Sermon for Grace and St Stephen’s 9/6/20 Matthew 18:15-20, Romans 13:8-14
It’s September in Colorado which means the days will either
bring snow to the mountains or 90 degrees to our back yards. The aspens will start turning yellow, the
sunsets are starting earlier and the kids are back to school … sort of. Some kids are being home schooled, some kids
are doing online school and some kids are going to school carefully spaced 6
feet from the other children and with little cloth masks over their runny noses
and chatty mouths. Many of us are now 2
weeks into this new creature called pandemic schooling and while I could share
stories of technology glitches, websites not working and kids not understanding
how to do school while sitting next to all their toys …. What has really struck
me about this whole process is the mutual dependency and accountability created
between parents, students and teachers.
Three days in to online first grade I got an email from my
son’s teacher. She said “be brutally
honest, how is this on your end, please tell me what you think.” I was surprised and touched by this for a few
reasons. First, she wants to do a good
job, she wants to do the best she can and really teach the children. Second, she genuinely cares about the experiences
of the parents. And third, that is a
super brave email. Who does that? In a world of “don’t @ me” and unfollowing
and screaming and shouting … it is surprising and refreshing to find people
opening dialogue and wanting to learn from one another.
I responded with honesty but also taking seriously my
accountability in the situation. We are
in this together. I need to do my part
to have patience, a positive attitude and to constantly say to my child over
and over again “this is school, she is talking, go listen until she is
done.” And my kids are accountable in
the situation too. This is a unique
opportunity for them to learn at a young age how to take responsibility for
your own education. They need to pay
attention to instructions, know when to log in and navigate the various
websites for learning. And we all need
to be mindful of when to mute and unmute ourselves.
I thought about this schooling situation and the mutual
accountability it calls for as I read the Gospel reading from Matthew today because
it really is about accountability. It is
not saying “if someone makes you mad, take it to the parking lot and have it
out.” It is not saying “if someone
offends you, never speak to them again.”
It is also not suggesting that as part of every Sunday worship service
we hold an open mic “airing of grievances” and lay into one another.
Rather, it is a system of being accountable in love- a way
to bind together this body of Christ in the world. An admission that we will hurt each other
sometimes and a call for all of us to be accountable to one another so that we
can grow together in love- so that we can be for the world a beautiful family
in Christ.
Notice in these instructions from Matthew that after you go
to the person who has “sinned against you” directly and after you involve some
other members of the church and after you involve the church … if the
“offender” still “refuses to listen” then you are to treat them as a “Gentile
and a tax collector.” At first glance
this might seem like an invitation to write that person off as someone
different from you, someone outside of your circle, someone on whom it is
generally acceptable to despise and look down.
But … this is the Gospel, the stuff about Jesus and how does Jesus treat
the Gentile and tax collector? Anyone
who knows the Zacchaeus song knows Jesus didn’t write them off or toss them
aside as unworthy and hated. He broke
bread with them. In fact, the very next
passage is about the importance of forgiveness and Jesus’ instruction to
forgive not seven times but seventy times seven times.
This holding together the community stuff isn’t easy. I remember reading in a book in seminary that
it is hardest to be a pastor during a presidential election year.[1] And that was before COVID, before Twitter and
before shared Facebook memes. This holding
together the community stuff is about love, grace and forgiveness but also
accountability. Recognizing we all have
a part to play in this difficult thing we are doing called “thy will be done on
earth as in heaven” - this beautiful
thing we are doing called building the Kingdom of God.
Accountability means holding each other in love, not
letting each other give up, loving through the darkness and despair, holding a
vision of hope up for the hopeless to see, learning together, growing together,
being open to one another, remembering that we are not alone.
The passage from Romans simplifies our Christian calling to
“love your neighbor as yourself.” It
says “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves
another has fulfilled the law.” It
almost sounds as simple as “all you need is love?” … except that anyone who has loved anyone
knows love isn’t always so simple.
In his popular work “The Prophet” Lebanese poet Kahlil
Gibran writes these words about love and its depths:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield
to him,
Though the sword hidden among his
pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in
him,
Though his voice may shatter your
dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For
even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for
your pruning. Even as he ascends to your
height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he
descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like
sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then
he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s
sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto
you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a
fragment of Life’s heart.”[2]
Love is not always so
simple or easy. It opens your heart to immeasurable
joy and elation but also pain and disappointment. Bravely risking love means opening oneself to
growth, change and accountability. It
means being held in something greater than oneself and holding oneself to
that.
Friends, we are being shaped, pruned, molded. It is love that makes my heart hurt when I
hear stories of friends mourning the loss of those dear to them to this
pandemic. It is love that makes my heart
hurt when the reality of racism and injustice is laid bare for all to see. It is love that made the tears trickle from
my eyes as a beloved child was baptized into the Christian faith last Sunday,
our witness of hope and faith in the future.
It is love that makes me ache for visits, hugs and in person community
as we used to know it. It is love that
draws forth an apology from my lips when I have let frustration turn into
impatience and harsh words for those who are enclosed in the same square
footage as me during these days of work from home, school from home … safer at
home. It is love that mixes together
immense gratitude and grief in the same heartbeat. It is love that we will see when we look back
at all the strange things we did like online school and worship in chalk drawn
lawn circles, all the new and difficult things we did to get through this
together. It is love that will carry us
through as this beautiful body of Christ doing this important work of kingdom
building.
