II Corinthians 5:16-21

This I believe

Lent 4, March 18, 2007

You know the radio program “This I believe”? On it, people of all ages and walks of life are invited to share what they believe and why. The other day I listened to a 14 year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome describing why he believes respecting differences in people is so important, a value that he has learned by being the object of ridicule. I’ve heard other people at the latter stages of their lives reflecting on the core beliefs that have sustained them through suffering and inspired them to make changes. Few of them speak about directly about personal faith but still it reminds me of the practice of the Church called testimony.

One way people think of church is as a collection of passive people living vicariously off the alleged spiritual experiences of the pastor or priest who doles out knowledge. That paradigm that has led to empty sanctuaries and empty lives. A different way is to think of church is as a gathering of people actively experiencing life together in the Spirit - a community of people bearing witness, offering testimony to the presence of God in their lives. Testimony - telling personal stories - becomes the primary way that faith is shared and people are encouraged.

Elder Lyn Hill and I experienced this with fifty leaders from four congregations in Haiti who had gathered for our seminar on church leadership. Aware of all the bad news often associated with Haiti, I asked them to share with each other the ways that had experienced Good News in their lives. The response was quite moving as one after another stood up to tell stories of God’s presence in their lives often associated with personal healing, encouragement and in a few particular cases forgiveness. It was a great way for us to enter into their lives by experiencing what we hold in common, namely, our life together in the Spirit of risen Christ. On one level on our congregation in Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest in the United States, could not be more different from their congregations in the poorest neighborhoods of the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

Yet, as we told stories to one another about God’s presence in our lives, the things that separate us moved to the background while the One whose Spirit unites us became quite apparent. I believe this is seeing one another with new eyes, as St. Paul says, not merely from a human point of view, but from the point of view of the new creation that God has brought into being.

So this is what I believe:

I believe, Saint Paul got it right, God has reconciled the whole world in Jesus Christ and thus has taken away the sin that separate us from God and one another. I believe that we are inextricably bound together in the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. This new creation is as real as the original creation and the really cool thing is that it becomes visible the more you look for it and live into it.

Living into this new creation is the greatest challenge, isn’t it? I find it easier to look at myself and say, new creation? Ha!, who are you kidding? But, when I actually step into the truth of faith that my life is in Christ – and live from that perspective, namely God’s new creation, rather than this old self – than I am free to practice forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s all about living into what God is doing.

As I left the dentist’s office the other day, the receptionist, all people, said, “be the change you want to see.” Huh? How often does your dental reception say that to you?! What a great way to get a hold of this notion of being a new creature in Christ. Be the change you want to see. Be the new creature that you are in God.

The change I want to be is the forgiveness initiated by God and displayed in the loving Father who races to welcome the prodigal home. Before the prodigal can fall to his knees with sorrow, the father is there, embracing him with generous love. I want to be that forgiveness for others because I have been the prodigal who fell ashamed for my sins and rose alive in the mercy of God. It is because I know in my own life what God can do with a person who is self-centered, self-reliant, bewildered, angry, adrift, and lost – that I want to offer this to everyone. Be the change you want to see. This is another way of saying, you are a new creation, the old has passed away and the new in coming into being. I believe this is the deepest reality.

Do you remember a few years ago when new world order was announced? I believe that was an illusion. I believe the new world order is nothing more than old order, even if is a flat world order, it remains the one we know so well just updated with more efficient technology, global economy and very cool gadgets. It is still an order filled with reality of human sin that continues to weave its path of destruction in our lives and to our planet: division, despair, lust for power and bitter estrangement.

I believe in the new creation where the people of God throw parties welcoming home prodigal sons and daughters, where the broken are mended, where the gifts of the weak heal the weakness of the strong, and everyone finds joy in the feast of forgiveness. This is the new creation for which I am a glad ambassador.

I don’t quite know what ambassadors other than represent the country they serve by delivering messages from their leaders. That means I represent the country of God, along with all of you. I have only one message – be reconciled! Your sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ, the old life is gone, you have nothing lose but your chains. Be reconciled to God!

It is this same message of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God, and nothing else, that renders war a scandal and an offense to the gospel. This is why I believe that all war – even war that reasonable faithful people might believe is just and necessary under some historical circumstances – is an affront to God’s way, which is the way of forgiveness and reconciliation in Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world. Until that message is fully embraced, war, however necessary or just, stands as a counter sign to everything that I believe is true at the deepest level of our common life.

What I believe is the new creation: God is love, forgiveness is real, reconciliation is possible. This is ground of the resurrection. It is holy ground and to walk on it is to be blessed.

This is the testimony of Jesus and Paul and Patrick and Columba and Julian and Dietrich and Teresa and Oscar and countless ordinary folk down through the ages from every race and tongue, along with the martyrs and brave witnesses whose lives make my witness possible.

This I believe.