Be Perfect

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany – Year A

February 23, 2014

Matthew 5: 38-48

[Jesus said:]

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Over the last two weeks I have been spending most of my evenings in front of the television watching the highlights from the Olympics. On the days when I've been home during the day, I've often been watching the events live. Every year it seems there are stories about the triumph of humanity, the triumph of the human spirit. This year is no different.

I was moved this year by the story of an American skeleton racer. Now if you haven't heard of skeleton before, it's actually rather simple, and something I think most of us have done in our youth. Get an old fashioned sled with runners, go to the top of a hill, lie down on your stomach head pointed down the hill, and go. Of course, in the Olympics it's not on a hill, it's on a single lane track, formed completely out of ice. And as fast as we may have been going on our hills in our youth, it's nothing compared to the 60 mph plus speeds achieved by these folk.

Now, the athlete's story I was moved by was Noelle Pikus-Pace. She had retired several years ago, and made the difficult transition from professional athlete to mother. She had 2 young children, and was expecting her third. Unfortunately, that third child was not to be. That tragedy was enough for her to come out of retirement for one final effort, she said she needed to concentrate on something else. She had to balance caring for her young children, her responsibilities at home, and still train well enough to be competitive at an international level. She said the only way she was able to do it was because she knew her family was with her. And they were, after coming back to the sport her family traveled to every race, every competition. When she was training, she was often accompanied by her children. In the end, her return to competition was rewarded by a silver medal, and her first action after her final race was to run into the stands to embrace the family that supported her.

One of the things that was amazing to me was after the four races that made up the competition there was less than a second between gold and silver; in fact less than 2 seconds total time was the difference between first and seventh place. The tiniest little mistake literally may have been the difference between winning a medal or going home empty-handed. When a race comes down to tenths, sometimes hundreds of a second, perfection matters. A little slip here, a wobble there and all can be lost. In the Olympics, and perhaps sometimes in life perfection matters.

I remember growing up how I sometimes heard coaches and teachers respond to my complaining of having to do something over and over, “Practice makes perfect.” We all know there is some truth in that. If we want to get better at something, we need to do it often. When I was learning to play my trombone I had to practice, and the more I practiced the better I got. It wouldn't have been possible for me to just pull it out of the case and play a piece of music if I hadn't done the hard work of practicing first. Yet, even then, I can honestly say that perfection was something that I never achieved in playing my trombone. In fact, perfection is something I don't think I can claim having achieved in anything, except in one area: I have a perfect track record in not being perfect.

When I was reflecting on the texts for this week, I kept being drawn to the final words of our Gospel lesson, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus has just finished laying out a rather long list of statements and re-statements of teachings, we've heard them for the last few weeks. Don't be angry with your neighbors, turn the other cheek, love your neighbor, give more than what is asked. In and of themselves some of these are hard enough. And then, to top it off, almost like frosting on the cake, Jesus declares almost offhandedly, “Oh and by the way, Be perfect!” No pressure there.

I know in my own life, there are times when my behavior, the things I do and think, are far from the perfection that Jesus seems to be asking of us. Does he really expect us to be perfect? Is it even possible? Or is it just another one of those times when the whole point is to make us realize we can't be perfect and so we have no choice but to turn and run toward God's grace?

As so often happens, the answer may lie in how we understand the word perfect. The word we translate as perfect comes from the Greek word telos, a word that implies goal, end or purpose. It's not so much about being perfect, but “about becoming what was intended, accomplishing one's God-given purpose in the same way that God constantly reflects God's own nature and purpose.”¹ Jesus is essentially telling those listening to him, “You are children of the Kingdom, you are part of the living out of God's reign here on earth, act like it. Be who you were created to be.”

