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Sunday November 19, 2006 - Proper 28, Year B

Have you ever wondered how it is
that sometimes
what we read in the bible
seems especially relevant?
There are times
when it seems to have been written especially for us,
to say just what we needed to hear.
Even though we know in our heads
that these words were written hundreds, even thousands of years ago
without any awareness of all the people who would come along and read it later,
without any awareness of us,
they seem to speak directly to us.

That's why people describe Scripture as living,
not because the words themselves change
but because God is able to use them
to speak to us now
in the middle of our lives.
They say more
than the ink on the page.
The Holy Spirit
takes those inked in words
and takes us
here and now
and puts them together,
and we find ourselves
being spoken to
by God.
Spoken to
in the middle of whatever is happening in our lives
as if God had chosen to write them
for this particular occasion.

It's even more astounding
when you add the complexities of the lectionary.
Of all the sixty six books, and the hundreds of chapters within them, and the thousands of verses,
each Sunday we read a small selection,
a schedule of readings
put together over centuries,
and somehow
week by week
God speaks to us through them.

I'm always kind of surprised when it happens that way —
even though I know I shouldn't be —
I'm always kind of surprised
when I open the readings for the week
and see connections with things in our world,
our church
our lives.

It was like that — as it always is — it was like that this week.

One of the hardest things about leaving a parish
is knowing that if history is any guide,
people will stop coming to church.
The priest announces their resignation;
people come to church, if anything, a little more regularly,
until the priest's final day,
and then, as the church moves into an interim period,
people stop coming to church.

It's understandable.
Some people drop out
because their primary reason for coming was the priest,
and without the priest, they don't have a strong connection with the parish community.
Some people drop out
because they've been thinking about leaving for a while
and now the regualr priest has gone
it seems somehow easier to withdraw
without offending anyone.
Some people drop out
because their lives are busy
and in the absence of a regular priest who will notice
church seems to be the easiest thing to drop.
That's just three reasons;
I imagine there are plenty more.

But whatever the reason,
churches typically see a loss of members
in the changeover of clergy.
For me, it's one of the really hard things about leaving.
Trinity is a vital, life-filled place.
But if it follows the usual trend
some of that life will go when I leave — not just because I've left, but because others of you
will likely leave.

And so, when I read the New Testament reading set for today
from Hebrews chapter 10,
it was one of those times
when the text seemed to speak directly
to our situation.

"And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another."

We don't know a whole lot about the letter to the Hebrews.
We don't know who it was written by,
or who it was written to.
We don't know anything about the circumstances they were in,
or what their church was like.
All we know
is what we can work out from the letter itself.
There's a lot that refers to the Jewish religious system, from priests to sacrifice, and so they were probably Christian converts from Judaism, or at least knew a lot about it.
They know Timothy, and also the church in Italy,
and the writer of the letter is planning to visit.
That's pretty much all
we know.

And from today's reading, we can work out that for some reason,
some of the people in that church community
have stopped showing up to worship together.
It sounds familiar.

And so we get to our reading today.
"Don't neglect to meet together, as some do. But encourage one another."
Why?
For two reasons.
First,
because Jesus invites us.
And not only invites us, but leads the way.
Before Jesus
connecting with God
was dangerous.
Remember in the Old Testament?
God was someone
to be afraid of.
Moses
was only allowed to see the shadow of God passing by.
Some of the Israelites died
when they got too close to the holy ark of the covenant, the symbol of God's presence.
The temple was set up so that no one except a high priest, known to be ritually clean, could go near the center where God was.
The people worshiped God at a distance.
It was safer that way.

But now things have changed, says the writer of Hebrews.
Thanks to Jesus
we don't have to worship God at a distance. We can get right up close.
Jesus has opened a new way to God, direct.
We don't have to be afraid.
It's like we have a personal invitation
to the most important party
on earth.
Jesus says, come hang out with God.
All we have to do is show up.
Come, get together week by week, worship God.

So the first reason to meet together
is because Jesus has invited us
and leads the way
to God.

And the second
is because by being together
we encourage one another.
You know how it is.
When you do something alone,
it's easy to get discouraged, especially when thing are tough.
Life is a whole lot easier
if you don't have to go it alone.

For most of the last couple hundred years
there's been a tendency to think about faith
as an individual thing.
I believe in Jesus.
I need to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
I go to make my communion.

But that's not the way scripture, or even our church,
have traditionally understood Christian faith.
Faith is something we do together. It's about being part of a community.
Of course, part of it is individual — each of us has to work out for ourselves
what we think about Jesus and God.
But Christian faith has always been about what we do together, about being part of a community. Baptism isn't just about our individual commitment; it's about being welcomed into the church.
Because of it, we belong to one another.
And of course, the thing we do most often together
is to worship,
Sunday by Sunday

And just like life in general,
faith is a whole lot easier
if we don't try to go it alone.

So the second reason to meet together
is because we belong together. We are a community.
And when we get together,
we encourage one another, we strengthen one another.

And so as we think about the weeks and months ahead,
when I will be gone and you will still be here,
these words from Hebrews are an important reminder.

Keep worshiping together.
Because one thing won't have changed. Jesus still goes ahead of us, inviting us to hang out with God.
And because one thing will have changed. For a while, there won't be a permanent priest here. And in that time, you all will need one another. By coming together to worship, you can support and strengthen and encourage one another, you can continue to be the people of God in this place.

"Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another."

 

Sermon ©Raewynne J. Whiteley 2006