Ro 15:4-13
5 December 2004
2nd Sunday of Advent
“Hope and Harmony”
In case you didn’t already know, I am a fan of the NFL. And like my football-loving brothers and sisters, I begin each season with a sense of hope. This year, before the leaves had even fallen from the trees, my hopes had faded!
I’ll try to quickly explain, at the risk of boring those of you who could not care less about this stuff! It began when Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins’ star running back and one of the best players in the league, decided to give the team a one week notice before training camp this summer that he had decided to retire. Add to that numerous injuries before kickoff on opening day, and you can see why my hopes were dashed. My other team, the Dallas Cowboys, had a respectable start before they took a nosedive and started piling up the losses.
Still, hope was not dead! I still had my number three team, the Tennessee Titans. But when their quarterback Steve McNair went down, they too went down. Now my playoff hopes are pinned on my number four team, the Seattle Seahawks…who, by the way, received a thrashing by the Bills last week!
Isn’t it a good thing that our hope as Christians isn’t dependent on something like a football team?
In today’s epistle reading, the apostle Paul begins and ends on notes of hope. He starts by saying that the scriptures are meant to provide us with hope—regardless of the way they’re often used. He ends with a benediction, a blessing, that God will enable his audience “to abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The New Jerusalem Bible says “that in the power of the Holy Spirit you may be rich in hope.” Rich in hope.
Actually, this is part of a larger passage, going back to the start of chapter 14, which deals with two basic orientations that are threatening to split the church. Paul calls them “the weak” and “the strong.” Guess which category he’s in!
There’s a fundamental disagreement over how much of the Jewish faith need be retained by the church. Those with a more conservative position feel that, for example, abandoning the dietary laws (no longer keeping kosher) and not observing the holy days is a real betrayal. By the way, this is the group that the apostle labels “weak.”
From the distance of centuries and oceans apart, we might want to ask the so-called “weak” Christians: what’s your deal? Don’t you understand that the grace of Jesus Christ means that his eternal life, that salvation itself, is a gift?
Of course, when one is living in the time that these questions are being worked out, one doesn’t have the benefit of being able to look back. And in Paul’s lifetime, the demographics of the church are changing. The ratio of Jews to Gentiles is quickly shifting in favor of the latter. In times of great change, these kinds of controversy are to be expected. And by the way, who can say what questions people centuries in the future will have of us?
If our passage begins and ends on notes of hope, Paul expresses his goal for the Roman believers in between. In verse 5, he exclaims, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus.” His goal for them is harmony. That’s why he gives the church this directive in verse 7: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Other versions say “accept one another.”
That verse was the basis of one of earliest sermons, back in the mid ‘80s. This was at the Assemblies of God church in Tennessee. I don’t remember what I said, other than the general idea of accepting each other, since Jesus has accepted us. That works well, until you get down to specifics. The one thing I do remember was suggesting that we need to accept those who enjoy contemporary Christian music, like Amy Grant and Petra. I remember saying that because it earned me a scowl from my pastor, who was no fan of such music.
The apostle Paul hasn’t yet been to Rome when this letter is written. That happens later, when he arrives as a prisoner. He himself hasn’t witnessed any…scowls among them. Some people say that his experiences in Corinth, a place with plenty of trouble, convince him to include these words of wisdom for the Romans.
Whatever the case, it seems clear that Paul isn’t content with just letting the various factions agree to disagree. He shows little interest in playing the role of referee, breaking up the boxers and sending them back to their corners. The apostle doesn’t try to do a balancing act, with “being right” on the one hand and “being free” on the other. He’s “driven by concern for people…For Paul we are free to love. Love matters most.”[1] Love results in a win-win, not a win-lose.
So, how do we put all this together? What’s the relationship between hope and harmony? What does hope have to do with accepting—with welcoming—one another? There are a number of ways we could answer that. But I submit this: those who hope have the courage to welcome the other.
“Advent invites us to live in harmony with one another, with our brothers and sisters, near and far. We are to live in harmony even with those we are repulsed by, those we fear, hate, ignore.” That’s from one of the books of Advent reflections we made available last week, entitled “Making Room.”
When we remain in the stagnant water of cynicism and apathy, we lack the courage to face our fear. We lack the will to accept the Advent challenge of reaching out, of welcoming. Hope orients us to the future. That’s what Advent is all about—the coming of the Lord. Advent is not about worshipping the god of consumerism—buying everything in sight…so that we can be, as my Dad would say, “fat, dumb, and happy.”
Banu and I recently got an email from a friend in Illinois who’s a Presbyterian pastor there. She sent us a copy of a letter by the new moderator of the PC(USA), Rick Ufford-Chase.[2] He’s an elder at Southside Presbyterian in Tucson, Arizona. In the letter, he speaks of things that cause us to scowl at each other. (That’s my term, not his!)
He focuses on what he calls “a consistently biblical, life-affirming ethic.” The problem is actually being consistent. He recites the usual complaints that we hear…about liberals who too easily consider abortion solely a question of a woman’s right to choose. Then there are conservatives who too easily advocate war and the death penalty. Both groups would say that they’re pro-life! (Seriously, what’s the alternative, pro-death?)
Our moderator isn’t terribly impressed with some of the so-called “moderates,” either. He’s thinking of the ones who say we shouldn’t talk about those thorny issues, “for the sake of the church”: as if by not discussing them, we can avoid splitting the church. “If we all are expected to sell out on what we believe,” he asks, “then what is the point of being together?” I’m reminded of the apostle Paul’s reluctance to umpire between the competing parties.
One of Ufford-Chase’s suggestions is that we let others help us find our blind spots. And we all have them. I think Jesus is onto something by asking, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (Mt 7:3).
He confesses that he has a blind spot in the area of reproductive choices. He admits that his support of women has tended to mask his concerns about the lives of unborn children. He realizes that his claim to profess “a consistently biblical, life-affirming ethic” isn’t as consistent as he would like.
Until we take the time to actually think about what we believe—and why we believe it—we won’t make these discoveries. We can’t do this alone. Again, Paul says to welcome one another—to accept one another. We need to take this seriously. This isn’t some warm, touchy feely advice to be dismissed as a Hallmark greeting card moment. There’s some bad blood among folks here. God can’t bless our church if we’re not willing to bless each other. Notice I said “bless each other,” not “bless each other out”!
During my years in the Assemblies of God, I remember on several occasions hearing these words of wisdom: the Holy Spirit is a gentleman—he won’t stay where he isn’t welcome. (Forgive the gender exclusive language!) The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s love, won’t force us to let go of our grudges. But the Spirit will certainly help us, if only we humble ourselves and ask.
Finally, I want to mention a date on the secular calendar that, to me, truly expresses these themes of hope and harmony. This Friday, the 10th of December, is International Human Rights Day. It commemorates the 56th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is one of the founding documents of modern international law.
There’s something in the desire that the human rights of all people be respected that is deeply biblical. It speaks of the image of God in all of us. It longs for the day when Isaiah’s vision of the wolf living with the lamb becomes a reality. Those who care about human rights show that kind of hope.
That hope longs for the day when the “strong” and the “weak” (to use Paul’s description)…when Dolphins fans and Bills fans…when we at Westminster…live together in peace.