February 20, 2022: Imagine: A Welcoming, Warm, Hospitable, Close-Knit, Caring, Loving, Deep, Sharing, Blessing Church
Luke 6:27-38
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.[e] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
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Today we continue our “Imagine” series—imagining together who God is calling us to be as a church in the years ahead. To kick us off a few weeks ago we considered: “Imagine: An Intentional Church.” Then we moved to the vertical dimension of church life that encapsulates our relationship with God, first with “Imagine: A Discipling Church” thinking about how we might grow deeper in faith together. Then we considered “Imagine: A Worshiping Church” the “upward” dimension of faith as we turn our hearts to God in thanks and praise. Last week we shifted to the horizontal dimension of faith—our relationship with others. The sermon was “Imagine: A Missional Church,” exploring together our reaching out to others beyond the four walls of the church. Today, we consider our internal relationships, from the moment someone steps into our church family, or even dips a toe into church life with Chapel by the Sea.
So today’s sermon title is: “Imagine: A Welcoming, Warm, Hospitable, Close-Knit, Caring, Loving, Deep, Sharing, Blessing Church.”
Someone suggested that sermon title might be a little excessive! How dare they! But here’s the deal—I looked for one word to describe the kind of church I believe God is calling us to be, but I couldn’t find just one word, at least not in English.
But there is a word in Greek that gets at what I’m looking for: the word is koinonia. We find koinonia in the New Testament 19 times, first in the book of Acts chapter 2—the chapter that describes Pentecost, the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the Christ-followers in Jerusalem with fire and wind and 3,000 people were baptized and (as The Message says it) “signed up.”
“They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles,
the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.”
(Acts 2:41-42 MSG)
“The life together”—that’s the Greek word koinonia! The word means “partnership.” Participation, sharing, communion, spiritual fellowship—a fellowship in the Spirit. It’s deep, it’s powerful, it’s rich and compelling. Do you see why I had trouble finding just one English word to get at what I believe God is calling us to embody more fully? “A Welcoming, Warm, Hospitable, Close-Knit, Caring, Loving, Deep, Sharing, Blessing Church.” Koinonia!
How do we create that kind of community? Today I will offer the 613-step process for arriving at koinonia. Just kidding! Really, there’s just one thing we need to do to find ourselves living into this koinonia that calls to us. We find it in Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” that we continue today. You may remember from last week that the Sermon on the Plain from the Gospel of Luke (similar to the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew) begins with a series of “blessings and woes”—blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep—woe to the rich, the full, those who laugh. This was Jesus telling his people how to think—that the way we think about things is upside down from the kingdom of God. But in today’s reading—a continuation of the sermon—Jesus shifts to what we do now that our thinking has been corrected. From right thinking (orthodoxy) to right practice (orthopraxy).
Here’s how The Message paraphrases it:
“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!”
This is a contemporary rendering of the “Golden Rule.” You may have memorized the version that says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
It’s really that simple (and that difficult).
Religion tends to complicate things. Christianity has made a hot mess of this, but we’re not alone. Judaism has 613 commandments . . . SIX-HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN! That’s a lot of rules!
An ancient story from the Jewish Talmud tells about a man who went to a well-known, elderly rabbi and said to the rabbi, “I will convert to Judaism if I can find a rabbi who can quote the entirety of Jewish law while standing on one foot.” The rabbi scoffed and poked the man with his cane, remarking about what a ridiculous request that was. The story goes that the man then came to Rabbi Hillel and posed the same challenge, “I will convert to Judaism if I can find a rabbi who can quote the entirety of Jewish law while standing on one foot.” It is said that Rabbi Hillel lifted a foot and said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to another.” Then the great rabbi placed his foot on the ground and said, “That is the Law. The rest is just commentary. Now go and study.”
It really is that simple (and that difficult).
It’s so simple that we teach the golden rule to our children. “Treat others the way you want to be treated. Be kind.” We expect them to live into that teaching, but I wonder, how good are we at living out this virtue?
