Sometimes Love Requires us to Maximize Mission and Minimize Dogma

by Carl Mazza

Now Abraham was a very rich man. If you go back to the Old Testament, you see that he was the richest man of his day, so it was not a rich man in hell talking with a poor man in heaven; it was a little millionaire in hell talking with a multimillionaire in heaven. Dives didn't go to hell because he was rich; Dives didn't realize that his wealth was his opportunity. It was his opportunity to bridge the gulf that separated him from his brother Lazarus. Dives went to hell because he was passed by Lazarus every day and he never really saw him. He went to hell because he allowed his brother to become invisible. Dives went to hell because he maximized the minimum and minimized the maximum. - Martin Luther King, Jr., Sermon, "A Knock at Midnight" - From Luke 16:19-31

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? ... Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and the Lord will say, Here I am. - Isaiah 58:6-9

I was at a church dinner, when one of the pastors whose congregation is part of the Rotating Winter Shelter leaned over to tell me an amazing thing: "We are hosting our week with the church across the street from us," he said, "in all the years I can't recall a single project in which our two churches have ever worked together. Now we are joining together in mission to provide hospitality and fellowship to folks we both care about so much. It is a remarkable thing!"

The following day I received a letter from a friend, a life-long Presbyterian who is struggling to remain a member of his local church which is splitting apart over doctrinal disputes. As the church's unity has deteriorated, so has its commitment to mission - a local homeless shelter is failing for lack of support, even as the need is growing rapidly. As internal disputes over spiritual purity and inclusion/exclusion continue, so the church's charge to engage the world for redemption, justice, and love languishes into insignificance.

Martin had a way of expressing it simply: our most grave spiritual crisis occurs when we maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum. When Christians, filled with passion for transient and superficial issues, neglect the weightier matters of the faith, and witnessing to the love that saves, we blind ourselves to God's spirit in our midst.

In Cecil County, many churches have been experiencing a remarkable "new thing." Partly, it is an unanticipated revival of our mutual commitment to mission. Churches of all denominations, without exception, and a wide perspective of opinion from conservative to liberal, even radical - have come together in a mutual labor of love: To redeem the life and soul of our community. Doors of sanctuaries, fellowship halls, and church houses have been opened to persons and families experiencing homelessness. Not just places, but hearts and souls. A living fellowship has awakened among us that looks past the differences we may have with each other to focus on what we hold most dear and truly share in common: A heart commitment to spreading good news among those in need, from the woods and byways to the fellowship at the great table of God.

Speaking of tables, we have been gathering in the fellowship halls of each other's churches as the shelter has rotated. It is common to see Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Wesleyans, non-denominational, Catholic, Episcopal, Assembly of God, AME - all gathered around in one another's churches before and after supper is served in the evening. At the dinner table, women, men, even children experiencing homelessness are gathered with others as friends and there is a love which permeates the fellowship. No one wants to raise the issues that divide us so bitterly at times, everyone wants to talk about the needs and happenings of people, what help is available in the community, and what more we can do together in our common mission. Hymn sings have broken out spontaneously on numerous occasions, and the frequent comment is heard that sometimes an evening at the "shelter" seems more like "church" than church itself!

Such was one evening when Pleasant View Baptist Church of Port Deposit was hosting the shelter at First Assembly of God Church in Elkton. An older couple who had recently moved from the shelter into their own apartment appeared at dinnertime to visit and attend the evening service. When they walked into the room there were spontaneous smiles and squeals of excitement from everyone, hugs and huge smiles to see folks that were now in their own housing once again. Everyone then sat down and continued to eat, there was plenty of food for everyone, and the conversation around the tables was lively as folks shared their good news and simple, warm fellowship. Persons from some other churches were there as well, and there was nothing to divide us - only a Great Spirit for each other which cemented our unity, and our love for each other .
This unity of purpose is significant because it lets us maximize our highest calling. Surely there is enough to divide us, but the faces of the folks in this remarkable community are common to us all, as is the need of God's amazing grace and unconditional love. The earliest Christians had no trouble fighting among themselves, and dissipating their energy away from their great commission. Using his own life as an example, Paul pleaded with them continually to avoid minimizing their power, begging them to remain faithful to the mission:

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. - 1 Corinthians 9:19-22

A two-year old girl, with her parents, has been a recent resident of the rotating shelter. She doesn't smile much, and has trouble focusing and relating to the attention she is shown. Volunteers have come in with boxes of toys for her, and she delights in these as well as the attention the church young people give her. There is much being done to help this family, and it is rewarding every day to see more smiles and a toddler's face come alive. She can't know the depth of the theology, but the gift of play and nurture does that for which the greatest doctrine, at best, only serves to point. Her life and soul will belong only to the love that saves.

Some future day, when all secrets are known and our work on earth is weighed, it may be so that certain doctrines and creeds will stand above the others. Yet, of them all, we have yet to know which is beloved of God. Yet we do know how dearly she is loved, and to that truth indeed we are witnesses, says the Lord. For her to know this Good News, there is no other plan if the church falters in its mission.