Love God and Do As You Will

In this last weeks we have witnessed some unsavoury sides of society, both here and overseas. The inappropriate behaviour of Eddie Maguire and friends along with the strident responses to the tragedies in Orlando and in England with the death of Jo Cox have bordered on the bizarre. Interestingly enough we have not heard the same responses to the multiple deaths in non-white communities.

Eddie McGuire and friends have forgotten a very important fact of life. Culture, corporate culture, church culture, societal culture is what you do. If what you do is bullying by nature and you do it enough it becomes the culture. The AFL and clubs such as Collingwood have trumpeted a culture of inclusion and zero policy to bullying and harassment. Unfortunately that now looks a little lame.

Now the church is not immune from the same criticism. Our performance in handling the child abuse issues, bullying, gender based issues at both Church wide  and parish levels is often out of sync with the culture of love we preach and promote.

Academic Andrew Macleod writing in the SMH, commenting on these and other issues within social media and online forums writes:

‘Initially, when I signed up, Twitter and Facebook were places to debate public policy. They were places to send and receive alternative views, to refine one's opinions and sometimes to change one's views based on new perspectives.

But recently the tone of social media has changed. Social media is now a place where there is lots of talking and very little listening. While debates no longer take place, shouting matches do. While new online friends can be made, real ones can be lost. I found myself becoming guilty of this, too.’

He goes on:

‘When something tragic happens now, social media gives us a platform, not to speak, but to yell. Not to engage, but to bully, not to consider, but to scream. Social media has lots of proclaiming and no listening. Things can be said online that threaten friendships in reality.

And I found myself doing this and I didn't like what I was becoming.’

Culture is what we do. And if we are not careful what we do will begin to mimic the world in which we live. Like the frog in the saucepan of cold water placed on a stove, we only know we are in trouble when it is too late. The water is no longer cold. We are no longer living the culture we thought we were, we are now living differently.

James and John in the Gospel reading, find themselves in this very situation. These loyal disciples and companions of Jesus, living within the cloistered culture Jesus was developing act, not out of that culture, but out of the culture of the world around them. The justly earn the name of Sons of Thunder for their outburst. They throw a tantrum because things weren’t going their way and wish to punish, no, annihilate the Samaritan village that had not welcomed them.

Jesus rebukes them for their break from his code of practice, his expectations of those who followed him. Paul takes up the same idea in his letter to the Galatians – here he is directly addressing how those within the Christian church treat each other. This is about respect, love and modelling of the right behaviour.  The hardest thing to be is a Christian because we must at all times be reflecting on our practice and assessing what is the culture we are modelling.  Paul writes: "For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

Aubra Love writes: "To avoid 'devouring one another' (5:15) requires personal responsibility, restraint and stewardship of care for one another." This requirement sits firmly on all who profess faith in Christ and not just the Vicar, Wardens, Parish Council or others in positions of authority. It is the requirement of all who participate in the corporate life of the body of Christ.

We are:

• Responsible for the culture of our community. How we treat each other, how we allow members to treat others and how we model the culture of respect, inclusion and safety. Inside schools and workplaces the role of the bystander is emphasised. A bystander is someone who sees or knows about bullying or other forms of violence that is happening to someone else; they can either be part of the problem (hurtful bystander) or part of the solution (helpful bystander). It's easy to ignore incidents of bullying, or walk away thinking "at least it’s not me. But believe it or not, by doing nothing you are contributing to the problem — and you may be giving bullies the "okay" to carry on with their behaviour. Research shows that bystanders can effectively stop bullying within 10 seconds of an intervention

• Showing restraint and thinking carefully before you speak or interject or make a judgement about another. The Galatians had a habit of marking who was in or who was out, of identifying others and judge them and their actions. We are all called to be aware of this for a judgemental culture is a bullying culture and it is the very culture Jesus and Paul speaks against. One of the comments Andrew Macleod makes about online and media commentary is that it often lacks restraint and goes to the extreme. This can be seen in the 3 cases I mentioned earlier. In each we have had people stridently using the situation to make a point without stopping, taking time think and reflect on the whole story before commenting. Restraint is vital if we are going to build a welcoming, inclusive and respectful Christian community.

• Stewardship  is not just about money, it is about how we manage our relationships wherever those relationships maybe. Stewardship is defined as: the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving, in this case relationships and the stated culture of the church. The Galatians had the stated culture of Christian love and inclusion but instead were intent upon devouring each other over minor issues, jealousies, set ways of doing things and the need to get their own way. James and John showed little restraint and stewardship towards both others and the culture Jesus was advocating for. In fact, they showed little stewardship toward their relationship with him for he was indistinguishable from the culture he represented. This is a challenge for all of us in terms of maintaining relationships. How much do we value others so that we speak up when we see others being bullied or harassed is the question the Bystander program asks. It is one we need to ask our selves with  responsible restraint.

