Differing, without dividing: "politics" done right

As many of you know, I was treated to a wonderful surprise party on Monday afternoon at Waves Coffee Shop. And it really was a surprise, I can tell you! Kind words were shared, and I will long remember the smiling faces and laughter.

I think one of the most encouraging remarks came from Beth, our parish administrator and children’s ministry worker. And what Beth said to the group was, "I don’t always agree with Peggy."

It’s easy to be in a parish where everyone thinks the same way and arrives at the same conclusions. It’s a different challenge to gather and sustain a community of unique personalities who are, to a greater or lesser extent, different in their histories, outlook, theology, or approach. But I think that here at St. Clement’s, we largely succeed in doing that. We don’t always agree with each other but we have figured out that disagreement shouldn't lead to division. We do our best to disagree well.

Sure, sometimes feelings are hurt, or frustration bubbles over. But love wins, and we patch things up. We make the apologetic phone call. We try to listen a little harder. We look for ways to build up a person who may have been left feeling low. So I love that Beth feels comfortable saying, "I don’t always agree with Peggy." She knows, and I know, that you don’t have to agree about everything - and in fact, when you come right down to it, it’s pretty impossible to agree about everything, so if that’s our vision of a successful relationship, we’re bound to be disappointed.

You may think a discussion on disagreement is an odd way to celebrate the Feast of St. Clement, especially after our rip-roaring time last night, but in fact congregational discord is the topic for which St. Clement is famous. There are only a few things we know for sure about Clement, who died in about 100AD. Clement knew the apostle Peter and succeeded him as Bishop of Rome, if not directly then soon after. There are various stories about Clement, but many are unproven and some have been discounted.

It is said, for example, that he was banished from Rome and set to work in a stone quarry. His fellow prisoners were suffering from thirst, so Clement knelt down to pray for them. When he looked up, he saw a lamb on a hill and when he struck the hillside with his staff, a spring of clear water gushed forth. This miracle resulted in the conversion of many prisoners and pagans in the surrounding population. Legend has it that his captors punished Clement by taking him to sea, tying him to an anchor and throwing him off the side of the boat. Well, we don’t know whether or not that’s true; it does, however, explain why we have an anchor in our front yard (though I often emphasize instead God's love as our anchor in life, so I don’t give people nightmares about Clement’s alleged watery grave.)

One thing we do know for sure is that Clement wrote a letter to an early church community in Corinth that was plagued by deep discord and division. So while his purported death-by-anchor made him the patron saint of mariners and ironworkers, we might also nominate him as patron saint of the Highly Indignant.

We don’t know all the ins and outs of the Corinthian conflict, but it culminated in the deacons and congregation banishing a number of their priests, or presbyters as they were then known. Clement stepped in, told the deacons to stay in their lane, and chastised all parties for having allowed their disagreement to overshadow their allegiance to Christ. He concluded his letter by writing:

Our entire body, then, will be preserved in Christ Jesus, and each of us should be subject to his neighbour in accordance with the grace given to each. The stronger should care for the weak, and the weak should respect the stronger. The wealthy should give to the poor, and the poor man should thank God that he has set him someone to supply his needs. The wise should manifest their wisdom not in words but in good deeds, and the humble should not talk about their humility but allow others to bear witness to it.

The letter was read again and again, circulated to other churches, and was even included in some early versions of the New Testament. Its words rang true then and in most ways still do today. In today's gospel reading, set for St. Clement’s Day, Luke echoes Clement’s caution against judging or condemning each other, admonishing us to remove our own blindspots before pointing out each other’s. Parishioners within St. Clement’s or any church are not the same as each other, but our goal should be the same, and that goal should be the worship of God and faithful care of our neighbour.

Of course, what sounds reasonable in principle is not always easy in practice. Because caring for our neighbour isn’t just about writing a cheque for the Food Bank, important as that is. It’s about advocating for the societal and economic changes that would render Food Banks largely unnecessary. It’s not just about praying for peace in the world, important as that is; it’s about doing what we can to ensure our tax dollars or government leaders aren’t in one way or another enabling wars that unjustly imperil the innocent.

