Sermon - Claiming Christ, Living Christ -– Everyday (Pentecost 3A)

3^rd Sunday After Pentecost (Year A)                                           June 25, 2017

Romans 6:1-11                                             Panzer Military Chapel, Stuttgart

Claiming Christ, Living Christ – Everyday 

I have this seminary friend who tells the story of going to his first field education church in rural North Carolina. As it often happened, the arrival of the Duke Divinity School intern usually meant that the appointed minister took a couple of weeks off after Annual Conference. So, on his first Sunday, the pastor introduced him to the congregation and split for the beach immediately after the recessional hymn. Unfortunately, my friend had some questions, so when he got to the church the next morning he asked the church secretary if she could help clear some things up. She was a fountain of information, except for one question: why does the congregation turn and face the back of the sanctuary for the Apostle’s Creed? Her answer, I’m a Baptist – I don’t know anything about creeds. But I know who does.

So that afternoon he visited the local retirement center to find a long-time member and surviving Methodist minister’s spouse. When he tracked her down and gotten thru all of the introductions, he could finally ask the question on his mind. Why does the congregation face the back of the church when they say the Apostle’s Creed? Oh, easy, she said. About 30 years ago the words to the Creed and the Ten Commandments were painted in calligraphy on the back wall of the sanctuary. People got into the habit of turning around to read the words and when they painted the sanctuary the last time, they covered it up and hung some nice pictures. By then, turning around was second nature, and nobody ever thought twice about why.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Ask the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 and you’ll get the Nicene Creed... a foundational document which lays out what Christians believe about who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, and the basic beliefs we hold as the church. Of course, with the split between the Orthodox and Roman Churches in 1059 and the Reformation of the 16^th century changed all of that. The Creed was no longer the foundation of church theology or the definition of what it means to be Christian.

Ask 100 Christians today what it means to be Christian and you’ll get 100 answers. But I still think it’s a good question, not just as an intellectual exercise, but also to see how we are measuring up to life in Christ.

This passage from Romans is the perfect place to reflect today. Paul’s letters are usually written to give encouragement and instruction to people in matters of faith. As the Christian Church began to grow and expand, the message of the gospel often took on the character of the one proclaiming the word. As people heard the message and accepted it for themselves, they passed it on to others. But it’s difficult to incorporate to total Christian experience in a simple message, so often some things were emphasized over others. Paul’s letters weren’t written as foundational or theological documents. They were letters from a pastor and teacher to his students and friends, encouraging them to keep their eye on the real prize.

Today’s lesson focuses on life after baptism. What is our life in Christ supposed to look like if we remember our baptisms every day? Now I am sure that many of us do not remember our baptisms, because they happened when we were very young. But “remember your baptism” is not about memory of the event itself. It is about acknowledging the responsibilities that come with baptism. It is about rejecting or dying to sin every day, and picking up the promise of eternal life and using it as a guide in every decision we make. It is a way of saying: Remember who you are; you have died to sin and now you live a new life in Jesus Christ. It is a way of saying: Be who you are.[i]

The process for becoming a Christian is simple and difficult, at the same time. In my United Methodist tradition, we talk about three areas of grace which define a life of faith. First comes prevenient or covenant grace. It means that there is never a time when God does not love us.  "Prevenient" comes from the Latin word which means "to come before." “Covenant” helps us remember the promise that God made to Abraham that all who follow will be connected to God by love and relationship. This means that before we do or say anything, God loves us.  Prevenient grace leads us to long for God, and to want and need God to be a part of our lives.  Because of covenant grace, we want to be one with God, and we are moved to repent or ask for forgiveness for our sins.  Baptism helps us to affirm this prevenient or covenant grace because God takes the initiative and calls us to become a part of God's people.

Repentance or saying we’re sorry is our response to God's love and leads to justifying grace.  The word "justification" is a legal term which means "to prove right or to free from blame."  In God's eyes, we are all guilty of sin and deserve punishment.  But in a great outpouring of love, God forgives us and treats us as if we were not guilty.  Baptism is a sacrament of justification and pardon, of dying and rising with Christ for all people, for both infants and adults.

