08/23/2009 NO ILLUSIONS. IT’S NOT EASY.

NO ILLUSIONS.  IT’S NOT EASY.

 

“… be strong in the Lord & in the strength of his power.”

 Ephesians 6: 10 (NRSV)

           

          When persons set as a personal goal to begin reading the Bible, I counsel them to not start at the beginning, but to start with Jesus.  Read the gospels first. 

          If they begin with Genesis, that’s okay.  It’s a great read.  And continuing in Exodus isn’t so bad, either.  Even Hollywood finds Exodus interesting.  At the close of Exodus, one moves into the lists & minutiae of Leviticus & Numbers, & that’s where discouragement sets in.  Most readers quit at that point, never even getting to all of the magnificent stuff about Jesus. 

 

          Having preached from the Letter to the Ephesians this summer, I wonder what a new reader to the Bible would think of Christianity, if s/he began there, instead of with the gospels or Genesis.  Read this six-chapter epistle & you quickly get the sense that Christians are different.  Its author expressly tells its readers to be different – different from the dominant culture. 

 

          That’s hard counsel to consider.  It may even be a turn-off.  Most folks want to fit in.  They don’t want to be too different.  Peer pressure is not only an adolescent issue, but something all of us confront, regardless of age.  Being different is uncomfortable for many persons, & completely intolerable for others.  Christians are different.

 

          Just look at pastors, if you want to see different!  Most pastors range from being a bit out of step to being totally odd ducks.  You’ve known a few pastors in your life.  You know what I mean.  ---  Have you ever been to a conference that’s all, or predominantly, pastors?  I thought about taking the UM clergy directory & projecting the photos for you.  Those pics say it all!  Let me tell you…. 

 

It’s not just pastors, though!  Think of some of the finest Christians you’ve known in your life.  They often march to the beat of a different drummer.  I won’t mention names.

 

It’s always been this way.  Go back to Noah, told by God to build an ark the length of three football fields.  Doesn’t that strike you as just a bit odd?  Or, Sarah getting pregnant at age 90.   What about Esther risking her life as queen, Naomi the outcast widow, & Ruth’s unsavory ethnic background?  How about Ezekiel lying on his side for 390 days just to make a point?  Or, the time when he built a model of Jerusalem in his house only to destroy it like a little boy playing with toy armies & artillery?  The Hebrews called him a meshuggah, a crazy man.  How about Daniel openly defying the king to pray as commanded?  What about Hosea taking a known prostitute as his wife & having children by her?  There’s John the Baptist eating grasshoppers long before Survivor hit the air.  John of Patmos had wild, hallucinogenic visions & dreams that readers of Revelation are still trying to make sense of.  Jesus riled his family, his religious leaders, & his government’s leaders.  Bible characters: strange birds the lot of ‘em!

 

          Think about the kinds of things Christians today do that set us apart.  Imagine being someone who’s never been to church, learning about Christians.

1)    For one, we worship … on Sunday … in the morning.  Most folks sleep in, relax with the newspaper, go to brunch, go antiquing or play golf or tennis.  When we worship, we acknowledge a power greater – more loving, more gracious, & wiser – than ourselves.  Who does that?  We sing songs accompanied by a pipe organ.  Where else, outside of the shower, do people sing, anymore? Most persons don’t even sing the national anthem at sporting events.  We pray for ordinary things & impossible things, for friends & even enemies.  How ill-advised is that – praying for enemies !?!  We listen to some speaker, who is no better than anyone else, speak on behalf of God.  We engage in odd rituals, one using water (often with babies), the other consuming grape juice & bread representing flesh & blood (eew!).  They are practices whose meaning we don’t quite understand, but do them anyway because Christ commanded.    Worship makes us different.

2)    We care for one another & the needy – needy persons whom we don’t often know.  We don’t just cloister ourselves in our homes to play video games, but make it a point, as a matter of faith, to engage in deliberate acts of compassion for & with others.  Who does that?  Even service organizations are comprised of Christians more than any other group.  And many of those helping institutions we created.  On the flip side, there is no orphanage based on the principles of atheism, no Shinto HIV-AIDS ministry, no communist regime with volunteer firefighters.  Caring for the least of these our brothers & sisters makes us different.

3)    We tithe.  Giving 10% of one’s wealth to God is a strange idea.  People don’t do that.  A lot of persons are simply selfish.  Others figure paying taxes is enough, such that returning gifts to God & providing alms for situations of need do not happen.  Many folks are of the conviction that it’s government’s job to care for others.  Christians believe that we are our brothers’ & sisters’ keepers.  We give back & give away 10% or more of our income.  And we’re the biggest givers to non-church charities, too.  What does that say?  We do this out of gratitude, out of sound biblical financial planning principles, out of faith.  Tithing makes us different.

