Saying 'Yes" to Community--A Quality of Heart

The Reading—Philippians 2: 1-7, 12-16a If our life in Christ means anything to you—if love, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness or sympathy can persuade you at all—then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing that would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit, but everybody is to be humble: value others over yourselves, each of you thinking of the interests of others before your own. Your attitude must be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Chris, though in the image of god, didn’t deem equality with God something to be clung to—but instead became completely empty and took on the image of oppressed humankind: born into the human condition, found in the likeness of a human being… Therefore, my dear friends, you who are always obedient to my urging, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not only when I happen to be with you, but all the more now that I’m absent. It is God at work in you that creates the desire to do God’s will. In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing; prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, child of God beyond reproach, in the midst of a twisted and depraved generation—among which you shine like stars in the sky, while holding fast to the work of life. The Middle Reading—Community—a Quality of the Heart—Fr. Henri Nouwen The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own The question, therefore, is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?" The Gospel Reading: Luke 6: 20-23 Looking down at the disciples, Jesus said: “You who are poor are blessed, for the reign of God is yours. You who hunger now are blessed, for you’ll be filled. You who weep now are blessed, for you’’’ laugh. You are blessed when people hate you, when they scorn and insult you and spurn your name as evil because of the chosen one. On the day they do so, rejoice and be glad: your reward will be great in heaven, for their ancestors treated the prophets the same way. Saying Yes to Community: A Quality of Heart 1-27-13 God, we pray for those away from us this day—keep them in our hearts. Thank you for showing us the way to love and the way of community. May we hear your voice and respond with a resounding “yes” as you call us to be your church. Amen One day this week, I was watching the reporting about a snow storm that had dumped 6 inches of wet snow in a state (and no I don’t remember which one) that doesn’t usually get much snow. Not only did it wreck havoc on travel it caused the area to be faced with the unwelcome job of shoveling very heavy, wet and slushy snow that would soon turn to ice. Once commentator, with insight that exceeds most commentators, I think, showed a video of the trees along I-40. Mostly pine, an interesting sight occurred in those trees. Some of the trees were very close together and the snow on those trees bent them nearly double. But they were growing so close together, that they were virtually laying on top of each other—one bent tree holding up the heavy limbs of the next. The trees that were not growing close to other trees, simply snapped from the weight of the snow. The commentator noted that if he were a tree in this storm, he would hope to be among the trees growing close enough together to be able to bear the weight of their neighbor tree. It got me to thinking about this sermon and how that picture of those bent trees relying on the strength of the neighboring trees reminded me of a community that is, somehow, not unlike us. What, exactly, is community? What does it mean to be “in community” and what does it mean to be community? Paul gives us as good a definition as any I could find: “be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind”. Let’s look at each one of these four components in greater detail. • United in convictions—As for our convictions, we need go no further than to the core values of our denomination—those core values which we have vowed to hold up as a standard by which we measure our own ministries and the actions of this expression of the Body of Christ called Open Circle. Here is a quick paraphrase of those values. o Inclusion—Because love is the moral value which determines our actions all of our ministries and actions must work against exclusion. Open Circle will be a place where love invites all to this family of God. I would add this—it is not enough to merely “be” inclusive, we must work to find those who are excluded from other places of worship and ministry and make sure they are invited and included here.. o Community—All of MCC desires to offer a safe an open community for people to worship, learn and grow in their faith. Our study of the nature and purpose of community grows out of this core value.. o Spiritual Transformation—The freedom to love and be loved by God and others is new to many either because of past religious environments or the belief that God and Gay or God and Bi or God and Liberal don’t go together. We know and proclaim differently. o Social Action—Less talk and more doing is our desire with regard to social action. Our commitment to Global Human Rights means that while working locally, we never forget the work of MCC worldwide I am grateful to the founders and leaders of MCC for developing these principles. They guide and direct our local convictions. As we become more and more united around these and other moral principles, decisions become easier, clearer, and the decision-making process becomes more transparent and representative of all our voices. • Paul’s second component is “United in love”. Let me tell you a story that will perfectly illustrate how we work to be a sacred multiple union of love. The last few days, I have spent many hours with our dear Annie as she is making her journey to her God. Much of the time, I do nothing more than hold her hand. She squeezes hard on my hand as I tell her how much you all love her. I want you to know that the all-embracing love of Open Circle is so strong in her room that you can literally feel it. And both she and I know that the healing and peaceful energy that she feels coming from my hand is far more than from just her pastor. We both know that it is the love and concern of an entire community that flows from my spirit to hers. She is walking home along a path that is lined by this entire congregation and she feels you making the sacred path clear and safe and smooth. This is the love that sustains us in these times and in others. Love seems to come easier than anything else for most of us. We must allow the other three components to be informed by the great love that we have for each other. Our love for each other is what people feel as they walk through the doors of Open Circle—may we always focus on that love and use it to motivate us to grow through some of the harder parts. • Paul then calls us as a Christian community to have a “common purpose”. Aha, here is where the road gets a little tougher for most of us. The quote from Fr. Henri Nouwen leads us to the question that we must ask. You will remember that he said, “… community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. “ Let us take just a moment and try to really get into that brief, yet revolutionary sentence. Do we have spiritual knowledge, or do we know in our spirits that we are not alive for ourselves but we are alive for one another? Think back to my little parable of the pine trees full of snow. Those pine trees that grew alone snapped under the weight of the snow. They may have been the tallest, most beautiful, strongest pine trees in the forest, but none of that mattered when the going or the snowing got tough. All that mattered for survival was the ability of one pine tree already bent double under the snow to uphold the weight of the neighbor tree. At that point , perhaps a rare point, but very real in the lives of these trees—their own interests were useless, alone they snapped in two. Once we catch hold of this spiritual truth—that we live not for ourselves but for others, our lives take on a new meaning. Our focus changes from “what do I want, or what’s this going to get me” to “how will this program, ministry, leadership role, whatever, influence the lives of others and bring them closer to the blessed knowledge that that are loved and accepted by the God who created them. • Paul’s final component is that we are all of a Common mind. Does this mean that we will all think the same way or never disagree? Alas, it does not. It means that we will all make a commitment to coming together—all working toward the other three components and being willing to negotiate and sacrifice in order to reach agreement and excitement about plans. I believe that Paul is also calling us to a model of supportive negotiation—meaning that when we come together and make a decision we, for the good of our community, support that decision and work to see it through to fruition. In one last sentence, Nouwen pulls it all together for us. He says, “Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own. The question, therefore, is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?" Let me tell you another story. A student asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what was the earliest sign of civilization in any culture. He expected the answer to be a cooking pot or tool or implement of some kind. What she said surprised him. “A healed femur” was her response. She went on to explain that no mended bones are found when the law of the jungle is the “survival of the fittest.” A healed femur indicates that someone cared enough to take care of this person—to hunt and gather for this person until the leg is healed. That shows compassion—the willingness to put another’s needs first or to make them at least as important as our own. As our nurturing and giving hearts are developed through our own personal spiritual transformation and spiritual maturity—compassion, care for the other—will guide all that we do and all that we are. And with Paul, we agree that when we gratefully allow God to work in and on our hearts we will become those who “shine like stars in the shy, while holding fast to the work or life. Amen and amen.