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January 2005
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Brothers and sisters, I begin this morning with an appeal to you help out…and an applaud for those who already have helped out by sending money for disaster relief needed by those most severely effected in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is an opportunity for us to express and act out of Christ’s love for those who very much need to know that in the midst of the Chaos, God is reaching out to them. One can only imagine the frustration, sorrow and loneliness being experienced by so many people. So, as a people of God (the Church) let us support them with money and/or with prayer to let them know they are not alone.
The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost The Church: support, sharing of faith, spiritual nurture & guidance, a place to look for help in times of crisis, where the gospel can be proclaimed. "Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered Christ is with us." In a few moments we will celebrate this union with Christ through the sacrament of Holy Communion. Covenant: One of the largest and most frequently used themes in The Bible, is the idea of “covenants.” Seemingly, at every turn, there are covenants being made that define the relationships that God’s people have with those around them. Interestingly, covenants literal meaning in Hebrew is "Chain" or "Shackle"…a binding agreement. Think about what this means…Brothers and sisters, we are bound to our God through the covenant that he made with us through Jesus Christ. Moreover, we are bound to each other… And today we are confronted by Jesus’ words from the Gospel of Matthew: dealing with the all-too-real issue of how we are to respond when someone in the Church sins? Now, don’t worry, the point of this Gospel and the point of this sermon is not to make any-one feel bad, it’s not to point a finger at any one person, and it’s certainly not to single out any one of us for embarrassment, guilt or shame. At the beginning of Chapter 18, Jesus talks about the ease by which all of us (and any of us) can and will sin. He talks about the condition of stumbling off of the track of righteousness and the ease by which all of us will stumble. “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come,” he says. Our own Lutheran theological tradition is quite clear on this topic—that we are simultaneously sinners and saints. We are “in bondage to sin, and unable to free ourselves,” yet due to the graciousness of God and our union/our bond with Jesus Christ, we are transformed/made saints through baptism—we become workers for God’s Kingdom, Allies, freed from our guilt and our despair so that we can keep trying our best (despite of our sin—our aptitude for stumbling), trusting/confident that God in Christ is helping us/working with us. Yet sin remains a concern: it’s dangerous—it can cause great harm and devastation, not only to one who sins, but to those who are bound to a sinner. That’s all of us…sin continuously threatens to trip us up like a stumbling block and take other people down with us. So here we are again, with our Gospel text, asking us to consider how we act or react when we encounter sin…in the Church? How do we react? Do we try to ignore it? Is it too much effort to do anything? Is it too painful? Oh, wouldn’t it almost be easier to turn back to Chapter 5 and treat our brothers and sisters in the Church as if they were our enemies, and just turn the other cheek? Yet, this is not the case. These are not our enemies, but our brother’s or sisters Our own people Members of our own spiritual family People we have been chained to / bound to by the covenant we have entered into through the Blood of Christ.
No, let us
remember that the goal of our faith community is not to shame
someone who sins clear out of the community. This gospel is clear
that the purpose is to restore, not to cut off; to provide
opportunity for reconciliation, not alienation. The Church is a
community where people are not left alone, but a place where we can
represent to each other the love of God found in Christ our Lord. Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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