United in God

I can not help but think about my youngest daughter’s favorite story right now (and I think my husband’s favorite as well), The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss. It is a charming little book about star-bellied Sneeches and plain-bellied Sneeches. The Star-bellied Sneetches think that they are the best and they separate themselves from the others, they ostracize and marginalize the plain-bellied Sneetches at every opportunity. That is until a man comes to town with a star machine, which put stars on the plain-bellied Sneetches. The star-bellied Sneetches get mad because, now they could not tell who was a “real” Star-bellied” Sneetch. The man has the solution to this new problem, he has another machine that will take the stars off. The Sneetches race around, putting stars on and taking stars off, in an effort to distinguish themselves as being the “best” kind of Sneetch. They keep this up until the man packs up his machines and leaves saying to himself, “They never will learn, no you can’t teach a Sneetch.” However, the story does not end there, they did learn. They learned that stars did not matter that “Sneetches are Sneetches and no kind of Sneetch is the best.”

This text begins by calling for the readers to remember who they once were: Gentiles. As such, they were outside the community of God. They were not a part of the people of Israel. They were the red-headed stepchildren who always got the heel end of the bread and the fatty end of the roast. There was actually a wall in the Temple which was the “no Gentiles beyond this point” wall. A dividing line separated the accepted people and the unaccepted people. They were foreigners, who did not deserve to participate in the full promise of God. The Jews, the star-bellied Sneeches, thinking themselves to be the best Jews in the pews. The Gentiles were the plain-bellied Sneeches, who were not allowed in, they were kept outside behind the “no Gentiles allowed” wall.

The Gentiles are called to remember what it was like to be outsiders, the excluded ones, those not a part of the “in-crowd.” They were to recall what it was like to be separated from the others, to be considered not worthy and be unwanted.

All that has changed now. Now, because of Jesus Christ, they are no longer on the outside. In the Church there is no separation between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, as Paul tell us in Galatians 3:28. The dividing walls have been torn down; all hostility is to be put aside. Those who were aliens and strangers are now not only accepted, merely included as part of the community, or simply citizens; they are part of the family. Those who were once on the outside are now part of the household. They are included; they are loved. Within the family, there is love and acceptance. Within the family, the members look out for each other and take care of one another.

I remember growing up my sister and I had a hard time getting along at times. We fought and argued. I am sure we drove my parents crazy. No matter how much I “hated” my sister, how mad I was at her at any given time, how much I complained about her to my friends, it was not OK for anyone else to put her down or make fun of her. I also know that it was the same way with her and her friends. She might tell them I was a brat and she loathed being my sister, but they were not allowed to join in to say how much they may have disliked me. No matter how we felt about each other at any given moment, one thing never changed: we were sisters and we looked out for each other. Whether we admitted it or not, even when we despised each other the most, we loved each other.

This is the way it is to be within the Church. All those who have accepted Christ and call themselves by His name are a part of one family. Christians accept one another, love one another, and take care of each other. We are to treat each other as family. No one within the Christian family should feel like a plain-bellied Sneech, left out and ostracized. All people are invited. All people are included. All people are taken care of and all people are loved no matter who they are, what they look like, or whether they have a star on their belly or not.

The Church is to be united. It is to be built up together, the foundation laid by those who have gone before, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the stone which was selected carefully because it was perfectly square, and the stone that was laid down carefully so that it was perpendicular to the ground. The cornerstone was the stone that determined the “rightness” of the rest of the building. All the other stones were placed so that they would be in line with the cornerstone. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the building that is the Church; which the others are laid. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone by which all the others are measured. The Church is to be in line with Christ. The Church is to be lined up with how He lived His life. The Church is to be lined up with the love and mercy that He showed to all He met. The Church is to be lined up with all that He said and all that He taught. The Church should function as Christ functioned in this world, because He is the measure by which we are measured. Whether the Church is built straight can only be judged by looking back at the life, actions, and words of Christ.

The people that make up the Church are to be bound together, united to form the holy temple of God. The Church is the “new” temple of God. Just as the Jewish temple was the dwelling place of the Most High, the visible place where the presence of God was here on earth, the Church is the presence of God the world. The Church is to reflect the unity and love of God for this world. It is through the Church that the world sees the inclusive nature of the truth of God.

It is within the Church, the body of Christ, that people can truly see the love and acceptance of God at work. It is in the Church that dividing lines are erased and hostilities are laid down. No outsiders or foreigners can be found in the Church because all are invited in to the Church. Our differences are put aside and we work together, united in the Lord, allowing ourselves to be the dwelling place of the Most High God in the Church. We reflect the nature of God to this world.

