Sunday, September 10, 2023

Proper 18

Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20

The Rev. Cn. Joann Saylors

I had some time off recently, and in my efforts to be completely unproductive, I found myself becoming hooked on the show Alone. I’m late to the party; it started back in 2015, so two seasons in, there are still lots of episodes waiting for me. If you haven’t seen it, the premise is that 10 people are dropped off individually in some wilderness with minimal supplies, and they stay as long as they can. Months of foraging and shelter building and avoiding predators. The last one to bail out wins $500,000, so there is incentive to continue through starvation, fatigue, bad weather, injury, and disappointment, rather than tapping out and going back to civilization. Early on the greatest challenges are physical. But as the weeks go by, the difficulty is more emotional. The contestants begin to reexamine their pasts, their mistakes, their relationships. They give thanks for the people who encouraged them. Participants end their time for a variety of reasons, but very often it is because they miss those other people. They get lonely. It’s really hard to be all by yourself for weeks on end.

Human beings are made for relationship. And Christians are meant to be in relationship in particular ways. We are supposed to be morning people. Sorry, night owls, I’m not just saying that because I am one; it’s right there in the letter to the Romans. In a commentary on the passage, Dr. Susan Eastman of Duke Divinity School says,

“Paul tells us that as Christians we are all 'morning people.' The time is just before dawn, the sky is brightening, the alarm is ringing, day is at hand. It is time to rouse our minds from slumber, to be alert to what God is doing in the world, and to live in accordance with God's coming salvation.”

That is such good news. For all of us. Paul is naming a situation that applies today as well. It is still dark, still night. In these times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and fires, nearby and around the world, we have all faced moments of darkness. And for many those moments have lasted a very long time.

But the sun is rising; there is light dawning in the hope of salvation, which is unfolding around us all the time. I’m not just talking about the end times, when that work of salvation is completed, but now, when we are participating in it. The world is brightening through the relationships we build.

When we connect with one another, a light shines through the darkness. When we live together in ways that reflect the reign of God, the sun is peeking over the horizon. When we reach out, as transformed people, to repair the cracks in a broken world, the clear light of day pushes back the night.

There are times when the darkness feels like it’s winning, in the sadness and fear of those who feel they have been left behind in society. Or the disappointment and worry of those who see many intractable problems and few resources to solve them. Or the despair of someone who has lost a loved one far too soon. Just living in a world with so much anger and fear is draining. These are dark times, times which overwhelm us if we let them.

There are many who believe God wills terrible events, whether to teach us or to punish us. But that is not how we Anglicans believe God works, not the God of light. The Son of God took on human flesh and suffered as a human. And the risen Lord walks with us in our own suffering. We never have to be alone. Jesus tells us in our Gospel passage today, where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is with us. We become his hands and feet in the world and, when we are willing, his voice. As Jesus followers, it is our job to be with other people. Humans were not meant to be alone.Our work is not to dwell by ourselves in the darkness, but to be with others in the light. To point to where the sun is beginning to rise. To help others see God at work in so many ways, large and small, all around us. To name what is of God, and what is not.

As Church, our work is to foster reconciling, Christian communities that speak to the hopes and hurts of people in our community, to get to know our neighbors, and to share and discover Jesus Christ in the process. Helping, for us, begins with a focus on people and relationships more than simply on giving them stuff. Stuff matters – don’t get me wrong – but donating money or food or diapers isn’t the same as listening to and praying with people. Relationships are what strengthen the community and they can continue to grow even after immediate needs are met.

Of course, connecting with other people is messy work. It’s a lot harder to be people of relationship than people of transactions. We can take on the work of being light to the world with the best of intentions, but we are not perfect. The Kingdom has not come to its fullness. There will always be times in our lives together when tempers are frayed, when we’re too tired or hangry to be compassionate, when stress causes us to behave badly, when we sin against each other. Reconciliation to one another and to God takes real effort.

I know we’re called to be messengers of peace and love, but quite honestly some days I’d rather work alone to check items off my to-do list than deal with one more person. But that’s not how transformation happens. A life based only on productivity doesn’t change people the way a life based on listening, learning, and loving does. Transformation requires intentional engagement with people who are different, people we don’t understand, people we might not like very much. It’s easy to dismiss someone’s way of thinking, or even their way of life, when we don’t understand it and don’t choose to learn. Easier to draw a line that separates us from them than to make a circle that includes both us and them.

That was as true in first century Palestine as it is today. This morning we hear both Paul and Jesus describe how to live together in all of the relationships of our lives. They are both interested in building communities that bring healing to our world. Paul teaches us that love is the foundation for a faithful community, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. He reminds us that if we keep turning back to love, keep asking ourselves if we are loving others the way we want to be loved, we bear the light of Christ into the world. If we are truly loving as God loves, there’s no room for drunkenness or licentiousness, but more importantly, there’s also no room for quarreling and jealousy, no place for self-centeredness or rejection. Paul is challenging the early churches us to love God’s way, and the reality of scripture is that he’s challenging us as well.

Now, I don’t know about you, but while I’ve given up the reveling and debauchery of my youth, I have not managed to completely strip jealousy, arrogance, rudeness, selfishness and irritation from my life. It is not unknown for me to get crossways with people I love dearly or to unfairly judge others. We are human and we are sometimes cruel to each other. And so Jesus teaches us another important component of love: forgiveness. Since we are all broken creatures, healing the world can’t happen without forgiveness. We have to stay in conversation with each other. We have to give each other grace. We have to commit to listening more than speaking, to praying, and to practicing reconciliation. Listening, learning, and loving as a way of life.

Sometimes the deepest darkness is in our relationships with other people, not the circumstances that befall us. As a healthy church we can live and model a different way. Our work is to serve our neighbors – to address their needs as we can. Sometimes it is simply being with people, Doing the work of bringing hope instead of judgment and love instead of fear. Healing out of our own brokenness. That’s a big job, and way more than any one of us could do. But if we work together faithfully, we can do it, with God’s help. We don’t have to be alone.

AMEN.