Don’t put a period, where God has put a comma

 

Before our final hymn, we ask those celebrating anniversaries to come forward for prayer. Couples come up and turn to face the congregation. “How long?” we ask, and they answer, “Two years” or “12 years” or “62 years,” and then we pray for them as they begin another year of the joys and challenges of a committed relationship.

A few Sundays ago my sermon was about Paul—yes, that Paul, who gets a bad rap from those who judge him by letters he didn’t write. Really, I insisted, Paul’s message throughout his letters is two-fold—“Don’t give up the freedom you’ve been given in Christ,” and “Be willing to rein in your freedom out of love.”

“That’s why,” I said, “we call people to come forward to celebrate anniversaries. Because they have followed the call of God to rein in their freedom for the sake of love. Love is that willingness to limit freedom on behalf of another.”

Having waxed so eloquent in my sermon, I asked, “Are there any anniversaries?” Three couples came forward.

“How long?”

“Twenty-nine years in covenant. Married one year.”

“Twenty-one years in covenant. Married one year.”

“Eleven years in covenant. Married one year.”

Here were three same sex couples, who had chosen to limit their freedom for the sake of love, for decades. And finally, a year ago, they could marry.

I felt moved by these couples. Moved by the human spirit which despite persecution will choose the harder love of commitment over the easier love of moving on when things get tough.

I proudly call myself “progressive.” I believe in core truths about honoring human dignity and covenant love deepening through tough times.

These are truly biblical values. But people have struggled to realize their implications—thus people lived quite happily with slavery or were cruelly racist for millennia. For centuries it was assumed that women should be trapped in abusive marriages. Colonialism’s foisting of culture on another’s was not a problem. Mistreatment of gays and lesbians was approved.

As a progressive, I believe that God is at work in the world, and God is changing things. How wonderful, that we, living in 2014, can’t imagine how someone could have said, “Sure slavery is fine. Look at what the Bible says.” We can’t fathom how people could be hateful to mixed race couples.

Within these major pillars of love, justice and respect for human dignity, God works through people to make the world a better place. We have seen this in many of our great progressive heroes—Lincoln, Wilberforce, Mandela.

Sometimes people confuse “progressive” with relativism. A favorite theologian of mine—Dorothee Soelle—says that the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is relativism, that says, “Hey, whatever. Doesn’t matter.”

She grew up in Hitler’s Germany in a family that was proudly “liberal,” enjoying concerts while their neighbor Jews were hauled to concentration camps. This kind of relativism says marriage vows only matter when they feel good. That we only care for those less fortunate than ourselves if they are attractive. That recycling (or honesty) is too much of a nuisance. This attitude, according to Soelle, is passive and lazy.

Being progressive can be hard. Think of Bonhoeffer going back to Germany even though it would mean his death. Or of Martin Luther King Jr. continuing to give speeches in the face of threatening opposition. American abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation are those who want crops without plowing up the ground.”

Jesus was progressive. He did not say, “Whatever. If it feels good, then go for it…” Jesus called people to follow a radical, counter cultural ideal. His actions shocked people by presenting a greater vision than had come before: he treated women as full human beings who could follow as disciples, welcomed the dregs of society as if they were important. Jesus knew that God’s revelation was not finished with the Old Testament, but that the message would continue to unfold.

Progressive Christians echo Gracie Allen in saying, “Don’t put a period, where God has put a comma.” God is at work and we join God in our commitments, our struggles, our looking ahead to see where we’re being called in our commitment to human dignity.

Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Mary Ellen Ashcroft, Vicar of Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church.