Sanctifying grace is the gift of God's love that calls us and helps us grow in Christian faith and life. God calls us to turn our lives toward him, loving God and our neighbors in all that we do and say.  Baptism marks the beginning of a lifelong journey with Christ.  Sharing the bread and wine each week at a common table is one way in which we are fed and taught to be the united body of Christ.

This part of Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that we can’t get stuck in the justifying grace part of our journey. God’s forgiveness and our salvation do come at a cost. It’s not that we are working our way into heaven, it’s that our works – our love of Christ and his creations – are our response to the amazing gift that we have been given.

Most Christian traditions recognize three methods of baptism. Each has its own symbolic nature. Old Testament reading talks about sprinkling as a means of cleansing and purifying.  In baptism, the water is an outward sign of God’s grace, which cleanses the heart of the baptized person. Sometimes people are baptized using the pouring method, reminding us that the “Holy Spirit has been poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 2:5-7).

Paul’s commentary today helps us to understand why baptism by immersion holds such a powerful message. When someone is baptized by immersion, he or she is completely submerged in water and then lifted out of the water.  Paul says that we who are baptized into Christ have been buried with him into death so that we can be raised with him into new life.  Baptism by immersion is an outward sign of dying and being raised with Christ. 

Therefore, baptism has the power to cleanse us, pour on us the Holy Spirit, and assist us in dying to sin and being raised to new life. Theologically, Paul’s view on baptism is that it is the beginning of a journey or process and that its effects are not only for a moment but for an entire life. Believers must understand that the baptism Paul is talking about in Romans 6 does not just wash away the stains of sin, but rather, it is a participation in the death of Jesus Christ and an anticipation of his resurrection. This means that belief in Christ requires us to anticipate and participate in an embodied resurrection life.[ii]

You’d be surprised at the number of people who want the baptisms of their children to be a private event… as a cultural or familial celebration when it is a communal event, incorporation into the body of Christ. We don’t often recognize that our life in Christ may, in fact, draw us away (or even in opposition) to our families, as Jesus talks about in the Gospel reading (Matthew 10:34-38).

Baptism and salvation are not a universal hedge of protection from pain or suffering. Some traditions talk about having a personal relationship Christ, but the Jesus we see in the gospels and the one Paul talks about in Romans is not the Jesus who meets us for coffee and tells us that everything is going to be okay. No, he is the one who calls us to follow him into crucifixion, knowing that resurrection is waiting on the other side.[iii] Safe – no; life-changing – in more ways than we can imagine.

So, what does this lesson about life in Christ mean for us today?

There is a lot of turmoil in the world right now. And I am saddened and angered that people who claim to follow Christ act in conflict with the life Paul is calling us to live. People tell me that preaching shouldn’t be political, so I wonder that if I’m willing to accept that premise, then what am I supposed to do to battle the injustices and hate that I see, often not propagated by people outside of the Church, but by those of us who claim to be on the inside? What am I supposed to say when people are belittled for being a different race, religion, or educational or economic status, thought of as less than by those who claim power and use privilege like a weapon?

I’m not going to leave you with a heartwarming story today, but with the questions that I ponder every day, especially these days.

·         Is a life of faith in Jesus Christ about what I believe or how I behave?

·         When people hear me describe myself as a Christian are they comforted or appalled?

·         Is my silence about injustice seen as a quiet acceptance of the status quo?

·         Am I more worried about what people will think of me if I speak out that if I don’t?

·         How will I be judged in the end, not just for the sins I have committed, but for the ones I never spoke out against?

I’ll be honest, it keeps me up at night, worrying and praying for an answer on what I’m supposed to do next.

German pastor Martin Niemöller was an outspoken foe of the Nazi Regime and spent seven years in a prison camp. He is most famous for the following quote, which gives me a little clue about what my faith journey requires of me…

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.[iv]

I don’t think we want that to be our legacy… no, claiming Christ must mean living Christ, every single day.

