Paul's Disturbing Idea

Galatians 3:15-29

Human beings are masters at finding ways to divide from one another.
It's really quite easy to do.
It's much easier than working together, for sure.


A simple recipe for division:


Make sure that you know that you're right and that you have a strong handle on what's wrong with the world and who's fault it is.


Then go about either trying to convince everyone about how right you are,
or condemn them for not seeing the real way things are.


And lump them into the group of people whose fault it is that the world is the way it is.


Go back to the beginning, read some authors and talk to some people who think like you and then go out again converting and condeming.


Repeat ad nauseum.

Take the advice of the letter of James in the New Testament.
Only reverse it.
Rather than “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
Make it, “everyone should be quick to become angry, quick to speak, and slow to listen.”


Now the opposite of this kind of division, this kind of prideful tribalism,
is not an “i'm ok, you're ok” sort of easygoing denial of differences.


It's not as though the only option is to entrench ourselves in our group and condemn the others or to affirm everything with a broad brush.


Unity does not mean conformity.
Unity does not mean conformity either to a strict version of reality and therefore a retreat to a certain kind of tribalism.
Or conformity to a denial of differences – avoiding conflict and just repeating the words, “can't we all just get along?”


Paul uses extreme language to speak about the world of the 1^st century Roman empire.
He calls it “this present evil age.”


Now, I'm not sure about you, but when I look around, when I listen to the news, I begin to feel the same way about this world of ours.
Paul doesn't buy the propaganda of the Roman empire which hails Caesar as the savior of the world and the Pax Romana as the reign of true peace.


He doesn't buy it, because he lives among those who don't see that peace and don't enjoy the fruits of that Roman Imperial salvation.


Paul sees the suffering, the sick, the homeless, the poor.
And he sees the divisions among people whether divisions of sexes, of classes, or of ethnic groups. And he sees how this legacy of the Tower of Babel, of human division, continues to perpetuate violence and inequality.


The prophets of the Roman Empire, cry “peace, peace” when there is no peace.


This morning I got a call from Mary Lou Huffling. She asked that if we have any extra blankets that we aren't using anymore that we bring them to the Food Shelf. Because the Fall Mountain homeless are facing colder and colder temperatures.


And it gets me thinking about homelessness and poverty. Sometimes it seems invisible to us because our hectic schedules keep us on strict paths that we don't veer off of. And so often we don't have the opportunity to see our neighbor suffering on the side of the road.


Or, their homelessness is well hidden so that even if we did veer off the road, we might not see them.


But the fact is, that in our economy, in our society, there are some people for reasons beyond their control who suffer illness, who suffer unemployment, and who suffer homelessness.


And this is not a Boston or Manchester problem. This is here in Acworth, in Claremont, in Keene. All of this you all know probably better than I do.


But it got me thinking about Paul's vision in Galatians – that in God's kingdom there is “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female”


The promise to Abraham was a community of blessing, what Christ showed us to be renewed relationship with God and with our neighbor.


And this promise is not annulled by our laws of economics.
There is much that has been done by this church to help our neighbors in need.


I was reading yesterday old annual reports and found a lot of beginnings.
I found the first CROP walk, I found the first Out to Lunch, and I found the first report of the Outreach Committee.


At the church annual meeting of 1983, it was decided that an Out-reach committee should be formed. One year later, the first report was given about the Out-reach committee.


It reads, “Last year, for the first time, an Out-Reach Committee was elected at the annual meeting. The concern of the committee is the wider mission of the church. Because the board was newly formed, it has been 'finding its way' so to speak, learning what the wider mission of the church really is, and how it may be implemented in our congregation.”


It didn't take long to begin to realize ways that our church can participate in the wider mission of the church.


In 1987, the Out-Reach Committee organized Acworth's first CROP walk.


The Out-reach committee annual report from 1987, which was signed by Alva, Claudia, and Fran Streeter reads, “This Spring we tried our first Crop Walk (Christian-Relief-Overseas Project). We gathered at the church-on-the-hill and walked to the church-in the-valley. Each walker was backed by pledges and worth so much a mile. We raised over $300.00 with this venture. The money helps to alleviate hunger around the world.”


The Out-reach committee has helped to involve Acworth in the larger work of God in the world, to feed the hungry, the care for those in need.


And so today we're CROP walking, carrying on a tradition of this church of 26 years.
And as we walk may we think of what is uniting us in that walk.


It is a concern for welfare of all people.


This is what Paul's getting at when he writes to Galatia.


He sees in their separations a destructive force against the new creation that Christ began.


Not only are they focused on the wrong things. But their focus on the wrong things leads them to neglect their mission to bring all people into the community of God's love.


As the early twentieth century writer, G.K. Chesterton put it, “...the great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived (which must mean over-lived), but by not being lived enough....
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
I'm glad to be a part of the Acworth church, because as I look through those annual reports, I see a movement of the Holy Spirit to minister to the needs of our neighbors and to unite in our common identity in Christ and work here in this place and in this time to manifest the kingdom of God, what Rowan Williams called, “The universal welcome, Paul's disturbing idea.”
To say that in Christ there is neither slave nor free, means that these distinctions of our society are not ultimately real. We are truly brother and sister to the homeless and poor – they are truly ours to care for because the poor and the homeless we never meet are still beloved of God.
So may we pray for justice and peace, and may we become a prayer for those in need in our town and in the wider community – as we live out our belief that in Christ there are many different people – but all equally loved by their Creator. Amen.