April 16 (Easter Sunday)

Carol Barriger &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Psalm 23

1^st Congregational <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Church of Redwood C= ity, UCC &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = 1 John 3:16-24

May 7, 2006 (4^th Sunday of Easter, communion) = &nb= sp; = =

“Talking the Talk; Walking t= he Walk”

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth a= nd action (1 Jn 3:18)

&nbs= p; On a day when we do something so symbolically Christian as sharing the communi= on meal at this table, it’s a good time to ask what might seem to be a worn-out question. But becaus= e of where we are in this war-torn, fearful, starving world … because of where we are here, in the culture of 21^st c. America … becau= se of where we are in the life of this church … I think it is absolutely fundamental. Wh= at does it mean to be a Christian? Why would we want to be that, or do that – other than lifelong habit? What is our understanding of what it means to live a Christian life, right here, right now? What a= bout it satisfies our spiritual longings?

&nbs= p; Our answers are personal and individual. I’m grateful for the United Church of Christ that welcomes into community people who have different answers to the question. Yes, yes, it’s all ab= out Jesus, but at the same time, whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, there is a place for you here. Being a Christian is a journey= , and that means movement and change. The church – and here I speak of the church universal – has paradoxically not made answering the “What does it mean to be a Christian?” question easy. By basing answers in doctrine, by squaring= off against one another, by insisting on creeds which tax rational belief, by excluding people based on the very realities of their lives – the chu= rch has often stymied the individual search for Jesus. It has prescribed Jesus, and what = it means to follow him. The resu= lt is, “Oh, my goodness, if I don’t follow these rules, or those, for being a Christian, then I must be terrible and rejected by God.” What’s worse – the lab= el “Christian” has been equipped with a lot more baggage than just being a follower of Jesus.

&nbs= p; I’d like to surface the radical notion that what “being a Christian” really means is not about Jesus, but about a way of living in, and living out, the love of God. It’s the religion of Jesus, not the religion about Jesus. It pre-dated him ̵= 1; it was clear in the psalms and the prophets – and it has arisen repeated= ly in individuals and communities since Jesus. But we are here because it = is in Jesus that we hear and see that message of love, lived out in a human being= , in a way that changes us. The ps= alm calls God a loving shepherd – a meaningful picture in that agricultural world. The shepherd protects = the sheep, urging them on the right and safe way on the journey to pastures ful= l of food. But in the metaphor, the sheep (or the person praying to God) do not stop, do not give up, are not powerless. I walk through = the valley… I keep putt= ing one foot before the other. Goodness and mercy will follow me… because I’m moving. I’m in motion, action, and I= am steeped in, and living out, the Love of God.

&nbs= p; The first letter of John asks us to put our love in action as well as words = 211; that is the true love of God in Christ, who laid down his life for love He was a person of action, n= ot sitting still. The challenge = to us is not to become martyrs, but to define what our life is, and lay that down for one another. That is= the stewardship of love. For example: if my life is my art= istic creativity, technical or teaching skills, my ability to listen, be present, pray, build things, if my life is my ability to make money … h= ow do I truly lay these down for another and not just use them for my o= wn self-satisfaction. Let us = love, not in word of speech, but in truth and action. Let’s not just talk the talk= . Let’s walk the walk. We all know dramatic examples of p= eople “laying down their life,” for love of others, not self.

--The people on United flig= ht 93 on September 11, with the limited information they

had, somehow knew they had to do something to stop the unfolding events and save the lives of others.

--Over 300 New York firefighters died that same day. At a memorial in their h= onor, the President said: “Th= ey only knew their duty … was to go in, … to search out the trapped and helpless, and to save those who could be saved.”[1] I guarantee you not all of those f= irefighters were observant Christians, but that was Christian love-action.

--Tom Fox, of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, died in Iraq. CPT members are not blind. They have seen evil, understand the cycle of violence and know the risks going into a place of conflict. They didn’t go to Iraq to be kidnapped but to help create conditions of trust and hope that might thwart the cycle of violent retribution.&n= bsp; Their motto, “Reducing Violence by Getting in the Way,” = has two meanings: seeking to foll= ow the example of Christ who confronted evil nonviolently, and willingly placing themselves between those who are caught in the spiral of violence.[2]

&= nbsp; To lay down one's physical life for another is the supreme sacrifice of love in action. It is a sacrifice tha= t is almost impossible to comprehend, and we ask ourselves when reading of such heroism, "Could I do that?” But there are other ways to lay down a life without dying. They are the ways in which we lose ourselves for the love of others; when we place the good of another, or the good of a community above our own need or interest. These may be the sacrifice of pres= tige, or appearance, or gain, of refusing to look good at another’s expense= . They are forms of dying. It’s an obvious truth that l= ove is not just words, but action – but it can be painful and difficult to l= ive out. The epistle calls upon u= s to help one another through life: How does God's love abide in anyone who= has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help= ? When we don’t help, we “= ;turn off the spigot” of God’s love which naturally runs through us.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We stop being a channel of GodR= 17;s grace. We do the same thing w= hen we exclude others – we wound them by turning off God’s love for th= em.

&nbs= p; Practicing “real love” as the John letter calls it means treating all people, all – without exception – as your family. How hard is that?? Very hard, indeed, I think any one= of us would testify. It means setti= ng aside a lifetime of preconceptions and clambering over boundaries which have hardened into walls. If love = is the foundational principle of what it means to be a Christian – we all wa= nt to consider ourselves good Christians, but, truth be told … not work = any harder at it than we already are. And which is more difficult – to reach further out into the wo= rld to building loving relationships with strangers? Or to live love in action right in= our own families – biological, created, church families – where relationships are so close, and we have made so many assumptions about how things are. It means dismantling those assumptions. The writer of the letter, my friends, is talking about living in love with one another in the here and now – not with people far away in time and place.

