GA08114

Walking humbly? We aren’t good at that, preacher says

By Mike Ferguson

The Rev. Cynthia Rigby, W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, preached a sermon on humility at Thursday’s worship service. Photo by Danny Bolin

SAN JOSE, June 26, 2008 — Presbyterians have some idea about how to do justice, and they’re pretty good at loving kindness. At the minimum, most of them practice random acts of kindness.

But walking humbly with our God?

Instead, we make our little jokes, said the Rev. Cynthia Rigby, a faculty member at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the preacher during Thursday afternoon worship at the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 

“Some will say, ‘I am very proud of my humility,’ or we treat (humility) like it’s a gift had by a select few — it’s just not my gift,” she said.

As good as manna tasted to the Israelites, they “got tired of it after a couple decades,” Rigby said, and they yearned for the variety of food they’d eaten in Egypt — fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

“It was like waiting for your food endlessly in a restaurant,” she said, “and all the waiter could do was refill their bread basket.”

Surely, she said, “God has nothing against a satisfied palette,” adding that there is something fundamentally fair about a people collecting manna every day. There is no way to get ahead of your neighbor. If you take too much, “the extra will immediately rot.”

Having the mind of Christ means “putting aside being all we can be” and “kneeling down with that other person to collect our share of allotted manna,” Rigby said.

Commissioners are here at the Assembly “to do more than simply describe the world,” she said.

“The point is changing the world, but we’re called to change it not by focusing on change, but by abiding in Christ. Jesus’ life had revolutionary impact, but he never aimed to be revolutionary. He wanted simply to love the world. He gathers manna along with us because he really needs to eat.”

Rigby said a quote by the late theologian Letty Russell has stayed with her since Russell uttered it: “The problem with the PC(USA) is that we are of the world, but not in it.”

Rigby said that it is not enough to give the poor fish, or even to teach them to fish so the poor can eat for a lifetime.

“The rich need to sit down with the poor and join in the fishing, emptying themselves,” Rigby said. “We have the opportunity here and now to repent in our complicity in the destructive systems of the world — not because we hate the world, but want to be more fully in it.”

The Praise Ensemble from the Community Presbyterian Church in Danville, CA, a high-energy group, provided songs during worship.