Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Pastor Ellen Mills
I am offering you two ways to receive this. In print, you will need to read the scriptures for yourself, and then the prayer and reflection that follow in this post. If you click on the audio link below (below), you can hear all of it, including the scripture.
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray,
O Lord God, enliven and preserve your church with your perpetual mercy. Without your help, we mortals will fail; remove far from us everything that is harmful, and lead us toward all that gives life and salvation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Community is all about relationships, and healthy community is all about healthy relationships. Jesus starts this by saying “if a member of the church sins against you….” He might as well have said, “when.” Even if we are ever so good at not intentionally harming another member of the community, it will happen unintentionally. Leaving such hurts to fester will harm the community. Jesus provides a model for healthy community that I have rarely seen followed. For the early Christian communities, so much was at stake. They did not live in a consumer society. They lived in an honor and shame society organized in family units. And since the early believers would most likely be thrown out of their original families, they needed to make a new family. This was serious. They would depend on each other for their survival, and if they wanted to spread the gospel and attract others, it would need to be a close and healthy and committed relationship.
The previous two academic years I was enrolled in the Spiritual Direction Internship at the Benedict Inn in Beech Grove. One of the books we read was The Rule of Benedict. This has been the rule, or way of life, of Benedictine communities since the sixth century. People desiring to live a Benedictine life entered the monastery and took vows of stability, fidelity and obedience. It is the vow of stability that I found intriguing. Stability means that you are committed to live in very close quarters with this group of people for the rest of your life. In order to do this, relationships would become very important, and must be carefully tended. The rule can be strict, but the purpose is to “amend faults and safeguard love.” Love of people as they are with all of their faults and idiosyncrasies, not just liking “nice” people. This came to my mind because in the readings this morning, we have a gospel passage that gives guidance for amending faults, and we have a passage in Romans that is about safeguarding love. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” A community is not automatically better off because it has rules or laws. Are the rules designed, and are they obeyed, for the purpose of love? If you can’t practice love within your community, why would anyone else be attracted to it?
In Matthew’s version of Jesus’ instruction, this is for times when another member “sins against you.” So first of all, this is not about not liking what someone else has done or said that is not about you. But when you have been harmed, you are directed to work it out directly with the other person. It does not say, “if any member says or does something to harm you, go tell everyone about it.” It does not say, “if any member does something you disapprove of, then go and tell everyone about it.” It tries to restore the relationship first in a way that does not involve others. Then it tries with the help of a couple of witnesses. Only if this fails is the whole church to hear about it, and then only for the purpose of trying to reconcile the two people. And if that does not work, then the person who has caused the harm is to become as “a Gentile and a tax collector.” That may sound harsh, but realize this is Jesus. What did Jesus do with Gentiles and tax collectors? He ate with them, talked with them, and treated them with love. The attempts to heal the relationship continue, and continue with love.
How much does community matter to you? I have no idea if you have experienced a long lasting and healthy community. Within my extended family, and the family I married into, there were numerous splits and people who no longer talked with each other. In churches today, people get hurt or mad and simply don’t go back. And that is not what Jesus lived or taught. Therefore, Paul’s words in Romans. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” It is always about love. And love is not a sentimental, warm and fuzzy thought. It is an action taken regardless of how we feel at the time. It needs to be practiced over and over until it becomes more natural for us to care about our relationship with others than just defending our actions or words.
Can we do this by ourselves? No, and I don’t think Jesus even suggests that. Jesus is right there in the midst of the pain and mess of a broken relationship. Jesus is in the willingness to forgive. Jesus is in the restoration and healing. Jesus is in the midst of community, and we need community to live out our calling as the body of Christ for the world. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” I know that individualism is such a part of American culture today. But we are not called by God to be lone rangers. And we will not grow in our faith if we try to go it alone. And we are meant to grow in our faith, in our trust in God’s love for us, in our love for the world God made.
If you read the book of Acts, you will see the life of the early church and its amazing growth. There was no advertising or marketing program. There were no church signs. Much was done in secret because of the opposition of the Roman Empire. Why did it grow? Because of the quality of love shown daily in the actions of the people in community. They loved in very ordinary, generous and concrete ways. Their hearts were molded by the love of God for them that poured through them for others. Genuine lives lived for the love of God and neighbor. Close community that was willing to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Something worth living and dying for. Amen.
Drawn together in the compassion of God, we pray for the church, the world, and all in need.
Unite your church, O God. Grant us the gifts of repentance and reconciliation. Bless the cooperative work of churches in this community. Strengthen ecumenical partnerships; guide the work of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Protect your creation, O God. Teach us ways that do not harm what you have entrusted to our care. Renew and enliven places suffering from drought, flood, storms, or pollution. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Turn nations and leaders from ways that lead to death. Shape new paths toward peace and cooperation, teaching us to regard one another as neighbors. Guide legislators, civil servants, judges, and police toward laws that protect the well-being of all. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Tend to all in need of your compassion. Hear the cries of those awaiting justice and those yearning for forgiveness. Give community to the lonely and neighbors to the outcast. Shelter all who are vulnerable in body, mind or spirit. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Sustain us in our work, O God, and give work to those who need it. Shape societies to ensure fair treatment for all who labor. Help us to love our neighbors in and through our work. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
We remember with thanksgiving those who have died in faith. As you equipped them, equip us with your protection and prayer, until with them we see your salvation. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
All these things and whatever else you see that we need, we entrust to your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine upon you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
Amen.