Acts 5:27-32
Do you remember April of 1963? I don’t, because I was only two years old. But perhaps some of you do. In April of 1963, people watched the debut of the TV soap opera “General Hospital.” In April of 1963 the first album by the Beatles was released. And in April of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., issued his letter from the Birmingham jail, where he was being held after having been arrested for his participation in a nonviolent protest being conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.
Birmingham was notorious for its segregation and racial hatred. In January of 1963, Governor George Wallace had declared, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” In response to all that had been going on, activists launched Project C (for confrontation). After King was arrested in April, activists began recruiting young people to march. By the end of the first day of recruiting, seven hundred of the volunteers were under arrest. On May 3, about a thousand young people showed up in a peaceful protest, and the Commissioner of Public Safety turned high pressure hoses and police dogs on them. After five days, there were 2,500 people in jail, two thousand of them young people.
King wrote his letter from the Birmingham jail in the middle of all this unrest. He had to write it on the margins of a newspaper, because that was the only paper he had access to. It was carried by his lawyer back to the offices of the Christian Movement for Human Rights. In part, the letter was a response to a statement written by eight white Alabama clergy which called King’s efforts “unwise and untimely.” They agreed that racial segregation was a problem, but thought that it should be handled in the courts and not out on the streets.
The eight clergymen said that King was an outsider who had come in causing trouble in Birmingham. To that charge, King replied, “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here … Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere … Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. [Therefore] anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.”
A second complaint that the white clergymen made was that there were demonstrations going on in Birmingham. King responded that the demonstrations were unfortunate, but “it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”
Finally, the clergymen questioned the timing of the protests and counseled King to be patient and wait for change. King replied that for blacks in the Unites States, “wait” almost always meant “never.” They had already been waiting for 340 years for their “constitutional and God-given rights.”
In his letter from jail, King made reference to people throughout history who had made a stand for what was right, regardless of the cost. He mentioned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to follow the laws of King Nebuchadnezzar. He spoke of Socrates practicing civil disobedience in ancient Greece. He mentioned the American patriots who participated in the Boston Tea Party. And, of course, he mentioned the early Christians who faced persecution for their faith.
The story in Acts 5 tells of two of those early Christians who faced persecution, who chose civil disobedience, and who ended up in prison for their efforts. Peter and John had been going to the Temple daily, healing many people and teaching about Jesus, and they were attracting quite a crowd. The high priest and the Sadducees became jealous and had the two apostles arrested. But during the night, an angel came and opened the prison doors and set them free. Then the angel told them to go again to the Temple and preach the good news. And so they went back the very next morning and continued their work.
When the Sanhedrin, or Jewish Council, gathered to consider the case of Peter and John, and sent for them to be brought up from the jail, they discovered that the two men were not there. Someone told them that the apostles were back in the Temple teaching the people. So the Temple police were sent to bring them to stand before the Sanhedrin. The high priest questioned them and reminded them that they had been told not to teach any more in the name of Jesus.
Now, you might think that Peter and John would be intimidated, standing before the very men who had condemned Jesus to death only a short time before. You might think that they would plead for mercy, or promise not to disobey the Sanhedrin again. But instead, they replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” The members of the Sanhedrin were enraged by this response, and wanted to put Peter and John to death. But a man named Gamaliel, who had opposed the condemnation of Jesus, cautioned the Sanhedrin to wait. He said that if their effort was not of God, it would fail on its own; but if their effort was of God, then it could never be stopped. The Sanhedrin agreed to take his advice. But they had the apostles flogged and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus again and let them go. And with that threat echoing in their ears, the apostles returned to the Temple and did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus Christ as Messiah. They practiced civil disobedience for a cause that they believed was right and of God. They were willing to risk arrest, and even death, for the sake of obedience to God.
People today have shown that they are willing to get involved in issues that require civil disobedience. They march in rallies or participate in demonstrations or join a movement. These actions might not always be popular or enjoy quick or easy success. Those who participate encounter resistance, persecution, or even arrest. But they take a stand and act on it as they feel led to do because there are some things more important than personal reputation or safety. Frederick Douglass, in 1857, said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
I never thought of myself as someone who would break the law. Aside from speeding on occasion, I think I have been a law-abiding citizen. And I have attempted to live in obedience to church law, as well. But back in 2012, I took a stand on an issue in a way that could actually get me in trouble with the denomination. I signed a pledge – which has also been signed by hundreds of other clergy in New England and other states – that if a same-sex couple comes to me and wants to get married, and I believe after counseling with them that they are ready for marriage, then I will perform the ceremony. That is in direct conflict with our denomination’s policy stated in the Book of Discipline that no United Methodist clergy person shall perform a same-sex union. The pledge also means that all the clergy on that list will support each other should charges ever be made against one of us. Clergy members of other conferences have had to surrender their credentials after undergoing church trials because of their ecclesiastical disobedience to this provision in our church law. They have literally lost their jobs and their ordination status.
To date, no one has asked me to do a same-sex marriage. But I am committed to following through on my promise. I believe that it is the right thing to do. I would have agreed to do the same thing even if I lived in a state where same-sex marriage was not legal at that time. I believe that it is not only a basic civil right that is being denied to many couples across our country, but that it is a religious rite that is being denied to many couples in our churches. Christians for whom church has an important place in their lives want to get married in their churches, or at least by their pastors. And pastors are being put in the untenable position of being told they must deny this aspect of pastoral care to certain members of their congregations and communities. I thank God that this has been changed by law in our nation, and I hope and pray that it will be changed by General Conference action in our denomination. But until it does, I find myself practicing ecclesiastical civil disobedience.
If there is a cause that you believe you have been called to support, even if it is not popular or safe to do so, I hope that you will have the courage of your convictions to take a stand. I know that I have felt better about myself ever since I signed that pledge, because I feel that I am doing something that might make a difference in the long run. And I can live with myself if I follow my convictions on this, rather than obey a church policy that I so adamantly believe is opposed to the will of God. I know that you will also feel better if you are living a life of integrity where your convictions are concerned. Following the example of the apostles, and of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., millions of people in our country have shown that they were willing to take a stand for something that mattered and keep standing until it was changed. I hope that I might have their courage and commitment as I stand for what matters to me.
