Scriptures: Jeremiah
32:1-3, 6-15, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
I Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:1-13
Happy 158th Anniversary, Emanuel! God has brought us through another year. It’s been an eventful year, including the
formation of a consistory that provided leadership during my sabbatical over
the summer. And God has good things in store
for us, including not one but two upcoming baptisms.
I struggled a bit in choosing Scripture texts for this
morning, because the lectionary texts for today are mostly downers – Jeremiah
was being Jeremiah, and the other readings followed suit, except for the Gospel
reading. So I used this week’s Gospel
reading and most of the other texts from next Sunday’s lectionary texts, which
are more hopeful. We have a baptism next
Sunday, and I’ll build the texts and hymns around the baptism, as I usually do.
So in today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah – which I’m
borrowing from next week’s lectionary readings – Jeremiah – actually does
something hopeful – refreshing, after weeks of listening to Jeremiah’s
prophecies of doom for Judah. On the
surface, it seems a bit dry, as it describes a real estate transaction. Jeremiah’s cousin Hanamel invited Jeremiah to
buy a field belonging to Shallum, who was Hanamel’s father and Jeremiah’s
uncle. We’re given the details of what a
real estate transaction looked like in those days – weighing out of money,
signing and sealing the deed, and getting witnesses to sign the deed as
well. We’re told there was a sealed deed
of purchase, which contained the terms and conditions, and an open or public
deed. Jeremiah gives these to Baruch,
his scribe and assistant, telling him to put these in an earthenware jar so
they would last a long time. For those
who deal in paperwork in their day jobs – like me – it fascinates me that
Scripture describes the mundane details of the paperwork and the process in
such detail.
Why is all this important?
Whether you’re a realtor or not, you may have heard the saying that the
most important thing in setting the value of a property is, “location,
location, location.” And, as it happens,
in this case the location of the field Jeremiah purchased was an area that was
under siege and about to be overrun by the Babylonian army. You probably wouldn’t want to invest a lot of
money in Florida swampland – especially in our time, when rising water due to
climate change is apt to turn more and more of Florida into swampland. You probably wouldn’t pay a lot for a plot of
land that’s polluted to the extent of being a Superfund site, or a home that’s
loaded with asbestos and lead paint. You
might be leery of buying a home in tornado alley, or a flood zone, or an area
with frequent earthquakes. Oh, and don’t
buy the Brooklyn bridge, ok? That’s the
extent of my real-estate ponderings for the morning, except to say that the
field Jeremiah purchased was probably undergoing a sudden, steep drop in value,
because it was in a war zone and under siege.
Indeed, my guess is that Jeremiah’s uncle Shallum was unloading the
property on Jeremiah, cashing it out for whatever Jeremiah was willing to pay,
before heading for the hills to avoid capture by Nebuchadnezzar’s forces. And yet Jeremiah saw God’s hand in this,
indeed had a word from the Lord about it before it happened. And Jeremiah not only purchased the property,
but made somewhat of a show of it. And
why? Because he knew that even though
Babylon was about to overrun the area, their occupation would come to an end,
and, as Jeremiah said, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought
in this land.” Just as Jeremiah had
previously seen impending disaster while those around him saw blue skies and
sunshine, now Jeremiah saw what was on the other side of the impending
disaster, that the people would eventually come home from exile. Even though Jeremiah was consistently a
bearer of bad news for those in power, what kept him going was his hope and his
belief that ultimately God’s plans for his people would end in a good place,
even though they would have to walk together through some very dark places and
difficult times.
I saw this passage as relatable to Emanuel Church as we give
thanks for this past year of ministry and prepare to begin another year of
ministry here in Bridesburg. Founded by
German immigrants of the Reformed faith in 1861, at the beginning of our
country’s Civil War, our members know what it is to be steadfast in hard times,
to look beyond the challenges of the moment and take the long view of the
mission God has for us in this place.
Pastor Emanuel Boehringer, distressed by the many children orphaned by
the Civil War, founded the first German Reformed orphanage in the United
States, which he called the Orphans Home of the Shepherd of the Lambs, and
which we know as Bethany Children’s Home.
