Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20
New Ark United Church of Christ,
Newark, DE
October 5, 2014
Earlier this week I received two
letters from Andover Newton Theological School, the likes of which I have never
seen before, nor am I likely to see again.
Martin Copenhaver is the newly-elected president of Andover Newton, and
today is his inauguration service. He
has written several books on living the life of faith and has been widely
published in national periodicals.
Formerly he was senior minister at Wellesley Village Congregational
Church, the largest congregation in the Massachusetts Conference. To me, it looked like they had hired a rock star.
In
his letter to alumni, Rev. Copenhaver confessed to having had an extramarital
relationship prior to his candidacy for the office of seminary president. He has asked forgiveness from his family and
from the trustees, faculty, staff and students of Andover Newton. The purpose of his letter is to ask
forgiveness from the wider seminary community.
He writes that he has entered a season of self-examination and
repentance that he trusts will make him a better person and a stronger
leader. Our God is a God of redemption,
and Martin holds to that belief, now even closer.
Accompanying
his letter was a letter from the Board of Trustees, who met recently to decide
not only the future of Martin Copenhaver’s presidency but of Andover Newton
itself. Martin offered to resign, but
after a thorough investigation, the trustees voted to pursue a way forward with
Martin as president. They felt they owed
it to students to provide a model of repentance and reconciliation for their
own ministries that includes both accountability and the good news of the
gospel. The trustees did not want to
even delay the inauguration but rather to give the sign that indeed the seminary
and its new, very human, humbled, not-a-rock-star president were moving forward together.
This
is what it means to live in covenant, in a mutual relationship, even when trust
has been broken. This is what it means
to live by the Word, to live by God’s law even when God’s law is disobeyed. The Ten Commandments were intended to be more
than a list of shalt not’s or suggestions.
The Law of Moses, which shaped the faith and life of Jesus, was not merely
an external code but an internal way of being, a sign of God’s love for God’s
people.
In
Deuteronomy God tells the Israelites that they shall put these words of God,
these words of life, in their heart and in their soul. In Jeremiah when God gives a new covenant we
read that God will put the law within the people, write it on their hearts, and
remember their sin no more. In Jesus
that law, that Word, was made flesh, and in him we see that God’s law is
love. There is no greater love than to
lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Or
for one’s community. And so when we
break the bread and drink from the cup, we not only remember Jesus’ life and
death, but we also eat and drink that Word that gives life, that Word which is
love.
What
we eat becomes part of our DNA, makes for healthy cells, strong bones and muscles,
flexible minds, and soft hearts. Our
spiritual food, what we ingest from God’s table, from God’s Word, does much the
same for our souls. We are what we
eat. What is the word that you need from
this table today?
And
sometimes we have to eat our words, like Martin, like the Board of Trustees at
Andover Newton. But if those words are
founded on loving God first and above all, if they are grounded in
accountability but also in the good news of the gospel, those words have the
power to transform not only a human life but a whole community.
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