A Sermon by the Moderator
of Metropolitan Community Churches

The Rev. Nancy L. Wilson
MCC Moderator
MC

"Casting A New Net"
by The Reverend Nancy L. Wilson

Delivered at King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church, St. Petersburg, Florida, on the Occasion of the Installation of Rev. Dr. Candace Shultis as Senior Pastor, January 27, 2008

It is now Epiphany, the season of discipleship, of following the light.

And it is 2008! Later this year, MCC as a movement will be 40 years old -- 40 years of faith, hope and love!

Jim Wallis, the Founder of the Sojourner movement has written a new book, The Great Awakening, of which he wrote in a recent issue of Sojourner Magazine, "(I am speaking) of two great hungers in our world today -– the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice. I believe that the connection between the two is one the world, and especially the new generation, is waiting for..."

I think Jim is right, and I admire his clarion call to evangelicals. But I think it is also fair to say that these are not new hungers and this is not a new movement!

The hunger for connecting spirituality and social justice is as old as MCC, nearly 40 years... and as old as the Social Gospel movement of the 19th century... and of the birth of the historic Black churches in the U.S. before that... and, yes, as old as Jesus and the prophets!

Matthew's gospel moves quickly from the story of Jesus' Baptism to the Temptation to the call of those first disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus promises them they will no longer be fishing for fish, but will be casting their nets to capture the hearts and souls and imaginations of people who hunger for God!

I have had the joy, recently, of going back to school, and a professor of mine from South India says that baptism is the "solidarity plunge" -- it was Jesus' solidarity plunge with all of humanity. In baptism we are invited to be in solidarity with Jesus' embodied mission of reconciling God and the world God so loves: spirituality and social justice connected.

And we are called to choose to follow! Discipleship is that continued plunge into solidarity, especially with the "least of these" that Jesus called us to serve as though serving him.

In Metropolitan Community Churches, we struggle sometimes with what we think of Jesus. I guess that's appropriate, since we are a Christian church, after all! Some claim a "high" Christology (emphasizing Jesus as Sovereign, Lord, Savior), some a "low" Christology (emphasizing Jesus as teacher, example, healer, Friend).

I guess I have a "through" Christology -- Jesus is the Transparent One through whom I see God, and through whom I am invited to be transparent, too, to let God shine through. Jesus is the ironic Messiah, who knows it is not about him, but the One who sent him.

It is not, after all, about you or me. It is about the One who has sent us and who keeps sending us. It is about the One who invites us to have our lives shaken up, turned inside out and upside down, and to follow. It is about the One who asks us to plunge into the connections between spirituality and social justice in our world today.

King of Peace MCC, we have seen you grow in generosity and strength, and now come to a place where you are excited about a new era of challenge and change. We're proud of you, and we see you as a sign of encouragement about the next 40 years of MCC. Because it is the next 40 years that keep some of us up at night: Will MCC be a footnote in church history at the end of the 20th century, or will we be a sign of God's in-breaking realm in the 21st?

Like so many MCC congregations today, King of Peace MCC, we think this is your moment to cast a new net -- into new waters, into new ministries. None of us know yet what casting that new net will yield, but we know it is time. God's Reign is breaking in here and now! Right here, in your midst!

And you have invited a new Pastor to lead you.

Candace Shultis could have stayed at MCC Washington, DC, until she retired; that is what people in the DC church and in most of MCC expected. Maybe it is what Candace and Barbara expected.

But God is just not that predictable -- something unexpected happened. And Candace heard God "calling in the night."

Just as an aside: I am praying today that this same thing starts happening to preachers and lay leaders all over MCC. I want God to wake you up in the night, and scare you half to death with urges and thoughts and dreams about ministries that you never before thought were possible. To plant a new church, to pastor somewhere new, to attempt something "wonderful for God" right where you are, with people who never thought they could belong to God!

Now... back to Candace!

Florida is beautiful and warm and sunny, and has its rewards, but I tell you that Candace took a risk to say yes to God and you. It is a risk to uproot yourself and your family, to say goodbye to the familiar, to enter into whole new relationships, to give up success somewhere, with no guarantees.

And it is a risk for you too, King of Peace MCC. So I want to encourage you.

When your new pastor wants to try something that worked in Washington, DC, go for it! Try it on! Cast the new net, saying "Let's give it a whirl!"

Candace may also want to try things that the church in Washington didn't want to try, things she never dared to do there. Try it on! Cast the new net, saying "Pastor, what can I do to make this new dream a reality?"

King of Peace MCC, you may want to ask your new pastor to try some things on, to cast a new net that you have never cast before, but you think you can do this together. Candace, let them challenge you as well, let them stretch you and surprise you!

King of Peace MCC, give your new Pastor the benefit of the doubt. She is a person of deep, sincere faith, perseverance and courage. And she is a human being, who will make mistakes, commit a faux pas or two, who will never be perfect.

Rabbi Harold Kushner says this about forgiveness in his book of sermons, Faith and Family:

"If somebody hurts or offends you, you are entitled to be upset with them for a couple of days, If you persist in being angry into the third day, you are keeping a grievance on life support that would otherwise have died of natural causes after 48 hours."

Imagine how MCC churches could thrive if that was at least a part of our approach to conflicts!

Candace, churches also tend to put on their best behaviors when candidating new pastors. Chances are there are a few things they haven't told you yet. Or that they forgot to mention. Or that were overlooked. Am I right?

Sometimes we image a new pastor/congregation relationship using the metaphor of marriage. But just for today, I want us to look at it as baptism -- you are being baptized together in a great plunge of solidarity today -- solidarity with Jesus, with the union of spirituality and social justice.

This is not a time to hold back, to fold your arms, to "wait and see."

I know you, church -– I know MCC churches and I know that some folks like to take the "wait and see" approach. I urge you to abandon that strategy for a more risky and more rewarding one! Plunge in today with both feet into this relationship. Hold hands and hearts as you are baptized together, and as you throw out a new net to a new generation of MCC here, and all over the globe.

Your new pastor knows and believes two things that I think you also know and believe:

1. Whether or not we planned it 40 years ago, we've become a global movement. The Internet has revolutionized our world, and all over the globe more people are finding out about MCC and expressing their hunger for community that unites spirituality and social justice -- more people are asking for our support and solidarity today than we can possibly respond to or resource. We have to narrow the response and resource gap! We must take the risks and plunge into the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Singapore, Kenya and Russia. It will take strong, generous, selfless established MCC members and churches with vision to make this possible.

2. We have unfinished work in every state, province, city and town in North America --whole communities whose safety and lives are at stake. Within shouting distance of this beautiful church, people are literally dying for love and grace and community, safety, food, health and purpose. Our churches need to turn themselves inside out and upside down to reach them.

I am going to say something controversial, now: Even though MCC welcomes everybody -- and I hope every MCC preaches that -- MCC is not for everybody:

First, MCC is not for people who have no tolerance for ambiguity or diversity. If you need to go to a church where everyone looks alike, thinks alike, where diversity is a liability, not a strength, you are not going to be happy for long in MCC. And we should quit apologizing for that!

Second, MCC is not for people who hunger for the safety of unhealthy closets. Sooner or later, if you are in MCC, your closet door, whatever it is, is going to be torn down. Recently an MCC church left us because, they said, MCC is too "gay" and someone driving by the church might know they were gay if they were coming in the door. I just want to say that for some of us, it is obvious we are gay when we walk into a public grocery store, much less into an MCC. Many of us remember that internalized fear we had when we first walked into the door of an MCC somewhere -- but God and the Beloved Community heals us of that fear! God bless heterosexuals who attend MCC and are not hung up about what somebody driving by might think; that's what solidarity means!

If you want your MCC church to be a pretty, homogeneous closest, you are not going to be happy for long in Metropolitan Community Churches. And today, unlike 40 years ago, there are some other places you can choose to worship. It is a great big world, with more options than ever before, praise God. But we are going to continue to be MCC.

MCC is destined to be a church on the move and, yes, on the edge, with those who are marginalized, and those who are yet to be included, who maybe never thought of themselves as "church goers." And we have learned that it is possible to be that kind of church anywhere in North America, not without risk, but with success. And in the riskier places in the world, our brothers and sisters are fighting the fights today that we fought 40 years ago. They need us today, to be there in the fight with them.

May God bless you and be with you today as you join hands and hearts and plunge in to a glorious future, filled with love and great adventure for the cause of Jesus, who calls us to solidarity!

Amen.

________________________
Sermon Delivered By:

The Reverend Nancy L. Wilson
Moderator
Metropolitan Community Churches
www.MCCchurch.org