Looking Back...in Love

This marks the conclusion of our summer long "tour" through Romans. Even though our congregation won't be hearing the lectionary reading from Romans this Sunday--we'll be starting four Sundays of creation-themed worship, which you can learn more about at the Season of Creation website--Paul's reading for Sunday (13:8-14) does leave us with words that help give perspective on the journey we've taken through this book. Paul writes, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." (13:10) Love is something we often think of as a feeling or action we do for someone else. But as we look back on all the readings we've heard from Romans this summer, love--God's love, given to us in Jesus--changes how we look back at our past. It is so easy to look back at our past in anger, resentment and with regret. But the love to which Paul testifies in Romans changes how we see our past. We see that same love being manifest through relationships, experiences and graces that the love of God has woven into and through our past. As we look back at this summer we've spent in Romans, I can see that love in so many ways: love setting us free from sin to rely on God to love all who are different from us (6:23); love giving us words of life to speak to those who feel condemned (8:5); love breaking us open to rely on God to care for even those who do not know Christ (9:1-5). For all these gifts and more, how can we look back...in anger? No, Paul urges: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (13:14), which can't help but change our hearts to look back and see God's love.

What in your past is put in a different light because of the love of God? What do you know about the book of Romans now that you didn't before this summer "tour"?

Disarmed

Sunday's Romans reading (12:9-21) has more than 30 imperatives all related to love, but we do well to remember the source of that love: "God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us." (5:8) There are times when this love of Jesus can be offensive to us. We don't believe we could possibly deserve such love. We don't feel we need it. We sometimes don't want it. But the love of Christ always has a way of coming to us, and by its steadfast, forgiving, courageous, risk-taking power, he disarms our defenses, and opens up a place of trust within us. What would it be like to risk that same offensive love to an enemy or stranger? Paul proclaims that as Christ also loved our enemies, our love is not only expressed to those we like, but also to these who themselves we may easily get defensive around. "Contribute to the needs of the saints: extend hospitality to strangers... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (8:13, 21) As true love loves without expecting anything in return, so love for an enemy or stranger does not expect love back, but loves hoping to disarm the power of hostility.

Do you ever struggle with Christ's love being offensive to you? What enemy or stranger could you to show disarming love to today?

Not Overlooked

How easy it is for us to overlook someone whom, for whatever reason, we discount as useless. No matter how compassionate we may be, we cannot deny our own propensity to not "see" those on the margins in the church, the community and the world. One reason for this oversight is the hierarchical nature of American society that trains us to compete rather than partner with others. Built on the belief that competition is good, we often look to others by only how "useful" or not they are to our advantage. In Sunday's epistle reading, Paul offers a unique vision of the Christian community as an antidote such hierarchy (Romans 12:1-8). In this vision, everyone has something to contribute, for "we are members of one another."(12:5) Such an interdependent body that lifts up the gifts of all can build up trust in God as the foundation of such a living community. I have heard of a church where an adolescent who had cerebral palsy saw his gift as being a greeter when people arrived at the church. Our instinct is to perhaps make a "comfortable place" for someone like him who does not appear to have any gifts to share. But Christian community is born, Paul proclaims, when the thriving of the whole depends upon the thriving of everyone's tapestry of gifts.

What keeps you from encouraging the gifts, talents and resources of others? What gifts to you share that remind you that we are "members of one another"?

That's Not Fair!

Much of our daily lives are lived as transactions. We expect to get something when we give something, whether it is a particular experience or product from a purchase, compensation from our work, a return based on our investments, or giving of a service in order to be recognized. These are only fair expectations, right? I give, therefore I ought to get. Well for the apostle Paul, he can't make sense of how it is that God does not work the same way. It would appear the Jews in Rome who have rejected Christ--who have given no credence to the new life promised in Jesus--would not receive God's blessing. But Paul proclaims that God proclaims otherwise: "...for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (11:29) God's gracious love revealed on the cross of Christ is freely given. It is a reverse transaction. But with Paul we cry out, "But that's not fair!" However it turns out that both the free gift and the call to be God's beloved can never be revoked. God's transaction with us is one way, from God to us. Perhaps one way we can embody God's freely given blessing is to bless others the way God blesses us: freely.

When was the last time you received a freely given blessing? How did it free you to bless others without any expectations of receiving anything in return?

Talking the Walk

For many of us, it is much easier to "walk the talk" than to "talk the walk." We prefer to live by our actions, sharing our faith by doing rather than speaking. Such people of faith often quote Francis of Assisi: "Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary use words." But Paul's question rings in the silence of our hearts: "But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15) So many barriers can keep us from sharing our faith. We wonder, how will others perceive me if I "come out" as a Christian? What can I say, when my words seem so imperfect? Paul gives his own clear testimony we can begin from: "Jesus is Lord." (10:9) From there we can share our questions, struggles, and ways God has made our wounds whole. We can rest assured that our testimony does not save us, for that has already been done in Christ. We can uphold the purpose to which Christ calls us, not to keep him hidden, but to follow him and share him with the world in word and in deed.

Which do you find harder, "walking the talk" or "talking the walk"? What barriers keep you from sharing Christ in the world?

