Live Love
Basics of Faith 9 – August 27, 2017
A Sermon by
Rev. M. Gayle MacDonald
Texts read on August 27: The Tough Love ~Paraphrase of Psalm 82 by James Taylor
(printed below; Epistle: 1 Peter
2:2-10; *Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 82 ~
Tough Love
God
sits at the head of the table.
"How
long," God demands, will you keep
making
wrong choices?
How
long will your policies favour injustice?
I
expect you to be fair to everyone,
including
those with no economic weight;
to
defend the rights of those who have no voice,
and
no one to speak for them.
to
protect the weak and the struggling from exploitation.
Of
all people, they need your protection most.
They
do not have education or money,
or
friends in high places.
They
have suffered devastating losses in their lives."
God
says: "You think you have taken
over
my
responsibilities.
But
you are not God.
When
your time comes, you will die like everyone else."
Come,
Lord.
Come
Judge the earth.
We
are yours to judge.
by
James Taylor ~ Everyday Psalms
Since June, we have covered, in the Basics of Faith Sermon, nine topics normally covered in classes for Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows - for confirmation. This week the topic is living our faith in the world – Live Love.
Before
I move into this week’s topic, I am very aware that there are two areas that I
have not covered explicitly. One is the Holy Spirit – for we are a church that
baptizes using the traditional words recognized by our partner denominations in
the Canadian Council of Churches; that is "Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Also, we regularly speak of the Spirit in our
discussions, in sermons and in prayer. If we follow the lectionary church
calendar when preaching, we specifically address the importance of the Holy
Spirit to the Church on Pentecost Sunday and often on Trinity Sunday. More importantly, the General Council of the
United Church is increasingly looking to the movement of the Spirit as it
continues to be relevant in a Post-modern world calling its present work
"Engaging the Spirit".
Also not covered in the nine topics is the denominational specific topic of the polity of the church – that is, the way the church works; the difference between being a member, an adherent and a full member; as well as how the church makes decisions on all levels; and where to find the by-laws that govern the denomination of the United Church of Canada as a whole. That topic is best covered in small groups or as an evening discussion group of any size and may need a review in light of the impending changes to the structure of the United Church. In fact, the Council of this Pastoral Charge will be looking at structure as it works, this fall, to improve the effectiveness and communication of your current governance model.
Today, with those two notable exceptions – the Holy Spirit and Church Structure and Governance, I will wrap up the series which I began in June as I talk about living our faith in the world.
I think it is relevant that the United Church of Canada puts the words mission and service together, inseparable parts of a whole. Perhaps that is because in the United Church of Canada, we do not use the word mission to mean to proselytize or evangelize or convert others to Christianity or to the United Church of Canada. This does not mean that we, who call the United Church of Canada our home, do not hold our Christian faith dear – but it does mean that our focus is not to get others to agree with us in our beliefs, but rather to live what we believe. Mission in the United Church means providing a way to serve the needs of others in the world; a way to respond to disaster-like crises in the world; to promote peace and justice and address everyday injustices such as poverty, mental or physical challenges, innovations in ministry, environmental crises, and so on. Mission and Service is the United Church's way of facilitating living with compassion – of living love. If we are doing mission and service well, if we are living what we believe, then we may be following the advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel always; use words only when necessary.” I grew up on the words, “They will know we are Christians by our love”, and I like to think this is true of us, even if we are not always seen that way.
I am fascinated by the fact that the very first members of the communities we refer to as the Early Church were not commonly referred to as ‘Christians’ or ‘Christ followers’, but as ‘people of the way’, because they followed a particular way of living – and that way, is of course, the way taught by Jesus, whom we call the Christ; the anointed one.
The United Church of Canada became a denomination in the hay-day of the Social Gospel. There was so much work to be done for outreach and justice that this work was one of the compelling reasons the three founding denominations got together: it was easier to do the work of the Social Gospel if they combined their efforts, rather than compete with one another for resources to do the same work with the same people. And the twenty articles of faith, now referred to as the twenty articles of doctrine, which are in the Basis of Union came about by consensus – that is, while the founding members of the United Church of Canada might not be able to agree on everything, at that point in time, at our coming together in 1925 after 14 years of deliberation, the founding denominations could agree on the things which were written into the Basis of Union.
The United Church has historically been outspoken on issues of justice, often taking unpopular stands. What is sometimes overlooked is that other denominations were struggling with the same issues of justice at the same time and coming to similar conclusions, but other denominations often lagged in making public statements or in having the will to act radically. Is this strength on our part, or a weakness? That depends, I think on the person with whom you are speaking – but outspoken and justice-oriented is who we are as a denomination. I believe this outspokenness comes from a deeply spiritual place. I have noticed, over the years as the United Church continues its radical journey forward, it is also increasing its emphasis of spiritual practices. These are not easy issues we undertake, and, it should be noted that while the General Council encourages congregations to follow suit on its decisions; it does not demand it and remains open to criticism and change.
