What Now? [Proper 28B]
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
Hebrews 10:11-25
What Now?
What now? That is the question the author
of Hebrews poses today. What now?
Through the work and sacrifice of
Jesus, we are invited into the very presence of God. Through the waters of baptism, our hearts are
sprinkled clean; our bodies are washed with pure water. By the mercy of God our sins are forgiven and
forgotten. By the love of God, we find
shelter in the sacred heart of Jesus.
We who were not a people are now a
people.
We who were once strangers are now
family.
We who are mere mortals are, through
our participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus, through the waters of
baptism, made members of the body of Christ and are held in the grip of God's
immense love forever.
Amazing! But what now?
That is the question. After all, we are washed entirely clean in
those life-giving waters, we are locked into the family of God forever, God has
formed with us a bond that is indissoluble.
You are loved by God and there is
nothing you can do about that. But, what
should you do about that?
You are in. So what now?
It's a big question. What response could possibly be
adequate? The Almighty God of the
Universe loves you with an extravagant love.
The Creator of the Heavens and Earth offers you unconditional
acceptance. That seems to warrant a
response, but a Thank You note, in this case, feels a little insufficient. What do you give the One who promises you
eternal life in paradise? And so we end
up where we started, with the question: what now?
And you know what? Believe it or not, the Bible actually does
have an answer to our big question today.
That doesn't always happen, so when it does, I take notice. And the answer, according to the author of
Hebrews, is, (pause): church.
Which I guess is good news for
us. But also sounds way too simple and
way too easy.
But maybe it's not. I mean, I'm constantly hearing how church
attendance in the US is on the decline.
Every time a polling organization rolls out another religious
affiliation survey the “nones” are on the
rise – and by “nones” I mean not
so much “convent”, more like
“Sunday
brunch”. And really, I don't know about you, but I
feel like I can't walk out the door of this building without running into
someone who proudly claims to be “spiritual, but not religious.”
Presiding Bishop Curry said in a
recent interview that nominal Christianity, “Christianity as simply membership
in an organization” is coming
to an end. The evidence suggests he is
correct. He goes on to say, however,
that that is a good thing. He declares, “The death
of that type of Christianity leaves an opportunity for real Christianity: loving God and loving our neighbor as Jesus did.”[1] And if that is the case, the Church is more
important in this country and in this community and in this world, for that
matter, than ever before.
Now, I'm sure there are many
reasons church attendance has declined in our nation – probably
as many reasons as there are people not attending church. I do suspect though that one of the most
popular answers we would hear, if we were inclined to ask, is the Church. The Church is why many people do not attend
church. I've heard it; perhaps you have
too. It's almost like a Mad Lib: the
Church is just a bunch of pejorative term. Popular answers include: hypocrites,
fundamentalists, homophobes, prudes. You
can find even more less-than-flattering examples with a simple Google search.
And you know, let's be honest,
there some folks who have good reasons to stay away from churches: bad
experiences, hurtful encounters. There
are congregations that would wear some of those pejoratives proudly. And while, I suspect, not many church people
would proudly own the term “hypocrite”, that one
is pretty much always an accurate description – including of the person making the
accusation, I might add. And so people
say things like, “I'd go to
church if it wasn't for the people.”
In her book, When “Spiritual but Not Religious” Is Not Enough, Lillian Daniel jokes about those
who claim the tag “spiritual
but not religious.” She says, “I have
heard it a million times.... Let me guess, you read The New York Times every Sunday, cover to cover, and you get more
out of it than the sermon. Let me guess,
you exercise and where do you find God? Nature.
And the trees, it's always the trees during a long hike, a long run, a
walk on the beach. And don't forget the
sunset. These people always want to tell
you that God is in the sunset.”[2]
But never in the people. “Spiritual, but not religious” has pretty
much become code for: not with people.
It is easier without the people.
And so folks leave the church because community is hard work. It is in the Church where we meet together,
where we are provoked to love one another, which, by the way, is not always
easy. It is here that we are challenged
to live more deeply into the baptismal promises, which, by the way, include
promises to be in church with other people, and proclaim the good news to other
people, and seek and serve Christ in other people, and strive for justice and
peace among all people. The Church is
the answer to the “what now?” and the
Church is people.
You are loved by God and there is
nothing you can do about that. But, what
should you do about that? You are
in. So what now? Now, you be the Church; you be the Church
with all of these other people who God has made your sisters and brothers
through baptism. You are a family called
together to provoke, encourage, and call each other into a deeper relationship
with God and with the hurting, desperate, wonderful people of this world. You need these people, as difficult as they
might be, to help you live into your baptismal promises. You cannot be a Christian without them. And that it why the Church is the response
God wants.
Daniel goes on to say in her book, “In the
church, as everywhere, we are stuck with one another, and being stuck with one
another, we don't get the space to come up with our own human-invented God. Because
when you are stuck with one another, the last thing you would do is invent a
God based on humanity. In church, in
community, humanity is just way too close to look good.
“It is as close as the guy singing
out of tune right next to you in your pew..., as close as the baby screaming,
and as close as the mother who doesn't seem to realize it is driving everyone
crazy. It's as close as that same mother
who crawled out an inch from the heavy shell of postpartum depression to get
herself here today and wonders if there is a place for her. It's as close as the woman sitting next to
her, who grieves that she will never give birth to a child and eyes that baby
with envy.
“It's as close as the preacher who
didn't prepare enough and as close as the listener who is so thirsty for a
word, she leans forward for absolutely anything. It's as close as that [young adult who came]
to church alone, seeking something more than...newspapers and coffee, but
instead finds a complicated worship service where everyone seems to know when
to stand and when to [kneel] and when to sing except for him, but even so gets
caught up in the beauty of something bigger than his own invention.”[3]
Yeah, Church isn't simple and it
isn't easy. But we meet God more
profoundly here than anywhere else. That
is how God designed this thing. And that
should not surprise us. God become a
person and started the Church by calling together a community of people – flawed
hypocrites who fell in love with Jesus enough to love the people Jesus
loved.
What now? This is “what now”. We be the Church. We take the love that God
has showed us and we share it with a world of people who desperately need to
know that love. We take the hope that we have found in Jesus and we proclaim it
to a world that is suffocating under the oppressive weight of violence and
terror. We take our light, the light of Christ that dwells in our hearts, and
we shine it into the darkness, trusting that the darkness will not overcome it.
This is the “what now”. We be the Church. And we do it together.
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