Jesus knows that the challenges he has laid out are difficult. He knows because he has to do them too. He had to put one foot in front of the other as he traveled to Jerusalem and the cross, enduring shame and accusations. He gave his life for the very people that crucified him, he loved those who hated him. He understands just how hard it is to love those who hate us, how hard it is to share of our bounty rather than to hold on to it, he knows how hard it is to forgive rather than to hold on to the pain, he knows how hard it is to love rather than hate, to heal and comfort one another rather than to hurt. He knows. And yet, he tells us, “Be perfect.” Be complete, be fully who you are called to be, who you were created to be.

He knows how hard it is, but he doesn't want us to just pick and choose the things we think or know we can do. If we only do the things we know we can do, and shrug off those we know are difficult it's not living into the desires that God has for us. When we pick and choose, our first concern is really ourselves – making sure we successfully show God that we did something right. When we do that, we don't put God first, we don't trust God – we trust ourselves first. And that is worse that doing and failing. At least when we do and then fail in our doing, our first thought was God rather than us.

God loves you. Believe it! Really, God does. God truly, madly, deeply, loves and cares for you. Do you believe it? The challenge of faith is to live our lives as testimonies to that belief. If we believe God truly loves us, then for us to do and fail doesn't matter – God loves us. Yet, if we live our lives only trying to do that which we think we can, avoiding that which is difficult or hard, where is our trust? Where is our love? Ultimately, it is centered in our selves, not in God. Our loving God would rather us to fail in our doing, than to never try to do. It's about being who we were created to be.

Nearly 1700 years ago, one of the early church father's used the sharing of bread and wine in Communion to make this point clear. Saint Augustine in the words he used in his communion service added a simple sentence during distribution: "Receive who you are. Become what you've received.” The words of Augustine were not so much a challenge, as they were a promise. Augustine was declaring that in the sharing of Communion people were receiving the promise of Christ, that they were children of God, and they were being called to become the children of God they were.

Being a child of a parent is sort of a unique thing. We are all the results of a combination of DNA and chance and God's creative impulse. There are things about us that are like our father, and there are things about us that are like our mother, and bits that remind us of other members of our families going back generations. Perhaps it's our nose, our hair, the way we walk; but we are all a combination. We can't choose which parts of us are what make us, that would be a total denial of who we are as the children of our parents. Being a child of God isn't something you can do partway, pick and choose the parts you like and don't like. It's about being fully a child of God, it's about being the complete child of God, the perfect child of God you are and were created to be.

One of my favorite movie series is Star Wars, some people think it's a perfect story; I wouldn't go that far. I've seen all of the movies multiple times. One of my favorite characters is Yoda. The short, green-skinned, pointy-eared, master of the Force who teaches Luke Skywalker to use the special abilities the force gave him. In one scene, in the middle of his training, Yoda tells Luke to use the force to lift a small spaceship out of the waters of a bog in which it was trapped. Luke fails to lift the ship from the mud it was trapped in, and begins to make excuses about how he tried but he just wasn't strong enough. Yoda looks at him and says, “Do or do not...there is no try.” I think that's what Jesus was also saying.

Be who you are, not partway, not sometimes, be who you are. Do it, don't try to do it and only go part way. Do, and trust God when you fail in your doing, knowing that God forgives and loves you even in the failing to do. As Eugene Peterson says in his translation, "You are kingdom people, blessed and beloved by God and called to be salt and light in the world. Go, be who you are!" Amen.

1http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1523

Wiggle Room

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – Year A

February 16, 2014

Matthew 5:21-37[Jesus said:] "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."

If you're like me, and I'm pretty sure at least on this point you are, we are ready for all this winter stuff to just end. The snow can stop falling from the sky – regardless of how pretty it is, and how much we could use the moisture. The temperature can definitely go up 20 or 30 degrees and I doubt many of us will be complaining. I am so looking forward to waking up in the morning and not having to wonder about clearing the driveway. I want to be able to head out on my errands and responsibilities without feeling like I am wearing half my closet just to keep warm. I can't wait for the day when I can wear my flip-flops and shorts again. I am looking forward to that day in the next month or so when I can throw open the windows of the house for the first time and clear out all the stale winter air.

