Galatians 6:1-17, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
“So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.”
Let us Pray:
Your Word, O Lord, is our inspiration, our light, and our motion. Your Word, O Lord, is power, is wisdom, and is comfort. Guide us today, as we listen to the Word read and proclaimed, and fill us with understanding and with the desire to change. Speak Lord! Your people listen! Amen.
I want to begin by expressing my excitement about being with you this morning. This has been a long time coming, but we are here, so thank you for the invitation.
My wife, Nicky, is joining me, and we also have a 5-year-old daughter named Oonagh. We left her home, put Sesame Street on, and left out some food so she would be good for a few hours.
I am a lectionary preacher, so the scripture passages have already been chosen for me by people much smarter than I am. The lectionary provides us with five possibilities: a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures, a Psalm, a passage from one of the Epistles, and a Gospel. The three readings are chosen around a theme and usually, but not always, flow from one to another.
I believe we should have more scripture in worship, not less. So, I usually pick two readings and the Psalm, and since I like audience participation, I like to read the Psalm responsively.
I like to weave present-day situations into my sermons because if what you hear is not relevant to life, what’s the point of listening? Sometimes, I might be controversial, and that’s on purpose. I look at the job of the preacher as the one who comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. Our job is to move you, ever so slightly, towards your potential and to further God’s Kingdom here on earth.
If you disagree, that’s fine; let’s discuss it. If you agree, even better; let’s discuss that as well. We have lost the art of conversation in our country; it’s one side yelling at the other and just waiting for a chance to yell back. And here we are, the Church stuck in the middle as the referee in all of this, or at least we used to be.
So, let’s get right to it.
Paul, writing to the Galatian Church, gives us instruction to hold each other accountable: “If anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.”
In the passage immediately preceding this, Paul summarizes the law and commandments: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” What is interesting about the written word here is that his statement is in quotation marks because Paul is quoting Jesus.
For me, this sums up the Gospel, and I should stop here and take a seat. But that’s not gonna happen.
What do I mean by this? The Ministry of Jesus begins and ends with love. Everything Jesus did was motivated by love. Jesus tells us that He is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets, and He gives us a new commandment: to love God and to love everyone else. By the way, everyone else includes those who don’t love us back.
You will find that I often return to this passage in my preaching because, as I said, I believe it is central to the Gospel; it is the Gospel. If we cannot love one another, the rest does not matter.
Now, I can see you squirming already, so let me give you a break, just a little. Yes, we are commanded to love everyone, but what Jesus does not say is that we have to like them or approve of what they do. And that is what Paul is getting to.
So, what does this love everyone look like?
On July 4, 2004, I was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. I was not ordained in the United Church of Christ, but rather, I was ordained into the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is a long story of how I transitioned from the Roman Catholicism of my birth to the Orthodoxy of my Ordination, and then to the United Church of Christ, so I will not bore you with all those details yet.
For whatever reason, ordination in the Orthodox Church does not involve the taking of vows. However, years after my ordination, I was with a group of clergy on retreat, and we renewed our vows as part of that retreat.
Here is what I vowed to do:
“Will you be faithful in preaching and teaching the Gospel, in administering the sacraments and rites of the Church, and exercising pastoral care and leadership? I will, relying on God’s grace.”
“Will you seek to regard all people with equal love and concern and undertake to minister impartially to the needs of all? I will, relying on God’s grace.”
I have made a vow to preach and teach faithfully and to regard all people with equal love and concern. This has not always been easy.
However, Paul instructs us to bring the wayward back to the fold gently. Again, looking back at the previous section from this letter, Paul says that one of the fruits of the Spirit is gentleness. We do not force the Gospel upon people.
In the passage from Luke, we hear the story of Jesus sending out the 70, not sure how we went from 12 to 70, but let’s just run with it. Anyway, he sends out the 70 and tells them to take nothing, accept whatever hospitality comes their way, and, if they are not accepted, leave.
Wait, the 70 says, we cannot call down curses upon them if they don’t accept us? We cannot call them names and make fun of them. We cannot send wild midnight tweets about them and how stupid they are? Jesus says, ‘Nope, just move on.’ Wipe the dust of the town off your feet and move on—gentleness, a fruit of the Spirit.
So, what does this mean for us?
Mohandas Gandhi said that we need to be the change we want to see in the world. If we want the world to listen, we need to be better listeners. If we want the world to be kind, we need to be kind. If we want the world to be peaceful, then we need to be peaceful. And if we want the world to love us, we need to love. Love everyone.
If we are going to call ourselves Christians, that needs to mean something. To be a follower of Jesus means to focus on the beatitudes rather than the 10 Commandments. We need to feed those who are hungry, not deprive them of food. We need to work towards systems that are fair to all, not just some. We must also protect the vulnerable and be the voice for those who have no voice in society. When Jesus said, “Follow me,” he was walking toward the poor and the powerless, not the rich and the powerful.
Paul says it quite plainly, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.” If you sow hatred, that is what you will reap. But if you sow love, love is what we get in return.
On Friday, I had the great honor of reading the Declaration of Independence from the Pulpit at the Old North Church in Boston. I trembled as I read each word, “We hold these truths.” “All are created equal.” “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” I trembled just as I tremble when I read, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
If we are going to call ourselves Christians, we have to start acting like Christians.
I no longer think of myself as a Christian; I call myself a follower of Jesus Christ. I get in trouble when I say this, but Jesus was not a Christian, and Jesus did not start a Church. Jesus came to show us a new way, a different way, a way of love. The other interesting point is that Jesus never had a harsh word for anyone except the religious leaders, whom he called a “brood of vipers.” I’m not sure about you, but I certainly don’t want to be called a “brood of vipers.”
So, we hold each other accountable. When we stray, we gently lead them back, and if we cannot do that, we let them go. We show them the love that God has shown us, we bless them, and send them on their way.
Loving does not mean we are doormats, nor does it mean we cannot seek justice. We hold people accountable for their words and actions, but we do so in a spirit of love.
Our task as the Church is quite simple: we are to bring the Kingdom of God right here to Berkley or wherever we live. God’s Kingdom is present, not on some distant cloud somewhere.
What does God’s Kingdom look like? We only need to read Matthew 25 for the answer:
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'”
In God’s Kingdom, we care for one another.
Friends, our world is rather crazy now, and maybe you don’t know what to do. I tell you, don’t give up. I live in constant hope, for I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and I have no other choice but to live in hope.
Yesterday, I was doing some research on the great theological website known as Facebook. You can find all the answers to all your problems right there. It’s amazing how many experts there are in the world, and they are all in one place, Facebook. Who knew?
I digress.
I was reading a post about the July 4th celebration in the town where we live, and how wonderful it was that the community came together. There was a comment about how bad things are in the world and how this person did not feel like celebrating much. I get it. But I responded that we cannot give up hope. We need to celebrate what is good, and there is still good in America and the world. It does not always make headlines, but there is good news.
But Church our work has not changed and will not change.
Our work is to:
Do Justice
Love Kindness
Walk humbly with God
… And it’s more important than ever.
Amen.
