“Living God’s Story” (2 Cor. 6:1-13; 7:2-4)
June 21, 2015
Paul
pleads with the Corinthian Christians, “Make room in your hearts for us. … I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction,
I am overflowing with joy” (7:2, 4).
In this church, rich Christ followers
looked down upon impoverished Christ followers and sometimes flaunted their
wealth. Within this church, there was
serious misunderstanding about appropriate sexual ethics for followers of
Jesus. The Corinthians Christians
struggled with how spiritual gifts should be exercised worship. In some cases people with particular gifts
were elevate above others even though the gifts were supposed to be from God. The Corinthian Christians struggled in their
understanding of resurrection. And they
did not know how to leave behind paganism and polytheism and give full devotion
to Jesus.
The reason much of the best practical
teaching in the New Testament comes from Paul’s letters to Corinth is the
believers in that church struggled in so many areas. Paul was at his wits’ end trying to show
these new believers how to live as a community –the body of Christ, the family
of God. Furthering complicating his task
were other teachers who came claiming that the Corinthians should ignore
Paul. These others who, according to
Paul claimed to be “super-apostles,” made his task of shepherding this
complicated group even harder.
At times Paul came down quite hard on
the Corinthians. Numerous commentators I
have read believe he saw himself as a spiritual father to the Corinthians and
the father’s discipline is apparent in both letters. Yet, he tenaciously holds onto joy.
Make room in
your hearts for
us.
I have
great pride in you.
I am
overflowing with joy.
Today, churches across America must cling to joy
and love and fellowship. We must cling
to who we are in Christ tightly for I fear what is coming. Recently a 14-year-old African American girl
at a pool party was roughed up by a stressed out white police officer.[i] This was
the latest in an unfathomable string of racially-motivated incidents. I know authorities say it wasn’t about
race. They always say it isn’t about
race. Yet, coincidentally, these stories
have a consistent theme; unarmed minority youths are bullied, abused or killed
by armed white people, often white law enforcement officers. The story Texas was the latest until this
past Wednesday, June 17.
On that day, Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Charleston, SC was doing what thousands of churches across America do
on Wednesday night. They were having
Wednesday night prayer service. I have
probably been a part of close to 1000 of these services in my life. It is an activity that is a normal part of
church life in many traditions. In this
case, it was a small group, all African American. And a white man came asking to see the
pastor. This church community did what
the church does. They brought the man
in, welcomed him, took him to the pastor, and made him feel like he was a part.
Clearly he looked different, but when we are in
Christ, our differences are signs of God’s beauty. We celebrate our uniqueness as we join our
hearts to one another. They were doing
what churches do. That’s what really
gets me about this story. The Emmanuel
Church was creating safe space for Dylann Roof to seek God. He sat in that safe space for nearly an hour,
and then violated it as he killed 9 people who were welcoming him into their
circle.
When we recite the names – Michael Brown, Eric
Garner, and the rest, and the places – Staten Island, Cleveland, Baltimore,
Missouri – and now we add this sad chapter, I fear America is on a collision
course with a violent explosion in racial tension. I believe the worst is coming. But that does not have to be all that is
coming.
We who bear the name ‘Christian’ can to take this
time to show what it means to be ‘in Christ.’
We must do this. We have to go
out of our way to hold up a competing narrative to the one that’s ripping
across our nation. We have to stand in
the power of the Gospel and say, “There is another story, one in which people,
black and white, Asian and Hispanic, male and female celebrate one another and
love each other.” We have to tell that
story as the story of racism rages loudly.
A part of our proclamation of the Gospel is to
weep for Clementa Pinckney, Daniel Simmons Sr., Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda
Singleton, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Susie
Jackson, and Ethel Lance. These people
are brothers and sisters – our brothers and sisters in Christ. When our family dies, it hurts. When death comes as the church is being the
church, we weep loudly and deeply. That
must be part of our statement of faith.
So too we must commit to being the safe space
where all can come and find the love of Jesus.
Make room in your hearts for us, Paul said. I
am overflowing with joy. Even now,
even through tears, anticipating days of darker violence, we have joy in
Christ.
I have had the experience the pastor at Emmanuel
had. Someone comes asking for the
pastor. The person appears to have some
things very wrong in his life. When the
pastor responds to the unsettled individual, there is no telling what will
happen. That is the point where a voice
in my head says, ‘this could get very interesting.’
I talked for over an hour to a suicidal man who
thankfully finally allowed me to escort him into the hospital emergency
room. I have received bomb threat phone
calls. I testified in a court in trial
involving gang-violence. These personal
experiences of mine by extension are the experiences of the church. I, no we,
have been through these things.
