​PUTTING THE “WELCOME” BACK IN 
WELCOME SUNDAY!
​
Welcome Sunday, September 17, 2023
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
 
 
Romans 14:1-12
 
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
 
Once upon a time, I was a teenage zealot.  I knew ALL the answers to the big questions about God and Jesus and the Church.  Furthermore, I knew which ones of you were in and which ones were out.  And… I must have been insufferable!  Except, of course, to the people in my church, where certainty was THE sign of true faith.  
 
Well, God, in his abundant mercy, knocked all that certainty right out of me.  Beginning in my mid 20s, I experienced a series of events that shook me to my core.  And when it was all over… I wasn’t sure about almost anything.  Except, I somehow still believed that God loved me – which was perhaps the only thing I needed.  - Mostly, that is where I still am.  I still have more questions than I do answers.  And I still believe that God loves me.
 
So, I’ve had the interesting experience of having my feet firmly planted in both worlds – the world of religious certainty and the world of a more expansive idea of faith.  And while there are many differences between those worlds, there is also one pronounced similarity.  Both of them can be quite tribal and insular.  Both of them can be intolerant to people who don’t see things exactly like they do.
 
And that’s not just true in religion.  Black and white thinking, about most things, has infected our entire society. Compromise has become a dirty word and a sign of weakness – somehow un-American.  Whole industries make sure that we are always at one another’s throats; always angry, always afraid – simply because we do not agree.  
 
But deep down, we know that life is far more complicated than a 60 second TicTok video.  And we know that the truth is more often found in the cracks, in the in-between places of our lives.  And, we know that we need people who are different from us just to keep us from the idolatry of our own opinions.  
 
We know these things, but living into them, well, that’s not easy.  Even though every week we say: “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here” - putting those words into practice, well, that’s another story.   And I sometimes fear that what many UCC churches mean by those words is that you’re welcome here as long as you can agree with our agenda.  But if you hold another point of view, if you are uncomfortable with anything we proclaim, then perhaps you should just keep on moving.  Otherwise, we might have to sit in the same pew with people we don’t agree with… or even like.
 
But that heady mix of different kinds of people together has always been the challenge of true Christian community.  It’s true now in 2023 America.  And it was true in the earliest churches.  That’s exactly what we see in Romans, chapter 14.  
 
At first glance, it just seems like Paul is calling on the vegetarians and the meat eaters to get along.  Not a big deal, right?  We have vegetarians and vegans and carnivores in our own congregation.  And to the best of my knowledge, no one’s going to be thoroughly scandalized today when I eat a tuna salad sandwich out on the Green.  
 
But my tuna salad sandwich would have scandalized the church at Rome because my tuna salad would be symbolic of a culture war and an intense religious argument.  It would be symbolic of two very different ways of looking at the world.  
 
In the first century, as the Gospel spread to the Gentile world, people who had formerly followed pagan religions were being converted to Christianity.  And a big part of the pagan religions they had left behind, was animal sacrifice. Whole businesses were built around making the animals available and slaughtering them in a certain way and then dedicating them to the pagan gods.  But here’s the twist: pagan temple personnel sometimes also acted as butchers for the general public.   So, when you, a Christian, went to the butcher, you had no idea where or what that meat had been. And some of these new Christians wanted nothing to do with their old pagan lives.  And so, they abstained from all meat in order to avoid any meat that might have been dedicated to idols.  
 
But not every Roman Christian agreed with them.  They thought the vegetarians had gone overboard.  What difference could meat make in this bold new world called the Kingdom of God?  So, these more “liberated” Christians looked down on the more cautious ones as being weak in their faith.  And a fight broke out in the church between the conservatives and the liberals that threatened the very fabric of their community.  
 
Now you might expect that bossy old St. Paul would have a strong opinion about who was right and who was wrong.  And maybe he did.  But, astonishingly, Paul doesn’t take a side.  Instead, he called for thoughtful and thorough co-existence in the midst of diversity and some very “firmly held religious beliefs.”  Listen again to what he wrote: “Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat - for God has welcomed them (all).” (14:3) 
 
Well, that’s nice, you might be thinking.  But it’s very unsatisfying!  Does that mean that there was no right or wrong answer to the argument?  Well, if there was, apparently it was not more important than the unity of the church.  And here we should pause to let that sink in.  Unity in Christ is the most important witness to the Gospel that Christians have ever had.  Everything else is commentary.  
 
Six years ago, this month, I came to this church to candidate to be your Senior Minister.  And at that time, there was a banner, on the front of the building that read: “You are our neighbors.  No matter who you vote for, your skin color, your faith, or who you love, we will try to be here for you.  That’s what community means.  Let’s be neighbors.”
 
That banner was facing outward toward the town.  It was your invitation TO Cheshire at a time of division and rancor.  
 
But that’s the thing about the Gospel.  The message we preach is very often the message we need to hear. That happens to me all the time when I get into this pulpit.  Just when I think I finally get it, the Spirit calls me to go deeper.  
 
So, what do you think?  Can we go deeper?  I bet we can!
 
So, as we begin this 299th year of ministry for Jesus Christ, here’s my best advice for going deeper: scoot over in your pew to make room for those on the right and those on the left.  Open your hearts to the faithful and the forgetful.  Pass the peace with the evangelical and the agnostic; sit down at table with the carnivores, vegetarians, and vegans; dance and sing with your LGBTQ neighbors; welcome the black and white, rich and the poor, immigrant and native-born.  Welcome to all those whom God has welcomed – not just today, but every day of this congregation’s bright and hopeful future.
 
