When I’m with clergy colleagues, and we’re really honest with one another, we confess that we really have only one or two, maybe three, sermons in our repertoire. What we’re saying is that all of our sermons, whatever the events or lectionary scriptures, are merely variations on the same themes. Perhaps you’ve noticed that mine have to do with loving relationships and community. A friend who checks mine out on our CCC web page whenever I preach, reminds me of this fact – " So, another one about love and community!" It’s true, because mine is a relationship theology. And, I think that finally this is what our faith and following Jesus is really about. To believe in God is to believe that a fundamental reality runs through all of life and creation – a web of life and interrelationship to which we are all connected. And the character of that reality and relationship – that which holds it all together – we call "love," we call "God." And, I believe that Jesus embraced and lived it, and taught that this experience of God could be translated into human relationships and community embodying such love. This he called the realm of God. And I believe that that’s what we’re about here at Christ Congregational Church. And that’s what I’m speaking about again today, and the force of the lectionary scriptures is with me. This is what Paul is talking about in this morning’s passage from Romans.
He says that by doing this even toward your enemies you will heap burning coals on their heads. Now that part may sound like passive aggressive revenge, but Biblical scholars point out that this really refers to an ancient Egyptian rite of penitence in which a container of burning coals was carried about on one’s head to symbolize repentance. Paul is saying that expressions of love toward enemies will move them to repentance. We pray that this would be so! The focus for Paul here is on relationships within the community of Christians. He is saying that this is how Christians are called to live and journey together. He is also addressing here some tensions that had developed in the early church in Rome between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul’s understanding of the faith had broadened to include Gentiles. This community of faith was open to all. But living in this way is not easy. It’s difficult for individuals to do this on their own without the love and support of other companions on the journey. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it the "cost of discipleship." The cost of discipleship is addressed in this morning’s passage from Matthew’s gospel. Here Jesus points to the hard road ahead for him, the suffering and death he will likely face as he journeys into the seat of power in Jerusalem. Peter understandably protests. The idea that this longed for Messiah should suffer is hard to comprehend. And after all they had given up to follow this man, and the special new community that had emerged through his presence and teaching. Earlier Jesus had commended Peter as the rock on which he would build his church. Now he rebukes him, saying that Peter has to assume his place as disciple and follower, and that the call to discipleship is a call to service, not a call to privilege and power. He calls the community of his disciples to take up the cross and follow him. It’s important to notice that he is speaking to the disciples within the context of community. There are risks involved in following this way of Jesus, but in community we do not have to travel this journey of life alone or shoulder the cross alone, but rather in the company of one another. Now some Christians, and I count myself among them, sometimes find the symbol of the cross as a sign of our identity a difficult one to embrace. Is a tortuous death and atoning sacrifice really at the heart of our faith? And yet, it’s important to recognize that our life, and certainly life in community, involves conflict, sacrifice and suffering. But we also can experience healing and reconciliation through the power of love. That’s what the cross has come to mean for me. And this is why as Christians we give this symbol such a prominent place in our places of worship, as we’ve done here with Len Ebel’s wonderfully crafted cross. It serves also as a reminder of the life of Jesus, moving and pointing us to a different way of living. It reminds us that by letting go of our lives in giving and serving, we can experience life more deeply and with more meaning and purpose. But following Jesus and living in God’s way sometimes means having to make some tough choices in order to do the right thing. These are the risks of love that involve caring about the suffering of others, and calling our attention to situations in which something needs to be done. Tomorrow is Labor Day, a holiday honoring working people, and recognizing what has been achieved to protect their safety and integrity. It also must be a reminder that there is much more to do for fair wages and healthy working conditions, and in preventing the exploitation of children and workers both here and abroad. Did you happen to notice the articles back in May about the death of Monsignor George Higgins at age 86? These came during all the focus on the scandals and cover-up within the Catholic Church. Monsignor Higgins worked for decades within the church for civil rights and the rights of workers. He was a champion of janitors organizing in Los Angeles, of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and for human rights policies in Latin America. And he was a key figure in the improved relations between Catholics and Jews. This was a good man, a follower of Jesus. We’re part of that larger communion of those who would follow Jesus, those to whom Paul was speaking about life together in community, and that community of disciples whom Jesus spoke to of living life more fully in the challenges of love. In the Sunday Morning Adult Class this summer we read a paper by a James Veitch, a Religious Studies professor in New Zealand. Veitch says that what was truly revolutionary about Christianity, and was the driving force behind its spread, was the strong sense of compassionate community and companionship. This experience of such love and community transformed the lives of its members, and made it attractive to others in the midst of the cruelty and oppression of the Roman world. And these folk invited others to share in this life together and in the challenge of living differently in the world. And following the example of Jesus, they shared meals, celebrating their life together and reminding them of the way of God he had revealed, like we do when we participate in communion as we did this morning. We celebrate the community God has created among us here, where journeying together gives us courage to face the future, living with hope and patience, and affirming and comforting one another. Here we learn from and find inspiration in each other, stretching us beyond ourselves to reach out to others, and to share and use our resources wisely for the common good. Here we are not alone. There’s enough love to go around. And the experience of such love calls forth more love. Susan DeFord expresses it so well in this week’s News Notes, thanking the CCC community for its response to the death of her mother. She writes, "It is a great comfort to know that we are not alone on this hard journey." We’re grateful also for those who have touched our lives here through the years. Meg and I recently returned from Billings, Montana where we attended yet another wedding. While in Billings I visited Louise McClelland in her Assisted Living residence, and we visited the First Congregational Church in Billings where her husband, John, served for so many years after his ministry here. Louise sends her greetings and love. So, it’s about relationships and community, love and remembrance. We cherish our families, partners and friends so we do not have to travel this life alone. And we’re grateful for this faith community where we can experience life even more deeply in the warm embrace of God’s love and our love for one another. And may our life together lead us to be ever more expansive in our loving and serving God’s purposes in the world. Amen. |
claiming
to be wiser than we are.