Almighty God, may you guide us to seek the Truth:
come whence it may, cost what it will, lead where it might. Amen.
Corinth
was a community near and dear to Paul. In another passage from 2 Corinthians,
he writes “For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with
many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I
have for you.” So it is important to keep in mind that we are discussing a very
personal correspondence. Paul had spent considerable time in Corinth, forming
that community, and he has heard through other letters, which are lost to
history, that things aren’t quite going the way he had hoped. And so our
passage today begins with “we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in
vain.”
Though
Paul’s audience is distant in time, geography, and culture from us, we still
share common ground with them. Paul was writing, not to unbelievers trying to
convince them to follow Jesus, but rather he writing to those who are already
in Christ, and as he does so, he urges them to not let the grace of God become
empty in their lives. It was good advice then, and it is good advice today.
In
other words, Paul is saying “Don’t you know who this Jesus is? And I know that
you must, because I taught you about him. Why then, is this all in vain?” The
numbering of chapters and verses was a later addition to the text- it’s not as
if Paul himself decided to start a new section where our reading began today.
And there are many who claim that this section of the letter can only be read
in the context of chapter 5. There, Paul writes, “So if anyone is in Christ,
there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has
become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… So we are ambassadors for
Christ.”
But
the Corinthians, from what he’s been hearing, don’t look like they are a new
creation. They seem to be falling into old patterns of selfishness and conflict.
They don’t seem to be transformed. There is a quote that is attributed to
Gandhi that Paul might appreciate- “I like your Christ, but I do not like your
Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Feed the hungry, heal
the sick, visit those in prison, clothe the naked, love God, and love your
neighbor. Jesus was not vague on what it meant to be a disciple, and yet,
poverty plagues our community, racism is our constant companion, and you don’t
have to walk more than a block to see that our neighbors are homeless.
And
so Paul talks about reconciliation, using the metaphor of an ambassador. Paul
doesn’t say that we are to be teachers or preachers, but ambassadors. And think
about what ambassadors do: they are appointed by their ruler to live in a
foreign land, not as a conqueror or spy, but as a representative. Paul is
frustrated because it doesn’t seem like Jesus is being represented very well in
Corinth. What if people only knew about Jesus by the way that we represent him?
And in a way, isn’t that how it is? I shudder to think that, for most
Americans, Joel Osteen’s “prosperity gospel” or Franklin Graham’s narrow
judgments might be what people think of the faith that means so much to me.
What must the people of Rowan County think of Jesus? That he would have us
ignore Rowan County’s 19% poverty rate and instead spend time debating what
sort of opening prayer we use at a non-religious meeting? How about the
Episcopal Church? Ask your co-workers and neighbors what they know about the
Episcopal Church. Or St. Luke’s for that matter. People will only know who
Jesus is if we are witnesses to the depths of his power, love, and grace. So
our task is to spend more time getting to know Jesus, who we represent, and
then become his ambassador to the world.
So
what are you waiting for, asks Paul. “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now
is the day of salvation!” One of the greatest heresies in modern Christianity
is that which had made salvation a status instead of a relationship. Salvation
is not a one-time transaction- I say certain words and get water poured on my
head and I get an admission ticket to eternal life. No, salvation is about
reconciliation, about being at peace. Salvation is a relationship. So get to
it, Paul exhorts.
So
who is this Jesus? He is the one waiting to be encountered right now. We may
have known him in the past, and for that we give thanks. The past is important,
it is the place where we have come from. But how many of us are stuck there?
How many of us are captive to sins of yesterday? How many of us are still
wounded from previous pains? And the future is vital to us as well. Our hopes
and dreams reside there, and the future is the place where we pray that God’s
kingdom might come more fully on earth as it is in heaven. But the future is
inaccessible to us, and so we often are anxious about it. The present though is
the only time in which we are actually alive. Don’t let the grace of God be in
vain- stuck in the past or out of reach in the future, for it is now the day of
salvation.
“Who
then is this?” How is Jesus represented in your life? What do you think about
when you think of Jesus? The cross? The empty tomb? A shepherd leading you?
Someone that you maybe want to know more about? It’s the question behind the
ministry of reconciliation. The root of that word, reconciliation, means to
“bring back together.” As an ambassador, what might you bring together?
