Faith and Culture – Aldred H. Neufeldt – Jan. 30, 2011

Text: Ephesians 4: 25 – 5:2

Introduction
Some momentous events occurred this week.  On Monday, US President Obama gave his State of the Union Address to a packed Congress. Perhaps the most significant was to see Democrats and Republicans sitting inter-mingled together, rather than in groups where they could taunt each other.  On Wednesday, Prime Minister Harper arrived in Morroco and got a first hand education on what the citizen uprising in Tunisia meant to people in the Arab world, one that has spilled over to Egypt.  It remains to be seen whether these events will improve any of our foreign policies in that part of the world.  And, on Saturday, right here in Toronto, a group of TUMC men demonstrated that they could keep the house clean.   The TUMC Men went curling – and, well, the rocks had a habit of coming up short – or sailing right through – the house, that is (for the uninformed, the ‘house’ in curling is the ‘target’ where you seek to place your rocks).  What we missed in expertise, though, we made up for with a good time. 

While any one of these events could provide a jumping off point for a sermon on Mennonite affinity for Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, my focus is on a broader event with a longer time frame – the Christian church in change, and where the Mennonite voice may fit. 

That the church seems to be in a time of change is something sensed by many, and written about by a number.  Phyllis Tickle, in her book, talks about this as “the great emergence” i.  She argues that about every 500 years the Church cleans out its attic – it tosses out old and outmoded ways of thinking about how to understand the Scriptures and how it organizes itself, and adopts new ones.  It’s now 500 years since the Reformation.  The signs of the times, she argues, is that we are in the throes of another emerging reformation where we’ll see significant changes in denominational structures – where, most importantly, the central question to address is “where is now our authority for interpreting how we remain faithful to our Christian commitment, for how we read the scriptures?”  Emergent Christianity, she argues, would do well to draw on the Anabaptist practice of seeking understanding through quiet engagement with God and with each other in community. ii This is not dissimilar to Stuart Murray’s view in his book, the Naked Anabaptist, as mentioned by Marilyn last week.  

And, of course, we have experienced some such interest here and other congregations of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC).  In Eastern Canada, this Sunday, we have sister churches worshiping in 13 languages – quite different than a generation or two ago. It is from out of this diversity in MCEC that this sermon emerges.

An insightful question
A question about faith and culture was raised last fall from some of our newer churches. More than 300 participants from congregations throughout MCEC met in 7 area groups to discern where God’s Spirit is calling us in the 21st century. We had vigorous discussion on our theology, and how we are to interpret the growing interest in Mennonite Anabaptist understandings of how faith relates to right living.  

In the midst of this, a question was posed by a leader from a new congregation – the kind of question that causes one to re-think previous assumptions – not just once – but twice – raised in different words by two different people, in two different places, each from a church where the members come from quite different cultural traditions than those of the earliest Mennonites.  The question was: “what was it in your culture that enabled you to sustain your faith for 500 years?”  

My first instinct was to think back on an early learning about what it means to be Mennonite.   My father’s younger brother had joined the army, and died when I was about three.  I recall my father’s grief, but also the ambivalence in our small rural church as to whether he should have been part of the military.

That early experience said something about the culture I came from, as well as theology, I suppose, but it really was just a glimpse.  The question bears much more thinking.

Faith and Culture
Faith and culture are linked, of course.  Our faith does not grow in a vacuum. We had a series of sermons on the ‘Jewish Jesus’ last Spring expressly to help us to better understand the teachings of Jesus in its cultural context.   But, while it’s easy to say our understandings of the Bible are influenced by the culture within which we are embedded, it’s not so easy to see.  Whatever one’s cultural background, their attributes may have some attraction, but can also adversely affect faithful living.

It is because some of the adverse consequences that, for the last 30 or more years, North American Mennonites have sought quite intentionally to separate off culture from faith – for good reason.  Our peace position, our favoring of the Sermon on the Mount as a guide to Christian life, our way of reading and understanding the Scripture – not individualistically, but in conversation with others in our community of faith – these have little to do with the cultural trappings that distinguish one traditional group of Mennonites from another. We want our church to be inclusive. When talking of foods such as shoe-fly pie and borscht, or of how one group or another make decisions, it’s too easy for people from other cultural traditions to feel excluded. 

Yet, when a brother in faith says: “I would like to learn what it was about your culture that helped you sustain your faith over the last 500 years,” one has to take it seriously – to stop and think anew about how culture and faith are linked, and what it is of value that we may learn. These brothers and sisters have no interest in emulating the cultural traditions of ‘Dutch/Russian’ or ‘Swiss’ Mennonites – the people in their congregation come from and have pride in their own ancient cultural roots, and know their convoluted complexities and shortcomings. 

