The Gospel for this Sunday’s sermon is particularly challenging, and it struck me—why should I be the only one struggling with this? It’s time to share! So what follows are some initial thoughts as to where the scripture is going.
The Gospel is one of those passages that we wish didn’t have Jesus’ name attached to it. I’m sure we all have stories of churches that have used these instructions to their own destructive ends, shunning and shaming anyone who didn’t agree or behave or whatever. Those things get in the news because they are hardly the church on best behavior. There’s no way we would follow Jesus’ advice here, and I think that’s a good thing. But are we missing something here? There has got to be a positive way to see this advice.
I’m thinking that Jesus had to have known that his advice would be abused. Yet he said it, maybe because he was hoping that sometimes we might actually figure out his real intent. I think this has something to do with the importance of the Christian community. Those churches that do the shunning and the shaming—they really do believe they are doing it for the best of reasons—it’s not all about abusing power. They throw the misbehaving member out, hoping for repentance. It’s a punishment that’s for your own good, at least that’s the thinking.
These guys take church seriously because they think it seriously makes a difference. We’re more casual, figuring that it’s nobody else’s business whether I go to church or not, and that’s probably better than throwing people out when they disagree, but are we missing something?
It’s not like our disagreements work out all that well. People would rather leave the church than risk a confrontation, so by the time I know someone is unhappy, they’ve left the church. There’s not a lot of honesty or faithfulness in that behavior either. Those other churches may be all about power, we’re all about privacy and avoiding confrontation, and that doesn’t seem to help either.
If we believed that our participation in the church was that important, we’d be here every Sunday, not because we need it but because someone might need us. Conflicts would be different. What I have here is a theory, but I’m looking for experience and stories. So are there any? Do you think it makes a difference to someone else if you are here on a Sunday? Has anyone had the experience of knowing that your being in the pew on a particular Sunday made a difference to someone else? Do you think there is someone who is part of the Body of Christ because of something you said or did?
I’ve got a few days until I preach, and I could use some ideas here!