To be preached at St. John's Lancaster on Sunday, 12 October, God willing.
Every competent scholar knows that literary snippets, including those from the Bible, must be considered in their context. Today's text from Philippians is no exception. Throughout the Book, St. Paul echoes the prayer of Jesus in John seventeen as he urges Christians to live together in unity, or more specifically to "ta owto pronain in kurio"- to think the same thing, or to be of one mind in the Lord. We will return to that concept shortly, and unpack its implications by looking at the Apostle's admonition to two ladies in the parish, but before we do, we should consider another canon of sound scholarship. A good scholar also knows the context in which he speaks or preaches, and anticipates flawed interpretations which are likely to occur among his hearers because of the culture in which they live and the education they are likely to have received. Based on that knowledge, he or she ought to dispense with those flawed interpretations early so that they do not detract from the exposition which is to follow. Today's text demands such an approach.
There are those who would look at Paul's admonition to Euodias and Syntyche and demand that everyone in the church must be in lock step with each other. I believe there is overwhelming evidence in this letter that such is not the Apostle's intent. Both women are addressed as active members of the parish, and therefore we can presume that they are both Christians. In the specific actions and attitudes which are encouraged in the verses which follow, deepening spirituality and growth in grace are encouraged, but wrong theology or rebellion against God are not implied in any way. It would therefore be rational to infer that the disagreement between the ladies had more to do with personality or opinions regarding non-essentials or ways of accomplishing a task than with the sort of things which would necessarily threaten a person's eternal salvation. There is room for disagreement in the family of God. In fact, chapters one and two indicate that in the parish there are very mixed motives for doing things, and while these varying motives might be based to some extent in immaturity or selfishness, they are characteristic of us Christians and do not necessarily mean that we are to be cast out of the kingdom. People, even Christian people, can be expected to act like people from time to time. Ours is not a community of plaster saints, but a community of real people with real feelings and opinions and motives, who have named Jesus as Lord and share the road to heaven.
There are others who would extend this picture of our humanity to such a permissible degree in the church that they would allow anything to be said or believed. The end of such extension is functional universalism, that is that God would not in the end condemn anyone, and that therefore any theological opinion, as long as it is sincere, may be held in the church. Often, those who hold such an opinion will say something like, "after all, we all worship the same God." In chapter three, Paul rejects this view and points out that those opinions which would overthrow the efficacy of God's grace given to us in Jesus Christ are evil, and that those who proclaim and practice them are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Definitions are you see, very important, and we risk our souls if we maintain that words can be redefined or transformed into whatever we wish them to mean. There is place for some doctrinal disagreement and discussion, but that person who denies the understanding of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church as contained in the ancient creeds and the consensus of faith actually departs from the orthodox faith received, and proclaims a faith other than that of Christ and his church. Paul says that we ought to love and pray for such people, and to weep for their lostness, but we ought not to treat with them as if they are our brothers or sisters in the Church of Jesus Christ. With this in mind, I admonish you in the Name of the Most Holy God: do not travel to hear Bishop John Spong when he comes to the Cathedral in Cincinnati. He has denied basic elements of the Creeds, and while it might be helpful to hear him speak in a comparative religion class or a philosophy class at the University, he ought not to be given credence in the Church as either an expert or a prophetic gadfly.
But now it is time to return to the disagreement between the ladies and how it ought to be handled. I think at this point it would be safe to substitute our own names for theirs. Imagine some time here at St. John's when you have been angry or aggravated with a fellow parishioner over the choice of music, or an element of the service, or a committee decision, or which flowers were on the altar, or how much was spent or not spent on the library, or the garden, or the utilities, or the priest's car, or some other thing which did not directly impact our common belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation of King Jesus. Paul's admonition ought to characterize our responses in such situations.
Did you acknowledge that both parties in the disagreement were Christians who brought real gifts and faithfulness to the work of God's Kingdom? And were you willing to work faithfully and lovingly with both sides to bring resolution to the issue? That is the message of verse three.
Did you rejoice in the Lord, even when the disagreement, the fight if you will, was going on? Verse four maintains that that is a must in our parish, because it (or its absence) is an accurate indicator of the attitude which prevails here at St. John's, as it was in Philippi.
In the midst of it all, would the people you spoke with about the problem have said that you were gentle, and that your focus was colored by a firm reliance that God was with us, and that you truly believed that the return of the Lord was near enough to make our immediate reconciliation as the people of God to be truly important? Verse five makes those points clearly.
Were you willing to turn away from your own anxieties and personal opinions and hurts during the time of unpleasantness and pray with others, including those with whom you disagreed, with the faith that God would lead all of us together to discover a plan that would surpass all of our needs and expectations? And could you find it in your heart to thankfully anticipate God's answer, and to honestly own the things that really bothered you and pray about the real issues with your brothers and sisters, and not about presentation issues and intellectualized straw men? That is the message of verse six.
Verse seven goes to the heart of our faith. Did you really believe that God had the power and desire to bring peace among his people, and were you willing to accept that gift, even if it didn't look the way you had imagined it?
In summary, during the time of disagreement, did you seek to fill your heart and mind with things which were true, and honorable, and just, and pure, and pleasing, and commendable, and excellent, and worthy of praise? Or did you allow negativity and selfishness and nursed feelings of exclusion or embarrassment or pain or anger to fill your heart and mind? That is the message of verse eight.
Finally, St. Paul says to us, look at the record of how I have sought to behave among you, and do likewise. If you set your heart on doing so, the God of Peace will be with you, and will heal your unhappy divisions, and bring you that unity for which our Lord prayed. That wraps up our second lesson for today.
How did you do the last time around? I must admit that there have been times when I fell a bit short of the ideal in my dealings with some of you. I promise that with God's help, I will try harder next time. I hope you will do the same. The Bible says that God will bless our efforts, and that he will draw us together in unity and peace. Join me in believing that he will keep his promise. As we covenant together to claim his promise as our own, he will send his Holy Spirit upon us to make a wonderful place even better.
Will you turn with me to page 818, prayer 14, in the Book of Common Prayer, so that we might pray together for God to accomplish this work in our midst.
14. For the Unity of the Church
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
