Easter III: Creating Space for Others – David Brubacher – April 26/09

The Stuckeys, retired Mennonite missionaries to Colombia spoke at a chapel services while I was a student at Canadian Mennonite Bible College. They told a story that reflects how our world view impacts creating space for others.  The Stuckeys were house parents at a residential school for children. From their home community they had a preconceived understanding of activities appropriate for children. These assumptions were quickly tested.  On a Sunday afternoon the children wanted to go swimming. It was a hot day and what better way to stay cool. But for the Stuckeys going swimming on a Sunday was not acceptable. So what could they do? The Stuckeys checked their mental list of appropriate Sunday afternoon activities and concluded they could place baseball. As I recall from the story it did not go particularly well.

Telling the story many years after the fact the Stuckeys reflected how their culturally shaped understanding of appropriate activities impacted on what they expected of “others.” Playing baseball on a Sunday afternoon may have been permissible where they grew up but made little sense in a hotter climate where a swimming place was nearby. Reflecting on earlier assumptions through the eyes of their Colombian experience the Stuckeys helped us reflect on the challenges of moving across cultures.

 We are all born into a particular cultural and social context that shapes how we see the world. These lenses determine how we come to think of ourselves and those different from ourselves. Race, culture and ethnicity are some of the ways we categorize people today.  There is significant academic debate around the definitions of race, culture and ethnicity. The appropriateness of such arbitrary groupings of humanity is also argued. For the sake of making a point I will attempt some very basic definitions gleaned from Wikipedia. Race generally refers to a categorization of individuals or groups based on inheritable traits such as skin colour and facial features. A cultural group is a group of people with shared attitudes, values, goals and practices. Since the twentieth century “culture” has emerged as a way of grouping people based on behaviour and beliefs rather than genetics. Ethnicity is a way of grouping people who share a common heritage either real or presumed.  I am obviously not a social anthropologist but I think we can easily recognize ourselves as belonging to multiple groups as such.  There is a certain comfort and order in knowing we belong with others. But as with the Stuckeys, sooner or later we come to realize how our sense of self can get in the way of creating space for others.

This sermon is the second in a series the preaching team is doing under the theme Living God’s Embrace: Who can measure?  We are addressing issues of self and other, hospitality, exclusion and embrace. We are also in the Christian season moving from Easter to Pentecost. In the resurrection of Jesus and the movement of God’s Spirit, there is another power and set of values that guide and shape our lives.  Miroslav Volf in his book Exclusion and Embrace argues there is a reality to which we belong as Christians that is far greater than race, culture and ethnicity. We belong to God and the new world God is creating; a world which includes people “from every nation and every tribe,” from every human group imaginable. The Kingdom ofGod transcends all human groups. Christian identity ought to be shaped accordingly.

The scriptures we have heard today offer a set of windows through which to look at ourselves and consider how we create space for others. Each scripture points us to one God, who is creator of all humanity. From beginning to end the scriptures tell of God’s efforts to bring people together, how they resist and how God persists.  God desires unity. Unity requires space for others. Yet as human groups gather unto themselves the less space there seems to be for others.

Jesus’ prayer for unity, heard from John 17, represents a high moment in a call and plea for unity among God’s people. It is not a plea for unity for the sake of unity, but grows from being in relationship as Jesus and God are in relationship.  Jesus begins
with a report. He reports having completed the task of making God known in the world and asks to return to God “the Father” in glory. The focus of the prayer, however, is not information sharing but the establishment of a special relationship, “that they (we) may be one as Jesus is one with God.”  As we heard the text it is largely a prayer of protection for those entering into this special relationship with God and with each other.  John’s gospel portrays God’s love for the world in the coming of Jesus – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that anyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” John also sees grave danger for believers caught in the value system of the world. Throughout history Christians have often withdrawn into a world of their own. In an attempt to be removed from others, God has often moved otherwise.

Last Sunday we heard about the Mennonite World Conference to be held in Paraguay this summer. Initially Mennonites went there to get away from requirements of North American governments or to find a place of refuge following the upheaval of the Russian revolution. With time the Mennonite colonists came to know the indigenous people of the area and over many years created space to include the native peoples of Paraguay.  The temptation, however, in today’s world, is not withdrawal, but total conformity with the prevailing values of the day. Both extremes may inhibit our ability to create space for others as Jesus prays.  Finally Jesus prays for unity among the disciples to come. At one level we might say Jesus’ prayer was a failure. Divisions, racial, cultural and ethnic divisions have abounded in the church. But the unity for which Jesus prayed was not about everyone always being nice toward each other and avoiding conflict. Jesus prays for a unity that grows in the space created for others.

