We give honor to Jesus Christ who is the head of this church and the captain of my soul, to our honored and beloved president, the Rev. John Thomas, members of the Collegium, to my friend and colleague in the ministry, Dr. Tim Downs, to all the members and delegates at this General Synod of the United Church of Christ, to my immediate family, my wife Sherry and my daughter Kendall and to my extended church family, members of the Victory Church in Stone Mountain, GA, I greet you with Jesus joy. I do want you to know that I am honored and humbled to stand before you and I do understand that I am here not by merit. An irate woman stood in a photography studio looking through some proofs of some photographs she had taken of herself. She looked in anger at the photographer and said to him, "Sir, these pictures do not do me justice." The photographer responded, "Madam, the camera has delivered justice. But what you need is mercy."
I am delighted that Rev. John Thomas and the selection committee, whomever they may be, did not deliver justice tonight, but have chosen to extend mercy to me.
Allow me, if you will, to exercise a preacher's prerogative and change my text and my topic. It's all because God Is Still Speaking. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verses 7-18 you will find these words lifted from the New International version of the text: "Your country is desolate. Your cities burned with fire. Your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. Unless the Lord almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the law of your God, you people of Gomorrah. The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they to me, says the Lord. I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, Sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong. Learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Verse 18, "Come let us reason together, sayeth the Lord."
Our topic tonight, "Can We Talk?" Let us pray. God, again we are humbled to be in your presence. We ask now that you will speak to us and speak through us. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to receive the truth of your living word and help us not just to be just hearers of the word, but doers of the word in deed. We love you, and we honor you and we lift you, in Jesus' name, your servant's prayer, Amen.
My brothers and sisters, these particular passages of scriptures, lifted from the first chapter of Isaiah place us smack dab in the middle of an argument. The argument is between God and the nation of Israel. Israel has a problem with God because according to Isaiah 1: verses 7 and 8, the nation is desolate and teetering on the brink of collapse. The cities have been torched, the fields have been stripped and laid to waste by marauding foreigners. The daughter of Zion, i.e. the nation of Israel, has been accosted and abandoned like a city under siege. Verse 9 tells us that unless God had allowed a few survivors to make it through the rampage, the entire nation would have been completely destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah. In their deeply distressed, dejected and destitute condition, the people of Israel take issue with God. They want to know why. Why has the God of their foreparents and the God of their faith, forsaken them. Why have the chosen people of God been subjected to such humiliation, degradation and destitution? Why has God apparently reneged on the promise to bless and to establish the children of Abraham in the Promised Land, which was supposed to be flowing with milk and honey. Israel wants to know if God is still God and if God is still the good shepherd, why has God abandoned us and left us in the wanton, wicked hands of our enemies? Are we not the seed of Abraham? Are we not the people of the covenant? Do we not worship the one true and living Lord God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim? The nation of Israel wants to know why. And in response to the people's desperate inquiry, God answers in verses 10-17. God says to the nation, in essence, I am not impressed by your display of national piety. I am not moved by your pageantry of religious ceremony. Your offerings are detestable to me, says God. Your sanctimonious convocations and Holy Day observances, I despise. When you stretch forth your hands to me in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you, says the Lord. You want to know why? God says, I'll tell you why. It is because according to Verse 15, your hands are filled with blood. The blood of the poor that you have not cared for, the blood of the weak that you have not defended, the blood of the orphans and the widows that you have failed to provide for, the blood of the defenseless and the downtrodden that you have shown no mercy toward. You have flooded my courts with your religiosity and your pomp and circumstance, but I'm looking for compassion and social justice for those who have been left back, looked over, left behind and left out. In Verse 10, God addresses the nation as the wicked twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because according to Ezekiel 16 in verse 49, the sins of Sodom are the sins of pride and inhospitable behavior toward the poor, the weak, the needy and the strangers. And what caused Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed are the same sins that were about to cause the destruction of Israel. This is the reason why God said to Israel, I will not receive your sacrifices. I will not honor your sacred assemblies until you, according to verse 17, learn to do what is right and seek justice. The King James version says seek judgment, but I've got news for those of you who think God only speaks in the King James -- that's a bad translation. A better translation is seek justice. That's more in tune with the original Hebrew. God is really saying that religious worship without social justice is futile. Praise without compassion is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Consecration