This
Sunday, October 6th, our faith community will join with congregations around
the world in celebrating “World Communion Sunday,” which is always observed on
the first Sunday of October. World Communion
Sunday is observed by many Christian denominations—both in the United States
and around the world. This special Sunday
was set aside to celebrate and encourage Christian unity and ecumenical
cooperation. “World Communion Sunday”
centers around the worldwide, ecumenical celebration of the Sacrament of Holy
Communion.
This year, Christ United Methodist
Church will join with faith communities across Lincoln and around the world, as
we remember that despite denominational divides, we are all united together as
brothers and sisters in Christ. In
remembrance of this unity, Christ UMC will join with other churches in
celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion on the same Sunday.
Traditionally, “World Communion”
celebrations have focused on how different denominations can unite their resources
to focus on alleviating hunger, helping provide housing, adequate health care,
as well as peace and justice issues.
Working out of this tradition, the Christ UMC worship staff felt
compelled to reflect on the terrible problem of guns and violence in our American
society and around the world. We began
to look at the rapidly escalating number of mass shootings going on in the
United States.
In 2018, there were 323 recorded
mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 307 fatalities as well as an
additional 1,274 wounded victims who were able to survive. This current year of 2019 has already seen a
steep increase in mass shootings. With statistics
through September, which marks the end of the third quarter, or 75%, of the
year, we have had 334 mass shootings, a number for 9 months that is already
higher than the entire year of 2018. So
far, these mass shootings have resulted in 385 deaths and 1,342 wounded victims—both
numbers already surpassing the 2018 totals.
We have a terrible epidemic in our country and our government seems content
to ignore this epidemic and just hope that everyone just forgets about it. Except, we can’t forget.
What can the Church do? What can multiple denominations united
together do?
Based on our research, we
determined that most of the perpetrators of mass shootings were angry, socially
isolated young men, who felt completely disconnected to the society around
them. Or, they were angry, socially
isolated young men, who had found an online social community with one of the
many hate groups which have established a presence on the internet. For socially isolated young men, membership in
a hate group takes the place of participating as a member of a faith community,
where one is loved and cared for as a beloved child of God and member of the
faith community.
Along with other members of our worship
staff, I believe that the present context of violence, frequently perpetrated
by young, socially isolated men, challenges Christian churches with a clear
pastoral mandate. That is, following
Christ, we are called to an intentional ministry of inviting and welcoming
young men and women who are lonely and feel estranged from their peers and
society. In other words, churches are
called by Christ to enter into loving relationships with these persons, who
feel as though they are outcasts and unloved by society.
As senior pastor at Christ United Methodist
Church in Lincoln, I see and hear of many teenage boys and girls who are
desperately seeking the affirmation and acceptance of a grown man or woman. Many of these teens do not have a reliable
father-figure or mother-figure in their lives.
Sometimes their mothers or fathers are just really too busy trying to
earn a living for their family, while in other situations those mentors are just
absent in the lives of teenage boys and girls.
(To be clear, these teens are not necessarily from families within my
church. Sometimes they are friends of our church kids, or our church kids share
with me their concern about friends from school who are struggling with
loneliness, depression, and isolation.)
There is a profound power in
relationships. I have known this relational
power in my own life. Throughout much of
my life, I have been mentored by men, who first helped me understand what it
means to be man who follows Christ.
Later in life, when I entered the ministry, I was fortunate to be
mentored by other men, who helped me become a better pastor through their
affirmation, encouragement, and correction.
Even though I had a wonderful father, who loved me greatly and was deeply
involved in my life, I also grew and benefitted from these mentors throughout
much of my life. There is a profound
power in relationships.
I believe that church can provide powerful
relationships for socially isolated teenagers and young adults.
As Christians, we have models of powerful
relationships in the scriptures, which I believe can help churches begin to
address the epidemic of mass shootings in this country. In Paul’s Letter to Titus, in chapter 2, he
provides a model for a well-ordered household.