 

"​HOW TO DRESS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
Sunday, September 10, 2023
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell

Romans 13:8-14

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

+++
​
How we dress says a lot about what we think of ourselves, the society we live in, and indeed the world.  Our clothing is not just practical; protecting us from the elements and covering up our nakedness.  What we wear is also an expression of our individuality.  It is a statement of our taste and an avenue for our creativity.  Each day, we go to our closets and choose colors and fabrics and styles that say something about us.  

But there are also times when what we put on is our attempt to not stand out as an individual.  Instead, what we put on is a sign of our solidarity with something bigger.  Think military or sports uniforms.  

Or think these “get-ups” that Pastor Alison and I wear each week.  What’s up with these big black robes, anyway?  Well, they too are uniforms; ways for us to identify with something bigger than our individual expressions of taste and style.  And, there are good reasons for these uniforms, but I bet that no one has ever told you what they are.  

In the Protestant world, at least, one of the ideas behind wearing a robe is that you are purposefully covering up your street clothes.  To wear a robe is to take the attention off of what Alison and I chose to wear on any given Sunday.  When you come to church, you’re not supposed to be thinking of my color combinations or Alison’s choice of fabric or whether or not you think the colors work with our skin tones.  A clergy robe purposefully covers up the messenger so as to amplify the Message; the Gospel.  Each week, when I put on my robe, I disappear, at least a little, into my role as pastor and teacher. 

And while we’re on the subject of why your ministers dress the way they do on Sundays, there is also a theological reason for why we wear stoles – these colorful pieces of fabric around our necks.  They are not accessories.  And they are not fashion statements.  Instead, these stoles represent the yoke of Christ – a sign of our obedience to Jesus and service to the people of God.  

I have heard both robes and stoles referred to as being symbolic of “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” which is a phrase taken from our Romans reading today.  But “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” is not just clergy fashion advice.  Putting on Jesus is what all of us should be doing here at the end of the world.  

The end of the world.  Whether or not it actually is, only time will tell.  But it certainly has felt like it in recent years, with climate change wreaking havoc, and a world-wide pandemic that killed millions and literally changed everything, and the terrifying rise of authoritarianism, and the intense political divisions in our own country that literally threaten our democracy.  Even in our own town, neighbors are pitted against neighbors, and school board meetings devolve into shameful exchanges, and fear and distrust is sown even in churches - like it’s the end of the world.  

Sometimes, all of this just makes me afraid.  And fear, at least for me, is sometimes exhibited as anger.  Living at the “end of the world” makes me say things I wouldn’t normally say; think things I wouldn’t normally think.  I lash out and sometimes fall into the pit of judgment as a protective reaction.  

Maybe you do too.  And maybe you justify all of that by thinking: well, how else should we react in these perilous and unprecedented times?  Are we just supposed to sit quietly while the world goes to hell?  Of course not.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to lives of active justice-keeping and peace-making.  But it’s what you wear when you do those things that makes all the difference in the world.  

This passage from Romans opens with the exceedingly bold statement that love alone is the fulfilling of the whole Law of God.  But this love of which the Bible speaks is not a feeling.  (Thank God, because I cannot work it up!). And it certainly isn’t sentimental.  Instead, in the biblical context, love is a decision.  As respected New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says: “love will grit its teeth and act as if the emotions are in place, trusting that they will follow in good time.” 

So, love is a decision that we make each day.  And to illustrate that, in his Epistle to the Romans, Paul uses the metaphor of clothing.  Twice in these seven verses he writes that love is something we decide to put on.  Verse 12 reads: “… Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  In verse 14, Paul tells us to “… put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, every morning we look in our closets and think about what we have to do that day, who we will encounter that day, and choose so that we are clothed appropriately. It’s a daily decision.

And, says Paul, so is love.  Each day we decide how we will respond to the bad news all around us.  Each day we decide how we will interact with our neighbors, especially the ones we don’t like!  We look in our spiritual closets and we choose.  Will it be the armor of light?  Or the dirty rags of rage and resentment?  

Now I will be the first to admit that putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is not always the easiest choice.  But if love is the fulfilling of the whole Law of God, then putting on LOVE is the only thing that matters.  

On his blog post, “The Journey with Jesus” Dr. Daniel Clendenin tells this story: The early church father Jerome, described how John the evangelist, the author of the gospel, preached at Ephesus well into his nineties.  At that age, John was so feeble that he had to be carried into the church on a stretcher. Then, when he could no longer preach a regular sermon, he would lean up on one elbow to address the congregation. And the only thing he said was, “Little children, love one another.” Then four men would carry him back out of the church.  This continued for weeks. And every week he repeated his one-sentence sermon: “Little children, love one another.”  Finally, weary of the repetition, someone in the congregation finally worked up the courage to ask: "Master, why do you always say this?"  "Because," John replied, "it is the Lord's command, and if only this is done, it is enough." 

It is enough.  Love is always enough.  Paul told us that.  Jesus showed us that.  Our hearts already know that.  So, decide today what you’re going to wear tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that, as long as your life endures.  Look in your closet and choose wisely.  Put on Jesus.  Put on the armor of light.  And then walk out the door boldly, into a world starved for love, and bless and heal and repair and make peace.  

“Little children, love one another.”