July 18, 2004
|
|
|
|
The last verses of the preaching text from last week told us
that “[God] has rescued us from the power of darkness
and transferred us into the Kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son in whom we have
redemption and forgiveness of sins” (Colossians
1.13-14). I may be stating the obvious when I say this, but the beloved
Son Paul describes is Jesus. He is the source of our redemption; he is the one
who shows us what it means to live as forgiven people, people for whom our
wrongdoing, once we confess and renounce it, is not held against us. Paul had to state what was for him the obvious to the
Colossians. He had to do so, because among the church there were teachers trying
to make it very difficult for believers to know Christ intimately. For them,
Christ could only be known as one who was unapproachable, so that in fact, he
couldn’t really be known at all. So, to help them know Christ as he knew
Christ, Paul and his followers quote a hymn. Then hymns were used to tell the
story of God’s work in the world and to help congregations worship. The same
is true now. The hymns we sing each Sunday are not just from a list of favorite
hymns; I know that because some of you are quick to tell me when you do not like
the hymns we sing. But they are chosen to help give a sense of connection and
coherence to the worship service. For instance, this morning, we sang “Immortal, Invisible,
God Only Wise” because it picks up the themes in Colossians and other letters
in the Bible. We were called to communion by a hymn that reminded us of the
eternal presence of God in our lives. In a few minutes we will sing a hymn that
reminds us that we are, despite that group of people in town who will be
spreading intolerance this week called by the God who created us all to accept
each other. And our closing hymn will tell us again that we can
praise God through the end of our days and beyond. Paul chose a hymn that would let the Colossians know one more
time about Jesus in all of his mystery and accessibility. We may not know all
there is to be known about Jesus, but we there are some things we can know in
the deepest part of our soul, and once we know them, we can live among the ones
who have been transferred into the kingdom of the Christ. The hymn and the
verses that follow after it tell us three things about Jesus. First, the verses tell us, who
Jesus is. He is the
image of God. When we see Jesus, we see God. He is the first born of all
creation. The first-born has a special place of honor. In certain societies,
especially in the days of the early church the first-born had some advantages.
The oldest child could be sure to inherit a double portion of the parent’s
estate. If the parents left $10,000 in money and property, and there were two
children, the oldest would get $6500, and the younger would get $3500. Often the
oldest is the family favorite. Let me be clear, it not that those of us who are
not the firstborn are not loved or special, it is that we just weren’t first.
Jesus is the firstborn of creation and we are part of the family of all
that God has created. He may be the first born, but he knows who he is before
God and humanity. He knows who we are, and in the family sense he is a good
older brother, he is a merciful and gracious savior who will not abuse the
privilege of being the first-born. He is the guide, the one who shows us the way. He is the
source of information about how it is we draw closer to the God who has created
us all. As the inheritor of all creation, he is the one with dominion over our
lives, in the best sense of the word. We
tend to think, because we see so much of it, that one who has dominion is one
who has dominated, one who controls and imposes his or her will, who coerces
rather than convinces. In other words, one who is a bully. The dominion
exercised by Christ, the firstborn of creation will not coerce us into anything.
He knows that dominion is not about domination, but that when it comes to the
relationship between Jesus and the people who name him as Lord and savior,
dominion is about protection and taking care of that which God has put into our
care. The protection and care taking extend even to politicians and
monarchs. We have heard a lot of suspicion expressed in this political season
about whether our elected leaders talk too much about their faith or too little
about their faith. I want them to be accountable and answerable to powers beyond
themselves or even beyond us as they make their decisions about public policy. I
may or may not agree with them, but I for one want my leaders to be women and
men of some religious faith. It should not be the sole reason we entrust
ourselves to leaders, but it is one factor among many. The history of the world is filled with people who found
strength and courage they did not know they had because they found a
relationship with him. Look at how much of the history of social transformation
of the country and of the world has been led by men and women who have
themselves been led by Christ. From the abolitionist movement three centuries
ago, to the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 60’s to the movement,
the church has been in the mix, leading, supporting, speaking truth to
comfortable power. Movements for clean air and water, good schools and health
care, have found momentum in the church. And now, the sometimes-difficult
discussion around sexual orientation is taking place in the church. Why? Because
we are not convinced that God has said all that God will say to us about how we
relate to each other and we want to be faithful to the call of God to God’s
people to do justice and love kindness (Micah
6.8). I believe that what Jonathan Edwards told those people we
know as pilgrims as they left England for the so-called new world is true today.
