilt and grace also surfaced.

As I was reading the Syracuse Post Standard on Saturday morning, I noticed that Stan Bennett wrote a letter to the editor commending the paper for an article that ran last week about some students at Henninger High School. Stan is an active lay leader at the Malden Road UCC in Mattydale, NY and is nearing completion in the Christian Leadership program of NYSOM. In the newspaper article the students at Henninger decided to say that discrimination and bullying are wrong and have become a local affiliate of the Gay Straight Alliance. Here's a link to the article about the group from Henninger High: http://blog.syracuse.com/voices/2008/02/henninger_organization_reaches.htm/

After reading the paper, I went to check my email and found a comment from Stan to my blog posting on Eboo Patel and his work to promote religious pluralism among young people with his Interfaith Youth Core. Stan directed me to the article on the Henninger Gay Straight Alliance and to an earlier article about the reasons for having such groups: the stories about the gay youth that was beaten and murdered in a junior high school in Oxnard, California.

Stan also said that I might be interested in checking out the website of a group call Soul Force. And so, I did. http://www.soulforce.org/ I was interested especially in the resource on What the Bible Says about Homosexuality on the sight. http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/whatthebiblesays.pdf

On a different front Phyllis Byrd, our missionary to Kenya, has sent an update of happenings in that strife ridden country to Common Global Ministries. For the complete article click on this link http://www.globalministries.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2143&Itemid=1.

In the article she offered a chronicle of the events that have appeared in our newspapers. She wrote of Kofi Annan's work of mediation with thanks given to Condoleesa Rice for her visit last week. Secretary Rice, she wrote, came "with a strong message from President Bush. She was adamant that Kenya should quickly return to governance and that there needs to be real power sharing not an illusion of power sharing between the two parties - ODM and PNU. She advocated for the two sides to have a grand coalition. The European Union said this as well."

Phyllis asked for our prayers for Nobel Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai, "a conciliatory voice during this process. She lost her parliamentary seat during the recent elections. The government took her security detail away."

Most provocative, to me at least, were her thoughts on the involvement of the Church. She writes,

"I am in the process of writing a sermon that I am struggling with. I am using a familiar text Isaiah 6 and I have entitled the sermon "The sighted blind." It is the passage that starts off: "In the year that King Uzzah died I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up... vs. 9 ... Go and tell this people, Hear but do not understand and see but do not perceive."

I am not sure at what point the community of believers begins to not only see but also perceive. I like the Latin word "percipere" meaning to "seize completely." How does the church completely take hold of justice (or allow justice to take hold of us) and not allow our vision to be blurred by race, ethnicity, class or gender.

Is there an unspoken prerequisite that is in the job advertisement of church leaders and church bureaucrats that says only those that have limited sight, null by mouth, well behaved, who go along with the crowd, and maintain the status quo need apply?

If by some mistake you are hired, despite these prerequisites, you might end up like the late Reverend Vernon Johns Senior pastor of Dexter Ave Baptist church, who was voted out of the church because of his stance for justice, and truth. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King succeeded him. What went into the thinking of the Dexter Ave Baptist church board that hired MLK? Did they think he was a status quo kind of guy that would bask in the presence of the aristocrats and preach sermons that made them feel good? God has a wonderful sense of humor. Rev Johns' ability to "percipere" was the foundation/launching pad needed for Martin Luther King Jr. to launch his non-violence movement in Alabama.

Closer to home, Plymouth Church, Syracuse, hosted an interfaith meeting to learn about the New Sanctuary Movement. The Rev. Donna Schaper, senior pastor at Judson Memorial Church (affiliated with the UCC) in Manhattan, and the Rev. Michael Ellick, staff person of the New Sanctuary Movement and a member at Judson, led the discussion.

New Sanctuary churches are concerned about the care of an advocacy for the rights of immigrants especially as these rights are targeted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to the New Sanctuary literature "In the 1980's Sanctuary Movement, giving sanctuary meant housing a refugee in the church. Today, giving sanctuary may not require housing (though it could, depending on the person's circumstances.) Today it means, at a minimum, a commitment to provide moral and spiritual support and advocacy for the immigrant and his/her fmaily, trying to prevent their deportation and to work toward enacting more equitable laws."

Plymouth Church has been studying the issue of justice for immigrant and migrant workers for some time, and have had a longstanding tradition of involvment in the old and new Sanctuary movements. The church is taking part in the annual Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS 40 hour fast to "Welcome the Stranger" March 4-6. The fast begins with an interfaith worship at Assumption Roman Catholic Church, 812 N. Salina St., Syracuse, at 7:00 PM.

Before the cross of Jesus
Our lives are judged today;
The meaning of our eager strife
Is tested by his Way.
Across our restless living
The light streams from his cross,
And by its clear, revealing beams
We measure gain and loss.

There is much about which to be concerned: so many issues, so much injustice, so much over which to feel angry, inadequate, guilty.

I once heard from a Presbyterian clergy friend of mine who doubled as a Jungian dream therapist that there is such a thing a "good guilt". That is, there's guilt that is rightfully ours, things that we actually did say or do, or failed to say or do that cause hurt to someone, somehow. I've also fallen victim, too often, to the other kind of guilt, you know, the guilt that is the gift that keeps on giving. Fortunately, there is also grace, and that, in abundance.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles