12 August 2012

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time series B
Ephesians 4.25-5.2 / John 6.35, 41-51
12 August 2012


If you were at Matt Agee’s ordination in June, you will remember that Matt asked me to give the sermon that afternoon. It was a humbling request, so, in that role, I referenced Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” in particular, a type I wished to avoid: the character of Polonius ... the old, pompous blowhard who spends his life cramming way too much advice into too short of a period of time.
Many of us who’ve seen or read “Hamlet” know Polonius’ speech to his son Laertes quite well, as they’ve become part of our popular speech ...

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice … Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment … Neither a borrower nor a lender be … to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

There can be a thing as too much advice ... and you know the moment when that happens ... it’s like hearing the teacher’s voice in Charlie Brown’s ear … wah wah wah. And we all know people like that too … well-meaning, well-intentioned, but just saying too much. And we, like Polonius’ son Laertes ... the subject of this mudlow of monologue in the play ... we mentally check out and don’t hear the advice ... as good as it may be ... we don’t hear it at all.
Well, I hope that didn’t happen to you when the Ephesians text was read this morning. There are some real gems there for us - if we have ears to truly hear them, minds to get behind them and explore what’s really being said.
Especially this year of our baptism focus; this season of “flowing streams of living water,” as we ponder on what it means to “walk wet” in the promises God gives us in our baptism.
Let’s revisit and refresh ourselves with the words of Luther’s Small Catechism on baptism, for us, printed on page 9 in the worship folder this morning:

What then is the significance of a baptism with water?
Baptism means that we hear the call daily to repent to God and our neighbor – to confess the bad things we think and say and do. And daily through that repentance, God promises to forgive us, so that we may live new lives, for the sake of the world and each other.

The words of Luther’s Catechism lead us well into our Ephesians reading. First of all, there’s that opening line:

Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.

That’s the theme sentence for everything else that follows … this is Paul’s aim in putting forth these words. They’re about honesty and openness … sharing what’s really on our minds and hearts … because we really are part of one another.
I think that we lose sight of this point today. Oh sure, we want community, togetherness, true and good friends and companionship, but more and more books and articles keep coming out, on bookstore shelves and across my computer screen about how people are feeling more isolated and alone than ever. Why do you think that is?
Could it have something to do with this first sentence – this theme-builder for all of what follows? Probably! Being open and honest with each other builds community – even though sometimes honesty may hurt, it ultimately builds trust and respect and yes, community between people.
But how come we don’t have that community? How do we choose to live instead? Well, that’s the rest of Paul’s story – and where he goes next.

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.

The words Paul uses here – though not clear in the English – are very specific in his original written Greek. For the anger he’s referring to here has two meanings. It’s the same word used in the Bible for God’s wrath … the anger which, most of the time, comes from things that people have done to God… whether that’s going after other gods, or killing the prophets, or disobeying commandments and abusing creation.
That anger – that divine anger – is more like wounded love. God gets hurt by what people – we - created in the Creator’s image – what we have done and continue to do to God and creation. That’s totally understandable to Paul; and should be for us. We can relate when our love is hurt by others’ carelessness or thoughtlessness.
But it’s the result of how humans express that anger that Paul is against. Be angry – if your anger is about the same things God gets angry about: injustice, unfaithfulness to God, hurt and pain to God’s people and God’s creation. Just don’t get angry in the typical, snippy human way that comes from selfish motives, jealousy, envy, bitterness, wrath, wrangling, slandering, together with all malice. That kind of anger can lead to long-term breaks in relationships between people … “angry outbursts that turn to lasting bitterness.”
Now, remember that opening sentence, of our reading ... “let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors.” If we did that, they’d know when they had wronged us, and we, them … without those explosive outbursts that lead to fractures in relationship on which the sun never sets.
Paul knows what, more often than not, follows from those explosive outbursts … evil talk … literally, words that cause rot, decay, sickness unto death. You and I know words like that … behind the back talk … parking lot talk … sniping, back biting, whispers told around corners, tales mentioned only behind closed doors, “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this but … “
But. But. You can just smell the rot, the decay, in words like that. Words can and do kill, and that “evil talk” kills relationships between people, and destroys community.
How much better to speak words that build up, that give grace to those who hear. Honesty. Constructive criticism. Words that are not motivated by “how can I make that person feel small, or stupid, or useless by what I say?” But rather, helpful suggestions that have the motive of love behind them.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

This godly grief is the result of wounding or insulting, a deep hurt that the Divine feels when we act this callously toward God and toward others. It’s like a death has occurred … the death of relationship between people, the death of community between God’s creation … and because God’s Spirit creates community, no wonder the Spirit grieves when that community is broken.

So be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love.

Imitating God, then, is what this is all about. Speak the truth to each other. Be angry about those things that God gets angry about, not the petty stuff that takes up so much of our time. Don’t let every little thing get to you, don’t hold on to angry grudges, and don’t express anger in passive-aggressive ways or irrational fits of rage. Don’t speak evil of others; use your words not to tear down but to build up.
In other words, it’s all about relationships. And we should get this as Christians … figuring out that limiting our faith to just “me and Jesus” … concentrating on having “a personal relationship with Jesus” to the exclusion of the rest of God’s creation ... this cuts us off from our brothers and sisters, from a world in need … indeed, from God and the one God sends to us as one of us, so that we may walk wet in promise and hope ... Jesus Christ himself, the one in whom we are given the best example to imitate.
We see the error of our ways that so segments God from the rest of our lives – keeping our time with God down to one hour a week – or less, using faith as a weapon to divide rather than create healing, wholeness and community.
I heard that word, to help me “get it,” from an unexpected source. A friend of mine, who happens to be Buddhist, said to me, “the future of the world is intrinsically connected with the relationships you make and keep, every day of your life.”
I had to think about that for a minute … and in thinking, I discovered the larger truth behind it. I thought of all the people that I’m interconnected with every day … all the relationships I have. Tens. Even hundreds. And then, all the relationships those people have with others. Hundreds. Even thousands. How I treat them has a direct impact on how they treat others.
Think of all the relationship connections that there are right here, right now. And then, all the relationship connections that those relationships are connected with. What we do here does have a direct impact on the future of the world.
We are, indeed, the sum of all the connections and relationships we make, and have, every day of our lives. And in those connections, those relationships, we meet Christ. For my friend’s words reminded me of the words of Jesus – the last words he shared with his disciples before his Passion, suffering and death … As you do to the least of these who are members of my family, you do it to me.
That’s a sobering thought. Maybe a troubling thought. Because I’m bound to say something stupid … react in anger, insult someone, speak poorly of somebody … I am human, after all. I can’t avoid it. You can’t avoid it. It would be nice to be the calm, non-anxious presence such as Paul neatly lays things out here, but we know we can’t perfectly imitate God. We’ll try … sometimes we’ll get it right … and sometimes, we’ll blow it big time.
So what then? Then – we need something … someone … to be in relationship with us even when we break those relationships with others.
One who says to us I am the bread of life. The same One who will give us our “daily bread.”
One who gives us this “daily bread” that helps glue our relationships with others back together, the love he has for us overflowing and unable to be contained, flowing out into us and all the relationships we have and keep, every day of our lives.
One who will even become that bread – feeding us, forgiving us, giving us his very life so that we can have the forgiveness we need, the forgiveness we need from him because when we hurt others we hurt him … the forgiveness that sends us out to forgive each other when we wrong them, in our anger, our carelessness and thoughtlessness, our just plain selfishness.
The future of the world, indeed, is intrinsically connected with our relationships with others.
Thanks to God for the Bread – our brother, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - that comes into our lives and fills us, fills us and sends us out, sends us out to fill others ... for our sake, for their sake, for the sake of the world God loves.
Amen.