Sermon Note: The Respectable Church

Introduction

Our series has followed the people called Methodist from the prisons of Oxford to the open fields of Bristol, wherever respectable religion had drawn a line and decided who was worth its time. As the movement grew into an institution, it began to prize its reputation, its membership rolls, and its standing in polite society. Again and again, when faithfulness and respectability seemed in opposition, the Methodists chose respectability. We built beautiful churches and even growing churches, and we also lost some of our nerve.

Our scriptures this week illustrate that same tension. Amos watched Israel keep beautiful worship, with festivals, songs, and generous offerings, while the poor were trampled and justice was denied. Jeremiah warned the worshipers not to trust a physical structure to keep them safe while they neglect the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. These ancient prophets write with passion, and this may cause us to ask if a church can be both impressive and unfaithful at the same time. This week we consider what God asks of the people who gather to worship, and what it would take for our worship and our justice to finally agree.

Illustration Video

Why This Video?

A new priest has arrived, and he wants to be accepted. So each week he hands his homily to the most powerful man in town and lets him edit it into something that won’t cause controversy. It is the “respectable” thing to do, and it seems to keep the peace. But while he preaches these tidy, pre-approved sermons, his neighbors freeze out a newcomer and her child just outside the church doors because they’re different.

Seeing that exclusion up close moves him. On Easter morning the young priest finally breaks free of his fears and proclaims that we shouldn’t measure our goodness by what we resist, what we deny ourselves, or whom we refuse to let in, but by what we welcome, what we create, and whom we include. He risks his social standing and carefully-crafted approval for the sake of justice.

Video Discussion Questions

1. The young priest hands his homily to the powerful town mayor and lets him edit it into something safe to avoid conflict and offense. When have you softened what you really thought in order to stay in someone’s good graces? What were you afraid would happen if you didn’t?
2. For weeks the priest preaches a careful, tidy version of faith. Have you ever gone along with something you sensed was hollow because it was easier than speaking up? What kept you quiet?
3. He watches his neighbors shut out a newcomer and her child. When have you seen a community freeze someone out for being different? How did you respond?
4. Something about that exclusion finally changes the priest’s mind. What specifically changed your mind about how you treat people who don’t seem to fit in?
5. On Easter morning he sets the pre-approved script aside and speaks out in honesty and faith. When have you finally said what you believed, even if it was risky? Where did the courage to do this come from?
6. The priest suggests we measure goodness by what we welcome rather than by what we refuse. Where have you seen goodness measured by what people avoid? Where have you seen goodness measured by what people embrace? What does that comparison tell you?
7. By the end, the priest risks his hard-won approval to preach with his own voice instead of someone else’s. What would you risk if you stopped performing for people or approval?

Amos 5:18-24 (NRSVue)

¹⁸Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
    Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light,

¹⁹    as if someone fled from a lion
    and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
    and was bitten by a snake.

²⁰Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
    and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

²²Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

²⁴But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Jeremiah 7:1-11 (NRSVue)

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you who enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. ⁴Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”

⁵For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

⁸Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? I, too, am watching, says the Lord.

Scripture Study Questions

1. Amos describes people who long for “the day of the Lord,” expecting rescue, only to hear that for them it will be darkness and not light. Why might a religious people be so confident that God is on their side? When could that confidence be dangerous?
2. Through Amos, God says, “I hate, I despise your festivals,” and then, “let justice roll down like water.” Why do you think God rejects worship that is sincere and well-performed? What does this tell us about what God values?
3. If God measured our congregation’s faithfulness by our justice rather than by our worship services, what do you think God would see? Where would we be strong, and where would we fall short?
4. Jeremiah stands in the temple gate and tells the worshipers to stop trusting the words “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” What are our modern equivalents, the things we trust to keep us safe and faithful without changing how we live?
5. Jeremiah ties true worship to how Judah treats “the alien, the orphan, and the widow.” Who are the vulnerable people on the edges of our community today? What does our treatment of them suggest about our worship?
6. Jeremiah asks whether the temple has become “a den of robbers,” a safe hideout for people who do harm and then come to worship. How can a church become a hiding place rather than a place of transformation? Have you seen this happen?
7. Both prophets insist that God cares more about justice than about impressive religion. Where do you sense God calling our congregation to let justice roll down, even if it makes us less comfortable or less respectable?

Additional (Optional) Questions

1. Think of a time you came to worship while something in your life was out of step with your faith. What was that experience like? What helped you bring the two back together?
2. We often judge a church by its building, its attendance, or its music. What would it look like to judge a church instead by who feels welcome there?
3. When has being “respectable” gotten in the way of doing the right thing, whether at work, in your family, or in your community?
4. Amos pictures justice as a stream that never runs dry. Where have you seen that kind of steady, life-giving justice at work? What sustained it?
5. Who is currently outside the circle of welcome in our community, and what would it take for us to make room for them?

Weekly Action

Begin with prayer this week: ask God to show you where your worship and your daily life do not yet line up, and where you may have settled for looking faithful instead of being faithful. Then take time to listen. Spend a few quiet minutes each day paying attention to who comes to mind, especially someone who may be overlooked or at the margins. When a person or a need comes to mind, continue to listen for God’s guidance. Then make a specific plan (a welcome, a visit, an apology, an act of advocacy, gift of time). Take the first step before the week is out. Then share what happened with a trusted spiritual partner, family member or a small group, and discuss how this aligns with God’s justice.

Prayer

God of justice and mercy, you take no delight in empty ceremony, and you long for justice to roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Open our ears to hear your call, and open our hearts to the people you love: the stranger, the struggling, and those on the margins. Give us the courage to respond to your call, the strength to act, and the faith to keep going when the road is hard. Let our worship and our justice agree, so that what we sing on Sunday inspires what we do on Monday. Send us into the world ready to listen and ready to move, and roll down your justice through us, so that we might become the church you call us to be. Amen.

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This content was developed by Rev. Bob Rhodes using AI tools in alignment with La Jolla UMC AI Usage Guidelines. In this case, AI assisted with initial drafting and iterative refinement. All final text was reviewed and approved by Rev. Rhodes.