Trinity Sunday, "Community Test"

I am fairly confident my sermon this week might soar far above some of my kid's heads but I am okay with this. Because I think we need to start talking about topics like "trinity" and "community" long before any of us can claim any rational hold on it. Perhaps my kids will "get it" more then we could ever hope to ourselves.


This week's passage comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 13. The Episcopal lectionary began with verse 5 instead of verse 11 and I appreciated this inclusion. So I will be preaching from 2 Corinthians 13:5-14 where Paul gives us a few last sentences as he says goodbye to the people in Corinth.


The first portion of this text, verses 5-9, include Paul urging the Church in Corinth to put themselves up for a test. He tells us we must be willing to "look closely" at ourselves and "test ourselves." This test, he says, will access if we are living in the faith. My kids take all sorts of tests. They take multiple choice tests, spelling tests, math tests, and even reading comprehension tests. But Paul asks us to open ourselves up and examine ourselves with this test.

Then I am going to skip down a few verses to verse 14 before we tackle the verses that immediately follow. For verse 14 (and if this verse is not included in your text open an NRSV or NCV) says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." This might get a little sticky for the kids. I am going to push them to tell me WHO the main character of this verse is. I have high hopes they will say God. But then I will push them even further to tell me how many Gods are in this verse. I have high hopes they will say one. But I am prepared to preach and teach regardless of how they answer.


I will teach them it is Trinity Sunday, one of the holiest days in our Church calendar, where we celebrate God the Father ("the love of God"), God the Son ("the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ"), and God the Spirit ("the fellowship of the Spirit"). I also intend to "bust out" the Nicene Creed where we confess together "We believe in ONE GOD, the Father Almighty... And in Jesus Christ, God's only Son..." and in "the Spirit, the giver of life." But my main point will be that: We see God the Father, through the action of God the Son on the cross, and God the Spirit breathes life into God the Son. The ONE God lives in community. We serve a communal God.


Now we are ready to go back to the verses preceeding. For this communal God we celebrate on Trinity Sunday, urges us to live in community. And verse 11, shows us how to TEST ourselves in COMMUNITY. This verse reads, "Live in harmony. Do what I have asked you to do. Agree with each other, and live in peace." Three main things are here: 1) Live in Harmony (by doing what I said). 2) Agree with each other. 3) Live in Peace.


This is how we will formulate our test, by exploring these three things.
1) Live in Harmony. I preach from the NCV so kids can comprehend it easier. But this is translated in other versions as "put things in order (NRSV)," and "aim for restoration (ESV)." I love this term about restoration. It is a facinating word because it implies healing. It forces us to think about what creation was MEANT to be like before we needed healing. Creation was intended for community. Creation was intended for loving one another. But we fell. We choose ourselves over our Creator God. But God wants something better for us. Our Church community is meant for something better then selfishness. We, the Church community, are to be a piece of what that restoration and healing of creation is to look like.
So our question for our test will be: When people outside our community look at us (this community) do they see us as a piece of what creation was intended; a group of people who really love each other?


2) Agree with Each Other. The New Jerusalem translates this "Be United," the NLT translates this "encourage each other," and the ESV translates this "Comfort one another." If we are united and in agreement with one another, then we sacrifice ourselves for one another.
So our question for our test will be: Have you sacrificed what you want for others in this Church Community?


3) Live In Peace. Peace is so far beyond a lack of conflict and fights. Peace is an amazing word. Peace means that we, the Church community, LOVE above all else. Peace means that we care about each person in the world and in our Church the same. Peace means we do not draw a line in the sand and say "we only love you because you are like us." Peace means we see the very image of God in each person, no matter who they are or what they have done. Peace means that we, the Church Community, love everyone in the same way God loves them.
So our question for our test will be: When you look at someone you do not really like, can you see God's very image inside of them?