to God without commitment to the poor is pointless. What good is one nation under God if that nation is divided by classism, bigotry and prejudice? What good is a nation that looks up to God in piety but refuses to look within itself and look over to see neighbors in need and people in danger? What good is it? What good is a nation that insists on displaying the Ten Commandments on the walls of our courthouses while we fail to ensure equity of justice in the halls of our courthouses? What good? What good is a nation that supposedly fights to establish democracy and equal opportunity in Iraq, but fails to deliver democracy and equal opportunity in these United States? What good is a nation like that? Justice demands that the have-mores share with the have-nots. Justice demands that capitalism be regulated so that those who do not have capital and those who have no access to capital can still be cared for. In Israel, as well as in America, there can be no genuine worship of God in spirit and in truth unless those who worship God in spirit, seek justice for all in truth. The people of Israel are frustrated, they are despondent, because what they offer God in praise and worship is rejected by God, and then God is angry and disappointed because what God requires in terms of justice and compassion is not offered nor demonstrated by the people of Israel. So we find ourselves in the middle of a confrontation. Smack dab in the vortex of an argument. We would think that at any given time, at any given moment, God would put an end to this confrontation. We would think that God would not allow mere men and women to question God's character or to challenge God's judgment. That's what we would think. After all, haven't we been taught that it's not right to question God? Haven't we been taught that when we pray, we should say the words that we think God wants to hear rather than express how we really feel? Haven't we been taught that open dialogue and honest debate have little or no place within the sacred rules and confines of religious order? We would think that at any given moment God would just zap the people. At any given time, God would just cut this debate off and punish the people for having the audacity to question the Divine. We would think that at any given time God would shut heaven's door and refuse to hear another word from these people who obviously want to take issue with God. But instead, God does something amazing in verse 18 of the text. Don't miss it. Don't look over it. Don't rush by it. God does something that most of us, many of us, would not do if we were in God's position. In Verse 18, God interrupts God's own rebuke of the people, God puts God's own anger on hold, and God invites the people of Israel into a further dialogue so that they can express themselves openly, honestly, truthfully, candidly without fear of rejection or retaliation from God. God says to the people in verse 18, here it is, come, let us reason together. What an amazing invitation. What an awesome act of consideration. Think about it. God who knows everything and can do anything is humble and compassionate enough to invite human beings into an open conversation with the Divine. Just when we thought that faith and religion were only concerned with a divine monologue, God opens up a divine/human dialogue and says to all of us who have been praying in frustration and worshipping in worry and wondering if God has forgotten about us, God says, Come, let us reason together. Let's talk this thing out. God says, you've got questions, I've got answers. God says, you've got roadblocks, I've got new directions. God says, you've got problems, I've got possibilities. Come, let's reason together, sayeth the Lord. In Hebrew, the verb 'to reason' belongs to the legal vocabulary of the Old Testament and it literally means to lodge a complaint or to argue one's case. So God is really saying to Israel and to us, you have a problem with me, you think I'm neglecting you, you think I'm being unfair, you think your faith is in vain, you think you deserve better, you think I've reneged on my promises, you think you been praying and worshipping all for naught, then state your case. Make your point. Express your concerns. Don't walk around mad and disgusted with a chip on your shoulder knowing that something is wrong on the inside but pretending that everything is hunky dorey on the outside until the point that you are about to implode. God says, get it off your chest! Talk to me! Let's reason together, sayeth the Lord. You don't have to hide your issues behind religious jargon. You don't have to try to impress me with pietistic pretense. You don't have to cover up your feelings with sanctimonious hyperbole, just talk to me, says God. Put your issues on the table. Get whatever it is off your chest. Let's reason together, sayeth the Lord. In this text, God actually invites religious people to get real. If we can ever get real with God, if we can ever get real with ourselves and with one another, we can overcome the negativity and narcissism that threatens to annihilate us. By inviting us into an open dialogue where we can be real, God evidences an amazing willingness to listen to what we have to say. Get this. God says, "I will listen to what you have to say even if what you have to say is not in accordance with my Divine plan and my ultimate will for your life. To become a good communicator, one must become a good listener, and if we really want people to talk to us, then we cannot prescribe what people have to say to us. A whole lot of folk wonder why people don't talk to them. It's because you don't listen. A whole lot of people wonder why people are not honest with them. It's because they are trying to spare your judgment, your scorn and your opinionated response. If we really want people to talk to us, we've got to be prepared to hear some things that we may not want to hear. Listening is a divine discipline that each of us must develop