July 27, 2014
Separation
- Matthew 13:31-33
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
Last week Teri preached on the topic of adoption, which was also introduced in Romans chapter 8. Adoption is a powerful metaphor and used in Paul’s letter to the Romans it reminds us that we are a part of God’s family. We are God’s children who have received “a spirit of adoption.” God has chosen us and incorporated us into a Christ-shaped family of men, women and children from every country, race and class.
So knowing that, and claiming our spirit of adoption, today we are going to talk about separation – almost the opposite of adoption. Separation is a real issue in our lives. Every choice we make separates us from another option. We can’t do everything and so when we do anything we exclude something. Such exclusion, such leaving something or someone behind, can be a source of great pain in human living. Even the most natural thing – like our children growing up – involves leaving something behind. You can’t become an adult without leaving your childhood behind. And none of us stay young forever and so we leave behind our young adulthood with all its hopeful potential. We raise our children with the expectation that they will go away from us – step out on their own – even if as parents we’re not ready for that.
At the very heart of what it means to be human is separation from things and from people we love. Kenneth Mitchell and Herbert Anderson published a very well written book entitled All Our Losses, All Our Griefs. The title itself speaks volumes – to be human is to have loss and grief. To be human is to be a griever for all kinds of losses. No one is able to escape this. Anyone who has remotely loved anyone or anything will suffer the grief of loss and will know the painful power of separation. This congregation understands that. We have had 22 deaths in this congregation in the 30 weeks so far this year. That is almost one death a week – or 3 funerals a month.
Paul understands the conflict of forces that cause separation. He lists many of them starting in verse 35 of his letter to the Romans. The first one he lists is hardship. And I believe he lists it first because life is hard. Paul was talking about the hardships the new Christians in Rome would have to face because of their beliefs. And in our post Christian world it is not always easy to be a Christian these days. Plus Christians are separated by so many different beliefs aren’t they?
So, it’s important for us to acknowledge that life is hard. It is okay to admit our struggles and not try to put on this “face” or persona of “perfection.” Everyone in this congregation is struggling with something and in this family of faith that we call Northminster we should feel comfortable admitting that. The best care we can give each other is to acknowledge our hardships and finds way to share them out loud, without feeling like we will be judged as failures or weaklings or as an emotional mess.
Paul’s list of things that separate us also includes distress. Distress is a frequent force in our lives. When we have done all that we can do and it’s still not enough, we are in distress. And then some of us are persecuted. The violence done to men and women because of their gender, their politics, their race, and their unconventional family units – remains a devastating force that can separate us. Paul goes on to list many more forces that cause separation. I’m sure you can add more of your own – like parents, children, divorce, your boss, foolish choices, public failure, private disappointments, anxieties, school – and the list goes on.
But then Paul asks if these forces of separation will last forever. Will these things have the capacity to undo us, to undo the most central element of our lives – which is God’s love? No says Paul, nothing will triumph over God’s love. The conflict that is hardship, distress, persecution, famine, danger or peril, violence or sword, - and then the biggest force of all death – all these conflicts or powers of separation are engaged head on, and the victor is God’s love. God will always take care of you. Because you are God’s child and you are loved. As Christians we need to know that God is for us and that nothing separates us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Paul is adamant about that – nothing separates you from God’s love.
But maybe you have a hard time accepting Paul’s proclamation of God’s love. When you feel alienated, separated and estranged, by others or even by or from yourself, you might feel like everyone and everything is against you. That’s where Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of heaven are helpful. (And remember, for Jesus, the kingdom of heaven wasn’t some future place up in the sky. It was right here and right then – the world in which Jesus lived and worked and the world in which we live and work.) Jesus compares his kingdom to a tiny mustard seed, something insignificant rather than extravagant, fragile and not mighty, unlikely rather than intuitive. His kingdom can also be imperceptible, like yeast leavening a batch of dough – something difficult to detect unless you look for it carefully. It’s not obvious or apparent even though you know it must be in there somewhere. His kingdom is also like a fishnet containing the good and the bad together or a field infested with weeds. Despite these and other seemingly ambiguous appearances, the ultimate of Jesus’ kingdom is that God’s love is unconditional and inseparable. Even if you can’t see it, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it is mixed in with the weeds of hardship and separation, it is there. Everything else pales in comparison to that fact. No matter what we face and no matter what we fear, we will never be separated from God’s companionship and community. The God that gave his Son as a love offering on our behalf means that he will do anything, and give anything, to ensure our spiritual growth and nurture.