Broken Open

Sunday's reading (Romans 9:1-5) begins three Sundays in a row where Paul wrestles with his past. He is grieved, wounded and disheartened: his Jewish ancestors have not come to faith in Jesus Christ. Many of us have sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends, or neighbors for whom we also grieve, because they have chosen not to follow Christ. Perhaps it is sadness over someone who has drifted or rejected Jesus--a hurt that still lies deep within us. For we who ultimately do not have a control over the choices that others make, this is one of the hardest realities of life to accept. We are not fully in control of leading others to Christ. But for Paul and for us, this grief does not lead us to despair, because a broken heart leaves plenty of room for God's word to fall into it. "There is a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in," Leonard Cohen sings. Our desire to share Christ breaks us open anew, to let God "who is over all [and] blessed forever" (8:5b) draw us more deeply into love for those we entrust to God's care.

For whom do you mourn that Jesus' power and love is not a part of their lives (family, friends, neighbors)? How does this break us open anew to see God's care and love at work for them in ways that are beyond our control?

Separated No Longer

Separation is a fact of life. At different points in our lives there are moments where we have to leave something behind. We cannot become an adult until we leave our childhood behind. We cannot allow our children to become themselves until we let them step out on their own, and trust their feet to carry them. We cannot know what it means to be human without acknowledging loss and grief--the state of being separated from another. But despite the cold hard fact of separation, Paul makes one of the most daring, inspiring and uplifting promises in all of Scripture: separation does not get the last word! Jesus' love gets the last word. "For [nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) We do not belong to the forces and powers that inevitably will try to separate us. We belong to Christ! In Christ, we are united to all whom we are separated from, now and forever.

Who do you feel separated from right now? How does Paul's proclamation bring you closer to that person through the promise of Jesus' power to unite us?

Inheritance

In the beginning of Sunday's reading from Romans (8:12-25), it is as if Paul is writing out God's will and testament to us. See all the things that God gives us through the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection: the Spirit which gives us life even as we struggle living with weakness and infirmity; adoption by God as God's children; someone to whom we can always turn and, no matter what, call "Daddy"; heirs of the same new life that God gave to Christ. Wow! God does not leave us orphaned. God does not leave behind an old car, china or meager savings account. God gives us an inheritance that we belong to God always, and that our worth and value is always secure in God's hands.

What do you want to be your will and testament to your loved ones? How does this encourage you to share God's promise of adoption with someone for whom it could make a real difference in their life?

Words of Life

It can be so easy to condemn someone. It can happen so simply and subtly, with just a few words, a dismissive look, an avoidance of being in someone's presence. However God has a way of drawing us together in mutual relationship. It's called the power of the Spirit. Because of Christ we never lose access to the Spirit's power to work through our mortal selves. As much as we may battle within about what we think of others, God continues to renew us with the Spirit calling us to see and love others as God does. Paul paints a portrait of this internal conflict which he describes as between the "flesh" and the "Spirit" in Romans 8: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." (8:5) In a recent interview, singer Bobby McFerrin talks about the power words can have to harm others or give life to them: "You know that the right thing to do is to not say what's on your mind, even though it might be true and even though it might be necessary, but it's not kind. But you want to say it anyway, you're battling with the flesh and the spirit. The flesh says, just get it off your chest. And the spirit says, no wait, you know. Think, you know. Pause. Find the right word or the right time. Maybe now is not the time to do it. It's a constant war."

What words of life is the Spirit inviting you to speak today? What are the signs today that the Spirit enlivens your own "fleshly" life, rather than condemn it?

Faultless?

In this Sunday's reading from Romans (7:15-25a), it sounds as if Paul were at an AA meeting: "Hi, my name is Paul, and I'm a sinner." He says, "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." Admitting our faults does not come easy. In an age where "image is everything", we want nothing more than to pose a posture of "everything is fine" to others. This facade of faultlessness can even creep into the church, where programs, committees, and people can be held to impossible standards. The church could use some of Paul's AA-like humility, and be a place where we can be real, rather than pretending. "I can't hold it together anymore." "My life is out of control." or "I need help." These simple but difficult admissions that none of us is faultless become the crack that lets God's mercy work its way inside. This is what AA's sixth step is about: allowing God to remove our defects of character. Thanks be to God that when we admit our faults, God comes all the more closer to us, and we rejoice with Paul that Jesus "rescues us from this body of death"!

What faults are you struggling to let show? How does naming them bring God closer to you and others?

Identity and Difference

This Sunday, June 26 the lectionary catches us six chapters into Romans (6:12-23). Since Easter was so late this year, we've missed several weeks of earlier passages that help put this in context. To catch us up, here is one of the key themes we'll be talking about that's already been introduced: the relationship between our culture and our faith. Divisions had arisen in the Roman Christian church because after Claudius had expelled Jews (including Jewish Christians) in 49 C.E., Jewish Christians returned to find their church was now run by Gentiles whose numbers had increased. Tensions were inevitable. How could they now live together as God's people, coming from two very different cultures? How could they remain different and yet share a common identity? In this Sunday's reading, Paul takes the approach of seeing each of us, Gentiles and Jews, as slaves, and that we can either become slaves to sin or to God's righteousness (6:23). The good news is, "we have been set free from sin" and can live in the realm of right-relationship with God that Jesus won for us! Our identity in living out of that realm challenges us to fully rely upon God's merciful love.

This week's question is: what barriers, differences and challenges block you from living in your God-given identity? What helps you to live in the realm of God's grace rather than sin? (Share your comments and questions below!)

Peace,
Pastor Jon