Dialogue Column 3-6-07

Through a Glass Darkly—Rev. Chase Peeples

While in seminary, I recall hearing as a guest speaker in chapel, Nancy Hastings Sehested, longtime minister of Prescott Memorial Baptist Church in Memphis. She had been one of the pioneering women in Southern Baptist life who served as senior minister (now Southern Baptists have pretty much kicked out any churches with women ministers and are working towards kicking out church with women lay leaders). She related how after being at that church for years and preaching on the rights of women, ethnic minorities and homosexuals, a church leader said to her, “Well, I guess you can stop preaching about equal rights so much. We have a woman minister, African Americans in leadership and we are open and affirming of gays and lesbians.” She replied, “I will never stop preaching about these issues and on behalf of excluded people. Just because our church has made some important steps doesn’t mean that God has nothing more to teach us about loving one another.”

Hastings Sehested’s works stuck with me, because I believe every minister has common refrains that he or she comes back to again and again in sermons, Bible studies and conversations. Sometimes, those refrains are the same old stories or jokes rehashed again and again. For some ministers, every sermon comes back to saving souls from eternal damnation. Other ministers end up harping on the same social issues, like abortion. Hastings Sehested’s refrains just happened to be about equal rights for oppressed groups, both in the church and in society. If I was one of her church members, I’d like to think that I wouldn’t mind hearing her repeat herself on these issues, because I never stop needing to be reminded of them.

In recent weeks as I have been getting my sermons ready for Sunday morning preaching and printed distribution later, I have thought the themes that I seem to return to again and again. From my own self-observation, I notice that I seem to regularly hit upon two themes: 1. Each and every person is immensely valuable, because God created them and Christ suffered for them, and 2. As Christians we are to be serving those in our society that are marginalized and less powerful, precisely because they are so valuable to God. I guess I would have to say that I am okay with being criticized for repeating myself, as long as I keep repeating these two ideas.

What drew me into ministry as a profession and what keeps me staying connected to the church is my understanding of the grace that God extends to all people. If I say that I love God and I want what God wants, then my actions must result in caring for others, especially people that are not very lovable according to our culture’s standards. When I read the stories of Jesus in the Gospels, I see a God that values people—even people that good religious people do not consider worthy of their time. Sometimes I feel as if Jesus went out of his way to offend the religious sensibilities of those around him for the sake of demonstrating that God’s definition of an individual’s worth and our definition of a person’s worth too often differ.

When I look at most churches in America today, I see them repeating the same mistakes of religious people in Jesus’ day. People are valued for what they produce or contribute—not because they are created by God. People become objects when they are valued only for what they contribute financially, what committees they serve on or even for simply increasing a church’s Sunday attendance or annual number of conversions. When people are not valued in and of themselves, the church mirrors a society that values people according to their annual income, social status or political power. Therefore, groups of people that do not possess these things are ignored—people who are poor, homeless, or just plain different.

The good news of the Gospel of Christ is that each of us, no matter how we are viewed by society as a whole, is of great worth and has something great to offer the world. I believe that the church—the universal one with a capital “C” and our church, right here on the corner of 10th and Faraon—is supposed to be the place where this type of inclusion and celebration of people should happen.

Lent is a fine time for each of us to consider our own worth in God’s eyes and the worth of others. Do we treat ourselves with the respect we deserve in terms of our own self-esteem and health? Are we are aware of those around us—our co-workers, neighbors and acquaintences—that need this important message and need to be a part of a community of people that believes this radical idea? Lent is a fine time for us to consider what refrains each of us uses as we go about our lives. What message do others hear from us, as individuals and as a church? What do our words and actions send out and give off to those we encounter?

During Lent and far beyond, I am sure you will hear the same ideas from me again and again, regarding the God-given value of each person and our role as Christians to love people accordingly. I think we cannot say these things enough to a world that so often fails to value people as loved by God.

Grace and Peace,

Chase