March 1, 2009
Rev. Patricia L. Liberty
Hunger and Homecoming
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
The words of the late George Carlin: This from the man who brought us the Hippy Dippy Weatherman and “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?”
His brand of wry observational humor had a philosophic side…with the humor aside he speaks eloquently of the loneliness and isolation that is so much a part of our days.
I believe that the sub text of his observation is a hunger for community; a desire to be connected to people in a significant way.
Community is not so much a place as it is a state of relationship. We live in communities, physical places where houses are grouped together, but that doesn’t mean there is community in the relational sense of the word. In the truest sense, community is that place where our deepest hungers are fed, our mast basic needs for companionship are filled and our need to be connected to something bigger than ourselves is accomplished.
It is a basic human need. Several years ago a Doctor of Ministry student at Andover Newton Theological School chose a project that involved research about why people come to church, especially those who have been part of a particular church for less than 5 years.
What he discovered was this: 20% were new to the area and looking for a new religious community. 10% were coming from another church in the area, making a change due to conflict in the church, not liking the minister, unhappy with church politics. etc. The remaining 70% cited reasons having to do with life change and transition, family crisis, loss, personal conflict and inner struggle, search for deeper or renewed meaning, a place to discover common values and serve others in a concrete way. It is hunger and homecoming.
It’s what Jesus meant, when in Luke he says to his followers, the Kingdom of Heaven is among you. The purpose and passion of the church that gathers in Christ’s name is community. It is in vital and life giving relationship to one another that we see the face of the divine embodied in our midst and we become more than we could ever be on our own.
Christianity doesn’t have the corner on the market on this concept. Most religious traditions have some component of community that shapes their basic self-understanding and self-expression. In the Jewish tradition, gathering for Shabbat services on Friday evening is a way of identifying themselves and connecting with God and with each other. There are endless variations on the theme, but one thing is shared. Faithfulness has a community expression; we need one another if we are to be faithful to the journey. Community is a cornerstone of our spiritual well-being and growth. The spiritual journey grows best when planted in community.
In John’s reading we are reminded that not only are we connected to Jesus, but also to each other. Those who gather in Jesus name share the organic image of vine and branches a living thing that is intertwined, interdependent; just as we cannot exist without a vital relationship with Jesus Christ we cannot exist without one another.
It’s a common expression among non church goers….I can be Christian without going to church. Well, you can be a lot of things…you can be spiritual you can follow Jesus and ask what would Jesus do, you can be a good person, but you cannot be a Christian. At the heart of our Christian identity is the church which in its earliest expression was a community of women and men who followed Jesus and lived his values.
To be a Christian, we must gather in his name, share and bear witness to the sacraments and embody his values in relationship with each other and with the world. We must be in community with one another.
Christ’s community is a welcoming place. A gathering of human folk, who having glimpsed something of the truth of Jesus Christ gather to share that glimpse with others in a way that gives God glory. What happens here and in churches all around the world is holy and human, it is perfectly plain and marvelously mysterious. It is God's love that makes us welcome in this place.
Christ’s community is where people come together not out of common history, but rather to affirm a common destiny that is grounded in the life of faithfulness and discipleship.
In Christ’s community there is a place for everyone, it is in this relationship to Christ and to each other that we are reminded that there is no greater love than that which comes from shared faith and common commitment.
Christ’s community is an invitational reconciling community; a place where the voices of our lives and our world are brought before the Voice of truth, peace and hope. It is where we are welcome not because we have figured it all out, but because God is an embracing and welcoming God.
Christ’s community is where the reconciling truth of God is spoken in words of welcome, knowing handshakes and caring glances. It is that place where we are found and where we find the Eternal Word spoken above all other words.
The Church....at its best....the words of Ann Weems
It is where daises bloom out of barren land, where children lead and wise ones follow, where mountains are moved and walls come tumbling down.
The Church of Jesus Christ is where loaves of bread are stacked in the sanctuary to feed the hungry, where coats are taken off and put on the backs of the naked, where shackles are discarded and kings and shepherds sit down to life together.
The Church of Jesus Christ is where children rung giggling in procession, where the minister is ministered unto, where the anthem is the laughter of the congregation and the offering plates are full of people.
The Church of Jesus Christ is where people go when they skin their knees or their hearts, where judges don't judge and each child of God is beautiful and precious.
The Church of Jesus Christ is where night is day, where trumpets and drums and tambourines declare God's goodness, where lost lambs are found.
The Church is where people write thank you notes to God, where work is a holiday and seeds are scattered so miracles can grow.
The Church of Jesus Christ is where home is, where heaven is, where a picnic is communion and people break bread together on their knees.
The Church is the community where we live into the truth that God is among us and our deepest hungers are fed with the bread of life that is broken at this table and made whole among us.