Recorded Sermon

Exactly 220 years ago, an Englishman named William Wilberforce became a Christian. Then, 20 years later, in the year 1807, the British slave trade was abolished.

An awakening of the spirit, followed by the abolition of slavery. There’s a connection between the two.

According to The Economist magazine (February 24, 2007), William Wilberforce was a front-line fighter in the British campaign to end slavery. He was also a passionate Christian who took sin seriously, and stressed the importance of getting right with God. Today, political progressives see him as a pioneer of social justice, while conservatives see him as a faith-based leader of compassionate conservatism.

He is truly a man for all seasons.

So what can Wilberforce teach us today, exactly two centuries after his greatest triumph? For starters, he did not see his faith as a private matter, nor did he make a distinction between social justice and Christian morality. He professed two goals in his life — to abolish slavery and to raise Britain’s moral tone — and he pursued them with united and unending passion.

For Wilberforce, the elimination of slavery was part of a broader project to bring people to God. Like so many great reformers, he was able to see the big picture, and he made connections that many people failed to grasp. For instance, he was alarmed at the frequency of executions by hanging that were occurring at the time. He knew that people were being executed for very serious crimes, but he also understood that sin can start small and then grow into greater offenses. So Wilberforce started small and campaigned against immoral behavior — he tried to turn people away from gambling, heavy drinking, and promiscuity.

He knew about slippery slopes. He understood that quarreling can lead to killing, and drunkenness to rape and robbery. He agreed with the apostle Paul’s words to the Romans, “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy” (13:12-13).

The bottom line is this: When you put on the armor of light, you are not going to be properly outfitted for gambling, heavy drinking, robbery, or murder. You are not going to be wearing the right clothes for the slave trade, as William Wilberforce discovered over 200 years ago.

Check the clock, writes Paul — “it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep” (v. 11). Salvation is near, so it’s time for us to put on our Christian clothes and get to work. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Paul, “and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (v. 14).

It’s time for us to follow the apostle Paul and William Wilberforce, and to pay attention to both Christian morality and social justice. Not just morality, and not only justice, but both. We are challenged to be a force for good in our communities, our schools, and our workplaces … what I would call “a Wilber force.”

That’s exactly what the Christian community should be — a force that raises our nation’s moral tone, while also working for a better society. We should be a Wilber Force.

The place to begin is where you spend most your time, Monday through Friday — the workplace. You need to practice your faith on the job if you are going to do God’s will in the world. Now I’m not saying you should try to convert your coworkers, but I do want to challenge you to put your faith and work together — to draw on the resources of Christianity for ethical guidance. Like William Wilberforce, you are challenged to see the big picture, and work for good on both the personal and societal levels.

My friend David Miller is a former investment banker who is now a Yale professor and author of the book God at Work. He is convinced that businesspeople now want to bring their whole selves to work — mind, body, and spirit — instead of having to “leave their soul with the car in the parking lot.” Some use their faith as an ethical anchor, helping them to do the right thing and stand up to unethical practices, while others count on their faith to be a spiritual balm, providing serenity through workplace prayers and meditation. They want to “put on the armor of light” when they come to work — not an outfit woven out of the works of darkness (v. 12).

The good news is that organizations are now seeing the benefits of faith at work. Within the Ford Motor Company, a group called the “Ford Interfaith Network” helped to calm anxieties about retaliation against Ford’s large Muslim workforce after the 9/11 attacks. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has a popular and active “Christian Fellowship Group.” Over at ExxonMobil, FPC member Andy Wescoat is committed to creating an inclusive environment where people are able to contribute as whole individuals. “Their families, interests, beliefs, and values should be included,” he tells me — otherwise, people feel the strain of trying to lead separate lives. When people are allowed to bring their faith to work, they have a resource to sustain them during difficult times. The benefit for the company is that it gets to employ “the entire person — not just a half or a quarter.”

Members of the Wilber Force bring their whole selves to work — mind, body, and spirit. They don’t leave their souls in the parking lot. They are committed to creating an inclusive workplace community, one which invites employees to act on their morals, beliefs, and values.

Of course, stress can be created by the wrong expression of faith in the workplace. My colleague Lewis Galloway, the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, sees problems in the workplace “when a person becomes aggressive, arrogant or domineering about expressing his or her personal faith.” It is not a good idea to practice evangelism on the job. If you are in a position of power, you have to be very careful not to force religion on your subordinates. Not every expression of faith is going to succeed in bringing people closer to God.

We can also be members of the Wilber Force on the weekends, here at Fairfax Presbyterian Church. We can do this by working to make FPC a “Meeting Ground,” as I suggested in a sermon several weeks ago. Here, people of diverse perspectives can gather to worship, debate, learn, and share insights and experiences. Here, people of different opinions can find common ground, and people of shaky faith can find holy ground. FPC can be a place of reconciliation, a place of coming together, a place of union and reunion.

We really need this today — not only as individual Christians, but as a society. In a world so being torn apart by partisan politics, we need to bring people together by being a Meeting Ground in this community of faith.

We can also look beyond our church walls and put energy into a new interfaith organization that is forming here in Northern Virginia. This group is building relationships across the lines of race and denomination, and will soon begin to address issues of common concern. I have seen a similar group, the Washington Interfaith Network, do some great work in DC, especially in getting politicians to follow through on their promises. As people of faith, we believe in being in relationship with God and with each other — relationships that include both support and accountability. Charlie Uphaus and a group of FPC members will be attending a convocation of this organization next Sunday, and you’ll be hearing more about it in the months to come.

Everything we do should be part of a project to bring people to God, and to make the world a better place. This includes personal morality, inclusiveness in the workplace, common ground at church, and justice for all people. Faith is never a completely private matter for Christians — instead, social justice and Christian morality are always two sides of the same coin.

In the weeks to come, let’s think of ourselves as the Wilber Force, with a mission to be a force for good in the world. It’s time to wake from sleep, and get to work. Amen.

Sources:
“A new tug of war.” The Economist magazine, February 24, 2007, 72.
Miller, David W. God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).