I don’t know about you, but I feel like there are times when the lectionary readings are a little too “on the nose” for what’s going on in our lives and in the world. In the Reformed tradition, we might attribute that to the providence of God. Others might just call it the work of the Spirit, and last Sunday we talked about it as the active presence of God.
You may recall that Moses asked God, “How are they – or anyone else – to know that we are your people if you do not go with us?” The same is true of us today, whether there is a pillar of fire or a cloud or a rainbow or just your neighbor in the pew to remind you that God is active and present and in our midst.
A word of caution, though, I think we can get a little carried away if we try to infer God’s motivations apart from what we find in scripture – and even then we can go too far. That same caution is what moved the early Protestant Reformers to criticize the church of their day.
To be clear, the early reformers were not trying to form a new church. Sometimes we talk about them breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, but that is not so. At that time there was one primary church – apart from the Eastern Orthodox Church and some smaller communities that existed from the time of the apostles – and the Protestant Reformation began as a desire to re-form the church. They wanted to get back to the basics. They wanted to follow the teachings of Jesus and the witness of the early church from Acts and the letters of Paul.
Of course, we know that this led to their expulsion, and their persistence led to the formation of new expressions of faith in Christ. I bring this up because today is Reformation Sunday, a day that we remember our calling to be “Reformed and always Reforming” around the word of God.
Some of my congregationalist colleagues whose traditions require a more literal understanding of scripture have found it odd for me to say that we believe that we are “reformed around God’s word,” but that is precisely who we are and what we do.
Doing so requires reading God’s word, and I hope that you are taking some time to do so regularly. If not, you might want to grab some friends and form a little book club for Jesus (also known as a Bible study). Given our belief in the active presence of God, we do expect that reading scripture will offer its own insight, but it should be said that we can’t read it without our own interpretive lenses and biases.
Anyone who tells you that they do not bring an interpretive bias to scripture is either not aware of their lens or not speaking the truth. I think the important thing is to be honest with ourselves and with God about the expectations we bring to the text.
Today we come to the texts in a time of leadership transition, global conflict, and personal experiences ranging from hopefulness to despair to wonder and joy. I cannot help but think of all of these when I read about Moses, who led the people through the wilderness, not being allowed to enter the promised land. I cannot help but think about all of that when I hear that Moses’s burial site was hidden – so that it would not become the focus of devotion for these people whom God has chosen to go with.
Likewise, as I read Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, whom he loves, I cannot help but think of my love for you! When he said, “Our coming to you was not in vain.” I think of those times when members have wondered if their contributions have mattered or not – whether it is selling parking for Mardi Gras or Festival or scrubbing pews on a church work day or just the acts of kindness in their lives that seem to be repaid with punishment – and I say, “No! Love is never given in vain. Love is love’s own reward.”
You might even say that loving for the sake of loving is what Jesus had in mind when he silenced the religious authorities in the Temple. That’s probably a little broad of a brushstroke, so maybe it’s better to say “Loving as an act of devotion.”
The thing is, he did not actually say anything that was all that revolutionary. He simply quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and added Leviticus 19:18, which was a pretty common move during his day. It would be kind of like telling someone to live by the “Golden Rule” of Matthew 7:12 “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but there is a difference between saying and doing. There is a difference in the expectation of devotion and the act of devotion. From the moment that he threw the money changers out of the Temple all the way through his epic parable teaching, Torah quoting, rap battle with the scholars of his day, Jesus was focused on the act of devotion, and the fruit of it is found in the way we treat one another.
The source of our faith is found in our expectations about God’s active presence, but the fruit of our faith is expressed between us. Hold that thought, and go back to 2011 with me.
There was a bombing in Cairo, Egypt that killed 23 Coptic Christians and wounded several others. Coptics are one of those groups that I mentioned that have literal lineage to the first-century church. They speak Arabic, so when they pray to God they say “Allah,” because that’s the Arabic word for “God.”
What you may or may not remember about this event is that the Arab community spoke out against the extremists and condemned the attack. They marched in the streets to prevent further violence. At one point they stopped to pray, as is their custom, and the Christians who were with them, mostly Coptics, formed a wall around them to keep them safe while they prayed.
I wish I could tell you that fixed things, but you know it did not. I can tell you that is not the only time that Christians have held sacred space for Muslims, and that there have been other incidents where Muslims have safeguarded Christians from extremists. I realize that is all good and well for the headlines, but it’s a little abstract when it comes to you and me. I share it because I believe it comes back to the idea of loving our neighbors as ourselves. If it can be done in the most extreme, it can be done in the most simple ways as well.
I don’t say that to beat you up. I say it to pat you on the back. None of us follow the way of Jesus perfectly, but together we can get a little closer to it than we can by ourselves. This passage, this summary of the law, is what we’ve chosen as the basis for our congregation’s vision and mission and core values (which you can find on the “About” tab of fpclafayette.org).
The vision and mission are ever before you on the front of your bulletin, and I hope you’ll read it from time to time and let it guide you. In fact, I’d like us to read them together. Let’s start with the Vision: We are a community of believers grounded in the Reformed Tradition of Christian faith and growing through the experience of God’s love.
I’ve already mentioned a little about the “Reformed Tradition” and while I hope you’ll take time to look more deeply into that, it’s important to remember that our tradition is not the only one – it’s just the one that we feel gives us the space in which to grow. What matters is that we see ourselves as both deeply rooted in faith and growing in our ability to experience the love of God.
That leads us to our Mission. Let’s say that one too:
We are grounded in the practice of loving God…with all of our hearts as we build and maintain relationships as a public witness of welcome and concern…with all our souls as we express gratitude through our generosity of spirit… with all of our minds as we experience God’s activity in the world. As we grow, we seek to love God and neighbor and self equally with all that we have and all that we are. (Matthew 22:37-39)
I gotta say, those are some beautiful words. I believe they describe First Presbyterian Church as a congregation, and I hope you feel good about that. There is one little thing that I worry about, though. I worry about how much you love yourself. Presbyterians are pretty good at confessing their sin, but we aren’t always that great about recognizing our blessedness as God’s beloved children.
Something I’ve learned about in my time here is that when I doubt myself I am forgetting whose image I’m made in. When I neglect my identity as a child of God, I am not doubting my value in the eyes of God. I am doubting God’s value in mine. I’ve replaced my devotion for God with a devotion of self-pity, and that is a trap I hope none of you will fall into.
In those times that I doubted God’s activity and my value, doubt became the lens that I looked through for everything else. I want you to know that you have taught me that there is a community of believers that will stand with you and around you no matter what. I want you to know that you are valuable in the eyes of God, and the expectation of Jesus is not that you will earn God’s love by following a set of rules. His expectation is that the love of God will set you free so that you may love for the sake of loving.
At least I pray that it may be so for me, and for you, and to God be the glory – now and always. Amen!
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