Capitol Hill United Methodist Church

Beloved Community

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church May 6th, 2007, the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

Text: Acts 11:1-18, John 13:31-35

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Martin Luther King, Jr. said once that the story of the church is like a great extended family that receives a tremendous bequest: they receive an inheritance of a wonderful, beautiful, spacious, luxurious home to share. There is only one stipulation. All must live in it together. When I read that, it made me think of another scenario that could be described in the same way…some of you who watch cable TV-or have any familiarity with pop culture-will recognize the following intro: "This is the true story, of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite, and start getting real." "The Real World" is the first "reality television show" to gain a national audience back in 1992 (its still running!) and the premise of the show is just as it is described-the seven strangers chosen to participate are intentionally of different races, genders, sexual orientations, levels of sexual experiences, and religious and political beliefs. The house they are given to inhabit is large and luxurious and from the moment they arrive, they are videotaped-everything they say and do is caught on film and then edited and shown to the world. Of course, "getting real" often takes the form of conflict and inappropriate behavior; the diversity of the housemates is a calculated recipe for tension, drama, and outright nastiness. This makes for good television but isn't such a great example of healthy community living.

Today we read from the Acts of the Apostles of an extraordinary moment in the early church (as it tried to figure out how to live as a community): Peter is challenged by the Jewish Christians in Judea because they've heard that Peter had shared the gospel with Gentiles. We need to understand that in the earliest days of the church, there were great disputes about who could be included in the church's ranks; one main issue was whether to be a Christian, one needed to be circumcised-that is, either a born Jew or a Jewish convert. Prejudice on this point was as virulent as any prejudice we are familiar with today. Peter responds by sharing a vision in which "the Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us." The heart of this story is a new revelation for the early church-a new way of understanding what God is doing, for it becomes clear that God, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit has expanded the saving territory beyond the boundary of the "chosen people" the Jews and truly beyond any boundary! Peter, seeing that the Holy Spirit was received by the Gentiles he met in Caesarea, says this astonishing thing: "If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" In these verses of holy scripture we begin to learn one of the most important lessons about Christian community: The good news of Jesus Christ is for ALL…the Holy Spirit is a gift for ALL…the saving love and power of God is for ALL. We, as Christians, are called from the very beginning "not to make a distinction between 'them' and 'us.'"

Having said this, it is important to qualify what it means. To make no distinction between "them" and "us" is not to erase the real differences that exist in the human family. Like the characters on "The Real World" human beings come from different places, have different strengths and weaknesses, and have different cultural, racial, political, theological, and sexual identities. This is the way it is. And to be Christian doesn't mean that we are to ignore these diversities or to try to make everyone the same. Far from it. A community in which everyone looks, thinks, acts, and reacts the same way would be a boring fiction-and might describe the goal of some human political factions, clubs, or even church communities. But that isn't what authentic Christian community is. To make no distinction between "them" and "us" in the church means that we recognize that, regardless of who a person is, where they come from, how they act or think or love-that person is a child of God, that person has received the Holy Spirit, that person "lives in the house" with us as fellow members of the Body of Christ.

So the church-Christian community-is like the television reality show "The Real World" insofar as we include persons who are radically different in worldview, culture, and lifestyle; the church is also like the show "The Real World" insofar as we receive an inheritance of a wonderful, beautiful, spacious, luxurious home to share, the stipulation being that we all must live in the house together. (as MLK said) I would suggest that the comparison doesn't end there. When I looked up info about the reality show online, I found the following list of recurring themes/tensions: Prejudice, politics, religion, romance, sexuality, unrequited love, departed housemates, and life-threatening illness. When folks live in a house together, these things are bound to pop up. Christian community-graced, redeemed, Holy Spirit-empowered as it is-is still human community. What that means is that conflict, disagreements, tensions, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and all the rest WILL be part of the picture. But here, I hope, is where the comparison between "reality TV" and Christian community breaks down. Whereas reality television editors will highlight and even encourage outrageous, mean-spirited behavior in the face of conflict, Jesus Christ counters with this: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn. 13:34-35)

As I thought about this the phrase "beloved community" floated into my mind. The phrase and concept of "beloved community" was a central feature of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s teaching and preaching; it names King's vision of a completely integrated society, a community of love and justice wherein brother and sisterhood would be an actuality in all of social life. In King's mind, such a community would be the ideal corporate expression of the Christian faith. I would add that this vision is also descriptive of the Kin-dom of God. King taught about "nonviolent love"-by which I think he meant the kind of love called "Agape" love-the kind of love God shares and is. When Jesus commands us to "love one another just as he has loved us" it is nonviolent love, agape love, that we are commanded to share. MLK was enough of a realist to know that building the Beloved Community was no easy proposition-he knew as well as we do that the vision of a fully integrated, nonviolent, mutually supportive, prejudice-free community would only be fully realized when Christ comes again and the Kin-dom of God is established on earth by the grace of God. But King also believed-as do I-that, by the grace and power of God, the Kin-dom "may exist in such isolated forms as in judgment, in personal devotion, and in some group life." As I envision what God is creating here at CHUM, I absolutely believe that our "group life" is to be one of the places in which the Beloved Community vision comes to life. I believe that, insofar as we are able by God's amazing grace-and because Christ is alive in our midst- CHUM is called to embody the Kin-dom of God in which agape love is the air we breathe and the goal of all our striving.

