April 16 (Easter Sunday)

1^st Congregational Church of Redwood City, UCC

Carol Barriger

Isaiah 43:1-4a; 18-19; John 15:9-17

May 21, 2006=

6^{th Sunday
of Easter, Stewardship Sunday}

“Ultimate Relationship”= ;

No one has greater love than this, to = lay down one's life for one's friends. (Jn 15:13)

Pastors take a lot of care with the message for Stewardship Sunday.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It’s an important day to enc= ourage people with a church’s vision, and to remind us all of a key componen= t of the Christian life – the stewardship of all in God’s creation w= hich simply passes through our hands. But it never fails. Ev= ery time I go to the Conference Annual Meeting at Asilomar, no matter how caref= ully I have prepared me sermon before I go – I hear or learn something to = be shared. Something that fits r= ight in with the message The Holy = Spirit makes sure I listen. The them= e of the Conference is covenant – that mysterious and wonderful relationsh= ip initiated by God, and into which we are called as individuals and communiti= es in the United Church of Christ.

You know, relationship is e= ndlessly fascinating to us. It is the = #1 topic in songwriting, art, literature, and films. It’s everywhere in the class= ics of opera and theater, and in contemporary musicals, stories, and poems. Every shade of human relationship = from head-over-heels love to I can’t-stand-the-sight of-you; every feeling, every interaction from compassion and selflessness to dirty deeds and manipulation is the stuff of our chronicles. Every wondering about our relation= ship with God, the Divine, is there, too. That relationship is one of covenant.

God initiated a covenant with Noah and with all living creatures. Never again would the earth be ove= rcome by flood, creation would be in God’s perpetual care – and the s= ign of that covenant is the rainbow (Gen 9:12-17).

God entered into covenant with Abraham and said, “Go to the la= nd I will show you. I will be with= you and make you the progenitor of a great nation, with descendants as numerous= as the sand (Gen 12:1-2; Heb 11:12). Indeed all the people of Christianity, Judaism and Islam claim Abrah= am as their ancestor.

God covenanted with Moses to be with him and the Hebrew people; to t= ake them to a new land (Ex 3:11-12). God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah and said, “But this is the cove= nant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, R= 30; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I wil= l be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer 31:33)

On the last evening he was = with his disciples, Jesus declared a new covenant with them symbolized by his giving= his life in love (1 Cor 11:25). T= he faith history is filled with this ultimate relationship between God and humankind, called covenant. I= t was, and is, a way of living together, of being intimately together in trust, vulnerability, and mutual accountability.

&nbs= p; A covenant is not a contract. B= ut a covenant is a sacred agreement.&nbs= p; A covenant is completely voluntary, and it is built upon mutual trust and accountability; on grace, not upon laws and rules, or “shoulds= 221; and “oughts.” Hie= rarchy and power are a lot simpler than covenant.= Covenant is the vulnerable relationship in which we live in the United Church of Christ. There are covenants among the peop= le of the church, between the church and the pastor, among the churches in an Association, and a Conference. We do not make people subscribe to a creed in the UCC, though we draw inspirat= ion from the historic creeds of the church.&nb= sp; Rather, in the words of the Salem Covenant of 1629, crafted by our N= ew England forebears, We Covenant with God [the Lord] and one with another; and doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, to walke together = in all his waies,… We covenant to walk together in all God’s ways. Covenant is the ultimate relationship. Can you think of other examples of covenant in our lives? [The m= ost obvious, perhaps is marriage.]

&= nbsp; At the Conference, I was the facilitator of a small group. We shared what events or processes= in our individual church lives were either good, affirming examples of covenan= t; or situations which we felt strained our covenant relationship. Some people shared painful stories= of covenant being completely broken in their churches, and needing long rebuilding. We then looked for themes that ran through the strained-covenant stories and the strong-covena= nt stories. In the strained-cove= nant stories, the themes were fear, control, and poor communication – often characterized by not listening because one is too focused on one’s own message. When people fear the= ir differences, their different ideas, their different approaches, when they a= re certain their way is the only right way – it is difficult to b= e in covenant. Fear often leads to= a need to control. Sometimes co= ntrol is expressed (or unexpressed) as threat … “If I don’t get= my way, I’ll …(fill in the blank).” When individuals feel they must co= ntrol a situation, then that control impedes the work of the Holy Spirit – = the God that is in our covenant. = When people keep secrets, monopolize communication for their own ends, or distort truth, covenant cannot be kept. We know these things are true in our own personal relationships.

