"The Social Work of the Church"

Liturgical Materials for Sunday the 25^th of March 2001

Mark Belletini, Minister First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, Ohio

Opening Words [Next] [back to top]

We are here
as the spring struggles across the threshold
of winter's back door,
to worship, to proclaim love and truthfulness
as great powers that may unravel
illusions of control or self-congratulation.

Here let spring begin with us,
as we dance to a song of Joy not begun by us,
and not completed by us. And as we dance

(assembly) May our reason and passion keep us true to ourselves, true to each other,
and true to those shared visions of what we can together become…

Invitation to the Great Silence [Next] [back to top]

(a " pew dance "for spring)

Haida Haida Hai didi dai da

(until the ringing of the bell)

And now, both filled and emptied with the privilege of silence, each of us is free to name, either aloud or in the quiet sanctuary of our hearts, those who inhabit our hearts as surely as we inhabit this building. We name those who dance to the same rhythms we do and those who dance to different rhythms. We name those who are easy to love, those who are difficult to love, those who are hurting, lonely, far away, or even hidden in the palms of our memories alone.

(naming)

The great chorus of birds singing their spring songs is ours as surely as our love,
The great circle dance of the stars bringing us back to spring is ours as surely as birds.
The lonely spring cantor on the hill, singing Danny Boy for one remembered, is ours as surely as the stars.
And the solemn waltz that blends individuals, communities, the seasons, and truth with love, is ours, forever and ever, amen.

The First Reading [Next] [back to top]
comes from the Scroll of Melakim in the Tanakh, called by Christians The Book of Kings in the Old Testament. It's the story of the prophet Micaiah, a little known prophet of the Hebrew tradition. It's half comic, half tragic.

For over three years Syria and Israel lived in peace with each other. But then Yehoshaphat, king of Yudah traveled to see Ahav, king of Yisrael to have a little parley. "You do know, don't you, that the town of Ramoth-gilead up in Syria actually belongs to us, yet we sit here and do nothing about it. Why don't we simply take it off the hands of the king of Syria?" Ahav answered, "And will you go with me to sack Ramoth-gilead?"

Yehoshaphat replied, "I, my troops, and our whole cavalry are at your disposal. But before we do this, I suppose we should be asking the court prophets to express the opinion of God on our decision."

So Avav, king of Yisrael, assembled the prophets, about four hundred of them, and said to them, "Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I not?" "Go and fight," they said, "for Yahweh our God will keep you safe in your battles."

But Yehoshaphat asked, "Is this all the prophets? Isn't there another prophet of Yahweh through whom we may inquire?

"Why yes, there is," said Ahav. "His name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never proclaims anything good concerning me, but only terrible things."

"Oh, don't say that!" said Yehoshaphat. "Go get him." So Ahav called a slave and said to him: "Fetch me Micaiah, the son of Imlah. Quickly now!"

So picture Ahav king, of Yisrael, and Yehoshaphat, king of Yudah, sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, at the Meeting Hall of Samaria, while all their paid prophets were engaged in ecstatic prophecy before them. Zedekiah even put on a little skit: he made for himself, out of iron horns, horns like a bull might have, and wearing them on his head, he said, "Thus says Yahweh our God, 'You shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.'

So all the prophets continued their proclamations, saying, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for Yahweh will deliver the city into your hands."

Now the slave who went to find Micaiah found him and offered him a little counsel: "Come and join us, says the king. But all the other prophets have spoken optimistically to the king about his plans. Let your word, I pray you, be like theirs, and equally optimistic."

"As the Yahweh lives," said Micaiah, "I will only proclaim what God wants me to proclaim and nothing less."

Now when he came to the Meeting Hall, Avah said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we not?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, go up and prosper," he said to him, "for Yahweh will surely deliver the city into your hands."

But Ahav, noting his insincerity, said to him, "How many times must I remind you, Micaiah, to tell the truth to me?"

"All right," said Micaiah, "This is what I really saw. I saw all your combined troops scattered on the hills," he said, "like dazed sheep without a shepherd."

Then the King Ahav snarled to Yehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he would speak like this? Didn't I warn you he was not going to go along with the other prophets?"

So then Zedekiah, still dressed in his bull get-up, approached and slapped Micaiah across the cheek, and said, "Since when does the Spirit of God speak one way to you and another way to me? There is only one truth!"

"Indeed there is, and you shall know what that truth is on the day that you go hide your face from all that is shamefully to come," said Micaiah.

Then Ahav, the king of Yisrael said, "Arrest this man and take him back to his city, and tell the mayor there Thus says the king: "Put this fellow in the jail and keep him on bread and water until I return hero.'

Whereupon Micaiah said, "If you do indeed return a hero, then you'll have your proof that Yahweh has not spoken through me."

