This is the first Sunday of the month so this week we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion.
During the Time and Talent Auction last fall one of the items up for bid was a chance to request a sermon topic. In discussion with the purchaser I determined that the topic fit best during the Lenten Season, a time when we are encouraged to be a bit more self-reflective. So this Sunday is the purchased sermon...
The Scripture Reading for this week is Luke 10:25-37.
The Sermon Title is Who Is My Neighbour?
Early Thoughts: Covid-tide has brought many questions. It has sparked discussions about when governments should bring in restrictions, and how restrictive those should be. It has created debates about freedom and when/if freedom needs to be limited. I think underlying all of those debates has been a variation of the question the lawyer asks Jesus in this week's reading. Underlying all those debates about masking and vaccine mandates and occupancy limits has been question about how best we can show love and support to our neighbour [or possibly if we should be forced to do that]. How do we make choices about making the safety of our neighbour a priority when it impacts how I am best able to live my life?
There have been many many memes and posts over the last two years. Here are a couple that I came across recently that seem (to me at least) to touch on these sorts of questions:
Of course those don't answer all the questions. That is not the point of them. But they do give a different point of view. In a world where much of our rhetoric and media push us to think of self first these are two of many quotes that remind us to think of us first, "we not me". That is a big step in figuring out how we follow the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves.
But still there is a complication. For the last two years there has been a strong voice reminding us that social distancing, and mask wearing, and getting COVID vaccines were the best way to love our neighbour. From where I sit that is certainly true. At the same time the commandment is to love your neighbour, and the story suggests that we have to be pretty broad in how we define neighbour. So how do we love those who disagree with masking and vaccine mandates and other social restrictions?
Calling them selfish, saying they are misguided, dismissing them as "anti-science", talking about conspiracy theories, (as has often been done in the world of social media) is not how we love them. Even if we honestly believe those things are true we need to find loving ways to engage with those who hold different points of view. Even Jesus was known to point out that anyone can love their friends, we should also love our enemies.
At various times in the last two years (and many other times beyond that) the level of social discourse in our society has saddened me. I have seen wonderful things said and happen, signs of love alive and active in the world. But I have also seen terrible, unloving, unChristian things said and done. At times it has seemed that deep divides were being drawn, that disagreement over policy was turning into "if you are with me you are against me" language, that we were too willing to cast each other out.
It can be easy to say that we need to love our neighbour. It can be really hard to do it. It can be hard to love our neighbour in the midst of a generational crisis when that neighbour does not agree what needs to be done to help make a safe space for the whole community. This goes beyond debates about the science. It goes beyond the question of when restrictions are for the greater good (which is a wonderful concept but also a dangerous concept). It does get to the heart of building Christ-like community.
Jesus tells us to love our neighbours, friends and enemies. We don't actually get to ask "who is my neighbor?" because the question makes the flawed assumption that some people are not our neighbours. We have to sort out how we will love our neighbours, friends and enemies -- assuming that every one is our neighbour. The pandemic has exposed some relatively ugly things about some of our societal operating assumptions. It has pushed people into uncomfortable spaces. Maybe this is a good time to talk seriously about the question the lawyer raises in his discussion with Jesus -- and the answer Jesus gives.
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment