Love and Unity

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday May 16, 2010, the 7th Sunday in Easter.

Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

The Biennial meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) begins on the third of July, on this day the Assembly will elect its new Moderator. The Moderator conducts the business of the meeting and then serves the church for two years as the denomination’s representative to the world. Following the election of the moderator, along with worship, fellowship, and celebration, there will be business.

Ah, the business of the PC(U.S.A.)…[1]

As of this moment, there are 122 overtures for General Assembly action. That’s right, there are 122 distinct motions to be presented to and debated by this august group of church elders, and so far thirteen of them have to do with the definition of marriage and no fewer than fourteen of them have to do with ordination qualifications, predominately about sexuality as a qualification for ordained office in the denomination.

If you think I am making light of twenty percent of the docket, well, I am. These items are the off-spring of things that have been discussed at every General Assembly in the past forty years; and they will quite probably be debated long after my death.

As I make light of these, there are some items that are important in their own right. There is an overture calling for partnerships for peace in the Sudan. There is an overture calling for a denominational day of prayer for healing. There are several motions concerning the strengthening and use of Commissioned Lay Pastors. There is even an overture encouraging Presbyterians to know their HIV status. Each of these overtures has value.

They deal with health, leadership, and peace. They deal with how the denomination spreads the gospel in the church and in the world, things the church should be about. But when I read the list, I am reminded of issues that the Church universal has dealt with and the councils that dealt with them since time immemorial and wonder if in a relative way the issues we are dealing with aren’t a little small.

The Council of Jerusalem met in 48 AD[2] and discussed what was required to be a Christian. When we talk about what it means to be a Christian, we talk about affirmations and beliefs, volunteering at the food bank and such. These guys had a completely different question to answer. Christianity was an off-shoot of Judaism at the time. These were the Jews who believed the Messiah had come. So most who believed were Jews, but the most heavily reformed of Jews.

So when the Gentiles heard the Good News and believed, the question became, “Did they first have to conform to the tenets of Judaism?” Another way to ask the question was “Could the new believers be “Christians” or did they have to be “Jewish Christians” like the heart of the church. The council decided that Jewish believers had to maintain the practice of circumcision along with the Mosaic Law and the Gentiles did not. It also decided that all believers, Jewish and Gentile alike, had to maintain Jewish dietary regulations. So it was “circumcision-no; bacon-no.”

This is big stuff, we talk about who can get married in the church and they are battling with who belongs in the church at all. This turn toward grace to the Gentiles had one very important outcome; it enabled the church greater growth and more inclusiveness beyond the walls of Jerusalem. Without this decision, it is quite possible that the Jesus movement would have remained a reform impulse in Judaism.

There were other councils too. In 325, the Council of Nicaea met to discuss whether Jesus the Christ is God or not. The assertion that Jesus is not God was led by a presbyter, elder, from the church in Alexandria named Arius. He was popular and had a way with words. Many followed his teachings. So when the orthodox wing of the church, the group that declared and continues to declare “Jesus is God” won the day, Arius was branded a heretic and exiled. Because of the work of this council, we say Jesus is God.

In 381, the Council of Constantinople declared that Jesus was human, while reaffirming that Jesus is God. In a way, it’s like saying that when the Christ became incarnate, he took on human essence while maintaining divine essence. Those whose stand did not take the day (please--let's not call them "the losers") believed that the incarnation was more like the Christ putting on a “Jesus of Nazareth Halloween costume.” This council also amended the Nicene Creed to affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

Because of the work of this council, we continue to declare the divinity and humanity of Jesus and truly established for the first time a real theology of the Trinity; that the one Lord God has been revealed in scripture in the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In 431, the Council at Ephesus and twenty years later at the Council at Chalcedon, the church debated another splitting of the “Jesus is Lord” hair. To make a long story short, this is where we declare that the Christ was of two natures, fully human and fully divine. These natures are distinct, yet inseparable within the body and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have often heard me describe Jesus as fully human and fully divine, it is from these councils that this description of the Lord was declared.

So don’t get me wrong, I believe the work of our General Assembly is important. It is important to the denomination, to the Body of Christ, and to creation. But please; even if you don’t agree with me, I ask you at least consider that comparatively speaking, when you look at what we are debating and what was debated 1,500 years ago, we aren’t doing much heavy lifting.

Our gospel reading is the third part of the High Priestly Prayer, the prayer which comes at the end of the Lord’s Supper.