Mission and Service are not separated in the United Church, nor are they for most people in the congregations. By that I mean, our Mission is to help, not to convert. We are, for the most part, not a people who go about debating our faith with others. We are a people who live it – and we live it by struggling regularly with issues of justice and integrity and compassion. We believe firmly in a God who loves us and who is with us in our struggles. We believe that Jesus taught us the way to live in the world and that the Gospels help us to understand that way. We continue to read and study the Bible, but always with an eye to the world as it is; with an openness to the Word as something living and changing as we and the world in which we live change. Our one constant is that our understanding is rooted in Love – Love of God, of Jesus, and of the people who struggle with these concepts.
Also not covered in the nine topics is the denominational specific topic of the polity of the church – that is, the way the church works; the difference between being a member, an adherent and a full member; as well as how the church makes decisions on all levels; and where to find the by-laws that govern the denomination of the United Church of Canada as a whole. That topic is best covered in small groups or as an evening discussion group of any size and may need a review in light of the impending changes to the structure of the United Church. In fact, the Council of this Pastoral Charge will be looking at structure as it works, this fall, to improve the effectiveness and communication of your current governance model.
Today, with those two notable exceptions – the Holy Spirit and Church Structure and Governance, I will wrap up the series which I began in June as I talk about living our faith in the world.
I think it is relevant that the United Church of Canada puts the words mission and service together, inseparable parts of a whole. Perhaps that is because in the United Church of Canada, we do not use the word mission to mean to proselytize or evangelize or convert others to Christianity or to the United Church of Canada. This does not mean that we, who call the United Church of Canada our home, do not hold our Christian faith dear – but it does mean that our focus is not to get others to agree with us in our beliefs, but rather to live what we believe. Mission in the United Church means providing a way to serve the needs of others in the world; a way to respond to disaster-like crises in the world; to promote peace and justice and address everyday injustices such as poverty, mental or physical challenges, innovations in ministry, environmental crises, and so on. Mission and Service is the United Church's way of facilitating living with compassion – of living love. If we are doing mission and service well, if we are living what we believe, then we may be following the advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel always; use words only when necessary.” I grew up on the words, “They will know we are Christians by our love”, and I like to think this is true of us, even if we are not always seen that way.
I am fascinated by the fact that the very first members of the communities we refer to as the Early Church were not commonly referred to as ‘Christians’ or ‘Christ followers’, but as ‘people of the way’, because they followed a particular way of living – and that way, is of course, the way taught by Jesus, whom we call the Christ; the anointed one.
The United Church of Canada became a denomination in the hay-day of the Social Gospel. There was so much work to be done for outreach and justice that this work was one of the compelling reasons the three founding denominations got together: it was easier to do the work of the Social Gospel if they combined their efforts, rather than compete with one another for resources to do the same work with the same people. And the twenty articles of faith, now referred to as the twenty articles of doctrine, which are in the Basis of Union came about by consensus – that is, while the founding members of the United Church of Canada might not be able to agree on everything, at that point in time, at our coming together in 1925 after 14 years of deliberation, the founding denominations could agree on the things which were written into the Basis of Union.
The United Church has historically been outspoken on issues of justice, often taking unpopular stands. What is sometimes overlooked is that other denominations were struggling with the same issues of justice at the same time and coming to similar conclusions, but other denominations often lagged in making public statements or in having the will to act radically. Is this strength on our part, or a weakness? That depends, I think on the person with whom you are speaking – but outspoken and justice-oriented is who we are as a denomination. I believe this outspokenness comes from a deeply spiritual place. I have noticed, over the years as the United Church continues its radical journey forward, it is also increasing its emphasis of spiritual practices. These are not easy issues we undertake, and, it should be noted that while the General Council encourages congregations to follow suit on its decisions; it does not demand it and remains open to criticism and change.
Mission and Service are not separated in the United Church, nor are they for most people in the congregations. By that I mean, our Mission is to help, not to convert. We are, for the most part, not a people who go about debating our faith with others. We are a people who live it – and we live it by struggling regularly with issues of justice and integrity and compassion. We believe firmly in a God who loves us and who is with us in our struggles. We believe that Jesus taught us the way to live in the world and that the Gospels help us to understand that way. We continue to read and study the Bible, but always with an eye to the world as it is; with an openness to the Word as something living and changing as we and the world in which we live change. Our one constant is that our understanding is rooted in Love – Love of God, of Jesus, and of the people who struggle with these concepts.
The
result of years of worshipping and learning together is that the United Church
as a uniting church has come to believe
that the way of Jesus is one of compassion. One of the central teachings which
helps us to struggle with living the love that Jesus taught is found in the
Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10. It is these words: "You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." This
was the answer the young lawyer gave to Jesus in response to his own question:
“What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus tells him that his answer is correct.