These household ethics were somewhat common in Greek and Roman
literature at the time of Paul, and he provides other domestic codes of ethics
in some of his other letters. But, what
I find intriguing about the domestic code in Titus is that Paul places primary
responsibility on the shoulders of the “older members.” For instance, in regards to the duties and responsibilities
of women, Paul writes:
“Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior,
not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may
encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be
self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household…” ~ Titus 2: 3-5a
Paul continues with similar instructions
to Titus regarding the “younger men:”
“Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in
all respects a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity,
gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured; then any opponent
will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us.” ~ Titus 2:6-8
Although
the Apostle Paul’s concerns were far different than the epidemic mass shootings
which we are suffering from today, I believe he provides an important model and
inspiration which churches united and working together could achieve today. Our society has so many teenage boys and girls,
whom we have basically set adrift. They
are desperately looking for acceptance, affirmation, and love. They need older adults in their lives, who
can accept, affirm, and love them. They are
also trying to understand what it means to be an adult man or woman in this
society. They are desperately seeking
adult role-models, whom they can trust.
Jesus
also provides an example for us, with his treatment of Zacchaeus in Luke
19:1-10. Jesus and his entourage were
traveling towards Jerusalem, when they entered the town of Jericho. As Jesus enters the town, Luke (the Gospel
Writer) introduces us to Zacchaeus. Although
Zacchaeus was a Jew, he was a social outcast, with literally no friends,
because he was a tax collector for the Romans.
The occupying Romans contracted with certain Jewish “entrepreneurs” to collect
prescribed indirect taxes, such as tolls and tariffs. The Jewish tax collectors were required to
pay the taxes upfront to the Romans, but then they would go through the town
collecting the taxes, with the goal of collecting more in taxes than they had
already paid to the Romans. Clearly,
this was a system designed got crooked cheating and injustice.[i]
Tax
collectors were despised in villages, such as Jericho, for several
reasons. First, they were seen as
colluding with the hated Roman occupiers.
Second, they were probably charging a higher tax than the individual
actually owed. And, third, no one likes
paying taxes anyway. So, even though he
was extravagantly rich, Zacchaeus was hated and despised in Jericho, with no
friends.
Zacchaeus
had heard about this new prophet, Jesus.
When he learned that Jesus would be passing through Jericho on his way
to Jerusalem, Zacchaeus just had to see Jesus.
The only problem was that there was already a huge crowd of people also
eager to see Jesus. Luke tells us that Zacchaeus
was a small man. He couldn’t see over
the crowd, nor could he push his way through the crowd to get a view of
Jesus. So, Zacchaeus ran ahead down the
street and climbed up in a sycamore tree in order to view Jesus as he passed. In the Jewish culture of the time, for a
grown man to run down the street and then climb a tree was considered very
degrading. Jewish men just didn’t do
that sort of thing. But, Zacchaeus didn’t
care. It was really important that he
catch a glimpse of Jesus.
This
is how Luke describes what happened next:
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to
him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So, he hurried down
and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be
the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my
possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to
him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of
Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
~ Luke 19:5-10
Do you see
what Jesus did with Zacchaeus?
Jesus invites Zacchaeus into his Jesus’
entourage of followers—essentially, Jesus’ family. Of all the homes in Jericho, where Jesus could
stop for a meal and refreshments, he chooses the home of Zacchaeus the hated
and despised tax collector. Accustomed
to living on the margins of society, Zacchaeus moves to the center of Jericho
society, when Jesus chooses to have dinner at his home. Zacchaeus, who has absolutely no friends in
Jericho, is suddenly “best buds” with Jesus.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Jesus’ visit to his home is
transformative for Zacchaeus, who pledges an extravagant amount of money to
help the poor and to repay anyone whom he has defrauded four times.
It
is the power of relationship, and we believe at Christ UMC that it provides
contemporary Christians with the model for transforming the lives of lonely, disillusioned,
angry youth, who are looking for affirmation and a model of what it means to be
an adult man or woman.
If you live in the Lincoln,
Nebraska area and do not have a place of worship, then I invite you to come and
join us at Christ United Methodist Church this Sunday, October 6th, as we celebrate
World Communion Sunday and reflect about how we can welcome, affirm, and
encourage teenagers who are trying to figure out what it means to be a
responsible man or woman in our society.
Christ UMC is located at 4530 “A”
Street. We have three worship services
on Sunday mornings at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.
The 8:30 and 11:00 services feature a traditional worship format and the
services are held in our Sanctuary. “The
Gathering” at 9:45 is held in our Family Life Center (gym), and it is more
informal and interactive.
Come, join us. Everyone is welcome and accepted because God
loves us all.
[i]
R. Alan Culpepper, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke in the New Interpreter’s Bible, vol 9, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002),
CD-ROM Edition.
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