One woman shared a simple but powerful example of strong covenant, of how healthy her church seemed now … but after a difficult time. She described it something like this: “We had to get a = lot of people past thinking about ‘me,’ about everything they wanted, = and remember to think about ‘we.’&= nbsp; We had to get rid of the personal stuff, and turn the M upside-down.” Covenant = is about recalling the purpose, the mission, the life we are called by God to engage in together. This is a= theme of strong covenant.

&nbs= p; In this church we live in covenant. Perhaps we do not spend enough time thinking about the characteristi= cs of this sacred relationship. = But being members means more than coming to worship, receiving the newsletter, volunteering, serving on a committee, coming to events, or even giving money. Being a member means b= eing in covenant with every other member. A covenant that says: = I will bear your burdens in love, I will hear you, and affirm you, and be honest w= ith you. And I will sacrif= ice of myself for what is best for us all together.

Throughout the portion of I= saiah known as Second Isaiah – chapters 40-55 – we hear the voice of a God of hope, calling people to a new home, calling us home, and pled= ging steadfast love on the journey. The Israelites had been in exile in Babylon so long that the possibility of having a new life in freedom was but a dream. In fact they despair, = they give up trying. A psalmist of= the same period writes: “By= the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down= and there we wept when we remembered Zion…How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?[1] Do we think of any place, o= ther than this spot as a foreign land, where we cannot sing God’s song? God says: Children, you are precious in my s= ight, and honored, and I love you. = Do you recall that I have a covenant with you? Do you recall the p= ower of that?? “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things = of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”[2]

   &nbs= p;        That is the theme of our stewardship season.&nb= sp; It is a call to respond to the ultimate relationship, our covenant w= ith God and with one another in this faith community. It is a call to respond to the sen= se of “we” which holds us together, not to give for the benefit of “me.” We are not = to fear, for God has promised to walk with us on our journey. Rather we are to speak the truth t= o one another in love, and then be together in the outcome.   Another woman in my group, from a church in Sacramento, descri= bed how outspoken her church is, in great Congregational fashion! “Everybody says what they think,” she said, “and I may disagree with someone. But whatever is decided we are all= there 100% behind the decision and support one another.” A relationship like that is a grea= t gift from God. It is a gift to be responded to with all that we have.

   &nbs= p;        The gospel of John was written at least 60 years after Jesus died. It does not preserve any authentic= words of Jesus, but rather, a version of his message, crafted by the gospel write= r, which served the needs of a breakaway community under siege, trying to pres= erve itself. But buried in the discourses which are John’s own ideas about the relationship of Jesus= to the church, are the clear echoes of some of Jesus’ most incisive teachings as remembered and passed won over those 60 years. One of them we just heard – = love for others as God has loved us. It is a self-sacrificing love – we talked about this a couple of weeks a= go – a yielding up of what one might cling to as one’s own “life,” or self-definition, a yielding up of that for the good = of another, for the good of the whole. As John has phrased this tradition, there can be no greater love for one’s friends, for one’s covenant partners, than to follow in J= esus’ footsteps even to the point of death. In that, each of us knows fully the meaning of our own life. Covenant is larger than self.

   &nbs= p;        This is the table where we are fed, all of us.&= nbsp; Where we are equal, not one of us above any other, but equally in ne= ed of the food for the body and spirit provided for us by Christ’s messa= ge of love. And so we come here = and take. We take of that love, a= nd we take of the love and support that we bring to one another. This is also where we share all th= at we are, and all that we have, for the God who called us into this covenant. “Whoever we are, wherever we= go on life’s journey,” this table and all that it symbolizes will be = with us. It is truly the symbol of= our covenant. I pray that you are= led to respond abundantly to God’s initiative of love for all of us. We are covenant partners, and this= is the ultimate relationship.

   &nbs= p;        Amen.

I= saiah 43:1-4; 18-19

1   But now thus = says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not = fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

2   When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall = not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

3   For I am the = Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopi= a and Seba in exchange for you.

4   Because you a= re precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you,

18   Do not remem= ber the former things, or consider the things of old.<= /p>

19   I am about t= o do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way = in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

John= 15:9-17

9    As God = has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

10   If you keep = my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept God’s commandments and abide in God’s love.

11   I have said = these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be comple= te.

12   "This i= s my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

13   No one has g= reater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.=

14   You are my f= riends if you do what I command you.

15   I do not cal= l you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but= I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from God.

16   You did not = choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that wi= ll last, so that God might bless you completely.

17   I am giving = you these commands so that you may love one another.