Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
September 10, 2017
18 Proper A
If
you were to come into the church early on a Sunday morning, well before the 8
o’clock service starts, you would likely hear the strains of music coming from
somewhere in the building. This music
would not be the music Valerie creates on the organ. The music might be great hymns of the church
coming from the rector’s cell phone, but there is a good chance the music
coming from her phone is some great country music. I have lots of favorites, from “God is great,
Beer is good, People are crazy,” to “If you’re going through hell, keep on
moving,” to my absolute favorite, “Always be humble and kind.” But the country
song that comes to mind today is Tim McGraw’s song “The next 30 years.” The song begins with the words “I think I’ll
take a moment, celebrate my age, the ending of an era and the turning of a
page.” Then he sings “Now it’s time to
focus in on where I go from here. Lord
have mercy on my next 30 years.” McGraw
sets some goals for his next thirty years, most of which can be summed up with
his line “Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear, figure out just
what I’m doing here in my next 30 years.”
Today,
we are taking a moment to celebrate our age.
I don’t know that we’re celebrating the end of an era as much as we are
looking to build on a rich past, but we are always looking to see what new page
God is turning in our midst. I have to
admit that, a few weeks ago when I looked at the scripture readings for today,
I was less than amused. They seem to be
another verse of what could be a country song: “I don’t pick ‘em, I just preach
‘em.”
But,
as often happens, a deeper look at those readings revealed a bit more
connection with today’s celebration. In
the reading from Exodus, the people are told how to remember an event that has
not yet happened. All of the
instructions about the preparation of the lamb are to help the people remember
the mighty work which God will do to lead the people out of bondage in Egypt. There is a curious mixture of past, present,
and future in this passage as God prepares the people for what is ahead. And there are a number of troubling aspects
to the story as well, as God plans to kill every first born in the land of
Egypt, both human and animal. I don’t have
an answer to that.
Why does God want the
people to remember the Passover and the Exodus in perpetuity? If we read further in Scripture, we see that
the purpose in remembering is not to glorify the past, but to remember what God
has done for the Hebrew people in the past so that they can see what God is doing
for them in the present and trust in what God will do for them in the
future. As we celebrate the 175th
anniversary of this great parish today, we do not celebrate in order to glorify
the past, as if we want to go backwards and be something we once were. We celebrate to remember all that God has done
for us. We remember how God has both led
this faithful and tenacious parish through waters that threatened to drown us
and guided us on new adventures, both of which have happened any number of
times since 1842 according to our history.
We remember what God has done in the past so that we can see what God is
doing in our midst today and trust that God will act in our future.
But
there are some ground rules. As we look
to our next 175 years, or our next 12 months, the reading from Romans reminds
us of God’s very simple, although perhaps not easy, command for our life together.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” How do we show that love to each other, to
our neighbors in Hudson, our neighbors in Texas, Florida and out west, and our
neighbors around the world, especially those who face difficult times? What about our neighbors who join us in this
building week after week such as First Presbyterian Church, the Cub Scouts, Boy
Scouts, SAGE, AA, and Music from the Western Reserve, to name just a few? How do we treat them as neighbors and not
just as people who have a key to the building?
Part of our “finding happiness and figuring out what we’re doing here”
in our next chapter will have to do with how we connect with and love all of
our neighbors.
Jesus
wants to make sure we know what he means by loving our neighbor. In the gospel reading, Jesus seems to be giving
us the steps we have to take before we can finally cast out someone who offends
us. However, Jesus is actually teaching
us how we are to be in community together, even with those who offend us. Jesus is teaching us not to hold grudges but
to restore relationships so that we can model a different way of dealing with offenses
for the world. If, after trying a variety
of ways to connect with the offender and bring about resolution, the offender
still doesn’t listen, what are we to do?
Treat that person as a Gentile and a tax collector! Does that mean we can treat the person as
unclean and cast the person into utter darkness? Actually, no.
How did Jesus treat the gentile and the tax collector? He dined with them and called them to be his
disciples. This does not mean that all
behavior is acceptable in the church.
Jesus has high standards for our behavior. But as a wise colleague told me years ago
when I was wrestling with some bad behavior in another church, “All people are
welcome; all behaviors are not.” Jesus
did not give up on people, and Jesus calls us to be equally persistent.
Today,
we celebrate the rich history of this parish and we remember all that God has
done for us over the last 175 years. We
remember our past so we can see God at work in the present, calling us to love
each other and our neighbors with the same love we have experienced from
God. And we look to a future in which,
whatever we do, we know that our call is to model the love God has for us, in a
world that desperately needs to hear the Good News. Together, we will figure out how God is
calling us to do that in our future years, for a world that certainly needs, in
the words of the great country song, “to find a little happiness without the
hate and fear.”
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment