Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - 14th Sunday after Pentecost - 09/10/17 Sermon - “Working through our struggles"

Sunday 09/10/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Working through our struggles”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 149

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Romans 13:8-14

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 18:15-20

          Friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome again on this the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

          If you remember from last Sunday, I spoke about the church being open to all different kinds of people. The idea that Jesus loves us all, that he has come for us all, and that he has died for us all. This then of course includes people that suffer in all different sorts of ways. We want to be loving and open to all people.

          Sometimes though, some of the suffering within the church occurs because we sin against or harm each other. In fact, sometimes we don’t even realize that we are doing it when it happens. It might be a case where we have said or done something, and perhaps we don’t think that we did anything wrong. We then maybe find out later that someone was hurt or negatively affected by what we said or by what we did.

          I certainly know that I have been guilty of this as a lay person, and then as a pastor. There have been times as a lay person and as a pastor that I have been well meaning, but still struggled with what I like to call “foot in mouth” disease.

          Perhaps I made a joke, or maybe I said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Generally speaking though, when this has happened, if I have been made aware of what I said or what I did, then I usually with great immediacy wanted to reconcile with the person or persons that I have harmed, or have sinned against.

          I remember for example, when I was in my first pastoral appointment in the Adirondack District. One Sunday morning, I was joking around with one of the pillars of one of the two churches that I was serving. This person told me that their daughter only went to church on Christmas and Easter. I then joked with this person that their daughter was a “C&E Christian,” or a “Christmas and Easter Christian.” Now I thought that this was a funny and a harmless joke.

          What happened though, was that I got a call later that day from the PPRC Chair of the church, telling me that this person was very hurt and offended by my joke. Apparently, it really bothered this person that their daughter didn’t go to church more regularly. I didn’t know this. This person was so bothered by what I said in fact, that they were considering not going to church anymore.

          After hanging up the phone with this PPRC Chair, I then called the person whom I offended, or sinned against. This person was unbelievably shocked, in a good way, that I had called him. We talked for a while, and he seemed to be grateful and appreciative that I called him and apologized to him.

          The next Sunday in church, my PPRC Chair approached me before church and said to me, that the person whom I had sinned against or harmed, called him immediately after I had called him to apologize to him. The PPRC Chair then told me that this person had been hurt and offended by different pastors throughout the years, but he said that he rarely if ever had a pastor immediately reach out to him to reconcile with him. This man whom I offended, whom I sinned against, was extremely touched and appreciative that I cared enough to reconcile with him.

          After that, this person that I sinned against or harmed, became one of my biggest supporters, and one of my most ardent defenders. This person was also one of the people who was the most upset when I was moved to the appointment that I presently serving in, with all of you.

          So why I do I tell you this story of my “foot in mouth” disease? Why is my sermon called “Working through our struggles?”

          Well the answer to both of these questions is, this morning Jesus Christ talks to us about sinning against each other. Jesus tells us how we should handle this, both in this week’s gospel reading from the Gospel of Matthew, and in next week’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

In this week’s Gospel of Matthew reading, we begin with Jesus saying this:

“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Mt. 18:15-17, NRSV).

          So Jesus tells us this morning, in regards to the church, and I would say in general, that if someone in the church sins against us, or harms us, that we are to go to that person and let them know that they have hurt us or sinned against us. If they listen to us, ask us for forgiveness, and we are reconciled to them, then this is great! If not however, Jesus says that the next step is to take one or two others with us to talk to them, so that they may hear what we are saying. Specifically, these one or two others that we bring with us will confirm that we told the person how they sinned against us or hurt us. They can then also witness being forgiven, or the lack of being forgiven.

          If this doesn’t work though, Jesus then says, tell the whole church about the hurt or the sin. Now in our United Methodist Church system, we can tell something to the whole church, or we can go through the Pastor Parish Relations Committee, or the PPRC. At this level of the conflict, or sin, or harm, it becomes a church wide struggle. From there, which is not listed in the gospel reading from this morning, we can then move such problems to the district level, or to the conference level, or to the regional level, or to the national level, and even to the worldwide church level. No one generally speaking, usually ever wants something to go to that level of mitigation.

          The hope that Jesus is pointing out this morning though, is that we will be able to reconcile with each other one on one. This isn’t always an easy thing to do, however.

If we can’t do this one on one, then perhaps we can do this in a small group. If not in a small group, then the whole church, or in our case the PPRC. In not then, it then goes higher and higher.

