August 3, 2003

Eighth Sunday of Pentecost

Ephesians 4:1-16

“One Plus One Equals One”

     This is summer vacation time and many of our flock have been traveling and enjoying a little R&R.  It’s a good thing, we all need it.

     When I was a kid I was fortunate to have parents who liked to travel a lot - we drove all over the lower 48 states.  The unfortunate part was that there were six of us with all our stuff crammed into and on top of a big old Pontiac station wagon.  It was like putting too many rats in a small cage - things were bound to get ugly.  We had punching competitions and pinching competitions.  Eventually, the adults up front would get their fill of our backseat wrestling matches and would growl, “When are you kids going to grow up?” 

     Well, we eventually did grow up, I guess, at least in terms of what was expected of us.  Growing up meant leaving each other alone, becoming our own persons, independent, standing on our own two feet. 

     As much as we might like to stay ten years old forever, we all need to grow up.  Even so, now that I’m all grown up, I have to wonder if I’ve really got it right.  Is it really about getting to that place where we are self-sufficient, independent without much need for anyone else?  Or has something been lost in all this striving for self-definition?  Has growing up too often meant growing apart, and not just apart from our siblings, but apart from other people, too?  Have we too often traded human community for the great ideal of individualism?

     In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul speaks about another way of growing up:

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all….

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.”

     Of course, Paul is talking to the Christian church here about being a church “body”, but the Christ to whom he points the church had an even broader view.  Jesus reached out to the people at the margins of society, across national boundaries, even to people of other faiths.  He was somehow able to see something precious and good, redeemable in every person.  So he gave his life, not just for his faithful followers, but for the world.

     If God’s people had grown up together in this way, with this sort of world view, do you think war would be possible?  If we had grown up like this, do you think the prejudices of racism, classism, ageism or sexism would be possible?  If we were joined and knit together like the ligaments of a single body, wouldn’t we now be living at peace?

     Perhaps there are times when God feels like growling into the backseat, “When are you kids going to grow up?”

     Maybe when we let God show us the way.  And God will, for all who have humble and willing hearts, ready spirits, open minds.  Jesus shows us, Communion shows us, how ready and willing God is to accept and forgive us, how boundless God‘s love is.  With this assurance we can still be our own person for God loves us in our uniqueness, but we can also dare to allow ourselves to see things differently, dare to let down our boundaries, let go of those insecurities that so often divide us. 

     An opportunity may be presenting itself right now in our own community for building bridges, building friendships, for building up the Body of Christ.  This past Tuesday evening, at the invitation of the leadership of Second Congregational Church, our respective moderators, vice moderators, acting Deacon chairs (Peter, Peter and Margaret) and pastors sat down together to talk.  Our two churches have done their own thing for a long, long time, but recently we have begun doing some things together - sharing a book study, a youth event, a wonderful worship service at Harkness last Sunday (there were 150 people there!) and this week, Vacation Bible School.  The leadership of Second Church wanted us to know they’re enjoying this and that they hope to see more of it.  They are encouraging us and the people of Second Church to look for more opportunities to be knit together, to promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

     What this means for the future of our ministries, independent or mutual, is up to the people of our churches, up to you and the ways in which the Holy Spirit inspires your heart.  So we’ll talk about these things together, pray about these things together and we’ll see where that Spirit leads.

     This much we can know for certain even now - it is God’s intention that we build one another up, that whether we are talking about church or our families or the stranger we meet on the street, we are meant to grow together in God’s love.