The Balcony View
Sermon
Living In Hope
Cycle C Sermons for Lent and Easter Based on the Second Lessons
This section of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus is a note of thanksgiving. Paul thanks the church for its faithfulness and for its passion in living out the good news of Jesus. This is an important measure of health, a faithfulness expressed. The other part of the note of thanksgiving is the recognition that the church is living out their faith, by loving, specifically, loving all the saints. Saints was code for other believers in those days. Saints were the people who believed and gathered in faithfulness but it also included those who could not gather whether through illness, injury, poverty, or imprisonment.
Paul celebrated the love the church demonstrated for all the saints. Does the church you gather with love all the saints? Whom do you include? Whom do you exclude?
Maybe you include those who look like, talk like, think like, and worship like you. Maybe you exclude those of a different race or color, of a different political party (yes, I know we aren’t supposed to discuss partisanship in church, but we do.) Maybe you exclude blue-collar or white-collar folks. Maybe you exclude the poor who can’t contribute to the financial health of the church. Maybe you exclude those who are homeless and walk into the church smelling a little or a lot, but who are hungry for inclusion and love. Maybe you exclude those who are mentally ill or challenged and may not behave in ways we understand or generally accept. How about the children who are a little rowdy and disruptive? Maybe we exclude the child on the autism spectrum. Who are you including and who are you excluding ― right down to who you call to be your pastor?
As a conference minister in the United Church of Christ, I speak with a lot of congregations who are seeking a new pastor. We, in the United Church of Christ, have an open call system which means that churches and pastor create profiles. Pastors choose, often based on the church profile, where they want their pastoral profiles sent. Churches review those pastoral profiles and choose who they will interview as they discern who they will call as their next pastor. Not so long ago, I was at the church governing board meeting. As I was talking about who they might be looking for to serve them while they prepared for their search, an odd and funny thing happened ― especially since I am a woman, a pastor, and a conference minister. The chair of the governing board said, “We don’t really want a woman.”
Imagine my surprise. I, the female conference minister helping them discern their interim or supply pastoral needs, was told that only men were welcome. Coincidentally, the majority of the governing board members were women. By the end of our conversation, I had been asked twice if I wanted to serve them. I assured them I had a full-time job, but the paradox was not lost on me. We won’t welcome a woman, but we will ask you both to help us and to come to us.
Who is excluded? Who is included? Which saints do we choose not to love? It’s a sobering question for the church.
The church in Ephesus was being thanked for their love and welcoming for all the saints. As Paul prayed for his church, he asked God’s blessing on them, praying for their wisdom and their continued revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior. He was hopeful that Ephesus would continue to be a community of faith dedicated to spiritual understanding and that their faith would be strengthened and deepened. What a hope for a church!
In my role as a conference minister, sort of like a bishop but in a congregational polity without the ability to direct people or churches into specific decisions, I am often asked to consult with pastors and churches about their futures; about decisions not just about pastors but mission, buildings, mergers, collaborations, and a myriad other parts of church life. I do a lot of training and coaching, but I also do a lot of praying. I pray for pastors who are leading healthy congregations and not so healthy congregations. I pray for church lay leaders struggling to lead or make decisions for and with their congregations. I pray about fractures in the covenantal agreements between pastors and congregations and issues between and among congregation members. In all cases, included in my prayers, is the hope that the church will live into their call as spiritual communities, formed to assist in the birth and deepening of the faith of its members. It is a fervent prayer. It is a prayer filled with hope as I ask God to bless and nurture as well as to lead and nudge congregations into becoming the best and most faithful people they can be. I share the fervency of Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving for those pastors and churches that seem to be focused on their spiritual life, their deepening understanding of God, and the mission in the world.
How are you praying for your church community today? What role are you playing in your church’s health, in supporting your pastor’s leadership? How are you encountering God as the church lives and moves together in worship, prayer, and mission?
This is Ascension Sunday, and it may seem odd to be focused on praying for the church as this epistle reading encourages us. Yet, we often forget the power of the Ascension. We forget that we are not just people sitting in the pew, living in the world. We are connected spiritually with Jesus in the heavenly place where he now resides. Perhaps it is important for us to view the world more broadly. Maybe we need to see the world, the universe from God’s perspective rather than the perspective from our pew, our sanctuary, our car, or our home. Maybe we need the broader birds-eye view from above. In conflict situations I ask people to take the balcony view, to look at situations not from up close but with some perspective.
If we can think about our view of the world becoming a more heavenly view, we might see issues, problems, relationships differently. There was a Bette Midler song recorded in 2015 titled “From a Distance.” Look up the lyrics. They are very vivd and very clear. From a distance we all have a different perspective. Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus from a distance. He saw a healthy and spiritual vitality in them that they might not have seen in themselves. What do you see from a distance as you look at your faith community? What is strong? What needs shoring up? Where are gifts being used? Where are gifts being squandered? How are we ― how are you ― living into the Ascension of Christ, the heavenly vantage point?
Paul reminded the church, and us, to live into the fullness of our faith in Jesus. Jesus’ ascension reminds us of his sovereign power over all that is. As we have reflected for the past several weeks, while exploring John’s vision in the book of Revelation, one of the key learnings was that Jesus reigns in the heavenly temple with God. There is no question; Jesus is Lord over everything in heaven and on earth. Focusing on the sovereignty of Jesus as the reason we gather to worship, and as the reason Paul planted churches just as forbears planted churches, expands our focus and deepens our understanding of the human and heavenly communities to which we belong.
This Ascension Sunday, let’s take the long view, the balcony view. Let’s take the heavenly view of who we are called to be, who we are called to welcome, who we are called to be as people of faith. Let’s pray that the doors are opened wide, the strangers are welcomed, God is glorified, we are renewed and equipped, so that when people see us, they also see the light of God’s love shining through us. Amen.
Paul celebrated the love the church demonstrated for all the saints. Does the church you gather with love all the saints? Whom do you include? Whom do you exclude?
Maybe you include those who look like, talk like, think like, and worship like you. Maybe you exclude those of a different race or color, of a different political party (yes, I know we aren’t supposed to discuss partisanship in church, but we do.) Maybe you exclude blue-collar or white-collar folks. Maybe you exclude the poor who can’t contribute to the financial health of the church. Maybe you exclude those who are homeless and walk into the church smelling a little or a lot, but who are hungry for inclusion and love. Maybe you exclude those who are mentally ill or challenged and may not behave in ways we understand or generally accept. How about the children who are a little rowdy and disruptive? Maybe we exclude the child on the autism spectrum. Who are you including and who are you excluding ― right down to who you call to be your pastor?
As a conference minister in the United Church of Christ, I speak with a lot of congregations who are seeking a new pastor. We, in the United Church of Christ, have an open call system which means that churches and pastor create profiles. Pastors choose, often based on the church profile, where they want their pastoral profiles sent. Churches review those pastoral profiles and choose who they will interview as they discern who they will call as their next pastor. Not so long ago, I was at the church governing board meeting. As I was talking about who they might be looking for to serve them while they prepared for their search, an odd and funny thing happened ― especially since I am a woman, a pastor, and a conference minister. The chair of the governing board said, “We don’t really want a woman.”
Imagine my surprise. I, the female conference minister helping them discern their interim or supply pastoral needs, was told that only men were welcome. Coincidentally, the majority of the governing board members were women. By the end of our conversation, I had been asked twice if I wanted to serve them. I assured them I had a full-time job, but the paradox was not lost on me. We won’t welcome a woman, but we will ask you both to help us and to come to us.
Who is excluded? Who is included? Which saints do we choose not to love? It’s a sobering question for the church.
The church in Ephesus was being thanked for their love and welcoming for all the saints. As Paul prayed for his church, he asked God’s blessing on them, praying for their wisdom and their continued revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior. He was hopeful that Ephesus would continue to be a community of faith dedicated to spiritual understanding and that their faith would be strengthened and deepened. What a hope for a church!
In my role as a conference minister, sort of like a bishop but in a congregational polity without the ability to direct people or churches into specific decisions, I am often asked to consult with pastors and churches about their futures; about decisions not just about pastors but mission, buildings, mergers, collaborations, and a myriad other parts of church life. I do a lot of training and coaching, but I also do a lot of praying. I pray for pastors who are leading healthy congregations and not so healthy congregations. I pray for church lay leaders struggling to lead or make decisions for and with their congregations. I pray about fractures in the covenantal agreements between pastors and congregations and issues between and among congregation members. In all cases, included in my prayers, is the hope that the church will live into their call as spiritual communities, formed to assist in the birth and deepening of the faith of its members. It is a fervent prayer. It is a prayer filled with hope as I ask God to bless and nurture as well as to lead and nudge congregations into becoming the best and most faithful people they can be. I share the fervency of Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving for those pastors and churches that seem to be focused on their spiritual life, their deepening understanding of God, and the mission in the world.
How are you praying for your church community today? What role are you playing in your church’s health, in supporting your pastor’s leadership? How are you encountering God as the church lives and moves together in worship, prayer, and mission?
This is Ascension Sunday, and it may seem odd to be focused on praying for the church as this epistle reading encourages us. Yet, we often forget the power of the Ascension. We forget that we are not just people sitting in the pew, living in the world. We are connected spiritually with Jesus in the heavenly place where he now resides. Perhaps it is important for us to view the world more broadly. Maybe we need to see the world, the universe from God’s perspective rather than the perspective from our pew, our sanctuary, our car, or our home. Maybe we need the broader birds-eye view from above. In conflict situations I ask people to take the balcony view, to look at situations not from up close but with some perspective.
If we can think about our view of the world becoming a more heavenly view, we might see issues, problems, relationships differently. There was a Bette Midler song recorded in 2015 titled “From a Distance.” Look up the lyrics. They are very vivd and very clear. From a distance we all have a different perspective. Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus from a distance. He saw a healthy and spiritual vitality in them that they might not have seen in themselves. What do you see from a distance as you look at your faith community? What is strong? What needs shoring up? Where are gifts being used? Where are gifts being squandered? How are we ― how are you ― living into the Ascension of Christ, the heavenly vantage point?
Paul reminded the church, and us, to live into the fullness of our faith in Jesus. Jesus’ ascension reminds us of his sovereign power over all that is. As we have reflected for the past several weeks, while exploring John’s vision in the book of Revelation, one of the key learnings was that Jesus reigns in the heavenly temple with God. There is no question; Jesus is Lord over everything in heaven and on earth. Focusing on the sovereignty of Jesus as the reason we gather to worship, and as the reason Paul planted churches just as forbears planted churches, expands our focus and deepens our understanding of the human and heavenly communities to which we belong.
This Ascension Sunday, let’s take the long view, the balcony view. Let’s take the heavenly view of who we are called to be, who we are called to welcome, who we are called to be as people of faith. Let’s pray that the doors are opened wide, the strangers are welcomed, God is glorified, we are renewed and equipped, so that when people see us, they also see the light of God’s love shining through us. Amen.
