6 Epiphany A – February 16, 2014

6 Epiphany A           February 16, 2014
Luther Memorial Church      Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson

Sirach 15: 15-20  +  Psalm 119: 1-8  +  1 Cor. 3: 1-9
Matthew 5: 21-37

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

When Richard came home from serving his county as a soldier in World War II, he happily found a brand new home – a place where he and his bride could start their family.  Their little ranch home was built on a flat parcel of land, cleared away in a pristine new subdivision.  Several years and three children later, Richard heard that their town was giving away saplings, young trees, to anyone who wanted them.  Richard planted three of them, one for each child.  The problem was, he planted them in the front yard, and they were so small that they fell victim to playtime and the neighborhood pets.  They were often nicked by the lawnmower or trampled by someone not paying attention.  His wife and kids thought Richard should pull up the pesky young trees, but he left them there, staking them up when they drooped and putting those little plastic fences from the hardware store around them.

Richard was eventually transferred with his job and he and his family moved away from their city, and from the house with the three little trees in the front yard.

Many years later, one of Richard’s daughters returned to her childhood home.  Certain that she had the right address and the right street, she just couldn’t identify the house.  She thought of all of the possibilities – had they changed the paint color?  Remodeled?  Torn in down?    Finally, as she stood in front of the address, she realized that the house she was looking at was in fact, her childhood home, it was just shielded by three very tall, very full, very robust, shade trees.

Paul writes to the church at Corinth in our second reading today: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

Much is written about church growth these days.  There are any number of books and seminars and workshops one can attend to learn the newest method for adding members to your congregation.  Out of curiosity I typed the words “church growth” in my search engine.  Do you want to guess how many results there were?  There were 85,600,000 results for church growth.  And I’m willing to bet that not one of them said that once you have planted a church you should let someone else water it, or nurture it.

Yet, this is exactly what Paul is telling the church at Corinth.  It seems that the Corinthian church had begun to squabble amongst themselves over which of their leaders they would show loyalty to.  Both Paul and Apollos had been bringing the Gospel to the church at Corinth.  Who knows what else had been happening in that congregation?  But whatever it was, it had caused jealousy and quarreling according to our reading today.  It had caused some to draw allegiances to Paul and others to Apollos.

This theme of a lack of unity, of dissension and contention within congregations runs through both the reading from 1 Corinthians and the Gospel reading for this day.

In our reading from Matthew’s Gospel today Jesus tells the disciples that what the church will be held most accountable for is not murder, but of holding grudges against one another.

Whenever a group of people gather for any reason, there will be a wide variety of opinions and loyalties and practices.  When you add in a history together, communities that have been together over a span of years, the likelihood that this will happen increases.  And then, for some reason, when God is in the mix, when the very core of what we believe about who we are seems to be at stake, then, the possibility for disagreements, for dis-unity, for schism and fracture increases.  That there are numerous different types of Lutherans bears witness to this. So how do we, within a community of faith, remain united in purpose and spirit?  How do we keep from becoming the quarrelsome communities of which both Paul and Jesus speak?

Jesus elaborates on this as our reading from Matthew continues today.  It’s this portion of the Sermon on the Mount that causes us all to cringe a little bit, because it appears to point a finger at many of us.  All of us who have ever uttered the words “By God” as our oath, or all of us who have looked at someone with lust, or those of us who are divorced or who married someone who was divorced.  And to really explain these, to take them one by one, and talk about them all, is not possible within the time that we have this morning.  But what holds them all together is that Jesus is saying that we cannot take advantage of another person and still consider ourselves to be in right relationship with one another.  We cannot act without respect and still live in unity.

The key verses in our Gospel reading remind us clearly of this “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your bother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your bother or sister and then come and offer your gift.”

Do you ever wonder why we share the peace in our worship service before the offering?   “So when you are offering you gift at the altar, if you remember that your bother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your bother or sister and then come and offer your gift.”

This is why it is the sharing of the peace, and not the wishing of a good morning or the planning to go to lunch together after church.  It is that time to say, “Peace be with you” to that sister or brother who may be holding something against you.  It is an old liturgical act, but not one that is unique to Lutherans.

There is a custom in the rural Appalachian churches called “Flower Day.”  On this day during worship, everyone brings a bouquet of flowers and places them on a table in front of the pulpit.  These would not have come from Ballard Blossom, but would have come from the gardens of the parishioners.  The pastor would preach on this very reading from Matthew.  Then, after the sermon, each person would come and get their bouquet and go to anyone with whom they might have misunderstandings in the congregation.  They would share the peace and share a flower.[1]

So what does it take to live in community of faith?  What does it take to live in unity of spirit?  What we learn from our readings on this day is that it takes mutual respect, it takes truth telling and honoring the other and not engaging in practices that lessen or demean others.  And it takes trust – trusting that even if we have planted a seed or a church or an idea or a program, it may not be ours to see through to the end.  We may have to leave it as a small sapling and let someone else tend it until it grows to its fullest potential.  And it takes the great humility present in wishing for one another the very peace, the shalom, of God, before we bring our offerings to God.  And sometimes, sharing the gift of a flower doesn’t hurt either.

This morning when you came into worship you were invited to plant seeds in small seed cups.  As you leave here today, I invite you to take one of those seed cups home….a seed cup that someone else has planted.  When they grow into the tiniest sprouts of wildflowers, may you be reminded of the beauty of living in unity of spirit and purpose, and the sheer gift of wishing one another God’s perfect peace.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.