9.28.08 "The Kingdon of Love"
WESTMINSTER PULPIT
The Rev. Dr. Garry Cox
September 28, 2008 “The Kingdom of Love”
Last week I talked about the Kingdom of God as it relates to our personal experience of faith and our relationship with God in Christ. The empowering work of God in our lives as we commit ourselves to God’s will and ways. God is the way of Love and when we participate in God’s loving actions in the world we are part of God’s emerging Kingdom.
Today I would like to talk about the context of our loving relationship with God and how our personal relationship with God is lived out in community. As Christians the primary context of our relationship with God is among those who do God’s will. Jesus said that this actually constitutes our spiritual family. We can consider ourselves in a family relationship when we are part of this congregation in service to God and God’s loving Kingdom.
My points are that we cannot fully participate in God’s loving Kingdom if it is simply a two way relationship between us and God. As close as we may want to be with God it is an incomplete relationship unless we include others in our loving action. Whether it is one other person or the whole world, God is present when we are gathered one to another as God’s loving community. Secondly we are empowered by the community as we relate to one another in faithful life. And finally we not only find love and empowering support in the community of faith but we use God’s empowering love to bring about loving change in the world around us. Personal love is actuated in community, we personally gain power to love while working in community and the community as a whole is effective in creating a loving kingdom around us.
People have said to me that they worship God when they are out in the natural environment, near the ocean, on a mountain top or in a lush green forest. They sense the natural beauty of the world and can sense God the creator in that environment. It happens for me as well but I also know that for the love of God to be active in my life I need to be in the company of others for my loving actions to be more than an appreciation of the creative power of God. John says, “That if you say you love God but do not love your neighbor you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you.” He means that loving God alone is primarily an intellectual exercise and has no connection with the real practice of Love and compassion that God intends for those who follow in God’s ways. When Jesus says, “That when two or more are gathered in my name there am I in the midst of them.” He means that in the company of others, especially in a relationship of faith and collegiality we are present to love and able to be loving while with others. This of course is especially true when another is in need and finds you’re supporting presence as an act of loving kindness. The Deacons have been involved in this for years with the compassionate care program of the church where members in need get support from other members.
In the past we have had the Stephens ministry where trained lay people have been able to offer lay counseling and spiritual support to other members. We are currently working to increase our community ministry by reaching out to our local church neighborhood with support for youth, the elderly, special needs folk, homeless people on our streets and in our parks. The River city food bank serves low income and poor neighbors with groceries on a weekly basis. William Land School in our neighborhood serves children with tutoring, in class support and special enrichment programs in order to provide quality education to inner city kids.
Living God’s loving ways in community is not always a smooth road. As human beings we can let our pettiness, insecurities, and jealousies get in the way of living in harmony. We still harbor issues of control and power that can be harmful and even destructive to the health of the community. It becomes our responsibility as members of the community to be accountable for our actions and to challenge others to act lovingly toward others. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we have the guide and mandate even for our actions toward others especially those whom we call brothers and sisters in the faith. We are to be patient and kind, not arrogant or rude, not seeking our own way but insisting on the truth. When our behavior shifts away from this loving attitude we must prayerfully and clearly call one another to account. As Jesus taught this must not be done from malice or intent to harm but to build up the health and strength of the congregation. Jesus said that if you have a disagreement with a brother or sister you are to go and settle it with him before you come to worship God, if that does not satisfy the issue you are to return with another witness to help work out your differences and only after that serious encounter and grace will the community be healthy and strong.
The Presbyterian Church as a denomination has a process for this type of conflict resolution both in the form of committees of oversight and judicial councils that will hear cases in especially difficult situations. At each level the deliberations are treated with intense prayer and intentional compassion seeking justice and grace. At times these deliberations can seem tedious and bureaucratic but the people engaged in the process take their faith and moral responsibility seriously in order to preserve the peace, purity and unity of the church. One such deliberation is under way right now as several churches want to leave the denomination for differences in belief. Our prayers are that God’s will be done in loving and caring ways. More than once I have heard that the reason people don’t go to church any more is because of the struggles within the church to live together.
This challenge to work and serve together can be facilitated by our personal commitment to living compassionate, patient, humble ways that seek the best for the other always seeking God’s love. The community is always a collection of individuals acting together to serve Christ in the world. We become one even as the Father, the Son and the Spirit are One. This is the point where our individual identity and personal freedom can come into conflict with our sense of community responsibility. Our cultural values hold individual freedom as sacred and yet when we choose to act in community with common values, our individual interests are tempered with our common values and aspirations to be faithful to God in community.
One of the primary values of our Presbyterian Heritage is that “God alone is Lord of the conscience”. This means that ultimately in the decision about our actions we take our counsel from God. That counsel comes through our relationship with those in our community but also through our prayers, meditation and guidance from God.
The good news about working and serving in the church community is that we are working among equals. Everyone around you is a loved child of God. We each have equal access to the wisdom and guidance of God and we each have a responsibility to serve just as Christ has served the world. In an ideal world the church should be a very egalitarian group. Another principle of the church is that there is a “priesthood of all believers”. I have no special access to God or special powers that put me above you or anyone else in the church. This is a cooperative community. Elders are chosen from the members of the congregation as are Deacons and we all serve the same Lord with the same mandate to be loving in all of our actions.
We are empowered because people here will listen to us. Our ideas about how we are to serve will be considered, vision for the future of the church will have your input and will be honored as we move ahead together. WE are empowered to think globally and act locally. When we vote for high office we send off our vote into a huge political and bureaucratic machine where our voice and influence are heard only dimly if at all. When we work as the church we are able to act on our values here in the community and serve with all the energy and passion we have for God’s work in the world.
Acting together in the faith community we are always called to work on behalf of others. Most of what we do in the world is focused on serving our own needs and wants. When we work in God’s loving Kingdom we serve the one who served us all, Jesus Christ. He is both our example and our guide in human life together.
This may have seemed to be a class on what the church is and how we participate in it but it is much more than that. It is an outline of how our lives in Christ will be lived with other people of faith, working to spread God’s love in the world. It is the awareness of the joy and empowerment that come to us as we participate in something bigger than ourselves and with consequences all through our lives. We will be able to love our neighbors and to go the extra mile for them. We will be able to love and serve God more effectively while working with others who are focused on the same goals. We will be able to value ourselves as we see that our actions and motives are in the framework of God’s will and work in the work. We will be able to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God and neighbor.
Amen
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