You\u2019re in the house; you hear a noise. You listen: silence, broken by the question, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d That\u2019s common at our house. It\u2019s two stories, three with the basement. If someone comes in and you\u2019re upstairs, if someone is doing laundry in the basement, and you didn\u2019t know anyone else was home, you call out, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That question is a fundamental one, isn\u2019t it? We\u2019re social creatures; we may like some time to ourselves but we all want eventually to know someone else is there, that we\u2019re with someone else. So we fling out this question to the universe, to creation: \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe heavens are telling the glory of God,\u201d Psalm 19 declares, \u201cthe firmament proclaims God\u2019s handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night declares knowledge.\u201d This is the great poetic imagining of creation\u2019s conversation. The subject is the glory of God; the audience is everyone listening. Are you listening? Who\u2019s there?, we ask and creation flings back this answer: \u201cThe heavens are telling the glory of God.\u201d Listen up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surely we don\u2019t listen to this conversation nearly enough. In worship, in work, we focus on ourselves: what are we going to do, what should we do. But listen to God\u2019s Word closely and there are an amazing amount of words that have nothing to do with us, they are about creation itself. Genesis begins with light and dark, land and sea, and only at the end comes to human beings, almost as an afterthought. When God decides to start over, the means is a flood, a literal undoing of the ordering of the waters from which creation proceeded and human beings are saved so they can save the animal kingdom. When God intervenes in history in the Hebrew scriptures, again and again it\u2019s through great natural, creation centered events: a reversal of waters that lets the people of God escape their oppressors, a drought that brings forward a prophet. Who\u2019s there?\u2014the heavens are telling the glory of God and all we have to do is listen to hear the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d We\u2019re social creatures, we need each other, so we create communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
when Sociologist Margeret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. She reversed the question back to her students. They offered examples of when humans formed tools like shovels, fish hooks, cookware, and grinding stones.<\/p>
She listened patiently and then said, \u201cThese were important advancements, but they do not speak to civilization, our ability to live together in authentic community.\u201d<\/p>
She went on to say that she considered the first signs of civilization in an ancient culture to be a femur (thighbone) that had broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal world if you break your leg, you die. You can\u2019t run from danger. You can\u2019t find food. You can\u2019t access water. You become the prey. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.<\/p>
A broken femur that has healed suggests that someone has taken the time to stay with the fallen one, has bound and treated the wound, has carried that person to safety, and has cared for that person during recovery.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Healing someone through difficulty is the beginning of a civilized culture. It means someone was there, someone helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Healing communities is one answer; another is teams. By teams, I mean all those groups who identify together. I\u2019m from Michigan and the two most important teams among Michigan colleges are Michigan State, whose team colors are green and white, and the University of Michigan, blue and gold. Years ago, Jacquelyn bought me a lovely winter coat. It was warm, had lots of pockets, fit perfectly but there was just one thing: it was blue with gold accents. I went to Michigan State. I can\u2019t wear blue and gold. Of course, I did wear it for years; we were in Connecticut, it was safe, no one knew about the teams. But sure enough, when we moved to Michigan, as soon as it got cold and I put on my winter coat, someone asked me what I was doing wearing blue and gold. Wrong team, wrong colors. I had to wear something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul is telling us his team in this part of the Philippians. His terms may be just as obscure as green and white, blue and gold, to someone out of Michigan but the people there would have understood him. Listen to what he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- circumcised on the eighth day,<\/strong> – he had a bris,
the signature ritual of inclusion for Jewish men<\/li>- a member of the people of Israel<\/strong> – this is his nationality<\/li>
- of the tribe of Benjamin<\/strong> – this is his tribe, like saying he\u2019s a New Yorker. Benjamin is one of the two tribes that formed the Jewish nation.<\/li>
- a Hebrew born of Hebrews<\/strong> – he\u2019s not a convert, he\u2019s second generation<\/li>
- as to the law, a Pharisee<\/strong> – this is a religious tribe within Judaism,
it\u2019s like saying he\u2019s an evangelical <\/li>- as to zeal, a persecutor of the church<\/strong> – Paul started out as a district attorney, prosecuting Christians<\/li>