Through a Great Depression and two World Wars, along with countless
other changes in our country and in our neighborhood of Bridesburg, we have
continued our witness to the Gospel and our ministry to God’s people in
Bridesburg. Through a transition from
worship in German to worship in English, and through two denominational changes
as we transitioned from the German Reformed church to the Evangelical &
Reformed Church, and later to the United Church of Christ, we have continued
our witness to the Gospel and our ministry to God’s people in Bridesburg. While churches have closed both in Bridesburg
and across our state and country – in the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference of
the UCC, which extends from the coal regions of Schuylkill County to
Philadelphia, a UCC congregation closes its doors for the last time roughly
every six months, we have continued our witness to the Gospel and our ministry
to God’s people in Bridesburg. There
have been moments in which the life of this congregation has hung in the
balance, and at times a desire to maintain our cemetery and to gather in this
sacred edifice which holds so many holy memories of baptisms, confirmations,
weddings, funeral, were the main reasons to continue. But continue we have, as God has provided us
both with a continuing ministry to this neighborhood and the means – new
members and new resources - to see it through.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells a difficult parable about
a crooked accountant. His boss found
that he had been cooking the books, and so he told the accountant to get his books
in order and then hit the bricks. At
first, the accountant panicked, and his mind raced as he considered the
challenges of his situation: he was too flabby
to dig ditches, and too proud to beg. I
can relate. And then he realized that along with his boss’s threat came an opportunity,
as he contacted all the folks who owed money to his boss and started writing
off a portion of their debts. What a
nice thing to do – except that he was being generous with money that wasn’t
his. But the crooked accountant hoped
that the debtors would repay his apparent generosity by providing for his
needs. After all, one good turn deserves
another, even though it was a bad deed from the boss’s viewpoint. And, Jesus said, “His master commended the
dishonest accountant because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this
age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children
of light.”
As I said, this is a difficult parable. And Jesus is not telling us to go forth and be
crooked accountants. But I think part of
what Jesus is pointing out is the importance of recognizing opportunities to do
God’s work even in the most unlikely situations. The dishonest accountant turned a terrible
situation – getting fired – into an opportunity to cash in on the gratitude of
his boss’s debtors. And, Jesus seems to
be saying, wouldn’t it be wonderful if God’s people could be this creative in
recognizing opportunities for God’s reign to break in. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God’s people
could engage in a bit of spiritual entrepreneurship? What are the opportunities for ministry
hidden in plain sight here in Bridesburg?
Part of the answer to that question seems to be tied to the
answer to the question asked by the Pharisee to Jesus, “And who is my
neighbor?” You’ll remember that Jesus’ answer to that question was the parable
of the Good Samaritan. 158 years ago, a
substantial number of neighbors – not a majority, but a fair-sized plurality –
of neighbors in Bridesburg were German immigrants. This congregation ministered faithfully and
well to these immigrants and their children.
Who are our neighbors today?
Many of our neighbors are struggling financially, struggling
to keep a roof over their heads, struggling without a roof over their heads,
struggling to know where their next meal is coming from. And there’s a whole level of physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion that comes with the reality of not
having any cushion, not having anything to fall back on, of being on a treadmill
of barely getting through the day, day after day, and knowing that one slip-up
or one piece of bad luck – a missed interview, a missed appointment, a missed
court hearing, an accident, an illness – can bring on a whole chain of bad
consequences that can go on for years on end.
And we have welcomed these neighbors, even though there have been
challenging learning moments along the way.
For some, I think, we’ve been an oasis in the desert. And this is as it should be. A quote attributed to a variety of people,
among them the Rev James Forbes of the Riverside Church in New York, says that
“Nobody gets to heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.” This may not be what some of us were taught
growing up, but Jesus did say in Matthew 25 that, “Whatever you did – or did
not do – for the least of these, you did – or did not – do for me.” And Jesus was only echoing the Old
Testament’s mantra about the need to care for the widow, the orphan, and the
stranger. This saying about a reference
letter from the poor – and obviously it’s a figure of speech, not an actual
piece of paper - also entails actual face-to-face contact with those who are
struggling, not just writing a check to the United Way. Do we know actual people who are struggling,
names and faces? Do they know us? And
the good news is at Emanuel, why, yes, we do. As we have welcomed those who struggle, as visitors
and members have moved from being “them” to being “us”, we’ve grown together in
discipleship. We have become a less
comfortable, but a more faithful church.
