Erl Purnell Sermon

bEaster 5 ~ May 14, 2006 ~ A sermon preached by The Rev’d Erl G. Purnell at Old St. Andrew’s Church, Bloomfield, CT

Acts 8.26-40;Psalm 66.1-11; 1 John 3.14-24; John 14.15-21

The organization CrossWalk America was formed “to articulate and act upon a set of twelve theological principles called the Phoenix Affirmations. These affirmations articulate what it means to live as a Christian seeking to embody Jesus’ great commandments to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.”

For several weeks now I have been speaking about CrossWalk America as a group of like minded folks who are speaking out by way of countering the all-too-pervasive voice of fundamentalist Christians in our land.

For many years I’ve felt a need to explain myself as a Christian. Maybe you have too. In Eric Elnes’ small but poignant book The Phoenix Affirmations, he tells the story of a young woman named Jenny who is a member of the Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ. Jenny says, “I’m tried of being a Christian butt.”^* You see, she is one whose Christianity has been suspect.

When Eric asked her to explain what she meant by using Christian as a modifier for butt, this is what she said: “I’m tired of having always to qualify the word Christian when I tell people I’m going to church. I might as well say I’m radioactive. They get a surprised look on their face and say, ‘Not you, Jenny. You don’t seem like the Christian type.’ So I find myself throwing in more and more buts all the time: I’m a Christian, but … but … but …”^*

It was then that Eric realized she wasn’t saying butt; rather she was saying but. Jenny continued: “Why should I have to explain to people, ‘I’m a Christian, but I don’t think homosexuals are evil … I’m a Christian, but I believe women are equal to me … but I’m concerned about poverty … but I care about the earth … but I don’t think people who believe differently from me will fry in hell for eternity …’?”^*

The American media has certain “go-to” people when a particular topic or issue arises about religion. As Eric Elnes points out, regarding Christianity, the media “go to” the Christian leader who, following 9-11, proclaimed, “I really believe that the pagans, and abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make an alternative lifestyle … I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped make this happen.’”^* Who is this man?

The media “go to” another prominent Christian leader who said this: “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It’s about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbian.” Who is this man? The same fellow said, “You say you’re supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don’t have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist.”^* Do you know who this man is?

The media also “go to” this internationally known televangelist who, speaking about homosexuals seeking marriage rights, “made the following statement: ‘I’m gonna be blunt and plain. If one [a homosexual] ever looks at me like that [with amorous intent], I’m gonna kill him and tell God he died.’ Amazingly, his congregation reacted neither with shocked silence nor with gasps of disapproval but with laughter and applause.”^* Who is this man?

You know of all three of these people. The first is Jerry Falwell, who has also proclaimed that “The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi Party is to Jews;” the second is Pat Robertson, who recently advocated assassinating the democratically elected President of Venezuela; and the third is Jimmy Swaggart who, several years ago, “appeared on national television weeping, asking God and the rest of us to forgive him for cavorting with prostitutes.”^*

In some ways I’m exaggerating because the media often speaks with Roman Catholic bishops. Yet, when do you hear in-depth interviews with Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, or The Rev. John H. Thomas, the head of the United Church of Christ, or Bishop E. Earl McCloud, Jr., leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, or Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick, head of the Presbyterian Church, or Bishop Peter Weaver, head of the United Methodist Church in the United States, or Roy Medley, General Secretary of the American Baptist Convention USA?

Enough. You get the point. So, rather than dwelling on the negative, our task, I believe, is to be change-agents individually and locally by calling attention to the real Jesus of Nazareth. As such, there is in our land an alternative, “emerging Christianity,” whose voice resonates from the depths of the Jesus story—his teaching and his life examples. The Phoenix Affirmations provide a framework for our considering how we live in the modern world as Christian people following the Way of the Jesus who lived and died in ancient Palestine. They were crafted by mainstream Christian leaders to “depict a far more tolerant, joyful, and compassionate face of Christianity than the media typically display.”^* Eric Elnes writes in The Phoenix Affirmations that “One woman from Seattle, having studied the Phoenix Affirmations on a spiritual retreat, choked up and said, ‘Now this is a kind of faith I want to hand down to my children!’”^* A man who had been raised Roman Catholic said, “These Affirmations represent a movement I’ve always wanted to be a part of but never knew existed.”^* The pubic face of Christianity had not told this man about the love of Christ for all people.

Our challenge is to integrate each of the twelve principles into our every day life. For today, I will simply read the Phoenix Affirmations. They are based on Jesus’ commandment to love God, love neighbor, and love self.

Christian Love Of God Includes:

1. Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity;

2. Listening for God’s Word which comes through daily prayer and meditation, studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, and attending to God’s present activity in the world;

3. Celebrating the God whose Spirit pervades and whose glory is reflected in all of God’s Creation, including the earth and its ecosystems, the sacred and secular, the Christian and non-Christian, the human and non-human;

4. Expressing our love in worship that is as sincere, vibrant, and artful as it is scriptural.

Christian Love Of Neighbor Includes:

5. Engaging people authentically, as Jesus did, treating all as creations made in God’s very image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or economic class;

6. Standing, as Jesus does, with the outcast and oppressed, the denigrated and afflicted, seeking peace and justice with or without the support of others;

7. Preserving religious freedom and the Church’s ability to speak prophetically to government by resisting the commingling of Church and State;

8. Walking humbly with God, acknowledging our own shortcomings while honestly seeking to understand and call forth the best in others, including those who consider us their enemies;

Christian Love Of Self Includes:

9. Basing our lives on the faith that, in Christ, all things are made new, and that we, and all people, are loved beyond our wildest imagination–for eternity;

10. Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth;

11. Caring for our bodies, and insisting on taking time to enjoy the benefits of prayer, reflection, worship and recreation in addition to work;

12. Acting on the faith that we are born with a meaning and purpose; a vocation and ministry that serves to strengthen and extend God’s realm of love.^*

I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Phoenix Affirmations. They are both an easy read and an inspiring read. You can buy them on-line from Amazon.com or go to CrossWalkAmerica.com to download a PDF file with the entire text of the book for free. I also hope you will consider walking with CrossWalk America as a member of OSA’s team. Just sign up on their web site to “Walk Where Ever You Are” and be sure to join the OSA group.

In the coming weeks, an ad hoc group of parishioners will begin planning the adult education offerings for next year. One program I will suggest is that we consider two or three sessions on the Phoenix Affirmations and how we can best live into them in our personal lives and in the life of the parish. Meanwhile, become a voice for an emerging Christianity rooted in the Scriptural Jesus who is the One who brings reconciliation and healing, a person whose table is open to all, indeed, who is the very face of God among us.

Amen.

^*The Phoenix Affirmations, Eric Elnes, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2006.