Whatever
“Whatever” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! I trust that the dust has settled from your Epiphany celebrations, although last I checked, there was still a bit of three kings cake left in the Creekside refrigerator. We are back in the swing of Creekside team meetings, gatherings and activities. This morning is the first Sunday of a sermon series, Going Gray in a Black and white world. Unlike what you might assume from looking at the folks seated around you, Going Gray has nothing to do with hair color — or the lack of hair color — but it may be related to maturity. Nor is it about the gloom of January skies in N Indiana, although it may be related to the current social climate. Going Gray is a sermon series about our willingness and our ability to see issues of theology and politics from a perspective which acknowledges that we are not always of one mind on every issue, and seeks to find common ground to worship and work together despite our differences.
I want to acknowledge that going gray has already happened and is happening here at Creekside. When I visit people, typically guests who are considering becoming more involved at the church, they often ask some version of, “Is your church conservative or liberal?” I respect this question, but I don’t have a simple answer. What I usually say is that we have members with views across the theological spectrum, or at least across the middle of the theological spectrum. I personally tend to lean left of center, but we try to be generous in our welcome of whomever comes through our doors. I know there are people at Creekside who disagree with me on some things, and I care about them and hope we can extend grace to one another. I know they extend grace to me, and I try to do the same for them. That is what I believe to be true of Creekside, but I have no idea how satisfying an answer that is.
It reminds of the story of a Jewish rabbi who came home after a day of meetings at the synagogue. His wife said, you look concerned, what’s the matter? He replied, Shmuel and Rachel are having problems. Shmuel came in at 10 and told me all the things that make him unhappy about Rachel, and I said, You know, you’re right. And then at noon Rachel came to talk to me and told me all the things that make her unhappy about Shmuel, and I said, You know, you’re right. And the rabbis’ wife scolded him and said, how could you say that to both of them? They can’t both be right. And the rabbi looked at her and said, You know, you’re right.
I want to give a shout-out to Roger Neal for sharing a book with me which got me thinking about this. The Onward/Overcomers class stated studying this book last week. It’s called Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and the author is Adam Hamilton. Hamilton is the pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, MO. That church has over 14,000 members. I bet there are some differences of opinion among those people, but that would likely be the case in a congregation of far fewer members — say, 3 or more. Hamiton was raised in the Pentecostal Church, attended Oral Roberts University and Perkins School of Theology. He joined the United Methodist Church at the age of 19. This exposed him to, and gave him an appreciation for, a variety of theological perspectives. Hamilton’s thesis has been the catalyst for this series, but all the beliefs I am expressing are my own.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to Philippians 4, beginning in verse 4. There is some important teaching from Paul in verses 4 and 5: first, the repeated charge to rejoice in the Lord always — again Paul says, Rejoice. That is a good reminder that wherever we are — geographically, theologically, spiritually — we have reason to be thankful for God’s presence and guidance. Not every situation is a desirable one, for sure, be we all have cause to be grateful for God in any circumstance. There is not a single person who is beyond God’s reach, or who will be prevented from accepting the salvation of Jesus Christ. I hope you are with me here, because that is bedrock, not only for this sermon, but for my understanding of our faith.
The next verse is interesting, it says, Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. I did some looking around for what scholars thought this verse means, and found this from AI:
“Let your gentleness be known to everyone” means to be consistently kind, considerate, and reasonable, showing a soft, humble strength, not weakness; in all interactions reflecting the character of Christ.
That is what I mean when I talk about Going Gray. Being considerate in our actions and interactions does not mean a lack of opinions, a lack of conviction, or even a lack of passion. What it does mean is that our goal is reflecting the character of Christ — that being Christ-like is even more important than being right, or proving that the other person is wrong. Black and white is my way or the highway, right or wrong; going gray means recognizing the value of the other person, even if I disagree with their position. This might seem like the weak or the easy path, but I would argue that it is neither of things. It takes maturity and inner strength to hold on to convictions and not to be defensive or belittling to other people. Making black and white statements can get attention and notoriety, but that is not the same as being well-grounded or well-informed. We let our gentleness be known because God is near — not only to support and guide us, but looking over our shoulder to see how we are conducting ourselves. I am reminded of the Rudyard Kipling poem “If” about coming to maturity which begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . .”
Let me offer Philippians 4:8 as an illustration of what I mean: whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there’s anything worthy of praise, think on these things. That repeated whatever is key to going gray. It is not moral relativism: whatever you want to believe is fine, whatever; it is the intentional and persistent pursuit of worthiness — whatever is just, pure, pleasing, and commendable. I know of a household of Creekside members who have these words written on the wall inside the front door of their home. It’s an important reminder as we go into or come home from a black and white world. We’re generally pretty good at finding confirmation of what is true and excellent in our own opinions and in those of people with whom we agree. We may even exaggerate our own truth and excellence. That’s easy. But can we be humble enough to acknowledge that only person who was always good and true was Jesus Christ, and the rest of humanity is some kind of combination of good intentions, selfishness, shame, failure, cowardice, and sin.
If we want other people to see what is best and affirm whatever is pleasing and excellent and commendable about us — and I believe we do — then we have to be willing to look for those qualities in other people, especially the people we don’t like, or with whom we disagree. It doesn’t mean that we will change our opinions about dearly held subjects, or even that we’ll come to like those people whom we believe are misguided. Going Gray means realizing that those who disagree with us may have good qualities that we don’t give them credit for, and our motives may be less than pure. I believe that making the effort to see whatever is good in other people is how we reflect the character of Christ. And if you’re thinking that is pretty easy to do, you probably haven’t tried it. We live in a world which tries to push us to the polarities of black and white, us and them, good guys and bad guys. Jesus was radical in his ability to see people, even those whom others had shunned as “sinners,” as children of God, potential believers, followers, and witnesses.
Next week I am going to talk about the Bible, a book which has been experienced as black and white, comforting and condemning, limiting and liberating. But this week, I invite you to do whatever. Consider a person, listen to a radio station, watch a newscast which you typically would avoid or discount. Can you find whatever is excellent, just and true, or anything worthy of praise? What things can you get past, and what ideas or behaviors block your way when you are looking for whatever is commendable? If you want to talk about any of this, seek me out, or I’m sure you’d be welcome to the Onward/Overcomers Class discussion during the Sunday School hour.