GATEWAY TO A
ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Text: Matthew 7:13-14
Dr. Stephen D. Jones, preaching
Second Baptist Church of St. Louis
September 16, 2007
The Road Less Traveled
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
One of the most famous
poems by Robert Frost speaks to the situation faced by every person: to take the
wide path, or the “one less traveled by.” It is the predicament Jesus spoke
about in our text today, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide
and the road is easy that leads to destruction and many take it. For the gate
is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find
it.” (Mt. 7:13-14)
I love to tell
stories about my people from the Ozarks. There was an old woman of the house
who “came into the parlor, and looked at the old man of the house, sittin’ in a
rocking chair, and said, ‘Is there something the matter with you? You ain’t
stirred out of that chair in three solid days?’
‘Well,’
he said, ‘I don’t feel bad, but I don’t feel right pert neither.’
So she
up and took him to the doctor.
After
the doctor examined him, he sent the old man out to the waiting room and talked
to the old woman.
The
doctor said, ‘Now, we can get him out of this, but you’ve got to do three
things: you gotta cook him three
square meals
a day, you gotta tend to his every need, and you gotta wait on him hand and
foot.’
The old
woman said, ‘What will happen to him if I don’t do all that?’
The
doctor said gravely, ‘He’ll likely die.’
The old
woman went out to the waiting room. ‘What’d the doc say?’ asked the old man.
She
responded, ‘He said you’ll likely die!’” (p. 162, Ozark Tall Tales, August
House, 1989)
We are all tempted to take the wide and easy path, the path of those around us,
the culturally rewarded path. What is there about the “herd instinct,” the
desire to follow the crowd? Why do we choose to stay with the crowd rather than
find our own way? Why would we rather follow the spiritual path of others?
In the statement, “This We Believe,” written in 1957 by Second Baptist pastor
Leon Robison and adopted by the congregation as a statement of its belief and
practice, it says, “Belief in freedom means that…we place the highest value in
the individuality of people…”
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This is my sixth
historic, progressive Baptist church to serve as pastor. Each of these churches
has been over 100 years old. But I think Second Baptist Church may have the
richest history and that has much to do with the remarkable story of John Mason
Peck and the importance of this Gateway City as the Western United States opened
to pioneer development. I’ve devoted my career to the revitalization of
historic, progressive Baptist churches.
One of the struggles of this congregation in recent years is how to live with
your Baptist identity. I know several years ago that some of you hoped to drop
the Baptist name and others didn’t. I completely understand your dilemma. And
I applaud your decision to keep the name Second Baptist Church but elevate this
artistic Sanctuary of the Beatitudes. Leon Robison spoke of this sanctuary, “It
is our hope that the symbols in this room will be gateways to the presence of
God and an understanding of God’s truth.
Certainly if Dr. Robison had founded Second Baptist Church in 1957 as a new
neighborhood church in the Clayton-Ladue area, changing the name of the church
today would be relatively easy. We could re-name ourselves “The Church of the
Beatitudes,” affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, and there would have
been little loss and hopefully some gain. But our rich heritage and the Baptist
name go hand in hand and turning from one seems to diminish the other. That is
likely why you reached this reasonable compromise.
I think there is a
narrow gate through which we can journey that suggests a bright future. I
actually enjoy being a progressive Baptist and I enjoy playing with peoples’
stereotypes. “We aren’t that kind of Baptist,” can become a fun declaration,
not burdensome, an enjoyable surprise, rather than a dreaded response.
Several years ago
the Southern Baptist Convention met in Utah and voted on second-class status for
women by declaring wives subservient to their husbands and by banning women in
ministry. I began getting phone calls from my friends at the time asking, “Are
you that kind of Baptist?” The Birmingham church where I was serving made
public declarations that were picked up by the media declaring the equality of
women and men in marriage, in society and in the church. We had a female
moderator at the time to showcase this commitment. The sign in front of our
church stated: “We believe in the equality of women and men.” I regret the
Southern Baptist position and feel it to be an errant interpretation of
scripture. I feel the pain of so many women who have had to leave the Southern
Baptist Convention to find other denominations in which to express their sacred
call and so many wives who have had their voices subverted.
Even so, when you have met one Baptist church, you have not met them all! We
can’t control the fundamentalists, but we can break through the stereotypes they
create!