St. Augustine of Hippo  said it this way: 'love, and do what you will.'" The full passage reads: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given unto you: Love God, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: In all things, let the root of love be within, for of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”

In other words, Augustine is arguing objectively rather than subjectively–that when the love of God is the governing principle of our lives, then all that we think, say, and do will necessarily be yielded to that love.  If our love of God is real and profound, then obedience and faithfulness, right thinking and right actions will flow irresistibly from that love.  

May we live responsibly, with restraint and deep stewardship the relationship of love demanded by our relationship with Christ in all that we do. May we remind each other of this as necessary as we join in living the culture we desire.

As usual Paul has the last word: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”

Wealth Equals Debt

Read the following article this week:

“In what local authorities are calling a "near tragedy," Charles Wentworth, a 17-year-old senior student and member of the affluent Wentworth family, came perilously close to suffering a consequence resulting from his own wrongdoing Saturday.

 

Wentworth, reportedly ignoring the protests of his classmates, got behind the wheel of his turbocharged Supra 2000GT after consuming half the contents of a bottle of Goldschläger at a friend's party. While driving westbound on Route 27, a disoriented Wentworth drifted across two lanes of traffic and collided with a minivan carrying a family of four, bringing the teen face-to-face with a potentially life-altering lesson.

 

Wentworth escaped unscathed and unpunished, however, when his airbags deployed and a team of high-powered attorneys rushed to the scene and rescued him from the brink of personal responsibility.

 

"Amazingly, Mr. Wentworth did not experience a single repercussion for consuming alcohol under age or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and is furthermore completely unaware that he did anything wrong," local police chief Marvin Taylor said. "He is a very lucky boy."

 

"If he had been driving just 5 mph faster, or if his parents hadn't had the influence to keep the matter out of court and the endless financial resources to lease a car of the exact same make and model to prevent him from having to face even the relatively trivial humiliation of being taunted by his peers for driving a slightly less expensive vehicle—my God, who knows what could have happened?" Taylor added. "He could have died or, worse, been held accountable for his actions."

 

Now this is obviously satire as it comes from The Onion, a satirical magazine, yet it is an almost accurate picture of the society in which we live. Entitlement is the buzzword, spoken or unspoken, witnessed in the actions, words and lifestyles of many modern people.

 

Not us of course. We would not dare to think like that. Or would we?

 

Paul writes to the Galatians to remind them of who they are, heirs of God’s promise to Abraham. It is a reminder for them not to lose sight of who they are in the midst of a chaotic and adverse world, a world in which they are persecuted and run the risk of becoming embroiled in the lifestyle and philosophy pressing in on them.

 

One could read Pauls statement as the Galatians being entitled to their inheritance. It is theirs. It belongs to them.

 

Yet it is also a reminder of the obligations that goes with their position – to live in such a way as to always give a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God. To turn the totality of life towards God and away from any sense of self as the centre of existence. To recognise in our worship and living, God as the source of all that exists and that we possess and that we are totally reliant on God for our life and existence.

 

WEH Stanner suggests aboriginal spirituality is built on this deep sense of relationship with the Creator Being in exactly the same way the ancient Hebrews were. Causality belongs to God and we are to respond to it with the totality of our being. Modern man lives by the myth that he/she has had some influence on their existence. That somehow each of us is responsible for where we are in life and therefore are entitled to make the decisions about what we do with it.

 

Such responsibility is indeed too much responsibility if we think about. If we are indeed fully responsible for who and where we are we are also responsible totally for the impact we have had on self, others and the world. No wonder people collapse under such responsibility.

Elizabeth Farrell writing in the Sydney Morning Herald states it plainly:

"Wealth isn't really wealth. It's really debt.
Everything we have, from jobs to bodies to microchips, we take from the earth. But – and here's the thing - it's not a gift, it's a loan. Everything must be repaid. The ancients knew this, constantly making down payments via death and sacrifice. But for us – more inclined to sacrifice nature than sacrifice to her - the bigger the pile, the greater the debt." 

Recognising our true place as heirs of the promises of God we can commit ourselves to living a life of praise and thanksgiving for we understand who is the source of our being and our existence. All that we have including our success and failures, wealth and poverty, health and sickness are covered by the promises of God that are our inheritance.

 

From this position we are able to commit all we have to God with fear, without the prospect of there never being enough for us. The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Commission echoes the words of Paul by claiming: "In the wake of Christmas, then, the household of faith is freed from its self-preoccupations as it is sent forth into the world to participate in that grand process by which God works throughout Creation toward the energetic 'fullness of time.'

