A Life Worthy Of The Calling
Sermon
Some years ago, I was privileged to spend a long time talking to and listening to a young man who showed up on my doorstep one day in some distress. Over the weeks and months and years, I got to know David well because he shared with me a lot about his life and his deepest feelings and thoughts.
David hated Christians. He felt rejected by Christians and told me that he had met more hostility from Christians than from anyone else, and some of the tales of the ways in which that hostility had been demonstrated, appalled me.
His disaffection with Christians had begun when he was a small boy. David's father had been a minister, so David had grown up in a very Christian environment. But for some reason, his mother hadn't quite fitted the mould which was expected in those days of the minister's wife. In one particular church, the church people were very upright and very religious, but they strongly disapproved of David's mother and had treated her so badly with little deeds of cruelty and little words of condemnation and little acts of ostracism that David's father had eventually been forced to seek a new position. David saw the effect that the disapproval and unkindness had on both his parents, particularly his mother, and as a sensitive child he was confused and tormented and angry about it.
Things were better in the new place, because the church people were a little more enlightened and a little gentler and a little more forgiving in their approach, but as far as David was concerned, the damage was already done. From then on, he regarded all Christians as hypocrites, and nothing he learned from personal experience in later life persuaded him to change his mind, for David was gay. He recalled being abused both verbally and physically by Christians and treated as though he was dirt, unfit to walk this earth. In due course all this cruelty and resulting unhappiness had its effect, for David took his own life.
"I therefore," says St Paul in today's reading from the letter to the Ephesians, "beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
There are many churches today where humility, gentleness, love and peace are conspicuous by their absence, unless you subscribe exactly to the rules and regulations set down by that church. It's claimed that the rules and regulations are Bible-based and therefore come from God himself, but the Bible cannot be taken at face-value in the 21st century. It must be studied in the light of the customs and ideas of the first century Middle East, customs and ideas which are very alien to us today. Nonetheless, in churches where every word in the Bible is believed to be true in a literal sense, those who fail to conform are outcast. And even Christians in other churches which have a different point of view are regarded as suspect.
But perhaps it isn't as easy as it seems. As Christians surely we should stand up for what we believe in and stand against evil. If we see other Christians failing to reach the high standards set by our Lord, surely it is our duty to stand up and be counted and to name evil for what it is.
Perhaps one of the problems is, that it's not always easy to identify evil. There's a great deal of evil in the world which seldom seems to be recognized by Christians or anybody else. The fact that two thirds of the world are still starving is a terrible evil, but Christians don't get very excited about it.
The fact that lying is now accepted by most areas of society, is a terrible evil about which nobody seems to care. Almost every play or film we watch on television has a plot based on somebody lying, and the soaps are full of lies, but it's all accepted as a normal and natural part of life. Just as fiddling tax returns or or demanding ever lower taxes whilst expecting ever higher standards of public service is regarded as a normal and natural way of life.
Some people are now forced to beg and sleep and live on the streets of our cities, something which was unseen fifty years ago, but nobody much seems to care.
Christianity and spirituality have been sidelined in every area of life. We've been encouraged for years to think only of ourselves and to expect more and more. Wealth is the great god of our age and everywhere we look, we're told to reach out for material comforts. Instead of Christianity, we are being sold things of no worth. Material things only help in the short term. We're encouraged to look into crystal balls and put our faith into healing gemstones or Ouija boards or star signs. They are all quick and easy ways to so-called spirituality, but I suspect that they fail to satisfy in the long term.
What about us? What does the outside world see when they look at us as a church and individually? Do they see a shining light in the midst of a compromised and dark society? Do they see people who are warm and loving and welcoming, or do they see people who are cold and hard and judgmental? Do they see people with whom they can share their deepest concerns because they are confident that nothing will go any further, or do they see people with whom they will never share anything of importance because they know it will be around the village in five minutes? Do they see people they can trust, who they know will never talk about them behind their backs, or do they see people who are ready and eager to spread gossip?
Do they see a church which is full of life and fun and excitement and love, a place where they long to be, or do they see a church which is depressed and tired and where people are so strait-laced that they're miserable?
It is important to stand against evil, but first we must be clear in our own minds, as to what constitutes evil. It's easy to point the finger at others, especially if they're well outside our own sphere, and it's easy to condemn whole groups of people, such as asylum seekers or gays.
Perhaps it's easier to genuinely decide what is and what isn't evil, from a position of love and joy and happiness. Those who are miserable tend to be much more condemning than those who are happy. Jesus rarely condemned and his life-style was so attractive that crowds surged towards him wherever he was. Jesus was the embodiment of love and therefore happiness, and he reached out so fully and so genuinely to all people that they couldn't help but respond. As Christians we need to take hold of God's gift of happiness and allow it to flood our being.
