The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for June 7, 2009

Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-9/Romans 12:9-12

Title: “On Being Genuine”

              This morning I offer the first in a series of sermons that will treat several verses in Romans, chapter 12.  In the verses chapter 12, 9-21, the apostle Paul delineates what he believes to be the attributes of persons who take the Christian vocation seriously.  These verses in chapter 12 represent a significant shift, or change of pace, if you will, from the content that preceded it.  No longer is Paul focused on theological topics such as the law, grace and justification, he now turns to the practical considerations of how the Christian is to live out his or her daily life in community.

              And so in chapter 12 at verse 9 and10 we read “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”  These two verses come immediately on the heels of verses where Paul reminds the Romans, as he reminded the Christians in Corinth, that they had through their common faith commitment to Christ become members of one body, and thus accountable to one another to secure the common good. This theme of mutuality, of course, is strong and pronounced throughout the various letters attributed to St. Paul.

              By the same token, Paul knew all too well how difficult mutuality was to achieve and maintain. He who mediated numerous conflicts in the churches knew how susceptible to fragmentation the body actually was. Persons in the churches stubbornly maintained their own agendas and allegiances. They became critical of their leaders, Paul himself becoming a lightening rod for criticism.  Times may change, of course, but little changes in the life of the church.

              Consider that all the infighting in the churches Paul addressed was occurring even as leaders in the Jewish community and the Romans were making it difficult for the Christian to live in peace. You might have thought that unity would be quite easy to maintain under such circumstances, that the pressure exerted on those Christians from the outside would have driven them closer to each other.  But such was not the case. Paul felt called upon to act.

              “Let love be genuine,” he wrote. What apparently was passing for love among the Christians in Rome didn’t pass muster with Paul.  Mind you, Paul was not the first among the prophets and apostles of God to address that issue.  Not by a long stretch. Paul, as the prophets and apostles before him, chided the people for their hypocrisy, for falsely claiming to love while “loving” on terms that best served themselves.

              Paul had some very specific ideas on the subject of genuine love.  He does not share those thoughts with the Romans specifically, but reserves them for the church at Corinth where he writes the following words that many of us know so well, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

              You will agree with me that when the subject was love Paul maintained some very exacting standards. He maintained those high standards, because love, for him, was the essence of a Christian vocation.  “Let love be genuine.”  “Genuine.”

              On our recent visit to the Louve in Paris Linda and I were privileged to view a half dozen or so of the paintings of Rembrandt.  The Dutch masters are real favorites of mine.  In the Louve collection were also the paintings of some of Rembrandt’s most accomplished students.  The paintings of those students were outstanding pieces of work in their own right, work that was certainly reminiscent of their master, the great Rembrandt.  In fact, if the work of master and student were hung side by side in the gallery without the name of the artist attached I doubt that you or I could distinguish the student’s work from the master’s.

              Those students of art, however, who know art history, painting technique, and all the elements that separate the “good” from the “great” in art are far more discerning than I am. They know precisely why Rembrandt’s work is to be valued above his student’s work or that of his peer’s. When evaluating art they apply a more exacting set of standards than I do. They are prepared to lay out the strongest possible case to prove why Rembrandt stands first among the many great Dutch artists of his era.                     

              Just as the informed art critic brings a discerning eye and exacting standards to his vocation in art, so Paul did on the subject of love.  Having rubbed elbows with, hypocrites, and blowhards he was experienced at spotting frauds. Furthermore he knew well our human impulse to make allowance for our own failings while remaining a stern judge of others. “Let love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.”

              Paul cultivated a good eye for the masterpiece, genuine, authentic love, for he spent his life cultivating a relationship with the master. He knew and could expound on love well because he knew Jesus well.

              Jesus gave love a human face. While Plato, Aristotle, other great philosophers and theologians of the ancient world spent careers theorizing about love’s origins and nature, God sent his son, the very embodiment of love, into the world to live with us.

              Now you can learn much about love at the feet of such great thinkers as Plato or Luther, or John Calvin.  Many of us have read impressive books and articles being written on the topic of love today.  But on the topic of love we Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the standard against which all the rest should be measured.

              There are many, many things that have been written on the topic of love.  The topic is so fascinating that it is a recurring topic for the magazine writer and the television host. But magazines and Oprah who have a great deal to say about “falling in,” or “falling out” of love, and keep us current on the love life of so and so movie star or celebrity, spend little if any time exploring the deeper dimensions of the topic. Love is equated with romance, and romance with the fulfillment of personal longings. 

              Paul, however, knew nothing about love on those terms. Genuine love for Paul was born out of a prior enabling action by God, an action he describes a bit earlier in his letter to the church at Rome where he writes, “God proves his love for us that while we were sinners Christ died for us.” The origin of genuine love for Paul has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God.  In other words, God didn’t wait for us to love him, God acted first that we might reciprocate by loving God and neighbor in return.

                 Genuine love as Paul spoke about it, and Jesus modeled it, is a tenacious commitment to doing what pleases God, even when we receive no apparent benefit in return. In the gospel of Luke Jesus poses the question, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  [He continues] Even sinners love those who love them.”       Genuine love as Jesus talks about it challenges our sense of justice and right and wrong. “Love your enemies, [Jesus commanded] do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

                “Let love be genuine.”  Do we really want Jesus to define what is genuine for us? The standard he sets is not a standard you and I are likely to follow. How can it be when you and I have no assurance whatsoever that the love we show to our enemy, or the good we do on his behalf, will be reciprocated? Love our enemy? Not going to happen.

