St Anne’s Brown Edge 10th September 2017
Shortly after my sixth birthday my father
was killed in a road traffic accident. That left my mother to look after three
young boys. My mother also suffered from a severe heart condition and so spent long
periods in hospitals. Therefore my two older brothers and I would often spend
some time during the summer at a Children’s Home. One of the Children’s Homes
was in Lytham St Anne’s. One day when we were all playing another boy bit me. I
was taken into a kitchen type area and the wound was dressed and I was
consoled. Then the boy who had bit me was brought in and made to stand in front
of me and his shirt sleeve was rolled up. I was then told to bite him back,
which I couldn’t and didn’t.
The idea was a kind of tit for tat – or to
use a Latin term – Lex Talionis.
Or
from Exodus 21.23-25 …
"But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a
penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise…”
The basic principle behind this was a good
one – in effect it was saying, no more than an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.
However Jesus often had a different take on
things and offered another way to live as an authentic human being and to live
together in community and in harmony.
And so we have this passage from Matthew’s
Gospel talking about the conduct of the small communities of Jesus’s disciples
that were emerging during his time as an itinerant preacher, teacher and
healer.
In these new communities disputes were to
be sorted out in a different kind of way.
This side of glory, human beings will have
the occasional spat or dispute, often caused by a misunderstanding.
Jesus says that it is important how we
handle such matters. In most cases it will be only a slight matter or issue and
can be quickly dealt with by an apology and forgiveness.
However there will be issues that we simply
cannot shrug our shoulders and say, o it doesn’t matter, because it does
matter.
Bad behaviour, unkind words, deliberate
denigration, all these and much more besides are poisonous and need to be
faced, dealt with and forgiven with restoration of fellowship as the aim and
goal.
Very sadly I could mention church
fellowship after church fellowship where such disharmony and dis-ease has been
allowed to creep in and poison the fellowship and harmony amongst brothers and
sisters in Christ.
This is partly what lies behind the sharing
of the Peace.
‘…Therefore
if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother
or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar.
First go and be reconciled to your brother or sister; then come and offer your
gift.
Matthew 5.23-24
If you have fallen out with someone, or had
some kind of dispute or spat, it would be perfectly right and proper as you came
into Church this morning, to have a quiet word with me to hold the Service and
for us to pray quietly while you make peace with the person whom you have
offended or whom has offend you.
And the sequence of steps outlined in this
passage demonstrates the seriousness of getting this right – of living in peace
and harmony with each other.
It starts with an individual face to face.
Then moves on to involve others as
witnesses.
And finally, if reconciliation cannot be
reached, moves on to the point of putting that person out of the fellowship.
If it is possible
on your part, live at peace with everyone, writes Paul in Romans 12:18
And
in Romans chapter 13, which we heard today, Paul picks up a similar theme with
instruction for the small and fragile Christian communities’ in Rome.
We
must always bear in mind that society at that time was deeply stratified.
One scandalous feature of the emerging Christian Communities was the mixing of classes – ‘for all are one in Christ Jesus.’
What
this meant, what it looked like and how to make it real, is the subject of many
of the Letter’s in the New Testament.
We
are probably all familiar with Jesus summary of the Law and what we sometimes
refer to as the Golden Commandments…
Mark 12:30-31
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
This
is picked up here by Paul when he writes about love being the fulfilling of the
law.
‘Love does no harm
to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.’
However
‘love’ here needs to be balanced with the passage from Matthew we have just
been thinking about.
Love
is tough and love occasionally has to say no.
It
is never a matter of easy going compromise and perhaps saying, so what’s the
harm, it does not really matter.
You
might recall the story some years ago of a mother who son at the age of nine,
if I remember correctly, weighed about 13 stone.
The authorities were threating to take the
child into care if she didn’t sort things out. However she said, but he loves
his food, crisps and burgers and chips. She thought she was being a loving mum,
but in fact she was killing her own son by a misguided understanding of love.
Remember the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission under Archbishop Desmond Tutu when the apartheid regime in South
Africa was dismantled.
Truth about the horrors committed by all
sides had to be brought into the open, spoken about and acknowledged. Only then
could there be a move towards forgiveness and reconciliation.
You see, in the time of Jesus and of Paul,
as now, we are supposed to be a light shining in the darkness.
We are called to demonstrate how to live as
authentic human beings and how to live in love and harmony and community
together as God’s people.
Jesus calls us to love each other in the
Community of Faith
‘…A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so also you must love one another. By this all people will know that you
are My disciples, if you love one another.”
And it is from this Faith Community, with
love, peace and reconciliation at its very heart and core that we open up our
doors and invite others in so that they can see and taste that the Lord is
good.
Sadly, many of our Churches are full of
rancour and bitterness, of people complaining because we do not sing this hymn
or that song any more, or because we do that or because we now do this.
Is it little wonder that people may look at
us and say, I have enough stress and arguments in my life already; I do not
want to add to them by becoming involved in Church if that is what they are
like.
So here are a few questions by way of a
conclusion.
What first attracted you to this Faith
Community – to this Church – and that applies whether you are here for the
first time today, or have been coming for years.
Then, what do you think would attract more
people to come and join us?
Then, what might we do to make ourselves
more attractive, available and accessible?
And if you are new here today then you are
exactly the right kind of people to help answer this question.
This is why it is important to make the
Gathering Alan has arranged for the 16th September, a top priority
with a wide invitation for everyone and anyone to come along. So that together
we can discern the will of God for His Church, whether you have been labouring
in the vineyard all day or just for one hour!
‘…A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so also you must love one another. By this all people will know that you
are My disciples, if you love one another.”
Now let us stand to share the Peace
