12th Sunday after Pentecost

I’d like to devote a few minutes here this morning to something that’s a little more interactive. I’d like to ask you split up into groups of two or three. And if you’re here with someone else, like a spouse or significant other, I want to the two you in two different groups. Go ahead and get yourselves sorted. OK. Now that you’re all settled into your groups, I want you to take a couple of minutes to share with one another the best thing that happened this summer. You don’t need to go into a lot of detail, just a real quick couple of sentences. Everyone had time to share? Alright, now share about the most difficult thing that happened this summer. Again, I’ll give you a couple of minutes. Alright. So, what were some of the things that were shared in your groups? Let’s start with the hard things, the difficult things we experienced this summer. What were some of the best things that happened this summer?

I love little social experiments like this. You probably came in here this morning, knowing ahead of time, even if only subconsciously, who you would be most likely to see, spend time with, talk to, etc. But now you’re here and you suddenly found yourself talking maybe to someone you weren’t necessarily expecting to talk to, about things you weren’t necessarily planning to talk about. It creates a little vulnerability. It’s a sacred space, because in that moment of vulnerability you shared a little something about yourself that you might not have otherwise shared. And in that sacred, vulnerable space; in that moment of opening up and sharing a bit of yourself that you might not have otherwise shared, the sense of connectedness and community was deepened and strengthened. Even if only by a little bit. But every little bit counts.

Over the summer we sought to increase that same kind of sense of connectedness with the Journey Together program, the intergenerational program that we had during coffee hour. How the whole thing even came together was kind of a God moment. Because independently of one another, the Christian Ed team and the Youth Ministry team approached Pastor Anke and me respectively with the idea of offering this program over the summer. Two different ministry teams, coming at us from two different directions, with the exact same idea! That’s some Holy Spirit energy, right there!

So, what did we learn over the summer? Well, it started with an introduction to the Bible. 66 books in the Bible, we looked at how they’re organized, what kinds of books they are, and what they pertain to. The Pentateuch – the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy; The historical books – Joshua through Esther; The writings, sometimes called “Wisdom Literature” – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon; The prophets – Isaiah through Malachi; The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and Acts; The letters of Paul; And the general letters and the book of Revelation.

The next week, we dove in and did some reading. We looked at one of the creation accounts from Genesis, the story of Samuel’s Call, the 23rd Psalm, the Birth of Jesus, Jesus walking on the water, and the story of Pentecost. And we realized that the Bible is really a book for everyone and that it’s applicable to every stage in our lives. And, honestly, the stories are just so good that we can learn the basics of them at any age.

We took a couple of weeks to cover the fruits of the spirit: Love, Generosity, Self-Control, Patience, Faithfulness, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, and Kindness. We discovered how these fruits of the spirit can help us to lead more faithful, Christ-like lives.

We spent time looking at the Disciples and how their gifts contributed to Jesus’ own ministry and to the life the early church. We discovered how Jesus was able to empower them to do ministry that far exceeded anything they could have ever expected of themselves. And we looked at the leading roles that women played in the early church doing everything from financially supporting ministry to being leaders of house churches.

So, what about us? That was the next question we considered. We considered how we, like the first disciples, are called to use our gifts in our own discipleship; How we can name and claim the ways that we are disciples of Jesus

And yet, in spite of the fact that we come from all over the place and have all different types of talents and gifts, we still come together to form the one thing that we call the Body of Christ; the church.

Lastly, we learned that, in praying for each other and in engaging in the work that we are called to do, we are truly united with Christians all around the world.

We covered a lot, but it was a lot of fun. We didn’t just sit around with a book in front of us. We didn’t have homework or quizzes. Instead, it was a lot like what we just did a few minutes ago. It was people of all ages, sitting together, sharing their thoughts and experiences together. It was people of all ages, going on a scavenger hunt together. It was people of all ages, doing Bible trivia together. It was people of all ages, doing a lot of different things together.

And of course, the key word in all of this is that last one: together. It was about the Bible, and it was about Jesus, and it was about the disciples, and it was about being disciples, and it was about being the Church in the world. It was about all those things. But in the end what it was really all about was being together. It was opening ourselves up to those small moments of vulnerability, where the power of the love of Jesus creates a sacred space, where we grow closer to one another. It was a place of intentional community-building. That’s important, especially after the past couple of years, when many of us have become more comfortable with being more isolated and less connected with one another. And yet, we’re hard-wired for connection and community.

Culturally, Christianity in the United States has done a really good job of privatizing faith. That’s how we ended up with such well-worn phrases like “my personal Lord and savior, Jesus Christ” or “me and my Jesus”. And we often talk about what faith means for me; how Jesus changes me; how God’s love affects me. And that’s important stuff. Of course it is!! But we often talk about the personal experience of faith to the exclusion of everything else. It’s supremely ironic, given how much of the Bible is devoted to stories and ideas about the power of community and the role it plays in our lives.

All of the readings appointed for today are about living life together. But for these last couple of minutes, I’d like to focus just very briefly on the lesson from Hebrews. From beginning to end, this series of exhortations are clearly communal in nature. They offer a compelling picture of what the church might look like, in an age when increasingly large numbers of people doubt its relevance.

From the get-go we’re told to let “mutual love” continue. At the time, the Greek word philadelphia meant love for one’s brothers or sisters by blood. But in the New Testament, it refers to a special form of love expressed among members of the Christian community. In fact, Christians were known, and sometimes jeered, because of their creation the practice of referring to one another as siblings. It not only conveys the theological conviction that members were all children of God, whom they called Father; it also reflects the reality that early Christians experienced rejection from their own families. 

Next, the community is challenged not to neglect or overlook the practice of hospitality. Hospitality plays a significant throughout the Bible. Specifically for the fledgling Jesus-follower movement, it was essential in expanding and connecting early Christian communities.

In verse 3, the author challenges the audience to express solidarity with those who are imprisoned and those who are tortured. Remember that Jesus’s parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31–46) praises the practice of visiting those who are in prison. We should, then, understand the command to “remember” those in prison as more than a mental exercise. Since prisons in the ancient world were not state-sponsored, prisoners would have depended on their associates for their basic livelihood.

And that’s all just within the first three verses. It goes on to touch on marriage, our attitudes towards wealth, and honoring and emulating the legacy of our forbearers.

In Hebrews, mutual love is a shorthand for practices and attitudes that preserve and strengthen the community. The author of Hebrews clearly hopes the community will stir one another toward love and good deeds. In this sense, mutual love is an important and tangible result of meeting together. 

The writing from Hebrews is a commentary on congregational vitality. And what that commentary tells us is this: The measure of a congregation’s vitality is not the plethora of its programming, nor is it the flashiness of the preacher, the stage volume of its praise band, or the deep solemnity of its liturgy. Rather, a congregation’s vitality depends on the demonstration of deep love, radical hospitality, solidarity with those on the margins of society, honoring marriage, sharing possessions, practicing contentment, and emulating the exemplary behavior of those who have gone before us.

Community is not something that happens all by itself. It’s something that must be tended to and nurtured. And the most effective way to do that is also the easiest. It’s simply coming together. In coming together as the body of Christ, in sharing of ourselves and creating those small moments of vulnerability where we let someone else into our lives, we create holy space where we grow in relationship with Jesus and with each other. And God gives us the power to carry that holy space with us. To go out into the world around us, and to witness to the power of community in Christ. To bring a little more healing and a little more wholeness to the world, one person at a time, by seeking to embody the love of Jesus.

AMEN