be careful

As I sat down to right my sermon for this weekend, I came to a harsh realization, shaking things up can very easily sound like the old, mainline, democratic platform. As I thought of ways to share with St. Paul's ways in which they can cause a disturbance all that came to mind were: Arizona Immigration Law, Climate Change, Poverty, and other things that Joe Biden would love me to preach about.

The problem, of course, is that I am not a platform anything and while St. Paul's has some democrats in its ranks, the majority of us are moderate to conservative. So... hmmm... maybe disturbing the status quo does involve some "niceties" or at least the task is to be careful.

As I struggled for a quality example, I ran through the Church calendar to see if there were any lesser feast saints who might fit the mold, and low and behold I stumbled upon one of my favorites, William Wilberforce.

Wilberforce is a champion for liberals because of his role in the end of slavery in the British Colonies, but his Christian faith led him to be rather conservative on other issues including labor unions, women's rights, and even the curtailing of certain personal freedoms.

He's an enigma. His faith, prayerfully discerned, lead him to a wide variety of ways in which he stirred the pot.

So, my friends, when you hear about God's call to disturb, don't immediately assume God is on your side. His ability to create earthquakes means he'll always be moving.