The Second Reading [Next] [back to top]
comes from the book Revolutionary Patience by the significant German theologian, Dorothee Solle, who is one of the greatest writers on social justice in the Western Tradition. There is a clear reference to the famous prayer of St. Francis, "Let me be an instrument of your peace…" The metaphor of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt also threads throughout this text…and the title itself is borrowed from Mao Zedong. (Punctuation has been added to make it easier to read.)

"The Long March"

Perhaps we pictured things too simply
way back then when we set out
on the long march through the desert
to find better ways to live with each other.

O lord, we thought,
let us become instruments of your peace,
but what followed was
tiresome conflict with authorities
who want order, not peace;
the daily struggle for small victories;
and the terrible sense of being abandoned.
Then the instruments of peace
became disruptive obstacles
to harmonious accord.

Many have known all along
that nothing can be done from within any church
that can live on manna year after year.
Why do anything if we see no point
in what we're doing?

Many are fed up and wish they were back in Egypt
where tithes flowed like milk and honey,
and the churches were filled,
and the hymns rang out loud and clear
because everybody knew them.

How much longer is this march to last?
What does that mean… forty years?
Is it only our generation that will be squandered?
Or the next one, too?
And what goal can justify a whole lifetime
of work and conferences?
Will we ever get beyond numbness?
Are there no human beings
who will stick with us in our work, and
help us speak clearly and openly?

We receive little help from below;
are seldom understood by our peers.
And those above fall back on the old trick
of deeming any substantive question
a breach of discipline.
That's how they assert their authority,
maintain order
and keep away from the pulpit
the crude speech of the common people.

O lord, make us into instruments of your peace:
instruments of conflict not harmony
instruments of truth not obfuscation
instruments of happiness not stupefaction

Let's see if that can't be done.

Sermon: The Social Work of the Church [Next] [back to top]

Sometimes, as you know, I begin sermons with a personal story. As I figured out long ago, it's sometimes only through the very particular that you have the slightest chance of coming close to something called "the universal."

But although I have indeed helped some people thread their hard lives through the maze of social services that exist in this country (by accompanying them), I myself have never been on the dependent end of such services. I have witnessed the gray offices and long lines and crowded waiting rooms up close. But I was never waiting for myself.

So, in the interest of clarity and brevity, I am going to start off this morning, not with a personal story, or a tender confession, but with a list. A list of things I am now trying very hard not to say.

One. Please don't imagine that this is a partisan sermon. After all, the idea of our national government helping religious congregations to do social work in their neighborhoods was an idea supported by both presidential candidates during the last election. This is not a sermon for members of any particular party. It's for everyone. Only citizens of other nations, such as Canada, are outside the perimeter of this sermon, but I would hope they will stay and listen. Unless, that is, what I say makes them even more painfully bewildered about what goes on in the United States of America than they already are. But, no, I am not talking partisan politics.

Two. Please don't imagine that this is a sermon that would question the work of Catholic Social Services, Lutheran Social Services, or even the American Friends Service Committee or the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, for that matter. I financially support the latter, and I have known many people who have benefited in one way or another from the other organizations I named. But please remember that these groups are not religious congregations, but independent organizations. If the government offers grants to Lutheran Social Services, it does so as one along side many other contributors. None of them is contributing to a religion, but to an independent social agency sponsored by a religion. So, no, I am not talking about religiously inspired independent agencies.

Three. Please don't imagine that I think it's wrong for Mormons to drop a plate of cookies off to an elderly Latter Day Saint woman living by herself, or for Reform Jewish congregations to join local United Methodist and United Church of Christ congregations to open a neighborhood food-bank, or for the local mosque or Buddhist sangha to offer emergency social services like temporary shelter to their own members who have fallen on hard times. No, I am not talking about members of a community reaching out to each other in care. No, not at all.

Four, please don't imagine that I am saying that when Conservative Evangelical ministers work in our prisons, and bring severely addicted people incarcerated there to the threshold of recovery by lifting up their image of salvation through Christ that I think they are wrong to do so. Never imagine that I think that only some supposedly secular approaches to these problems are correct, right or useful. You will never hear me say that there are not many ways to turn around severe human brokenness, including many packed to the brim with religious imagery of all sorts. Such images are mostly not for me. But neither my life nor your individual lives are the templates on which everyone has to cut out their life. So no, I am not "dissing" religious conservatives.

Five, do not imagine that I have a list of particular religions that I think should be banned from getting government money to do social work. When asked about the suitability of the Unitarian Universalists to get government money on television the other night, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty Baptist Church did not, thankfully, offer his opinion. But, he was very vocal that United States Muslims should be denied any money from the U.S. government to offer social programs through their mosque congregations. This is not because he thinks they wouldn't do any good, but because, he says, many Muslim nations routinely forbid the building of synagogues and churches in their territory. Rev. Falwell seemed to feel that if American Muslims were deprived of U.S. government money, this would change the opinion of the Saudi Arabian or Qatar government about building churches. I don't think his reasoning is very sound, but he certainly was very clear about the limits he would put on government support of congregationally-based social work. Certain folks are in. Certain folks are out. Just like that.