Winter is a tough time to be a parent. When it is as cold outside as it has been this winter, it's not easy to send the kids outside to play in the snow; it's just too cold. Unfortunately, that means for the last few months our kids have had to spend a lot of time inside, trapped in the confines of the house. Last week I talked with one of the teachers at the Elementary School, and she said the kids are all acting like caged animals – itching to run, yet unable to play outside because of the cold. And of course, their being inside hasn't done wonders for the sanity and peace of us parents. I think there have been times when we have all sent our kids outside, even if it was perhaps a bit too cold to do so.

I was so thankful this past Wednesday that the temperature began to rise ever so slightly. We were going to take advantage of the warm temps (isn't it depressing when we describe 15 degrees as warmer?) to walk to school. Now, walking to school is something that takes a few minutes longer than driving, so we had to ensure we got going just a few minutes earlier than normal. Walking also meant that everyone had to have their winter gear on.

Well as often happens we were running just a few minutes late. I told the girls to put on their snow pants and get ready to leave. A few minutes later when I checked on them they were still not ready to leave. They had their snow pants on, but not their boots or their coats. I asked them why they weren't ready yet and they responded, “You only told us to put our snow pants on” Aargh!! There are times I really get frustrated with my kids, and their tendency to be really literal in following directions is one of the things that can really frustrate me.

You tell them to pick up their rooms, and they tell you they can't because their room is too big, or too heavy. You give them instructions or verbal discipline, and because you only used one of their names, it's seen as only applying to the one who has been named. You tell them to clean up their floor in the bedroom, and everything gets moved from the floor onto the beds. You tell them to clean their room, and everything ends up in the closet. Aargh!

Children are sometimes a little too good at being human. As human beings we tend to do things by the rules – exactly what the rules say. There is always a little room somewhere for debate about what the rules are. Like a child looking for wiggle room in instructions on cleaning their room, or getting dressed. The speed limit is 65, yet don't we all just assume there is a little wiggle-room there? The owners manual for our car tells us that we are to follow a pretty specific schedule when it comes to oil changes, filter changes, rotating tires, etc. Yet, how often do we really follow them, instead seeking whatever wiggle-room we can find?

In matters of faith, we tend to try and find the wiggle-room too. Scholars will delve into the ancient languages and texts, seeking to determine what was meant exactly; what did the words that are used mean in the context and culture in which they were written? And how does that understanding impact the way we understand the passage – which normally means wiggle-room. If you think this is a tendency that is relatively new, it's not. The scholars in Judaism have been discussing and arguing about what exactly is meant by different passages, and different laws.

The Old Testament tells us to avoid doing labor on the Sabbath, so as to keep it holy our of reverence to God. So what is work? Is opening the gate to allow your donkey out work? Is pouring water into a cup work? Is making the bed work? Or is work something else? The scribes and pharisees would go round and round for years arguing about just one small thing that was to be found in the law. They would be seeking clarification, but they would also be seeking wiggle-room.

Today we continue our reading of the Sermon of the Mount, with Jesus addressing some specific issues where there seems to have been some discussion about what exactly was meant by the law. In and of itself, there isn't anything bad about trying to determine what it is God (and Jesus) desire of us in the way we live our lives. It's good to have guidance, to have some idea about what is right and what isn't. Can you imagine what life would look like if there weren't rules of some kind? The danger lies in making the adherence to rules and expectations more important than they are meant to be. When we make the rules of utmost importance we end up on the dead-end road of legalism.

In our text today, it seems to me that Jesus is delivering a rather strongly worded teaching against literalism. Jesus seems to be pointing out that we need to look at the spirit of the Law rather than trying to find out exactly what the law is saying – and thus discover its wiggle-room. In his words Jesus is revealing that at the heart of these rules and at the heart of his teaching is relationships – the relationship between God and us and the relationships we have with each other.