In thinking about how cultu
re helped sustain the Mennonite/Anabaptist faith through the times of being a persecuted minority as well as better times, and that conceivably can sustain us in facing the allure of temptations in today’s post-Christian society, it’s not a question about foods eaten, though food undoubtedly plays an important part in sustaining a community of any kind.  Rather, it taps into much deeper attributes.

What was it, for instance, about the culture out of which Maeyken Wens emerged in the 16th century?  She was the wife of a lay minister in Antwerp, and along with several other women was apprehended in 1573 as they were studying the Bible.  They were bound, confined to the severest prison, tortured, and eventually brought to the public square, tongues screwed to their palates so they couldn’t testify, and burned at the stake for refusing to turn from their faith. During her imprisonment she wrote several letters recorded in the book Martyrs Mirror, with the last written the night before she died.  To her husband she says: ‘… I’m tolerably well according to the flesh, also according to the spirit I trust I am doing my best, but my best is nothing special…”  To her 15 year old son she says: “…yield yourself to that which is good … heed the Lord’s chastening…call to the Lord for help….hate that which is evil…”  Here she is, knowing she will die a painful death, and finds the strength to encourage her family to remain steadfast.

Or what was it about the culture of Conscientious Objectors who, during World War II, worked in decrepit and dismal conditions of large insane asylums as then called. These were mostly farm boys with no training who, in ones or twos, served as the only staff on wards of 80 to 100 or more people.  Where Quakers gained a reputation for publicly advocating change in hospital treatment, untrained young Mennonite men, and later some young women, gained a reputation of improving mental health simply by giving patients respect and love, on a one to one basis.

Or what about the mid-twentieth century Mennonite culture in Canada when a brother sold his remarkably successful potato chip making business because he was convinced, in discernment with a group of men in his congregation, that the product, increasingly used in bars, was not the best way to witness for his God?

As I think on these and other touchstones, a number of cultural attributes come to mind that are sustainable over time.  From testimonies and written accounts, we have some confidence in saying it was common amongst these and other Mennonites to understand that:

•    The image of God is in every person.  One accepts others as a child of God,  no matter how disagreeable. 
•    One’s relationship with others is based on mutuality, not on differences of power or wealth or any other basis
•    Scripture is central to right living – as read, debated and interpreted within a community of believers.
•    One attends Church regularly – not as an obligation, but a joyful reflection  of one’s commitment to a life of faithfulness and the importance of Christian community.
•    Work and worship are one.
•    Faith is expressed by what you do more than by what you say. 
•    If God is the creator, then everything we’ve earned in life God owns
•    Our certainty of God means life can be lived in joy and serenity
•    Christian community means to be supportive of every member.

It seems to me these are the kinds of cultural traits that our two brothers were asking about in their question: “what was it that sustained you?”  There may be other traits you can think of.  I would invite you to mention them to me.

These are not superficial traits.  They begin with an identity grounded by God.  They are shaped by scripture, and by dialogue with our historical and theological tradition; and, they emerged within and are sustained by the context of the church community.  In this, these cultural attributes echo the aspirations of the Apostle Paul as set out in today’s text.

Applying the Apostle Paul’s lens on Christian living 
It’s easy to see why our early Mennonites felt an affinity for the writings of Paul, and in particular the book of Ephesians.  Where many of his writings involve long, convoluted sentences, the book of Ephesians uses straight forward, plain language – particularly today’s text. 

The Apostle knew something about life in hostile environments – he knew about the possibility of being martyred and of being misled by various temptations of the body and spirit.  His letter to the church in Ephesus demonstrates that.  When Paul writes his letter, he is a prisoner – quite aware that both he and the believers in Ephesus might well be killed for their expression of faith.  He’s also aware that the church in Ephesus and surrounding areas is very young – perhaps no more than 10 years old at the time of this letter.  The people to whom he’s writing aren’t schooled in Biblical thought – they’re not seminary graduates – and, at least for the most part, they’re not even familiar with the Jewish Bible.  They live in and come from a pre-Christian cultural context, dominated by beliefs in mystery religions, magic and astrology – and, no doubt, some of these new Christians are fearful of evil spirits and uncertain about how to think about their faith in Christ over against these. 

In the verses before those that are part of today’s text, Paul begins with a caution:

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.  (Eph. 4: 17 – 19).

“Don’t get caught up in the sensuality around you, or the greed – that is not the way of life you’ve learned”, Paul says, “those are counterfeit desires.”  This sounds very much like the words Maeyken Wens used in the letter to her son.  Rather, Paul says:

•     put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 
•     In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
•     Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer,
•     but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
•     Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
•     And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
•     Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
•     Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
•     Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph. 4:25 – 5:2).