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Sermon - The Seventh Sunday in Easter (B) - 24th May 2009
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping - 7, 8, 10am
Reading: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, Psalm 1, 1 John 5: 9-13, John 17:6-19
I am continually amazed at the different ways and emphasises that Christians express their love for their Lord. I must say that some ways I find extremely abhorrent and from my point of view those ways do not adequately fit in with my understanding of the God that I worship, however, I am sorry to admit this but I am not all knowing and do not have all the answers! Love for Jesus can be found in all kinds of people. It is that love that makes all Christians one. We cannot judge one another. In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays for unity for all those who believe.
Jesus’ prayer for unity is like parents leaving for the evening and warning the children: “Now don’t you fight with each other. Be nice. Show the baby-sitter how nice you can be to one another”.
Jesus did well to pray for unity. One of the first things that threatened to divide the early Church was the question of circumcision. Some Jewish Christians thought the Gentiles, who were coming into the Church, should be made into proper Jewish believers. The Council of Jerusalem was held to decide the correct way forward. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, went up to Jerusalem with his co-worker Barnabas and they met with Peter and the Jewish Christians. There the matter was worked out amicably.
There have been many splits during the two thousand years since. In the tenth century the Eastern churches, the Orthodox and others, separated from the strict adherence to Rome as their leader. In the 1500’s, the Reformation again split the Church. Sexuality and gender issues are causing problems today.
When we speak of unity we should not focus just on the so-called denominations. Jesus came first to preach to and to convert the world, the world being humanity. In John 3:16 we read, “God so loved the world”, not so loved the “Church”, “that He sent his only-begotten Son ...”.
One theologian notes that theologians have generally begun with reflection on the nature of the church and then moved from there to a discussion of the church’s mission. She calls for “an open ecclesiology” that begins with a focus on the relationship between God and the world. ‘One way of expressing this,’ she says, ‘is to say that the church is seen as a Post Script on God’s love affair with the world. Instead of moving from God to Church to World, she suggests a move from God to World to Church”. We are certainly, as the old cliché goes, “all in one boat.”
“A group of shipwrecked people were adrift at sea in a long narrow lifeboat. The boat was so long that the people in the front thought of themselves as the ‘front’ people and those in the back as the ‘back’ people. Suddenly, the front of the boat developed an uncontrollable leak. A man in the back of the boat whispered to the woman next to him, ‘Thank God that leak is in the front. If it were in the back, we’d be doomed!’”
This humorous anecdote conveys a serious lesson. All Christians, all of us are obviously in the same boat. Therefore a threat to any one of us is a threat to all of us and should be perceived and dealt with as such. When Jesus prayed for oneness among his disciples and with all those who would come to believe in him through their efforts, he was similarly affirming the solidarity of all the passengers in the ship of Peter which is the church”. Remember that the main part of this building is called the nave a word meaning ship. It has the same root as the word navy!
We as church certainly have not distinguished ourselves on unity. The German theologian, Hans Kung, writes:
“We have failed because we have not borne witness to God’s caring love for each and every creature. We have failed because we have not overcome the divisions between the churches and have often used the authority and power given to us to strengthen false and limited solidarities like racism, sexism and nationalism. We have failed because we have caused wars or excused them and often too easily justified them. We have failed to be mediators and reconcilers. We have failed because we have not questioned decisively enough the political and economic systems which misuse power and riches, which exploit resources and perpetuate poverty and marginalisation. We have failed because we have regarded ourselves and our countries as the superior centre of the world. We have failed because we have not borne constant witness to the sanctity and dignity of all life...”
Kung suggests that to find the culprit, we need only look in the mirror and at the people with whom we associate every day. He says we must truly start to live Jesus prayer for unity: “That they all may be one”. Our ecumenical covenant is a step in the right direction. We are together but we maintain our differing styles and emphases. If you have not been to an ecumenical activity why not come to the Pentecost ecumenical service next Thursday at the Carlingford Baptist Church? I think that you will be wonderfully surprised.
Does the move toward unity and away from division mean we should strive to become one church? Perhaps the best answer is as someone has said, “God is too big for one church”. That’s profoundly true. We need the religious awareness that comes from all the great world religions. God is beyond all names and shapes. If we try to describe the totality of God we fail because God is bigger than we are. In the attempt to define we then make a god in our own image, not we ourselves being made in God’s image. That is why we are all so different, so diverse, God’s image is the whole of humanity past, present and future.
There is a statement often quoted that “service unites, doctrine divides”. The second part of that isn’t really true. Doctrines such as the Trinity, revelation, grace, incarnation, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, redemption, judgment and eternal life are basically held in common by all Christians. There can be arguments that linger far into the night as to the way in which redemption works, or the form forgiveness should take and which rituals or sacraments to use in worship. No one expects a church of uniformity, with one rigid form of government or worship. None the less, there is plenty on which to agree. It always helps to remember that unity is not the same as uniformity.
We are not to judge whom God accepts, anyone, Hindu, secular, unbeliever, Orthodox Christian can be saved if he or she is favoured by God and does what God requires. All of us are made in God’s image and so no matter what our beliefs there is a spark of God in each of us. God works through all people to bring love and goodness into the world, particularly our little corner of the world. All love is of God, a sharing in the divine life, the life that Jesus shares with his Father. We may understand God and our obligations in different ways the community of Our Lady Help of Christians and prefer one church or religious tradition to others, for reasons that are important to us. Genuine religious traditions each have something to offer and special ways of worshiping and understanding God. Even if we never become one, one church, one ecclesial body, we need to come together, to enrich each other and to live in harmony.
The artist Salvador Dali was something less than a role model but he produced a remarkable painting of the Last Supper. You may have seen it? God worked through Dali a less than perfect person. The picture is of the upper room with Jesus at the head of the table. It captures the meaning of Jesus’ prayer that his disciples may be one. When you first look at this painting, it seems to be a traditional scene of Jesus at the Last Supper. Then you become aware that the walls behind the table are transparent and that the table is not confined to one room, but is at the centre expanding horizons, extending out into the world. So the event at the table and the words spoken are not limited. The prayer of Jesus in today’s reading is not confined to the frightened band of disciples sharing the meal with their Lord just before his death. It is a prayer for all of us that we might be one with Christ and through him with each other. Or, as Jesus prayed to his Father, a little further on than this mornings reading, ‘that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them’ (John 17:26)”.
“A little boy was spending the day with his grandfather. As often happened, the little boy was asking his grandfather questions. Suddenly, with a very serious tone, the little boy asked, “Grandpa, what happens when you die”. Grandpa explained it as best as he could. Still puzzled, the boy asked, “Does that mean you won’t be here anymore?” Grandpa nodded, “Yes, that’s true.” “Does that mean you won’t be able to play catchings with me anymore?” “Yes, it does.” “Does that mean you won’t be able to fly a kite with me any more?” “Yes, it does.” “Does that mean you won’t be able to take me fishing anymore?” “Yes, it does.” “Well, Grandpa, when that time comes, who is going to do those things with me, if you’re not here?” The wise grandfather explained, “Well, when that time comes, it will be the time for you to do those things for another little boy.”
Jesus is saying the same thing to us as he prepares to leave and prays for our unity. That we are to do all the things he did, said and has taught to us likewise. We are to do those things for other boys or girls.
We are the body of Christ, his Spirit is with us.
We are to Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
This sermon based upon one by Jerry Fuller OMI, http://www.deaconsil.com/