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Sunday April 26, 2009 "Complete Joy" 1 John 1:1 - 2:2 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's Blog |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 4/21/2009 8:20 AM | Welcome to our “Low Sunday” service of worship. For many modern Christians, the Sunday after Easter is referred to as “low Sunday” because of the drop off in attendance between Easter Sunday and the second Sunday of Eastertide. But historically, it is considered low Sunday simply to highlight the “high” of Easter. Writers have suggested that the “low” might also refer to the almost predictable let down that so many of us experience in the wake of the big celebration that is Easter. That sagging “what next” feeling that exists when we struggle to keep the joy of Easter alive in our everyday lives.
In some ways, I think low Sunday is every bit as important as Easter Sunday.
It’s easy to be a Christian on Easter. We go to the tomb and we find it empty. And the good news that accompanies that empty tomb is the most incredibly gripping news we could ever receive. Jesus is arisen from the dead, but that’s not the whole story: the resurrection of Jesus if for US! Because of his sacrifice and resurrection, we are afforded a relationship with God and we are offered a life abundant, a life everlasting, a life of joy.
Who couldn’t get on board with that?
Then comes Monday after Easter and the same problems that we had on Saturday are right back in front of us. The same aggravations that existed in our lives as we waited for Easter are still aggravating us. Job pressures; home pressures; economic issues. They’re all still here.
But Easter is supposed to change all that. Easter is the pinnacle of what God offers us. Why aren’t our circumstances better?
The noted theologian Paul Tillich once wrote: “Year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and usage.” Why, Tillich seems to be asking, isn’t everything suddenly better in the light of the transforming power of Easter?
Maybe because Easter is just the beginning. Maybe because Easter is only a single day, but the road to salvation and achieving the pinnacle that God sets before us is a life long journey. Maybe because there is still work to be done on our part.
The writer of 1 John is dealing with exactly these sorts of issues. As is the case with so many of our Biblical texts, we are not altogether sure who wrote this letter. Most likely, it was someone who was a follower of the gospel writer John, writing some years after the resurrection of Jesus. The writer was probably one of a group of teachers and preachers who learned their theology at John’s feet, and then fanned out to continue the building of Christ’s church. You see, the building of the early church was not unlike the denominationalism of today. Together, we are indeed the body of Christ, but we all come from slightly different traditions. The early church was formed by the original Apostles gathering people around them and sending them into the world to teach and preach. Each Apostle had a slightly different view of Jesus’ ministry and so each of the groups might have emphasized slightly different parts of the story. That would lead to slightly different ways of presenting the gospel, slightly different traditions, even as they all sought to teach about the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Today, our denominations do exactly the same thing. Because of slightly different interpretations of the gospel and of God’s presence in the world, different churches emphasize different things. Our Lutheran brothers and sisters have been strongly influenced by the writings of Martin Luther and his understanding of God’s grace as the only path to salvation. Our Methodist brothers and sisters have been strongly influenced by John Welsey and his view of the importance of tradition and experience. We as Disciples of Christ have been influenced by Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone and their shared belief that together and separate, we are all Christian ministers, all important to the community of faith and it’s work, all members of the priesthood of all believers.
This is to say, that the writer of First John, had a particular theological perspective that caused this letter to be written.
In the wake of all that had been experienced on the first Easter Sunday, many different interpreters of those events abounded. The writer of First John wants to make sure that misleading or false interpretations are not allowed to infect the community of believers. And so, the writer lays out his understanding of what the post Easter world of the believer should look like.
There are three very distinct themes in this passage. First, the writer emphasizes the importance of the communion that Christians have with one another, with God, all because of our relationship with Christ. In community, we find the strength to ask hard questions and make big changes. The safety of the community allows us to bare our souls, to be authentically who we are, and to find common ground that empowers us. Our weaknesses are fortified by others strengths; and likewise, our strengths help to bolster others’ weaknesses.
And the basis for this community is the sharing of the experiences that each of us have had.
The writer of 1 John is clear: I share my experiences with you, so that you might believe and that you might know God. Not the God represented by the false prophets who would lead you astray, but the one true Holy God. I have seen him, the writer says. I have touched him. And now I want to share my experience with you.
The writer asserts that when the community worships together, they are in communion with God, through the guidance of those who have gone before. Some would call this apostolic succession: the connection that we today have back to the people who were with Jesus on his earthly journey. Some would call it simply, the power of community in Jesus Christ.