Peace, Deb 

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[i] David Bartlet, Commentary on Romans 6:1b-11, Preach This Week, June 22, 2008, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=66

[ii]  Israel Kamudzandu, Commentary on Romans 6:1b-11, Preach This Week, June 22, 2014, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2052

[iii] Pulpit Fiction Podcast, June 25, 2017, https://www.pulpitfiction.com/notes/proper7a

[iv] Martin Niemoller, Article from Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392

Sermon: Less Me, More We (Easter 7A)

Easter 7A                                                                                May 28. 2017

John 17:1-11, Acts 1:6-14                          Panzer Liturgical Service, Stuttgart

The goal: More WE, Less ME

These days are crazy-making… I don’t even like to check the news when I get up in the morning, which is really not true, because it’s the first thing I do, sometimes even before I get out of bed. The level of crisis that the world is operating under is astonishing, frightening, and even painful. Questions swirl around us about safety. We wonder about the motives of our political and community leaders. We dig in, holding on to our long-held beliefs and positions at all cost. And we wonder, “When did it all go so wrong?”

Of course, the truth of the matter is that it went wrong right in the very beginning, with the couple in the Garden, who decided that their own beliefs were more important than the instructions that they were given for living a good life. When you read through the book of Genesis and beyond, which I highly recommend if you think that life today is screwed up, you see that time and time and time again, the people of God choose their plans over God’s plans. It’s like they can’t help it. Even when there is someone present to say, “I think this is a bad idea,” the people go and do their own thing. And in the end, the prophet proclaims the grand, “I told you so!”

The good news in all of these stories is that the “I told you so” does not come with the destruction or abandonment of the people. Do they suffer? Yes. Do they spend years lost in their own folly? Absolutely. Will they ever learn the lessons that God is trying to teach? Sometimes, for short periods of time. Did God ever just give up? Thankfully, no.

One of the reasons that we continue to need the Hebrew Bible story is to put the life of Jesus into context. Jesus comes to the world waiting to be saved. Generations of Jews, God’s chosen people, have suffered. But their hope has rested in the promise of a Savior. We often talk about how they expected the Messiah would be a brave knight, coming as warrior and king, wiping out the oppressors in payback for all of the pain they have experienced. Many before Jesus claimed to be the One, the fulfillment of God’s prophecy, but none had fit the bill.

And then Jesus comes, and from the very beginning, he was a contradiction to all of the world’s expectations. The birth narratives give us an insight into the humbleness of his beginnings. His call and baptism by John give us a glimpse of his humility. His ministry was so unlike what the Jews were expecting that the religious leaders of the day waged war from almost the first day. And nothing could have been more shocking than to see the man killed, a mere three years after his ministry began.

Of course, Easter changed all of that. The resurrection is living proof that God’s love and power cannot be contained. The empty tomb and the presence of the risen Jesus with the disciples in the 40 days afterward are an enduring witness to the ultimate power of God.

Some of our favorite Jesus stories take place during this season of Eastertide… the walk to Emmaus, Doubting Thomas… these stories are especially poignant because we can relate… to the fear, the questions, to it all… Like the disciples after the resurrection, I ask myself all the time, “What does this mean for how I’m going to live my life today?”

Ascension Day is not celebrated as a high, holy day for most of the Church. Here in Germany, it is observed as a holiday, but has been coupled with Father’s Day, so it’s not really a “Jesus goes back to Heaven” kind of day. So, I’m glad that we have one of the ascension stories as a part of our readings for the day.

As I hear the disciples’ question, I can’ help but think of a child with separation anxiety… “Jesus, when are you coming back?” Jesus’ reassurance comes in an unexpected way. He tells them that they will not know the day or hour, BUT they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit to give them strength to witness to who he is until his return. And they are sent to wait for whatever that will look like… praying and wondering and worrying, I’m sure. Next Sunday, we will experience the birth of the Church in the fiery tongues of Pentecost, but that is Chaplain Baker’s story to tell.

Today’s gospel lesson comes from Jesus’ last discourse – the final prayer at the end of the Last Supper scene, before the unfolding of his arrest and crucifixion. For me, there is an added layer of meaning when we pair it with the ascension scene.

In this passage, Jesus prepares for all that will unfold before him, giving a final prayer and blessing. When they look back on this supper, the disciples will have a better understanding of what Jesus was trying to say. This was Jesus’ lesson: that he didn’t have to be with them for the world to be changed. When we follow him, his is present with us and through us. We are his body – his hands, his feet, his voice – and we have work to do.

