The
Community of Love
Dialogue Sermon with Rev. Patricia Farris and Rev. Barbara Day Miller
October 30, 2005
Scripture:
Psalm 107 and Matthew 23:1-12
On
this special Celebration Sunday, which as you know is part of the
work of our year-long worship renewal grant, we are going to engage
in another dialogue sermon.
Today,
I’ll be doing the talking and then our wonderful worship leader,
Barbara, will be saying a few words and then leading us in song. So,
keep The Faith We Sing on your lap and let’s venture together
into something new for all of us—a participatory sermon in word
and song on the theme “The Community of Love.”
The
lectionary readings for the day—which we share with the church
around the world--give us our Scripture readings, Barbara chose the
music. We will lead us in a circle—starting with the joy of
our fellowship together in God’s love, through the pain and
sorrow of times when our fellowship is broken, to the joy of community
restored and back all the way ‘round to a quiet affirmation
of the community of love. This is the journey of God’s people
in every place, in every age. It is a journey that begins at the beginning,
in the beautiful unity in which God created us and which God intends
for all his children. It begins at the beginning and ends at the end—the
Garden of Eden and the great banquet feast Jesus prepares for us when
all the saints are gathered home.
This
past week we marked the passing of Rosa Parks into the life eternal.
Today and tomorrow, her body lies in state the capitol rotunda in
Washington, the first woman to be so honored. Mother of the Civil
Rights movement, Rosa Parks witnessed in her own life to the fullness
of the community of love. There would be, she proclaimed by her action
in refusing to move to the back of the bus, no special privilege based
on race or status, but one community of equality and respect.
And
her courage inspired the young Martin Luther King, Jr., to preach
about what he called “the beloved community” in which
people of all races, all faiths, all nationalities, all social status
would learn to live together in love and mutual respect. The beloved
community. God’s community of love.
“Miren
Qué Bueno!”
(continued...)
"The
Community of Love" by Rev. Farris and Rev. Day Miller, October
30, 2005
If we could maintain this wonderful community of love in all times and
in all places we’d be—well, I suppose we’d be in heaven!
But sadly, we humans are not always able to maintain what the Apostle
Paul calls “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”
As we know all too well, from our sometimes painful experiences in our
own families, with our neighbors, in our denominations—we sometimes
separate ourselves from one another. The community of love tears apart
and we are divided from one another, and therefore, from our God.
The
Psalmist describes in very dramatic poetic language, God’s people
“wandering in desert wastes, finding no inhabited town, hungry
and thirsty, their souls fainting within them,” scattered—quite
literally or in our most inmost hearts-- to the east and the west and
the north and south.
I
know from speaking with so many of you about your families that many
families, yours and mine, contain within them sad and painful stories
of separation and alienation. Of brothers who decades ago angered one
another and vowed never again to speak. Or of a father who could never
connect emotionally with his wife or his children. Or of a marriage
dissolving in acrimony and bitterness. Or of a child whose life choices
take them far from a parent’s dream for them.
Our
own stories of how the community of love can be broken are not so different
from the stories of how nations come to be divided, of how ethnic groups
pledge undying hostility and revenge. Like God’s people in every
time and place, we know the brokenness of community and we deeply yearn
for reconciliation. God is with us, in our tears, our prayers and our
longing. God is with us, ever working to make us whole.
“O-So-So”
The
Prince of Peace, the God of love, has the power and the will to restore
the community of love. The Epistle lesson assigned for this day from
First Thessalonians, has Paul using some very tender language to describe
his work among that congregation. A small church, one of the very earliest
Christian communities, the church in Thessalonica was challenged on
every side to find its identity and ground its faith in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. It was a small outpost, a fledging group struggling to
survive amidst the competing powers of the Roman Empire, Jewish tradition
and Greek culture. Paul and Timothy worked patiently with them, to encourage
them and strengthen them and deepen their faith. “Like a nurse
tenderly caring for her own children, like a father with his children”
preparing them to live a life worthy of God and form a community of
love in the name of Christ Jesus.
As
we know from other stories in the book of Acts, these earliest Christian
communities grew because outsiders who observed them saw the tremendous
love they had, not only for one another, but for the poor and all those
in need. People saw how much they loved one another and how there was
not a needy person among them. They created an amazing, inclusive, generous
community of love and this was their witness to the world.
(continued...)
"The
Community of Love" by Rev. Farris and Rev. Day Miller, October
30, 2005
“Make
Us One”
This
morning at both services, there will be a sung benediction following
the spoken benediction. “Ubi Caritas” or “Live in
Charity” comes from the Taizé community in France.
The
Taizé community was founded in 1940 by Brother Roger, a Swiss
protestant theologian. His ecumenical group of monks includes Lutherans,
Anglicans, Evangelicals, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, and
is committed to forwarding dialogue and understanding within the Christian
family. Today, the more than 100 brothers of Taizé come from
25 nations.
Taizé
is situated in a part of the world historically torn by violence.
At the intersection of France and Germany, it has known war and occupation
throughout its history. During WWII, it was a haven for many refugees,
including Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. It is in that very place where
the community of love has so often been torn, Brother Roger envisioned
a community of reconciliation and hospitality, a living witness to
inclusive love of Christ.
The
simple style of Taizé worship, using candles and sung chant,
has been adopted by worshippers around the globe. We have had Taizé
services at FUMC and have sung Taizé pieces from our hymnal
during Sunday worship. Tens of thousands of worshippers make their
way to Taizé each year, most of them youth and young adults.
But
very sadly, last month, Brother Roger, now 90, was stabbed and killed
by a worshipper as he was leading a worship service. His assailant
was detained and is receiving psychiatric care.
The
violent death of this man of peace has awakened us all to examine
anew the violence in our world, how we can become numb to it over
time and gradually come to see it as inevitable. But Brother Roger’s
life witnessed to God’s alternative realm, a kingdom in which
violence is replaced by active bridge-building and peace-making, where
swords are hammered into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
His whole life witnessed to the community of love and for this, he
will long be remembered and revered.
A
statement from the World Council of Churches at the time of his death
read: “The witness he bore throughout his life to the gospel
and to ecumenical dialogue has been enormously influential over the
past century. The vision of peace and reconciliation…was a source
of inspiration and spiritual renewal for generations of young people…searching
for a spirituality which has meaning in the upheavals of today’s
world…For many of us, Brother Roger personified the hope that
Christian faith can bring to the world and to each and every one of
its inhabitants.”
(continued...)
"The
Community of Love" by Rev. Farris and Rev. Day Miller, October
30, 2005
Thanks be to God for Rosa Parks, for Brother Roger, for all who witness
to the community of love. For this love is very precious. It is a
gift of God to an often aching and dangerous world. It is God’s
gift to our hearts, torn at times by sorrow. The community of love
is the promise of the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the source
of our hope and our joy.
“Ubi
Caritas”
Amen.
©Patricia
Farris , 2005. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved. |