"There is one body and one Spirit," says St Paul, "and each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. We must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love."
In this church, let us promote the body's growth in building itself up in love, for that will be a life worthy of the calling.
David hated Christians. He felt rejected by Christians and told me that he had met more hostility from Christians than from anyone else, and some of the tales of the ways in which that hostility had been demonstrated, appalled me.
His disaffection with Christians had begun when he was a small boy. David's father had been a minister, so David had grown up in a very Christian environment. But for some reason, his mother hadn't quite fitted the mould which was expected in those days of the minister's wife. In one particular church, the church people were very upright and very religious, but they strongly disapproved of David's mother and had treated her so badly with little deeds of cruelty and little words of condemnation and little acts of ostracism that David's father had eventually been forced to seek a new position. David saw the effect that the disapproval and unkindness had on both his parents, particularly his mother, and as a sensitive child he was confused and tormented and angry about it.
Things were better in the new place, because the church people were a little more enlightened and a little gentler and a little more forgiving in their approach, but as far as David was concerned, the damage was already done. From then on, he regarded all Christians as hypocrites, and nothing he learned from personal experience in later life persuaded him to change his mind, for David was gay. He recalled being abused both verbally and physically by Christians and treated as though he was dirt, unfit to walk this earth. In due course all this cruelty and resulting unhappiness had its effect, for David took his own life.
"I therefore," says St Paul in today's reading from the letter to the Ephesians, "beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
There are many churches today where humility, gentleness, love and peace are conspicuous by their absence, unless you subscribe exactly to the rules and regulations set down by that church. It's claimed that the rules and regulations are Bible-based and therefore come from God himself, but the Bible cannot be taken at face-value in the 21st century. It must be studied in the light of the customs and ideas of the first century Middle East, customs and ideas which are very alien to us today. Nonetheless, in churches where every word in the Bible is believed to be true in a literal sense, those who fail to conform are outcast. And even Christians in other churches which have a different point of view are regarded as suspect.
But perhaps it isn't as easy as it seems. As Christians surely we should stand up for what we believe in and stand against evil. If we see other Christians failing to reach the high standards set by our Lord, surely it is our duty to stand up and be counted and to name evil for what it is.
Perhaps one of the problems is, that it's not always easy to identify evil. There's a great deal of evil in the world which seldom seems to be recognized by Christians or anybody else. The fact that two thirds of the world are still starving is a terrible evil, but Christians don't get very excited about it.
The fact that lying is now accepted by most areas of society, is a terrible evil about which nobody seems to care. Almost every play or film we watch on television has a plot based on somebody lying, and the soaps are full of lies, but it's all accepted as a normal and natural part of life. Just as fiddling tax returns or or demanding ever lower taxes whilst expecting ever higher standards of public service is regarded as a normal and natural way of life.
Some people are now forced to beg and sleep and live on the streets of our cities, something which was unseen fifty years ago, but nobody much seems to care.
Christianity and spirituality have been sidelined in every area of life. We've been encouraged for years to think only of ourselves and to expect more and more. Wealth is the great god of our age and everywhere we look, we're told to reach out for material comforts. Instead of Christianity, we are being sold things of no worth. Material things only help in the short term. We're encouraged to look into crystal balls and put our faith into healing gemstones or Ouija boards or star signs. They are all quick and easy ways to so-called spirituality, but I suspect that they fail to satisfy in the long term.
What about us? What does the outside world see when they look at us as a church and individually? Do they see a shining light in the midst of a compromised and dark society? Do they see people who are warm and loving and welcoming, or do they see people who are cold and hard and judgmental? Do they see people with whom they can share their deepest concerns because they are confident that nothing will go any further, or do they see people with whom they will never share anything of importance because they know it will be around the village in five minutes? Do they see people they can trust, who they know will never talk about them behind their backs, or do they see people who are ready and eager to spread gossip?
Do they see a church which is full of life and fun and excitement and love, a place where they long to be, or do they see a church which is depressed and tired and where people are so strait-laced that they're miserable?
It is important to stand against evil, but first we must be clear in our own minds, as to what constitutes evil. It's easy to point the finger at others, especially if they're well outside our own sphere, and it's easy to condemn whole groups of people, such as asylum seekers or gays.
Perhaps it's easier to genuinely decide what is and what isn't evil, from a position of love and joy and happiness. Those who are miserable tend to be much more condemning than those who are happy. Jesus rarely condemned and his life-style was so attractive that crowds surged towards him wherever he was. Jesus was the embodiment of love and therefore happiness, and he reached out so fully and so genuinely to all people that they couldn't help but respond. As Christians we need to take hold of God's gift of happiness and allow it to flood our being.
"There is one body and one Spirit," says St Paul, "and each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. We must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love."
In this church, let us promote the body's growth in building itself up in love, for that will be a life worthy of the calling.
