April 24 - Go Ye into all the world

 This Sunday we will be hearing about the work of CPI: Canadian Peacemakers International, an organization dedicated to fostering personal leadership, housing, and food security, economic opportunity, and self-sufficiency through education and vocational training in Honduras and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Scripture passages that we will be looking at include the Great Commission:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28: 19 & 20)

In most of the Gospels, Jesus gives some form of this commission shortly after his resurrection, when he appears before his disciples who are cowering behind locked doors. (Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21-23). They know their lives are in danger. Their confidence is shattered by the death of the person they counted on for guidance and direction. They are reeling with grief and disillusionment. Jesus appears before them and challenges them to move out of that locked room and share the message he had given them with others, to live the lives he had shown them they could live. He did not want them paralyzed by fear.  He did not want them to give up. 

We, too, can take on the challenge to spread Jesus' good news, even if we are afraid and/or feel inadequate. With God's help and the Holy Spirit's guidance, we are enough. Jesus promised that we would not be alone, nor would we be dependent on our own powers and abilities. He would be with us. We can go forth.

This is inspiring good news! Except when it isn't. When we pervert the message Christ has called us to share, and cause harm instead, this call to make disciples becomes controversial. It has been understood by some as license to force others to their way of thinking/living. 

Not long ago, after Pope Francis made a formal apology to the indigenous people of Canada for the role the church played in residential schools and the harm that was done there, one indigenous leader was quoted as having said the apology should have extended further, to the very act of trying to spread Christianity. This surprised me; until I looked at it from his perspective and saw the disrespect he may have felt for the traditional beliefs and practices of his people.  Suddenly I saw that, for those whose whole identity, culture, and traditions were dismissed as "heathen," Christianity wasn't good news. They were basically told they were not worthy of love as they were. Our messengers had heard the part of Jesus's message about teaching others to obey, but not the part about loving our neighbour. That is the part that needs to come first.

This leads to the second passage that is being referenced this Sunday: Matthew 22:36-40:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

It is only when we put these passages together that we get the good news. It is only when we put these messages together that we can share honestly and helpfully about God and God's desires for the people of the world. We are called to love the world and every person in it.  We are called to let the world, and every person in it, know that they are loved; that God is on their side; that none of us is alone. This is very different from demanding people give up who they are and follow a set of rules, rites, and rituals. As Becca Stevens, Priest, author, and founder of Thistle Farms, said in an interview, "I am [we are] not called to change the world, but to love the world." *

So let us go forth and love, truly love with the love of God. Let us live into the fullness of being beloved children of God. Let us not be afraid of what others will think. Let us speak our truth. Let us share the doggedness of love, especially the love of God, instead of the dogma of the church*. Let us let go of the need to have all the correct answers and trust God to be with us and speak through us. Let us act and speak out of the most loving and compassionate parts of ourselves, living our lives as a loving tribute to God.  Let us understand, and help others understand, that God is love and that it is to that love we are called.  This will affect how we meet people, how we treat people, how we introduce them to God. This will help us bring good news to all nations, starting from here, wherever we are. Let us go into all our world, however large or small that may be, and preach the gospel, the good news of God's love, to every nation, every person, through our words and through what we do and who we are. Let us be Jesus' disciples, for that is the best way to "make" more disciples.  Go ye!


* Becca Stevens in an interview on the podcast "The Bible for Normal People" (episode 199)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lent 4 - From Exceptionalism to Inclusion

This week we celebrate that God loves us all!  Last week we were reminded that God doesn't ask us to earn our way into God's good graces, that we are already there.  This week we are reminded that the "us" that God loves includes everyone.  There is no us and them, we are all "us:" Beloved children of God. This seems to be a difficult concept for most human beings.  We seem to define ourselves as opposed to others - focussing on our differences. Somehow it makes us feel more worthy, more valuable, if we are accepted somewhere that others aren't. Sometimes we like to have the inside scoop and to share this as gossip to show how "in" we are. Sometimes it seems we need a "them" so we can feel acknowledged as a part of "us". This is not the way God works. The Gospel passage for this week is Luke 15:1-3 (Some Pharisees questioning Jesus), and 11b-32 (The parable often called the parable of the prodigal son or the parable of the f...
Read more

Be Angry but do not sin

February is fast coming to an end and spring will soon be upon us - at least we hope so! May the changing seasons bring hope for the brighter days ahead. The Scripture passage chosen for this morning is a short one, Ephesians 4:26: " Be angry without sinning.   Don’t let the sun set on your anger. " (CEB) At first glance this seems a very straight forward instruction, with not much to talk about. But let's think about anger. It is a complex emotion, often hiding other feelings and emotions.  Sometimes hurt, worry, frustration, or even hunger can manifest as anger. Sometimes i t can be easier to lash out than to deal with a situation and the fear, insecurity, or frustration it causes. I don't think these are the times that Ephesians is talking about when it says "Be angry."  These are the times when we need to recognize what is really going on and deal with the issue and the true feelings within us. These are times when we need to remember the part about not ...
Read more

May 22 - We Declare. . . Old Testament Biblical Perspective

Image
  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... And  so begins the story of God's relationship with the earth and, a few verses later, with humankind, who were made in God's image. From the very beginning we were made for relationship with God and God keeps reaching out to us. We keep making mistakes and messing things up, and God keeps calling and welcoming us back. This is the story of the Bible.  This is the good news God offers. God keeps reaching out. Too often we write off the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, as irrelevant once Jesus came on the picture. Jesus, himself, however, said that he was the fulfilment, not the annulment, of all the went before. Jesus is the embodiment of God's love for and compassionate call to humankind, shared through story, poetry, prophesy, and song in the Old Testament. Often, when we try to read the Old Testament stories, we get caught up in the violence, in ancient cultural and scientific understandings that are so f...
Read more