if we are to be in communion with God and in community with one another. In any relationship, where listening is absent, love cannot flourish. For the only way to truly love someone is to allow that person the privilege of self-expression. We should never attempt to speak for anybody. We've got to listen. We should never assume that we know what a person has to say before they open their mouth. We have to listen. We should never presume that because we think we are right, that that gives us the right to do all the talking. We have to listen. We have to learn to listen. Even in God's ultimate supremacy and infinite infallibility, God invites us into an open, honest dialogue because God honors us enough to listen to what we have to say. No wonder the psalm writer wrote, "I love the Lord. He heard my cry and pitied every groan. Long as I live and troubles rise, I'll hasten to his throne." If God does not cut the conversation off, then tell me why should we cut the conversation off in the name of God? Too many Christians in their religious rightness want to cut off dialogue rather than engage in dialogue with persons of diverse perspectives. Too many Christians think that their theological perspective and their interpretation of the bible are the only things worth talking about. Too many Christians use the bible to end dialogue rather than to inform and encourage dialogue. Too many Christians go around saying, "God said it, that settles it." That may sound good, but in actuality it denies and denigrates the experiences and revelations from God, which are different than your own. The great danger of religious fundamentalism, whether it takes the form of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the Zionists in Israel, or the radical Shiites in Iraq, or the Christian Right in America, the great danger of religious fundamentalism is that in its presumed list of moral absolutes, it leaves absolutely no room for dialogue, diversity and dissent.
Dr. William Sloane Coffin, legendary prophet pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City states that the bible not only answers our questions, the bible also questions our answers. The bible is not just a divine monologue, the bible is a dynamic dialogue between divinity and humanity. The bible is not just a code of commandments, the bible is a current of conversation. The bible is not just God's word to Moses, it's also Moses' words back to God. "What? Who am I? That I should go before the Pharoah, and say to him let my people go? And, Lord, if I go, whom should I say sent me?" The bible is just not God's word to the disciples. The bible is the disciples' words back to God. "Lord, carest thou not that we perish? … [Editor's note: at this point, the videotape was changed and several lines of sermon were missed. For the complete passage Rev. Samuels refers to, see Mark 4:35-41.] … Flesh, remove this thorn from my flesh" [Editor's note: see Corinthians 12:7-9]. The bible is not just about the word made flesh, the bible is also about the word speaking through flesh. "My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" And at no point, throughout the whole bible, does God cut the conversation off. In fact, the message of the bible is that as long as we call on God, God will hear and answer. And the message is that as long as God is speaking, it behooves all of us to keep listening. Somebody in here tonight ought to be glad about the fact that God is still speaking. You know it's one thing to know what God has said in the bible. It's another thing to know what God is saying to you and me through the bible in our particular context. Colossians 3:22 says, "Slaves obey your earthly masters in everything. Not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord." But those of you who look like me aught to be glad that God was still speaking. And thank God that somebody was still listening until they received the new revelation of God of liberty and justice for all. Leviticus 19:19 gives us a list of strict prohibitions against the mixing of seeds and fabrics. But for all of us here tonight who have made friends with those twins, Polly and Ester, you ought to be glad that God was still speaking. Leviticus 20:10 says that if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. But somebody in here tonight aught to be glad that God was still speaking, because if adultery still warranted death, a whole lot of us wouldn't live to see tomorrow. Leviticus 11: 7 and 8 tells us that swine is unclean. It's really, according to Leviticus, an abomination, and forbids us from eating it or even touching it. But on this Fourth of July weekend I know somebody aught to be glad that God is still speaking. All of us who love bacon, fatback ham, barbecue ribs, pork chops and football aught to be glad that God is still speaking. And thank God that somebody was still listening until they got the revelation God gave Peter that God made everything and what God has made clean let no one call unclean. First Corinthians 14: 34 and 35 says, "Let your women keep silence in churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak. But they are commanded to be under obedience as also sayeth the law." By the way, that's the New Testament. The bible goes on to say that if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the church. But all my sisters in here tonight aught to be glad that God is still speaking. Especially all of my single sisters, because without a husband you might never get your questions answered. Leviticus 20:13 says if a man lyeth also with mankind as he lyeth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. But somebody in here tonight ought to be glad that God is still speaking. Somebody ought to be glad that somebody is still listening to the still speaking God. Somebody ought to be glad that the revelation of God in Jesus Christ supercedes the law of Leviticus and the limited understanding of the apostle Paul. Somebody ought to be glad about it.
