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Sunday August 31, 2008 "A Covenant People" Genesis 17:1-9 and Acts 3:25-26 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 9/8/2008 1:38 PM | The first covenant that I was aware of in my life came at the age of about 10 or 11. It took place, like so many important things in my life, in Barbeau, Michigan at the church camp my parents ran.
Those summers at Camp Conely were some of the most important and special times in my life. I loved seeing the campers come in each week…some new faces, some old friends. I loved the old trailer that we lived in back behind the lodge. I loved the food that the cooks, Mrs. Morrison and my mother cooked each day.
But what I especially loved, was that right down the river, my grandparents and my aunts and uncles on my mothers side all had cottages and every summer was one long family reunion.
I was especially close to my cousin Bryce, which is only natural, since he was born just 27 days after I was. We were close from the time we were infants, I am told, and those summers roaming the woods, fishing and playing together were the best.
When we were quite young, Bryce got sick. We did not know exactly what the problem was, nor did his doctors. And it wasn’t all the time. Every few weeks, he would have terrible intestinal pain. He began to lose weight. We used to joke that he was beginning to look more like me, since he always had to shop in the “husky boys” section, while I, believe it or not, was relegated to the “slim section.”
Over a couple of years, Bryce got sicker and sicker and spent more and more time in the hospital as doctors attempted to deal with his illness.
In some ways, those summers when Bryce got up north and was feeling pretty good were probably exactly the respite he needed. And I think I needed it too, because it gave us both some time to just be kids and not think about the uncertainty of the future.
Bryce was a big fan of the TV show Daniel Boone, and one day told me about how Daniel Boone and his Indian guide and friend, Mingo, had become blood brothers and so forged a bond that could never be broken. He said that they had a covenant between them, an unbreakable covenant.
And so we decided to become blood brothers, too. We found a sewing needle in my mother’s sewing basket, went out in the woods and solemnly poked holes in our fingers, dug around a little bit until we got them to bleed, and then held them together, co-mingling our blood and sealing our covenant. We were blood brothers, we declared, and that bond was stronger than anything that life might throw our way.
I didn’t know it at the time, but what we had done was the very definition of what a covenant is. The heart of the idea of covenant is that it involves an unbreakable promise and an unshakable bond. Promises made in covenant are promises you can count on. The connection made in covenant is one that will endure forever.
We talk about covenant a lot in the church, but I’m not sure we always think about the power of being a covenantal church, a covenantal people.
The idea of covenant pops up early in the Old Testament. Noah, a righteous man, was called by God to build a giant boat, an ark, that would hold all the animals of the world, and of course, Noah’s family. Then God brought the rains that cleansed the earth, getting rid of evil and brokenness and leaving Noah and his family to begin again.
God made a covenant with Noah that day, and with all people. Here is what Genesis tells us about that covenant:
“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
God promised that the earth would not be destroyed by God’s hand and in that promise, a bond was forged. The world and all it’s inhabitants were special to God, and God made it clear that the world was being watched over. And God made a sign of that covenant: the rainbow, not only so we would remember God’s covenant, but so that God would also be reminded.
Notice the interplay between God and Noah: there is none. God pronounces, and Noah is the recipient of the grace of God’s promise. Noah makes no sign, only God does that.
This covenant with Noah points out something very important: this is not a contract, where provisions are negotiated. This is not an agreement where both sides have a choice whether to sign on or not. This is not a partnership hammered out between equals.
This is a covenant directed by God and in place, whether we like it or not! Entry into the covenant is not based upon ability, or negotiation, or size. It is not about making some connection between equals.
The covenant is purely God’s making. The covenant consists only by the grace of God. It’s promises are entirely one way. And Noah, and creation, and all of us to follow are the recipients of that grace and protected by those promises. There is no coercion. There is no threat of annhiliation to get Noah to sign off. There is simply a bond struck, a bond born out of God’s word.
We hear of covenant again when Abram is called by God to leave his home and head for a promised land, the land of Canaan. Abram and his wife Sarai go without hesitation and prove their faithfulness through obedience. In the passage we heard read this morning, God revisits the idea of covenant. It is not the first time Abram has heard this promise, this restating of God’s covenant. Like Noah, Abram is not an equal partner in this relationship. Like Noah, Abram is not negotiating with God about the language of the covenant. Like Noah, he is simply a dutiful and obedient servant of God, grateful for the covenantal relationship. Like Noah, there are signs for Abram, too. His name is changed, and he and his wife become parents for the first time, even though the newly named Abraham was 99 years old at the time.
In other places in the old testament, God makes covenants with people: with Moses in Egypt, with David in Jerusalem, with others along the way. And they exhibit the same pattern: God initiates the relationship, it is a pronouncement, not a negotiation, a sign is given, and God’s people are the recipients of God’s gracious covenant.
In the Acts passage we heard read this morning, Peter is preaching to a group of people who fully understand the notion of covenant. The exchange, after all, takes place at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Peter reminds them of that covenant, acknowledges that they are the descendants of the ones with whom God first made the covenant, and adds a new wrinkle: the covenant is renewed with the coming of Jesus, the messiah. They should believe it, Peter says, because God sent Jesus to them to give them the chance to respond. God didn’t send Jesus to Europe, Asia or Africa. God sent Jesus to Palestine, home of the people of the covenant.