What does this mean for you who are members of this part of the Body of Christ that calls itself CHUM? I want to briefly highlight three characteristics that I pray God will continue to strengthen here in our CHUM community:

Committed Love: God's love is absolutely committed to the beloved-to us! We know that any relationship, in order to be healthy and vital, requires commitment. A lukewarm attitude toward this congregation, its people, its ministries, a lukewarm caring and love will not usher in the Beloved Community. It's too difficult and daunting a vision to be embodied by half-hearted Christians. Commitment is also not passive, but active. It means getting involved, bringing something of yourself, your time and energy into the relationship. Committed, active love is not the vocation only of the pastor or leaders of the church, and it is not about feeling warm and fuzzy about all the sisters and brothers who live "in the house." Rather committed, active love is the vocation of all Christians and is about loving actions not loving feelings. While it may be impossible to feel affection for some people, it is not impossible to help them.
Gracious Love: God's love is gracious: freely given, forgiving, creative, seeing the potential in the beloved. Some communities function on the premise of judgment; I pray that CHUM will grow as a community of grace. This doesn't mean that "anything goes" in our shared life, but rather that we will trust that grace is the context in which we live (freely given love, forgiveness, creative, seeing potential). In this context, my hope is that we will trust God's grace and one another enough to speak the truth in love, to name our worries, concerns, disagreements, joys, needs, hurts in open and honest ways-and that these things will be received with mutuality, respect, patience, thoughtfulness, and care. I pray that we come to expect and welcome conflict as part of a vital, diverse community of faith! And I pray that we will grow in our ability to bring grace and reconciling love into those places of conflict. To be a community of grace is to be forgiving, to give others the benefit of the doubt, to resist "us against them" thinking and acting, and to recognize that Christ's commandment to love leaves no loophole: all are worthy of our loving, gracious care-even and especially those who don't reciprocate! (Which leads me into the last point:)
Sacrificial Love: The agape love of God is sacrificial. It is self-giving, self-risking, self-sacrificial-we see this most fully on the cross. To reflect this part of God's agape love here at CHUM means that we will be willing to take risks for the sake of building up the congregation, that we will give of our selves, our time, energy, money, and other resources. It means that we will be courageous, trusting God more than we distrust others or ourselves. And that last point is such a biggie: we struggle to trust that who we are, what we think, how we live or love, what we offer will be received by others with love and grace. We struggle to trust that when we forgive or reach out in care to another who has hurt us we won't just get hurt again. And the truth is that loving as Christ loved is really risky. It requires a willingness to be sacrificial in your giving and living and loving and forgiving. But what we learn from Christ's sacrifice of love is that sacrificial love is saving, brings about new life and freedom for self and others.

These are just a few key elements that I pray God will continue to nurture here at CHUM. My dream is that CHUM will be an "outpost of the Kin-dom of God," an enfleshed example of the Beloved Community. Of course we know we won't ever fully "arrive"…for this new commandment of Jesus to love is open-ended, without an end to the requirement: when have we loved enough?

The success of the reality TV series "The Real World," currently filming its 19th season, is based on the fact that people watch it. Who's watching us? People who come into these walls watch how we act and interact, they overhear conversations in the halls and parking lot, they see how we organize for ministry and how we respond to crisis and conflict. People outside these walls are watching us to see what we're doing or not doing in the community or in response to the crises facing the human community. But, unlike The Real World, each of us isn't outfitted with a 24 hour a day microphone and a camera in our face…we can hide some things from some people. Except of course we can't. Who's watching? God is watching, tuning in every moment, just waiting to see what will happen next…I pray God sees that we're embodying the kind of community here at CHUM and in our lives that "The Real World" folks might deem boring television: the kind of community that reflects God's agape love, the Beloved Community. My guess is that more people want to see and experience that than the Nielson ratings folks yet know… Anyone want to produce "The CHUM World"?: "This is the true story, of 150 people, graced to live in a house, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being selfish, and start getting really committed, gracious, and sacrificial in their loving." Just imagine the possibilities!

Sermons from other years:

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Capitol Hill United Methodist Church is a Reconciling Congregation.
Read our Welcoming Statement.