There are
stereotypes about nearly all denominations. Methodists are culturally
mainstream, United Church of Christ are liberals, Episcopalians are upper class,
Lutherans are emotionally withheld Scandinavians. Are they all true? Of course
not. There are emotionally demonstrative Lutheran churches, radical Methodist
churches and Episcopal churches among the poor. Are most of the Baptist
churches in St. Louis conservative? Yes, most are. I heard about one
neighboring Baptist church that had been dis-fellowshipped from the Missouri
Baptist Convention for their progressive views. Yet, on their website, I was
startled to discover that they are biblical literalists. And I’ll just say it:
I find biblical literalism to lack respect for the Bible by putting the Bible
into a strait-jacket for which it was never intended. For those who swing that
way, that is fine. But for me, I want the Bible to breathe and live and move as
God’s Word and offer its diverse voices of truth rather than whittle it down to
one homogenized, compromised message. Biblical literalism was a 19th
century creation that leads to such erroneous conclusions as putting women down,
condoning the institution of slavery, blaming Jews for the death of Jesus,
condemning moral, upright homosexuals, condemning all divorced people, and
judging all other religious paths as invalid.
Second Baptist
Church is unique because of our rich heritage. Our road to revitalization can
invite us to have fun being open and progressive Baptists. We can joyously
invite others to join us on our road less traveled. I hope once we highlight
our five Baptist Liberties in January, you will be even more proud to be a
member of Second Baptist
Church!
We already know the
broad path for Baptists, but ours is the narrow, least-traveled path.
In point of fact, we have much in common with the mainstream Baptists around
us. We agree that baptism is a personal decision of faith by those able to make
their own response to God. We agree on baptism by immersion. We agree on the
centrality of preaching from God’s Word. We agree that ministry belongs to all
of God’s people and that pastors are not exclusive proprietors of God’s call or
God’s truth. We agree that Holy Communion is a symbol of God’s love in Jesus
Christ. We agree that sharing the love of Christ with the world is an urgent
priority. We agree that every church is autonomous and every believer stands
before God in a personal relationship. We agree on the centrality of scripture
and the right of each believer to interpret scripture according to the dictates
of her or his heart.
But we also know that we stand apart from many other Baptist churches, even as
we do from many other American Baptist churches. It is possible that we are the
most progressive church in the Great Rivers Region of the ABC. We aren’t just a
run-of-the-mill Baptist church. We aren’t a one-size-fits-all Baptist church.
And we aren’t what most people in St. Louis expect a Baptist church to be.
The narrow path we have chosen needn’t be a burden. I suggest we have fun with
it. It’s fun to be different! It’s fun not to meet people’s stereotypes. When
people meet me and learn that I am a Baptist pastor, I love surprising them!
The narrow path is
what gives Second Baptist Church a unique identity and mission. We are
historically a peace church. We are a church of social justice. We are an
inclusive and tolerant congregation. We are a church that loves life’s
questions. We are a church that grants soul liberty to our members. We are a
Baptist Church that practices open membership. We are a Baptist church that
offers open communion at the Lord’s Table. We are a church that believes in
contextual interpretation of Scripture. We are a church that lifts up women and
men as equal partners with equal voice. We celebrate the diversity of the human
family. We are a church with a rich heritage in ecumenicity and positive
interfaith relations.
And, we can offer
this less-traveled path to others, reveling in our Baptist identity, enjoying
the cross-cultural ways we surprise and confuse our family members, our friends,
our colleagues, our neighbors. Every time you have to explain yourself to
someone is a wholesome opportunity to share your road less traveled. It makes
for a more interesting conversation! Think how boring and predictable the
conversations of other Baptists must be!
Now, is this what
Jesus meant by the narrow path? No, I don’t think he was referring to
progressive Baptists. 1600 years had to pass before Baptists even came into
existence! But I do think Jesus was calling people to be counter-cultural, not
simply to follow the herd, but to listen to that inner voice, and to follow a
rigorous path that doesn’t lead to ease and self-comfort, but to a radical
commitment to love, to shalom, to justice, to personal and societal
transformation.
