A Future with Hope: Community
First United
Presbyterian Church
“A Future with
Hope: Community”
Rev. Amy Morgan
Jeremiah 29:11
For surely I know
the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for
harm, to give you a future with hope.
Ephesians 4:1-16
I therefore, the
prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you
have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 making every effort to maintain the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as
you were called to the one hope of your calling,
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all
and through all and in all.
7 But each of us was given grace according to
the measure of Christ's gift.
8 Therefore it is said, "When he ascended
on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people."
9 (When it says, "He ascended," what
does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is the same one who
ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of
ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until all of us come to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of
the full stature of Christ.
14 We must no longer be children, tossed to
and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by
their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
15 But speaking the truth in love, we must
grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit
together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working
properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
I have kind of a love/hate relationship with
exercise. Okay, I will admit that I hate exercise. It is difficult and boring
and awkward – and did I mention difficult? I’d much rather be doing almost
anything else.
But I love the benefits of exercise. Those
endorphins that make you happy, and the feeling of being strong and healthy.
Exercise is unconditionally virtuous.
I hear this same kind of love/hate
relationship when people talk about church. It’s difficult to get out of bed
and get fancied up and make it to church on time. Sometimes it’s boring. We do
awkward things like sing songs with “thee” and “thine” and read in unison,
confessing things we’re not sure we actually did. Then people ask us to do more
difficult things like serve on committees or commit to helping with Sunday
School or fellowship hour. Or pledge to the annual stewardship campaign.
But we do love the benefits of church. We talk
about feeling spiritually fed or refreshed. We talk about deepening our
relationship with God and others, growing in faith. Church is most certainly unconditionally
virtuous.
Still and all, many folks feel like they can
do faith or spirituality, or whatever you want to call it, on their own.
Hiking, meditating, serving the poor – all of these things they can do on their
own and feel close to God. Their expression of faith need not be dictated by
any religious institution or order.
And perhaps they are not wrong, as the letter
to the Ephesians states that God is above
all and through all and in all, and Jesus descended to earth and ascended
to heaven so that he might fill all
things. Everything is infused with the divine. The sacredness of hiking,
breathing, and acts of compassion is acknowledged by the author of this letter.
In like manner, I prefer to exercise on my
own. I can do whatever feels good and right for me each day – run, lift
weights, do some yoga. I don’t need a class or a running group or even a gym
membership to exercise. It’s all the same. It’s exercise, and it’s good for me.
But I must admit that when I’m trying to
exercise on my own, much as I might prefer it, I’m not getting the most benefit
out of it. I don’t push myself. I don’t have anyone to correct me when I’m
doing an exercise in a way that is unhealthy. There’s no one to help me discern
what type of exercise my body needs most right now. When I do join a class or a
group, when I exercise in community, I get healthier.
There are many good and wonderful, deeply
spiritual people who say they have no need of a faith community. Not everybody
feels like church helps them grow spiritually. So, as I’m preaching to the
choir here of people who DO attend church, it’s worth asking why we bother.
The great writer and preacher Frederick
Buechner wrote in one of his memoirs, “You can survive on your own; you can grow strong on your own; you can
prevail on your own; but you cannot become human on your own.”
Last Sunday, our country witnessed,
once again, an act of utter inhumanity. Law enforcement has called the shooter
a “lone wolf.” Separated from the pack, on his own, he survived, he grew
strong, he prevailed in his plans. But he lost his humanity. We don’t need to
know his motive or argue about his guns to agree that he lost his humanity.
This church values community, not
because we like each other so much or because we can’t find anywhere else to
speak in unison. On our own, perhaps we could survive, grow strong, even
prevail in our spiritual quest. But we could not become more human. We value community
because it makes us human.
But we have to exercise our community.
As Ephesians says, the whole body,
joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each
part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in
love. We are joined
and knit together in community. Each one of us is a ligament, connecting one
part to another. Nell is connecting Judy to John. And Kellie is connecting
Jeanette to Chad. And as we exercise community, these ligaments and muscles
work better, grow stronger. We are body building, building the body of Christ.
