Isn't Life Complicated?

I'm not sure I'd call myself a Niebuhrian, but as I've grown older I've become less an idealist and more a realist. I don't see things as black and white as much as I did when I was younger. Life simply is complicated, and we make decisions that aren't always consistent with our values. My reflections this morning come from two directions -- the sermon I preached yesterday on the Sermon on the Mount, where we looked at Jesus call for us to put our treasure in heaven and seek first the kingdom. I shared in the sermon words about the young man who chose not to follow Jesus because his possessions got in the way. I expect my possessions get in the way of my discipleship. In fact, probably a lot of things and people and relationships do so. And thus life is complicated.

The other contributor to my reflection is the season and perhaps series finale of Detroit 1-8-7, an excellent cop show set in Detroit.  What I appreciate about this show, which has had decent but not outstanding TV ratings, besides its setting in Detroit, are the characters (and story-lines) that explore complicated lives.  Standing at the center is Det. Lou Fitch, an exile from New York, who is a lead homicide detective.  He left New York because a mobster he was investigating threatened his family.  Last night we learned that not only had he threatened Fitch's family, but this mobster had murdered his partner in New York.  Up until last night's episode, Fitch had revealed nothing about the connection with this mobster who has now decided to come to Detroit and set up shop.  The concern Fitch has is for his young son who is visiting him in Detroit, but also the family of his partner.  So what should he do?   If the FBI arrest this mobster it's likely that associates will murder his partner's family (the infant son being baptized at the end of the show). 

Fitch sets up a plan that warns the mobster so he gets out of an FBI raid, but then he and two other cops, Sgt. Longford and Det. Marjon, put a raid of their own -- but Fitch takes his nemesis to Canada and tells him to go back to New York, a request that is refused.  When the mobster pulls his gun, we hear gunfire.  Later Fitch arrives at the baptism, safe and sound -- so we know who survives.

So, my question for the day -- how do we live "consistent" lives in a complicated world.  If your family and the family of loved ones are threatened what would you do?  Its easy to say you would act non-violently, but would you?  Maybe if it's your life on the line, but what about the others?  Isn't life complicated?

The Church and the Revisioning of Detroit

As I shared in my sermon from yesterday, I have sensed God's call to get involved in the future of Detroit.  I pastor a suburban church that once inhabited a spot on what was then Detroit's Piety Row.  Like many largely white churches we moved to the suburbs because we could no longer afford the upkeep on our massive building, and because the vast majority of our members no longer lived in Detroit.    So, for the past thirty plus years we have essentially lived as a church in exile.  We continue to carry a name that in many ways no longer speaks to the reality of our existence in another city, while no longer sitting on the street that suggested by our name, and yet we've not been able to let go of that name or its legacy.  But, perhaps that's not a bad thing in an end.  Perhaps that insistence on keeping a name that seemingly no longer makes sense, provides a lifeline to the city we once inhabited.

from Detroit Funk, used by permission

I have had a growing sense that God is at work in the midst of the seeming desolation of Detroit.  You may not know that God is present.  The city is marked by vast areas of vacant lots, homes, stores, and factories.  More than a third of the city lies empty of people, and parts are being reclaimed by nature itself as urban prairie and wilderness.  Detroit has been the victim of less than benign neglect.  It has known political malfeasance and dysfunction.  It's school system is a failure and bankrupt.  It lacks a sufficient tax base.  It has also known the debilitating effects of white flight to the suburbs.  But there are signs of change.  Time Magazine has been keeping its eye on the city for the past year, and while not all of the reports have been well received, in the final article of this series, which is perhaps unfortunately titled "How to Shrink a City" (many would prefer something like "right-size the city"), authors Daniel Okrent and Stephen Gray talk about some of the problems and the possibilities that face the city.  They discuss some of the possibilities and note the challenges.  It is worth nothing that a city that has been nearly 90% African American is seeing its population begin to diversify, with a growing Latino population in Southwest Detroit, Arabs on its western border, and younger whites moving into the middle of the city.  Many of the issues and possible solutions raised here are also raised and discussed in John Gallagher's book Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City, (Wayne State University Press, 2010).       



from detroitfunk.com

 The question then that needs to be raised concerns the role and place of the church.  The Black Church is very much present.  It is a major presence.  Indeed, what once was Central Woodward Christian Church, when it lived on Woodward Avenue four decades ago, is now Little Rock Baptist Church.  There are a number of churches that live in the city and are present, but can there be a partnership between those churches and the churches of the suburbs?  Can white and black Christians partner to make for a better, safer, more prosperous Metro-Detroit?  And if we begin to plant churches in the city that are not necessarily primarily black churches, what will that mean for the city and its future?  These are all important questions that we must wrestle with.