                Genuine love is a vulnerable love, and I’m not talking about the vulnerability to which we expose ourselves in our interpersonal relationships.  Genuine love as Paul talked about it and Jesus lived it is about taking risks to love that which we deem unlovable. It is to trust that what we put out there in our loving is stronger than any opposing force, and that takes courage and faith that few of us possess.

                Jesus came into the world as the embodiment of God’s love, and the world didn’t know what to do with such love. No, the world had some pretty established ideas on the topic of love, and Jesus challenged those he met to think again. “Love your enemies” represented just one aspect of the challenge. He taught that loving was making common cause with those from whom one could expect nothing in return. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they invited you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you…”

                 Genuine love entered the world and it really shook things up.  People didn’t know what to make of Jesus.  They were suspicious.  No one taught as he did.  When the authorities saw the crowds he was drawing to himself they went on alert.  They feared he might turn the people against them.  They could not allow that to happen.

              Genuine love entered the world and it really shook things up. Jesus called a group of men to be his companions. Even they were suspicious. Though they traveled with him night and day they effectively remained outsiders to his purposes for a very long time.  He was saying and doing too many things that went beyond their range of experience. He stretched their capacity to love.

               Fact of the matter is genuine love often goes beyond our range of experience, always has and always will. Yet ultimately genuine love is the only thing that will save the world. The world will never change unless we risk change, and risk vulnerability.  Jesus risked change, knowing full well what it might ultimately cost him. But he went ahead anyway. He was crucified for his act of courage, but the resurrection demonstrated that genuine love cannot be defeated. Because he prevailed, we also prevail. The victory of love over sin and death has been achieved. The church’s mission is to find ways to celebrate that victory in practical ways.

                  Let love be genuine. For several months many of us in church leadership and others have struggled to define our mission and a vision for the church. To even take up these questions constitutes what I happen to believe is a major step for us. That we are not there, that we don’t really have sufficient clarity about our mission and vision, suggests to me that that God is challenging us to reassess how we at Lakeview are doing ministry, challenging us to reconsider how we express love for each other and for those find their way into our midst.

                 The challenge for this church, and all churches in Christendom, is to demonstrate that Jesus’ victory over sin and death has practical, everyday consequences. It is to reassess the quality of hospitality we extend to the strangers that come into our midst, but it also involves reassessing the relationships we maintain with each other. It is re-examining the relationships we maintain with those with whom we are estranged.      

                  Genuine love is that ability God is calling us to cultivate whereby we recognize and value the essential worth of every person as being equal to own. It is, finally, offering hospitality to strangers, knowing that the anonymous stranger may in fact be Jesus himself.    AMEN

PRAYER

                 “Love divine all love excelling, Joy of heaven, to earth come down, fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.” O Christ, Lord of all, Lord of this house, we pray for the transformation you are poised to achieve for all who seek to do your will, for all who seek to love after your example. We pray that you will help us to transform our minds and our hearts that we may more perfectly reflect your holy will. Brace us with courage and faith to make room in our lives for new attitudes and convictions to form. Called to be genuine in our loving, forgive us when we allow grudges or prejudice to cloud our attitude toward our neighbor.  Called to serve in your name, O Christ, may we do so with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

                We pray, O God, that you will abide with our president and advisors as they complete a diplomatic journey. Even as the current administration seeks to define its role as an honest broker for peace, we know that the enemies of peace will stop at nothing to derail those efforts.  May the voices of those who demand peace and the end of violence swell to such proportion that those who teach and plot violence may be marginalized and silenced.  May our president’s overtures to the Muslim world lay a new foundation for reconciliation.

               We pray, O God, for a world where men and women may live free, where every child is free to dream and develop his or her talents to their fullest potential. We pray that the nations of the world may cooperative to end poverty, and world hunger.  We pray that the tainted ideology that advocates violence as a way of addressing grievances may lose its power to influence the young. We lift up all those health care workers who are working through agencies and programs to eradicate illness and the conditions that breed it.   

                 We pray for the church, O God, that its ministries may reflect your holy will. Grant wisdom to those in leadership positions that they may act faithfully and decisively, ever seeking to model the teachings of Jesus.  We continue to pray for our ministry at Lakeview that we may more clearly and articulately state our mission, and then fulfill our mission to your glory. May our hospitality reflect the values that Jesus taught, and may the message we proclaim bring hope and consolation to those who are seeking special help and assurance.

                Abide, O God, with our youth and young adults as they begin summer recess. May the break from the structure of the classroom and their studies offer them time to pursue other interests in work or in leisure.  Be with teachers that they may enjoy time to relax and recharge after the challenges of the academic year.

              In your mercy, O Lord, protect those who live in harms way.  We ask your blessings on the sons and daughters of our nation who serve in our nation’s armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. We pray for Brad who is serving our country in Korea, also for Roy who serves in the State Department, and Jeff who is serves in the nation’s security service. We lift up all those who represent our nation to the world as members of our government agencies or our armed forces. May they serve with honor and integrity.

              We pray for those, O God, who face major struggles in the recession, the unemployed and under-employed, young people who can’t find work, and retirees who lack the resources to live with dignity.  May this economic crisis soon pass, O God, that the world economy may once again grow and with it jobs and economic opportunity.

              We pause to pray for loved ones and friends who have special needs. We pray for Holly and Jeff Jordan as they await the birth of their first child.  We pray for Allen. Francis, Bob Held