The Communal Blessing of a Rich History

May 1, 2022 • Third Sunday of Easter
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:1-11 & John 21:1-14 (The Inclusive Bible)
Pastor Jeff Wells

[You can view the full worship video recording at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhRQw-qSRlo

In both of these stories, Simon Peter and the other fishermen were having a bad night. They worked until dawn and their nets kept coming up empty. We get the impression in both tales that Simon and the others were ready to give up. They must have felt very frustrated. Can you imagine laboring all night and having nothing to show for your hard work? Yet, in a strange way, frustration can sometimes be a blessing. A challenge, a failure, a bit of pushback or resistance, can open us to the possibility of trying something new. Perhaps the fishermen were experiencing that in both cases when Jesus came along. In the first instance, Jesus urges them to go out to deeper water and try again. In the second, he tells them to try casting the next on the other side of the boat. In both cases, the nets come up full to overflowing. 

These stories are not about divine intervention producing a big catch of fish. God doesn’t work that way. But God does lure us and inspire us to stay the course and to try something new when necessary. The lesson we can draw from these narratives is that we will have enough. We may even experience abundance – if we are persistent, resilient, willing to think outside the box, and to cast the nets wide or try new ways to fish. And in the first story, Jesus makes explicit that our goal isn’t fish – it’s humankind.

Now, I am going to tell you another story of casting the nets wide. The metaphor does not exactly fit this story because it is not about hauling in a big catch, but about casting broadly in order to be a blessing to hundreds and even thousands of persons. It is a story from the Washington Square United Methodist Church from 1966 to 1970. I am going to share just a small part of the rich legacy we inherited from WSUMC, which joined with The Church of All Nations and Metropolitan Duane UMC to create the Church of the Village in 2005-2006. This rich legacy continues to shape who we are and who we are becoming as a community of faith. As you will see, some of the ministries WSUMC engaged in and the courageous stands it took still resonate strongly and are especially relevant for us today. 

The Washington Square church was a center of peace and anti-war activism, and gay and lesbian rights, support for black liberation, experimental theater, and much more. It was not only that the church membership was activist, but the church opened itself to be a community organizing hub. Draft resisters lived in the basement of the parsonage. They welcomed the Gay Liberation Front to hold meetings in the church when it was founded right after the Stonewall Rebellion. The GLF and Black Panthers spoke from the pulpit. 

When Rev. Finley Schaef showed up in 1966, the Washington Square church was a pretty staid, middle class congregation. Typical of many urban churches, many of its members had moved to the suburbs and came in only for worship on Sundays. But he had a different vision for the church, new ideas, plenty of enthusiasm. He arrived at the time when many people were hungry for a place that openly addressed war, racism, liberation from all sorts of oppression, anti-colonialism, as well as providing a deeply meaningful and supportive spiritual community.   In a short time, Finley and the church were able to reach out to and draw in people and organizations from the surrounding community and the wider city. 

At his previous church in Queens, Finley had been approached by a mother and her daughter, who was pregnant due to rape and wanted help obtaining an abortion, which was still illegal across the country. He was frustrated that he did not know how to help, except to pray. In 1967, he approached Rev. Howard Moody from Judson Memorial Church, on the other side of Washington Square Park, about forming a group of clergy who could provide counseling for women considering an abortion. They drew together a small group of Protestant and Jewish clergy and a few attorneys and, later that year, founded the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion.

They provided counseling and, for those who decided to proceed, referrals to medical professionals who would provide safe abortions. 

The service helped 1,000 women in its first year. The program quickly spread to other cities and by the second year, helped over 10,000 women. The network ultimately included 1,400 clergy across the U.S. and a small number outside of the U.S. It is estimated that between 1967 and 1973, the Clergy Consultation assisted 100,000 women. The very existence of this program changed hearts and minds. It helped push the New York State legislature to make abortion legal in 1971. As more states passed or were considering legalization, it also helped to bring about the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973.