You have probably noticed that I have returned to where this thought started: the power of community. For the writer of First John, the joy of Easter cannot ever be complete until it is shared by the community. Indeed, he writes as much: “We do this in order to make our joy complete.”
This is in perfect synch with the theology of John the Gospel writer. John the Evangelist, some call him. It does no good to simply catalog the stories of Jesus’ miracles. It does the individual little good to worship God in a solitary fashion. For the Johanine community, when it comes to the Good News, being alone doesn’t work; everything is better when we do it together.
In community we share our experiences, and in community we raise our voices to God. In fact, it seems to me that this letter is hinting at the importance of our experience with God as being paramount to our faith journey. It is something to consider.
When there is confusion and uncertainty about the meaning of the gospel, the writer suggests that we go with our gut instincts, our experience. And that experience is rooted in community. What we learn here, What we do here. How we grow here. Theologian George Stroup has written about the importance of community and truth, “Truth then, is not so much a doctrine as it is fellowship…fellowship with the Father, and the Son, and with each other, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The second theme of this passage is the reality and the deceptive power of sin. Sin is a reality. Big sin, little sin, any sin means turning our back on God’s precepts. The church does us no favor when we lose our sin language. It may seem an antiquated term, but it is reality. We are sinners. In community, however, we can hold each other accountable. We can confront our sin and strive to help each other change our ways. We can support each other to break free of our own individual sins, no matter what they be.
While the theme of the reality of sin is important and the idea that we can help guide each other away from sin in community is real, the third theme of this passage informs both our ability to change, and the importance of community.
The third them of this passage is that in Christ Jesus, we have an advocate when we do sin. We may never understand it completely, but the sacrifice of Jesus lets us know that we have an advocate that will help guide us in spite of our sinful ways. When we stumble, when we are rebellious, Jesus will always be there for us, to forgive us when we repent, to strengthen us when we are weak.
Again, for the writer of first John, this is seen most vividly in community. In community we find the wherewithal to face up to our sin and find support from other members of the body of Christ.
Rugged Individualism is an American theme. But when it comes to faith matters, individualism can quickly lead us astray. Individualism can lead us to believe that we can ultimately take care of ourselves, that we can transcend our sinful nature, that through the sheer power of will we can over come everything.
One of my favorite singer/songwriters, Stephen Stills, put it this way: “The self made man is truly shallow.”
The sin that may come when we insist on our individual self-made ways doesn’t just lead away from God’s essential message of our dependence on God, but it leads us away from the joy that is found only in the fellowship of believers.
We do not have to go our own way. We do not have to deny we are sinners, or even to pretend that we are not sometimes intrigued by the shadows that cover up God’s light. Because we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, we understand that we will not be perfect, but that we can continue to work toward the goal of perfection. And the movement toward that goal will not be in fearful terror of impending punishment but in confidence that God loves us. When we are not righteous, Jesus is, and that will see us through.
On Low Sunday, we will do well to heed the words of First John. The new light of resurrection that first shined on Easter Sunday is a startling light. That new light does not show us necessarily what life IS, but it does show us what life CAN be, and this letter illuminates how we can best achieve that resurrection life.
It may be summed up by a liturgy of healing from the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian community that is committed to seeking new ways of living the Gospel in today’s world: “Through the love and care of us all, God can act and become present to those in need, both in healing and restoring. We trust God to answer our prayers of healing, but we do not know how or when our prayers will be answered. We simply trust God to act in love for us, out of a deeper knowledge of needs than we ourselves have. We know, too, that to be involved in the healing ministry requires our willingness to be involved in the process of change – change which may involve us in actions as well as prayer.”
Through the love and care of us all….God is present. Through community, God is present. We trust God to heal, even when we don’t understand how or when. We trust prayers will be answered, even if we don’t discern exactly how. We know that we – the community – must be involved if things are going to change, and sometimes that means action.
And that is the heart of today’s passage from First John: together, we can move forward. Together, we can share our experience of God’s presence in our lives.
Together, we can strengthen each other for the inevitable personal struggles we will face. Together, we can achieve our complete joy by sharing our Good News with all those we encounter. Together, we can make a difference in the world. Together, we can move toward the holy, everlasting life that Jesus puts in front of us.
Together, we can make Easter real.
And isn’t that the definition of complete joy?
Let us pray:
Gracious God, you have shown us the way. You have made it clear that you love us. Help us now to honor you through our continued actions in this community, not just so that we may be strengthened, but so the world will come to know the complete joy of Easter, now and always. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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