This week, our nation demonstrated our need
for a stronger body, a stronger community. Every online article about the
tragedy in Las Vegas was followed by hundreds of comments filled with argument,
accusation and anger. My Facebook feed is filled with comments and articles
straining the frail ligaments holding our society together. And into our
exhausted ears, we hear the writer of Ephesians begging us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which
you have been called. Begging us to be a community that operates with
humility and gentleness and patience. A community that bears with one another
in love. A community that makes every
effort to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In the
aftermath of last Sunday’s events, the weakness of our nation’s body has been
exposed.
But we also saw many examples of incredible
strength. So many people leading a life worthy of the calling to which we have
been called. Humility was an attribute of a slave in the first century, and
people have been slaving away in hospitals and blood banks, in police
departments and on disaster response teams, humbling themselves in service to
others in the past week. Gentleness prevailed in those who held the hands of
the dying, giving them peace at the last, and in those who responded to the
victims, offering comfort and care. Thousands of people waited patiently in
lines to donate blood. Thousands more lightened the burden of the victims’
families with loving donations of money, airline miles, and lodging. Many
leaders have called for unity in the face of this tragedy and are advocating
for peace in the face of this violence. Dawn-Marie Gray, who used her skills as
a paramedic to immediately respond to her injured fellow concert-goers, said
that her brave actions “had nothing to do with being a hero. That’s being a
human being.” In the face of inhumanity, the strength of our body, the depth of
our humanity, was revealed.
Syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson cynically
asserts that “We will never know why. We already know how, but we don't care about
that. And we know, beyond the slightest doubt, that it will happen again.”
There are tremendous efforts and resources dedicated to making his prediction
false, but the fact is that we will experience tragedy and grief again, though
hopefully not of this kind or on this scale. Inhumanity will rear its ugly head
in other forms. Violence will claim the innocent. As Jesus said, “there will be
wars and rumors of wars.”
On our own, we can survive these things.
We can grow strong. We can prevail. But we cannot become human. I don’t know
about you, but that’s all I really want. Our humanity.
And to get that, we need a strong body,
we need healthy ligaments and muscles to connect us to each other and hold one
another up through the darkest of times.
And so, we must exercise community. That’s
what we’re doing here at 1st on 4th. We’re not a social
club or a service organization. We’re exercising community so the body can grow
strong. When we drive someone to church or take Communion to someone at home.
When we share our joys and struggles over glasses of half-priced wine and open
our homes to one another. When we walk together to end hunger and when we
gather for prayer. In all these things, and many more, we are exercising
community so the body can grow strong. We are becoming human together.
The letter to the Ephesians says that
Christ gave us gifts, of different sorts. All of us have been given these
gifts, mind you, not just the professionally religious. In this community, we
have prophets who call us to recognize the reign of God on earth, evangelists
who proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ has come to make all things new,
pastors who shepherd God’s flock and teachers who share wisdom. And these
gifts, the letter says, were given to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for
building up the body of Christ.
Now, this word, “equip,” in Greek, is also the
word used to mean “setting a bone.” It might be better translated as reconcile,
or restore, even create or prepare. The body is broken, and needs repair. We
are called to set broken bones, reconcile folks with God and one another,
restore each other to health and wholeness, create a community that makes us
human.
And it will take each and every one of us,
using our God-given gifts, to do this. We are a connected body. If one part
isn’t working, isn’t exercising, if one part is weak or disconnected, the whole
body suffers. There are no lone wolves here. None of us can do this on our own.
Every single part of this body matters. Every single one of us makes this body
strong and whole.
Loveland needs us at 1st on 4th
to be a community, a body, that is strong and healthy. Loveland needs us to draw
people into community, to make sure there are no lone wolves. Loveland needs us
to become human. Because Loveland, and Colorado, and our nation and our world,
are broken and hurting. As we search for answers, as we argue about solutions,
we need to exercise community to maintain our humanity. That is really the only
answer, the only solution.
In Jesus Christ, God showed us what true
humanity looks like. The image of God, in human form. Humble, gentle, patient,
loving, peaceful. In community, we are his body. Like him, our strength is in
our brokenness. In our vulnerability is our humanity.
We have lost a lot this week. But in
exercising community, all is not lost. As the body of Christ, let us repair
what is broken and strengthen what is weak. Let us exercise community for the
sake of a hurting world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and to the Glory
of God, Amen.
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