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Methodist pastor Nancy Ore made this observation:
" It's not the folks like the Pharisees who are in God's presence. It's not the folks who think they know all the right words or how to do the right sermon. It's not the folks who think they know the religious rules and are rigidly and self-righteously and joylessly living them out. The folks who get into God's Kingdom vineyard are the folks who know they're not perfect. The folks who are afraid, the folks who are hurt, the folks who feel guilt, who agonize over broken relationships… the folks who are sick… and tired. The folks who are acutely aware of their separation from God.”
Today’s reading is a huge warning that being a Christian is not about knowing all the right words to say and knowing it all, about having all the answers (what a relief) – it’s about a relationship with God that we can enjoy as one of his children, knowing that Jesus taught us that we can pray ‘Abba, father’. In that relationship it doesn’t matter if we mess up from time to time or say exactly the right words – it’s knowing that we are infinitely loved and precious to God.
We can get so caught up in words, argue over the meaning of words. We know that within the church fierce arguments are fought about different issues. And it is important that discussions are held. However, they can become all consuming and the kingdom of God can be lost in the fight.
How we are and what we do comes from our faith in God and from knowing that we are loved by God. God’s love is not conditional on our behaviour. However our response to God’s love for us and for all creation means that we want to respond to that love by loving God and all creation with all the implications that follow from that.
Today’s gospel reading carries echoes of Matthew 7 where Jesus says that not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven.
What is the will of God? – to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to take care of the sick, to clothe the naked, to visit those in prison. Whatever we do to others we do to Christ. (Matthew 25).
Sometimes a small gesture speaks more than thousands of words: Desmond Tutu’s life was profoundly affected by Trevor Huddleston. And was it by his eloquent words? No. It was one small gesture – that of raising his hat to Tutu’s mother in a hospital corridor. A white man respecting a black woman – unheard of. Yet this spoke of his respect for all people regardless of their colour or creed.
I know of a lady who has been a Christian all her life and prayed for her husband every day. Bill was in the SBS and was a pretty tough guy. When he retired he was in a lot of pain because of injuries sustained through experimental parachute jumps and he could no longer drive. He did not believe but Barb said her prayers and read her Bible every morning. Bill just thought she took an inordinately long time to make a cup of tea in the mornings! She didn’t go to church but prayed steadfastly for Bill for forty years. One of Bill’s closest friends died and he became quite depressed. One Sunday they drove past the local parish church and Bill noted a lot of cars parked outside. He said “Look at all those cars – there must be something going on inside there. I want you to take me there next Sunday, Barb.” She was overjoyed but also slightly worried – what was it going to be like? Well, they went and what spoke volumes more than any sermon was the warmth of the welcome they received. It wasn’t intellectual arguments or clever words that convinced Bill; it was the ongoing faithfulness and kindness of his wife and the welcome they received.
I took a funeral last week and most of the people who came would be much more comfortable in The Progressive Club rather than in church. As I spoke to the family I gained such a sense of love for each other and their neighbours took round meals and gave such practical support. They might not have spoken eloquent words about God but they were certainly showing love in action.
In My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle sings these words: "Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through; first from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do? Don't talk of stars burning above; If you're in love, Show me!… Never do I ever want to hear another word. There isn't one I haven't heard… Don't talk of love lasting through time. Make me no undying vow. Show me now!"
Acts of love and kindness - acts of service to others, standing up for others when they’re being stamped upon, being bullied, being misaligned, treating everyone we meet with respect without regard for their status, race, creed, sexuality, gender, treating everyone as a human being made in the image of God, standing up for justice, for those without a voice, for the poor and the oppressed.
I wonder what this might mean about our response in situations of conflict, such as for the travellers at Dale Farm or the people of Palestine?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who died at the hands of the Nazis because he refused to allow the church to be the tool of oppression, wrote:
The church is the church only when it exists for others. . . . The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. . . . It must not underestimate the importance of human example which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago the archdeacon preached here about forgiveness and the first point he made was to say that he didn’t fully understand forgiveness. Maybe this is a good starting point for us all – to acknowledge that we do not fully understand. We might not know all the right words to say but that isn’t the most important thing. We are here because we are on a journey together to help each other love God more, to love our neighbour better, to live out our Christian faith and to follow the way of Jesus with all the hiccups we experience, to continually start again, knowing God’s forgiveness and to go out from here to love and serve the Lord. |
