The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
Sandwich, Massachusetts 02563
May 18, 2008 Trinity
Sunday
Today’s sermon is the epistle
taken from 2nd Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 11-14.
Yesterday at ten o’clock we
had a service here of Confirmation - the entire church was filled - we had 318
people here and 22 members of our parish were confirmed yesterday. It was really a joyful time; and again, as
with any Sacrament, the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was
said as our young people and our older members were confirmed yesterday.
This morning I want to begin
with an old story about a hen-pecked husband who went to a psychologist. He was tired of being dominated by his wife.
The psychologist told him he did not have to accept his wife’s bullying. “You need to go home right now and let her
know that you’re your own boss.” The
husband decided to take the doctor’s advice.
He went home and he slammed the door on the way in. He confronted his wife and said, “From now on
you’ll do what I say: Get my supper and
go upstairs and lay out my clothes. And
after I eat, I am going out with the boys while you stay home. And, by the way, do you know who is going to
tie my tie for me?” “I sure do,” said
his wife calmly. “The undertaker.” (Laughter) My wife
liked that one.
Some marriages are filled
with conflict. So are some offices, some
schools, some homes.
Unfortunately, some churches are filled with conflict as well.
Leslie Flynn wrote a book
called Church Fights and in it he tells about one church that was ripe
with pettiness and strife. At a Sunday
night dinner, the kitchen staff passed out plates of food. One older parishioner received his food and
sat down at a table. He noticed that a
little boy sitting near him had received a larger piece of ham than he
did. The parishioner voiced his
displeasure about this, and people began to take sides. Some said the older parishioner had been
mistreated. Others knew the kitchen
helpers were too busy to try to measure pieces of ham. The argument raged on until it was finally
taken to court when each side sued the other for possession of the church
property.
Now that might seem
unbelievable to you - a church divided over a piece of ham. But such things have happened before. There a few things, I think, that grieve the
heart of God than a church divided.
Few churches have been torn
by conflict like the church at Corinth.
They argued over everything. And
Paul pleads with them in this morning’s epistle that was just read by
Sean. “Listen to my appeal. Be of one mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace
will be with you.” In other words, our God is a God of
peace and love. Those who follow God
will live in peace and love.
Now harmony in the body of Christ
is more important, I think, than theology.
And that’s the first thing that I feel is important from today’s lesson
from 2nd Corinthians. Over
the centuries the body of Christ has been torn by theological conflicts. Doctrinal differences have plagued us almost
from day one. As a result, we have a
sorry history of not getting along with one another, and it’s sad. As someone has put it: “Division drives our God away, harmony
invites God into our fellowship.”
Now this is Trinity Sunday -
God in three persons: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Do we fully understand this
wonderful doctrine? No, but some of us
will fight for it.
You may remember the ancient
story about St. Augustine. One day he
took a break from writing about the Trinity to take a walk along the
seashore. And there he came across a
child with a little pail, intently scooping up a pail full of water out of the
ocean and walking up to the beach and dumping it out into the sand…then going
back down to scoop out another pail of water to pour into the sand. The young person kept doing this over and
over again. St. Augustine asked the
child what he was doing. And the child explained
that he was emptying the sea out into the sand.
When the bishop tried to gently point out the absurd impossibility of
this task, the child replied, “But…ahh…but I’ll drain
the sea before you understand the Trinity.”
There is truth to that
child’s comment. We don’t understand the
Trinity, but we’re ready to go to war to defend it - well, maybe not anymore, but
there was a time when battles were fought over church doctrine. Even today churches are being split over
whose interpretation of the Word is correct.
We know that is happening, even in our beloved Episcopal Church, and it
breaks our heart.
But, you know, theology is
important, but theology is not the same as faith. Theology is the human attempt to understand
God. And that is not a revelation which
comes directly from God. Theology can be
in error. We need to be humble about
theology and about church doctrine. And
most certainly we cannot elevate these concerns over love for one another.
And, by the way, here is the
proof text that promised you. It comes
from St. Paul. “If I speak in the
tongues of people and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong
or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift
of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a
faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I have nothing.”
Harmony in the church is more
important than church doctrine. God is a
God of love and peace. God seeks for us
to be a church of love and peace.
This brings me to the second
thing that I hoped we would see in today’s epistle. True harmony does not mean merely tolerating
our differences; true harmony comes from appreciating our differences. As a community, we are made stronger because
we are different. Let me use an
analogy. On a political level, you and I
are a part of the grandest experiment ever attempted by humanity. That grand experiment is democracy. Throughout thousands of years of history,
kings and queens and dictators and emperors have ruled over the mass of
humanity. Only within the past few
hundred years has the idea prevailed that people should be free to determine
their own destiny.
Now, in this election year,
it is important to note that democracy is not perfect; in fact, it is quite
messy. But it is terrific in comparison
to every other form of government. It
succeeds, not because everyone agrees on everything, but because we do
not. In every democracy there are people
on both the left and the right. That is,
there are some who want everything to remain the same, while there are others
who want the system radically changed, and there are a host of people in
between. At times, one side is in
control and then for at time the other is in control. We swing one way and then back to the other;
but somehow we come through. And what
eventually emerges are policies somewhere in the
middle - not too traditional and not too radical - and we keep plowing ahead
nonetheless; and we discover that our founding leaders knew what they were
doing. And, you know, here’s what is
interesting - even they didn’t agree on everything, some of our founding leaders
wanted a strong president - some wanted no president at all - some wanted a
strong central government - others wanted all the power to reside in the
individual states; but when the dust settled, as it always does in a democratic
system, we ended up with a marvelous ship of state.
And so it is with the
church. Some of us are quite literal in
our understanding of scripture in church doctrine. Some of us are less so; some of us embrace
change quite freely; others of us would prefer to hold on steadfastly to our
traditions; and some of us prefer music that is lively and toe-tapping; and
others of us prefer the great hymns of the church. The question is: Can we all get along? Can we love one another, not only in spite of
our differences, but can we recognize that our differences make us stronger? When we express our differences and pray for
God’s guidance, then something good and positive will come out of our shared
experiences.
However, if we let our
differences divide us; we will be doing the work of the evil one.
There is a fable about a young
lion and a mountain goat. Quite thirsty,
the animals arrive at a waterfall at the same time; and they immediately began
to argue about who would drink first.
The disagreement becomes so heated that each decides he would rather die
than give up the privilege to be the first to quench his thirst. As each stubbornly confronts the other, their
anger turns to rage. And just then
something distracts them, and they both look up into the sky. Circling overhead is a flock of vultures
waiting for the loser to fall. That was
all they need to end their quarrel.
There are those who have long
waited for the church to fall. The
vultures are always circling overhead, and we dare not lose time arguing over
who is the greatest in the kingdom.
Jesus calls us to unity and service.
I want to challenge you to
pray for this church - our church - the Episcopal Church. Pray that we will love one another. Pray that God’s will will be done in our midst, and pray that we will be
the kind of church that can lead people to Jesus.
Now Paul pleads with the
church at Corinth. “Listen to my
appeal. Be of one mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace
will be with you.” That would be a good
appeal for any church.
Amen