We also know that the work of Jesus is at its best when we are acting as one. There is power in our work and ministry when we are all on the same page, singing from the same score, rowing with the same stroke, running with the same stride…. You get the picture, right? But when we are out of step with one another, then chaos usually ensures.

Shawn and I have almost a foot height difference between us. It often makes for awkward selfies. But the practical reality of that difference was displayed on our first long weekend away from Stuttgart almost 13 years ago. We took a lovely trip to Prague, and while it was beautiful and romantic, an inordinate amount of time was spent trying to find our stride. I lost track of how many times we were standing on opposite street corners, because I just couldn’t get places as fast as he could. It was frightening, and a little annoying - for both of us. But in the end, we had to have a conversation about when it is important to match our strides. Sometimes that means I have to speed up. Mostly, he has to slow down. But it’s important to do so if we want to get and enjoy places together.

I think this is a good example of what it means to be workers together in the name of God. We have to be willing to work in unison, giving up our need to be the big cheese in charge. Sometimes great things can be accomplished by one, but most often, it is our willingness to work together than makes the biggest difference in peoples’ lives.

Jesus’ words are not just a reassurance that we are not alone, but that we are his people together. Last week, we heard Jesus promise and Advocate – one who walks alongside us in our journeys. But that is not the Spirit’s only role. The Holy Spirit also makes us one body. And in the process of becoming one body of believers, we become unified in our purpose, and miraculous things occur. When we are about making our own needs and wants and beliefs the most, or only, important thing, trouble invariably ensues.

It’s so easy to stay in our comfort zones – to take care of our own needs and do what we’ve always done. But life in Christ demands something more from us. We have to want to become one with Christ and with one another.

Throughout history, from the Garden to the disciples to the current day, the Spirit moves and we have to decide whether we’re going to move with it or not. Jesus said, “The spirit, like the wind, blows where it chooses.” The word for wind and breath is the same at the word for Spirit… ruah. It’s the word from the creations story with the wind stirred the waters. It’s the word when God formed and man out of dust and breathed life into him. And it’s the word used at Pentecost as a mighty wind breathes life into the Church.

The Spirit not only comes to unite us, but to free us from what we have previously known about the world. God’s activity is not confined to what makes us comfortable. Left to our own devices, we sabotage the work of the Spirit by claiming our power over God’s power. So it’s not surprising that Jesus sent the disciples to go back to the Upper Room and wait to receive the Holy Spirit. When we read the Book of Acts, we see the church trying to catch up with the Holy Spirit as they are compelled to cross racial, religious and national boundaries to bring Jesus’ message of love to the whole world.[i]

This season of Eastertide, I have been asking myself the question, “Why Jesus?” And through these last 7 weeks, I have been reminded that I need Jesus because he refocuses my attention on what’s important.

As I look around me and feel like the world is spinning more out of control, I am reminded that life in Christ is less about theological purity and more faithfulness and trust - about loving and serving in the places we are. A pastor friend reminded me that above all else, we are called to be deeply devoted disciples of Jesus Christ, not disciples to our own wants and needs. When I sit and read chapters of the gospels rather than verses or paragraphs, I am more and more convinced that what Jesus cares most is how we love one another.

In this week’s news alone, from the Manchester bombing, to stabbings in Portland, to disunity in our government and our churches, to attacks in Egypt and Syria which kill the innocent just to put forward a political or religious agenda… there is no doubt that we have this disunity this perfected. But Jesus’ prayer is for the whole world… that we may be one.

Somehow, we have to figure out how to make that a reality… in our personal lives, in our church lives, and in our lives in the world. We have to figure out how to make our faith lives our life’s work, and we have to be willing to work toward those goals together, in spite of our disagreements and our own self-interests. And that, my friends, can only be done when we trust the Spirit to be with us in the places and with the people who need us. And through that same Spirit, we can experience “more WE, and less ME.”

Be prepared - our lives will take a different turn than we expect. But Jesus’ promises hold true. ⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8 NRSV) 

Amen.

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[i] Rick Power, A Plain Account, Easter 7A, http://www.aplainaccount.org/easter-7a-1st-reading