- as to righteousness under the law, blameless<\/strong> – no sins on his permanent record<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Seven signs to draw his identity. Paul is speaking to a church that divided into tribes. Some follow one person, some another. Possibly some grew up Jewish; some grew up Gentile. Some are Greek, some are from other places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s giving his resume, his tribe. Haven\u2019t we all done this? \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d \u201cI went to school at Harvard\u201d, \u201cWe\u2019ve been going to this church over 50 years\u201d, and so on and so on. Paul is a remarkable man. It\u2019s an amazing list, really, someone everyone would respect and admire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So his next statement is shocking: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Wow: all rubbish, his pedigree, his upbringing, he degrees, his accomplishments, his membership and position in the religious world. It\u2019s all something to throw away.\u2014t\u2019s all rubbish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we\u2019re met on World Communion Sunday, a celebration that began as a reaction to Christian tribalism. For centuries, Christians divided up over all kinds of issues: power, liturgy, what kind of instruments to use in worship, what kind of clothing clergy should wear, whether there should be clergy, what kind of furniture to have in the church, who could be a church member, race, gender, who people love. You name it, Christians have divided over it. Most of this has nothing to do with Jesus Christ; most of it makes as much difference as whether your hat is green and white or blue and gold. This is the testimony of the Bible: it\u2019s rubbish. What\u2019s important is being found in Christ, living from the mind of Christ, loving in the name of Christ. That\u2019s what Paul means by \u201cgaining Christ\u201d. He means making Christ more important than all the rubbish, more important than your tribe, more important even than you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We haven\u2019t always done that. Fred Craddock talks about his first church, a little church in a rural area. When a highway was built nearby, a trailer park sprung up for the workers and their families. He was a young minister and I guess he didn\u2019t understand about tribes because he suggested to his deacons that they should do something to invite those people. After he pushed on the issue, the church met to discuss it. They voted on it, they voted to require that anyone own property in the county before they became a member of the church. Craddock moved on. Many years later, after he retired, he was in the area and he went looking for that church. He found it and the parking lot was full, there was a neon sign and a crowd of people. The church had closed long before; it was a barbecue restaurant. I guess the owners didn\u2019t care who bought from them, what tribe they belonged to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Communion reminds us of this one fact: Jesus Christ loved so much he suffered betrayal and crucifixion to inspire love in others. He didn\u2019t care about their tribe; he didn\u2019t care about their hat color. He didn\u2019t care what kind of furniture they used; he didn\u2019t care whether they had a degree or not or whether they were Jews or Gentiles or men or women. He just cared for them. When we receive communion, we\u2019re trading our hats for his cross. \u201cI regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,\u201d Paul says. Can we say it with him? Can we live it with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s nothing wrong with being part of a tribe. I\u2019m a Congregationalist; I love our traditions, our history, our way of worship. But it\u2019s not Christ. It\u2019s like my hat. Do you have a favorite hat? I do\u2014or I should say, I did. Last summer was sailing one day, I looked up as the wind gusted and my hat flew off my head, into Curtis Bay. I tried to do hat overboard but no luck; it was gone. I was a little sad for a moment but then\u2014it\u2019s just a hat. And the wind was fine and the water was beautiful. The heavens were telling the glory of God. That\u2019s what was important: hearing that, feeling it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who\u2019s there? You are\u2014I am\u2014Christ is. Together we are meant to be that healing community that Jesus preached and Mead mentioned,. Today is World Communion Sunday. Today we listen to the world saying, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d Today we forget our tribes, today we remember our furniture and our differences are rubbish next to the surpassing value of being found in Jesus Christ. Today we lift him up, his cross, his life, his invitation to us to live in the community of the kingdom of God where when we ask, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d He answers: I am. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World Communion Sunday 18th Sunday After Pentecost\/A \u2022 October 4, 2020 A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor \u2022 \u00a9 2020 All Rights Reserved Psalm 19 \u2022 Philippians 3:4-14 You\u2019re in the house; you hear a noise. You listen: silence, broken by the question, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d That\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Who's There? - A message of unity for World Communion Sunday","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[260,262],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-unity","tag-world-communion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1156,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}