Unfortunately, too many times the Church falls short of what it should be. If it fails to reflect the love and acceptance of our God it does not line up with the perfect example of Jesus Christ our cornerstone. Far too often there are dividing lines within our churches. More than we would like to admit there are people, even within the church, who find themselves on the outside looking in. Even in the church, we find that there are those that see themselves as star-bellied Sneeches, who believe they are the best. They look down on others because they don’t dress quite right--their hair, their skin, or rules to live by are not the same. Lines are drawn between the “us’s” and “them’s” in sanctuaries and foyers, in vestibules and fellowship halls, in narthexes and Sunday school classrooms--in churches all over the world.

We are called to remember what it was like to be on the outside looking it. Remember what it was like to not be considered worthy? We are to lay aside our hostilities and remember that in Christ we are united. Remember, that in Christ we are all part of the same community--the same family. We are all loved; we are all accepted. We are brothers and sisters, who look out for each other, and take care of each other. We are the Body of Christ, together, serving each other and bringing the truth of Jesus Christ to this world.

As Christians we are to be united, we are to be built together as the temple of the Most High God. The Church is called to line up our lives, actions, and words with those of Jesus Christ. The Church is to reflect the love and acceptance which we have found in Jesus Christ, in our attitudes toward each other, in how we love and accept one another, and in how we love and accept those who are brought into our family because of the love, mercy, grace, and acceptance of Jesus. We are the presence of God in this world. Through us, people see the true nature of God. Through us, people experience the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Through us, they see the Lord; through us they come to know Christ. As the Church, we are to align ourselves with Jesus: our thoughts, actions, and interactions are to mirror those of Jesus. When the world sees us, they should see Christ living in us, loving through us, and speaking His words of love and acceptance.

The things that split up, divide, and segregate one person from another in our society can be seen all around us: distinctions between gender, class, and race. There is always the plain looking girl with her head held low and back bent from the insults that the pretty popular girls have dealt her. There is always the man who feels less than worthy because his boss or co-worker decided that he was the one they would chew out for very little reason. Our world is broken and splintered by this kind of sin. People are hurt and misused, left out and feeling unwanted, unneeded, and unloved because of the lines that divide us from each other in our world. This should not be this way in the Church. This should not be reflected in the way we treat one another. As the Church, we are called to something greater. As the Church, we are called to something better. As the Church we are called to be living examples of the love, grace, and acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we look at our Church and envision the walls that divide, let us vow to tear down those walls and live in ways that allow all people to know they are worthy. We are the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Most High. We are not to allow with the brokenness and fallenness of this world to be reflected in our pews and our lives. We are called to something better. We are called to reflect the grace, love, and acceptance of the one who dwells within us to the world in which we live.

We are the family of God, all those that gather within these walls are a part of that family. There are no foreigners, aliens, or outsiders among us today. We are all a part of the family. We are all brothers and sisters joined together in our love for Christ and our love for each other. We may not always get along. We may have our differences, our disputes, and our squabbles; we are not to allow these things to divide us one from another. Each and every person who walks through our doors is accepted and loved by our Father. We are to reflect the Father’s love in how we treat each other. We are to love one another without exception. No matter how we feel about each other, we are to look out and care for all those whom God loves. We are to extend to everyone the same amount of love, mercy, grace, and acceptance that God has extended to us.

Together we are united in Christ. Together we are to be the reflection of the very nature of God. Together we are to be the temple of God. Who we are together and who we are as a community begins with whom we are as individuals. Each of us are responsible for ourselves and our own actions, we are to work together as a unified body, to be the Church that God tells us we are to be. The Church only begins to reflect the nature and love of God when each of us individually reflect the nature and love of God. When you and I reflect the nature and love of God, then we together can reflect the nature and love of God. Before we begin thinking “this church” needs to do better at loving, “this church” needs to do better at being more accepting, we need to look at ourselves and think:

“I need to be more loving.”
“I need to be more accepting.”

“What can I do to break down the dividing walls and erase the lines that separate this congregation, one from another?”

“What do I need to so that this church can better reflect who God is?”

“How do I need to change the ways that I think, act, and treat others, so that Christ can be seen not only in me but in this church?”

“In what ways do I need to change my life so that this church can truly be the dwelling place of God?”

	Pentecost Sunday May 31, 2009
	Trinity Sunday June 7, 2009
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