Because most of us were raised within the church, we forget sometimes how different our God is than a great majority of the gods that have been worshiped though human history. The God we look to is not the god of philosophers who sits unmoved in the heavens. Our God is not the god of the Greeks who looked at humans as barely more than things to be played with and manipulated. Our God is not the god of eastern religions that is our spiritual guide, or the director of our fates, our karma. No, the God we worship is a God that cares deeply about us, who loves us. Our God cares about the relationship we have with God and cares deeply and passionately about our relationships with each other, about the way we treat each other. God cares because God loves each of us much.

So, when Jesus speaks to the crowds he does so from a position of love, from a position that reflects the love and care God has for each and every one of us. Of course God doesn't want us to kill each other. But Jesus explains that God's desire is deeper and stronger than that. If we just avoid killing one another, we can still hate each other passionately and feel that we are doing okay; at least we aren't killing someone else. But, what does that say about the relationship? Jesus' concern is the relationship, and the ways in which we have found wiggle-room in just avoiding killing each other. God desires relationships where we treat one another with respect, where we avoid speaking words of hate to or about another.

Jesus doesn't congratulate those present because they have avoided having an affair, he points out that it's never right to look at another person as an object. As the phrase goes, “I'm a person, not a piece of meat!” Another woman or man, as handsome or as beautiful as they are, are people first, are people that are God-created and God-loved first. We are not to see them as means of satisfying our physical desires, lusting after them. When we do so, even when we avoid adultery itself, we have demeaned and objectified the other person; and the relationship that God desires for us is destroyed.

Marriage is a covenant that is entered into that is meant to endure. It's not something that is disposable when we get bored, or unhappy. In Jesus' time marriages were often things of convenience, and they were far from the union of two equal parties. A man who married one woman, then divorced and remarried was not looked on as being somehow flawed. But, if a woman were to be married, and then divorced, she would likely never marry again. Her divorce meant she was most-likely literally out on the street with no way to support herself and any children she may have had. Alimony was not something that was known. The relationship of marriage should be cared for and tended to, and following the letter of the law yet not caring for the most vulnerable does damage to God's desires.

Speaking in truth should not be something that requires an oath before we do it. If we need to promise to tell the truth or else, in order to ensure that we are in fact telling the truth it's a sad commentary on our lives, and our relationships with one another. We should strive to be honest with one another, to speak the truth in love to each other. To not do so is to disrespect those we are in relationship with.

Jesus wants us to see that following the letter of the law, looking for the wiggle-room, and ignoring the effect we can have on the lives of others is as bad as not following the letter of the law. In our lives it is more than possible to do business in ways that are completely legal, but that leave workers destitute and unhealthy, to behave in legal ways that destroy and damage our environment. It is possible to lead nations and organizations in ways that are totally within the law, but that serve only ourselves and leave others broken. It is easy to apply the law as a weapon, to learn to use it with lethal accuracy and to manipulate the world to our own agendas with it, and leave victims in our wake. This applies equally to religious and ‘secular’ law. But, when we do this, the law becomes incomplete, broken, a shadow of what it was created for.

Jesus wants his disciples, his followers, us, to be people of integrity, people who are faithful to their promises, people who have no need to swear that they are telling the truth because they are truth-tellers. They should be people who honor their commitments in marriage and who respect the commitments of others. The women and men in their midst are not people to be used and abandoned at will, but fellow disciples. For the church to claim Jesus’ message of God’s kingdom come, it must strive to be the kind of place that reflects that Kingdom. That is our calling that is our duty. May God's Kingdom grow, and may we be good representatives of that Kingdom. Amen.

It's About Love

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – Year A

February 9, 2014

Matthew 5:13-20

[Jesus said:] "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Like many of you, and probably like our kids in Sunday School, there was a song growing up that I always sang whenever this text came up. It was one of those songs that was always at the top of most childrens favorite songs from Sunday School. I think you know which one I am talking about: This Little Light of Mine. The words are simple, and so are the actions. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, No! Won't let Satan, pfoof it out. I'm gonna let it shine.

