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WEEDING OUT THE CHURCH

In my teen years, I spent time with my friends attending all of the area churches. We went to the Assembly of God, the Missouri Synod Lutheran, the American Baptist, the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches. There were things I liked about everyone of them and things I did not like. One of the biggest wake up calls to me in my life was that fact that there is no perfect religious group. The Assembly of God taught me to prayer from my heart and that each part of the body had gifts from the spirit… but they also taught that only those who speak in tongues had the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Lutheran church taught me that nothing we do can save us, that it is God’s love and grace that saves us from ourselves, but they also told me that women could not hold leadership roles in the church. The Baptist Church taught me much of the Bible, but they did not acknowledge infant baptism and rarely celebrated communion. The Roman Catholics had the best youth group and folk masses, but they would not let me come to the table of the Lord with my friends, though I loved the same God, followed the same Lord and believed in Christ’s real presence in the bread and wine.

My own Episcopal Church taught me very little about anything including scripture, the church’s social teachings, the sacramental life, etc. None of them fit me perfectly then and that is still true now. I have a love/hate relationship with the institution we call church, and the Episcopal and Anglican church I now truly call home is no exception.

The reality is that there is no religion that has it right, no denomination that holds the whole truth, no leaders who have a direct line to the work and the will of God. Religious or not, each church, denomination or congregation is made up of human beings who cannot constantly see, know, understand or do God’s will with perfection.

You and I know good and devout people who leave their church because of disappointment with other members or the clergy. They leave because they don’t like the liturgy, the music or the preaching. The leave because of the exclusion of someone or the inclusion of another. They are disillusioned by the inaction or the wrong action of their church leaders or members, they are horrified by the misuse of power and authority. They leave because of different uses and interpretations of scripture. Often they become disillusioned in their search for the perfect church.

Yet, there are many others in the church who remain steadfast and faithful, whether they like or agree with what is happening or who is in the pulpit or the pew. They are there to pray for direction, to lift their voices and to work for the good of the church as they understand it. Still, the church, be it Episcopal, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Congregational, Word First or Faith Church will never be perfect, not in this world. Nothing made up of and governed by human beings can be perfect.

We are baptizing our sister Olivia into our Christian family today, and she will be a real part of Christ’s body even as she becomes part of a dysfunctional family. We, the Body of Christ are just like the extended families in which you and I live. We have alcoholics and workaholics. We have controlling people and passive people. We have different ideologies, different goals, different needs. But we are a family and the church on a journey, not a church arrived.

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus address the sorting of souls, not now, but when the crops are harvested, or using the metaphor of the journey, when we have reached our destination.

The field, like the church, contains both wheat and weeds. And our inclination is to rid the field of those we consider weeds. Depending on who would make the decisions about what is weed and what is wheat, the rest of us might find ourselves tossed out with the weeds, while dishonorable people who present themselves as righteous are overlooked and left to flourish.

But Jesus says NO. There will be no separating now. In our zeal to uproot what is bad, we might also uproot what is good. And if we uproot now, we also leave no opportunity for conversion and transformation, for others or for ourselves. For in fact, there are none who are perfect among us. Well, perhaps the exception of Olivia.

Henri Nouwen, a wonderful Roman Catholic Priest and spiritual writer was on the faculty of Yale Divinity School along with my friend and Episcopal priest, Dean Michael Allen when he celebrated a uniquely inclusive mass that surprised Michael and all of the protestants attending. Michael commented to Father Nouwen about how comfortable and inclusive the service had been, to which Nouwen responded.

There are two understandings of the church… the first is that the church is the Kingdom of God on Earth. This is what some teach and believe. Those who are members are a part of the Kingdom and those who are not may not come in.

But the second understanding is that like the Hebrew people leaving bondage in Egypt, th church is the people of God on a journey to the promised land. We have not arrived there yet. We travel to that place where we will be made whole. Along the way, there are many people on the highways and byways who we welcome into our midst. They are different than us, but they too long for the promised land. And we open our arms to them as companions in the journey to God’s Kingdom where we will be whole.

Dianne Bergant, Roman Catholic Scripture Scholar who writes for the Jesuit Magazine America speaks to the Christian Community in light of today’s Gospel as she writes:

“The Gospel suggest ways of living in the church with each other in our limitations. The parable of the mustard seed teaches us to overcome our gender, racial , ethnic, economic and any other biases in order to make room for all people.

It is precisely through the give and take of life with other selfish, inconsiderate sinners that we learn to be patient and understanding, tolerant and forgiving. We need not be merely offended by each other; we can also be encouraged and inspired. Today’s reading from Wisdom reminds us that we are God’s people and it is God’s church. With the responsorial psalm we acknowledge that our God is good and forgiving. The same God has gathered sinners together into a church where we can become holy, in our journey and on that day of harvest.

Perfection is not something we can find in this world, not even in the church. For we are the church… a seeking and searching church, by whatever name we call ourselves. And it is only by God’s grace that we will together, in spite of our brokeness, find our way home. It is only in growing together, as wheat and weeds that we can bring forth the harvest of God.

You prepare the grain O Lord, for so you provide for the earth. You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.