Now, no television crews called me up to be inter-viewed on this, but I say that if the government were to give out money according to the proposed plans being drawn up in Washington, then it should go to everyone who asks for it. Yes, provided, of course, that they pass the very liberal Internal Revenue Service code as a religious organization. (They include religions that I would have a hard time including!) And provided, of course, that they have a very good and well-structured plan for their social work with clear accountability. I would, in all fairness, have to include the Scientologists and the Unification Church, even though I do not believe one whit of what they believe. And I would certainly include Liberty Baptist Church.

Six. Do not imagine for one minute that I think that religion has nothing to do with society. Please do not imagine that I think the spiritual and the social do not over-lap. I say that every spiritual or religious assertion you or I may make also makes a statement, in Dorothee Soelle's words, about finding "better ways to live with each other." Do not imagine that I think that church-based soup kitchens should close. Do not think that I am convinced that financial support for unfortunates suffering from Hurricane damage should not receive a casserole from the Ladies'Auxiliary down at Ebenezer Baptist Church. I am not saying that.

And seven, do not imagine for one minute that I think the spiritual and the secular have nothing at all to do with each other, or that religions cannot have opinions on social and secular matters. I think they should have such opinions. Of course, having opinions does not mean they will ultimately prove to be right. Many churches preached that slavery was moral in these United States. Many churches did not. In the end, the social opinion of the churches which opposed slavery proved right, and proved the social opinions of the churches that upheld the morality of slavery as completely wrong. Religious people, religious congregations have a right to their opinions. But that does not mean I think that all opinions are right, or even humane. The hurtful tirades of Jerry Falwell on homosexuality come to mind. So, do you understand? I am not saying that religious groups need to stick to spiritual concerns, while the secular state alone must tackle social work. And I am certainly not saying I think that all religions are the same in their social concerns.

I have offered you my list of what I am not saying.

Now I will tell you what I am saying.

I have come to the conclusion that I personally cannot support the idea of government money going to religious congregations to do social work in this country of ours. Not because there is no work to be done. On the contrary…because there is so much.

What does that strange riddle mean?

I will try and explain. My late and very dear friend John Zimarowski was by all reports a great social worker. He worked hard for his many clients. From what I could tell from the outside, he was very good at his work too. But, when he would come home, he would utter, "Passed out more Band-Aids today. Passed out more Band-Aids." You see, John saw that many of the social solutions to serious problems were primarily Band-Aid solutions. The sources of the plentiful miseries in our nation…poverty, shattered families, runaway addictions, rampant domestic violence… were never addressed. There was no way in his organization at least to address them. Some food in the belly, a few weeks of covered rent, some help with children…this does not change the foundational social realities which ground such needs. And the needs are great.

So to me, giving money to the churches, so they can pass out more Band-Aids, does not seem like the best solution. Even though, clearly, it's sometimes the best solution available at the time. And frankly, we do need more of it…just not from congregations.

Now almost all of the congregations I can think of (whether they are liberal or conservative does not make much difference) stand in the prophetic tradition. That's right, the prophetic tradition.

The ancient Middle Eastern concept of a prophet was not simply someone who had a vision of things to come. But rather, a prophet was someone who dared to proclaim social warnings to the powers that be. Warnings about the savageries of war. Warnings about planned social plans that would throw whole populations into poverty. Warnings about corrupting alliances. Warnings about refusing to create systems ensuring that all people would be treated honestly and fairly. A prophet proclaimed the truth whether anyone liked hearing it or not, or whether they would respond or not. A good prophet probably did not expect you to take his or her word without proof…but rather, a good prophet expected that you might have to learn the hard way. Nonetheless, the authentic prophet needed to speak the truth no matter what the consequences were.

But there were prophets and there were prophets. The paid court prophets in the story of Micaiah proclaim what the king pays them to proclaim…that his imperialistic policies are right on line. But Micaiah is not paid by the king. Micaiah works for God, or Truthfulness if you insist. Micaiah is not paid by Ahav. When he is brought before the king, the slave who fetches him even tries to make him conform to the court prophets. Micaiah knows the king will not listen to him anyway, so he ruefully tosses off the same blather the other prophets did. But the king is no dummy. He insists Micaiah state his real position. So, despite the fact that he knows it will do no good, he does. He basically says, "This war you propose with Syria is stupid. It's an imperialist lunge for more territory that will hurt a lot of people, including you. By doing this, you give up your authentic leadership. And then people will be leaderless, like sheep without a shepherd." For telling the truth, Micaiah is placed in jail and put on a diet of bread and water.

