The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Chapman
Pastor | Creative | Bad Ass
“AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER? YES. YOU ARE. NOW ACT LIKE IT.”
MY SHORTEST SERMON, PREACHED SEPTEMBER 2018
It was a congregation of the United Church of Christ–one our country’s most historic and youngest denominations. Founded it 1957 from the merger of two (previously four) denominations, the United Church of Christ traces its roots all the way back to the Pilgrims. Yes, those Pilgrims.
What I found when I stepped foot into that church in Elon, North Carolina was a congregation committed to social justice, to community, and to each other. And it was there that I felt God’s nudge again. Later, while studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark that nudge became a shove.
I walked into the candle-lit sanctuary filled with the clean lines and modern design Danes are known for. I didn’t understand the words a soloist in the balcony was singing, but I figured it was a psalm. I sat toward the back and listened, taking it all in.
After more singing and silence, a priest approached the altar and called everyone forward in Danish. I followed everyone else up, compelled to be a part of whatever was happening. The 20 or 30 of us stood around that old stone table while the priest began to tell a story. She shared it in her native tongue. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but I knew every word. It started with bread and a cup.
That’s when I realized that this story that’d been passed down for generations–from followers to friends to grandkids to nieces, across oceans and just next door, from Jesus to me–was the story I’d been called to keep, to hold and to tell. That’s when I knew what I had to do.
I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but I knew every word.
