Who do you belong to

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Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter1 25 May 2014

Emmanuel Church, Greenwood Parish (The Rev.) Christopher Garcia

Slices of Life Do you ever feel like your life is carved up into little slices, little compartments? You may have an identity as a husband or a wife. You may have a role as a mother, father, grandparent, son, daughter, sister, brother. Many of us carve out huge parts of our lives for our jobs, and we take on identities as the careers we work at: doctor, priest, lawyer, farmer, and teacher. We carve out time for various sports, either as participants or as spectators. Perhaps for part of the year you identify as a hunter or a fisherman. At this time of the year, many of us dedicate slices of our lives to our gardens and lawn care. We create space for hobbies, and so on. For young people the categories might be school;; scouts;; sports;; hobbies;; chores;; part-­time job;; music;; and so forth, but the effect is the same. A life carved up into little slices. Friends may know us in one compartment, but not in another. Although this is a natural way to tend to organize our lives, it can come at a great cost. This carving up of our selves can be isolating and exhausting. With too many compartments and too much to do, we FDQ·WEHJRRGDWDOORIWKHP, and we lose the ability to enjoy them. By design or neglect, some compartments just get walled off, like forgotten rooms. There is a pernicious tendency in modern public discourse to treat religion as something of a quaint, eccentric hobby, a little slice of RQH·V self, a slice which preferably should be kept hidden politely away. In this way of thinking, on Tuesday night I work on my stamp collection;; one Thursday night I go square dancing;; on Sunday morning I go to church (that is, unless the weather is really beautiful;; then I might go biking or play golf instead). Religious faith, in such an understanding, is fundamentally unimportant ² one can take it or leave it. The apostle Paul observed something like this compartmented approach to life when he visited Athens, part of his second missionary journey. Athens was a Year A, RCL. Acts 17:22-­31;; Psalm 66:7-­18;; 1 Peter 3:13-­22;; John 14:15-­21. ´O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire;; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amenµ 1