And so I'd like to start a conversation.  How do we build bridges between city and suburb?  What kinds of ministries might emerge?  We are beginning a partnership with Motown Mission, a Methodist sponsored ministry that hosts church mission teams.  Most of the young people and adults who will come into the city as a result of ministries like this will be white and suburban or rural.  What will be the long term effects on church and city?  What say ye?

A New Creation -- A Sermon

Isaiah 65:17-25

When I opened up my Bible on Monday and turned to Isaiah 65, the message of this text leaped out at me. What I heard from this prophetic text was our missional calling to join God in ministry in the world. My thoughts quickly ran to a book that I’d just finished reading that talks about the future of Detroit. The book is called Reimagining Detroit, and it’s written by Free Press journalist John Gallagher, who lays out some of the directions that the city and people of Detroit could take if they hope to experience a renaissance or rebirth. I also thought about the conversations we’ve been having about Motown Mission. As my thoughts ran back and forth between this text and the world in which we’re living, I saw in a clearly stated fashion the biblical foundations of our call to ministry. In reflecting on this conversation between the text and our world, I heard this message: God is about to do a new thing in this world and we get to participate in that new thing.

Now, when I came to Michigan two and half years ago, I assumed that my job was to pastor a suburban church that needed to engage its suburban community. I still believe that this is part of our missional calling, because the key to our growth as a congregation is being a transformative presence in the city of Troy and its environs, what we’ve called the “five-mile radius.” But our ministry as a church doesn’t end at the boundary of this five-mile radius, and not just because many of you live outside that radius. If Acts 1:8 offers us a guiding principle for missional engagement, and I believe it does, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit pushed the church out beyond the city limits of Jerusalem, so that it would minister in Judea and Samaria, and then from there move out to the ends of the earth. If Troy is our Jerusalem, then perhaps metro-Detroit is our Judea and Samaria, and if this is true, then our participation in the work of Motown Mission is just one way in which we are engaging in ministry beyond Jerusalem’s borders. 

1. The Future is in the Dream

If Acts 1:8 defines the “boundaries” of our ministry, Isaiah 65 offers us a vision of what God is doing in the world. It is a vision of new creation, where the old things are no longer to be remembered, but we are to rejoice in what is about to happen. Our hope is found in the vision that God has laid before us, and it is a vision that can be summarized in a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt:

So, what is the dream that guides our future?

“The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

When I came here two and half years ago, I didn’t see how ministry in Detroit would fit into our missional calling. But, somewhere along the line something happened. First there were the conversations I began to have with Pastor Eugene James not long after I got here about building a partnership in ministry between our congregations. Then, there was what could be called a vision that occurred in the midst of a conversation about ministry in the region at my first regional clergy retreat. Some Christians might speak of what happened that day in this way: “The Lord laid it upon my heart.” On that day I asked the question: Why aren’t there any Disciples mission teams coming into Detroit? The answers I got were varied, but the one that stuck out to me was that many of our Michigan churches would rather send their youth to New Orleans than to Detroit, because Detroit is so dangerous. What I heard from them was that Detroit was beyond redemption, but that wasn’t what I was hearing in my own heart. Now, mind you, I still didn’t know what this would involve, or if it would even involve me or this church. But I was deeply uncomfortable with that sentiment.

Then, while I was contemplating all of this, “I stumbled upon” Motown Mission. I began with a conversation with Carl Gladstone, and that led to conversations with Diana and with Eugene James, and then that led to conversations with other people from the region and also with representatives of the General Church. Oh, and in the meantime God seemed to be laying something similar on Alex’s heart. As Alex shared with the East District meeting, her experience with City Year not only expanded her sense of call to ministry, but it gave her an arena in which to do ministry. As you all know, Alex grew up in the suburbs, but as she worked in Detroit, God opened the eyes of her heart to the needs of the city and then laid it upon her heart to begin building bridges between the city and the suburbs. You see, God is at work doing a new thing, and we’ve been invited to participate. And this vision is making itself felt, beyond the walls of this church. As Nancy Zerban, our Regional Moderator, shared in her letter to the East District Assembly, our participation in Motown Mission is one of the new things God is doing in our Region.