Then Jesus continues the lesson with the parable of the good Samaritan.
To most practicing devout Jews at the time in which Jesus lived the phrase “good Samaritan” was an oxymoron. They would not have put good and Samaritan in the same sentence – it just didn’t make sense. The lesson for the young lawyer, and for us, is that everyone is our neighbor; and the one who lives with compassion; that is, the one who shows mercy, is the good neighbor and has fulfilled the greatest commandment. To be a good neighbor is a life-long challenge. To realize that often those we fear as enemy might be our good neighbor is even more challenging.
Live love: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. This statement, these two commands are a summary of the intention of all the other commandments. These two are simple and complex at the same time. Do we begin with us – that is by learning to love ourselves properly and then “love our neighbours as ourselves” and come to God in that way to because by loving our neighbor as ourselves we are filling the commandment to love God with all of our being. Or is it the other way around: do we love God, who loves both us and our neighbor? And by loving God with all of our being, we unavoidably love our neighbor as ourselves because we love what God loves – all our neighbours: the ones we are happy to greet and the ones who vex us. These two commandments together offer a lifetime of learning and living.
We are not called to separate or to judge. We are called to be a Holy people, called to be people of the way, called to be followers of the Christ. We are called to Live Love.
May it always be so. Amen.
To most practicing devout Jews at the time in which Jesus lived the phrase “good Samaritan” was an oxymoron. They would not have put good and Samaritan in the same sentence – it just didn’t make sense. The lesson for the young lawyer, and for us, is that everyone is our neighbor; and the one who lives with compassion; that is, the one who shows mercy, is the good neighbor and has fulfilled the greatest commandment. To be a good neighbor is a life-long challenge. To realize that often those we fear as enemy might be our good neighbor is even more challenging.
Live love: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. This statement, these two commands are a summary of the intention of all the other commandments. These two are simple and complex at the same time. Do we begin with us – that is by learning to love ourselves properly and then “love our neighbours as ourselves” and come to God in that way to because by loving our neighbor as ourselves we are filling the commandment to love God with all of our being. Or is it the other way around: do we love God, who loves both us and our neighbor? And by loving God with all of our being, we unavoidably love our neighbor as ourselves because we love what God loves – all our neighbours: the ones we are happy to greet and the ones who vex us. These two commandments together offer a lifetime of learning and living.
We are not called to separate or to judge. We are called to be a Holy people, called to be people of the way, called to be followers of the Christ. We are called to Live Love.
May it always be so. Amen.
United Church
of Canada Statements and Creeds on Communion
Note: Article XX in the
Basis of Union is the closest to Mission in the founding documents of the
United Church, though the reason for uniting in the first place was the Social
Gospel. Over time, the church in the
world has come to understand mission more as aiding others to wholeness than
converting people to our own way of thinking.
The church has struggled, since that time, to consider how to live the
Gospel among all people rather than preach at people. As the United Church of Canada and its people
grow in understanding. It has chosen to
lament the injustices of colonialism and to strive to live in a more open and
equitable relationship with all peoples.
Our understanding of Christian Service has dramatically changed as will
be seen in subsequent Creeds and Statements.
The progression of our understanding of how to live as the church in the
world is addressed in the Preamble to the Song of Faith (2006), so it is
printed first and then the sections of the various statements, beginning in
1925, which might be relevant to our topic:
Live Love.
Preamble
(Song of Faith)
This statement
of faith seeks to provide a verbal picture of what The United Church of Canada
understands its faith to be in its current historical, political, social, and
theological context at the beginning of the 21st century. It is also a means of
ongoing reflection and an invitation for the church to live out its convictions
in relation to the world in which we live.The church’s faith is grounded in truths that are timeless. These truths, however, must be embraced anew by Christians of each generation and stated “in terms of the thoughts of their own age and with the emphasis their age needs” (Statement of Faith, 1940).
This is not the first time the United Church has formally expressed its collective faith. In the Basis of Union (1925), in the Statement of Faith (1940), and in A New Creed (1968), the United Church stated its faith in words appropriate to its time. This current statement of faith is offered within that tradition, and in response to the request of the 37th General Council (2000) for a “timely and contextual statement of faith” that especially engages “the church in conversation on the nature of the church (ecclesiology), ministry and the sacraments.”
This statement of faith attempts to reflect the spirit of The United Church of Canada and to respond to various defining elements in our social, political, and historical context, including the place of the church in society, the cultural and intellectual setting in which we find ourselves, the meaning of “truth,” the impact of the market economy on our daily lives, and the growing issue of the meaning of “security.” These contextual elements are further explored in the appendices to this document.