Closely related to this, on March 21, 1969, the Washington Square congregation hosted a Speakout on Abortion organized by a group called Redstockings. Remember it was still illegal and considered shameful, so most people, including most women, would not even say the word. This speakout was the first time that women got up publicly and shared their own experiences of having an abortion or the failing to secure an abortion. Three hundred women and men attended. It was written about in the Village Voice and other publications. It had a powerful impact and led to many similar events in other cities. This event also contributed to changed attitudes and the ultimate legalization of abortion in the U.S. 

In April 1969, a National Black Economic Development Conference took place over three days in Detroit, Michigan. It approved a “Black Manifesto” that, among other things, called for white churches and synagogues to pay $500 million in reparations for their role in slavery in the U.S. This conference was organized and co-led by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) to direct funds from U.S. churches to communities struggling for self-determination and justice.  

A week later, on Sunday, May 4, James Forman, a prominent in the Civil Rights Movement and later the Black Panther Party, climbed into the pulpit at the beginning of worship at Riverside Church in New York City to demand reparations. The organist tried to drown Forman’s voice and the senior minister led a walkout of the parishioners, but the message got through and the event was featured prominently in the news. 

Two months later, Washington Square became the first and, as far as we know, the only local church to respond to Forman’s appeal. On Sunday, July 6, during worship, a representative of the congregation handed a check to Forman for $15,000. In today’s dollars that would be close to $120,000. Several months later, the United Methodist Board of Missions allocated $300,000 paid directly to IFCO. The UMC was the only major Christian denomination to give any reparations money directly to Foreman, IFCO, or the Black Economic Development Conference. 

I have given you only a taste of the broad, creative, inspiring and activist ministry that occurred at WSUMC in the late 1960s. They cast their net wide. They tried new things. They were open to learning from what was occurring in the world around them. They were listening and responding to God’s luring. 

The Washington Square church exemplified a spirit of courage, resilience, persistence, of not giving up, and of finding joy even in the midst of a terrible war, oppression of people of color, women, LGBTQ folk, addiction, and more. The place buzzed with creativity – encouraging poetry, theater, dance, jazz and folk music, and more in worship and in the use of the church building. Truly, Rev. Schaef, Nancy Schaef, and the Washington Square congregation lived into the title of our worship series. They were lovers, rebels, and prophets. I will be joined by Finley and Nancy in the Preacher breakout room after worship and I encourage you to participate in our lively conversation about this legacy. 

What I have described is not dry history, but is very much relevant for us today. The issue of reparations is very much a live conversation, now being discussed and debated at all levels of government and society. And, with the threat that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to make abortions illegal again, we may need to create anew something like the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion.  

God doesn’t call us to reproduce exactly what the Washington Square church did or carry out the very same ministries and actions. In fact, often, God’s call is not about the specific things we do, but the spirit with which we do them. So, let’s live with a spirit of daring to cast our nets and our hearts in the deep water and on the other side of the boat. 

One ancient interpretation of the reference to 153 fishes in the passage of John is that the authors supposed there were 153 types of fishes in the world. Metaphorically, that meant that God called the church to receive all kinds into itself – in other words, to be a diverse and inclusive community and throw the net wide. This dovetails beautifully with Washington Square story. Their heart was big enough for everyone who came through the doors. That same spirit has been passed down to our own community in the Church of the Village. We strive to carry on that legacy. 

This service is about God’s call and claim on us. Of course, every faith community wants to grow. Yet, often that desire is poorly motivated. A congregation that desires growth in order to survive, keep the doors open, meet the budget, or have enough people to fill all of the leadership and volunteer positions, is off the track. And, usually, such a congregation avoids talking about anything controversial to avoid alienating anyone. 

God does not call us to grow for the sake of growth. God calls us to be the best we can be and to be authentically who we are, no matter what the result. The Church of the Village strives to be a community that attracts people not for what they can give, but to celebrate who they are and be a blessing to them and so we can mutually bless one another together in beloved community. As a consequence, one of the ways we bless is by helping each person find ways to share their gifts and talents, both with this community and with the world. God has blessed and continues to bless us abundantly through the heritage we have inherited and by the beautiful rainbow array of persons who have come together to make up this community. We are blessed to be a blessing – to members, supporters, friends, our surrounding community, and the wider world. May our rich inheritance and God’s constant leading prosper the work of our hearts, hands, and spirits.

Copyright © 2022 by Jeff Wells
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