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 Community of God's People The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Over time, most of you have heard me speak a great deal about community, and this year being and living in community is the theme in our Adult Formation program. Like our lessons from last week, today’s lessons also focus on this phenomenon. But it isn’t just any community, but a community of God’s people. What is this community like? It became a people in the liberation of the slaves in Egypt. History tells us that contrary to what many believe, not all of the slaves in Egypt were of the same culture or ethnicity. The band of people who followed Moses and Aaron into the desert to God’s holy mountain, were a mixed group. So in the review of this bit of “the story” we find at least two characteristic of this community. It was a diverse group of people, and it was founded as a community of liberation. They had been saved from slavery by the might and power of God accomplished through the movement of nature. The members were very clear that they had not been able to accomplish their own release, but through the intervention of God. They owed their very lives to God. There was no separation between what happened in their daily lives, and the realm in which God moved. In their understanding God was with them and was aware of their needs and responded. For the most part we don’t think in this manner. We tend to think of God as being far off; a force we have to appeal to because God is not aware, and needs our pleading to be motivated. Those early people of God believed that they offered prayers not because God didn’t know what was happening, but because they needed to be reminded of their need for God’s help. It was a God-conscious community, in addition to being a community of diversity and liberation. Reading through the remainder of the Hebrew Bible we have found story after story of people who have joined the nation of Israel, through intermarriage, and regardless of their religious differences they all claim a common origin, Abraham. So the beginning of God’s people actually pre-dates the sojourn into the desert, and claims a “wandering Aramean” for its father. Spanning the many centuries to the advent of Jesus the Christ, we find this community still in existence. It looks a lot different from the rag-tag group that crossed the Sinai, as they are more settled, and are not wanderers any longer. Yet the question of how to be a community of God’s people continues to be a very live question for this community. Matthew has Peter ask Jesus about how often they were to forgive someone who had sinned against them. Jesus’ response is pretty simple yet astounding. His response should not lead us into doing the math as they say to know the exact number of times, but we should accept Jesus’ response, I think, for its implied inexhaustible mercy. After so many centuries, we might think that this community of God’s people would know how to be a community. Peter’s question betrays them. Jesus illustrates his answer by telling a story of a king who had a great deal of compassion, and was responsive to the needs of his servants. Having forgiven this man an incredible debt, almost incalculable, he could not have paid (it might be like our trying to pay a debt equal to several billion dollars with no change in our current resources). Yet this same servant shows himself to be far less forgiving than his king. He has a debtor of his thrown into prison because of his inability to pay a debt that is microscopic in comparison. Jesus’ concluding comment about the condemnation to torture of the servant who did not forgive his fellow servant, might well send shivers down our spines, “So my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” So we find that another characteristic of a community of God’s people is forgiveness. An awareness that we all have fallen short of the mark at one time or another and can not boast about our perfection, needs make us more understanding and compassionate towards one another. As Paul so clearly tells the Church at Rome each of us will stand before the judgment seat of God and will be answerable for the life we have lived; the opportunities to serve we have seized upon or neglected; our demonstration of compassion towards one another; our judgment or lack thereof towards each other. Decades later as Paul is developing churches throughout the Mediterranean world, we find that the community is still learning what it means to be a community of God’s people. Paul challenges the basic assumptions of the people of the Church at Rome. They are to be welcoming of all who seek entrance into the community, “Welcome those who are weak in faith, not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.” The new people are not to be fought over like they are trophies, nor are they to be ignored because they may bring different ideas. Their gifts are to be sought and honored. They do not come in order for us to hold them to our standard, our expectations, but they are to be accepted for who they are. We are not the standard for the community, but Jesus the Christ is. When Paul speaks about whether one eats everything, is a vegetarian, or abstains from eating, let is all be to the honor of God. Don’t fight over things that are not essential for the life of the community. Rather focus on the common thread of everyone’s life, God. God, as we have come to know God through Jesus Christ, is the center of the life of the community. What we do in community we do for the love and honor of God and the building of God’s kingdom, that community of God’s people. A good deal of Paul’s frustrations, seem to stem from people’s tendency to judge one another. Judgment of others is to left to God, if we judge anyone let it us judge our own selves, using the pattern set by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as our standard. Often when we stand in judgment of another we are reacting to our own dark side visible in another. Resisting the tendency to ignore the log in our own eye we need to be as ready to not point out the splinter in our sister or brother’s eye. Our vision is limited and not always clear, for our knowledge is spotty and been have has so many filters applied that what we see may not be accurate. A little humility goes a long way. So what do we know about the community of God’s people? It is a diverse group that has been liberated from bondage to sin. It is a community whose members are ever aware of their dependence upon God’s mercy to meet whatever situation that may confront them. Aware too, that of their own brokenness, they struggle with their respective dark sides, seeking forgiveness for debt they own to God. Thankful for the compassion and mercy that has been shown them they are moved to be forgiving of others. God is the center of the life of this community. All that is done is done for the glory of God, and not for the aggrandizement of individuals within the community. Leaders are servants, and servants are leaders. All of the gifts, skills, and talents do not reside within one, or two, or even a few members. All have something to offer, and if we miss what each has to offer we can not be whole, and we cannot complete the work God has given us. When all is said and done the community of God’s people is an expression of God’s love for the world. So Graceful people, as we look more intentionally and deeply at ourselves and our community during this year let us pray for clear sight; acknowledgement of where it is we need to change and grow in our continuing transformation as disciples of Christ; open our hearts to one another and to all who come to us seeking to know this Christ whom we serve and the God we worship. May our flickering light grow into a raging fire within us and around us and be a sign of God’s presence in the world. Amen! |
