"Blown Away"
Pentecost 9b, July 26, 2015 BLOWN AWAY!
Text – Ephesians 3:14-21 with II Samuel 11:1-15 and John 6:1-21 in b.g.
Sometimes in the church I am literally blown away by my experience with people. Do you know what I mean?
Sometimes, this being "blown away" occurs in a negative sense. There is a fine, seemingly upstanding couple. I, at least, think of them as friends. But one day they abandon their business without so much as a good bye to anyone in the church, including their Pastor. A few days later we discover that they have been engaged in less than honest business practices. To our horror, there are criminal charges pending.
There have been other negative examples of being blown away by our life in the church together. The treasurer of a local congregation has "misappropriated" funds entrusted to them. Some Pastors have abused their power by entering into sexual relationships with members of their own parish. And finally, I have been "blown away" in a negative sense when different members of congregations fight amongst themselves or when a congregation and synod begin to snipe at each other.
But there have also been many times when I have been "blown away" in positive ways by experiences with and among people within the church.
Recently I was visiting a parishioner having just completed my prayer with him. My eyes hadn't even opened yet when this man began to pray for me. He prayed for me in powerful, honest even ardent ways, ways that were insightful, humbling, joyful and uplifting. I can't tell you what such praying means to me. To hear someone else pray for me and for our work together in this community and in the church at large is humbling, enlivening, strengthening. I was walking on air for the rest of the day and that week.
There have been many times when I have been moved by the anonymous and bountiful generosity both of individuals within the church and of congregations as a whole. Individuals approach me offering gifts of money to those in need. They tell me, "No, we don't need a receipt Pastor. Just let me know when there is a need!" In those moments my heart is warmed.
I clearly remember one of those gifts appearing as a parishioner was dying. She desperately needed admittance to a hospice house but didn't have the requisite funds. That particular hospice house necessarily had a per diem fee of over $100. With the promise of anonymous congregation support that lady entered hospice care. Weeks later when she died the amount owing was in the thousands of dollars. Yet those parishioners gladly and anonymously picked up the fee.
And, I have watched time and again as congregations have opened their doors often without any charge to groups that help others. Groups such as community kitchens, food pantries, AA and NA. Sometimes such groups meet in the same church building for years. At other times congregations open their buildings for people to come in and have coffee or a place to sleep – a place out of the cold and the wet. Indeed some congregations open their buildings to provide sanctuary to a person or persons who have fled as refugees but are now at risk of being deported to countries where they may in fact even die or at the very least be unjustly imprisoned.
Yes, I have been blown away by the interaction of people within the Church many times in my life – both positively and negatively.
Once again we are gathered here – such as we are, the Church, part of the body of Christ. This, in and of itself, is an incredibly audacious, faith claim.
As part of the body of Christ we are allowed both to hear prayers and to offer prayers. Today we hear a prayer from the author of the letter to the Ephesians for his or her church. Such a prayer it is!
The one praying is on his or her knees. Sometimes as we pray it is good to "be on our knees". This is a sign of humility, a sign that we need help from beyond ourselves, that we are not in control. We don't have everything figured out or worked out.
As we listen to this particular prayer we hear God being asked to profoundly bless that congregation. The one praying asks that the congregation will be strengthened in their inner being through the work of God's own Spirit. The one praying also asks that the risen, suffering Christ may dwell in their hearts through a trust that grows as they become more and more rooted and grounded in love.
The overriding implication which runs throughout this letter to the Ephesians is that such love doesn't come from the Ephesians themselves but from beyond them, from Jesus their Lord and Saviour who has died and is raised for them and the world. He is the One who calls them to live in love. Such love is not merely a feeling. Christ's love is that which drives them, moves them and embraces them into caring for and about all others.
The person praying acknowledges that Jesus' life, death and resurrection is that which breaks down the barriers which we humans have been confined by and limit ourselves to. These barriers include such realities as hatred, exclusion and deep fears that there isn't enough. These barriers may also be accompanied by thoughts or feelings that we just can't reach out, care, love and be forgiven or forgiving. Jesus' life, death and resurrection can penetrate these barriers for us.
Indeed as we are grounded in Christ's love such barriers lose their power over us. We can be freed to see and move beyond ourselves and our fears. This is part of the mystical fullness of God.
What a prayer this is for the congregation in Ephesus.
What a prayer this is for us – for all people who are joined to Christ and therefore to each other. May we be filled with the fullness of Christ – daily rooted and grounded in His love.
For in Him, we too can be blown away. Blown away by and in God's Spirit in ways that despite our short comings, our failures, our propensity to do and say things that are hurtful, God can still use us, change us, even transform us to help feed and love this world.
Somehow in that ongoing movement, that "being blown away" are the glimpses of the wonder of the ineffable God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Somehow, in such being "blown away" we get glimpses of and are graciously participants in the breadth and length and height and depth, the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
This is a knowing that is beyond intellect but which involves all that we can and ever will think. This is a knowing that is beyond sight and smell but which involves all of the senses that we will ever experience. This is a knowing that can only begin to crawl with being known but then ushers us into wonder, joy and awe – a humility that is the beginning of wisdom.
So, don't be afraid of being blown away – so long as the One who is doing the blowing is the Spirit of God – the breath of life who leads us to trust the bread of life!
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.