This week Warren and Ilene Teeters invited me to visit them at their family camp. After an introspective meditation, a delicious breakfast, and a moving speaker, we all went outside for some rhythm. We gathered in a circle surrounded by beautiful redwoods and we were led in a movement prayer I want to share with you. (The same one I shared with the children already)
God in front of me; God behind me; God above me
God below me; God all around me; God inside me.
This chant filled our souls as we welcomed God in while declaring the everywhere-ness of God.
As we wrap up our series on the Six Great Ends of the Church it is good to be reminded God is everywhere. God is in our proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind and the maintenance of divine worship. God is in the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God. God certainly is in the preservation of the truth. Today we are looking at the last two purposes of the church; Promotion of Social Righteousness and the Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World. Joseph Small notes that, “’Each of the first five is a way of exhibiting the Kingdom… to the world.’ The six together are something of a checklist for the church collectively and for each of us individually’” (Proclaiming the Great Ends of the Church, pg. 162). So I ask you, how are you doing personally with these purposes? How are we doing as a church?
Jesus spoke a lot about social righteousness; today we might call it social justice. His very first lesson after calling his disciples is the sermon on the plain. It parallels the Sermon on the Mount in several ways and yet is unique unto itself. Rather than ascending a mount as he does in Matthew’s gospel, here Jesus came down to a level place. Here Jesus erases anything that has to do with status and elevation while standing shoulder to shoulder with his disciples and diverse followers from all parts of Judea and beyond. Jesus came down into the throng of people, people who were sick and troubled with unclean spirits. He met them were they were and healed all of them. Jesus leveled the playing field making the sick and powerless well. Then he turned the established order on its head blessing the poor, the hungry and the sorrowful, before cursing the rich, satisfied, happy and popular. John Calvin wrote, “The poor are chosen to represent God upon the earth.” “God is in solidarity with those who live in poverty. That is the good news he came to deliver. We see it in Jesus’ teachings, parables, healings, miracles and the people he called to follow him. Everything points in the direction of a social order inverted in favor of those on the underside of history” (Proclaiming, pg. 117).
We know we fall in the “Woe to you category,” rich and satisfied. But we also respond to the power of the gospel and seek solidarity with the people of this world. We seek to level the playing field when we bring personal hygiene supplies to the homeless. We live out social justice when we Walk4Water, or sponsor someone who does, to build latrines for people in El Pilar, El Salvador. We promote social righteousness when we offer showers to those without that simple human need right here in our community. If you are interested in working in this ministry which is a coalition of eight community churches let me know. We hope to start that in the fall. It is great way to personally promote social righteousness.
To truly live out social righteousness we need to see beyond the status quo. Jonathan Sacks the former chief Rabbi in the United Kingdom made a powerful observation. Our spiritual challenge is to see the face of God in the faces of those who we cannot see our own reflection (Rev. Burns Stanfield, 7/20/16). What a different world it would be if we could see people, our neighbors, those begging on the street corner, our enemies and our haters in the way that God sees us.
We would be living the golden rule, do unto others and you would have them do unto you. Words from Jesus; words to live by. What I found fascinating is the many other great thinkers had similar teaching but theirs where always in the negative, including Isocrates and Confucius. Hillel the great Jewish Rabbi taught, “What is hateful to thee, do not to another.” The Stoics believed, “What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not you do to any other.” Jesus took a familiar teaching and turned a negative into a positive. So we are not only to refrain from doing bad, we are to go the extra mile, offering kindness to others, promoting social righteousness. Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The monk and theologian Thomas Merton experienced a revelation from God while walking down the streets in Louisville, KY. While doing some errands for his monastic community, he started seeing the people walking past him shining like the sun because he could now see his fellows as God sees them. He saw each person through the eyes of God. He writes, “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness…I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. . . . (Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander).
I imagine that is how it will be when we get to heaven; we get to see everyone as God see them. But until that time we continue to follow Christ’s example of leveling the playing field, following the golden rule and promoting social righteousness. By showing hospitality to strangers we may be entertaining angels without even knowing it (Hebrews 13:2). For in this new heaven the home of God is among mortals. We get to show the kingdom of heaven to the world. But this is not some future event; the kingdom of heaven is now.
Craig Barnes, the President of Princeton Theological Seminary wrote, “The basis of the biblical doctrine of the kingdom of Heaven is found in Jesus Christ. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord, ‘the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ This means that when you get to the end of your life, you’re not at the end, because Jesus Christ is waiting on the other side of death with eternal life. And when the church gets to the end of its patience, programs, overtures, energy, and even membership we are not at the end. There is still Jesus Christ and his coming kingdom of Heaven… Here is John’s point in Revelation: If you believe that heaven is waiting up ahead for you, then it is also always above you. Heaven exists not just as a future place to go to after you die but also as an inspiration for the life you have today. If you believe Jesus Christ is behind you and ahead of you, then you can certainly believe that he is also above you. This frees you to live under heaven every day of your life. And that will make all the difference in how you live your life. In fact it will make a world of difference” (Proclamation, pg. 149-150).
Let’s be the church and make a world of difference. Amen.
