Word from Winkler — First among equals

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism, told the United Methodist Council of Bishops this spring that our denomination is “first among equals” as far as presence on the U.S. Capitol Hill is concerned. “It is the largest, most effective entity within the religious community that keeps us grounded,” he said. “It provides the staff, the resources, that often guides us. It plays a lead role in so many issues that we care so deeply about.”

Most United Methodists are not aware of our ministry and witness.

Most United Methodists are not aware of our ministry and witness in places like Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations. I understand that. I am the son, nephew and brother of United Methodist pastors, and yet I had almost no awareness of the denomination beyond the local church while growing up. That’s the way it is.

Our voice is more important now than ever in the halls of power. We are working with the White House and Congress on critical matters such as health-care reform and climate-change legislation. This is a significant moment.

I’ve spoken to several capable, committed clergy recently who have said to me: “You know, Jim, I’d really like to see my congregation become more involved in social justice. Do you have any ideas?”

I believe we have a lot of pastors like that. They’re willing to push and pull their congregations, but they’re not sure how to do it.

I have spoken recently to some pastors entering new appointments. I have told them that while, not after, they are getting to know their people and the culture of their congregation, they also need to get to know the local, state and national elected officials and their staffs, as well as the advocacy organizations around them.

It is irresponsible to turn inward while God’s very creation is at risk.

This stands in stark contrast to a columnist for the United Methodist Reporter who recently wrote: “Social activism then becomes the flip side of the church’s refusal to engage in calling individual sinners to repentance. We know we should be doing something for Jesus, so we look to what enlightened people in society at large are doing and focus our attention there. That usually results in a list consisting of ending poverty, stopping genocide, fighting AIDS and reversing global warming. … The first task of the church [is] proclaiming salvation — a salvation that is about an inward change of the heart and that results in an outwardly changed life.”

We can focus on personal salvation and social justice. John Wesley and Jesus certainly did so. These are two sides of the same coin. In today’s world it is irresponsible to turn inward while God’s very creation is at risk.

The great El Salvadoran Archbishop, Oscar Romero, assassinated in 1980 for his courageous opposition to the military dictatorship in his country, once said:

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone; that’s the way too many would like preaching to be. Those people who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.

The Sunday sermon must be a place where our pastors give us both the pastoral and prophetic word. Many of our pastors are downright scared to preach the word because of the reaction they fear from angry laity who think they own God’s pulpit. We need to affirm the freedom for our pastors to share the Word of God with us.

We need to hold one another accountable for how we live our lives.

We need to hold one another accountable for how we live our lives, how we make our living, how we spend our money. Too often, we put niceness above all else in the church. You know, Jesus chose his disciples carefully. I don’t believe he chose the first 12 he came across. He chose committed people who suffered after Jesus’ death because they believed in what he stood for.

As I travel and speak and preach, I find a hunger for the church to speak truth to power, to take risks concerning the great moral and social issues of our day and to be unafraid to move beyond concerns of money and power and the fear that the “big givers” will desert us. Many of them already have. But there are hundreds of thousands of followers of Jesus Christ in the Wesleyan tradition who hunger, yearn for the whole image of God to be restored in our theology and ethics.

With God’s help and with courageous leadership, we can help transform fear to trust, anger to forgiveness, grief to compassion, narrow self-interest to mutual solidarity.