World Communion 2008

There are some things that never change for people wanting to follow the way of Jesus - no matter where you live in the world, no matter the century in which you are living. There is the challenge to "keep the faith," not giving in to voices of despair and doom. And the challenge, having kept the faith in mind and heart, to live out that faith, to live "in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ," and to do it in community - the community of the home, the church, the city, our nation, indeed, the world. That is, to live out the word of Christ, the word of grace, with one another - that's the challenge of every place and every time. Let's listen now to the reading for today.

Philippians 1:21-30

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. ²²If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. I do not know which I prefer; I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; ²⁴but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, ²⁶so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

²⁷Only, remember to live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation.

And this is God's doing. ²⁹For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well? ³⁰since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

I've never seen so many Brewers shirts and hats and pins as I saw this week as the divisional playoffs began against the Phillies! They must have all been at the bottom of the drawer for a quarter century, waiting for this week to come out! And they managed to stay alive last night too! The Badgers were not so fortunate, alas. We'll see how the Packers do today as they continue year 1 A.B. - After Brett! And local high schools North and West and Lourdes are all battling it out Friday nights.

We're in the height of the fall sports frenzy, aren't we. Each team has its colors - blue and white, red and white, red and black, green and gold, gold and green - and it's around those colors that the faithful rally on game day sure - or at least hopeful - that their team, the team with "our" colors - will prevail, and bring home the victory and the glory not just for the team members who do the work, but for the whole school, the whole state even. It's "Us" vs."Them" on gameday, and may the home team - our team - win. On gameday as St. Vincent himself famously said, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing!"

Wiser heads in sports I hope would beg to differ. But it is remarkable how sports events evoke within us that fervid spirit of loyalty that brings us out to cheer on our tribe, I mean, our team.

That spirit of Us vs.Them, of my team vs. your team, motivates well on the gridiron, the ball field, the soccer field, the volleyball court. But sadly that same spirit spills over into other fields too, and even into the sanctuaries - the holy places - of faith. And every fall on World Communion Sunday it is a fear of mine that as we Christians gather at the Table, at our Table, we do it with spirit of Us vs. Them, our team against all the others, our faith better than all the rest. Oh, we don't say that out loud - you won't find it in the liturgy. But in this time when the world is so divided, when faiths seem to be so opposed to each other, when the divisions within a faith, like ours are do deep, I want us to be sure that our celebrating the Lord's Supper in no way makes those divisions deeper.

Now, in celebrating Communion we remember the one whom we call our Lord, our Teacher, Jesus the Christ. This ritual is the central act of worship for us, and, though Christians have fought (sometimes literally, to our shame) over what Communion - the Eucharist - means, we all do practice it in one of its many forms. But Communion is NOT a ritual by which we exclude others. We do NOT at least in this church say, come if you agree with us, if you are one of us, if you are like us in belief. Communion is not a means of defining us against the rest, surely not a way to elevate our faith above any other. It is a celebration of God's all-inclusive, unconditional, gracious love for us, yes, but also for all the world.

In recent years a number of books have come out harshly critical of religion - books like Christopher Hitchens' with the not so subtle title, God In Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, which is a formidable attack on the Abrahamic religions. Hitchins and others do a good job pointing out the great harm the followers of religion have done in the world, and that's true enough. But it hasn't been just religionists who have wreaked havoc in the world - there have been more than a few non-believers who have caused the deaths for millions - Joe Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung should come to mind here. Still, these writers against faith have a point, that avid, unthinking commitment to God - fanatical loyalty to a religion - can be a frightening thing. Religion in the wrong hands can do great harm!

Today's reading could be mis-understood that way. The apostle Paul is surely a true believer if ever there was one. His commitment to God in Christ is complete, unflinching. So much so that he seems to waver between wanting to live and wanting to die in order to be with Christ. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. That's a radical faith!

And he urges that single-minded commitment to his readers, that little church that he had founded in Philippi. "Stand firm in one spirit," he says. "Stand side by side in the struggle, with one mind." We could read that to mean, "Don't even think about what or why you believe. Never change your mind; hang on tenaciously to what you believe, as you struggle against people who believe differently. Think the same, because only we understand God and what God is doing in the world!" Read that way, the text bolsters an Us-against-the-World stance, a circling-of-the-wagons against the onslaught of infidels.

But let's hear the passage differently. Let's hear it in the light of a gospel that invites all, that accepts all, that announces grace rather than judgement. In a reading "worthy of the gospel," what can we hear as Paul urges us to stand firm in one spirit, striving side by side, with one mind?

Let us be of one spirit in wanting not just for us, but for all of Oshkosh, and all of our nation, and all of our world what is just and fair and life-bringing.

One spirit of compassion for those who by circumstance of birth and by genetic makeup have less than we do.

One spirit of working for justice that we might in so doing work for peace.

One spirit of respecting our differences, understanding even our enemies, seeking common ground, and equal opportunity for all of God's people.

Let us struggle side by side for what is right, striving not against people but against ideas, against prejudice and bigotry - racial, ethnic and religious. We are called to stand with one another with those who have been wronged, who are discouraged, who face challenges many of us have never even imagined.

And let us be of one mind - not in dogmatic doctrine that divides us, but in common commitment to bring the compassionate presence of Christ to people, welcoming all - "all the people" - working to make our world more just for more people, caring for those who for whatever reason cannot care for themselves.

If we can stand firm in a spirit of compassion, being of one mind to seek the mind of Christ, striving side by side to right some of the wrongs of our world, then we will be able to live unafraid in a world of fear. Not because we imagine that God is on our side, but that we are on God's side - striving to see the world and its challenges, the world and its diverse people and cultures and religions as a gracious, caring God would see it.

We live unafraid not by retreating into our separate groups, our separate religions - as comforting as that is. Instead let us find courage in uniting with like-minded people everywhere - daring to find strength not in the sameness of our skincolor, clothing, economic status, educational achievement, or even religions, but in common commitment to a world where justice reigns, where truth is demanded and spoken, where the weak are made strong and the strong learn humility.

Yes, we celebrate at this Table with Christian believers across the globe today. For here we tell our story of God's love for the world. This is how we have seen God's grace and love. Let us celebrate that grace with joy, with thanks, with humility, and with hope that by every act of worship, every act of kindness, we make our world more gracious, more united, and more as God would have it be. Amen.