A Caring People

First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
22nd Sunday after Pentecost – October 16, 2005
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 /Matthew 22:15-22]

“As followers of Jesus Christ we commit ourselves to . . . treat each other with love and understanding.”

It’s hard to think that such a simple and straightforward commitment to treat people with love and understanding would become counter-cultural, but it is. There is an article in Saturday’s paper stating that Americans are becoming ever more rude to each other. All sorts of reasons are given for our becoming a people lacking in civility, including the rise of single parent families and the isolation of a computer driven world. However, I am of the opinion that it stems from something far deeper, from a lack of focus on the common good which grows out of being spiritually grounded. People talk about spirituality, as we’ve said before, but they do so in terms of leisure, or what it can do for me, rather than allowing the transformation of the spirit which allows us to live toward God and toward others. Thus, it becomes more and more important for counter-cultural enclaves like this gathered church to exist to remind people of how we’re supposed to treat each other. We are a caring people and for a purpose.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy write a letter to the Christians in Thessalonica and begin it by thanking God for the people gathered there. As I begin this Sunday I want to do the same thing. Like Paul and his companions, I am thankful to God for you and pray for you “constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is so important that we remind each other of who we are, that we are God’s children and “brothers and sisters beloved by God.” It is crucial that we also remind ourselves that we are at work being a caring people, touching the lives of those who are hurting in so many ways and welcoming them into a community, a family, a place that is safe and loving.

We can be a welcoming people, a loving people, a caring people because all of us have first experienced welcome, love, and care from God and through the hands of others. As Scripture says, “we love because God has first loved us.” We are always looking for the “holes,” always looking for ways to improve our practice and that is how we grow together as a community of faith. But sometimes we need to celebrate that which is already right and good among us. We need to recognize that God is in this place and in these people with whom I worship opening our eyes to recognize the Christ who is here in each loving heart.  Of course there is room to grow here, but I thank God for each of you and for the good we have done and continue to do together.

Treating each other with love and understanding is not always easy and I think it’s time to say that the Congregational Way of being church is not as easy as it looks. I once heard our Way described as, “Church for grown-ups” and I wouldn’t disagree with that. To walk this Way means that we do so intentionally and mutually and implies that we come with both our minds and our hearts open to God and to those with whom we covenant. Our Puritan forebears understood this, Richard Mather (father of Increase and grandfather of Cotton) described the church as “a company of Christians, called by the power and mercy of God to fellowship with Christ, and by his providence to live together, and by his grace to cleave together in the unity of faith and brotherly love, and . . . bind themselves to the Lord and one to another, to walk together by the assistance of his Spirit, in all such ways of holy worship in him, and of edification one towards another.” [in Ryken Worldly Saints, p. 134] Therefore we seek ways to draw together and to build one another up, not divide or tear down. Over the years we have intentionally sought to become both a Way and a community of faith which embraces broad diversity in our thinking.

Sometimes our desire to be right, to hold the theologically correct position can damage the community and our walk of faith together. The history of the church, including our own Congregational movement and even the life of this church, certainly offers enough examples of the effect of divisions and disputes. When the Pharisees came to Jesus on that long ago day Matthew records they were looking to be right and for him to be wrong. They were out to trip him up and they laid what they thought was the perfect trap – but it didn’t work. Jesus turned the argument back on them and pointed to the greater reality and tension – that those who love God live in tension between the obligations to the Ruler of All and to the ruler of the age. Whose image was on the coin wasn’t the ultimately point. Rather, whose image is on the life of the one holding the coin is what matters. Do we live life marked by God’s image or the image of the world around us?

John Shea, the theologian and story-teller, reflects: “There has to be a better way of talking about faith and theology. I came across a Taoist story about a man in one boat who sees another boat coming at him through the fog. He yells at the man in the other boat to steer aside. But the boat continues to come at him. He then curses and swears and rages at the approaching boat. When the boat is close enough so he can see it clearly in the fog, he sees the boat is empty. There is no one in the boat. Immediately his anger calms, and he easily steers his boat away, avoiding collision. To avoid the trap of theological exploration becoming an ego test, I tried to become an empty boat. From years of practice, I know one thing for sure. It is easier to fight to be right than it is to be empty to be true.” [On Earth As It Is Heaven Year A, p. 304]

Shea’s words touched me, because in addition to being trained as a theologian I have a degree in argument and used to coach debate. There’s nothing I like better than a good argument and I have engaged in countless theological debates over the years, sure that I was right and that I needed to sway the other to my way of thinking. In fact, I have often likened the way we the church has dealt with theological disagreements in terms of the great fight scene from my favorite movie, “The Quiet Man.” A donnybrook breaks out in a field and goes all the way down the road into town. A fellow stumbles into it and says, “Is this a private fight or can anyone be joinin’ in?” He gets slugged, says “thanks,” returns the favor and the fight is on. Well, I’ve learned a lesson, one I hope that we can all practice when disagreements come our way: listen, reflect, seek to understand the other’s position, and put all of what is said into the broader context of our faith. Above all, look for Christ in the person and in the words spoken. Yes, it’s more work, but it more nearly reflects what Jesus did when he encountered the Pharisees.

