Romans 15:4-13
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s a tall order the scripture talks about today: “to live in harmony with one another”
In a letter to the Romans sent by Paul, the apostle....
Remember Paul? What does he know about living in harmony you might ask? What are his credentials?
Paul was born Saul. He was a Jew who didn’t much care for the early Christians - in fact, he was among those who persecuted the early Christians.. He was all for rounding up the lot of them in Damascus, take them back to Jerusalem and have them thrown into jail. And he was a man of action - he not only talked about it - he got permission from whoever he had to get permission from and started traveling to the city of Damascus along with others who felt the same way.
The story goes that along the way, a bright light suddenly shone down from heaven - Saul fell to the ground. Then Saul heard the voice of Jesus ask him why he wanted to hurt the Christians. By hurting the Christians, the voice said, he was hurting Jesus.
When Saul got up off the ground, he couldn’t see. The light had blinded him. His fellow travelers had to lead Saul into town.
In the meantime, God told a man named Ananias to go and meet Saul and pray with him. After Ananias prayed, Saul was so amazed and grateful that he could see again, he became a Christian and people also called Saul by another name—Paul.
He was such a devout convert, he traveled far and wide and gathered people together to tell them about Jesus and the amazing hope and promise that Jesus brings. Paul's mission was to the Gentiles - so he interpreted the Old Testament scriptures from a universalist point of view. And Like Isaiah and many other prophets and psalmists, Paul had a very hopeful vision of a world based on unity, peace and justice, especially between Jew and Gentile. He fervently believed that this could be achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. Convinced that the Messiah had to be Jewish, he had dedicated the whole of his ministry to show that Gentiles too were included in God's purpose and plan of salvation.
He went from persecutor to evangelist! This is the Paul who is the author of today’s passage in a letter he wrote to the Romans.
He went from warrior to promoting harmony and peace - verse 13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our friend Pastor Moira talks about peace a lot - it’s a passion for her - and she gets upset when people understand that peace is merely a state of being nonviolent. She believes that it takes a lot of effort to make peace - it’s an action verb, not just a state of being!
When we think of peacemaking we can’t help but consider the global implications.......
the fighting in Iraq continues
- where soldiers on all sides are losing life and limb in the middle eastern desert - and their loved ones grieve - and we grieve, too!
there are wars and outbreaks in much of the world
and what about the plundering of our earth’s resources - not exactly war and fighting, but violence nonetheless? What can we do to bring about peace?
Like Paul who lived his beliefs with actions, we, too, can be people of action.
Action can take many forms -
- protests, petitions, letters, make our votes count, brainstorming with others about how to make peace, and PRAY!
PRAY is also an action verb, friends!
PRAY for peace, pray for the soldiers on all sides, pray for the families, for the leaders and decision makers - all of them!
Even those whose thinking and traditions and ways of doing things are not what we are used to, they, too, are children of God!
This week has been a strange and interesting one...
many of you have received a flurry of forwarded emails - all about the now infamous UCC TV Ads -
You see, starting Dec. 1 and for the rest of the Advent Season, a tv commercial about our denomination the United Church of Christ was supposed to air on nationwide television - to offer an alternative voice of Christianity to the conservative one.
The ad - for those who haven’t seen the ad begins with a shot of a bouncer doing his thing (you know those big, burly guys who stand outside of popular nightclubs to make sure that only desirable types are allowed into the club - this one is white, muscular, wearing a black T-shirt and arms folded across his chest.
We can see a small white steepled church behind him -
A line of people are walking toward the church, but must pass him.
He lowers his hand and says Not you to the hispanic young man, “no way” to a little girl of unknown ethnicity, ushers the all American - Anglo family past him toward the church, and prevents a gay couple from entering. The screen goes black...the words say, “Jesus didn’t turn anyone away” The screen goes black again and then “Neither do we” The voice over says, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here” The United Church of Christ.
And you heard correctly - supposed to air......
and it is on cable channels like Discovery, CNN, and others.
But at the eleventh hour - literally, the day before the first airing, NBC and CBS sent word they were not going to air it.
The reason? It was too controversial!
A message of welcome and inclusion - too controversial! Imagine!
That’s when the emails started -
actions we can take, faxes to send, how to “fight” this!
And then - for some of us - we had an “AHA!” experience!
A “God is Still Speaking” experience.
The indignations and anger generated by the networks’ refusal to air OUR tv ad obscured perhaps an important happening -
UCC was getting press -
CNN was interviewing our President and General Minister John Thomas,
UCC Council of Conference Ministers were holding a press conference,
The story made the front page of the Wall Street Journal as well as the Chronicle...
Friends (not church related) called me to ask if the religious ads in the news had anything to do with me and my church!
The words of Paul rang in my ears -
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” For Paul, it was about Jews and Gentiles,
and for me - in this context execs and media folks -
Welcome, NBC execs...welcome, CBS execs...welcome folks from the media
This is all for the glory of God!
This is not to say that we should all just sit and let God do it all -
I’m not sorry I sent the fax or emailed folks in protest....
But I AM super blessed that somehow I got it! - the holy spirit was able to reveal a new and delightful understanding to a familiar and loved passage.........
It is a within us kind of thing....a willingness to think in a new way, a willingness to be open to the workings of the Holy Spirt, of seeing and honoring Jesus in the faces and situations around us, in being open to listening to a Still speaking God.
We lit the candle of peace this morning...we were reminded that Christ brings Peace into our lives every day and prayed that during this Advent season, we recognize the peace in our lives and become God’s peacemakers in the world.
That’s a tall order! We’ll need lots of help and maybe new lenses for our glasses -
And it does start with us - each of us
In The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin says to Hobbes, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I'm sorry I did it".
"Maybe you should apologize to her," Hobbes suggests.
Calvin ponders this for a moment and then replies,
"I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution."
One of the interesting realities of life is that God has given us an obvious solution to one of our greatest problems - our lack of peace -
the obvious solution is that with peace within -
peace shall exist outside us as well.
God has given us an obvious solution - but often we're tempted to
avoid that solution and try to find a more obscure fix.
So, let’s refocus on the obvious together -
Each Sunday, our Japanese language congregation prays the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assissi. It is a prayer that is particularly appropriate for us now.
Let us take action together....please pray with me....
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
...where there is injury, pardon;
...where there is doubt, faith;
...where there is despair, hope;
...where there is darkness, light;
...where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
...to be consoled as to console;
...to be understood as to understand;
...to be loved as to love.
May it be so........Amen.