Love and Rage
February 3, 2012
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Luke 4:21-30; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
God loves us and forgives us, but we still have responsibility and accountability to one another. When we have caused harm to another person, we need to try to make amends--not because our salvation depends on it, but because this fosters a healing, caring community and is how we serve our Lord with joy as Christ’s disciples.
Today, we have the stories of calling of the prophet Jeremiah, the lesser-known prelude to a verse we most often hear at weddings; and the rest of the story of Jesus’ first (and last) occasion of preaching in his home congregation. I’d like to talk today about what made Jesus’ congregation so upset; what we can learn from them by studying the Corinthians verses, and what we might learn from the outsiders and young people around us.
So let’s pick up where we left off last week: the folks in Jesus’ home congregation weren’t so upset about his statement that “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In fact, all spoke well of him and were amazed at these gracious words coming from his mouth. They praised him and his father as well. And maybe Jesus would have done well to leave it at that. It certainly would have made for an easier day.
But then Jesus went on to point out, the congregation wanted him to affirm them in their belief that they were special, favored among God, that they were living so well that they were fulfilling this Scripture; that they were tithing appropriately and good faithful people, in their own little world. They wanted Jesus to do miracles for them that he had done elsewhere; to take care of their own first, and not worry about those other folks out there. Oh dear. How wrong they were.
Ah, well, it’s not about ‘getting ours,’ but about giving and sharing with others. The people in Jesus’ hometown were enraged because they felt God owed them something special that other people weren’t entitled to. In fact, they were so confident God owed them this because of who they were, that they weren’t very kind at all to ‘outsiders.’ And yet--Jesus points out in several cases which were memorable events in recent history, that God reached out to the outsiders because they were willing to be receptive to God’s message and work--and the fact that this was happening in Lebanon and Syria, rather than Israel, was terribly offensive.
Where are the outsiders in our lives? Who have we failed to show love towards, while hiding behind our Christian identity? Who in our lives do we not take seriously enough because we think they are too young or don’t have experience for a credible perspective?
While we’re thinking about that, let’s consider what Paul has been saying to the Corinthians:
We can have all sorts of talents and gifts and resources and power with which to work, but if we don’t use them out of love, we’re not really doing what God wants us to do.
This Corinthians verse comes right after Many Gifts, Same Spirit, and One Body, Many Parts; what these are boiling down to is love, love within our congregations, and in our interactions with one another, and not just love to those we feel deserve it. It’s a good discipling reality check for us all: When do we think we’re seeing a situation clearly, when we are truly only looking at ourselves through a poor mirror? What would it mean to interact with others without being irritable or resentful? What if we gave of ourselves and our time truly expecting nothing in return, rather than keeping a silent list of ‘you owe me’s--whether to our spouse, or our children, or our friends, or neighbors?
What would it really mean for each of us to rejoice in truth rather than in wrongdoing, or hoping that somebody else gets what we think is coming to them? What would it mean for us to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things--even when someone we know seems truly annoying or clueless and we feel our patience has been stretched to the brink? I know that when I get frustrated with people, I have to remember this myself.
We always know only part of everyone else’s story, and really, only part of our own. God knows each of us deeply, and still sees us with eyes of love. And we trust that someday, our own blinders towards ourselves and others will come off, and that rather than reacting with rage, we too will be finally able to respond fully and completely with love.
Finally, let’s talk about the value of the young people in our lives.
As a parent, I realize I have two young children who have their own perspectives and opinions about things which happen in their daily lives. They have definite opinions about where we go, what to wear, how to play, and what we eat. Sometimes we probably do know better as parents; but at other times, I find out I have a lot to learn from them.
In our Scriptures today, we have two young men, Jeremiah and Jesus, who maybe are dismissed for being ‘only boys’ --and yet God has given them a prophetic task. Maybe they have reason to be afraid. Maybe they fear rejection. Maybe they are afraid that others will be unjust and cruel to them.
How often do we listen to our young adults or children in a congregation as to what they most want and need? How often have young people left churches and denominations because they felt what was happening on Sunday morning was at a disconnect from their daily lives?
These next 2-3 years in our congregation, we plan to focus on outreach and church growth--training and equipping all members of the congregation to reach out to the community around us, and seek to fulfill the dreams of this congregation. Young adults are a big part of those dreams. And yet, we often misunderstand young adults, as we do with other outsiders, and why they don’t come to church. The question is not, ‘why don’t they care more about their faith?’ but, ‘how could we more clearly recognize their needs, and serve them better in our congregation? For example, we’re a pretty open-minded, tolerant congregation--but how many people in the community around us know that about ourselves? This is information that matters to the people around us. We simply have to each one of us, be ready to share it.
As you know, I get together with the other PCUSA pastors in our area each week to study the Bible and support one another in our ministries. This past week, we talked about how the
PCUSA changed membership categories--and took the ‘Inactive Member’ category out of the Book of Order. They really don’t want us to have an inactive roll--I mean, we can have one if we really, really want one, but the point is to not have a list of people we’ve forgotten and passed by--but rather to recognize their gifts and needs and keep finding new, creative ways, to include them in the life of the congregation.
For example, do we say a person who isn’t here on Sunday is ‘inactive,’ or do we look at how our church can minister to people whose work or life circumstances prevent them from being here on Sunday? I might even be so bold as to say, so what if they’re only in worship twice a year? Are there other places where they would like to put their faith into action if we gave them the opportunity? Are those opportunities the paths and programs we’ve always had, or are there opportunities that we may need to go out and create? Our goal should be to find a place in our congregational life to celebrate each person, even if the ways they contribute aren’t as visible as others.
Today, after this worship, we’ll have our annual meeting. We’ll talk about how we’ve faced a number of challenges this past year. We’ll talk about our hopes and make plans for the year ahead. As we do, let us keep our eyes and ears open for places where we can welcome the outsiders in; where we can listen to the people whom we might be inclined to overlook; and where all of us can find places to share our gifts out of love for one another. We pray that in all our discernment and work and worship together, that we may be led by the Holy Spirit. That is my hope for us, today, and always. Amen.
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