Wendy Dorsey

June 8, 2014

Good morning 8th Day Faith Community. Today, my teaching is on “Pentecost: Transformation in the Spirit.” I will be using the story of Pentecost to talk about the changes that I see 8th Day going through at this point in our history. This is also Recommitment/Commitment Sunday. In the tradition of C of S, we do not become a member for life, but rather recommit as we are called on a yearly basis. At the end of my teaching, I will share my reason for wanting to recommit to membership in this community. After I speak, I would like some of you who feel led to share why you are joining or rejoining as a Covenant, Intern, or Community Member.

At the beginning of Lent, Marcia preached about the passage in which Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus how one must be “born again.” Jesus says, “unless one has been born over again one cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus is clearly mystified by this idea. Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, that he must see things in an entirely new way. I believe this requirement to be born again applies, not only to individuals, but to communities.

The writers of the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles were not only proclaiming their “Good News” to save the souls of individuals, but to help their communities be reborn, to see things in an entirely new way. Florence asked us the Sunday after Easter, “What does it mean for our community to live into the resurrection?” I will ask us today, “What does it mean for 8th Day to be transformed by the Spirit, as the first disciples were on Pentecost?”

A few weeks ago, Tim preached a sermon using the Pentecost passage we read today. I wasn’t here, but when I read his sermon, my first thought was, “He stole my lectionary scriptures.” Not only that, but he pointed out many of the things I had thought about the Pentecost passage. He focused on the many tongues that the onlookers heard when the gathered disciples were overcome with the Holy Spirit. Tim pointed out that if the disciples had wanted others who were of several different ethnicities – some think 20 or more - to understand them, they could have spoken Greek, which was the official language of the eastern Roman Empire and would have been understood by most people. He commented: “The Spirit is telling us something here about the sacredness of cultural and linguistic diversity – it must be both celebrated and defended against imperial assimilation.” One question he asks later in the sermon is, “What new languages will we have to learn?” As we talk about being reborn and transformed as a community, we will need to listen to and hear many different voices on the issues which are deeply important to us. Assimilation or enculturation to the white dominant culture – even in 8th Day – is not what I want to see 8th Day promoting. Rather, it is about embracing a rich cultural diversity in our worship, practices, structures and decision-making processes.

We think of Pentecost as symbolizing the birth of Christianity as a religion. However, I doubt that’s what the disciples thought of at the time. They were wanting the renewal and re-visioning of Judaism by following the path Jesus had begun, rather than thinking about starting a new religion. I think Pentecost is a story about renewal and transformation in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So with everyone who is born from the Spirit. (John 3:8)

As Tim pointed out, the followers of Jesus were in waiting mode, expectant, wondering what to do in the upper room. I think 8th Day is in an expectant, waiting mode, wondering what will come next. Some are fearful. I think there are fears that we will lose something precious, if we change. Yet there is a sense that we will stagnate if we stay in the upper room, fearful. 8th Day, we don’t know where we will be blown by the Spirit, but let us remain in an expectant mode, waiting on tip toe to see the Kingdom, the Beloved Community that is God’s vision in us.

I would like to thank Tim for giving us a “preview” of Pentecost, so I can now jump off of that platform to offer some related thoughts.

Speaking of jumping off a platform – some of you may have seen Mike’s wonderful video of the 8th Day Memorial Day Weekend. In case you didn’t know, that person jumping off a 50 foot high platform screaming “For the record, I’m scared” is me on the zip line. Yes, I was scared – and exhilarated, too. Jumping off the solid platform of our Cof S/8th Day traditions may be scary for us, too. But I think if we ponder the vision of becoming a multicultural, egalitarian Beloved community we will be able to jump off that platform of tradition, and experience the thrill of allowing the Wind of the Spirit to move us to new heights.

Many of Jesus’ parables and sayings were about renewal also. Jesus talked about the need for new wineskins for new wine. Maybe the new wine is too strong for the old wineskins and causes them to burst. Does 8th Day need new wineskins for the new wine coming into it? Do we need new structures to be able to stretch and embrace the new wine of diverse cultures, perspectives, and races that have come to join our community?