 

On this stewardship Sunday we will take time to consider what the participation in the inheritance that is ours may look like. What will be my weekly gift, what roles and tasks will take on, how will I work within this parish to further the kingdom of God? How will my decisions indeed be a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving?

 

While Paul laid down the challenge, it was up to the Galatians to live it out.  The same goes for each of us today. The challenge s God’s, the response is ours. 

Gratitude

³⁷And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

Many years ago we had set up an outreach service for young people in Brisbane. For a range of reasons we were moving on to another life and the young people decided to throw a party to say farewell. They went around to the shopping centre and returned with a range of goodies. Now one young man put his contribution on the table and I was aware he had no money except his bus fare. I suspected, tightly as it turned out, that he had in old the five finger discount system to acquire his contribution.

I challenged him, and after a little encouragement he admitted he had pinched the goods. I said we have a couple of choices here, take the goods back and apologise and not put anything on the table or spend your bus money and pay for it. Now it was a wet, windy, horrible, no good very badinage of day. He had over 2 miles to walk home. He would have been soaking. Yet he decided he would pay for the goods with his bus money and get wet. His reasoning, you have helped change my life, it is what I need to do. By the way he was 12 and was on charges for being an accessory to arm robbery. There is more to that story than meets the ear.

Gratitude won the day.

Our gospel today is about gratitude. It is about what happens when our lives are broken open and we find a relationship, a community, a person who provides an anchor point in the chaos. All four people depicted in this passage have reasons to be grateful, and, at one level or another they all are. Yet it is the depth of gratitude that matters.

It seems that Jesus suggests that some people will by the nature of their case be more grateful than others. They seem to have had more to be grateful for. Their debts and their past mistakes seem to be in a greater need of recognition and forgiveness than others and therefore they are more grateful. It is obvious isn't it that a reformed alcoholic or drug addict, an excused bankrupt, a welcomed outcast will be more grateful than an ordinary person with an ordinary load of life stuff?

Yet, just perhaps, Jesus is suggesting something else, something more pertinent and challenging for those in the room who thought they could get away with a modicum of gratitude. Most of us have not committed any major 'sins', no murders, sex crimes, child abuse etc. Yes we have at times behaved a bit dodgy but really who hasn't? Therefore we are grateful for the forgiveness of God and the community of the church but we are not about to bring an alabaster jar of ointment to church.

What was the alabaster jar of ointment worth in real terms? It was Life, a fulfilled life is the answer. Such a jar of ointment signified the availability of a young lady for marriage and was given to her by her family. It was her dowry and signified her families wealth. It was Death, and could also be used to anoint bodies of loved ones as a sign of the esteem in which they were held.

This jar of an expensive ointment which is broken and therefore of no further use, is poured out in the totality of love or gratitude. This is no I'll keep some for myself and use what's left over approach to life. This is not about 'well, god knows how grateful I am and that I have worked hard and deserve to keep back some for myself, holidays, children's needs, new house etc, you know how it is. Can't be too careful.'

Next week we will be filing out our pledges, our commitment for weekly giving. It can be a challenging time. Our community is older and smaller but the needs of the wider community and the church community continues to grow. Everything from repairs and maintenance of, wage, new projects to outreach and connect and more need to be funded. In the coming months we face the loss of the ballet school, not a disaster, but a reminder that nothing lasts forever and we will need to make up for the loss of income. 

We are not to panic if we understand like the woman in the gospel that all good things come from God and that God can be relied upon to provide our needs if we demonstrate our love and gratitude through our costly giving.

Simon the Pharisee thought there was no need for more than the cursory application of the conventional rules. He fulfilled his obligations and that was enough. What this woman did was extravagance and drawing attention to herself. Unnecessary in his opinion. Give what convention decrees and keep the rest for yourself was his motto.

Giving to God demands we give to God first, the best, not the leftovers. It is the biblical principle of the first born, the lamb without blemish. And it is hard.

We live in uncertain times. We are living longer, how much money will we need? We are living in an age of adventure and rewarding ourselves with overseas holidays to places we could only dream of when we were young and had children and a mortgage etc. Coming to grips with giving as the outcome of love and gratitude for all we now have asks us to recognise the grace of God that has made all this possible, who gave us the gifts, skills and opportunities necessary to acquire what we now have. And perhaps not taking the overseas trip or extensive Australian holiday.

God does not ask us to leave ourselves destitute, that would be just as foolish and ungrateful. But we are asked to give of our life and our death, the totality of our being, as the women does and to continue to trust in the grace of God to provide for our personal needs.

The young man I referred to in the opening story walked home in the rain. I resisted the temptation to drive him. He had made a decision which had a cost and he bore the cost of getting very wet and soggy out of gratitude of the compassion Gaye and I had shown him. It has remained a powerful image watching him walk joyfully out into the rain, comfortable with himself for he had done all he could do to say thanks. Amen.