4)    We read & study the Bible, & strive to live it.  That sure is out of step with the culture.  The world sees in these pages an antiquated collection of myths & quaint sentiments that are largely unbelievable, often oppressive, & certainly not from God or anyone even closely resembling a god.  The book may be great literature, some persons suggest, but how individuals & communities lead their lives by its precepts & examples is the stuff of delusion & fantasy.  “God’s word?  Baloney!” is how they see it.  The Bible makes us different.

5)    We take unpopular stances on issues that affect humanity.  Take the UM position on abortion as one example.[1]  UM’s do “not affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control & unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection.”  “We are reluctant to approve abortion,” because of our belief in life’s sacred status.  When the life of the mother is at stake, & one is to be traded for the other, because we have such a respect for all human life, we cannot conclusively state in every instance whether the child or the mother is of greater value.  We believe such a difficult decision is left to the prayerful counsel of the family, hopefully with the input of trusted Christians & medical personnel in their circle of influence.  Some persons will always side with the child.  Some will always side with the mother.  We respectfully disagree with those kinds of “always” dogmas.  UM’s believe that our approach is grounded in scripture, while employing tradition, reason, & experience to illuminate & round out what some call a more nuanced approach to abortion.  Will humans make the wrong choice at times?  Yes, of course.  And that is where God’s grace, & God’s grace working through us to nurture one another in such difficult times, is of paramount importance.  UM’s are clear about wanting to reduce abortion & unwanted pregnancies, while supporting parental notification, crisis pregnancy centers, & adoption.  A Christian guided to act with integrity based on faith convictions is different.  

6)    The last difference may be the most obvious difference.  We’re a part of something called the church.  We go to church.  Holy scripture calls the church the Body of Christ.  How odd is that in our culture: to teach that a collection of faithful persons is the earthly body of someone in heaven?   That’s off the beaten path!  What we’re saying is that a congregation is not any old, run-of-the-mill socio-cultural or socio-political institution.  Some persons would reduce us to that simplistic portrayal because they lump us together with other world religions.

The devotees of many world religions worship, but do not serve humankind’s needs.  Many service organizations serve needs, but do not worship.  Book clubs & academic fraternities seek to educate & edify members, but do not worship or serve others.  Social clubs & country clubs create fellowship, but do not worship or serve.  Sports leagues, home & school organizations, political parties, etc. are all fine associations & institutions, but none of them contains the balance & breadth of a church.  A congregation, like the individual Christian’s life, seeks to balance worship, fellowship, service, & learning.

The church is a new way of living, a heavenly reality here on earth, holy & blameless.  And although we fall short of that ideal, our failure is more a statement about ourselves & our lack of perfection, than Christ’s intentions for us & the ultimate standard of heaven which we hold as our goal.  The church is a different institution.  Being a part of the church makes us different, too.

 

          I would ask the person new to Christ, & all of us here:  How comfortable are you being a Christian different from the world?  Is worship, serving, tithing, the Bible, taking unpopular, principled stances, & being part of the body of Christ who you are, or does some of that stuff make you uncomfortable?

 

          When too many of us are skittish about faith in Christ & its realities, we default on our mission to transform lives through Christ’s love & grace.  If we’re not convinced there is truth & blessing & hope for the world here, we’ll never convince others.  Too often we’re caught up with our mistakes & imperfections, letting them become an excuse that paralyzes us & our mission.  It’s not that our message is lacking, but many days it’s us, the messengers, who lack conviction.  We don’t want to be different.  We too often fail to challenge the habits of the heart & mind that are not of God, that take souls captive, & lead people down paths that are unhealthy for the individual, society, & humanity as a whole. 

 

We need to be more challenging, but also more nurturing: to balance our condemnations of that which is wrong with grace-filled consolations when persons commit wrong.  We need to truly believe Jesus & his example.  We must instruct through scripture & practice how one can be morally & spiritually distinct without being culturally segregated.  We’re in, but of, the world, Jesus claims.  We must claim & own a vital (lively, active) piety, that holiness of heart & life at the center of the ministry of the Wesleys in England, as well as Coke, Asbury, Otterbein, Boehm, & Albright on this continent.   Their theological strands all unite in this United Methodist Church. 

 

We’re under no illusions.  Life is not easy.  Being a follower of Christ makes life better, but also makes us different, & that brings its own difficulties, indeed.  That’s why Ephesians provides this “pep talk” at the end of chapter 6 by encouraging spiritual soldiers to engage those discouragements – those evil forces, as it says -- with the full armor of God, readying us to take on the world… 

 

… Because the kingdom of heaven is our true home.  We’re here temporarily & need to make the most of it. Living for Jesus today, not only brings that heavenly reality closer, but secures our identity in him.  It’s practice for heaven.

In the Name….                         Copyright 2009 by G.D.Knerr at Lansdale, Pa.  All rights reserved.