I have read articles about churches being “soft
targets.” That is kind of the point when
I say we need to be safe space. “Safe”
means it is emotionally and spiritually safe in the same way Jesus was a
welcoming presence to the most sinful of people. In his day, the religious institution,
represented by temple and synagogue, had become corrupt. Sinners did not find hope in these places but
rather condemnation. The religious powers
that be were not safe for people whose lives were a mess. They would come broken and ben made to feel
worse.
On the other hand, Jesus was safe for people who
had major problems. People who had
really failed in their lives could come to Jesus and receive love and hope, not
condemnation. Thus, Jesus’ church must
be safe for lost people including those who are hurting, unstable, unbalanced,
and maybe even dangerous.
Emmanuel Church was Jesus to Dylann Roof, a mass
murderer. They extended his grace. Paul tells the Corinthians, “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in
vain.” The word “vain” can mean
empty. With all the struggles the
Corinthians had, Paul feared they would receive the grace but never live graced
lives. They would continue to live as
pagans, to listen to competing preachers who put Paul down, and show no signs
that they were filled with the Spirit of God.
They would mouth words of belief in the Gospel but it would make no
difference in their lives.
America
is about to explode in racial violence.
I pray the welcome Emmanuel Church gave to Dylann Roof was not in
vain. I pray their hospitality does not
come up empty. I pray the story of
churches across America is a story of God’s people standing up to hatred and
violence with love, compassion, hospitality, and grace.
At
some point, anger will reach a boiling point in some African Americans. How could it not? That anger will bubble over into
violence. Some in white America will
respond defensively or judgmentally.
Others in white America will try to insulate themselves from the
struggle. This will especially be the
case in more affluent communities. If
the violence, the blowback, and the indifference and isolation become the
defining narratives and only stories told and heard, we will have failed as people
charged with proclaiming the gospel. The
grace of God we have received and Emmanuel Church showed will be in vain. Grace comes up empty. The world is fallen. The stories of violence
and hate will play out. They cannot be
the only ones.
We
have a better story to tell. Paul tells
the Corinthians, “now is the acceptable time.
Today is the day of salvation” (6:2).
He doesn’t mean today is the day one decided to entrust his life to
Jesus, although that is a starting point.
When Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6 that “today is the day,” he means
today is the day to live into the salvation we have been given. How do we do that?
As
I discussed these matters with church friends at VBS this past week, one said
in response to the Charleston shootings, “I want to do something.” I understand how she feels. I hope others
feel this way. I suggest reading
stories. Pray until your knees wear
out. Participate in marches and
community discussions. Travel to
Charleston and sit in on memorial services.
Go out of your way to develop friendships with people from backgrounds
different than your own. Try to see the
world from a perspective that is different that your culture vantage
point. Acknowledge your own prejudices
and ask God to help you get those biases out of your life. Do all these things.
If
you hear this and you don’t have any emotion and you don’t find in yourself any
sorrow over what happened, check your heart.
Jesus is weeping at the death of his children. If we call ourselves Christians, then we weep
when He weeps. We grieve as deeply as He
grieves.
Live into salvation. How?
I want to do something? What?
We
as a community of faith have to tell the alternate story – the grace
story. In the middle of the coming
story, we have to be the story of hope.
We do this by opening our doors and ourselves to the lost and hurting
people in the world. Yes, churches are
soft targets because broken people need a soft place to land. Hurting people need to meet Jesus in an
atmosphere of love.
Paul
knew the Corinthian Church was full of heartache. In chapter 6 verses 4-10, he recites all the
difficulties he has faced as a servant of Christ. Yet he said to them, “Our heart is wide open
to you” (6:11). And he begged them,
“Make room in your hearts for us” (7:2a).
He risked being wounded again because he hoped he could help the church
become the community where people meet Jesus and come to life, a life lived
eternally in love and grace.
By
being a safe place, a soft target, we risk everything. Dylann Roof could walk in here. Or someone without a gun but with a dangerous
agenda could attempt to infiltrate our community. Our commitment to being a people who welcome
all leaves us open to such risks. But we
embrace that because God has given us a particular mission. God calls us to live a story in which people
of different backgrounds are brothers and sisters who embrace each other in the
love of Jesus. God calls us to stand in
the midst of the violence, throw open our doors, and say to the world, “Come
in, you’ll be loved here. You’ll be valued
here. You have a place here. In the heart of God, in God’s Kingdom, you have
a home.
In
coming days, it will become harder for us to tell this story and live this
mission. But we will do it no matter the
cost because God enables us as God calls us.
And we will do it with great joy because God’s story is a grace story
and a joy story. The hope for the world
is in the telling and living of that story.
Now is the time.
AMEN
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