Here’s a confession. I’ve been at this “Christian” thing a while now. Not only that, but I’ve been on church payrolls since the year of our Lord 1990. That’s 32 years! How can that be since I’m only 29? (And if you believe that, I know a Nigerian Prince who wants to share a fortune with you but first you must give him your bank account number. I digress.) I’ve been trying hard, working hard to be a “model Christian” (if such a thing exists) for a long time. And yet, I am still not immune to anger, not immune to hurt feelings, and the temptation to pettiness that arises as a result of anger and hurt feelings.
Here’s a recent example: a couple of months ago someone really hurt my feelings. I didn’t feel like I had earned the ugliness someone levied against me. I handled it fairly well in the moment. I bit my tongue. Said all the things my years of trying hard, working hard at being the “model Christian” taught me. But I left the conversation hurt and angry. Recently I had the opportunity to be passive aggressive and to do something hurtful in response. The temptation was real. I didn’t act on it, but I shared the temptation with my husband in confidence. I thought he might support my pettiness because he was also hurt by what happened. But you know what he said to me? “Rhonda, be the bigger person.”
“BE THE BIGGER PERSON?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?”
He was right, you know (don’t tell him I said that). So I’m (reluctantly) being the bigger person. Sigh. My ego isn’t happy about it and still wants to do the thing (ego loves vengeance and retribution.)
But the “Golden Rule”—the best rule of thumb for living out the “upside down” nature of the kingdom of God—is not: Do unto others as they do unto you. That would be way easier, right? And vengeance would feel so good, at least momentarily.
But listen again to what Jesus teaches as a run up the Golden Rule:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to everyone who begs from you;
and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“OK, Jesus. I get it. I may not always like it, but I get it. And I’m trying. Forgive me when pettiness sneaks in, when my wounded ego wants to lash out from a place of pain or shame or embarrassment or trauma.”
It’s not easy, koinonia. But when we taste it, when we open ourselves up to experience it, how amazing it is! I chose the words: Welcoming, Warm, Hospitable, Close-Knit, Caring, Loving, Deep, Sharing, and Blessing to describe the kind of Christian community God wants the church to become. What words would you add to my list? What is it you most want from Christian community? From church? The second question is like it: what are you doing to create that kind of church?
Again, The Message paraphrase of the Golden Rule, Luke 6:31:
Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you
want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!
What are you doing to co-create with God and me and everyone here the kind of Church you want the Chapel to be? Are you “grabbing the initiative?”
Barb Jones told me a story a few years back about a couple of people who “grabbed the initiative” to create a kind of Christian community that they wanted to be a part of. Barb’s husband, Tom, used to sing in the choir—I’m told he had a beautiful tenor voice. But Tom fell ill, and when he could no longer sing in the choir, he joined Barb in the pews. And eventually he became too weak to stand for the hymns, but Tom and Andy Whipple would sit behind them, and help him stand when he wanted to stand. That happened every Sunday for a while. And when Tom Jones died, Tom and Andy Whipple told Barb, “You’re sitting with us now; you’re a part of our family.” And so she did. And last week, when I asked for prayers for Tom Whipple, Barb approached me with tears in her eyes, and reminded me of that story, about how much the Whipples mean to her. She called them later on, expressing her love and care to them.
Koinonia.
Welcoming. Warm. Hospitable. Close-Knit. Caring. Loving. Deep. Sharing. Blessing.
The invitation today is to “grab the initiative.” To go and do what you want done to you. You want a friend? Reach out and make a friend. You want laughter? Create the moment. You want depth? Be vulnerable. You want to share love through thick and thin? Show up. Be present. Open yourself to community.
Will you get hurt? Maybe. When we open ourselves to love, we open ourselves up to hurt and loss. And the last time I checked, no one here is perfect, and everyone here will die.
That’s reality. But in the meantime . . . koinonia.
Don’t you want it? Then let’s make it together. “Imagine: Koinonia.”