Love First

Love First
Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:15-22
September 14, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen

Before I forget, and before I get started on this morning’s sermon, I want to ask you all to do me a favor. Don’t recycle this morning’s bulletin. And don’t throw it away. I am asking you to take it home and look up and read the two Bible passages for this morning.
And don’t just read them once. Read them once a day.
And don’t just read them. Practice. See the events of the week through the lens of these words. And maybe find yourself thinking at some given moment, in the choices you make in your relationships with others, with yourself, and with God, here is a moment where you can practice some wisdom, some truth, some value that you have found for yourself in the words, in the Spirit, of these scriptures.
I am making this request for two reasons.
1) I can’t say all that I want to say about these two passages.
2) My life will be better if you practice the wisdom that is in these scriptures. Your life will be too. In fact the life of the entire community of this church, this town, this county, this nation, this earth and this heaven, will be better if we follow the better way to live that these two passages reveal to us.
And I promise that I will do you the same favor of living into these passages as best as I can also.
What is in this morning’s scripture?
What did you hear when they were read?
Allow me to tell you the little that I can about what I hear.
Last Saturday 26 of us gathered for the Annual Planning Retreat. As I was preparing for the day,
reading over the statements that many of you wrote during worship on the last two Sundays in August
in response to the questions, “What do you love about this church?” and
“What goals would you like to see discussed at the retreat?”…
an simple song, a chant came to my mind. It was one of the first songs I learned when I first entered the Pacific School of Religion.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Christ takes form in the midst of the world.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Alleluia.

Christ takes form in a band, of persons. And so we sang that song to get the day started on the track of listening to one another.

We shared what we love about this church:
reminds me, prods me, encourages me to think and act in Christian love;
people are inspired with the spirit of service
our extravagant welcome
in the midst of people who may differ we are one in God’s love.

We took some time to try to create a Vision Statement for this church that wrap all that we do in less than 10 words. That is still a work in progress for the Vitality Team, but one statement that came from that exercise that I remember was simply, “Respond to God’s love!”

Then we got together in groups of threes and more to share what goals we see for the church in the year ahead that match watch we love about this church now with the vision that we have for this church.

The statements that were written by you in worship included:
increase active membership
get the message of love and acceptance out to our neighbors
be reconcilers in the community, local and global
develop study of our faith and how our faith can relate to the changing world
show why it is important to become open and affirming

Then we had lunch and we remembered something we love about this church, we have great cooks among us!

After lunch we broke out into four groups, each with the three goals we had agreed were the ones to focus on for the year ahead and come up with objectives that would realize those goals.
On a bookshelf in Fellowship Hall you will find a summary of the goals and the objectives that were the result of a band of persons searching for Christ’s form among us. We ended the day by forming a circle and answering a different kind of a question, which was, “Where did you see God in something that you saw or shared today?’

What I remember most vividly from that time of sharing was that people saw God in being able to speak freely and listen attentively to one another.

The sharing of what we love, the crafting of a vision statement, the lifting up of goals and objectives, were important, but if Christ is going to take form in a band, of persons, we need to have a community where we can speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
Which brings me to the importance of why this morning’s scripture readings are so important, and why they will make my life easier, your life easier, the church’s life easier, if we take these words to heart and put them in the soles of our shoes. In other words, walk the talk.
Paul, as a result of his mystical vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, was given, what he called “the mind of Christ.” And his task as a missionary around the eastern side of the Mediterranean was to create communities, churches, that took on the mind of Christ. For Paul this did not mean that everyone thought the same way. Paul called on the people to practice extravagant welcome right from the start.
At the beginning of chapter 14, (The Message)
A person who has been around for awhile might be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat?”
Which reminds of a story that comes from a UCC church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pastor Eric Elnes was in conversation with a member of his church one day, and this person, this member of the band, said, “I am tired of saying what we are against, I want to say what we are for.”
So Eric pondered that thought for a few days when all of sudden he had this crazy idea, “Christ takes form”
It was so crazy that he shared it with the church moderator just so he could hear how crazy it was and stop thinking about it. He shared the idea of inviting members of his progressive Christian church to walk with him across the United States, across New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and all the way to Washington DC telling everyone that they met what they were for, and doing it all in the name of Jesus.
The Moderator said, “Great idea!”
And so 20 people began what was called Crosswalk. And they traveled across America with the central ideas of the United Church of Christ. And they stopped in a churches of all sorts along the way. And they were welcomed and prayed for all along the way.
They came to a town in Hereford, Texas. Big cattle growing country. And they began telling their story about loving Jesus and being open and affirming of all the people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, and the people welcomed them into their church and big picnic.
They did have one question, “We don’t care what you think about homosexuality, are any of you vegetarians?”
And even vegetarians were welcome with big salads and beans.
Reading from Paul again,
“God, after all, invited them to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off of God’s guest list or interfering with God’s welcome?”

I want to acknowledge the difficult challenge that is being presented here. I know that I am not talking about something that is easy for any of us to do. I say this because of what comes a few verses later in this chapter.
Paul lays out a very difficult challenge for us, but when we perceive and live its truth, our lives will be easier and our relationships will be based upon trust.

Chapter 14: 13ff (The Message)

“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways that are inconsistent with what you believe, some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them, then know that you are out of line.”

The challenge for living in Christian community is to find a way of balancing not passing judgment on others, and at the same time, not letting what you think of as a good thing, be spoken of as being evil.”

Which brings to my mind so many of the famous verses written by Paul.
“The good that I want to do, I cannot do, and the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”

And the most familiar of all, the so called love passage from Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, not does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in the truth. There is no end to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.” (The Inclusive Bible)


And this also brings to my mind the vital importance of the passage that we heard from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Peter asks Jesus, how many times must I forgive. Is 7 enough?
Jesus responds by saying, 7 times 70.

To have the mind of Christ is to live a practice of letting go of the need to be in control, the need to be right, the need to be good, and instead move into a way of life that is built upon freely speaking and attentively listening to God, to yourself, to the ones you trust with your life.

The point is to honor God and express our love and devotion to God. Put love first and other things may not loom so large.”

The Vitality Team who designed and led this year’s Planning Retreat will continue to work on a Vision Statement for this church. The Council, Boards. Committees, and Teams will continue to realize that goals that came out of the Planning retreat.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of these goals and objectives in a document on a bookshelf by our library in Fellowship.

And I encourage to take this community building project personally. Because it will make my life so much easier. And yours also.