During the supper, Jesus has broken bread and shared the cup with the apostles. He has given his disciples instructions and warnings. He has told them to abide in his love.[3] He has told them “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”[4] He tells them that he is the way, the truth and the life.[5]

He has explained that he has chosen them out of the world, with everything that means and everything that requires.[6] He has washed their feet[7] and he has fed Judas,[8] the one who even as we hear today’s reading is returning with a detachment from the guard to arrest Jesus.[9] So to end this meal, to end this part of Jesus’ life and ministry, to close this chapter of history, Jesus offers a prayer for all of creation.

Jesus offers prayer for himself, the apostles, and in today’s reading, Jesus offers prayer for the church; “for us and all others in all times and places who believe in him, so that we may all be one in the same way the Father and Son are one.”[10]

And now, Jesus prays that we be one so that the world will know God; knowing the Father has sent the Son, and knowing the Father loves the world as the Father loves the Son.

Jesus prays that we may be where he is, now and forever in his presence and in the presence of the Father. And yes, Jesus knows the world does not know the Righteous Father, but Jesus knows him and the apostles know that the Father has sent the Son. Jesus finishes his prayer, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The song you heard coming into the sanctuary today is called “Future Love Paradise”[11] by the British soul and rhythm-and-blues singer Seal, and yes, that is his real name. In fact, his full name is Seal Henry Olusegun[12] Olumide[13] Adeola[14] Samuel. He sings:

But if only you could see them,
You could know by their faces,
They were kings and queens,
Followed by princes and princesses.
There were future power people
Throwin’ love to the loveless
Shining a light ‘cause they wanted it seen.[15]

To me, this is a way of imagining the triumphant entry into Jerusalem; it’s another way of imagining the dawn of the New Jerusalem. It is another way to hear the voice of our Lord cry to all creation in the testimony of John the Revelator saying:

“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Seal imagines:

One day
All the queens will gather ‘round
Spreading love and unity so we can be found.[16]

Our Lord who offers the gift of living water and cries out “Let anyone who wishes take the water of life.”

It is by the glory that God has given Jesus which he has given us that we are united in Christ.

It is as in the words of Jesus, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

It is as Seal sang, “Spreading love and unity so we can be found.”

By this love and unity we are called to shine the light of Christ. Like the princes and princesses, the children of the Holy God are called to shine the light because we want it to be seen. We want to share the love of God in the world not because it is the right thing to do, but because we want to do it. We are to hear the Spirit call the bride of Christ, the church, “Come.” We are to then call to the world, “Come.” We are to call to the thirsty that the gift of living water is available to all who seek it.

Now, theology matters, truly it does. But as the bride of Christ, as the church, we should also us know that it is not by right theology that the world will know God’s grace and love, but by shining God’s light, and sharing the living water of Christ with the world. The councils and general assemblies affirm, but it is Christ who commands love and unity. The Reverend William Sloane Coffin said it best saying, “The purity of dogma is second to the integrity of love. Creeds are the sign posts, but love is the hitching post.”[17]

Let us know and behave in a way that we reflect the glory of God and the love of Christ that brings us together as one. Let us shine the light of God, the light of love and unity. And let us cry out the great benediction of all scripture, “Amen, come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen”

[1] All 2010 overtures are from: PC(USA), “Overtures to the 219th General Assembly (2010),” http://www.pc-biz.org/Resources/1833da6e-8c14-4c51-a3b1-49a53737279a/2010%20lis.pdf, retrieved May 14, 2010.
[2] Many thanks to the Rev. Dr. Ellen Babinsky and her Theology 100 class on Church History. Class notes and the 2001 version of her course pack were used as reference for the church council information.
[3] John 15:1-17
[4] John 14:12-24
[5] John 14:1-11
[6] John 15:18–16:4a
[7] John 13:1-11
[8] John 13:21-30
[9] John 18:1-12
[10] Bower, Peter C., Handbook for the Revised Common Lectionary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, page 231.
[11] Samuel, Sealhenri, “Future Love Paradise,” Beethoven Street Music, 1991.
[12] “God is Victorious” in Yoruban, http://www.nigerian.name/w/index.php?title=Olusegun, retrieved May 15, 2010.
[13] “God is Come” in Yoruban, http://www.nigerian.name/w/index.php?title=Olumide, retrieved May 15, 2010.
[14] “The Crown Has Virtue and Respect” in Yourban, http://www.nigerian.name/w/index.php?title=Adeola, retrieved May 15, 2010.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin.” Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1987, page 177.