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| Dr. Andy Cullen February 17, 2008 Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church Psalm 133; John 17: 20-23 |
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1 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life for evermore. Psalm 133 (NRSV)
20 ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,* so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20-23(NRSV)
I am beginning a four-week Lenten sermon series on the theme of Life Together …we journey through life… together. Life Together is the title of a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against the Nazis, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged just before the end of the World War II. He wrote The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison. I commend them to you.
The four sermon titles are:
The sermon title this week is “Life Together: Weird, Wacky & Wonderful People” Yes, Christians can be weird and wacky…
This week there was a news item in the Kansas City Star about a weird line of Christian cosmetics. “A cosmetics line that extolled the virtues of “Looking Good for Jesus” has been pulled from stores in Singapore after complaints from shoppers. Promising to “redeem your reputation and more” products included a “virtuous vanilla”- flavored lip balm that will return your “lips to near virgin quality” and a “Get Tight with Christ” hand and body cream. The product line also boasts a bubble bath that claims the user will feel as though they're "walking on water."
One product has packaging with the image of Jesus wearing a bright white robe as he looks toward the heavens, while a heavily made-up woman with an arm draped across his shoulder gazes dreamily at his face.”
Yes, there are weird, wacky and wonderful elements of our LIFE TOGETHER in the church, the Body of Christ.
Psalm 133 says that it is good and pleasant when people live together in unity or harmony.
In any case, when a community of people live together in harmony or unity the community experiences “blessing” – a true gift.
This principle is unpacked in the book, The Congruent Leader, by Ramon Corrales and Charles Rhodes. They make the point that the greater the anxiety level in a group or community, the more vulnerable the group is for the emergence of “triangles,” where people stop communicating directly and begin to enlist a third party to support his or her position in a conflict. In a group where there is harmony and unity, people feel like they can talk directly to others, even about issues they differ on, and know that their thoughts and feelings will be heard and honored.
Corrales and Rhodes write: “When thoughts and feelings are honored in a relationship, a context of open and honest communication is created. As a result, thoughts and feelings become the vehicle through which a deep sense of trust, empathy, and compassion can emerge in a relationship (or a group, or a church). Relationships that embody these traits are not only physically, emotionally, and spiritually healing, but they are transformative in nature.”
There is BLESSING…….a church that has a climate of honoring thoughts and feelings of others will be a transformative community – there will be health – spiritual, emotional, intellectual health – physical results – SHALOM.
In every gathering of people we find the weird, the wacky and the wonderful. Each one of us is a unique combination of the weird, wacky and wonderful!
John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, in his book Everybody’s Normal Till You get to Know Them, references a psychology textbook, where the statement is made, “There is almost no one who has not harbored secret doubts about his or her normality.”
How many of you have harbored secret doubts about your normality??????
There is no perfect church with perfect people!
Bonhoeffer notes that, at some point, we will become disillusioned with others…but that makes it possible for real growth and relationships to develop.
Bonhoeffer wrote that the physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. We need each other.
The Church, the Body of Christ, is called to live out its life in the model of community envisioned by Jesus. It is a model grounded in the mutuality of love embodied in the relationship of God, Jesus and the Spirit.
In John 17:20-23 we find Jesus praying for us. In Jesus’ prayer we find love defining the community’s relationships…our relationships.
God invites us into a living, loving relationship…God in Jesus…Jesus in God….“May they also be in us.” We belong to God. We belong to each other.
Listen to the following lines by Shakespeare: (Garrison Keillor says when ministers start quoting poetry, they have usually run out of things to say!)
Anyway:
They so loved that love in twain had the essence but of one. Two distincts, division none; Number there in love was slain.
“Even though they were two separate people(two distincts/ love in twain)their love had the effect of removing the barriers that normally divide people (division none) so that they were united in heart, soul, …Two and yet one…”Number there in love was slain. The logic of mathematics was transcended by the logic of love!” (See John Ortberg, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, pp.39-40)
We live our lives together in union with God, in union with each other. We are distinct, yet we are one. We come alive in our relationships….with all the weird and wacky and wonderful elements that are involved. God is in us….we are in God…that we might live together for the sake of the world. Amen.
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