“For better or for worse, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health.” These of course are marriage vows often made when joining two lives together in love and faith. The fullness of life dwells in these vows. This primary relationship depends on fidelity to these promises and is one reason why scripture gives the analogy of the Church being the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-33). “This is a great mystery” of love and dedication. Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Together we are the bride of Christ, the people he lived and died to save. This is no casual relationship, we are bound to Jesus in covenantal love.
Last week we started a sermon series on 1 Timothy and grabbled with the question, “Why do people need Jesus?” The answer and good news is that Jesus changes lives. Today we will continue by asking “Why do people need the Church?” This is church with a capital C, the church as the body of Christ. As I asked last week I would love your reflections on these three questions- Why do people need Jesus, Church, and this church?
First and foremost church is community. We share a covenant with God through our relationship with Jesus Christ that forms those vital bonds, those intimate connections. These bonds will see us through joy and sorrow, sickness and health. Our bonds have been strengthened recently with two memorial services. Marian’s brought us together in our grief but we joined in a joyful celebration of her life. Covenantal bonds. The second was for Donald Duby yesterday. Even though many of us did not know him, we rallied to support Holly, to show God’s love, to be there for her, when life is feeling more for the worse, than the better. One of my great privileges as a representative of the church is to welcome people in baptism, join a couple in holy matrimony, and comfort people in grief as we say our final farewells until we see our loved ones in God’s eternal realm. The church is there in the joy and the sorrow, the beginnings and endings.
I have heard several of you muse over the question what do people without faith or a church family do, when life gets hard, throws you a curve ball? I am so with you in my bewilderment, because I never want to find out. I treasure what the church brings. How we celebrate together. How we lift people up in prayer. How we uphold people in their darkest moments.
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is writing to God’s people in one of their darkest moments. They had turned away from God, tried to go on their own by worshiping idols. So we hear God’s anguish over the broken covenant. They don’t share their joy or grief or sickness with God. And God mourns the loss, asking “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healing? Is there no way to restore our relationship, our sacred trust between God and God’s people? God faithfully upholds the covenantal relationship, but humanity continues to walk away. The Israelites did it, many times, hence all the prophets. The disciples did it at the cross. People still walk away from God today. They miss out on the connection, the community, the healing.
Parker was born in Mt. Clemens, MI, a suburb of Detroit. This town built up around the natural hot springs, sulfur springs. People would come from all over the country to benefit from the healing powers of these waters. At the turn of the 20th century they build baths and elaborate guest houses to capitalize on the healing properties of this place. The waters offered a balm for healing. But you had to get in the waters, be in that place to receive. I believe the church offers balm for our lives. When we gather in this place we are in a place of healing, sharing our joys and concerns, lifting our prayers, and worshiping our God. Church is a balm for the bad, the painful, the heartbreaking. Each week we are strengthened to deal with the trials we face and to cling to God through it all! There is a balm in church to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in this church to heal the sin sick soul.
The balm of course is Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and us. He gave us life! He died for us, so that we can have this covenantal relationship with God and one another through grace. It cost God the life and death of his son to bring us all, you and me, back to God. We access that balm through prayer and community. That is why the author of Timothy encourages prayer so strongly. “I urge supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone” (1). So we pray for Donna and her bone infection. For Phil and his battle with cancer, for Ray and Carolyn and Jack and Lori and their 20 anniversaries – joys and sorrows!!! Prayer is what keeps the connection alive between Jesus and his bride the church. Just like in a good marriage it takes good honest communication to make that work, so it is with our prayer life with Jesus.
Jesus is our Balm when we need healing and support. The corollary to that is we offer godliness as our exuberant response to the abundance of God’s love. We are asked to “lead quiet and peaceable lives in godliness and dignity” (1 Tim. 2:2). Now Godliness is not a word we use much anymore. In the Greek, eusebeia, godliness describes our reverence both toward God and humanity. It is defined as “reverence towards the one and only God, and the kind of life that (God) would wish us to lead” (1 Timothy, Wm. Barclay, p. 61). The church helps us to live in godliness.
I’m going to confess there was a time in my life when I had the mouth of a sailor. Now before you freak out, I was in fourth or fifth grade and had just discovered swearing. I thought I was so cool using all these adult words. However, I quickly learned that my friends did not like my new vocabulary and I heard about it. I stopped this disgusting habit immediately. I share that to remind us all that our community shapes how we life our lives, on the playground, at work, and especially at church. When we are surrounded by like minded people – faithful people who put God first, who value their relationship with Jesus we are better able to be godly in our lives. The church helps us to be what God challenges us to be. When we do the small things like gossip, or bend the truth, or do the big things like fall flat on our face and need love and grace, we come to church to be reminded of who God wants us to be, and we are showered with God’s grace. We are loved right back into right relationship with God. William Barclay describes godliness this way, “Clearly eusebeia is a tremendous thing. It never forgets the reverence do to God; it never forgets the rights (and dignity) due (people); it never forgets the respect due to self. It describes the character of the (person) who never fails God, (community) or (oneself). (p. 61 adjusted to be inclusive).
There are many reasons people need church- a balm for the bad and godliness for the good are simply two found in these passages of scripture. Prayer is a conduit keeping the connection between Jesus and his bride the church open and healthy. Our covenantal relationship with Jesus is the balm for the bad in our lives, the pain and hardship. Godliness is our response to God’s love as good people seeking to follow Christ. Amen.
