3 STREAMS, ONE RIVER PART 4

3 STREAMS, ONE RIVER—THE SPIRIT BRINGS UNITY
Sunday, February 5, 2012

Now, this represents something. Some wise guy at 8am said that it represents Eli Manning after today’s Super Bowl. Actually, I would like for you to use your imaginations for a moment, and pretend that this is your own physical body.

I am now shaking this figure to illustrate a distressed body—a body which is out of balance. When we don’t exercise Good judgment, and we don’t eat right, or exercise, and I don’t get enough sleep, or drink too much, then we might weaken our personal immune systems, and become sick. Or, if we put ourselves in harm’s way, by speeding down Quaker farms Road, or the like, then we may lose our balance and become injured. And of course, if you I break my leg because I was reckless on our skate boards, then our whole bodies will hurt. Now, I know that this seems rather obvious to you all; which is why I believe that the image of the church as the Body of Christ is really ingenious. Our bodies and their proper functioning are very important to us. Therefore, it should be easy for us to appropriate the spiritual truth and live it out in the church. Right? No, wrong. Going back t the earliest days of the Christian church, living together in Christian community has always been problematic.

This is the context behind today’s reading from St. Paul, which was a letter written in 60AD. The recipient was the Body of Christ located in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus, located in what we know now as the nation of Turkey. And I can tell you, Paul spoke TURKEY to them. Like most churches, then and now, this church suffered from unnecessary conflict: Factionalism, quiet rudeness, gossip, slander, and long term grudges. So Paul commands them to stop. He says, as we heard in today’s reading,
Do not let any evil or unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up. 31 get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

I think that it is interesting that Paul describes such talk as EVIL. If our words and actions hurt one another, then such words and actions are evil in the sight of God. Instead, our words and actions should not tear down, but should build up the members of the Body. I don’t know about you, but I think that there is a lesson here for all of us.
So, let’s look at this more deeply. Please take out your bulletin and turn to page 2, so that we can look at a passage from Paul’s letter:
• Looking at Verse one, 2nd line, Paul says”live a life worthy of the Calling you have received.” So, if you are a believer, who is a member of a church, then God has been the one who has invisibly worked through the circumstances of your life to give you your faith, and to make you part of the Body of Christ. Paul sees this as an extreme honor, one which needs to impact our all of our words and deeds in a god-honoring manner.

• He goes on in verse 2, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patiently, bearing with one another in love.” Later in this passage, Paul expands upon this when he says, “Speak the truth in love.” Many of us want to make our voices heard. Well, that’s fine, but Paul is saying that if you are going to say something, say it in a manner that shows love and respect, or keep your mouth shut. “Speaking the truth in love” contrasts evil speech, which does not communicate love. This is important, because evil speech and deeds cause disunity hurt, anger, ill feelings in the Body. This destroys the balance in the Body of Christ. God wants balance, harmony, and peace in his body, as we hear in verse 3.

Let us read together, saying, ”Make every effort to guard the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace” Unity is something which must be guarded and protected. Unity is precious. Why? Because unity is holy…unity is the holy gift to us from God the Holy Spirit. Social clubs, corporations, and councils of government are not the recipients of this holy gift. Therefore, not to protect and guard this holy unity is to defile His Body, the church.
• Paul goes on to tell us how sacred this unity is . Let us read together verses 4-6, saying,” There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all …” So, together, through the Spirit, we can share the supernatural unity that God wants on earth for those who are members of His church.

Indeed, on the night before Jesus died for us, he prayed for such unity for his followers, saying,” I pray for those who will believe in me, that ALL of them may be one, Father, just as you and I are one. I give them the power to be brought to complete unity, that the world will know that they come from me.” This complete unity is beautifully illustrated in the concluding song at the end of today’s service, as we will sing, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord…they will know we are Christians by our love.”

So, the first key to church unity is this: we admit that Jesus has a will for his church—that we all should be one, not divided. Then, we need to individually confess our sins, and seek reconciliation with those we may have offended. Now, much of the time, most people may think that this is too hard, or we may think that someone else should make the first move and apologize to us. Well, that’s a rationalization , which is shared by all too many.
PAUSE

And you know, part of that is true. I spent the first 10 years of my ordained ministry, trying to get people to be respectful and caring towards one another. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it didn’t last. And of course, churches of all denominations, locally and nationally, are now highly conflicted; and in my mind, such conflict desecrates the Body of Christ. And there were times when I threw up my hands in despair.

But then, I learned that my vision of the church as the body of Christ was incomplete. You see, I had forgotten all about the Head.

(*PUT ON HEAD)

You see, a body is no good without a head. Without the head, the body would be cantankerous chaotic coagulations of carnage. It is sad, but I have found that most churches really do not understand that Jesus wants to be the real Head of the church.
• Jesus wants to call the shots.
• Jesus wants to lead us forward to share His glory and mission.
• Jesus wants us to speak and treat one another, just like He treats us: with forgiveness, mercy, patience, and reconciliation.
• Jesus has a plan for each church, to give us a hope and future; and He wants us to discern, together, in unity, what that plan might be, and how we can live it out.

BUT, we will never be able to discern that plan unless we do all that we can, individually and as the body, to work towards greater and greater unity and peace in our relationships.
• You see, God’s word clearly says that I cannot have unity with God, unless I have unity with my brother and my sister….I cannot have peace with God unless I am continually working towards peace in my relationships.

How can we begin? Well, I personally have learned much about this from the life and example of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis lived in Italy at the turn o the 13th century, at a time of massive international church conflict between neighbors and church goers, between laity & clergy, between the rich and poor, between Bishops and the Pope, and on and on and on. One day Francis went to a ruined church to pray, and looked at a cross, of which this one is a copy. As he prayed, he thought that he heard Jesus say, “Go rebuild my church.” So, immediately, Francis began gathering stones and started reconstructing the ruined chapel, where he had been praying. Once finished, God spoke to Francis again, telling him not to rebuild the church with stone and mortar, but with words of compassion, acts of peace and forgiveness. So, Francis obeyed that simple command, and soon millions and millions of Christians throughout Europe began to do likewise. The church leadership turned to Jesus in a new way, and began to acknowledge Him as the rightful head of the church. Please turn your prayer books to page 833, the prayer of St. Francis, page # 62. We will be using their prayer as our concluding prayer after communion, but I would like for you to look at it now: Here is how each of us can bring unity and peace, as we speak the truth in love.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;

So, look at this list, and choose one first step. And as we continue celebrating our parish’s bicentennial, I am convinced that Jesus is calling us to greater unity that together we might brightly shine his light in the darkness of our world, and that they would know we are Christians by our love. AMEN.

--The Rev. John Donnelly