Respect, Dignity, Unity

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

October 2, 2016 – World Communion

Respect, Dignity, Unity

Selected Texts

“We believe in the triune God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

who gathers, protects and cares for the church

through Word and Spirit.

This, God has done since the beginning of the world

and will do to the end;

“We believe in one holy, universal

Christian church,

the communion of saints called from

the entire human family;

“We believe that Christ’s work of reconciliation

is made manifest in the church

as the community of believers

who have been reconciled with God

and with one another;

“We believe that unity is, therefore,

both a gift and an obligation

for the church of Jesus Christ;

that through the working of God’s Spirit

it is a binding force,

yet simultaneously a reality

which must be earnestly pursued and sought:

one which the people of God

must continually be built up to attain;

We believe that this unity must become visible

so that the world may believe that separation,

enmity and hatred

between people and groups

is sin

…and accordingly that anything

which threatens this unity

may have no place in the church

and must be resisted;

We believe that God has entrusted the church

with the message of reconciliation

in and through Jesus Christ;

We believe that the church is called to be

the salt of the earth

and the light of the world,

that the church is called blessed

because it is a peacemaker,

that the church is witness both by word and by deed

to the new heaven and the new earth

in which righteousness dwells.”

These are words from our newest

confessional statement,

the “Confession of Belhar”,

which has been formally adopted by our denomination,

the Presbyterian Church (USA).

It is now a part of our Book of Confessions,

along with the Apostles’ Creed,

The Westminster Confession of Faith,

the Brief Statement of Faith,

and 8 others, including the Nicene Creed

which we began our service with today.

Belhar is a place,

a suburb of Capetown in South Africa

a place where blacks were forced to live

under the brutal apartheid regime.

It was a place that was an exclamation point

on the brutality, viciousness,

and cruelty of racism.

The Confession was written as part of an effort

to reconcile blacks and whites

following the collapse of the apartheid system.

Its foundation was in the church,

and was nurtured by Christian hope

that disciples of Jesus Christ

could and should live together, peacefully,

black and white, young and old,

all,

all.

“Come now, let us argue it out,”

says the Lord through the prophet Isaiah;

or, as another translation puts it:

“Come, let us reason together”

(Isaiah 1:18; NRSV, KJV)

God calls us to work together.

God has no patience for stubbornness,

for arrogance,

for anything

that keeps us from finding a way

to work out differences,

both sides giving,

neither side blaming,

both flexible,

both listening,

both responding.

The result: reconciliation,

peace –

God smiling on us.

When Jesus said that we should

love our neighbors as ourselves,

he was not giving us a suggestion,

or a recommendation;

It was a commandment,

(Mark 12:31)

a commandant he reinforced with these words,

also a commandment:

“Just as I have loved you,

you also should love one another.

By this everyone will know

that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

(John 13:34)

We live in such a violent, brutal world,

and the Christian church

has often fanned the flames

of anger, hatred, and divisiveness.

We have done this actively,

through sins of commission,

and we’ve done this passively,

through sins of omission

when we’ve failed to act,

failed to speak up

in the face of divisiveness, anger, violence,

racism, sexism, bigotry.

The 18^th century writer Edmund Burke

famously said,

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil

is for good men to do nothing.”

The Belhar Confession reminds us

that as children of God

and disciples of Christ

we are called to action,

called to make unity visible,

called to be salt and light of the earth.

The notes to the Confession tell us,

“the clarity of Belhar’s witness to unity,

reconciliation, and justice [can] help [us]

speak and act with similar clarity

at a time when we face such division,

racism, and injustice.”

Belhar teaches us,

reminds us,

that we are called by our Lord Jesus Christ

as his disciples

to treat all,

all,

all

with dignIty,

and with respect

as we work to sbuild unity.

Not uniformity,

but unity,

all of us living peacefully together

even when we don’t see eye-to-eye.

And when we do disagree,

when we don’t see eye-to-eye,

we are to reason together,

together,

with dignity and respect,

with God’s help.

The historian Arnold Toynbee wrote,

“The most likely way to reach a goal

is to be aiming not at that goal itself

but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.”

(Civilization on Trial)

What could be a more ambitious goal

than to think we can create a world of peace,

a world of reconciliation;

that God’s hope for all God’s children

could actually come to pass?

Shouldn’t that be our goal,

a goal as lofty as God in the heavens.

“We believe that unity is, …

both a gift and an obligation

for the church of Jesus Christ;

that through the working of God’s Spirit

it is a binding force,

yet simultaneously a reality

which must be earnestly pursued and sought:

one which the people of God

must continually be built up to attain;

“We believe that this unity must become visible

so that the world may believe that separation,

enmity and hatred

between people and groups is sin;

… and accordingly that anything

which threatens this unity

may have no place in the church

and must be resisted;

“We believe that God has entrusted the church

with the message of reconciliation

in and through Jesus Christ.”

This we believe.

This we believe

because these words are built

on nothing less than

the Word of the Lord.

AMEN