Our Playing Field
Dr. Jim Wilson, October 4, 2009 The late comedian, Karl Vallentin, often enacted the following scene: The curtain goes up and reveals total darkness. In the darkness is a solitary circle of light thrown by a street lamp. Vallentin, with his long, drawn and worried face walks around and around the circle of light. A policeman approaches and asks, “What are you looking for?” “My house key,” answers Vallentin. The policeman joins him in the search. They find nothing, and after a while the police officer asks, “Are you sure you lost it here?” “No,” replies Vallentin as he points to a dark corner of the stage, “Over there.” “Then why on earth are you looking for it here?” the policeman asks. “Because there is no light over there!” answers Vallentin. I hear in this vignette something more than a comedy routine. I hear a parable, a parable about the church. Where are we, the church, called to be---in the circle of light, those places familiar and comfortable? Where do we, as God’s people search for that which is lost? Are we not called to leave the circle of light and move into the dark places, those places of pain and suffering, injustice and oppression, despair and brokenness? To put it another way, “Where is our playing field?” I asked that question in a discussion group at a conference last spring. A pastor from Texas answered, “All of our games are away games!” “True,” added another, “but we practice and prepare at home.” I sense this is what Jesus is saying to us in our text for this morning. He is defining our playing field. And it is definitely an away game! Jesus’ rather lengthy prayer in this 17th chapter of John is commonly referred to as “the high priestly prayer.” Here Jesus draws his farewell conversations with his disciples to a close with a passionate prayer for their future. It is as if we are invited to overhear Jesus’ pastoral prayer on behalf of the church. While several concerns emerge in the prayer, the main thrust is a request that God will protect the disciples, the church, from the evil powers of the world. As Jesus prepares to return to the Father, he sends the disciples into the world, just as he was sent into the world. The disciples are to move from the circle of light to the darkness in order to continue Jesus’ mission, knowing that they are surrounded by God’s protective grace. In his prayer he reminds the disciples that they will encounter the hostility of the world. Because they are faithful to God’s Word, he tells them, they will be hated by the world. World here is best understood as a culture or society organized without reference to God. The world in John’s Gospel is that which is arraigned against God, those influences and spiritual forces and structures that oppose God’s intentions. Jesus also reminds the disciples that they are distinct, different from the citizens of the world. They live by a difference standard, express different values, see life from a different perspective, all of which creates tension and conflict with the world. It is important to note that Jesus does not ask God to take the disciples out of the world, nor does he ask God to spare them the hostility. Instead, he prays that the disciples will be “in” the world but not “of” the world; that is, on the playing field but witnessing without being seduced by the values and ways of the world. He does, however, ask that God will protect the disciples by sanctifying them in the truth, the truth that is God’s Word. I believe this a critical word for us to hear on this World Communion Sunday. For it reminds us that we are sent by Jesus into the world to witness in word and deed to his liberating and transforming love. Now when we really hear what Jesus is saying, I believe we encounter a challenging call. Let’s face it. The world can be a frightening, often threatening, and frequently ambiguous place. To move from the circle of light to the darkness is uncomfortable to say the least. Here we encounter threats and acts of terrorism, power structures that oppress, injustice that demeans, violence that dehumanizes, corruption that disrupts and on and on. Yet, this is our playing field, the place where we re called to share good news. So how do we respond to Jesus’ call to be “in” the world but not “of” the world? Some fifty years ago, theologian H. Richard Niebuhr wrote what has become a classic book, entitled, CHRIST AND CULTURE. In this book, Niebuhr outlines the various ways Christ Jesus relates to the culture. He spoke of Christ Against the Culture; Christ of Culture; Christ Above Culture; and Christ the Transformer of Culture. I have long appreciated Niebuhr’s insights on this complex relationship and would suggest they continue to speak to us this morning, as we choose how we relate to the culture, the world. I would suggest there are three primary variations of such a relationship. First there is what I would call the Church over against the culture. This would be the Church that exists in the circle of light, retreating behind a wall of separation from the culture. We see such a relationship among those churches that are counter cultural in nature, and even more pronounced in communities such as the Amish, Hasidic Jews, and various sectarian groups. Here the Church simply withdraws from the world. In this option, the church certainly is not “of” the world but I don’t sense they are really “in” the world either. They simply don’t get on the playing field. A second response would be what I call the Church standing with the culture, even a part of the culture. In other words such Churches seem to capitulate to the culture, adopt its values, yield to its ways, and are seduced by its perspectives, losing the distinctiveness of who it is and whose it is, as the Jesus’ disciples, the body of Christ. One writer calls such Churches, “Golden Retriever” Churches---the culture throws a stick and the church runs to fetch and bring it back to win the culture’s praise. This is the response that causes me the greatest concern. When our life and mission is determines by what the culture thinks or solely by a marketing analysis or giving the people what they tell us they want, I believe we have lost our identity and given up our calling. The first question for us, I believe, is not “What do the people want?” but “What does God in Christ call us to do?” Such a response certainly puts the Church “in” the world, but it seems to me that it also makes the Church “of” the world. A third response is what I call the Church engaging the culture, in ways that maintain the distinct identity and mission of the Church, that witness to the liberating and transforming love of Christ Jesus, that acknowledge the powers of evil and injustice at work, yet still moving from the circle of light onto the playing field in order to share God’s Word. Neither naïve nor arrogant, the Church continues Jesus mission. It means going into tough places, places of danger, places where the Church is not welcome, to represent Christ Jesus. In those engagements, the Church announces that there is a power greater that the forces of evil and destruction; that there is Word stronger that the lies and half truths so prevalent in the culture; that there is a hope more real than slogans and empty promises the world offers; there is a joy more full that the culture’s transitory self-gratification. Such a Church is confident and courageous, knowing that Jesus continues to pray that it will be protected by God and sanctified by God’s truth, even as it is “in” the world, but not “of” the world. I hear Jesus calling us, this Church, our Church, to be an engaging Church. How will we answer? Oh, by the way, we have another game beginning today, right after services. And once again, as always, it’s an away game! Thanks be to God! Amen! |