So to review. Our three questions to test ourselves to see if we are living in the faith as a community are:
1. When people outside our community look at us (this community) do they see us as a piece of what creation was intended; a group of people who really love each other?
2. Have you sacrificed what you want for others in this Church Community?
3. When you look at someone you do not really like, can you see God's very image inside of them?


And then, we must look at verse 12. It is fascinating. It reads, "Greet each other with a holy kiss." This will be a fun thing for the kids. They will undoubtedly say "gross" and "nasty." So we will look at what Paul meant in his day. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago (I chose that number because most of them cannot comprehend beyond 12 years), people greeted each other with a kiss. But it could easily be a normal and mundane thing. It would be something you just automatically did, when you saw someone. But Paul is saying, GREET each other with a kiss! Let this kiss be a symbol of your communal love for one another.


So we will look at the things we do when we pass the test and "Jesus Christ is in us." For if Jesus is in us, we should act like we love each other. We will look at 3 things that should be symbols of our communal love and not mundane, normal things we do. 1) "How are you?" Most of us say this and we expect the answer "fine." But could this become a symbol of our communal love for one another? 2) What about handshakes? Perhaps this could be packed with communal love the next time you get a chance. 3) What about hugs?

Paul urges us to test ourselves, give ourselves a test to see if we are living in harmony, agreeing with one another, and living in peace. And we came up with three questions to ask ourselves. The three questions are hard and quite convicting. We also evaluated the way we interact with each other and I will leave them with the command to go "Love the Community right into each other." :)

Book Review, Jesus For President, Part III

Part III of this text, "Jesus for President," was difficult to process. Though I read it over a week ago, it has taken me quite awhile to figure out how I can write about it. This section's message has convicting words while presenting challenges that penetrate your very core and shake one's foundation. This is not to be read by the weak of heart, the fundamentalist, or someone unwilling to put aside what they want for what God might ask them to do. Only those willing to humble themselves and see where the Church (and maybe even themselves) could possibly be misguided should read these pages or even my review; for I wonder if I even truly grasped the radical message within these pages.

The authors begin by talking about baptism as a sign of the new exodus. One emerges from the water as a "new humanity" (144). And then they begin to talk about how the empire could not ever be baptized for the empire can never emerge as a new humanity. The empire is a beautiful, breathtaking institution. They call Rome "dazzling" and "magical" (158).

We see the purpose of John's Revelation was "to reveal the truth" about this beautiful empire (148). John challenges people to think beyond the empire and stop thinking "there is no other way except the filthy rotten system we have today" for when we think the empire is necessary, it is hard to admit what parts are dysfunctional (153). According to these authors, the book of Revelation forces us past such a notion.

The authors teach us how Christianity becomes tangled up with the empire through Constantine. It became illegal NOT to be a Christian and soon violence was done in Christ's name "with crosses painted on their shields" (163). The Church was no longer the persecuted, as with John the Revelator, showing (in code) how the empire was dysfunctional.

The Church became tangled in the empire and it was at "great cost" for it caused an "identity crises" (165). The same Church who once spoke about what was filthy and rotten about the beautiful empire was now becoming the empire, or the very "beast" from which Jesus' life was set apart. For as we remember reading in Part II, Jesus' temptation shows us Jesus resisted "power, relevance" and being a "spectacle." These are characteristics of the dazzling empire. And the authors claim the best way, by far, "to defeat the Kingdom of God is to empower the Church to rule the world with a sword for then it becomes the beast it wishes to destroy" (177).

Through this entire discussion, the authors push the reader to move beyond the glimmer and sparkle of our own empire to see what is destructive about it. And there is a footnote showing they are not just showcasing America for "among Russia, China, Rwanda, Belgium, and countless others, it would be quite a competition" to see who has shed the most blood (182). They want us to think about all empires, but since they live in America, the Church in America seems to be the audience to whom they aim. The thing the Church in America must confront, according to these authors, is the hard truth that the Church cannot grasp power in the same way the empire (or the world) does.