Many of our neighbors, especially here in Bridesburg, are
veterans. Some time ago – I think almost
two years ago, how time flies – one of my colleagues, the Rev Scott Hutchinson
from St Andrews Church in Perkasie, gave a presentation at an Association or
Conference meeting about his work with veterans. In some ways, this work is surprising,
because Scott is a pacifist – his email address is “peacepoet@msn.com”. But by virtue of his training as a therapist,
he has been able to enter the struggles of veterans, especially those suffering
from what is called moral injury or soul injury, who struggle with decisions
and actions in response to orders or in the heat of battle that deeply injured
them spiritually, leaving them with lasting feelings of guilt and shame that
haunt their days and nights, feelings that lead to the suicides of 22 veterans
every day. Every day. Many more service
members, countless more service members, die of suicide than in combat. As we listened, Sean gave me a rather firm
elbow in the ribs, reminding me that we have veterans here in Bridesburg for
whom we could perhaps be a place of healing. And I have to confess that this is deeply
uncomfortable terrain for me, because I’m not a veteran – I haven’t been there,
don’t know the territory, don’t speak the language. No kapish. But if Scott, a committed pacifist,
is able to minister in this way, perhaps with some training, I can as
well. Scott is training other pastors to
engage in this work, and while I’ve dragged my feet more than a bit, I’ve attended
his trainings over the past year or so, most recently a two-day seminar held in
June. Another training is coming up in
October, after which Scott and another colleague hope to help me in launching work
with veterans here at Emanuel, perhaps as early as November. It’s been a long time coming – and it’s not
here yet – but that’s one of my dreams, and now after my sabbatical, having had
some time to rest and recharge, perhaps I have the spiritual resources to take
this on. Stay tuned.
Some of our neighbors are LGBT. While society has come a long way in recent
decades, lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgender persons in many parts of
Pennsylvania can still be fired from jobs and evicted from housing on the basis
of their identity. Rejection from
parents and harassment from classmates and others has led to high rates of
homelessness and suicide among LGBT persons, especially teens and young
adults. Roughly speaking, there’s more
protection in large cities – Philadelphia particularly – and much less so in
more rural areas, where to be “out” is to take one’s life in one’s hands. Even in Philadelphia, LGBT persons can be
visible with more safety in Center City than in some of the outlying
neighborhoods. And in the last year or
two nationwide there’s been a backlash and increasing efforts to remove what limited
protections currently exist. All too
often, the church as a whole has been indifferent, out to lunch, at best and
hostile at worst. Our denomination, the
United Church of Christ, has taken a strong stance toward welcome and
inclusion, and urges congregations to become what is called Open and Affirming
or ONA, meaning not only to allow LGBT persons and other disadvantaged groups in
the door, but to allow them to be fully present – to just be themselves –
without having to edit themselves and hide parts of themselves. That’s the “affirming” part of Open and
Affirming – we’re not here to try to “fix” LGBT persons, but to affirm that God
is present in them and in their relationships as much as with heterosexual
persons. We began a conversation about
becoming Open and Affirming at our annual meeting last year – in many ways,
it’s only becoming more open and more confident about the welcome we already
offer. In contrast to the possibility of
ministry to veterans, this is familiar territory to me, as I was involved when
my former congregation, Old First Reformed, went through their Open and
Affirming process 25 years ago, in the early 1990’s. At the same time, I’m very aware that Bridesburg
is not Center City, and that being Open and Affirming may look a little
different here in the ‘Burg. Even
so: At Old First all those years ago,
while we had outside speakers and such, perhaps the most crucial thing was to
listen to one another’s stories – all of our stories – and to be willing to
hear one another’s pain. Truly, the
journey was at least as important as the destination. At Old First, in going
through the process, beyond welcome to the LGBT community, we became much
better listeners in general, more able to have difficult conversations around
other topics.
Jeremiah bought a field, seeing beyond impending invasion to
a more hopeful time – and Emanuel Church has been able to see beyond our
immediate challenges to a vision of ministry here in Bridesburg. Jesus called on his listeners to be creative
in recognizing opportunities to cooperate with God in bringing good news to our
neighbors. On this Anniversary Sunday,
may we continue, as we have for 158 years, to “fight the good fight of faith;
take hold of the eternal life, to which we were called and for which we made
the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” May the one we call Emanuel – “God with us” –
continue to be with us for many anniversaries to come. Amen.
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