This is not a statement for all time but for our time. In as much as the Spirit keeps faith with us, we can express our understanding of the Holy with confidence. And in as much as the Spirit is vast and wild, we recognize that our understanding of the Holy is always partial and limited. Nonetheless we have faith, and this statement collects the meaning of our song.
1925 – Basis of Union
Article XX. Of Christian Service and the Final
Triumph. We believe that it is our duty, as disciples and servants of Christ,
to further the extension of His Kingdom, to do good unto all men, to maintain
the public and private worship of God, to hallow the Lord’s Day, to preserve
the inviolability of marriage and the sanctity of the family, to uphold the
just authority of the State, and so to live in all honesty, purity, and
charity, that our lives shall testify of Christ. We joyfully receive the word
of Christ, bidding His people go into all the world and make disciples of all
nations, declaring unto them that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself, and that He will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of
the truth. We confidently believe that by His power and grace all His enemies
shall finally be overcome, and the kingdoms of this world be made the Kingdom
of our God and of His Christ.
1940 – Statement of Faith
XI. Christian Life and Duty We believe that the
Christian life is the life lived in fellowship with Christ and His Church. It
begins with repentance and faith. In repentance men turn from sin to serve the
holy and forgiving God with new and glad obedience. In faith they entrust
themselves to Christ and rest upon Him alone for salvation. We believe that by
the teaching and example of Jesus the Holy Spirit shows men the way and the end
of the Christian life, what it means to love God with all the heart and soul
and mind and strength, and to love their neighbour as themselves. We believe
that Christian men are called to abide within the fellowship of the Church, to
maintain its peace and unity, and to give diligent heed to prayer, to the
reading of Scripture, to common worship and the sacraments. We believe that
they are likewise called to live as those who are of the Kingdom of God, and to
seek His righteousness both in individual and social life, serving their
fellow-men in love for Christ’s sake, and striving and waiting in prayer for an
ordered common life where the will of God for the well-being and peace of men
shall be done over all the earth. We believe that in denying themselves and in
following Christ men are enabled by the Spirit of God more and more to die unto
sin and live unto righteousness; that they are, under the hand of a faithful
Father, in labour, love, and duty, in suffering, sorrow and defeat, renewed in
the inner man after the image of the crucified and victorious Christ; and that
they receive in this life a foretaste of the final redemption, assurance of the
divine favour, peace and joy, and the confidence that He is able to keep them
to the end. So we acknowledge the Christian life as the life lived within the
family of God, with the graces and privileges, the duties and discipline,
through which the Christian man grows up in all things into Christ.
1968 (Rev. 1980, 1995) - A New Creed
We
are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
2006 – A Song of Faith
We sing of the Creator,
who made humans to live and move
and have their being in God.
In and with God,
we can direct our lives toward right
relationship
with each other and with God.
We can discover our
place as one strand in the web of life.
We can grow in
wisdom and compassion.
We can recognize all
people as kin.
We can accept our
mortality and finitude, not as a curse,
but as a challenge to make our lives
and choices matter.
. . . . . . .
God reconciles,
and calls us to repent the part we
have played
in damaging our world, ourselves, and
each other.
God transforms,
and calls us to protect the
vulnerable,
to pray for deliverance from evil,
to work with God for the healing of
the world,
that all might have abundant life.
We sing of grace.
. . . . . . .
The fullness of life includes
moments of unexpected inspiration and
courage lived out,
experiences of beauty, truth, and
goodness,
blessings of seeds and harvest,
friendship
and family, intellect and sexuality,
the reconciliation of persons through
justice
and
communities living in righteousness,
and
the articulation of meaning.
And so we sing of
God the Spirit,
who from the beginning has swept over
the face of creation,
animating all energy and matter
and moving in the human heart.
. . . . . . .
Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign—
a commonwealth not of domination
but of peace, justice, and
reconciliation.
He healed the sick
and fed the hungry.
He forgave sins and
freed those held captive
by all manner of demonic powers.
He crossed barriers
of race, class, culture, and gender.
He preached and
practised unconditional love—
love of God, love of neighbour,
love of friend, love of enemy—
and he commanded his
followers to love one another
as he had loved them.
. . . . . . .
We sing of God’s good news lived out,
a church with
purpose:
faith nurtured and hearts comforted,
gifts shared for the good of all,
resistance to the forces that exploit
and marginalize,
fierce love in the face of violence,
human dignity defended,
members of a community held and
inspired by God,
corrected
and comforted,
instrument of the loving Spirit of
Christ,
creation’s mending.
We sing of God’s
mission.
. . . . . . .
In grateful response to God’s abundant love,
we bear in mind our integral
connection
to the earth and one another;
we participate in
God’s work of healing and mending creation.
. . . . . . .
Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness,
union, and integration
with the common ground of all being.
As children of the
Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find
completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we
embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Grateful for God’s loving action,
we cannot keep from singing.
Creating and seeking
relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy
Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Amen.