In the early church, a big question was whether non-Jews needed to be circumcised to come into the new communities of Jesus’ followers. Another issue was whether the purity laws had to be kept. There was controversy between different groups about this, and finally, through Paul’s influence, they decided not to require the old dietary laws and circumcision. They followed the Spirit’s leading and let the old traditional structures go to accommodate the Gentile Jesus followers.

The Pharisees have gotten a reputation as the “bad guys” or the foils for Jesus’ new way of seeing things. They questioned Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath, and eating with sinners, among other things. But the Pharisees were zealous for their religion. They wanted their religion to return to the more “pure” form of earlier times, which included strict purity codes which told you who you could socialize and break bread with, among other things. These laws, which were supposed to be leading people to God and the true religion, kept people of different status apart, creating a hierarchy of importance. Jesus berated the Pharisees for going around showing off their religiosity in public. Many so-called “unclean” were kept outside the synagogue: lepers, prostitutes, Samaritans, beggars, tax collectors, and women who were menstruating were all seen as defiled in some way and not fit to be a part of the religious community. Jesus defied all these strictures the “good people” put in place. He kept breaking the codes and boundaries that kept people apart and welcoming the outcasts into his motley group.

We Members of 8th Day are very much like the Pharisees. We fear that the fundamental essence of the C of S and 8th Day tradition is going to be lost if we change and become more inclusive. If we get new wineskins, if we develop new membership and leadership structures, will the essence of our inward and outward journeys be lost? Will we have to give up core values, practices and structures, which include “integrity of membership,” spiritual disciplines, mission groups, call, leading at the point of gifts, and the value of deep sharing in small groups?

On the other hand, what will we lose if we don’t get new wine skins for our new wine? Will we stop growing organically and stagnate? Will we lose the richness of a variety of voices, perspectives, cultures, races and ethnic backgrounds? Will we NOT see the Kingdom of God, as Jesus warned, and miss the mark of the Beloved Community? I dofear we will.

I believe that 8th Day does need to step out of the “upper room” and open to the wind of the Holy Spirit in our midst. I believe we need to really listen to the many varied voices and perspectives in our community, those who value our tradition and those who are new and have a different perspective. I believe we do need to be “born again” as a community, and many of us, like Nicodemus, will have to struggle with what that means for us personally and what it means for us as a community.

I believe we may need to be thinking about our identity in this new birth. Are we ready to take on the identity of an anti-racist community? This is different from being color-blind. It doesn’t mean we deny differences. It means we welcome them, and actively seek out the “Other.” It means we are committed to actively dismantling structures which may be exclusive and based on white power and white culture. Just as Jesus challenged the traditions the Pharisees so faithfully tried to defend, and just as Paul and Peter wrestled with the Jewish laws and whether they should apply to the Gentiles, as the new Jesus communities developed and spread into Gentile territory and a variety of cultures, we, too, must challenge and wrestle with our traditions and structures to see what new wineskins we need to create to welcome the diverse peoples who come to our doors.

These new communities were not uniform. They each had their own “born again” identity, their unique mix of traditional Jewish culture and values and the new values and culture of the different areas from which they evolved. They had to both adapt to the different cultural contexts and hold on to the essence of the faith of the followers of Jesus’ way. How will we work this out in 8th Day?

In his book, Becoming an Anti-Racist Church, which our mission group is reading, Joseph Barndt describes in detail the steps needed to take on the identity of an anti-racist church. In Chapter 9, “Cultural Racism and the Multicultural Church” he talks about how the “Christian Church today is in the midst of a multicultural movement. [He says] We have a passion, a yearning, to repeat the experience of the first Pentecost. Denominations and congregations, aspiring for a multiracial, multicultural identity, study the Gospel stories of Jesus as he courageously and lovingly crossed divides and communicated across cultural boundaries.

