5th Sunday of Easter - New Beginnings Sermon
Series
Can we make things new with others?
I am made by
love, with love, in love, for love,
We are made by love, with love, in love, for love.
Like some of you, I saw our accountant recently
to collect our tax bill. He’s a wonderful Christian man, and he asked
what I was preaching about on Sunday. I told him that we were preaching
a series for Easter season, about new beginnings. Hey, he said, maybe
you could work me into the sermon, "We’re all about new beginnings here"
he said of his CA practice. Well I reflected, I don’t think the people
want to hear about the new beginning of getting their Revenue Canada
account back to zero!
We are talking today about new relationships,
about applying the great Good News of the resurrection to our
interpersonal relationships. We asked the question, "Is it possible to
heal a relationship that is not working, a relationship that is
"broken"? To answer in a word, yes it is, healing is possible in
difficult relationships. We can overcome the wounds that being in
relationship can produce. Though before I continue I must make a couple
of qualifying remarks. Some relationships at certain points may require
the assistance of professional help. It is not the goal of this sermon
to take the place of such professional help- that is beyond my capacity
and the scope of a 15 minute homily. I also have to say that some
relationships have caused so much harm that they have become what some
call "toxic" relationships. For those relatively rare situations,
beginning the path of healing means stopping the hurt. This may mean a
cessation of contact. Setting those rather wide qualifications, let’s
take a moment to reflect on a difficult relationship in your life, if
you have any. It may be with a family member, a co-worker, business
partner or neighbor. Bring some of those challenging relationships to
mind, and have them in the background as we proceed with the sermon.
I am convinced there are tremendous spiritual
resources in our loving God to assist us to move toward healing in our
nearest and dearest relationships. Not least among these is the example
and teaching of our Lord Jesus, who was the object of hatred, scorn,
misunderstanding, deep love, heart-rending betrayal and even murder. Now
please don’t take the defense that I have heard several times, "Well, he
was the Son of God, what does his perfect experience have to do with me?
I am only human!" The mainstream church has always taught that Jesus was
at least fully human, and that what we see in his life and teaching is
the path to a deeper, richer, more REAL humanity. With the ancient
church over the ages, we look to Jesus as an example.
Our gospel reading today is part of the text
that we read on Maundy Thursday, which is literally "Commandment
Thursday." The new commandment Jesus gives to his little community of
followers- really nothing more than a small group and their families-
the new commandment is to love one another as I have loved you. This
type of self-giving love is the mark of a follower of Jesus. Expressing
such love is not a prerequisite to being a follower of Jesus, it is a
fruit of the spirit of Jesus at work in those who seek to follow in his
path of love. This fruit, the life of love, is a witness to the world
that followers of Jesus are present. Jesus himself lived this life of
love, even though it erupted controversy wherever he went.
"Love one another as I have loved you". Are
these just pious words, a spiritual idealism that is out of touch with
the realities of our life circumstances?
The remarkable character of our Lord is
revealed not only in what he commands, but in the circumstances in which
he says it. "Love one another as I have loved you" he says. The context
of his statements are remarkable.
In the Scripture passage just before Jesus
gives this new command, Judas, his good friend, had just gone out to
betray him. Jesus predicted this, and the scripture with profound
understatement says, "he was troubled in his spirit." He was wounded and
saddened by the betrayal, as any of us would have been. American
playwright Steven Deitz wrote, "betrayal is the willful slaughter of
hope." 1
Many people after such an experience of betrayal would have been numbed,
shocked, and incapable of even being social, much less giving such a
beautiful commandment to his followers. "Love each other"- I think this
teaching came from deep in Jesus heart, and it was a wounded heart,
grieved with pain and sorrow. How could his relationship with Judas have
sunk to such an angry, vengeance-filled state? Jesus knows the sorrow
and the pain of broken relationships. In him, our pain too is lifted up
as an offering to God. Yet from this experience Jesus commands those who
follow, to love.
1.
www.finestquotes.com/select_quote-category-Betrayal-page-0.htm
Immediately following this, Peter boldly
declares that he would lay down his life rather than be separated from
his master. Jesus responds, "Will you really? Peter, before the alarm
clock stops ringing you will deny me three times."
At the beginning of the sermon, I said that
some relationships will not be healed in this life. As far as we have
record, Jesus’ relationship with Judas was not healed in this life.
