Vision Of God In Christ
In his sermon last Sunday, Kevin Berthound made this point: there’s always some good news. I found that powerfully poignant, especially at this time of year, when we are invited to commit our treasure, time, and talent to this community of faith and choose our political leaders.
Listening to the radio and podcasts, watching the news on your TV or electronic device, and reading the newspaper may be more than challenging for many people these days. This is because media platforms are saturated with the evil in the other guy, or with how an opponent's evil can be destructive to the kind of society we live in.
All candidates seeking political office speak well of themselves, but they hardly tout the good in their opponents. "There is nothing good in them," they seem to remind us. But the good news is that there is some good in each candidate. The fundamental question is, do they want to see the good in them translate into the lives of all the people they desire to serve, or do they want the good in them to be made manifest in some of the people they want to serve?
It is challenging to love God and neighbor, because we simply do not know how or the best way to love God. Nonetheless, I am convinced that the vision of God in Christ for the world is the love of God and love of neighbor.
That vision is needed now, in this heightened political season, when divisions run through families, strife runs through friendships, discord runs through neighborhoods, and friction runs through churches.
Listen to a lawyer ask Jesus, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" In answering the question, Jesus quotes from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” He added a second from Leviticus 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear any grudge against any of your people. But love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” That, to me, represents the vision of God in Christ for the world.
The point is you cannot hate yourself and love your neighbor. As selfish as it may sound, you have to learn how to love yourself before you can love your neighbor. Loving your neighbor is only possible when you can love yourself, because you can see yourself in your neighbor. You cannot love God when you don’t love yourself. The love of both God and neighbor is predicated on the ability to love yourself.
To love God is to be unconditionally obedient and to reimagine love as sacrificial. Point is, you cannot love if you are not willing to sacrifice. Love demands and requires sacrifice to prove itself worthy. To love is to desire to have skin in the game.
Remember, at the core of God’s love is the sacrifice of God’s self through His Son, Jesus Christ. And for us as Christians, we look at the manger to behold the presence of God’s love manifested in human form; we look at the empty tomb to behold the glorification of God’s love; and we look at the cross as the highest point of God’s sacrificial love.
In the cross, we do not only behold a God who has skin in the game, but we are bound in union with the God who pays the ultimate price with Godself. The question is, if God demonstrated his love for us in such a manner, how can I withhold my love from you? Or why should I allow anything, even politics to come between my love for you? Part of the sacrifice of love is our ability to see ourselves in each other and to embrace each other, even when we have more than enough reason to walk away from each other.
In the first two lines of his poem The Everlasting Gospel, William Blake writes this:
That vision of Christ which you see
Is my vision’s greatest enemy.
The vision of God in Christ for the world is a world enveloped by the love of God and neighbor. But that is not the vision we each carry because we are tribal. If the vision of God in Christ is our vision's greatest enemy, then we may have to change our vision to realign it with the vision of God in Christ. We don't need an enmity between the two visions.
The vision of God in Christ is a love that often leaves us open to wounding and disappointment. It is love that makes us ready to suffer. It is love that overlooks pettiness and self-righteousness. It is love that leads us out of isolation, exclusion, and self-centeredness into fellowship with others, with people who are so different from us.
The uniqueness of this fellowship is that it is always associated with suffering and pain. And when the pain and suffering of love are accepted, they deepen love, they renew love, they build love, they sustain love, and they give meaning to love. Strangely enough, it is this embrace of love that makes possible any sacrificial self-giving of love.
This coming Sunday is our pledge Sunday, the day we walk to the altar table and offer our pledges. Through this process, we commit ourselves to the holy and faithful cause of God’s work in this sacred place.
As Kevin said, the good news is that it is our honor and privilege to do God’s work here at Christ Church. We can do this work because of your faithfulness and amazing support. It is therefore a blessing to appeal to each of us to prayerfully consider our commitment to this sacred place for the coming year. This appeal is based on your love for God and neighbor, what Christ Church stands for, how much Christ Church means to you and the people we serve on your behalf, and how much Christ Church serves you and your neighbor.
For me, Christ Church stands tall as a beacon of hope to a world needing lots of it, faithfulness to a beleaguered world, a champion of love to those on the margins, a sanctuary for all who need a safe space from a chaotic life, an oasis of refreshing springs of water that is always available to quench our thirst, light on our dark paths, a place of belonging for each and everyone.
We live a love of neighbor because we believe that to love neighbor is to surrender to the path of love that desires to own the vision of God in Christ. We choose a love that leads us to discover that God is not the object of our love and longing, but God is love itself. At Christ Church, we have the capacity to harness the energy of love, not only for our own good, but for the good of all people.
I learned many years ago that justice may be impartial, but love is partial. The partiality of love lets us overlook differences with another. In other words, our differences, especially religion, race, ethnicity, sex, and politics, are not enough for us to surrender the dark side of human behavior or compete with the vision of God in Christ for the world.
I have no idea which candidate you will be supporting this election cycle, and I honestly don’t need to know. My hope for you is that, beyond the candidate you support, we can all see the vision of God in Christ, which builds, sustains, and nurtures community to thrive, not for its own sake, but for the sake of all people.
Kevin is correct - there is always good news. But to continually, consistently, and faithfully share this good news of love which inaugurates and sustains the vision of God in Christ, we need your wholehearted support.
Again, I deeply thank you for your support throughout the years. And as always, I count on your faithful support. I hope to see you on Sunday with your love pledge.
Blessings,
Manny+
