Sunday, September 14, 2008
Lectionary for Proper 19-A, RCL; Romans 14:1-12
Episcopalians and Lutherans share many things in common, as you all know so well. We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. We seek to live by the same Scriptures and creeds. We share similar liturgy for worship. And we both love to eat and sing.
Unfortunately, we also share some weaknesses. In both of our denominations it is not uncommon for our members to be in passionate conflict with each other over issues of theology and what it means to live as followers of Jesus in our changing culture. Of course we are not the only denominations with this reputation. We share this reality with others. But we have to admit that we both have a reputation for conflicts in our congregations and in our national gatherings.
Fortunately there are many exceptions. I had a wonderful conversation with your vestry and parish council recently. One of our observations was that the Episcopalians and Lutherans in this place probably live together with more mutual respect and genuine caring across your denominational differences…than many single congregations do in either denomination. We can thank God for giving you the quality of relationship that you share. And yet, all of us are vulnerable to being judgmental toward others. As long as we live, we all have more to learn about how to live together gracefully with other Christians and other human beings who hold diverse and conflicting convictions.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, which we heard this morning, Paul is dealing with the issue of conflict in a congregation. The bible reminds us constantly that conflict among Christians and among human beings is the norm down through history.
The early Christians in Rome had to deal with many significant differences among the people in their congregations. First there were racial differences. Some were Jews, some were Greeks, some were from Africa. Most of the races of the world were represented in multi-cultural first century Rome.
They came from different religious backgrounds. Strict Jews observed traditional dietary practices. They worshipped God on the Sabbath, from Friday night to Saturday night. They observed Jewish holy days. Greek Christians did not follow special dietary practices. They worshipped God from Saturday night to Sunday night in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection on Sunday. They did not observe all the Jewish holy days, and they observed some days that were not on the Jewish calendar.
These early Roman Christians came from different cultures. They ate different kinds of food, sang and danced to different kinds of music, spoke different languages, wore different kinds of clothes. Some were rich and some were poor. Some were in the Roman government and some were persecuted by the Roman government. So it should not be a surprise that the early Christians in Rome were often in conflict with each other.
Paul begins chapter 14 by saying, in the Message translation: “Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do.”
Well, let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves, how well do you and I do in welcoming and showing caring respect for people who see things very differently from the way we do?
Paul refers to people in the congregations of Rome as strong and weak. I don’t know why he chose to use those loaded words. He seems to refer to the weak as those who are the most rigorous and traditionally Jewish in their practice. He observes that they were judgmental toward the more liberal or progressive Greek and non Jewish Christians who did not observe strictly all the details of Jewish dietary and ceremonial laws.
On the other hand, Paul observes that the more liberal and strong Greek or Gentile Christians were often judgmental toward the more traditional Jewish Christians because they felt that the traditionalists were not as open and faithful to the Spirit of Jesus as they were. Paul observes that both sides had judgmental attitudes and were quick to dismiss and argue with those who were different.
How does Paul try to help people live together with mutual love and respect across all these very significant differences? Paul focuses on God. None of us are God. It is not our judgments about each other that are important. What matters is that we will all have to stand before God. It is God’s opinion of us that matters, not what we think about each other. So we better focus on our own relationship with God instead of trying to play the judge about other peoples lives. The Message translation reads: “You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.”
Imagine what a different church and world we would have, if we all focused on the areas where we each need to grow and improve before God…instead of focusing on the faults or limitations of others.
Imagine what could happen if the nation of Israel and the Palestinians both recognized that they were accountable to God for the way they treat their neighbors.
Imagine what a difference it would make in our country if the media and speech-writers of both the Republicans and Democrats recognized that they are accountable to God for the way they speak about other people, including opponents.
Imagine what a difference each of us could make if we recognized that we are accountable to God for all the words we say and the attitudes we have toward people who differ from us… in our families, at school, at work, at church, in our political conversations.
One of the challenges we each face every day is: will God be the center of my life today, or will “my desires and opinions” be the center of my life today? If God is the center, then we have compassion on others as God does. If we are the center, then we get upset with others who do not measure up to our expectations, because we see ourselves as the center and judge of others. Luther’s definition of sin, was “the human being turned in on himself”. When we make ourselves the judge of others, we place ourselves in the position of being God, which is the definition of sin.
These principles Biblical principles are not just spiritual ideals. The future of the human race on this planet is at risk in our generation because our verbal and physical violence toward each other across our differences.
At the recent Lambeth Conference, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, gave a powerful address to the Anglican bishops. He pleaded with us to work for mutual respect across all the differences in our world today, especially religious differences. His argument was much like St Paul’s. In his book, The Dignity of Difference, (which I heartily recommend as a crucial book for our times) Sacks writes: “Nothing has proved harder in the history of civilization than to see God, or good, or human dignity in those whose language is not mine, whose skin is a different color, whose faith is not my faith and whose truth is not my truth.
There are, surely, many ways of arriving at this generosity of spirit, and each faith must find its own. The way I have discovered, having listened to Judaism’s sacred texts in the context of the tragedies of the 20th century and the insecurities of the 21st, is that the truth at the beating heart of monotheism is that God transcends the particularities of culture and the limits of human understanding. He is my God but also the God of all humankind, even of those whose customs and way of life are unlike mine.
That is not to say that there are many gods. That is polytheism. Nor is it to say that God endorses every act done in His name. On the contrary: a God of your side as well as mine must be a God of justice who stands above us both, teaching us to make space for one another, to hear each other’s claims and to resolve them equitably.”
The future of the human race on this planet depends on all of us learning to follow these Biblical principles in our generation, across all our religious and political differences.
However, this kind of grace-filled love across differences is not something we can do by our will power alone. This capacity love and embrace people who are very different from us is a gift of God. We are opened to receive this gift when we become aware of Christ’s love for us in our imperfections. Then we can allow Christ’s love to flow through us to welcome and listen with compassion to those who are very different from us.
This week, how is God inviting you to practice grace-filled relationships and hospitality with people who are different from you?
I invite you to close your eyes for a few moments and simply be aware of God’s love for you, with all your imperfections, just as you are right now. …Now I invite you to let Jesus make you aware of a situation in your life where Jesus is inviting you to be hospitable with a person who is very different from you…who holds very different convictions than you do. Who is God inviting you to show grace-filled welcome and listening to this week…across significant differences?
O Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair hope, where there is darkness, light, where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.