I don't know if he ever got out or not. The text never says. It does say that his prophecy came true, at least, and that the crazy kings lost their battle good.

But if I cannot tell you how Micaiah's life ended, I do know what happened to another prophet who was jailed. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the man.

During the 30's of the last century, most German churches were financially seduced by the government into giving their support for National Socialism, more commonly called the Nazi party. There were a group of Lutheran Christians who refused to cooperate, because they knew that the Nazis were utterly perverse in their policies, approaches, techniques and beliefs. These Christians withdrew from the German churches, and formed their own free churches. These would take no money from the government, would criticize their government without shame, and would proclaim the truth against National Socialist distortion. These churches called themselves "The Confessing Church." This meant that they believed that Christians should do two things: 1. confess their own complicity in wrong-headed social cruelties (such as anti-Semitism); and 2. repent of such complicities, withdrawing from any further support of such cruelties. Note, they did not say "Nazis are all bad and we are all good." They were not the Blaming Church, or the Self-Congratulatory Church. They were the Confessing church. They remained true to the tradition of the prophets and told the truth…both to themselves and to the government. Many were killed because of this. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the leaders of the Confessing Church. He was a brilliant theologian, and in many ways, a true prophet, not one whit less authoritative than Micaiah. Frustrated with what was going on in Europe, he went so far as to join an assassination plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Although a professed pacifist, who even wanted to travel to India to fight non-violently along side Gandhi, Bonhoeffer was convinced that more lives would be saved if Hitler died than if he remained alive. He was caught, thrown into jail, and finally executed, not long before the war ended. Reason as you will about the ethics of his assassination attempt, but respect the fact that he would not be bought, and held fast to truthfulness all of his day.

Now don't go off thinking I am comparing the United States government to the Nazi regime. But I do recognize that when any government co-opts the religious congregations in its midst, terrible or at least ineffectual things will surely happen. As Dorothee Solle sums it, the government can fall on "the old trick of deeming any substantive question a breach of discipline. That's how they assert their authority, maintain order, and keep away from the pulpit the crude speech of the common people."

As I said, most religious congregations in the West are rooted in the prophetic tradition. This means that their role is not to be slaves of the government, but to be, insofar as they maintain their own confessional and self-questioning nature, its loving critics. If they are bought and paid for, if they rely on government grants, they cannot do this. Furthermore, I learned a bit from John Zimarowski's frustration with his own social work. Churches, synagogues, mosques and sanghas, it seems to me, would be better off to let public offices take care of the emergencies, and rather, aim their spiritual broadsides at the social sources of all the poverty, homelessness, and hungry children in America.

Some of these sources…and this is my short list, not my long one… are a sense of entitlement, an unwillingness to critically examine one's own life (otherwise known as self-congratulation), the refusal to address issues of class in any substantive way, and last, the subtle escape clause embraced by many liberals and conservatives both who feel that wallowing in guilt is easier than changing one's life. A true prophet, unbought and unspent by the tiresome length of "the long march," will say such things both to him or herself and to the kings of this world. A false prophet is quite different. He or she will whine on and on about the way things used to be, in Solle's words: "when the churches were filled, and lived on manna alone, and the hymns rang loud and clear because everyone knew them." But a great church or synagogue or mosque must work to free itself of government gifts, work to free itself of false prophets. It must work to be more and more a whole congregation of struggling prophets (as well as a congregation of lovers who consciously recognize, even in that great joy, room for improvement).

I am not against helping those who are down and out. I am not against social work. I am not against religion in general, even if I am not personally fond of some of them in the particular. I am not even against Band-Aids…they are often more than necessary. I am for food-banks and cooking a thousand meals for the homeless. I am also for ever-deepening spiritual life, for every single person in this church. And I am for good, accountable government on local and state and national arenas. What I am not for is mixing them up, and giving secular government the power to buy off its critics. I am convinced that the work of the prophets must never yield itself up to a lesser power than Truth, or, as I might say with Gandhi, or even Bonhoeffer, God. I am for making social work less necessary. That to me is the principle work of prophetic religion. Pastoral religion will continue to do some social work. You will and I will. You or I may even benefit from social work some day ourselves…it's not as if life offers guarantees to any of us. But to be unbought prophets remains our most urgent calling as religious people.

Prayer [back to top]

New shoots are rising. I've seen them.
How about us, too?
New green is making the world glad.
How might we join in that gladness?
The earth aches for daffodils and for justice both…
spring comes to the earth but also to the spirit.

O Love, let our daily lives prophesy a spiritual spring
beyond our imagining, where the things we see
mirrored in Your eyes
are the things we will see with our own. Amen.

[back to top]

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