Did that impress the people at the temple? It’s hard to say. Peter and John were arrested before the people had a chance to respond. But it would certainly have made some sense.
The founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) firmly believed what an overwhelming majority of orthodox Christians believe: that in Jesus’ coming, the covenant was extended. Jesus came to teach us, but he came for more. Through God’s grace, Jesus came to offer us life, life abundant and life eternal. Through God’s grace, Jesus came to offer us a chance to have a personal relationship with God. Through God’s grace, Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. Through God’s grace, Jesus came, died and then left the most hopeful sign of all the covenantal signs: he arose from the dead, so that we too might do likewise in God’s gracious presence.
Freely and voluntarily, we enter into covenant with the God of Noah, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Moses, the God of David.
Alexander Campbell and Baron Stone and the other leaders of the movement that founded our church believed strongly in the notion of the covenantal relationship with God. They relished the opportunity to respond by giving of themselves, repenting of their sins and doing their very best to be worthy of the relationship that had been offered. They understood the theological implications of this very well. The covenant was one that they could choose to honor, or to reject. But it was not a covenant they could break. Even if they rejected the covenant, it could not be broken. They might ignore it, turn away from it, deny God’s will and word, but if they turned back, if they saw the error of their ways, repented of their hubris and sought God, they found that the covenant still remained. They had a choice of how to respond. But however they responded, God did not change. This is fairly easy to grasp as an individual. Each of us has different needs and a different relationship with God. Each of us has the potential to experience the power of God in our lives, if only we will open ourselves up to all of God’s possibilities. But Campbell and Stone believed that it must go further than our individual experiences. If, they argued, we are to build a church that honors and reflects the covenant of God in our lives, we need to organize ourselves on those same principles. A covenantal church must reflect the grace-filled pronouncement of God that draws us together. A covenantal church looks to the promise of God’s presence as the bedrock of faith. A covenantal church must recognize that this is not a relationship of equals negotiating a contract, but a voluntary gathering of different people, arriving along different paths, suffering different sorrows, celebrating different victories, bound together because they choose to be part of God’s plan of salvation for the world. And there must be a sign that signifies our free and mutual entry into covenant together.
And so, the form of the church, what scholars call the ecclesiology of the church was set. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) would operate under the kingship of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, so there would be no bishops, no pope, no authoritative head of the church. In the beginning, in fact, there was no ordination. Rather, Campbell and Stone believed that each congregation should govern themselves through discernment, through study and through mutual sharing of duties.
There would be no formal hierarchy throughout the various congregations. No national church would set policy for how the congregations would operate. The general church would exist as a mutual cooperation society, each responding to God’s covenant by working with, and being in fellowship with all who were parties to that same covenant.
Just as God made the covenant with the descendants of Abraham, just as God renewed that covenant with God’s people with the ministry of Jesus Christ, the church of Campbell and Stone would be open to everyone. Everyone.
This may be the hallmark of this movement started by these two men. God made the covenant with those patriarchs of the faith and through them let us know that this covenant would be extended through them, generation to generation, so that all might know God. If then, Campbell and Stone were to lay claim to being a church of the covenant, all parties to the covenant must be welcomed. And that means everyone. Anyone who sought God, who responded to God’s gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ must be welcomed. There would be no barriers, no tests of fellowship, because we are not the authors of the covenant: God is. To be a covenantal church is to be a church that responds to God’s grace. And that means welcoming even more and more people into the fellowship of believers, no matter where they came from or how they got here.
Then, of course, there is the question of a sign. For us, the sign is here at this table where each week we gather as Christ’s church, as God’s covenantal people, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) does not operate the same as some denominations. It does not make us any more right, or the others any more wrong. It just shows us what the founders of our denomination thought about what it meant to be part of that covenant. It means we are here because of God’s grace and love, and it means that we will do everything in our power to make that grace and love available to as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible.
With this covenant, we have been given an incredible gift. How we move forward says everything about how much we value that gift.
Back those many years ago, when my cousin Bryce and I became blood brothers, I had no real understanding of what a covenant was. Bryce had two rounds of surgery for ulcerative colitis when we were 12. And then, slowly, he began to get better. He grew stronger and went on to play baseball and football in high school. We went to Michigan State together. Today we see each other about once a year or so. He still lives in Michigan where he is now a United Methodist minister.
We may not see each other as much as we would, we may not talk as much as we would like, but the fact is we are inextricably bound together. You see, we are part of a covenant. It’s not a contract, it wasn’t negotiated, it wasn’t agreed to. It was just entered into, freely and in love. And nothing, nothing, will ever break that connection.
Thanks to God’s grace, we are all part of a larger covenant. It’s not a contract, it wasn’t negotiated, it wasn’t agreed to. It was just entered into: freely and in love. And nothing, nothing, will ever break that connection.
Thanks be to God!
Let us pray: Dear Lord, we do not understand why we should be the recipients of such love and grace. We are undone at your generosity. Guide us in our efforts to build your church and our lives in accordance with your covenant. May our responses be pleasing to you, may our worship be worthy of you, may our lives be beacons to others who seek your presence. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
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