Rev. Tessie Mandeville
March 4, 2007
Christ Covenant MCC
Decatur, GA 30033

Last week we started our new Lenten sermon series called, Where the Wild One Leads, the “Wild One” being our amazing God of love and grace, whose presence in the journey of Jesus through the desert to the cross, and empty grave, is at the heart of our faith. During this Lenten season, we will explore the humanity of Jesus, his profound sense of calling, and in doing this we will make the connection between Jesus’ journey and our journey as Christ Covenant MCC, today. We’ll also remind ourselves of the larger MCC movement that we are connected to. MCCs around the world are using this sermon series, Where the Wild One Leads which was created as a resource for the local churches by a team of people who work for MCC, one of them being Rev. Glenna Shepherd, the founding pastor of Christ Covenant MCC. I love feeling connected to churches across the country and world in this way and I hope you do too.

Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon joined us last week and talked about Wild Surrender, that way of letting go, releasing ourselves and trusting in the bigger plan for our lives. You might remember that she gently reminded me that whatever the bigger plan is, I am not in control of it! She was wrong! Just kidding! It is always good to be reminded that I am not in control, painful lesson though it is. It was a wonderful sermon, a beautiful Installation service and a great reception. The day couldn’t have been better.

And here we are today, the second Sunday in Lent, trying to the follow the Wild One. We’re trying to look at the difference between making Lenten sacrifices out of habit and making authentic, spiritual sacrifices that align us with God’s wonderful, wild and extravagant grace and generosity towards us. I want to thank Jenny Webb, an artist in our midst, who created the art work for our banners. Not only is it good to talk about the journey but it’s a wonderful gift to have visuals and art to enhance the journey. Each week you will see something new on the banners that have to do with the theme for that week.

Today we work with the theme, Wild Words. Today we talk about how to raise our voices in sacred defiance. I talked with my mom this weekend and I told her about the sermon series and the theme for today. And then I told her that my rebellion as a teenager was simply me raising my voice in sacred defiance. My mother said, “Well, I don’t know how sacred it was but it sure was loud!”

Defiance simply means “a bold resistance to opposing forces.” But there is another definition that says it’s a “contemptuous attitude.” That’s why we’re calling it “sacred.” “Sacred defiance.” Because the "sacred" tempers that contemptuous attitude. It’s that bold resistance without bitterness.

In the gospel reading, Jesus clearly aligns himself with the prophets, with their voices of sacred defiance. He raises his own voice in sacred defiance when he confronts Herod, calling him “that fox!”  When Jesus called Herod a fox, I don’t think he was calling him good-looking, but then again, I wasn’t there and we don’t know everything about Jesus! And after yesterday’s conference, we have to question everything.

However, I actually do believe that Jesus was getting Herod’s attention when he called him a fox. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was a dangerous insult. But Jesus got his point across to the person in power at that time. Jesus said, “I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way.” I believe he was saying, “I am on a mission. I am following where the Wild One leads me; I am saying the wild words that I am called to say and Herod cannot stop me.”

Jesus didn’t hold back; he said what he came to say. Psalm 27 urges us to be fearless, and to trust in God to handle all the opposition we will experience.  And even if our father and mother forsake us, and some of them have, God will be with us as we open our hearts and voices to the Holy One. 

Yesterday, at our Liberating the Bible conference, we did not hold back. That might be the understatement of the year! We raised our voices in sacred defiance over what we’ve been taught about the Bible. LGBT people are a people who have suffered under the weight of misrepresentation of the Bible in our churches and families of origin in which we grew up. We raised our voices in sacred defiance yesterday and said, “If the gospel does not bring about liberation, it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.” We said, “All sexes, genders and sexualities are made in God’s image and God calls them, and us, good.” That is sacred defiance. It is bold resistance without bitterness; it is taking back our power and standing our ground. It is saying that sometimes, as Bishop Yvette Flunder said, “Sometimes we have to tear pages out of our Bible.” We have to say, “Nope that doesn’t work for me and tear it out.”

I know we’ve probably all heard it said, or even said it ourselves: We cannot push too much or be too public; we have to be respectful of other’s opinions and traditions.  But there is a difference—a radical difference—between respect for divergence of opinion and allowing that divergence to pass for the kind of truth that can justify excluding the children of God. For instance, removing someone from the clergy roster because he’s in a loving, committed gay relationship, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church has done to Rev. Bradley Schmeling. The larger Church didn’t mind so much about Bradley being gay until he started using his body, in a loving, intimate and sexual way with another man. Make no mistake about it; if Bradley was celibate, they wouldn’t be having this same conversation. But he’s not, and here’s the thing: He shouldn’t have to be. If the incarnation, God made flesh, is also at the heart of our faith, then our flesh, our bodies, and what we do with them, is vital to our spirituality. Our bodies and our desires inform our spirituality.

I believe the Evangelical Lutheran Church knows what they are doing is wrong. You know why? Because they removed Bradley from the roster but not before recommending to the wider Evangelical Lutheran Church that they change their policy. They know their policy is wrong and yet they feel obliged to “follow the rules.” But the Wild One calls us to do the right thing no matter what the rules say. The Wild One calls us to do the right thing first and then to change the rules; not the other way around.

It is Mel White, leader of Soulforce, who says, “Love demands that we quit cooperating with those who oppress us.  It is time for a campaign of relentless nonviolent resistance that will convince our adversaries to do justice at last.  They have assumed that we are infinitely patient or too comfortable to call for revolution.  For their sake…, we must prove them wrong.”

And I say, for our sake too, we must prove them wrong. We don’t have to cooperate with those who would oppress us. We can raise our voices in sacred defiance. We can show bold resistance without bitterness. We can take back our power and stand our ground.

I believe acts of sacred defiance will look differently for each one of us. There are wild words that you, and only you, are called to say. I don’t know what those wild words of sacred defiance are for you but I’d love to hear about them. Send me an email. Talk to me on the phone. Talk with one another. Let’s talk about the areas of our lives in which we are raising our voices in sacred defiance.

Yesterday at our conference we witnessed a parade of prophets—Rev. Erin Swenson, Bishop Yvette Fluner, Rev. Elder Jim Mitulski, Dr. Justin Tanis, Kent Brintnall, Rev. Bradley Schmeling. They are in a line of faithful spirits. But we are faithful spirits too. We are called to be part of that parade. To join that unbroken line. To hear the Wild One’s call. To raise our voices in sacred defiance of all that would tell any of God’s children that we are anything less than the image of God.  And know that God will be with us as we open our hearts and voices to the Holy One. Let it be so. Amen.

As heard in Rev. Penny Nixon’s sermon in 2003. Visit www.mccsf.org for further information.