Benediction

Benediction 

• Romans 13: 8 -14; Matthew 18:15-20  

I once was a part of a church that was very reluctant to have anyone other than members use its facilities. The kitchen was littered with signs saying, “Do Not Use This,” “You Must Replace That”. Everywhere you turned there was another imperative, usually written in large, block, capital letters. 

A new church start I advised for a short time, spent its first two years, worshipping in - first a private barn, and then a downtown community center. They were all very happy and very excited. When they purchased a building and began to repair and renovate the facility, a whole new set of conflicts presented themselves. The pastor felt like her job rapidly changed, and she needed to swap her preaching gown for a stripped shirt and a whistle. 

In contrast with that, I was told by a person newly joining a church I was part of, that at the church they left because they moved, new members were issued keys to the church property. Membership in that place, meant an immediate sharing in the joys and responsibilities of their common life.  

If we look carefully at the scriptures, we see especially in Romans, a challenge to the expectation that religion done rightly is largely about being obedient to the rules. The apostle Paul is pretty clear that being an expert in applying the law to others made him a mean person and a threat to the Jesus movement. It was only after he got knocked off his high horse and lost his eyesight that he began to see correctly. 

While the people of the Texas coast try to get their lives back together, and there are huge wild fires raging in the West, and another major hurricane bearing down on Florida; the administration took aim at the Dreamers, folks voluntarily participating in a program that gives them limited status to live in the US where they have been raised. And conservative pastors released the “Nashville Statement.” 

The “Nashville Statement” is a fourteen point manifesto identifying homosexuality and the acceptance of homosexuals as a measure of Christians giving in to the pressures of a modern liberal society. The document is legalistic and mean spirited. 

You and I are becoming accustomed to recognizing a call to “Law and Order” as a code word for avoiding the trials of relationship and protecting the privilege of those in power. In the case of the Evangelical movement in America, their prominence is waning. Their alignment with the extreme political wing of the Republican Party, has exposed the costs of negotiating religious influence for political gains. Slowly, the evangelical establishment is recognizing their position of privilege is slipping. This motivates reactive attacks on others, as a rallying cry to hold the line in the sand.  

I feel like this unfiltered emotional reactivity is the hallmark of the worst of our social media culture, where the masses claim the “God given right” to express virulent and frequently uninformed opinions, and clutter the conversation with lies and half-truths. These are trying times for those of us who aspire to be close to God, and share God’s love with this tormented creation. 

You and I live in this culture. We recognize that our own tradition has a history of trading our moral authority for power and privilege. We get it. We have the same inclination to fight to win, even though in our heart of hearts we know we are called to love our enemies. It is just so hard to be loving in the face of direct and intentional attacks on our integrity. 

What ever can we do? How do we keep our minds stayed on Jesus? One human response to stress is to simplify our focus. We might carve the 10 commandments in stone and make them the law of the land. You know, simple; direct; applies equally to everyone. Unless, you were raised to know God in any other than the Judeo-Christian tradition. Unless you have come to believe that God is still speaking, and stone is unresponsive.  

So lets think about the 10 commandments. I take great comfort from the good King David, one of God’s very favorite of people, in the episode with Bathsheba, he managed to break nearly every one of those commandments. God did not desert him. Instead, God sent the prophet Nathan to tell David the hard truth, “you really messed up. You really, really messed up.” 

The commandments are not designed for you and I to assume control over the behavior of others. The commandments are to serve as a focus for our meditation. They provide a guide to understanding the holiness of God, and give us a structure for responding as faithful children of God, living in community with other children of God. 

Now I realize that any talk like this makes some folks feel that if we tamper with their understanding of laws and commandments, we are in fact saying that “anything goes.” It is the nature of emotional reactions; to extrapolate to the ridiculous as “logical proof” of the fallacy of the offending argument. 

I would very much enjoy attacking this kind of thinking from my snarky and sarcastic side. I am not proud of this, but I have a very well developed sarcastic side that still entertains me, though I do my best to only display it on rare and relatively safe conditions. 

The theological truth is that we learn best about God’s forgiveness when we mess up. Those times when our imperfections slap us in the face are the times when we best understand who God really is, and what forgiveness really means. But that is a sermon for another day. 

Today we are trying to shift our focus away from blind emotional reactivity, and focus instead on blessing. Several times in my ministry I have invited folks to offer a blessing or benediction over a meal or at the close of some church event. Often I get the reaction, “I am not ordained. I do not have a blessing for others.” 

So let us go after that thinking. You, the congregation, you are out in the world everyday. You go to work, and bring the presence of God there. You go to your exercise class, and represent God’s good love, care and attention on those you sweat with. 

This Community of faith is all dedicated to strengthening and encouraging your ministry. If you do not leave worship, and meeting, and choir practice, prepared to bless the world, we need to change how we do worship, and meeting, and choir practice. 

Tex Sample is an ordained minister, preacher and seminary professor. He famously told his preaching students that their first opportunities to preach will usually be the Sunday after Christmas, or some other low attendance Sunday where you will be “preaching to the choir.” “Never be afraid to preach to the choir,” he tells the students. “The choir is where a lot of the mischief starts, anyway.” 

So we honor God by singing our praises, and making our offerings, and hearing the scriptures and the scriptures expounded, the sum effect should be to prepare us to bless the world and be a blessing. 

I was thinking about this a lot this week. Thursday marked the 14th anniversary of my ordination. It is not a big number, but it celebrates a dramatic change that Martha and I made in our lives and our priorities. As we went back to school to begin this phase in our life, we received and shared countless blessings. We were helped in so many important ways. We were blessed, in order to be in a position to bless others. 

The common prayers we say in worship, are intended to provide you with thoughts and phrases you can use other places. 

To carry that a step further, I will invite you to sing my song “Benediction.” Again, it is a very simple melody. This time I will sing it through to you, giving you my blessing. Then you can sing it with me, singing it to each other. The clear intent here is to put the words of blessing in your mouth and on your lips, as you prepare to be a blessing. 

Benediction - by Pastor Chuck Maney 

May the peace of Christ be with you. May your spirit rest easy with his. 

Jesus always promised, when 2 or 3, are gathered in his name, there he is. 

I pray for you, one more blessing. May your heart be open to this. 

May you feel the presence, of his holy Spirit, every day and moment after this.