2. Naming the Vision

Isaiah 65 is the work of an anonymous prophet living in post-exilic Judea. The prophet is doing ministry in the midst of a land that is desolate. The city of Jerusalem lies in ruins. Its walls have been torn down and its Temple destroyed. There may be plans to rebuild, but nothing has happened yet, and the people are getting discouraged. What we need to hear in the background of this text is these are not good times for Jerusalem, and the people are crying out to God in despair. Where, they wonder, is God in all of this?

The prophet brings a word of hope to a discouraged and fearful people, and that word is this: Be glad and rejoice, because God is about to recreate Jerusalem as a joy and its people will become God’s delight. Times maybe tough and there may be very little that suggests that there’s hope to be found, but in the midst of this despair comes the promise that something new is about to happen. When God brings into existence the new heavens and the new earth, the people will no longer weep or cry out in distress. In that day infants will no longer die prematurely and the aged will live out full lifetimes – indeed to die at 100 will be considered dying as a youth.

And then as we move through this passage we come to the kinds of work that groups like Motown Mission engage in. According to Isaiah, the people will build houses and they’ll inhabit them. Could this be a word about the foreclosure crisis? And they’ll plant vineyards and eat of the fruit of the vine? Do you hear in this a word about urban gardening? One of the chapters in John Gallagher’s book talks about the possibilities and the problems that go with urban agriculture. While there are many issues to be resolved, the fact is, Detroit, and many cities like it, are food deserts. So, could urban gardens that are scattered across the city provide nutritious food for the people of the city, and maybe even jobs and income? Only time will tell, but the possibilities are there.

And I hear a word too about the educational system in the city. Isaiah says that the people won’t labor in vain or bear children for calamity. Instead, they shall have offspring that are blessed by the Lord. One of the projects that we’ve discussed is partnering with Northwestern Christian Church to reestablish a computer lab at the church. We live in age when computers are essential to the future well-being of younger adults and children. If people living in the city are on the wrong side of the digital divide it will make life more difficult, but here is a possibility that God has laid upon our hearts to create a space for people to learn how to use computers as well as find access to them.

3. A Dream of Peace

One of the first projects that we have embraced as part of our Disciples partnership with Motown Mission is the sponsorship of Peace Week. This will happen during the first week of the Motown Mission’s summer season, and as we’ve talked about what should happen it has become clear that our focus should be on racial reconciliation. We hope that partnerships will emerge between the suburbs, as well as rural areas, and the city. Someone asked a question at the East District Assembly about why Disciples can’t seem to work together? Well, here is an opportunity for us to begin building those relationships as we work side by side.

As we consider our calling as a people to engage in these new ministries, we don’t know how everything will work out. There will be difficulties to overcome, but our text ends with a vision of God’s future for the world. The prophet speaks of the Lion and the Lamb feeding together, with the Lion eating straw like the ox. No one, the prophet says, will be hurt or destroyed on God’s holy mountain. If Detroit is, for us, the place in which God is at work doing a new thing, then it is a dream that will be life-changing. The barriers between suburb and city can be torn down, and we’ll be able to dine together, for as the author of Ephesians puts it – the “dividing wall of hostility” will be torn down (Ephesians 2: 14). And as Paul puts it in the second Corinthian letter:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; . . .” (2 Cor. 5:17-19a).

Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Troy, Michigan
25th Sunday after Pentecost
November 14, 2010

Rekindling the Fire -- A Lectionary Meditation

Lamentations 1:1-6


2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

Rekindling the Fire

Over time a person’s faith can begin to grow cold. One’s sense of calling can diminish as well. The difficulties of life and ministry can become overwhelming, and maybe you’d just as soon give up. Perhaps, the context of life has become challenging and you wonder what will come of one’s future. It is in the midst of this sense of doubt and questioning of one’s purpose in life, that we hear two words of encouragement – one stands as a call to “rekindle the calling” and the other suggests that if only we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can replant a mulberry tree in the sea. Luke’s rendition might not suggest casting mountains into the sea, but maybe planting trees in seas is sufficient for the day. But we need to remember the context, the situation we find ourselves in.