Theologian Alan
Jones stated, “Everything about us (today) seems secondhand... In many cases we
have to rely on secondhand information in order to function. I accept the word
of a physician, a scientist, a farmer, on trust... I have to because they
possess vital knowledge of living of which I am ignorant. Secondhand
information concerning the state of my kidneys, the effects of cholesterol, and
the raising of chickens, I can live with. But when it comes to questions of
meaning, purpose and death, secondhand information will not do. I cannot
survive on a secondhand faith in a secondhand God. There has to be a personal
word, a unique confrontation, if I am to come alive.” (Journey into Christ,
Seabury, p. 91-92, Alan Jones)
God is not calling
us to a second-hand faith, a faith that mirrors the cultural standards around
us. God is calling us to follow the narrow path, to live a first-hand faith
that arises out of our own sacred journey. You and I are one-of-a-kind persons.
And our life journeys are like none other. We are not called to mold our faith
into one conglomerate.
Nearly all of us
have been moved by Mother Theresa, who devoted her life to those dying in the
sewers and alleys of Calcutta, inspiring many devotees and followers. And I am
sure you have read of the recent release of her papers that tell of Mother
Theresa’s life-long darkness, an unfulfilled search for God. She was not a
typical Roman Catholic nun in two ways: no other contemporary nun compelled
others to such extraordinary compassion; and secondly, she lived with the
absence of God. Hers was a one-of-a-kind faith, the road less traveled. Her
soul could not be quieted by standard Catholic doctrine. Her road less traveled
will make a world of difference for generations to come.
The original
Baptist church in St. Louis took the road less traveled. They had organized
their church differently than the Presbyterian, Methodist or Episcopal churches
being formed around the same time. African Americans had become members almost
from the formation of John Mason Peck’s congregation in St. Louis. This meant
that slaves and their masters could have been members of the congregation,
placing them on the same membership status, an achievement unheard of in this
era. In most churches, the black members were forced to sit in the church’s
balcony, separated from the white members. We have no evidence of such
segregation in Peck’s new congregation. It was a racially mixed congregation
for its first ten years. The church established a special outreach into the
African American community. By 1823, Peck began holding special services for
the African Americans of St. Louis because, as most were slaves, they were
unable to attend worship on Sunday mornings due to the requirements of their
households. African Americans were prohibited from receiving an education until
John Mason Peck broke through the social taboo and the education of blacks
became a primary mission of the Baptist Church in St. Louis. Some freed-men,
who were the minority of Blacks in St. Louis, attended Peck’s Academy, the most
promising of which was John Berry Meachum. The Baptist day school was open to
students without regard to their ability to pay tuition. Peck was deeply
concerned when he arrived in St. Louis that the African Americans “were without
religious instruction.” With Meachum’s help, a Sunday School for black children
and adults was opened. Nearly 100 enrolled. Since most of these were slaves,
Peck was careful to obtain the permission of their owners, so as not to put
their lives in jeopardy. Some owners became alarmed that education was not good
for their slaves and withdrew them, but the school flourished anyway. In 1824,
the Baptist church of St. Louis “reported 54 members both white and colored,
bond and free.” (p. 19, Brief Chronicle of Rise and Progress of Baptist
Development in St. Louis) In a difficult social context, what church could have
better lived out the vision of the Apostle Paul, “For in the one Spirit we were
all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free…” (I Cor. 12:13) Peck
baptized white and black members of his new church, immersing the first African
Americans west of the Mississippi. Peck preached a crusade against slavery
wherever he went.
Then in 1828, with
Peck’s blessing, the African Americans asked to form their own congregation.
220 members formed the First African Baptist Church and Peck ordained John Berry
Meachum as their founding pastor. The road less traveled resulted in the
founding of the African American church in St. Louis.
At the same time,
the original Baptist Church lost their building through condemnation by the city
of St. Louis. They faced mounting debt. This congregation lost not only its
African American members but also some of its white members due to cholera and
fevers and members moving away.
By 1830, this
congregation was in trouble. It was no longer an inter-racial congregation. In
1832, they were down to 17 members.
Why did the
original Baptist church fail? It failed for all the reasons that have been
historically cited, but I think it also failed because of its success. It
succeeded in reaching the African Americans of St. Louis and successfully
launching them into new church. But their departure meant that the remaining
members had lost much of their mission and identity as St. Louis’ interracial
congregation. The road less traveled cost them their existence.
The road less
traveled is not the easy road. It is the harder path and “few people find it,”
Jesus stated. May ours as a church and as individuals be a one-of-a-kind,
first-hand journey with God. May these days together be a Gateway to a Road
Less Traveled. Amen.
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