If you see Jesus as a
healer, then you work to help those who are hurting in mind, body or soul. If
Jesus brings justice, then you might work to reform our legal system. If Jesus
is a teacher, you might become a tutor. Our economic system, our political
system, and our Church are all in need of reconciliation. Everywhere you look, in
your family, at work, in our community, there are people that can be brought
together as a part of God’s present and ongoing salvation. Be a part of the
reconciliation that you hope for. Yes, brokenness is something that we know,
and it is something that the Corinthians knew as well. But we proclaim that
through Christ, something new is happening, that unity can be restored. And so
Paul’s admonition to “open wide your hearts” is just as applicable to us as it
was to the Corinthians.
This sermon was written
before the tragedy at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston this past Wednesday, but
being an ambassador for Christ strikes me as a very appropriate response to the
evil, hatred, and violence that we witnessed. In fact, the Charleston community
has been responding as ambassadors of Christ’s peace and love. It was a
horrendous tragedy that deeply affected many of us. “How long, O Lord, how long?”
Healing is something that we all need right now. We need to be comforted,
knowing that God is with us, that death is not final, that darkness will not
overshadow the Light. And so I invite you to join the faithful from Rowan
County tonight at 8pm at the brick Presbyterian bell tower for a prayer vigil.
I invite you to join us for our Wednesday Healing Eucharist this coming week,
which will be dedicated to prayers for healing and peace in memory of those who
were killed. And this Eucharist which we are about to celebrate will be prayed
especially with the Martyrs of Charleston in mind: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Depayne
Middleton Doctor, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, and Myra
Thompson. As ambassadors of Christ, we need to be strengthened and given hope
by focusing on Jesus, who we represent.
And we cannot let this
grace of God be in vain. Prayer is a wonderful and powerful thing. One
theologian said that “prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the
disorder of the world.” Prayer unites us to God and to each other. But prayer
without action is done in vain. Commemoration without engagement is an
abomination. In the wake of such an event, we need to take very seriously our
ambassadorship. If we are going to be serious about representing Jesus Christ,
then we need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Charleston was not an
isolated event. How many recent examples do we have of racism that have made
the national news? Far too many- Sanford, Ferguson, Long Island, Baltimore,
McKinney, Charleston. We have to face, head on, the issues of systemic racism
in our nation. Racism is America’s Original Sin, and it’s going to take a lot
of work to atone for that sin. But as Christ’s ambassadors, it is possible. I’m
not going to pretend to have the solutions, but I know it’s going to take some
dialogue, so let’s commit ourselves to actively listening to all sides of this
situation, and take steps to move towards our God-given ministry of
reconciliation.
The murders at Emanuel
are also yet another example of mass shootings in our nation. I don’t
understand how after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Fort Hood, Newtown,
Chapel Hill, and now Charleston that we can’t have a serious conversation about
gun ownership and the Second Amendment. Again, I don’t claim to have all the
answers, but I know that if we’re serious about our prayers then we have to be
serious about what it means to be ambassadors of the Prince of Peace. Because
if all we do is pray, and we don’t address racism, the abysmal state our mental
health system, and gun violence then we’ve taken the grace of God in vain. I
know that these topics are sensitive and emotionally charged, but we are the
very representatives of Jesus, so we don’t have the luxury of turning our backs
to tough issues.
Addressing these issues
will be complicated, but let us struggle with the topics, not with each other.
This isn’t about conservatives versus liberals, or the NRA versus the Brady
Campaign, or Blacks versus Whites- and to buy into those false narratives is to
be captured by sin. But, brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors,
representatives, of Jesus. We can disagree about how to best address racism or
gun violence, but we have to actually address those issues instead of
pretending that they don’t exist. I pray to God that Charleston is the straw
that breaks the camel’s back- that something actually changes. As an ambassador
of Christ, I am committed to making sure that Jesus is represented in the
conversations that will be happening in the following weeks. Ambassadors have
to be engaged, and so may God grant us the strength, patience, and grace to be
engaged in these issues. First though, we pray and mourn, then though, comes
the work of being Christ’s ambassadors today- because today is the day of
salvation.
There is a warning that
goes along with this work. As Paul notes, if we do this work, we may very well
be treated as imposters, as dying, as sorrowful, as poor, and has having
nothing. As we heard in our first reading this morning, we may face giants, and
we may face storms. The work of an ambassador is not always easy work, but in
opening wide our hearts, the power of the Gospel will be found. Be ready for
the new creation that is emerging through you. Don’t let this love and grace of
God be in vain. Ours is the task of participating in the ongoing salvation of
God, of being an ambassador to the world, representing the Good News. So when
the question “who is this Jesus?” is asked, be ready to be a part of the
answer.