The truth Jesus spoke came as much from the way he lived as it did from the words that came out of his mouth. I have, on more than one occasion, encountered someone whose words have been orthodox, but whose attitude and practice have made those words hypocrisy and heresy. Remember, for Christians the Word is not just a book – it was first and foremost a person. Jesus, the Word made flesh, modeled for us what it means to be a people who treat others with love and understanding. Let’s all strive to be the empty boat and be true – what that means to me is that the ego isn’t steering the boat. Rather, we’re open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. Further, it is seems to me that it is about kenosis, the emptying Paul talks about in Philippians. We empty ourselves so that we may be filled with God; we empty ourselves so that we might become transparent and the glory, the light, of God may shine through us to others.

Let me also take up some additional practices which aid us in treating each other with love and understanding. We pray for each other, as Paul and companions prayed for the people of Thessalonica. Evelyn Underhill, the scholar of worship and spirituality of the last century, placed intercessory prayer at the center of Christian life. She wrote: “We cannot understand it, but perhaps we grasp its reality better if we keep in mind two facts. The first is, that all experience proves that we are not separate, ring-fenced spirits. We penetrate each other for good and evil, for the giving or taking of vitality, all the time. . . . The second fact is that the value and reality of our souls is at least as much social as individual. We do, and must reinforce each other; make good each other’s weakness. Each saint has something to give which adds to the glow of all the saints: and only by self-loss in that one radiance can make his own life complete. Thus, intercession is the activity of a spirit which is a member of this living society this fabric of praying souls penetrated and irradiated by God-Spirit.” [The Evelyn Underhill Reader, p. 95] If we pray with and for each other then the transforming power of God’s Spirit can work among us.

We practice hospitality, welcoming one another and the stranger among us as well. We should take the time to enter into fellowship, community, with those who are our sisters and brothers in faith. The coffee hour on Sunday, the small groups and classes, the opportunities for service on boards and committees, and the monthly dinners all provide a chance to get to know and to share with one another. Even as small a thing as taking a moment to stop and greet people on the way out of worship can make a difference. We live in such a fast-paced society, so many demands are made on our time and on our minds that I am sure the last thing you need to hear from me is that you should do one more thing, but I am saying it. A word offered, a meal shared, a cup of coffee and a cookie all can extend the fellowship that we share initially around the tables of Word and Sacrament. Our lives are to be Eucharistic, as Jesus’ was, he was broken and shared so that others might live – so should we be. Some of those brief encounters in fellowship times can make all the difference for one who is hurting or needs to know that God’s care for them is real – we are the means by which that happens. Oh, and it should show in the way we leave the building, the parking lot and on the drive home, too.

We also practice hospitality by caring for each other in times of illness, difficulty, loneliness, or loss. A card, a telephone call, a visit can all make a difference when we need to know that we’re thought of, care for, and part of a loving community. To bring a meal or even ask if one is needed can affirm that we’re loved and cared for in a very tangible way. The Puritan preacher John Boys echoed James and made a valid point when he said, “Saints are sealed inwardly by faith, but outwardly by good works.” The care we show for another flows from God’s life in us and demonstrates to the world around us that we are children of God.

Treating each other with love and understanding also means that our church governance structures and the way in which we deal with one another reflect God’s love shown to us in Jesus. One of the things which marks our Way of being church is its emphasis upon democracy and equality in governance. We have no hierarchy, there is but one head of the church, and that is Jesus Christ. All of us have a say in how the church is governed and how we work toward achieving our purpose and living out our covenant. It is vital that each one of us take this seriously and, to the extent possible, enter into the process. It is no less essential that we never forget who the Head of the church is and seek to conform our wills and ideas to those the Lord Jesus has left for us, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is my hope and prayer that over the coming months our boards and committees will become more than simply the way we govern, but become opportunities for real spiritual growth for all involved. In every aspect of our lives here we should reflect the love and the care that God has first shown toward us.

“We commit ourselves to . . . treat each other with love and understanding.” It seems basic, but we live in a society where common courtesy is becoming a scarce commodity and something so basic needs not only to be remembered, but lived. What begins here in this meeting house, in the way we treat each other in the community, should then spread out. To treat each other with love and understanding, this, then, is our “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” because it began with God treating us with love and understanding and made us a caring people.