It was Paul who began to po= int people toward the way of Christ. What matters most is love lived out in practical, visible ways with = one another. He described what it= looks like: patience, kindness, gentleness, humility, without arrogance or rudeness, irritability or resentment; never seeking wrong, always pursuing what is right. Enduring all things for the sake o= f the truth. These are the tools by which we embody love. The capacity to love is the capaci= ty to suffer with another, which is why the fruit of love is compassion. Author Alice Walker says about lov= e, “the way forward is always with a broken heart.”[3] Love is most deeply lived and felt= and acted out where we know life’s greatest gains and losses. Around the bedside of a family mem= ber passing over. When old dreams= die and give way to new dreams. There’s a story about a mother in Bosnia during the horrible conflicts who was comforting her child who couldn't sleep from the noise of= the violence. She hugged him close and said, “Go to sleep, God is with you.” The child said, &= quot;I need a God with skin on." Love is God is with skin on.

   &nbs= p;        “Talk the talk; walk the walk,” is shorthand for integrity.   What is integrity? Many equate it with honesty, but t= he two are not exactly the same. Especially in today’s world, it is vital for people of all fai= ths to spend time with the ethical questions of what it means to live “a = good life.” For some that is= tied up with that question, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” There are a many, many people R= 11; numbers varying by location, but as high as 80-90% by some estimates in this area – who are completely disconnected from church, or any faith community because they don’t see those communities giving them anythi= ng for this critical part of their life. They don’t want doctrine; they want help, inspiration and empo= werment to be in this world. They wan= t to live good lives, they want to “walk the walk.” What does it mean to live with integrity? We no longer have = the luxury to live with a kind of moral simplicity without struggle. That has been gone for a very long= time, but especially conservative faith traditions have been in denial about that. There are few absolutes= , and for those who would claim that the alternative is flabby and spineless moral relativism – I would point out that it takes a great deal of courage = to engage alternatives and to reach deeply into one’s own soul to do the right thing, instead of blindly following an axiom or dogma. The moral integrity to walk the wa= lk with Jesus is part of our spiritual journey. Just because he did it before us doesn’t me we don’t have to do any work.

   &nbs= p;        Once I preached on that challenging text (Matthew 5:48) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Fat= her is perfect. I did some deep word study on “perfect.” To make a long story short, the Gr= eek word, translated from a Hebrew word, which Matthew used for “perfect” … means “integrity.”   It doesn’t mean be pur= e and blameless according to some arbitrary standard. It means: “as God has integr= ity, so you should have integrity.” That is God’s perfection. What is integrity? It is being congruent, aligned, th= e same on the inside as what shows on the outside; not duplicitous, true. Jesus didn’t tell the church= , or us, how to do that, how to put love into action. When Jesus was around, the church = was far, far in the future. He le= ft the specifics to others, and we also have to interpret and pray about that for ourselves. What does “l= ove in action” mean? What does “God with a skin on” mean?&nbs= p; What does it mean for us to “walk the walk?”

To engage in love-action, f= irst we have to open our eyes to the needs of the world around us. With modern technology, news comes at us very fast and sometimes we go into information overload. Every natural and human-created disaster is right there on TV. We are overwhelmed by images of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, war, starvation and the list of human il= ls and evils goes on. We begin to suffer from compassion fatigue, too. We give and pray, and wonder if anything we do can possibly make a difference, given the magnitude of the problems. So after opening your eyes to the problems, and despairing, feed yourself in community at the table and in prayer. Then do whatever you = can. God does not expect us to do more = than we can do. God gets human limitation. God asks that we = act with integrity. The joke question = is: “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “One bite at a time.”<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> One of the speakers in the first “Living the Questions” session points out that there are 613 commandments in the Jewish law. We are to pick one and start.   To be on the journey, to be on the Christian journey, is to pick one and start. Pick one and start walking. You are not condemne= d for not loving; but for not trying. Come to the table. Be fed. Be on your journey.

Talk the talk, and walk the= walk.   Amen.

c:\data\carol\redwood= city 2006\sermons\ser0507.06 Talking the Talk; Walking the Walk

The 23^rd psalm is amon= g the best-loved pieces from the Bible. It is certainly the most often-memorized, and it is used in interfait= h settings. <= /i>

The words we have come to repeat = by rote, and associate with pleading to God for help in times of trouble or at= the end of life, also challenge us to = live, actively and fully, our “whole life long.”

Psalm 23= =

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff – they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; =

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

The letters of John were not written by the same author as the gosp= el of John. They circulated in t= he Christian community a little later. This portion of the first letter of John reminds us that love is most truly known in our actions.

1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this – that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brothe= r or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.=

By this we will know that we are from the truth, and will reassure our hearts before God whenever our hearts condemn us;

for God is greater than our hearts, <= /span>

and possesses all knowledge and wisdom.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God;

and we receive from God whatever we ask,

because we obey God’s commandment and do w= hat pleases God.

And this is that commandment – that we should believe in the name of Jesus Christ and love one another, just as we were taught.

All who obey this commandment abide in God, and God abides in them. =

And by this we know that God abides in us,

by the Spirit we have been given.

Here end the readings for today.&n= bsp; May God add new understanding to our hearing of these words.<= /i><= /o:p>