We have all found ourselves in conflict. Resolving conflict often requires resources beyond our own. The other day a friend reminded me of my involvement in resolving a conflict in their family many years ago. Resolution was possible because all parties were ready to look honestly at what they brought to the conflict and open themselves to God’s presence in their midst. In so doing space was created for the other.  Whether in personal relationships or in relating to other groups of people, the space we need to create room for others grows from openness to God’s Spirit. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian official heard from Acts 8 is a classic example. The Book of Acts tells the story of Jesus’ disciples becoming witnesses to the resurrection beginning in Jerusalem and ultimately to the far corners of the world. It did not always happen in a straight line or in rocking chair ease.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, the fledgling group of Christians centred in Jerusalem struggled for their existence. Severe persecution led some like Philip to move to other places. Philip had gone to Samaria, a place once seen as hostile to the message of God’s love made known in Jesus. But through Philip’s gentle and caring presence people opened themselves to the good news of Jesus and some were baptized.  From there the Spirit of God prodded Philip to go along the road south of Jerusalem toward Gaza. It was then and to this day remains a place largely surrounded by wilderness. There Philip encountered an Ethiopian man on his way home from having been to Jerusalem to worship God.

It seems the first century readers of the text saw the man as a fascinating individual. But who was he? For Philip he represented one who was “other.” As an Ethiopian he was a black man, a person of another race than Philip himself. If he was indeed a eunuch, a castrated male, he would have been considered defiled and not able to worship in the temple along with God’s people the Jews. However, neither race nor religious acceptability kept God’s Spirit from sending Philip to this man. Clearly what God is doing in the world transcends any lack of space human beings might have for those who are different in some way.

As Philip came alongside the chariot he heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. In asking the question, Philip met the man where he was. If being open to the leading of God’s spirit is a first step in creating space for others; then meeting them where they are at is a second step. From this place of meeting Philip and the Ethiopian man were able to encounter God and each other. Space for the other was created.  Philip explained all that God has done through Jesus. As Philip listened and spoke, God’s spirit continued to move. The Ethiopian man was moved to make a confession of faith in what God is doing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. When they came to a body of water he asked to be baptized. As the man and Philip came up out of the water, the text tells us Philip was snatched away by the Spirit of God while the man continued on with great rejoicing in faith. According to some traditions this man may have been instrumental in establishing the Ethiopian Coptic Church, where our own Zere family has their religious roots.

God’s people were originally called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. It did not happen while they stayed in their own land. Abram was called to leave his homeland. Philip left Jerusalem. This pattern has been repeated over and over in the history of God’s people. Through disaster, captivity and persecution God’s people have found themselves in places and alongside people they had not anticipated. It has most often been in these places rather than the comfort and security of being in the peaceful surroundi
ng of people like themselves that God’s people have moved to create space for the other. 

Miroslav Volf suggests when Christians take distance from their own culture, born out of an ultimate allegiance to God that is where space is created for others. The second function of such space forged by the Spirit of new creation, Volf argues, is the ability to judge the evil within one’s own culture, race or ethnic group. 

The world today is crying for people who are committed to creating space for others. Distancing and protecting ourselves from others only leads to an escalation of violence. Tony Campolo, whom our youth heard speak at Peace it Together tells a story about Mother Teresa.  Mother Teresa learned how to create space for others in caring for those rejected and left to die on the streets of Calcutta. She later founded the Sisters of Charity.

Not far from the school where Tony taught a group wanted to open a halfway house for people leaving a mental health institution. The community was in an uproar. Five hundred people squeezed into community hall to voice their disapproval. In short order the city council voted unanimously to reject the proposal.  Mother Teresa was in the community for the opening of a new Sisters of Charity program. After the city council made its decision the back door opened and in walked Mother Teresa. With TV cameras in tow she walked down the center aisle and knelt in front of the council, raised her arms and said, “In the name of Jesus, make room for these children of God.” Then she lifted her arms five times saying, “Please, please, please, please, please, in the name of God, make room for these people! Make room for them in your neighbourhood.”  Almost as quickly there was a motion to overturn the motion to reject the proposal. The motion was quickly seconded and again passed unanimously. People who create space for others in their lives inspire others to create space for others.

One of the growth edges in the Christian church today is the growing number of multi-racial and multi-cultural worshipping communities. Those on the forefront of this movement argue that in today’s world you cannot be the church if everyone is of the same mind, race, culture or ethnic group. We can only be the church where we create space for others. Amen.