Peter, on the other hand, by the generosity of Jesus, found three-fold
healing for his three-fold denial. Love one another, as I have loved
you.
In his life and teaching, Jesus was fashioning
a new community, typified by love. This was and is his goal, and two
pitfalls to avoid are paralyzing guilt and cynical rejection of the
ideal. It can be excruciatingly difficult to love those who have wounded
us, and the command to love seems only to add the fire of guilt to the
pain of broken relationships. Guilt can be an obstruction to God’s
healing if it keeps one looking only at one’s own limited resources, and
not toward God’s possibilities. Regarding cynicism, one need only look
at the newspaper or church history to see how poorly the followers of
Christ have fulfilled the command to love one another as Christ loves
us. Cynicism falls into the same trap as guilt- the trap of
hopelessness.
God’s desire is, I believe, to work healing in
our relationships. God is mysteriously able to work in ways beyond that
we can ask or imagine. I have experienced this in my life-I have seen
again and again relationships that seemed beyond hope, grow to new life
over time.
Prayer is often the unpolished gem we carry
with us, or the oft un-opened gift that is ours in the midst of
relationships that have gone sour. Jesus teaches us to pray for those
who spitefully use us, and elsewhere, to pray for one’s enemies. Now we
as polite and kind Anglican Christian Canadians are loathe to admit that
we might have enemies. Nor are we likely to see those we are in
relationship with as enemies…so let’s change the wording and work with
the principle. "Bless those who bug you, who irritate you. Pray for
those whose relationship with you has soured."
There is mysterious power in prayer. If you ask
God to bless, you are not asking God to condone their behaviour, but
asking God to bring a full and deep healing upon the one for whom you
pray. You are placing yourself in alignment with God’s will, for God’s
will is to bless and heal. This does not mean you are asking God to
bless the status quo, you are asking God in to work a healing change, in
both you and the one with whom you have a wounded relationship.
Part of prayer for you, if we learn from the
great prayer book of the ancient church- the book of psalms; part of
prayer is also to vent. Tell God directly your woes and wounds, tell God
how it hurts and hampers, holding you back from freedom and peace. This
is what the bible calls, "pouring out your heart before God." If you are
hurt, tell God so. If you feel betrayed, badly treated, misunderstood,
taken for granted, angry, overstretched- vent this to God in a
straightforward manner. God hears the cry of the wounded-heart, and
loves.
I have found in my own life that when I am
finished venting, I am in a new, silent place, and here I wait. With my
emotions shared, my heart open and receptive, I am quieted.
In this silence, one might hear whispers of
revelation, of new understanding, insight, or perhaps a course of
action, a way forward in the path of healing. As you sit with that, in
that open space, as your time draws to a close, bless. Ask God’s
blessing on yourself and the other. "God, please pour out your healing
blessing on" and use their name. And ask God’s blessing upon yourself,
perhaps place your hand on your heart as you do so.
And I give you a little mantra to say to
yourself as you go about your daily life. A mantra is a word or simple
repetitive prayer to keep you mindful of the grace in which you stand.
Here’s a mantra
I am made by love, with love, in love, for love.
I am made by love reminds that God is love, and
God has made us, and given to us the gift of ourselves.
I am made by love, with love. God is love, and
made us with loving attention to detail. Like a parent who cooked a
special meal for you with loving attention, so God made you with love.
Even every hair on your head, from top to toe. You were made in God’s
love, to live in love and offer God’s love. You and I have a mission of
love to carry out as best we can.
Now, this mantra gets us settled in who we are
and in whom we stand. We can work this mantra as a powerful prayer to
work healing in our relationships by changing the "I" to "We," including
the person with whom you are currently having a challenging time.
"We are made by love, with love, in love, for
love."
Such a prayer opens us to God’s healing grace,
and invites God’s presence into our wounded relationships. It helps us
to take responsibility for our relationships, and quickens us to rise
and be all we can be. It also reminds us that we alone can not and are
not responsible for the outcome of the relationship. It takes two to
tango, and the other party will have their part to do
New beginnings in old relationships are
possible. The resurrection of Christ witnesses to and creates new
beginnings. Our good God has given us tremendous spiritual resources to
help us move forward on the path of healing. We have the life and
teachings of our Lord Jesus as example and witness, and the gift of
blessing and prayer to help us.
Earlier, I asked you to consider a relationship
in your life that may have soured. I invite you to take a moment in this
silence, to ask God to bless you and them in this relationship
Amen.
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