          Just to clear the air here a little bit, I am not preaching on this topic because someone has sinned against me or has harmed me, or because someone else here has done this to someone else in the church. I am preaching on this, simply because this is our lectionary scripture for this morning. If anything then, it is just a good reminder from Jesus of how to mitigate sins and conflicts in the church, and in general.

          Jesus then finishes today’s gospel lesson by saying:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt. 18:18-20, NRSV).

          Jesus is then encouraging us to reconcile with each other, to forgive each other, if we have harmed, hurt, or sinned against each other. Jesus says again, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 18:18b, NRSV). To forgive and to reconcile here on earth then, is something that is heavenly.

          Jesus tells us further, “if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Mt. 18:19, NRSV). This idea about two of us being reconciled and forgiving each other, to Jesus, is a very heavenly concept.

          Jesus then says again, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt. 18:20, NRSV).

Some people have used this scripture to say that whenever even the smallest group of believers are gathered, that they are in a matter of speaking, “in church”. That if you have two friends over to your house, and if you are spending time together in Christian Community, then in a way, you are in church, and are being the church.

          People that are angry, that are offended, that are hurt, and or that are sinned against by others though, are not nearly as likely to be gathered together. The idea that if two or more are gathered together, that God is in the midst of them, usually only occurs if two or more people are willing to gather in the first place. This of course means that we are to reconcile and to forgive each other.

          So this Sunday’s gospel lesson and next Sunday’s gospel lesson have a lot to say about forgiving, and the power of forgiving.

          In closing, I want to tell you a story that I heard preached by a retired United Methodist Elder, Rev. Bob McCune. Maybe I have told you this story before, but I just thought that it fit perfectly for the gospel reading for this Sunday. So as it happened, Rev. Bob McCune was preaching one Sunday at the Dryden United Methodist Church, when I had a week off in January, 2016. That Sunday he also happened to be preaching on reconciling with each other, and forgiving each other.

          In his sermon, Rev. McCune told the church, about his time in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Rev. McCune told us that we was blessed to come from a good home, and a home where didn’t want for much. In fact, he told us about one his prized possessions as a boy, his coveted Boy Scout pocket knife. This knife had different fold out features, and even had the official scout logo on the knife.

          Either as a gift or for another reason, Rev. McCune was then given a second Boy Scout pocket knife, as he now had two of them.

          Well, a large boy in the scout troop that Rev. McCune was in, had constantly picked on him. This boy was pretty terrible to him. Bob, now Rev. McCune realized though, that this boy lived in a poor family, and that he didn’t seem to have much. Bob, now Rev. McCune, even though this boy had picked on him, and even though this boy had been terrible to him, was thinking about ways to reconcile with him.

          What Bob, now Rev. McCune realized, is that since this boy came from a poor family, this boy’s family couldn’t even afford to buy him the coveted Boy Scout pocket knife.

          Now I don’t know how young Bob, now Rev. McCune received his call to ministry from God, but what I am about to tell you certainly didn’t hurt.

          Young Bob, now Rev. McCune, showed up one day to a scouting meeting or event, and sure enough, this big kid, this bully, saw him. They were across from each other a ways, and this big kid, this bully, looked at young Bob, as to say, I going beat you up.

          Young Bob, now Rev. McCune, then walked right up to the boy, who was still looking at him as if we was going to pummel him. Young Bob then said to this bully that he forgave him for picking on him and for doing all the terrible things to him that he had done.

          Well as you can imagine, this boy was like a deer in head lights, just so shocked that you Bob was saying this.

          Then after this, the bully still in shock, watched as Bob reached into one of his pants pockets, and pulled out his second Boy Scout pocket knife. Young Bob, now Rev. McCune said to the bully, that he noticed that he didn’t have a Boy Scout pocket knife, and that he wanted to give him his pocket knife.

          Rev. McCune said in this sermon that I heard him give at the Dryden United Methodist Church, last January, 2016 that everything changed between him and the bully that day. Instead having a bully, young Bob now had a great friend. So great in fact, that this former bully and now friend would defend and protect Bob if anyone else tried to bully him.

          What Rev. McCune said next, really stuck with me. He said, “that when you forgive people, you disarm them.” He said that we forgive others, we take can take the anger and the hate right out of them.

          This story that I just told you that I heard from Rev. Bob McCune is another good example of what Jesus was talking to us about in the gospel of Matthew reading from this morning.

          So today, this week, and always, may we seek to forgive, to offer our forgiveness if needed, to be reconciled with each other, and to come together as a group, as a church. This group will be of two or more, and Jesus Christ tells us that when we come together in his love like this, well then God will truly be amongst us. Amen.