As I read the opening line of Lamentations – “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people,” I couldn’t help but thinking of Detroit. Like many industrial cities, it has suffered a steep decline in population. But even more troubling than the decline of people, who once filled the city, is the sense of its change in status. A half century ago it was the sixth largest city in the country, but now it is barely in the top 20. The princess is now a vassal. Indeed, her friends have dealt treacherously with her. Yes, I know that Jeremiah is weeping over Jerusalem and the exiles from Judah, but does not this text speak so clearly to once mighty American cities? And no city has become a by-word for despair more than Detroit. It is in the shadow of this once great city that I do ministry. I may not live nor do I serve a church in the city, but the city casts its shadow, and I feel its pain.

It is in the context of situations such as this that we must hear the letter to Timothy. Yes, I know that Paul likely didn’t write this letter, nor did Paul’s companion probably receive it. But the message remains true – we have been given a gift through the laying on of hands, a gift that needs rekindling every once in awhile. When we become discouraged it is good to hear the message – God didn’t give us a spirit of cowardice or timidity, but instead God has given us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. We have what we need to go forward into the world, to bring healing to where there is woundedness and brokenness. We may experience suffering. I’ve just finished reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and it again reminds us of the suffering he endured because of what he thought was the right thing to do. It was his calling, which was stirred up and rekindled, so that he might have courage. We have a holy calling, which this letter suggests was given to us before “the ages began.” Before there was time, there was a calling, a calling that comes to us in Christ. Like the author of this letter, we have been appointed as heralds, apostles, and as teachers. And there is no shame in this calling. As a result, we may entrust our lives, our futures, and our faith, to the one who will guard this faith with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

After reading the powerful tones of the 2nd letter to Timothy, this passage from the gospel seems to fall flat. In response to a request that Jesus would increase their faith, Jesus says all you need is the faith of a mustard seed, and then you plant trees in the sea. That seems okay and encouraging, but then Jesus tells this parable about tending sheep and plowing fields. Who would, Jesus asks, offer the servant a place at the table. No, the servant, after doing all the other work in the field, is expected to come home and cook dinner. Only then, after everyone else has eaten, then he or she can eat and relax. And then when all is done, we can sit back and say of ourselves: We are worthless slaves; we’ve done only what we should have done.” I find it hard to receive this word, for how can I be a worthless slave, when I have been entrusted with the gospel and with eternal life?

I struggle with the gospel text, because it seems overly pessimistic and derogatory, but I understand the feeling of “woe is me.” But as I think of my struggles with this text, I’m drawn back to Lamentations and wish to know how this text speaks to Detroit, a once great city that has lost so many of its people, who now stand in exile. That exile might take them into the next county, they maybe the ones who inhabit the church I serve, or maybe they’ve left for places far away. I don’t know, but I hear the cries and I wonder about the future. I wonder about the friends who have turned into enemies, those who take some glee in the decline of the city – not just Detroit, but definitely including Detroit.

May we discern God’s gifts and message for a time such as this.

Reposted from [D]mergent, a Disciples of Christ oriented blog I write for each week.

A Little Football for Detroit

The city of Detroit generally gets little if no respect.  The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, but most Americans aren't big NHL fans.  The Tigers and the Pistons have had some good teams, even championship ones, but the team that seems to have epitomized Detroit in the eyes of Americans has been their NFL franchise -- the Lions.  They have been for many years, at best, inept.  They were the first NFL team to go 0-16, just 2 years ago.  At the same time, the auto industry was in free fall and Detroit was unsure of its future.

Well, the auto industry has begun to stabilize.  While Toyota has had lots of problems, Ford has taken off, and GM seems to be righting itself.  Even a much smaller Chrysler seems poised to make a rebound.  Detroit, it seems is ready for a new day.  But, of course, there's the Lions. 

Well, last night the Lions poised themselves to rise from the ashes.  With the number 2 pick they chose a young man who hails from my home state of Oregon and who played for Nebraska.  He has an interesting name -- Ndamukong Suh -- but it will be a name that likely will be remembered.   So, will this young man be the foundation of a new day for the Lions?  Oh, and to help out their young QB from last year's draft, Matthew Stafford, the Lions went out and got themselves a speedy running back from the University of California, named Jahvid Best.  Both young men are known both for their talent and their character!  And will the rising star of the Lions signal a new day for Detroit?  Here's one west coast transplant who hopes that this is true!