Last week in our text we heard the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount as it is recorded in Matthew's gospel; the beatitudes. A list of those who are blessed, and what they do. This text follows immediately upon that text. Jesus is speaking to those listening, his disciples, the crowd, and us. Just as the beatitudes are a calling, a challenge for us to be aware of how we live, this text is also a call. Yet, it is more than a call, it is a command. In the text up until this point, there has not been a command. Now, for the first time Jesus gives a command. We don't really catch it in the English, but in the Greek it's clear. Shine! Jesus commands us to shine.

Imagine what it would be like to drive around here without headlights, and without streetlights. It wouldn't be easy. Sure, we would have the lights inside our cars, the lights in the businesess and houses; yet our cars would be without lights to light our path and there would be no streetlights to show us corners, or the edge of streets, or potholes that would break an axle, or great big bumps in the road that would jar the teeth out of our heads. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would be doing a whole lot of driving around at night. I would limit myself to driving only in good conditions, when I could see clearly everything around me: where I was going, what I was passing, and what was coming toward me. I would be incredibly grateful for any light that would come my way, to guide my path.

Jesus makes it clear from our text that we are to be bearers and sharers of the light in a world that is cloaked in darkness. We are the headlights and streetlights in this crazy world, and the light that we produce is the light of Christ. The church, our faith, is the place where that light is coaxed into being, where we discover how to shine the light, where the darkness is scattered, where people discover the joy and peace that comes from being in the light. The world is far from being a place where we are confident of our path, where we know where we are going, the world is desperate for something to break into the darkness. The church should be doing really well since we have a light to share. Yet, the Christian church is not doing so well. Especially here in the United States, the number of people who are leaving the church far eclipses the number of people coming to the church.

What is going on? Do people no longer feel the need for light? Is the world suddenly not as dark? Well, when I look around, the world still often seems very frightening and full of things that go bump in the night of our lives. So the world isn't better. And based on the number of self-help books and the number of people who are buying them, the hunger to know how to be at peace in this world certainly hasn't shrunk. So what's going on? The church should be strong, yet it seems to grow weaker with each passing year. More and more people are looking to the church, to the Christian faith as being out-of-touch, as not having anything to contribute that will actually alleviate the hunger, the need we feel.

One of the interesting things that I've noticed is that pretty much everyone, both those who go to church and those who don't, all agree on one thing: Jesus was a pretty awesome dude. All of us like the things he did, the things he said. All of us believe he set a great standard for living. Yet, something breaks down after that. People like Jesus, but they don't like the church. Whether we want to admit it or not, a lot of us followers of Jesus, us bearers of the light, haven't been doing such a great job of sharing the light.

600 years before Jesus there was a man who told great stories. His name was Aesop. One of his well-known stories involves a boy that cried wolf. I think we know it well. A boy is sent out to watch over the flocks of sheep, to protect them from dangers of all kinds. Now, being a shepherd can be a solitary life, and the boy gets lonely. He knows that if he raises an alarm, the town-folk will come running and his boredom will be gone. So he cries out, he raises the alarm, “Wolf! Wolf!” And the town folk coming running to his aid, only to discover that there was no danger to the flock. He does this several times, each time the people come running to protect him, and each time they find nothing warranting their response. Then, a pack of wolves finally appear. The boy cries out, “Wolf! Wolf!” Yet, because he has mislead them in the past about how important his cries were, his cries this time are ignored, and the flock is destroyed.

Is it possible that like the boy who cried wolf, the situation in the church is a result of us shining a light that people find to be misleading? Have we metaphorically cried wolf a little too often? We all know the light we have to share is the light of the world, the light that does indeed bring salvation and peace in this crazy world. But, our message is somehow being lost because of the ways in which we are sharing it.