I read Romans 8 verses 26-39 at just about every funeral I officiate. These verses form the bedrock of my faith as a Christian. When I had to write a credo in seminary – a paper about everything I believed about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit – I began that paper with the first line of the centering thought in the bulletin. In life and in death we belong to God. These words come from Romans chapter 8: 39.
So when we face hardship, we don’t face it alone. When someone we love dies, we can give them over to God’s care – because even in death we belong to God. We might not know what heaven looks like and the bible doesn’t tell us much about what happens to us when we die. But if we believe that nothing separates us from God’s love, then God is with us and loving us after we die. Death then is not the end, but the beginning of a new phase of life in God.
And God is loving those of us who are left behind and grieving the loss of a loved one. My friend Carol McDonald’s husband David died after a tragic car accident on icy roads last January. Carol often worships here with us on Sunday mornings. This is what Carol says about this passage in Romans. “Even if your life is crap, there is still good news.” It won’t bring your loved one back. It won’t mean you don’t grieve. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t sad or angry. It just means that God is with you in your hardship and distress. You don’t not go through life’s trials alone.
It also means that nothing you said or didn’t say in this life, or something you did or didn’t do, will separate you from God’s love. Have you always been the perfect spouse or daughter or son or friend? Are you always supportive, kind, compassionate, and loving? No? Well it doesn’t matter, because you are still loved. God still loves you. (Your spouse, partner, parent or child might be really mad at you, but God still loves you!) Despite any way you might feel you have alienated God, Paul tells us that nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God in Christ. As someone who often does not feel worthy of certain kinds of love, to know that God is unconditionally for me, for all of us, that is an incredible gift.
And if the suffering becomes too much, and if you can’t express the depth of your pain and sorrow how do you find the words to ask for God’s help? How do you find the words to cry out for redemption? This is the point where I believe that God’s grace breaks into our lives in a powerful way.
Paul tells us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. “ (8:26) Even when our words fail, God gives us this gift of the Spirit that is present in ways beyond our human understanding.
The wonder and grace of prayer is that sometimes we don’t have the strength to offer a prayer to God. Prayer, as the early church fathers and mothers taught us, is often a heartrending struggle. How can you pray when there is nothing that can console you? Yet it is in these moments that we can receive what is most needed for the journey. We can be offered that assurance of God’s love and grace in a more powerful way because all of the words, all of the human certainty, and all our illusions of control are stripped away. We receive what we need the most because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (8:27)
The Spirit of God intercedes for us and reminds us of the great love of God our creator. Our lives, the lives of those we love, and the life of the world may still be broken, but our concerns are brought into the presence of God, and we are reminded again of the future that God has in store for us. We are reminded that God works for our good in all things.
They used to teach you in seminary to preach a sermon with three major points and then finish with a poem. I don’t know how many points I made today, but this morning instead of a poem I am going to close with a prayer. This prayer is by the Trappist monk and theologian Thomas Merton. I discovered it one time when I was on a silent retreat – can you imagine me on a silent retreat? – and it has become one of my most frequent and heartfelt prayers. So now I share it with you.
Thomas Merton’s Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing it.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
Sources:
Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 3. Proper 12.
Inseparable Love by Dan Clendenin in JourneywithJesus.net/Essays.
Sighs for Help by Wendy Joyner in Ministrymatters.com.
Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton.