The 14th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, Year A

You’ve Been Unfriended

Readings: Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20

When I looked over the gospel earlier this week, I quickly dismissed it as being one which I would really rather avoid. It is a difficult reading. Who wants to preach about dealing with conflict? Conflict is not easily dealt with, except, of course, on Facebook, where you simply ‘unfriend’ the offending individual. They may not even find out for months that they have been unfriended. It would solve a lot of problems in the Church, or would it?

After all, that avoids the real reason for Church. If the Church truly is to be the Body of Christ then our purpose is to build community. And that begins with us asking ourselves what kind of community we want our congregation to be. Our community could be largely social, a place to meet a few likeminded people who could get along together. But that is superficial to say the least. Perhaps we want a place that holds us accountable, where we can be honest about our hopes and dreams, our fears and anxieties. That could be risky, of course. Do we want a place where we can remain anonymous, unchallenged, uninvolved, where we can simply blend in? Or do we want to make a difference, not only in our own lives, but in the community? Do we want people to say, “Look at those Christians, how they love one another?” If we do, then it is going to take what is at the heart of this morning’s gospel in order to accomplish it.

The gospel provides us with some perspectives on the meaning of love and compassion at times of conflict and trouble. What is our Christian call when things go wrong? What do you do when things go wrong in the church? It provides some fascinating insights into communal relationships that deal, not just with the Church, but permeate all of life and society. How important that is if we truly want to be relevant in a society that says we are not! The resolution of conflict is a personal responsibility. Confrontation is something few people enjoy. Most of us will do anything to avoid it. And yet if the community, any community, is to work together, disputes require reconciliation.

And so in Matthew’s gospel we are given a process for dealing with conflict and finding it in our hearts not only to forgive, but also to reconcile. It is a process that recognizes the struggle of the early church to work harmoniously. The need for resolution when disputes arise is part of our human nature. That is exactly why confession and absolution are part of every liturgy in our church. When we pass the Peace in worship it symbolizes our willingness to be reconciled one with another.

The Gospel continues, "For when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." Simone Weil, the 20th Century French philosopher, activist and mystic, writes, "Two and three, and there should be no more." She was not saying that larger groups of people should not pray together. She was saying that something special happens when two or three people gather together in prayer. Anyone who has ever prayed at the bedside of someone who is ill or on a special occasion knows the power of that kind of prayer. It shows us how good the Lord is and how present in our lives.

In 1998 when I went to Africa to participate in the Women’s Gathering and the World Council of Churches, I stayed with some families in one of the townships in South Africa. My host families gave me a wonderful sense of what it means for Christ to be present in prayer. As soon as I entered a home I was invited to pray with the family. As we gathered in prayer all the barriers dropped away. It is something we are not accustomed to, but that is our loss. Many people will ask me for prayer, but they squirm if I actually begin to pray out loud. They want me to go off on my own and pray for them. They don't understand the relationship that comes through praying together. It isn't even about finding the right words to say. The idea behind such prayer is to allow God to work in and through our lives. We continue to trust in God who helps and protects us. Then we are able to fulfill the great commandment, that we love one another as God loves us.

But on this weekend, I cannot help but think that the global implications are far more important for us to discern. What do these readings have to say to us on the heels of one disaster after another? Fire, famine, earthquake, hurricane – what a list of disasters across every part of the globe! Just before we come to September 11th, a day when the world changed, the world has changed once again. Once more we have a date that will not be forgotten. This time the watchword will be ‘Irma’, a storm of epic proportions that has unleashed its fury on the Caribbean and is heading towards Florida, a country still reeling from the effects of ‘Harvey’. Once more the media is filled with heart wrenching stories of loss and tragedy. Whole islands are devastated. Nothing prepares you for any of that. It does not prepare you for the kind of devastation that so many people are facing. To see the widespread destruction that nature can unleash, to know that once again so many lives have been lost, to witness the despair of the victims of this disaster, people in dire need, cannot help but change the way we live our lives.

At such times we turn to our faith for answers to the deep questions that arise within us. Is God in charge of our world? Is God watching over us? Does God even care? Or have we so destroyed our world through our lack of stewardship that it can never recover? It tries our faith. It becomes painfully obvious that Christian faith gives rise to more questions than answers. If that is true of us, how can we possibly convey to people who have not experienced it, the kind of strength we receive through our faith, the nurture that we receive through worship and prayer?

We struggle together as the people of God, certainly in moments of personal conflict, but also in times of national distress, in times of instability. We trust in God who helps and protects us. How do we share that with others? How do we put into words what can only be experienced through participation in the community of faith? How do we tell people the things that we learn through a lifetime of searching for the truth?

It isn't just about sharing our faith with others. We struggle as we live out our faith with what it means to be a Christian. We have a conviction as Christians that we need to live in harmony with God's creation. Yet tensions arise between what we believe and what is going on in the world. The tension arises because living the Christian life is not a matter of black and white. Truly, there are laws to follow. There are the Ten Commandments. There is the great commandment to love God and to love neighbour. Yet so many things in our Christian lives fall into grey areas that are matters of the heart. We can search for rules to guide us in making right decisions in such matters. We can pray for discernment. But when it comes down to it God simply calls us to do the loving thing.

That is the basis of Paul's reminder to the Christians in Rome. I would remind you that they knew a great deal about living in a troubled world. Paul affirms the need to follow the Ten Commandments, but sums them up as "love of neighbour". "Love does no wrong to a neighbour: therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." The law to love supersedes all other laws for the Christian. Such teaching about love fits well with the Ten Commandments. Old Testament rules are good rules, not because they are in the Bible, but because they are based on love. If we always do the loving thing, we find that we are following God's rules. In fact, if we always did the loving thing then there would be no need for rules. It is our frailty, our inability to put our neighbour first, our inability to see Christ in others that dictates our need for rules.

Love calls us to repentance. Instead of complaining about the high cost of gas, perhaps a true sense of repentance calls us to examine our sense of stewardship. Are we good stewards of God’s creation? Are we using more than our fair share of the world’s resources? Are there things that we can do to reverse the damage that our wastefulness has caused in the world?

Love calls us to action. We need to give with compassion. How do we help the devastation that is faced at this moment by so many in our world?

And finally, love calls us to prayer. And so today we pray for the people who have been so devastated by this storm. We pray for their safety and for their well-being. We continue to trust in God who helps and protects us. Amen.