The authors begin a discussion about idols and it captured my attention, since I preached on idols a few weeks ago. They say, "It was once said, if you want to know your idols, consider what you are willing to kill for" and ask, "What are our Idols?" (185). This begins to push the reader to consider for what the Church is willing to kill or even harder to think about, for what the Church people are willing to sacrifice our own children (209).

They begin to show us how the world's ideals have been adopted by the Church. They claim "the empire of violence and nationalism has crept into the church" and the "economic and ecological destruction of God's creation has come along with it" (193). We have all too often "read the Bible through the eyes of America" instead of reading America through the Bible (194). We see the empire's flag hung within our sanctuary and it often smothers "the glory of the cross" (195). According to these authors, if we have a flag it needs to be that of a "slaughtered lamb" (197).

The author's preach: The Church must refuse to draw a line in the sand and instead the Church must teach "everybody is made in God's image" no matter where they live or what they have done (197). The authors say, "Violence kills the image of God in us" for "violence goes against everything we are created for-- to love and be loved" (204).

At this point, I could not help but begin to think about violence and what violence says theologically. If I act violently with the intent to kill, I am really saying, "You are beyond redemption" or "I am going to kill God's image right out of you based on what you have done." For if I kill at all, I have claimed the power and authority to decide who's actions are redeemable by God. I claim the power and authority to take away their very God-given breath and squelch the opportunity for God's redeemable work in their life. And the according to these authors, the Church cannot claim such power or authority for such a thing is deceptive.

I was forced to think about the term "redemptive violence" and questioned if there even is such a thing. For if an act of violence claims a person is beyond redemption, how could one ever act violently in order to bring about redemption? It seems like utter nonsense. And they actually pray the words, "Dear God, liberate us from the logic of redemptive violence" (214).

The authors want to force those in the Church who happen to be Americans out of thinking like the empire and instead push them to think like God. Most know me as a non-violent person, but even for me, many of these words shocked me to my core. I cannot imagine how someone who approves of any violence would read this text. It would be traumatic, to say the least.

So they tackle the hard question next. The authors say they are often asked, "shouldn't we intervene" to stop trauma like that of "Hitler, Saddam, or the genocide in Dafur" (202)? Their first response is, "who is we?" (the church or the empire) and then they admit it is very tempting to think there is no greater love then to take the "life of someone to protect another person" but if anyone in history ever had such an argument, it would be Peter. Peter picks up the sword "to protect Jesus" but Jesus had another, creative, imaginative way of living.

The authors continue by showing how almost all people involved in slaughter throughout history is done "by people who sincerely believed they were promoting the good" (203). Even Hitler and the KKK lynchings were done out of a "sense of right" (203). But the authors push the Church to understand that no one is beyond redemption. They say, "it is even more scandalous to think of killing someone who kills, for they, more then anyone in the world, need to hear that they are created for something better then that" (205).

Then they point out a huge difference in the greatest love of all. There is a huge difference between being willing to DIE FOR someone and being willing to KILL FOR someone. The true embodiment of Christ's love, the thing we should be tempted to think the greatest love of all is to lay down our life for another, not to take life for another.

These words are on page 175 and shook my very core so much it takes my breath away to even type them here. He says, "If this bloody, counterfeit liberation is American, I am proud to be un-American" along with other such statements, and then "but if grace, humility, and nonviolence are American, I am proud to be an American. If sharing to create a safe, sustainable world is American, I am proud to be an American. If loving our enemies is American, I am proud to be an American. Regardless, I would die for the people of New York, but I will not kill for them... my kingdom is not of this world." And again, "I will pledge an allegiance deeper than nationalism, to my God and to my family... my kingdom is not of this world, I will use my life to shout, 'Another world is possible'" (175). And as I read these words, I could see how one who makes such a statement, as the one here on page 175, could easily be in line to be crucified with Christ.