But that’s politics, some people will say, and politics don’t belong in church. Well, partisan politics don’t. We won’t ever tell you who to vote for. But politics, at its linguistic root, simply means the life of the city - how we run our towns and provinces and countries. And the Bible is full of politics, throughout the Old Testament and the New. From Moses challenging Pharaoh to "let my people go" to Mary, pregnant with Jesus, singing that God will pull the powerful from their thrones, to Jesus throwing over the moneylenders’ tables, the scriptures are full of political action. So if we, the Church, think that we have no rightful role to play in politics, we have forgotten our calling.

We are proud when we look back at examples of Christians who took stands against slavery, child labour, apartheid, or discrimination. Because once they are safely in the rearview mirror, such issues seem entirely straightforward. Well, of course we would have been against child labour!

But in fact the issue wasn’t so clear cut to the Christians of 19th century England. While many of them were appalled at five year olds working 12 to 16 hours in mines or cotton mills, other Christians were convinced that there was just no way for the country’s economy to survive without child labour, so they were not in favour of legislative efforts to protect the children’s safety and wellbeing. Many preachers were silent on the topic, fearing to give offence to either side. History often looks black and white from a distance, but when you’re in the middle of living it you’re usually surrounded by a hundred shades of grey.

So we may not always be of the same mind about current issues. But we can’t let that stop us from taking a hard look about what is going on outside our door, looking through the lens of faith as we do so. If we truly care about our neighbours, we have to pay attention to whether they are flourishing or floundering. If they are floundering, why? And what are we prepared to do about it?

I was reflecting on some of this when I walked by a large downtown church last week. A fellow with a leaf blower was halfway up the set of imposing front steps, busily clearing leaves away from the church’s granite entrance. As the church stairs and landing became more pristine, the city sidewalk out front became even more littered with half-rotted leaves. It wasn’t a good look, literally or figuratively. Churches that shoo away a messy world and retreat into tidy, comfortable detachment are at risk of misunderstanding entirely what it means to be a Christian.

Last week I mailed letters to premier-elect Lorne Doerkson and our newly elected MLA, Lynne Block. Midway through the letter, I wrote:

As deacon at St. Clement’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver, I am reminded daily that our calling is to love God and love neighbour. While people may have different understandings of the Divine, I hope we can agree that loving one’s neighbour is a foundational principle shared by those of good heart. I honestly don’t care whose "team" wins an election if I can see this attitude underpinning their work. So as your "team" has won, I put pen to paper to ask you to do the important work of governing with grace, humility and compassion. All our neighbours, in every corner of the province, deserve respect, care and understanding. Our neighbours are in boardrooms and in classrooms, in farms and on freeways; they are the well-housed and the homeless; they are those who have a leg up in the world and those whom the world has knocked down. To the best of your ability, please remember those who have suffered exclusion, intolerance, or indifference. They need you and your compassion - as does our planet home, which cannot sustain our careless handling forever.

What we ask of our leaders I hope we would try to live into ourselves. So that brings us back to our own congregation. Do I think that each of us should pick up a banner to march about Issue X or Topic Y? No, I don’t. I imagine we are drawn to a range of different causes. I know that some of us are called to quiet prayer while others lean to protest marches, and that we all bring different perspectives to topics ranging from pipelines to bike lanes, from land acknowledgements to budget priorities.

But let us continue to find within our dissimilarities a common commitment to following the way of Jesus. A commitment to meeting each other with grace and kindness; to listening with curiosity to those who think differently and being humble enough to consider when maybe they have a point.  To consider that perhaps it takes a village to find the most Jesus-shaped path, and to give thanks that we do not walk that path alone.

So thank you, Beth, for sometimes disagreeing with me while still always loving me. Thank you to all of us who hang in there with sermons or conversations that can get uncomfortable. Thank you for the party-makers and peacebuilders among us, who set a festive table and remind us of the joy of community. May this congregation of St. Clement be known as a people of God who make real the love of God, now and for many decades to come. Amen.