Proper 9 2014

Proper 9 2014

Not long ago, someone commented to me that my recent sermons have not been as light as usual, and this is true. I have been talking a lot about groups, systems and communities—how individuals interact, and how all of this works together in healthy or unhealthy ways. Family Systems stuff.

The reason I’ve been doing this, incidentally, is because—well, there have been a lot of changes happening even before I was here; and while I was called here to help continue to facilitate healthy change and growth—it can be difficult for a congregation to adjust to such changes.

In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, sometimes when change begins to happen, some of the unhealthy patterns begin to emerge—some of these we even discussed (I think it was) last year when we were talking about our CAT survey results. Effectively we all realized that during the interim period, before I was called here, people were actively engaging the needs of the church because there was no full time priest. And so, the model was forced to move from being more clergy centered, to a much more congregational model.

However, as we discussed, once a full time priest was in place, the church started to slip back into that old model—even though none of us really wants that kind of church. And while we try to work to move beyond that sort of model, I think we’ve found other places in which we need growth—and we’ve tried to do significant work to address those things as well.

However, as we begin to see that many of the old ways in which things were handled or managed no longer fit for us—we naturally begin to experience some anxiety. And as a result we see friction. We see people begin to question decisions, or how things are done. We start to see people act out and triangulate others through rumors and negativity—and all of it really has to do with the discomfort of trying to find a healthier identity. And while this is to be expected, what we need to be aware of is that this acting out comes at a cost. Because when people begin to generate skewed and negative perspectives, or perpetuate the rumor mill; well, not only does it suck all of the energy out of a community, but it instills distrust and division—it can even hurt people. Eventually, such things can begin to dissolve the community, and this is why so many of the Epistles take such a hard line against gossip and rumor-milling.

But the important thing about all of this is the inoculation against this sort of thing is honesty and transparency—more importantly just not perpetuating it; because, after all, negativity can’t survive where there aren’t people to buy into it. So, as some of this sort of  negative stuff emerges (again it’s to be expected when any group is trying to grow, move forward and adapt); it’s up to all of us to try to discourage that sabotage with a true picture of things (namely the positive things that are happening). This doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll change a negative person’s mind—but, it does mean that we don’t give into the kind of behavior that can stall the work we’re trying to do—and more importantly, what God may be calling us to be.

  

Jesus sort of reacts against this sort of thing in our Gospel reading for today. Basically, he points out that John came preaching like a prophet and an ascetic—and people had a problem with him. He says, the Son of Man (Jesus, himself) comes drinking and eating and preaching truth—and people have a problem with him, too. No one can win, apparently.

Of course, the problem wasn’t John or Jesus—the problem was that the time had come for the status quo to be challenged. God, in Jesus Christ was calling the faithful to go deeper, to grow, to be more…and this was what agitated everyone.

Jesus was teaching a way of life that called the faithful, and the disenfranchised alike to move beyond the externals of their faith. He called them to seek a deeper appreciation of what the Law was always inviting people to—namely a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God. And as the Incarnation , Jesus does this in a way that no prophet ever could have done—he embodies what right and just and loving relationship with God and other people could look like. Amazingly enough, what those relationships looked like was a Kingdom that was being ushered in—the Kingdom of God.

Now, obviously the way that Jesus was challenging people to live their lives was pretty revolutionary: Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s easier said than done. And while we can also say that the reforms he was proposing would unseat the powerful who benefitted from the social and religious structure—we can likewise say that the people in the system were acting out of the anxiety that comes with systemic change.

We know from the Gospels that Jesus had any number of challengers. Most of these were people who believed that they had more to lose with what Jesus was proposing…

However, what we also know is that for most of these challengers—the way of life that Jesus was teaching would have more than fulfilled them. In fact, what Jesus offered would have freed not only the poor and oppressed, but even those who were bound-up in their understanding of the Law…

However, for as restrictive as the Law made life for these people—even the thought that what they were comfortable with would change made them fight against the very person who was offering them a way out.

But then, this is human nature. Sometimes we prefer the devils we know to those we might not know—yet, what we may be settling for in the long run is a way of being that becomes poisonous to ourselves and our community.

Yet, there is really good news, because we get to choose how we interact and what sort of community of faith we want to have. And what’s even better is that we don’t need to be experts in family systems theory to make positive changes. What we do need to do, however, is first not get caught up in all of the drama and negativity—just don’t allow that stuff to take root.

  

Finally, we need to take our refuge and rest in Christ. What this means is not only trusting in Jesus’ provision for the Church—trusting that everything we need to be who and what we’re called to be is already here for us. But this also means trusting that it’s Jesus who is really in charge, and that the Holy Spirit is very much at work in the people in Church leadership as they are in every single member of the community—and this is because this is God’s Church. And because God has chosen to entrust the continued work of redemption that was begun with Jesus Christ to the Church—I’m pretty sure that petty ambitions (whether real or perceived) are not going to derail God’s work in the world.

So, for all of the anxieties that may be creeping up; for the people here-and-there who might be setting their hair on fire (for whatever reason); y’know, the reality is that God has a vision for St. John’s. And rather than feel like we have to force the community to fit what we think that vision is, or hold on to some perceived ideal vision of the past; I think more importantly we need to relax—we need to rest in Christ. This doesn’t mean that we stop working and growing. But it does require that we let go of our ambitions and assumptions and perceptions about what we think the Church ought to be, and allow what it will be to emerge in God’s time. But it’s up to us to not allow negativity or anxiety to stall that potential.