Sister Joan Chittister is a Benedictine nun who has called the Roman Catholic Church to task over many, many issues. Many believe she was a thorn in the side of John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI probably had a large picture of her hung on the walls of the Vatican, which states, “WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE.”
Several years ago a friend was in attendance at a meeting in which Sister Joan was the speaker. After her presentation, she was asked why she continues to remain a Roman Catholic. She said, “One word describes why I remain a Roman Catholic…that word is ‘oyster’!” Then she said, “Why would I say ‘oyster”? I don’t like them, but this much I know about oysters – whenever they get a grain of sand in them, they secrete a certain kind of gel which envelopes the sand, thus preventing its shell from being damaged by the sand. And thus, the oyster’s life is saved. So, like an oyster, I remain in the Roman Catholic church as a Minister or Irritation.”1
To be honest, I’ve worn the “Mantle of Irritation” on several occasions. I had been in the ministry about ten years and had never preached a Mother’s Day sermon. After my second year at a church in Louisville, the board voted that I had to preach a Mother’s Day sermon. So, I gave them what they wanted. It was entitled Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” They didn’t think that was funny. The next year, I took a mother out of Hebrew scripture and preached a Mother’s Day sermon on Rahab the Harlot!
When Jesus goes to Nazareth to preach, he is welcomed home as the son of Joseph. Fred Craddock in his commentary on Luke says, “This story assumes that the synagogue in Nazareth knows that Jesus has been preaching in Capernaum.” Furthermore, Dr. Craddock says, “All that Jesus says and does is within the bosom of Judasim.”2
My guess is that the folk of his synagogue were sitting on the edge of their seats. The “pew chatter” must have been something to hear: “Why, I remember when he worked in his father’s carpentry shop!” Another person says, “My children would come home from synagogue school and tell me that Jesus knows all the answers to every question!”
No doubt his homecoming was colored by a variety of comments. The true significance is the fact that on this occasion, we encounter his first public words of ministry. Those folk, according to one scholar, bring at least three different forms of messianic hope:
· Will he be a new Moses and win the favor of the Pharisees?
· Will Jesus be a new David and fulfill the hopes of the Zealots?
· Will he be an apocalyptic deliverer thereby welcoming the Essenes from the Qumran community?3
When all is said and done, Jesus, much like Sister Joan, will be labeled a “Minister of Irritation.”
Since the majority of us are familiar with this text, let’s go for broke and play with the event in the context of our day and our church. One member of UCC said to me, “Houston, surely you recognize that we are living in a ‘cusp time.” I take that to mean that University Christian Church is at a momentous crossroads in her history. To be truthful, I believe the Universal Church is at a crossroads!
Allow me to illustrate: Saturday, a week ago, I attended the “Trinity-Brazos Area Leadership Workshop. I hope you know, our own Rev. Kenneth Hall is our area pastor and several of us from UCC were in attendance at the event. The workshop that I wandered into after lunch was entitled The Emergent/Emerging Church. I suppose I selected that event simply because I had no idea what it was about.
Our sisters and brothers at First Christian Church in downtown Fort Worth are allowing an Emergent Church to nest in their building. It meets on Sunday nights. After an hour-plus explanation, I walked out of that event with a number of questions. Those questions took me to a variety of websites. I found names of people I had never heard of who were the pastors of churches from San Diego to Minneapolis, from Louisville to Tampa, from Baltimore to Denver.
One name I encountered was Pete Ward and he stated, “We are experiencing a shift from a solid culture and solid church to a liquid culture and liquid church.” And I thought, what are you talking about? As I read on, I discovered the following explanation:
Liquids flow, spill, run, splash, pour, leak, flood, spray, drip, seep and ooze. They are not easily stopped.
Solids, in contrast, hold their shape. In most instances solids tend to stay in place. They stay as they are.
He translated that information into thinking about the church in our day. The solid church is based on structure and permanence. It is marked by boundaries and norms and rules, by decency and order. Growth means increasing the sizes of the physical plant, the budget, the number of members, and yes, the influence of the church in the community. The pastor is in charge. For the most part, the solid church believes the structure will be its salvation.
Then he gives us an explanation of the liquid church. It embraces ambiguity, mystery, wonder and awe. It lives easily with paradox and irony and values enthusiasm more than order. It is fluid and agile and responds to stress – even welcomes stress. The liquid church embraces people and acknowledges pain and suffering and sadness and angst. The pastor is NOT in charge. The pastor is less an imparter of knowledge and more a guide for the pilgrim.
He continues…please note that the person who seeks out an emergent church is much like a modern day shopper. This person is not ashamed to admit that he or she is a consumer and no longer needs the solid church. Pete Ward says, “Desires drive the liquid church.”4
You see, I think I’ve known some members of this new church and didn’t know it. Have you ever heard someone say, “I am spiritual, not religious. I don’t need to belong to your club of words and music. I desire only a connection with the transcendent.” Have you ever heard that?
I told you last Sunday how much I love movies…did you see Steel Magnolias? Shelby says to her mother, “Mama, I would rather have thirty minutes of something wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”5
Ah ha, some of us had better start listening to what’s going on around us. I agree with the person who said “We’re living in a “cusp time”. While we of the solid church are arguing about this or that, we’re being pushed to one side by the culture and we don’t even recognize the fact. So much for the event Saturday before last!
Back to the Luke event: Jesus comes to his hometown synagogue…get it…this synagogue is a “solid synagogue” and he brings a “liquid message!” When he brings to their attention, both Elija (I Kings 17:8-14) and Elisha (II Kings 51-17) who took God’s favor to non-Jews…throw in the fact that he had been preaching in Capernaum, which has a large non-Jewish population, and furthermore, he never addressed their messianic hopes. There came the hostility, the anger, and the violence…there came the folk who are going to throw him off the cliff!
Luke’s postscript: “But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”
Jesus’ ministry of irritation had just begun. Stay with Luke’s Gospel and you will find Jesus acting out his commitment to outsiders again and again. While he never addressed the expectations of his hometown neighbors, he brought forth the messianic image of a suffering servant.
LET US PRAY
O God, help us to keep our eyes and ears open, lest we miss the Spirit’s calling for this day. In Christ’s name. Amen.
