Proper 18 (A) + What we owe to each other + 9.6.20

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Melissa Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Exodus 12:1–14, Ps. 149, Romans 13:8–14, St. Matthew 18:15–20)

A preacher I know shared this joke once and I’m passing it on to you all.  There was this fellow who got stranded on a desert island.  He lived there for many years and built a little one-man dwelling and did quite well for himself, living off of the land and the sea.  Finally a boat stumbled upon this little island and the passenger came ashore and found the man.  The islander man proudly showed the visitor around and shared the places that he had built.  The fellow from the boat noticed that there were three buildings, so he asked about them.  The islander guy said, the one in the middle’s my house, and the one on the left is my old church, and the one on the right is my new church, which I built after I got sick of my old church! J

This is even funnier to me in light of our current reality, when we sometimes feel as if we are on our desert islands. How can we get together with each other when we can’t agree with ourselves?

Our country is experiencing this on a grand level at this moment as we approach the election time. We find ourselves hearing and using coded language. We finally made it out into the nearby marina to kayak this week and I saw a “Trump” banner next to a “Blue Lives Matter” flag and I realized that somehow supporting the police is turning monolithic. I support the police but want to engage in real dialog how we can reform policing to create a better country, especially around the racial disparities in our nation’s policing and other practices. But it feels like some powers that be in our nation want to polarize us. To make us all out to be extremists of one side or the other of the political debate. But who does that benefit? It is all about getting votes. We Christians have to be active members of society. But our platform is kingdom-building, and creating right relationship with everyone, not winning on a particular agenda item.
Which is why Jesus’ instructions today seem so apropos. Jesus implores us to reach out when we feel that an offense has occurred that might affect the fabric of the relationship and the community, not just a difference in opinion, but something that might get in the way of your Christian love for another member of the community. Jesus suggests that we try to mend the breach one-on-one, and then if that is not possible, that we try to mend the breach with just a couple of community members, and if that doesn’t work, and only then, bring it before the whole community, and if that doesn’t work, then allow that person to go their own way away from the community, if they are decided upon it.

Commentator Charles Hambrick-Stowe points out that Jesus’ careful instructions say to “treat someone as a tax collector and a gentile” and that Jesus is pretty clear about always including tax collectors and gentiles.[1]  As Christians, we cannot simply write people off.  This all being said, a part of this puzzle is the fact that you can only do your part of the reconciliation, and you cannot condone abusive behavior.  You can reach out to the party who has offended you, but you cannot change their way of being.  If they choose to be at odds with you and/or with the church, then you must bless them on their way.  If they strive to be in relationship, even though you may disagree at times, you must strive along with them to the extent that you can.

If you live online at all, this advice may seem entirely at odds with the “cancel culture” that we see on social media. In that culture, if you disagree with someone, you simply block or unfriend them, and problem goes poof. Or at least it seems that way. I think this approach is in part what we as Christians are called to respond to at the moment. Not just campaign at each other about our beliefs but also genuinely listen to each other. Building relationships takes a lot of work, and we cannot do it easily with every person we meet online or in person, but to the extent we can stay safely engaged with our close family and friend relationships (in person or online), we may be a part of building the kingdom here and now, and a part of counteracting the division in our nation.

But we should not do this alone. I note that while we are called to speak individually, if someone does not engage us well individually, we should try to engage with another. And that usually means in person as we are able, or carefully via other methods. Because otherwise we can simply get locked into further argumentation and division without loving and open dialog. Part of what it means to walk in the light as we hear about in Romans, is to react not in anger but out of love when someone has sinned against you. And you can only do that if you take good care of yourself so you can genuinely interact out of love. For me, part of this self-care is spending deep time in prayer. During the 52 days from Sept 1 to October 22, the Daughters of the King, an organization of which our church has a chapter, has called for a Nehemiah Prayer Vigil. The four points of the vigil are to:

1. Repent - of injustice, inequality, hatred, violence and racism

 2. Restore - peace, civility, compassion; spiritual, physical and mental health.

 3. Revive - sense of being one people - "One nation under God."

 4. Recommit - daily to our motto, asking the Lord, "What will you have me do?" and asking the Lord to give you strength and courage to follow [God’s] direction.[2]

The concept is that Nehemiah recruited families to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and the process took 52 days. So too, we call people to prayer for 52 days of prayer striving to rebuild as a nation and address the social sin of racism. I invite you, if you feel so led, to join the Daughters of the King in this time of concentrated prayer for our country and to find a way of recommitting to your faith journey as you seek how to move forward. If you are interested, you can go to doknational.org and find the Nehemiah Prayer Vigil under events.

Let us awaken as Christians to this moment in our country and pray, with the Daughters:

“I acknowledge that our nation is at a crossroad. It is upon me to proclaim that it is the road to the cross - the only road to salvation. But equally yoked spiritually we travel the narrow Way together.”[3] Amen.

 


[1] Charles Hambrick-Stowe, “Theological Perspective: Matthew 18:15-20,” FOTW Year A, Vol. 4.

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