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• For Us or Against Us   Mark 9:38-50   (see below)
  Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel
   

• A Case for Tolerance, Mark 9:38-50, Rev. Frank Schaefer
   

• Cut it Out!  Mark 9:38-50, by Rev. Randy Quinn 
   

• Outside In,  Mark 9:38-50, by Rev. Rick Thompson
   

• Make This Your Common Practice, James 5:13-20
  by Rev. Thomas Hall

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For Us or Against Us
sermon based on Mark 9:38-50
Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel

Several years ago about two dozen of us went to Welsh West Virginia to do flood clean up. We came from all over - men and women, young and old, those with skills and experience- and several like myself- folks who were “grunts.” We had no particular skills. But what we lacked in skill, we made up for in enthusiasm. We stayed in a church manse and every day we went off to our job site. We were all given jobs to do. I was assigned to tear down soggy sheet rock, a job which I really liked. There was a young man who showed up at the work site every day. His name was William. His hair was stringy and his clothes

were scruffy, but his face was shining. William was there to help. And he hauled in supplies. He handed people tools. He took out garbage. It was great to have a young person with strength there to help out. And William was there at the site when we arrived and stayed till when we left. I don’t know much about him. I remember that he was in his late teens, early twenties perhaps. The one thing that I do remember with great clarity was that William was an atheist. He told us that right from the start. It was as if he was challenging us: “I’m an atheist. Is that a problem?” Well it wasn’t a problem for me and I suspect that it wasn’t a problem for anyone in our group. At least no one made any attempt to convert him on the spot. I think we all knew that God’s Holy Spirit was clearly at work in William’s life. William didn’t believe in God and yet, he was clearly doing God’s work alongside of God’s people. So was William for us? Or against us? Was he in the circle of God’s love? Or outside of it?

From the earliest days of the church, people have fretted and fussed over who is in and who is out and how we decide it. In the story that we have just heard, from Mark’s gospel, the disciples are disturbed about a situation. And the disciples go to Jesus to report the problem, “Teacher, there is someone casting out demons in your name. “ Now you have to wonder why it bothered them. I mean, what was the problem: that someone was casting out demons in the name of Jesus? Wasn’t that a good thing? Why were they worried? Were they worried about the competition? Were they worried because of denominational differences? Were they worried because he had a different theology- that the one casting out demons was too liberal or too conservative? Why were the disciples worried? The “demon caster” was doing God’s work. What was the problem?

The disciples soon disclose what’s on their mind. “Teacher, he’s not following us.” Aha! Not following us.. Notice they don’t say, “He’s not following you, Jesus. They say, “ He’s not following us.” It’s that old us versus them theology. That was the problem. It was a problem for the disciples as it continues to be a problem in the church today. When we practice “us” versus “them” theology, we forget our mission. When we practice gate keeping (carefully monitoring who can come in and who can’t), we forget our mission. When we draw the circle smaller, not wider, we forget our mission. And what is our mission? To share and to show the love of God that we know in Christ Jesus. Many of the mainline churches seem to be arguing constantly over who can serve and who can’t. We fight about it at our regional gatherings and church conventions. But serving was not a big issue for Jesus. Jesus was not terribly concerned about the man casting out demons in his name. He said, “Do not stop him. No one who does a deed of power in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me.” We need to look beyond our theological differences. We need to look beyond our denominational differences. We need to look beyond the color of our skin and beyond the languages that we speak and learn to serve the Lord together and to do mission together; to work together side by side doing flood cleanup; serving in soup kitchens, handing out baskets of food: things like this!

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