A Welcome Mission; Sermon for Sunday July 2nd, 2017 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

I won’t lie to you, but today’s scriptures are complex.  What are the main nuggets though, are a continuation of the discipleship school lessons from both Jesus and St. Paul being spiritual discernment, faith-filled commitment being fidelity to Christ—His Word and Gospel, and lastly, making that your life’s mission to follow. There is an interesting subtle theme taking place with both the Gospel and this week's snippet from Romans. Could we say that being missional disciples of Jesus is considering, as well the bride of Christ, the church, and our fidelity towards being a part of the body? The bodies or ourselves, we must keep in check, however, this is the Flesh and spiritual warfare.

How we navigate our relationships and keep the mission of the Gospel straight in our hearts, is in essence, spiritual warfare. It's far greater than the battle between good and evil. That is what makes understanding the law and the use of the law so complicated… As we have heard in this week’s snippet from Romans. What does all of it mean to us today, how do we even begin to understand it? I think it is important to remember this very simple image.  This is the image of a mirror. The mirror of the law is but a law to our soul to have the Holy Spirit, God's guidance enable us to discern what we know in our hearts is the real difference between good or evil. 

It isn't as simple as this being, “the part two,” of doing the do's of the Gospel, but it is in essence the next step towards taking off those crutches of our willfulness and walking in newness, willingly with Christ love and guidance as a rule, a new law. This is a spiritual rule to be incorporated into our New lives as, to use an old Reformation term, members of the priesthood of all believers, the church, the bride of Christ, to be in the greater relationship of humanity’s role as God's Children of Grace and promise.

The letter of Romans is probably most definitively Paul's greatest effort of realizing faith and seeing the sovereignty of not only Christ at the center of his life, but the rule of God's Word deeply in his heart as a new kind of law.  It is an over simplification to say this is following your conscience or the Golden rule… for faith is messy stuff.  Life isn’t black or white but most definitely complex and often having many grey moments.

This Sunday's gospel is a continuation of those almost “drill sergeant” sounding missional discourse directions of Jesus to the disciples.  This may be parts of the Gospel’s story that is hard for us to be open enough to truly hear. Jeremiah gives us a good example in this little snippet of what he is dealing with, in having his voice as unpopular prophecy heard above the false prophet, Hananiah, who more or less is like the health wealth gospel preacher of the Old Testament. Of course, the people completely ignore, condemn and reject poor Jeremiah....  think about this today, what do the health wealth gospel preachers out there teach our hearts about the truth and purpose of God's plans? As I said last week, it more less appeals to that temptation of the Unholy Trinity of I Me Mine.... God’s going to do great things for you, etc.

There is a temptation as well, to perhaps hear these texts as being too much about “legal-ease” and less about the Grace & promise of the Gospel. But to fully understand the Grace of God, we do need that aspect of understanding the law. The body of Christ is in relationship to Christ himself and this relationship has been nicknamed over the centuries as the bride of Christ. As many of us here know, marriage can be a funny thing, it is often very complex, as are many relationships often wind up becoming very complex.

At my last call when I was serving the Gathering North as the Spiritual Formation pastor, I had the wonderful Joy of doing lots of family and marital counseling. There would be many situations, many cases, many stories of families in great trial or transition.  I think the saddest counseling cases I had, were of people who were past 50 and dubiously entwined in complex separations or divorce cases, who were trying to begin the painful process of embarking upon a new life often by making quick choices that they would soon deeply regret.

One such story was, a woman I counseled, who just started her fourth marriage. This fourth marriage began as a quick spontaneous leap into infidelity against her abusive husband. While she began this, she kept texting me and calling me hoping I would offer her a blessing towards this choice. How I chose to love and care for this person was to listen. It is often very challenging to not become triangulated into someone’s battle of conscience. It is truly not my place, as well as the use of that spiritual mirror of the law, is not to be something that justifies. It is through your own hearts discernment to transform towards God's will and the true choices he needs for you to make for your life. You, are the only ones to look truthfully upon yourselves in that mirror, to see and know the truth.

There were some moments that she was angry, that I wouldn't take a side… Perhaps it is like how some people expect God to take a side, to where their Temptations fall.... the false prophets of the past as well as of the present seem to give us “easy answers,” denying any accountability towards facing that mirror of the law to what sin is.  If life had no consequences, then what purpose does it truly serve?  Being the church has us walk down this road daily.  Are we a faithful steward to the Gospel and its mission?  Are we truly offering welcome and compassion to our neighbor? Are we both as an individual and the Body in the world, active in bearing the fruit of justice?

This person recently contacted me after she uprooted her whole entire life moving to Europe and marrying this man, who wound up tearing up her family apart.  So much so that her adult children will no longer speak to her, for the moment. This has left her, now stranded in northern Europe.  Her demands upon him became verbally abusive and he broke. He broke to the point of becoming physically abusive to her, not only breaking her heart and leaving her to wonder what purpose she has and perhaps why did she even go and do this? It's too late now, but not too late for God's love to rebuild her heart to hear and know the truth.

Would it be over simplifying her situation in saying that her third marriage was becoming tired and empty and her lust or passion for attention built an illusion of a relationship, that justified her choice to be willful? This is but a day in the life, of someone's story, their unique and complex Journey between dying to the old nature and living into the new nature. The complex metaphors Paul uses to talk about our choice between the Flesh and the spirit is coming to understanding just what God's grace calls us to transform to, and incorporate into our very selves. Jesus’ harsh words concluding with speaking about His radical sense of welcome, is teaching the disciples about the spiritual battlefield of each and every day.

It is a Battleground, this story I just shared, is an actual battle, but it began as a spiritual one and ends as a spiritual one. We all experience these battles and it is a daily affair. I think the best image for you to see this is to think of those cartoons where the person has a little devil on one shoulder and on the other side is an angel. Both are whispering into the subconscious what choices you should make, but again what comes out to be the truth? Are we just too willful and unwilling to be shaped by the Gospel?  Today our family is growing in more ways than one.  We need to rely on one another to be accountable to Christ’s mission for us as “post-modern,” progressive disciples.  That first church, however, the heart of the disciples, is where the battle begins.

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

These past few Sundays have had complex things for us to learn and grow from

Continue to encourage us to fight the good fight of faith

Persevering the challenges of living into Your mission

By willingly incorporating Your Word into our very hearts

Our first church to do battle against evil’s divisiveness and temptations

Upon our lives.

As Your faithful “Bride,” may we go forth against these challenges for Your glory

And our redemption.

AMEN

July 2nd, 2017; Fourth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 8

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 119:153-160; Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18; Jeremiah 28:5-9; Romans 7:1-13; Matthew 10:34-42

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 9:30am
https://youtu.be/THsJmE1F1ZU