We attempt to emulate him in dealing with our own racial and cultural boundaries. As we work toward our goal of becoming a multicultural church, we carefully keep count of the different races, ethnicities, nationalities, languages, and cultures represented in our congregations. We proudly display our altar linens made from African kente cloth and our stoles from Central America….In all of this we hope and pray that we are in some way repeating the Pentecost experience.” (p. 133) Does this sound a little bit familiar, 8th Day?

Barndt goes on to say that as far as becoming an anti-racist multicultural church “We aren’t there yet….we are still a very long way from authentic multiculturalism.” He further states, “Cultural racism, the domination of one racially defined culture over others – stands alongside individual racism and institutionalized racism as the third manifestation of the systemic racism that overpowers us and prevents us from becoming the church that God intends us to be. While we are attempting to replicate Pentecost, we need to be aware that multicultural diversity can be practiced in a racist way. It can even be a means to try to cover up our racism.” (p. 134)

When we talk about “cultural” and “systemic” racism, we are not talking about individual racists in our community. Rather, we are talking about the white cultural norms and structures which are embedded in our way of doing church. Barndt says that “one sign of the power of white cultural identity is its ability to exist and to dominate while at the same time remaining hidden from white consciousness and awareness. All of us, but especially those of us who are white, need to become aware of the white culture that collectively dominates our society” (p. 135)– and our church. I believe that we will not become a truly multicultural church until we take on an anti-racist identity collectively.

In a recent lectionary scripture passage, John 12:20, Jesus says, “A grain of wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls into the ground and dies, but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest.” As I thought about this saying while working in my garden, I realized the metaphor is not quite correct. In fact a grain or seed does not die entirely. It does have to separate from the original stalk and fall into the dark earth, where it likely goes through winter and that probably feels like death. Although the husk of the grain falls away, the kernel of the seed grain remains intact, and when spring arrives, it begins to unfold an entirely new being.

What is the kernel, the essence of 8th Day that I hope will remain intact? What is our common ground? These are some things I thought about: passion for justice-doing and peace-making, embracing, honoring, and loving difference; service to those who are poor and oppressed; care for the fate of the earth; desire for radical sharing of resources; desire for deep spiritual journeying; commitment to building and enjoying a Beloved Community. There may be more aspects of our common ground. But I do believe that if we embrace our commonalities, as we seriously listen to our different viewpoints and voices, we will weather the dark, cold, and sometimes frightening winter of not-knowing where we’re heading or how we’re going to get there. We will allow that seed kernel, that essence of who we are develop and grow a new, beautiful, fruitful plant. We will be open to the spring wind of the Holy Spirit, blowing where it will, igniting our hearts with fire, and leading us to a new birth, a transformation which is truly life-giving.

After church today, we will have an open meeting in which you will have an opportunity to help us think through what changes we need to make as a community. What is the Spirit saying to you, to us regarding membership and leadership in our community? What will help us become more inclusive, more truly multicultural, more just in our ways of being together? What might we lose? and what might we gain from making some of these changes? I hope each of you will join us in this quest.

Today is Recommitment/Commitment Sunday. Each of us has been considering whether we want to commit or recommit to Covenant, Intern, or Community Membership. I will share my reason now for recommitting to membership in 8th Day Faith Community and then I would love to hear from some of you.

My reason for recommitting is my passion for helping this community to become an anti-racist church. I want to help us become a church whose structures and processes for membership and leadership in the church are no longer dominated by white power and white cultural ways of doing things. I want to see us become a community where people of color have an equal say in leadership and decision-making. I want to see a Beloved Community in which all persons, regardless of their race, economic status, ability or gender orientation find a welcoming home and a place to offer their unique gifts and leadership. I believe 8th Day Faith Community has this potential and I want to work with all my strength to see this vision realized.

So now I would like to give you an opportunity to say why you have decided to commit or recommit to membership in 8th Day Faith Community. I would ask you to speak briefly about one main reason you made this decision.