chooses, renews, and pursues us, morning
by morning and day by day. Amen.
Good morning. Morning has indeed “broken” and it is a good morning to be with you. You have again befriended me, asking me back to my home State and to the UP to stand and pray with you. I have been standing by you for many years, and I am always deeply blessed by being in your presence; please know you are ever in my prayers.
You did not just ask an old friend to be with you as your chaplain. You asked an historian and a theologian to stand with you. A wise choice (if I may say so myself). This morning I experience myself as standing with you at the crossroad of history and hope. What about you?
History and hope: this is Good News, and for many of us this is hard news (for we did not plan to be standing here today), yet this crossroad is deeply woven throughout the history and theology of our faith and forebears. We are not unaided. We have scriptural resources to draw upon, witnesses ancient and modern, and beloved companions for the journey onward.
Abide with me as I identify three of deep resources for finding our way forward today and in the days ahead.
1 – Pride of place goes, as it must in my opinion, to Scripture, and particularly to this morning’s extraordinarily apt and wise lessons (thank you Manuel). We stand at today’s crossroad on the solid ground of scriptural witness. In Mark’s Gospel we hear of the “committed ones,” the disciples, arguing about power, getting angry and indignant with one another about leadership and authority in the church. Some folk just like exercising power over others. Sound familiar? Frankly my friends, on the “top ten” list of topics church historians write about: asserting power and control are two of the biggest themes.
More important, these concerns were formative for the Rabbi, the Nazarene teacher. Mark’s Rabbi directly meets the disciples’ angry squabbling and inability to understand God’s reign with a theological response that challenges and turns their assumptions about leadership upside down. There will be no royal court, no controlling ruler. Instead his authority will be and is grounded in self-giving love: an image of redemption and liberation. The Nazarene Rabbi invites his followers not into subservience but to stand with him in compassionate participation (this Holy One “came not to be served, but to serve” in life-giving ways).
Mark’s text, at least to my ears, invites us to step right into the story to reflect on power and then join in a new kind of leadership. At this crossroad, the Jesus of Mark’s text reminds the disciples that they, like we, are immersed in the baptismal authority of suffering and death, as well as in the sure and certain promise of redemptive new life. History and hope: yet, as Paul reminds us, it is hope that has the last word, insisting in Paul’s blunt language that we stand with those who are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
2 – This leads me toward a second secure place to stand in days ahead. It will not surprise anyone here that I am a “big fan” of and “in favor of” the authority of the baptized. When we are standing and rooted in the authority, the deep waters, of our baptism history and hope meet with boldness and audacity. Growing up here in Michigan, the “water wonderland,” taught me to stand literally and confidently by great, fresh, life-giving waters. My beloved biblical mentor, Verna Dozier, taught me to read Scripture with care and authority. She would not let me lose my daily consciousness of baptism. The solidarity of baptism is a theological grounding that admits no exclusions. The energizing, liberating power of Baptism abides, a resource to be cherished now and in days ahead. Over the past year, as I have dipped my hands in the fresh water of the baptismal font, you, the people of this Diocese, have often been in my heart. Do not be afraid to be different in your wide embrace of baptismal authority. Stand, as Jeremiah suggests, planted by the greening waters of new life.
3 – History, like Scripture, is replete with those who have witnessed the cost of discipleship, the cost of holding fast to hard truths and high goals, of not being afraid to be dismissed, or wronged by others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the revered German pastor imprisoned and killed in 1945 resisting Hitler’s Third Reich, in his last days described the church with hope as “Christ taking form in a body of believers.” Bonhoeffer’s insight signals a deep, hard won, and long-standing resource you already have that will continue to serve you well in days ahead. You have built healthy communities rich in trusted and mature relationships. Standing by your side, in your home parish and diocese, are steadfast companions, who invite you to walk together with newness of purpose. You know the dangers of walking alone. In my experience, you are the church of Christ taking form in the body of believers. This is a holy place to stand.
So join me in giving thanks to the Holy One who creatively chooses us. Join me in praising the Rabbi, the teacher of all teachers, who steadfastly renews us. Praise the sustaining Spirit who lovingly pursues us morning by morning and day by day.
Fredrica Harris Thompsett
30 October 2009
Diocese of Northern Michigan
Annual Convention