Michael Eric Dyson, noted author and theologian, says that when we close the bible we do not close God's mouth and we do not close God's mind. God is still speaking. Thank God that the United Church of Christ is still listening. And the God who still speaks is also the God who still listens. I hear God still speaking, saying "Come, let's reason together. Talk to me. I know you feel sometimes that your work is in vain," says the Lord, "but talk to me. I know you get discouraged and I know you feel like giving up, giving in, giving out, but" God says, "talk to me. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool." God says, "Talk to me. Come ye, disconsolate, where e'er ye languish, come to the mercy seat. Fervently yield. Here bring your wounded heart. Here, tell your anguish. Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. God says, "Talk to me." It's amazing what a little honest, open, candid conversation can do. It's amazing what can happen, when we stop talking about one another, and start talking to one another. It's amazing.
My wife Sherry and I have one child. She is our only begotten daughter. Her name is Kendall. She is 9 years old. And in about 8 years, God willing, Kendall will be going to college. In 8 years, a college education will cost 36 gazillion dollars and 34 cents. My wife and I are preparing for the day when Kendall will need money and funds to go to college. So we've set aside a special fund for her education. When we get extra money we put our dollars into that account, saving for Miss Kendall to go to school. When I come across extra funds, I like to put money in that account. I like to watch it grow. I want to be able to present that to her one day as a gift from her parents. To say, "Go on, and run on, and see what the end shall be, as God shall lead you." We put dollars, we made sacrifices, we put money into that account, in order to pay for Miss Kendall's education. However, if Kendall were to ever severely disrespect us, if Kendall were to ever curse me and her mother to our faces, as much as I love her, I would take all that money that I'm putting away in that account and take it back. I'd call my accountant and say, "Don't put another dime in that account. It's closed." And everything in that account, I'd take out and take back. I would call my lawyer and change my will and at 18, I'd show her the door. And then we'd take that money that we've been saving for Kendall and go on a trip around the world. Just enjoy ourselves. However, if Kendall, after disappointing us and hurting us, would just call us and say, "Momma and Daddy, I'm sorry. Momma and Daddy, can we talk? Momma and Daddy can we reason together?" Don't you know that just one conversation and everything I took out of that account, I'd put right back in. Call my accountant and tell him the account is now back open. Call my lawyer and tell him to put her name back in the will. As a matter of fact, not only would I restore everything I took out, but if I had anything extra, I'd just put it in. Come here, let me tell you what I'm trying to tell you. Somebody said, just a little talk with Jesus. Feel the prow wheel turning. Know that the fire is burning. Just a little talk with Jesus will make it all right. Whatever is wrong, God can fix it. Whatever is sour in your life, God can make it better. Whatever your issues are, the Holy Ghost can work it out through you. Just a little talk. All you have to do is call on Jesus. You've got a broken relationship, a broken life? If your life is in turmoil, just call on God. Ask Jesus, "Can we talk?"
