Meditating on Proper 24: The Glory of God

 

Proper 24    

The Sunday closest to October 19

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed
your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your
mercy, that your Church throughout the world may
persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Preface of the Lord's Day

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There are three dimensions to the Christian faith: Beliefs, Behaviors, and Belonging. This is true for most faiths (or at least I can’t think of any exceptions). For some reason the Church founders felt it necessary to codify some particular beliefs in the form of the creeds (from a Latin word that means “I believe”). This drive for “right” belief has led, over the years, to so many atrocities (in the “Name” of God or Christ) that it is a wonder that anyone ever chose to embrace the faith over these intervening centuries.

I suppose much of that is due to the third dimension referenced above, the desire to “belong.” There was a time when one needed to belong to the local church if they were going to find work or get ahead. I interviewed for a two-point charge one time where the two churches were literally a mile or less apart. One parish was home to mine owners and shop keepers, and the other one was home to mine workers and shop staff. Any priest called to serve was little more than a wishbone over which the two parishes tugged for sport (more than mutual support). 

The second dimension to one’s faith is Behavior. That’s simply another way of describing how we act or behave – our rituals in worship and how we are expected to relate to one another and do things. It might refer to a dress-code or avoiding certain kinds of food; avoiding people considered “unclean” and things like that. 

No matter how open and welcoming a faith community might believe itself to be, there are people and behaviors they will struggle to be open and welcoming towards, and that’s OK. It was and is a survival strategy  that was handed down and developed by our species, and as ugly as some of those behaviors can be, they served us well when we were hunters and gatherers and needed to find ways to protect ourselves from what we perceived to be predatory nations, tribes, and peoples. Our fear of the other often blinded us to our own predatory nature, which is one reason Christ Jesus came into the world – to be and to show us a better Way, to show us there are new ways of relating and responding to the world around us.

This is why our prayer today is so important. We confess that God has revealed Divine glory to the nations (“ethnos” – peoples) in Christ. If there is a behavior God expects of us, it is to be Christ-like, not Pharaoh-like, or Caesar-like. It is to be a peacemaker, not a warmonger. It is to be a healer, not an abuser. It is to be a life-giver, not a life taker. It is to be an other-lover, not an other-hater. It is to be a child of God, not a godless brat!

How is the glory of God revealed? Through God’s mercy! God does not just show mercy to we few, we precious few, we happy few, we baptized and washed denizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. No, the glory of God is revealed through God’s mercy extended to all humanity and all creation. And why does God extend divine mercy? So that we may be given the strength and courage we need to overcome our nihilistic tendencies. As Jesus teaches us in the parable of the unforgiving slave (Matthew 18:23ff), God extends mercy in order that we might extend mercy, as well. Mercy requires us to be humble and  just (as Micah tells us).

I worry that we are too quick to judge and too quick to assume the worst about the other (person, community, group, nation, tribe) and too quick to absolve ourselves of responsibility for contributing to many of our world’s woes. Our prayer asks God to strengthen us in order that our faith may be more steadfast (not faith as in “believing” but as in actions that are consistent with the life of our Savior) – the means by which we engage our faith in Christ’s (and God’s) Name. 

We need to be more patient and more deliberate in practicing, not our piety, but God’s mercy. We need God to remove the blinders from our eyes, just as Christ removed the scales from Paul’s eyes once he got to Damascus. Was it God’s healing of Paul’s blindness that converted him from a persecutor of the faith to a proponent? Perhaps, but I often think it is just as likely the conversion came about because one fearful soul (Ananias) set aside his fear of the man who had come to arrest him and other followers of The Way, and shared what he knew about Jesus, and the Way, and about this new approach to God and neighbor. Saul/Paul listened, was healed, and came to believe. Eventually he also came to belong.

Believe, Behave, Belong. That seems to be the Jesus Way for which we pray this day, and always. Lord have mercy. Amen.