Dear friends,
Today’s worship service is the third in a four-part series inspired by Rebekah Lyons’ book, Rhythms of Renewal. It has been such a joy for me to collaborate with my dear friend, Amanda Schultz Garcia, on an August journey through these restoring rhythms. With school starting for us next week, there is a lot of anxiety in the air. Now, more than ever, it helps to be grounded in the good news of God’s abiding presence with us.
I pray you are well. I know this has been, and continues to be, an incredibly trying time for so many of us. May God’s peace fill you with every breath you take this day.
Here is today’s worship service in its entirety:
If you’d prefer to listen to just the gospel reading and sermon, you may do so here:
The sermon is based on the following biblical texts:
Genesis 1:26-28 (The Message)
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself,and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”God created human beings; God created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.
Romans 15:5-7
5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
John 13:34-35
[Jesus said], “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
SERMON
I’ve been thinking for a while now about the rhythm of connection and how strange it is to reflect on connection at this moment in our life together. One of Rebekah’s chapters is entitled, “Hugs all around.” It’s enough to make me cry…all the hugs and handshakes that have necessarily been set aside for a time. Virtual hugs just don’t cut it.
And yet, there are ways in which connection with others has been strengthened during this time. When you can’t rely on your old ways of doing things—the ways you took for granted for so long—you seek out new ways of connecting. You zoom for coffee hour and trivia night. You FaceTime to see your grandkids. Or you return to forgotten ways and remember how valuable they are. You write letters. You send cards.
I think it’s possible to both grieve for the ways of connecting that we’re missing so much right now AND marvel at how the Holy Spirit is still knitting us together, holding us close to God and to one another.
I also think it’s possible to reflect on a culture that’s doing its best to divide us AND trust that we are one in the body of Christ.
Just before our gospel reading for today, Jesus has shared a last meal with his disciples and then knelt down to wash their feet. He knows who will betray him in just a short while. He knows who will deny him three times. Still, he feeds all those gathered around the table. Still, he kneels to serve them all. His love for them—his love for the world—is a vulnerable love, a suffering love, a love that looks on every single creature as beloved. Even the ones intent on betrayal and denial. Beloved.
Jesus loves—wholeheartedly—even when it leads to his heart being broken. And it is this kind of love—this God love, this Jesus love—that we are commanded to bear as disciples of Christ.
If you have love for one another, Jesus says, everyone will know that you are my disciples. They won’t know you by your convincing arguments. They won’t know you when you stand at a distance and wag your finger. They won’t know you when you utilize shame or violence or name-calling or fear-mongering to prove your point. They will know you when you feed one another, when you kneel to serve one another, when you love without exception.
In her chapter on vulnerability, Rebekah writes, It’s not enough to simply listen; we must respond. We have to be willing to get down in the well with someone and see life from their point of view.
God has responded to us. The God who made us—who formed us in God’s image, who created us for life in community—doesn’t remain at a distance refusing to act. God gets down into the well with us. God comes to us, in a baby born in Bethlehem.
The Word of God takes on flesh and bone—all the joy and struggle, freedoms and limitations of life as human beings. All the laughter, all the tears, all the sorrows, the life and the death that we face as finite creatures. Jesus gets down into the well with us and loves us to freedom SO THAT we might get down into the well with the trapped ones all around us.
Just a little later in the gospel of John Jesus says to his disciples, I am the vine. You are the branches. We are connected with one another by way of Jesus.
The world wants us to fear one another, to focus only on our differences, to believe that there is no way we can work together for the common good. Our culture wants us to be suspicious of one another, to distrust one another, to point fingers, to roll our eyes, to give up, to harbor hatred, to disconnect.
But here’s the truth: We are one in Christ.
When we are apart—physically distanced—we are united in ways that run even deeper than hugs and handshakes. We are branches on the vine. We are connected.
When we are divided—red and blue markers on a political map—we are united in ways that call us to see one another as beloved. We are connected.
When we are separated from the ones we love—dwelling here on earth while our beloved dwell in heaven—we are united in Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth. The space between us is the love of Jesus that holds us together. We are connected.
Beloved of God, we are connected. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant us to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together we may with one voice glorify God and welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us. Amen.
*** Learn more about Rebekah Lyons’ book, Rhythms of Renewal, here: https://rebekahlyons.com/