Grace, Mercy, and
Peace to you in the name of Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Well,
as the summer comes to an end, we’ve also come to the end of our work on the letter
of Paul to the Romans. Of all the letters believed to be truly written by Paul,
this letter is the only one not written to a church he had founded and knew
well. Paul wrote to the Romans as an introduction and to prepare them for his
arrival in their city. A bit like an agenda with reports and material sent
around before a parish council meeting. Paul is most concerned about telling
the Romans about the issues of justification and salvation and that one of the
consequences of our justification and salvation in and through Christ is that
we will be transformed. Not only physically on the day of resurrection, but in
our hearts, minds, and spirits as well.
Up
to this point, some of the things Paul has talked about are what it means to believe
in God, what it means to have faith, the practicalities of living in community,
and the redemption through Jesus Christ that can be accessed through faith and
action. And today it’s all about pitting meat eaters against vegetarians!
No,
wait. That doesn’t sound right. That’s what it reads like though, doesn’t it? “The
weak eat only vegetables”. That’s what it says.
After
all of Paul’s talk about family, community, being welcoming to the stranger, loving
the neighbour, forgiving the enemy…he’s got something against those who choose
not to eat meat?
Not
really. Paul is talking about the culture of eating meat, or more accurately,
eating food that is unclean, not kosher. Jewish religious laws around food were
pretty sticky and as Paul tries to bring more people towards conversion to
Christianity, one of his points is that having faith in Jesus is more than just
following a bunch of rules. It means caring about people more than caring about
the food you put in your mouth.
That
said, I don’t think the people who created the lectionary wanted us to start a
debate between being a carnivore and being a vegetarian. There has to be more
meat in this reading, pun intended. This passage is more than just about eating
meat or vegetables. It’s about division and differences. This is about a Roman
community that was both Jewish and Christian and they were struggling to figure
out who was right, who was more faithful. For example, should they honour the last
day, Saturday, as the sabbath, or the Lord’s Day, Sunday?
What
Paul was trying to say here is that these divisions that were both frustrating and
meaningful shouldn't divide us fully. The community is what matters, and we
should hold together in love. It’s love that binds us together. We can dispute
and we can argue but that's not the point. Paul said to not just tolerate those
who are weak in faith, but to show hospitality, to go the extra mile and make
the weak feel welcomed. And he isn’t trying to say that some people have better
faith or more faith than others. But he is saying that we should be welcoming
to all people, even those with whom you disagree.
Jesus
didn't come to die and live so that we could argue over how to baptize or whether
to eat meat or on what day we should celebrate. Jesus came so that we might
have life, so that he might be the Lord of the living and the dead. And yet we
judge one another, and we divide one another, sometimes even saying these divisions
are done in God’s name. It is tough to praise God if you are busy passing
judgment on other people. And yet, that’s often what we do. While we might not
be arguing about the same things anymore, although the debate about eating meat
still goes on in health circles, there are still plenty of divisions within our
churches. Will we sing praise music, or traditional hymns? Should we read from
the NRSV, or the NIV (or the KJV or the CEB)? Will we come forward to receive
Holy Communion or will we receive The Meal in our seats?
We
also remain divided over things like the inclusion, acceptance, ordination, and
blessing of women, people of colour, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons. For every place that
is truly affirming, there is a place that is not. And just when you think
progress is being made, society slides backwards in the conversation.
Love
the sinner, hate the sin. Right? Love the sinner, hate the sin regarding 2SLGBTQ+
assumes that 2SLGBTQ+ is a choice and a sinful choice. Being 2SLGBTQ+ or
straight is not a choice but the way in which we are beautifully and
wonderfully made by God. It is not a sin. White supremacy, hate speech, hate
actions, racism - these are choices and sins. These actions need to be called
out, exposed for the destructive lies they are, and those who continue to
espouse them must be held accountable.
I’m
not sure if you heard, but there is wind of a school walkout and rally at city
halls across the country, including Winnipeg, Brandon, Winkler, and Steinbach. These
anti-trans/anti-queer events target eliminating queer-affirming resources in
public schools. Things like safe spaces for queer students, education on sexual
orientations and gender identities, and allowing students to choose name and
pronouns without parental consent. The group who are apparently made up of concerned
parents feel that the teachers should “out” their students, even if the
household isn’t a safe space, which it often isn’t. The group trying to rally
is also against queer and gender-affirming medical care which can be especially
dangerous for transgender people. The lack of medical care – therapists,
doctors, medications, surgeons – leads to an increase in death by suicide in
that community.
I
understand Paul's call that we still have to love, that love is ultimate, that love
is everything. Easy enough for some, but what about those being rejected by
society, by family, by community? That’s the hard part. It’s not about “anything
goes”. I mentioned that when I talked about forgiveness. Well, it applies here,
too. Loving everyone doesn’t mean “everything goes”. This could too easily be
interpreted as a sit back and, for the sake of the community, love everybody
and don't rock the boat. I doubt Paul would be telling us not to rock the boat.
Jesus was a great boat rocker and Paul was repeatedly thrown into prison. Rocking
the boat is exactly what we need to do in order to bring justice to those on
the margins. When a group of people want to cause harm to another group of
people, we need to stand up and rock the boat.
Very
few challenges in the Christian life can compare with the challenge of really
loving one another despite how different we all are. However, at our core we
are all children of God, created in God's image. God is the God of all people
and God calls us to love and pray for our enemies and those who hate and
persecute us. To us, these are the people who are weak of faith. And we are
called to welcome them to our table, just as Christ welcomed all sinners to his
table.
Paul
acknowledges that devout people can have radically different convictions and
still be good and faithful people. It is too easy to judge each other,
especially when society constantly barrages us with the idea that people are “less
than” simply because of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religious
background. But we need to resist demonizing each other and remember that we
mere mortals have no right to judge. Verse 12 in todays reading, “so then, each
of us will be accountable to God.” There is only one judge, and it isn’t me, it
isn’t us. If, in the end, I am wrong about who God intended for me to include,
then I will answer to the Almighty on my final day. Until then, all are truly
welcome to my table because I believe that God calls us to live as a community that
embraces all and sees all as equal, so that together our knees will bow before
God. We are all people called by grace and by God not to judge but to worship
and to serve.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment