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Sermon 06/12/2005
Teaching Courage and Endurance
~ by Tom Kinder
June 12, 2005, Fourth Sunday after Pentacost;
Youth Sunday
First Congregational Church in Thetford, Vermont,
UCC
Romans 5: 1 - 5; Matthew 9: 35, 10: 1, 10: 16
- 22
My last two Youth Sunday sermons have been entitled
“Teaching Love” and “Teaching Vision.”
Today’s is entitled “Teaching Courage
and Endurance.” The topic was inspired by
the scriptures that Hap just read which are world-wide
lectionary readings for today. But even without
them, I might have chosen the same topic.
Increasingly the news makes me aware that children
growing up today in the United Church of Christ
are going to need courage and endurance. Our children
are growing up in a relatively progressive tradition:
a tradition that believes that the simple declaration
of faith in Christ should be enough to unite all
Christians; a tradition that interprets the teachings
of Jesus as being against violence and poverty;
a tradition that believes that God’s laws
of love command us to be open to and affirming
of people of all sexual orientations, races, nationalities
and faiths. Children growing up in this tradition
are going to need courage and endurance.
The reason we know our children will need these
qualities is that right wing fundamentalist Christian
leaders have openly declared war on those who
hold values and beliefs other than their own.
This war is aimed in part at people of other religions.
One such church recently put on their sign out
front “The Koran Needs to Be Flushed.”
This was in response to the accusation that American
guards at Guantánamo Bay had forced Muslim
inmates to witness a Qur’an being flushed
down a toilet—something far more offensive
to Muslims than flushing a Bible would be to a
Christian.
The pastor of that church was challenged about
the sign. He said, “We just have to stand
for what is right.” He believes that it is
right for a Christian to desecrate the Muslim
holy book in front of faithful Muslims. Fortunately,
enough people had the courage and endurance to
keep protesting the sign that eventually the church
took it down. We can anticipate that our children
will have many such battles ahead of them—as
shall we—on behalf of people who are not
Christian.
But the right wing fundamentalist Christian war
is aimed not only at people of other faiths. It
is aimed at moderate and progressive Christians
as well. A Kentucky megachurch recently hosted
a widely publicized national rally they called
“Justice Sunday.” It was subtitled,
“Stopping the Filibuster Against People of
Faith.” This was a rally attempting to put
pressure on moderate Senators to change the Senate
rules so that extreme right wing Christian judges
could be approved. “Stopping the Filibuster
Against People of Faith” clearly meant that
only those who share their right wing political
views are real people of faith. One of the federal
judges they were trying to get approved by the
Senate characterizes those who oppose her as atheists
and secularists.
That means us. In the eyes of our right wing brothers
and sisters, we are not people of faith. We are
not Christian, even if we say we believe in Jesus
Christ and try to follow his ways faithfully.
I had a fundamentalist Christian classmate in
seminary who told a room full of Methodist, Lutheran,
Presbyterian and UCC ministerial students that
we were not Christian because we did not believe
what he believed.
At the time we all protested, but we far outnumbered
him, and he was easy enough to love and accept
as offensive but harmless. Today, only a decade
later, this brand of fundamentalism has an enormous
influence, if not dominance, over all three branches
of our federal government. The Senate Majority
leader spoke at that church rally in Kentucky.
They have now succeeded at getting those right
wing Christian judges approved. The fundamentalists
are powerful and intent on gaining absolute power.
The political ideal that tends to go along with
fundamentalism is not democracy—it is authoritarianism
and totalitarianism. The kinds of repression of
opponents that we see fundamentalist governments
of any faith waging are possible from Christian
fundamentalist governments as well.
Jesus saw the crowds around him who were subjects
of a totalitarian system, and “he had compassion
on them because they were harassed and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.” So he gave
his disciples the mission to go out and help the
people. He said to them as they were about to
go out, “See, I am sending you out like sheep
into the midst of wolves.”
Jesus warned them of the opposition and persecution,
the revilement and even torture they would face
because they represented his ideals of lovingkindness
and nonviolence and justice for all who were oppressed.
He warned them that even those closest to them
might hate them and turn them in, but he said,
do not worry. Do not be afraid. Have courage.
Endure. Don’t worry about what you will say,
because the Holy Spirit will speak through you
and tell you what needs to be said. Don’t
worry about torture or even death, because those
who endure to the end will be saved. On the one
hand those words are chilling, but Jesus meant
them to give us comfort and courage and endurance.
The Apostle Paul wrote in the same spirit, and
he spoke from experience, having suffered greatly
for following Christ. Paul said that our faith
will bring us the peace of God and the grace of
God and the glory of God. He said we could boast
in our sufferings, rather than fearing them or
being stopped by them, “knowing that suffering
produces endurance, and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope, and hope does not
disappoint us” because of the love and power
of the Holy Spirit that God pours into our hearts.
These words have more than one application. Our
children may or may not face opposition and persecution
for their faith at the hands of a right wing fundamentalist
Christian establishment, but we know that they
will suffer and be challenged by the kinds of
adversity we face in our lives today. We know
they will struggle against institutions that put
material values ahead of spiritual ones—institutions
that wage war or abuse the environment or perpetuate
poverty. They will confront racism and religious
hatred. They will face personal illness and the
loss of people they love. They will face a variety
of hard times in their lives, and eventually their
own death.
Our children will need courage and endurance to
face these things, and if they are like us, it
will sometimes be all they can do not to succumb
to fear or exhaustion or despair.
We need to teach our children how to be “decided,
brave and strong,” in the words of our first
hymn. We can teach them these qualities in part
by showing them our own struggles and what helps
us get through them. We can teach them by showing
them many models of heroism in personal as well
as societal spheres. We can teach them all that
the Bible and our religious tradition offer to
help a person overcome fear or despair. We need
to make sure that they learn how to work within
a church to create the kind of community that
encourages and bolsters its members.
I have been moved by the models of courage and
endurance I have seen in my nine years here. I
think of people like Eleanor Zue and Helen Mac
Lam and Maureen Williams who don’t give up
in the struggle for justice and peace. I think
of Dan Clouser in his journey with cancer. I think
of Gin Anderson throughout her century of generous-hearted
living. I could list many people who are heroically
enduring excruciating times right now. I could
talk about the courage and endurance this congregation
showed in the challenges of becoming Open and
Affirming, and Open to All. We need to make sure
our children see and understand and value the
good models happening around them.
We need to teach our children what they can learn
from these models because we will not be around
for many of our children’s most difficult
times. We will be beyond the ability to help except
what help we can give from beyond the grave. But
if we give them the gift of this teaching, we
can rest assured that they will know how to stand
and withstand in their times of trial.
I cannot think of anything more important for
this church to do than to prepare our children
for the struggles they will face. I know that
we have asked much of ourselves recently in making
our church Open to All. I know we are in a period
of rest and rejuvenation. But I hope that in the
fall when we look at where our calling might take
us next, we may find that part of what the Spirit
would have us do is to create a fully funded,
even more extensive and comprehensive program
for children and youth. I believe that this community
has within it the will and the resources to make
this happen. I know we have the need.
Let us pray in silence…
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