Sermon for May 13

The reading

Philippians 2:1-13

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The message

A few weeks ago, I did an interview for one of the parents at Rainbow. He had to interview 3 or4 church leaders from different denominations (he’s part of the Presbyterian Church).  He was working on a paper for his seminary course on the relationship between churches, a class focused on how we are doing with Paul’s request, made almost 2000 years ago,  “make my joy complete be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind”.  We talked for 45 minutes or so, about ourselves and our work in the religious and culturally diversity communities of Queens.  After the paper was done, I had a chance to read it and see what I said as well as what the other pastors interviewed said. It was all similar, Yes churches working together is good, Yes, we do some things together, Yes, we know or have a relationship with our neighbors  Yes, it’s really important to know and understand our neighbors in faith. Yes, we look forward to a time when there is less division and less separation between Christian groups, Yes, different churches have a lot of things in common. 

Then, we get to the nos.  The things that separate Christians from each other that we are not willing to overlook. It seems like every person of faith has some limit, some core beliefs we cannot put aside for the sake of making the community or world a little better.  This is nothing new. Paul faced the same challenges as each new Christian prayer group, community and then church that he founded started to absorb other beliefs, incorporate other ideas or listen to other preachers. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians is highly critical of the church there and their habit of believing anything, pleading and praying for them to remain faithful to Jesus’s teachings. There are reports that religious meetings like the Council of Nicea in 325, that the nicean creed come out of, were not sweet and peaceful, even erupting in physical fights between bishops as they debated different beliefs. There were many fringes of the church that were dismissed as heresies and holy books that were rejected because they did not agree with the others. 

Our church comes out of a dispute with the Roman Catholic Church over their teachings.  Starting in 1517, the divisions became wider, more frequent and even violent. (even the reformers, risking everything for change, quickly start disagreeing with each other)  The 500^th anniversary commemorations of the Reformation were filled with leaders from different churches saying, were not that different, while lots of people listening said, yes we are. 

As a person who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church who decided to join another church for some serious reasons, I found myself divided here. I found myself struggling with this issue during an English service with the Fujianese Church as well.  One of the girls in the HS group asked me “Are Catholics saved”?  (I assume someone else had taught them no, our salvation is though Christ alone, faith alone and the Catholic church added things).       

I think of a joke, voted as the funniest religious joke ever (by an internet site that asks those kind of questions i guess) .  It written about 20 years ago by a stand up comic named Emo Phillips (who I never actually heard of until I happened to come across this on a friend’s social media post).  I wanted to make sure I gave him credit for this, since a recent article he wrote complains about churches and pastors always using or changing it without giving him credit.   

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"  He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!" Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over

My first thought was I wonder what the difference between those 2 councils were, why the division. I actually had a hard time finding out what the great lakes region council was and what happened between 1879 and 1912 (the joke comes up hundreds of times but I couldn’t  figure out if this was even a real division between Baptists).  We could easily replace “Baptist” with “Lutheran”, agreeing with someone 10 or 15 times and then asking how do you understand a particular passage in the bible or interpret a few sentences in Luther’s writing and then politely end the conversation (no bridge pushing). 

I think this issue has been around so long because its more about us that about God, or church or what we believe. It is about being right and knowing it all.  God is more merciful, more complex and more welcoming than we can understand or express.  Paul offers a plea for unity (hint, its humility)  and then some practical advice on how to get there: be humble before God, remembering this is not about us. To treat one another with active love, bow to God, confess Jesus Christ is Lord, look at God’s gift of faith and salvation with awe and reverence. He points them to bible, prayer and songs of praise (this section of Phillipians is thought to be the earliest hymn, confession of faith)   

So in case you didn’t notice, I no longer have a beard.  The morning after I shaved, I had the children’s church service at Rainbow in the 3 year old room.  I had the beard since I meet most of the children in September so it was hard for them to recognize me. One of the teachers noticed that without the story bible I use each week, the children would not have recognized me.  They adjusted after a while, as we went through the opening song, prayer and bible story.  I was recognized because of the bible, prayer and songs of praise.   That’s a good start to letting the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.