Rev. Anne Russ

October 18, 2009

Philippians 2:1-11

Matthew 5:1-16

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head? One that just keeps coming back again and again and bubbles up in your brain at the oddest of times?

I’ve had one lately. It’s an old country gospel song that my grandmother sang and my parents sang, so it’s not surprising that I would sing it, too. It’s like a parent recording. But it’s been cropping up a lot lately.

This world is not my home

I’m just a passing through

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me

From heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore

This song belongs in a category I like to call won’t-it-be-great-when-we-all-get-to-heaven songs. If you ever turn on PBS or GAC and catch the Bill Gaither Gospel Hour, almost all of the songs they sing fall in this category. And they’re all perfectly good songs to sing…because it will be great when we all get to heaven. But I find, lately, this song has been creeping into my brain a lot—particularly at times when I realize just how crazy the world is becoming.

I don’t know about you, but the debate over healthcare is about to do me in. How such hate-filled rhetoric could become part of an effort to make sure that every American is well cared for is beyond me. The Rebublicans are saying that the Democrats are going to kill our grandmothers and the Democrats are saying the Republican plan is for us to die quickly if we get sick. Wow.

This world is not my home I’m just a passin through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

Bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan have become such commonplace news that we’ve just about become immune. We hardly notice the updates anymore, and we cease to imagine the people who are touched by them. But lately, it seems the terrorists have taken it up a notch. Recently there have been at least two reports of suicide bombers attacking FOOD BANKS! The people trying to help those whose lives have been most affected by this war are being attacked. Seriously? This is what we’ve become? People killing themselves and others so that hungry people can’t have access to food.

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door

And then…have you heard about this movement called Conservapedia? Modeled after Wikipedia, a group of people have decided to change passages in the Bible that they deem too liberal. In other words, they’re creating a Bible that conforms to what they already believe. What’s next? I’m sure there will be Liberalpedia in which the book of Leviticus is just removed all together, along with Philemon. Will the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals come out with the PETA Bible where all reference to animal sacrifice are omitted? Will there be a feminist Bible where Joseph become Jospehina and at least half the disciples are changed into women in order to combat the clearly patriarichal bias of the Scriptures? Let’s just all create our own Bible that never says anything that might challenge us or make us uncomfortable.

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

I just can’t seem to get that song out of my head lately. It’s a good song and it’s easy to sing, which we all know is a lot better than a lousy song that’s hard to sing. But I need to get this song out of my head before I start buying into its message.

Because the truth is this world IS my home, and I’m not just biding my time until I make it to heaven. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, tells us that God created this world and declared it to be good. This world is God’s good creation, not merely some cosmic waiting room.  In Ephesians we learn that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus in order to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. We have a purpose here. Even when it might seem like the world has completely lost its collective mind, scripture tells us that we are part of God’s good creation and that we have work to do while we are here.

There are three world religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) who all claim Abraham as their spiritual ancestor and the God of Abraham as their God. So what is the key theological issue that separates our Jewish and Islamic brothers and sisters from we Christians? It’s not the Virgin birth or even the resurrection. It’s the very Gospel passage we read this morning. That the Word became flesh. You see, in the Jewish and Islamic traditions, the idea that the Almighty, Omnipotent, one-and-only God would ever, ever take on human flesh is absolute heresy.

But we heretical Christians believe that’s exactly what God did. In a radical, revolutionary, move, God became one of us. Made this world his home. To show us the Way. Not only the way to eternal life in the hereafter, but also the way to a full and complete life in the here and now.

As wonderful as the gift of everlasting life and salvation is, if we allow Jesus to be no more than our ticket into the Pearly Gates, then we have really missed the point. We are God’s handiwork and we have a purpose here in this world. And I believe that journeying with Jesus and endeavoring to live as he lived and love as he loved while here on earth is our best way of uncovering just what God has planned for us. It is through following Jesus Christ that we become the people God has always intended for us to be.

For over 100 years, this church has born witness to the life and the love of Jesus Christ in this particular corner of the world. In times of war, it has proclaimed peace. In times of hate, it has proclaimed love. In times of despair, it has proclaimed hope. Others have come and gone, but this church has remained a constant in this ever-changing neighborhood.

And here at the corner of 4^th and Maple, we will continue to be the voice and the hands and the heart of Jesus Christ. This world IS our home, and we are not merely passing time until we get to heaven. We have gifts to share and lives to change in the name of the one who loved us enough to become one of us. Two thousand years ago, the Word became flesh and lived among us and started a revolution that would change the world. Jesus caused quite a stir in ancient Israel. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us today.