At the end of our epistle from Galatians this morning, we find Paul exclaim, “A new creation is everything!”
All of Paul’s concern about Christian freedom, living by the Spirit rather than the flesh, being crucified with Christ, and living in loving community with one another despite differences and problems, is about New Creation. In Christ, we are called to be a New Creation, both personally and as a community. And this newness is ongoing and developing, a process, not an end to be acquired once in our lives and hung on to. We are called into a process of being made new every day.
For Paul, the opposite of being made new every day by the Spirit is being sunk in “the flesh”. The Greek word is sarx and might better be translated as human nature as it is subject to sin – sins such as greed, violence, lust, lack of self-control, cruelty, gossip and so forth, not just what we sometimes call “sins of the flesh” in English, sexual sins. For Paul it is sarx, flesh, that causes violent conflicts among people and nations. Nor is Paul saying that human nature is flesh or inherently sinful; that is a mistake of the Good News Bible in translating sarx as “human nature”. Human nature is created in God’s image, it is good, but it also sinks into sin, sometimes despite our best efforts. Paul often reflects on that paradox.
In Christ, we are called to live Christ’s death and resurrection and put away parts of our lives that embody sarx or the flesh. What is necessary to do this? For one, a deep abiding faith that Christ IS the answer, both to our own sin and alienation and to the world’s. In our weekly affirmation of the Creeds, in our participation in the Eucharist, in our private prayers, in the renewal of our baptismal promises, in Confirmation, we affirm and renew this deep faith. It is strengthened by silence and meditation and the beauty of worship. It is strengthened by mutual encouragement and by listening to one another, being willing to learn from one another, and by Christian service. The fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control, compassion, patience, etc. – enable the Spirit to grow.
My belief is that if we can somehow live this way, particularly in our parish, we will not need consultants on human relations and anger management. Some simple admonitions, based on Paul’s words here: be kind to one another and be patient. If we have erred, apologize. If someone has wronged us, accept the apology. Grow in self-awareness of how our behaviour affects others. Recognize those in the community who have special needs -- and, I daresay, it may all of us – and try to meet those needs, if in no other way, through kindness and friendship. Indeed, as we might cultivate a garden, cultivate friendship. (The difference is this garden has no weeds; all are flowers.) And every time we are tempted to speak a word of criticism, speak a word of encouragement instead.
Behind all these admonishments is the insight that Christianity is first of all a WAY OF LIFE, not primarily a set of doctrines or creeds, or particular ways of worship, or ethical precepts, or particular institutional structures and membership in them. We are baptised into Jesus Christ as a WAY OF LIFE, moving from sin and death to the NEW CREATION. And loving one another in Christ-like ways is the character of that Way of Life. In Acts “followers of the Way” was the very first name given to Christians, at Antioch. “See how they love one another!” was society’s perception and brought many to the early church. Hence, the importance of hospitality, ongoing and permanent hospitality, in our parish ministry and community.
The monastic tradition, which has greatly shaped Anglican spirituality, often saw the other as Christ. The beggar at the door, the leper, the person with mental illness, the sinner, the criminal, the stranger – but also one’s brothers and sisters with whom one worshipped, cooked, ate and worked – who might cause one the greatest aggravation – were also the Christ to be loved and embraced. My Sister friends tell me the greatest areas of challenge are the chapel and the kitchen, and that may be true for us too.
On my holiday, I thought a certain amount about parish conflict – not just ours but other places as well - and I thought back when I was a bishop and how I dealt with it then. Any conflict is a mission opportunity – an opportunity to let Christ work in those concerned, and ourselves. But that presupposes a common faith, a common desire to walk the Christian Way; and one does not walk the Christian Way alone. Nor does one push others off the road. Nor stop them from getting back on the road. Indeed, we are called to help them get back on the road.
I was bishop on an island in the Solomons, Malaita, that had a reputation, well earned, for being the most violent in the country. To the Maori film, which some of you may have seen, “Once we were warriors”, they would answer, “We are still warriors”. (Once I had to take back one of my clergy working in another diocese after he had chased his bishop with a machete. He calmed down and became a good priest. Or another priest who got angry with choir in the service and threw the altar cross at them; he has calmed down and is now a gifted scholar.) After a few missteps, one thing I learned quickly was never to lose my temper, as it only made matters worse. If I was angry, I had still to be calm and in control. Sometimes that required great patience, for example, if someone literally spat in my face. Often the violence was related to land or possessions and included a demand for money, “compensation”. Unhappy groups arriving on Saturday morning demanding compensation for some offence was a common occurrence. To the children, I often told the story of Archbishop Anthony Bloom: that when we have possessions and hang on to them and do not share, our hands form fists and we are ready to fight. We are called to have hands that are open and giving, not selfish and aggressive fists or the equivalent.
Today’s Old Testament lesson, the healing of Naaman the leper, reminds us that healing is an integral part of the New Creation and sometimes the answer, based on faith, is very simple. “Lord, speak the word and I shall be healed”. Any proper understanding of Christian healing is holistic – physical, spiritual, psychological, social, material – for we are all on the way to dying; even Naaman eventually died. If memory recedes and stress and anxiety increase, one answer is to find others who can do the work and rest, offering support and encouragement to those who can. If we have too many possessions, we can declutter, making life simpler and less stressful. As Pope Francis is fond of saying, “the shroud has no pockets”. And we are called to do whatever we can to bring healing to others. Again, friendship is crucial. And the quality of our own life in Christ.
The Gospel, the sending out of the seventy, reminds us that if we are genuinely participating in the New Creation as a community and individuals, it is worth taking out and sharing with others. Notice the simplicity with which it is taken out: basically through the lifestyle and relationships of those who share it. If we go out with complaints about one other, or gossip, or rivalry, whatever Good News we try to convey, whatever invitation we give, will be undercut by the reality of our divisions. Hence, we come back to our common baptismal faith and its obligation that we do our very best, together, to participate in God’s New Creation in Jesus Christ.
Preachers are often fond of the metaphor of the beautiful tapestry. The front of the tapestry, what we put forward to the world, our programmes, our worship, our building, our friendliness, indeed, ourselves, are often quite beautiful. But just as we go behind a tapestry and see all the threads going every which way, knots hanging here and there, untrimmed threads hanging down, and only a faint image of the front of the tapestry, sometimes the organization and personal relations behind the beautiful programmes are messy and complicated. That may be true of our personal lives also; it has certainly been true of mine at times. And we learn to accept that as the norm, stressful as it often is.
Some of you have visited China and may even have brought back embroidery that is done on both sides. I have an embroidery of a cat, framed in glass on both sides, and both sides are beautiful. Through some miracle of craftsmanship, both sides are the front of the tapestry. One side is as beautiful as the other.
Perhaps that is a better model for us. It is challenging and difficult but what is produced is long-lasting, encouraging and beautiful. As your parish priest, I am often more concerned with the back of the tapestry than the front; if the back is in order, the front will be beautiful. I would like the back of the tapestry to be as beautiful as the front. And we should all be working together on the back of the tapestry, with the same order and love that we want expressed in the front of the tapestry. The bishop who ordained me was very fond of the expression, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”.
I would add that we are also celebrating Canada Day today and I believe these are the values we would, as Christians, like our nation to have. There is much scope in government for the back of the tapestry to be very untidy – secret backroom decisions and the like – but we would like the same beauty there, between the front and the back.
So all three lessons today speak of our life together in the New Creation of Christ in the parish and beyond. Let us take those lessons to heart and pray that we may all grow in love and peace with one another and with all whom we meet.
No comments:
Post a Comment