He said to them, “There is yet more truth and light to break forth from
God’s holy word”, and so there is as we find strength and courage in the One
whom God has sent to us as the first word of creation and as the first word of
hope. Listen for the first word
that brings truth and life to us. Because Jesus is the first word in what it means for us to
believe in God, we can declare that we will follow the one whom God has chosen
and created to lead the church. It is Jesus the living Christ who shows us how
to care for others, advocate for the least among us, to touch and teach, to
learn and love, even to live and die, and to be raised from our dead places to
find renewed trust and new life in him. When we know him as the first word, when we are in
relationship with him, when we know him in the fullness of God that lives in
him, there are no limits, no secrets, there is nothing that will prevent us from
fulfilling our purpose here. We can be that congregation that is all about being
safe and welcoming, and about providing a spiritual home where we can all be
strengthened and nurtured. That is who Jesus is for us. The second thing these verses
tell us is what has Jesus done for us.
Here is what. He has offered himself to broken lives and broken dreams as
the reconciler and the one who is the source of the unity that we have. We may
disagree about a few things around here, I won’t name them, but surely what
unites us is that we believe that in Christ Jesus, we are brought together so
that our differences become occasions for learning about each other. It is not
that we will agree on every issue, but that we will find a way to understand
that our growth and transformation will come as we focus on what is important to
us all. What is that? That people of every age, whether they have worshiped here
for decades or if they are with us for the first time, or some length of time in
between deserve our respect and our love. It is that all of us are in some way
broken and empty and that in Christ we are brought together with the one through
whom God is reconciled to all things and we are filled and made whole. All things? What does that mean? Aren’t there some things
to which not even God will be reconciled? Indeed there are. God is not
reconciled to racism, or sexism, or homophobia. God is not reconciled to people
who willfully damage the house of God through slander, gossip, ill temper, or
sheer resentment of being called to accountability.
God is not reconciled to evil; God is not reconciled to hatred, or
needless warfare. God is not reconciled to people living in fear or in
conditions Franklin Roosevelt once described as true for one third of the
country, that is, God is not reconciled to people who are ill housed,
ill-clothed, and ill-fed. And we can add to the list of things to which God is
not reconciled, those in every community who are inadequately educated so that
they are unable to make a living wage or care for themselves or their families. But here is the good news. God can become reconciled even
them, even us as the Spirit that is in all of us, is set free enough to lead us
to a change in attitude. We can become reconciled and let go of all that
separates us from god. The work has already begun in the first word for
Christian faith. In Jesus, we are reconciled; peace has been made with us
through the cross of Jesus Christ. In the mystery of God, we have been brought
together with Christ Jesus who has peace enough to forgive our sins and broken
relations with him, to pay our spiritual debt, to heal our illnesses of the soul
and to die that we might live. He was bound to a horrible death so that we might
be freed to glorious life in him. That is what he has done for us. So knowing who he is, and what he has done for us, there is
one more thing. That is we are left with a question, what
do we do in return? There is in fact nothing we can do
for the free gift of grace given to us. So what we do is not about paying back,
but rather it is to act in gratitude. We can live as forgiven, redeemed,
reconciled people. We can act in faith beyond ourselves because life is not only
about us but about what we show to the world. “We thirst for God’s word. We
long to make sense of so much we do not understand. We want our worship to be
more than a quick diversion from tasks that seem more pressing. We want to
believe there is more to life than seeking personal gain. We bring to God our
troubles and anxieties, our estrangements and hostilities, our boasting and
deceits. We pray that God will meet us here with truth we cannot avoid” (Gathered
in Love. LaVon Bayler. Cleveland: United Church Press. 1994, p.122). We can keep the faith we have acquired and water and tend it
so that we do not become stuck, but instead we help our faith to grow. We can
find ourselves so in love with the God who loves us that we cannot help but lead
lives of prayer, worship, service, generosity, and compassion. I am grateful to
Regina Crenshaw for bringing a need to us, and I am grateful that members of
this congregation had compassion enough to give $410.00 beyond what you usually
give to children who are at risk here and in the Cleveland Christian Home. The last phrase of Colossian 1.27 talks about “Christ in us
the hope of glory”. We can live
in hope, that the good news of Christ is that in this life and in life eternal
we can know God and we can be with God. Because we are motivated by our faith in
him, gathered and baptized and in sent our in his name, we can remember that the
first word of Christian faith is Jesus, who leads us in all things. It is he that we proclaim, it is he about whom we teach and
invite and warn. This Christian life is to be taken seriously, it is not always
easy, there will be a problem or two, or more along the way, but we are not
alone. “Since then we have a
great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been
tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace
with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of
need” (Hebrews
4.14-16). So we grow up into Christ. As we grow, we will discover that we will be OK as we pledge
our faith and our trust in him. We will have all that we need to hold onto when
we toil and struggle. There will days of grief and frustration. There will be
days of disappointment and moments when we wonder how in the name of the God we
love we will be able to do all that we feel called and led to do. What we have in the one who loves and redeems us is one who
will give us energy, and power and will breathe into us the Spirit that will
lead us indeed to serve from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
|
Broad
Street Christian Church
|