If we were to do a survey and ask people who are not in the church, and maybe people who are, what are some of the things about the church today that makes them not want to associate themselves with it, I believe there are some basic answers that we would hear. Now, I want to make sure you hear me when I say this, there is nothing wrong with the message we have, there is nothing wrong with the light we have to share; it is the message of salvation, it is the light of God. After all, Jesus declares that we are the light of the world. What I'm wondering is if perhaps the ways in which we have shared and lived out that message, the ways in which we have shone that light may be in need of some improvement.

Here are 6 common responses about the church:

1. The church is seen as judgmental, prideful, self-righteous, thinking itself better than others.
2. We are hypocritical.
3. We are more interested in saving someone than loving them.
4. We are out of touch with reality, old fashioned, and isolated from the ways of the world.
5. We are intolerant of those that we see as different.
6. We are too political, we are seen as using politics, and a bully pulpit, to force our beliefs and morals on other people.

Whether we want to admit it or not, there is truth in every single one of those statements. There is a reason behind why we may be perceived in these ways. We are called to be the light of the world, we are commanded to shine. So, let's shine up our lights and shine. This isn't about scrapping the message, saying that what we believe is wrong. This is about living the way our faith, our beliefs, and our savior Jesus Christ calls us to live. It’s the true face of Christianity we must show the world, if God is to use us to accomplish his good and perfect will.

To overcome the label of being judgmental, full of pride, self-righteous. We must be authentic, we must practice true humility. We have to strive to treat others not as “sinners” to be condemned, but as other people created in our Father's image and loved by him. We must show grace to others. We must find ways to support those who lives are less than perfect rather than criticizing their choices, status, or situation. It's about loving other people genuinely, loving them unconditionally.

We must ensure that what we ask of others in their lives, we also ask of ourselves. If we desire to have our times and moments of failure be forgiven, then we also must be forgiving of others when they stumble. Only in doing that can we avoid the label of hypocrite. Only when we are willing to admit our own sinfulness, our own failings, and declare that we are no better than anyone else, that no sin is worse or more sinful than another will we be able to counter the charge of being intolerant of differences.

We must love people. We can't reach out to them just for the sake of their salvation. We must love them. Jesus loved the whole world, gave himself to the whole world; even though not all people would respond to what he did. He did it out of love. We too must be driven by love for our neighbors and not just a desire to see them saved, or see their lives somehow made better.

It can be tempting in the church, to look at the world as being too dark to deal with; tempting to lock ourselves up away from the world and those we disagree with. It can be easy to hold on to the things we have done, to embrace the things we have always done. “There is an important difference between building on the tradition (what has been handed down to us, and what we will hand down to our descendants) and keeping our focus frozen on the past, forgetting that God is in truth doing a new thing today, in this world, in this time.”¹ We can, and must, back up our beliefs with evidence. We can show how science and Christianity can coexist. We have to promote not just “family values” but the value and benefit of holding those values. We must be like Jesus: engaging with non-believers instead of living within our secure circle of believer friends.

We cannot allow our security, our confidence become a force that alienates others. We must strive for respectful listening and dialog. We can't just declare ourselves against something, we must promote what we are for. There are ways in which we can protect our rights politically and legislatively, without focusing on reducing or limiting the rights of others with different beliefs and morals. We can support positions and legislation that is consistent with our beliefs, without trying to silence or overwhelm opposing views within our church/ranks.

Jesus said that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Later in his ministry, when he was asked about the law, about what was of utmost importance in the law he responded: “Love the Lord your God, with a ll your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets can be summed up in these.” That is the fulfillment of the law that Jesus is talking about: love.

If we can allow love to be that which is seen and experienced most in our light, then we will truly be able to be the light of the world. I saw a great quote last week: “If your theology doesn't lead you to love people more, you should question your theology.” May God guide us in love that the world may be filled with the light of God. Amen.

1http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/february-9-2014.html