2 city of great intellectual sophistication. People prided themselves on their ability to collect new ideas;; to pile on new thoughts, new understanding. As Paul travelled around Athens he saw the entire Greek pantheon ² Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Bacchus, Neptune, Diana. Beautiful;; made by the finest Greek sculptors. Ivory, marble, gold, silver, bronze. In such a world, you prayed to the god of the compartment that you were concerned about. If you were concerned about war, you prayed to the god of war, and so forth. ,I\RXZHUHQ·W·LQWHUHVWHGLQ $HUHV\RXLJQRUHG$HUHV,I\RXZHUHQ·WLQWHUHVWHGLQ'LDQD\RXLJQRUHG'LDQD Paul was horrified by the emptiness of this idolatry. All this worship of empty categories;; of mere idols;; was meaningless. All this empty chasing after ideas, the pursuit of the latest intellectual trends, achieved nothing. Worse ² all this meaningless pursuit crowded out the belief in the one true God. So Paul does something interesting. Paul turns the corner, and upends this entire way of approaching life. Watch how Paul does this. Paul says to the $WKHQLDQV ´I have been wandering around your city, and I found this altar to the 8QNQRZQ *RGµ An altar to the Unknown God: what is that all about? Is it an intellectual affectation, a celebration of open-­mindedness? Or is meant as some sort of religious insurance policy, just to make sure that all the bases are covered? Paul says ´I NQRZ ZKR WKLV XQNQRZQ JRG UHDOO\ LVµ  :KDW \RX FDOO unknown, I declare as known. The god, whom you call unknown, is really the omnipotent true God who made the world and everything in it, and this God is the master of both earth and heaven.µ What Paul is doing here is breathtaking, really -­ the arrogance of his claim. Because the effect of what Paul is arguing is to wipe out all the little compartments. Paul cuts across the petty divisions of the Athenian world view. 3DXOVD\V´
3 good things for us that we cannot even comprehend them. Goodness and love that we cannot get our minds around. 2QWKHQLJKWEHIRUHKHGLHG-HVXVWROGKLVIULHQGV´If you love me, you will NHHSP\FRPPDQGPHQWVµ:KHQZHKHDUWKLVOLQH´LI\RXORYHPH\RXZLOONHHS P\ FRPPDQGPHQWVµ DQG LW IULJKWHQV XV  ,W VRXQGV OLNH D VWDQGDUG ZH NQRZ ZH FDQQRWUHDFK´,I\RXORYHPH\RXZLOONHHSP\FRPPDQGPHQWVµVRXQGVOLNH God RQO\ ORYHV WKRVH ZKRP *RG VHHV NHHSLQJ *RG·V FRPPDQGPHQWV  ,W VRXQGV OLNH *RG·V ORYH LV SUHGLFDWHG RQ RXU EHKDYLRU RXU SHUIRUPDQFH  ´,I \RX ORYH PH \RX ZLOONHHSP\FRPPDQGPHQWVµVRXQGVOLNHZHKDYHWRHDUQ*RG·VORYH Yet we never have to earn GRG·V ORYH  :H FDQQRW  *RG·V ORYH LV QHYHU predicated on our behavior, our performance. Such an understanding flies in the face of everything that Jesus stood for. Such an understanding contradicts the reality of the incarnation. In our Eucharistic prayer, we remember that when our disobedience took us far from God, God did not abandon us to the power of death. We pray to God´,Q your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation. Father, you loved the world so much that in the IXOOQHVVRIWLPH\RXVHQW\RXURQO\6RQWREHRXU6DYLRUµ This is unearned love, unending love, unfailing love. When Jesus says ´,I\ou ORYHPH\RXZLOONHHSP\FRPPDQGPHQWVµJesus reminds his friends, and us, to let his love flow through us. Jesus reminds his friends, and us, to let his love empower us. Jesus reminds his friends, and us, to let his love break down the barriers in our lives. -XVW DV 3DXO WROG WKH $WKHQLDQV ´/RRN DOO WKHVH OLWWOH *RGV DOO WKHVH OLWWOH FRPSDUWPHQWVWKH\GRQ·W ZRUN I have something better. The real God. The one true God who undergirds all these false Gods. Paul tore away all the false distinctions between the false gods and offered up the one true God instead. ,Q WKH VDPH ZD\ -HVXV LV WHOOLQJ KLV IULHQGV ´I have something better. The true nature of God is love. Love that transcends compartments. Love that is bigger than the little slices of your life. Love that breaks down the barriers we set up in our lives because we think they will keep us safe. Love that frees us to obey God, to live into the fullness that God wants for us. Jesus invites us to open our selves up, to pour in love, so we can love, in all things and above all things. /HW*RG·VORYHLQ /HW*RG·VORYHEUHDNGRZQWKHZDOOV Let *RG·VORYHflood through every aspect of your life. /HW*RG·VORYHWransform you.

4 When we let *RG·VORYHSRXULQWRHYHU\SDUWRIRXUOLYHVFXWWLQJDFURVVDOO the barriers, all the divisions, all the compartments, an amazing thing happens. We GRQ·WIHHOVRFKRSSHGXS:HGRQ·WIHHOOLNHZHKDYHORWVRIGLIIHUHQWSHUVRQDVORWV of different carved up identities. We experience wholeness, and peace, and FRKHUHQFH  *RG·V ORYH DQLPDWHV DQG XQLILHV WKH FRPSHWLQJ DVSHFWV RI RXU OLYHV Love like this empowers us for ministry, because ministry becomes part of who we are, rather than just another task that we take on. At the  R·FORFN service today we will baptize twin baby girls. As babies, %RRNHDQG+DLOH\·VOLYHVDUHSUHWW\VLPSOHWKHLUZRUOGLVDOODERXWWKHPVHOYHVZKDW they need, food and drink, sleep and clean diapers. Mom and Dad provide for them, and their world is complete. But every day, their worlds are expanding, and before you know it Hailey and Brooke will discover friends and dress up, then school and sports, and then boys and games, and all the sliced up compartments that make up life on this earth. Our prayer for them today is that they always know *RG·VORYHDORYHWKDWFXWVDFURVVDQGXQLILHVand animates every part of their lives, a love in which they live and move and have their being. Our pledge to them today is that here at Emmanuel we will help them find that love, know that love, so that together, we can carry that love out into the world. Amen.