In his Reflection last week, Steve (Hitchcock) focused on Matthew’s gospel, noting that Jesus made him a disciple, even though he was a tax collector. According to Matthew the church has room for everyone, and dealing with the conflicts and suffering among its members is the way “the church lives out God’s endless, overflowing, never-give-up mercy.”
I thank St. Alban’s for giving this former tax collector a church home where he can feel safe.
Today’s readings also show us the nature of that “tough” love God provides to all those who do their best to love their neighbor.
In Genesis, Joseph forgives his brothers for the wrongs they did him, saying, in effect, what happened has happened, and it was all part of God’s plan.
Psalm 103 reminds us that the Lord “will not accuse us, nor will he keep his anger forever,” and that “[a]s a father cares for his children, so does the Lord care for those who fear him.”
In Romans we are reminded not to judge others, because each of us will be accountable to God, and in Matthew, he reminds us that doing unto others as we would have them do unto us has the practical effect of avoiding God’s wrath being visited on us. However, if we treat others badly: “[s]o my heavenly Father will also do for every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
All in all, it is made clear that there will be consequences for bad behavior, but that God will be quick to forgive those who fear Him.
In prior Reflections, I have referred to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he concludes: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’” (Galatians 5:14), and last week’s reading from Romans repeats that message, concluding: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10.
Paul emphasizes our actions, as opposed to what we’re thinking, telling us to treat our neighbors the way we want to be treated; those who act as if they truly love their neighbors, have kept the law fully.
So, by singing hymns and confessing our sins, we acknowledge that we have not treated our neighbors as we would like to be treated, and ask for God’s pardon.
I must confess that my favorite part of our services is our singing the old hymns, and several weeks ago we closed our service with a rousing rendition of the hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory.”
As I came to the bottom of the page in the hymnal, I noticed that the author of its words was the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick. For some reason that name rang a bell, so I looked him up, and found that he started out in 1904 as a Baptist minister in New Jersey, and after serving as a volunteer chaplain during WWI, in 1918 was called to the First Presbyterian Church in New York City.
There, he delivered a sermon entitled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win,” in which he presented the Bible as a record of the unfolding of God’s will, not the literal “Word of God.” According to Wikipedia, “[he] saw the history of Christianity as one of development, progress and gradual change.” The Fundamentalists were not happy!
His preaching led to an “investigation” of his views by the national Presbyterian Church, and it is said that he escaped probable censure by the national Church’s General Assembly by resigning from the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church.
However, he was quickly called by a new type of Baptist church, whose most famous member was John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and who was later instrumental in forming and building the inter-denominational Riverside Church in Manhattan. In 1930, Fosdick became its first Pastor.
That year his picture was on the cover of the October 6 issue of Time magazine. The story inside recounted that he: “proposes to give this educated community a place of greatest beauty for worship. He also proposes to serve the social needs of the somewhat lonely metropolite. . . ,” noting that “[i]n ten stories of the 22-story belltower are classrooms for the religious and social training of the young.”
Fosdick authored the words of “God of Grace and God of Glory” for Riverside Church’s first service. Its five verses ask:
“God of Grace and God of Glory, . . . Grant us Wisdom, grant us courage
For the facing of this hour.. . . For the Living of these days. . . . Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal. . . . That we fail not man nor thee. . . . Serving Thee whom we adore.”
A brief paraphrase of its message: One day at a time, let us fail not man nor Thee who we adore.
I realized that the name “Fosdick” is familiar to me because in doing research on 12 Step programs, I learned that he was an early and public supporter of the first 12 Step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). In 1939 he authored a very favorable review of AA’s principal text, and in his 1956 autobiography Fosdick said of AA: “Alcoholics Anonymous, grown to its present astonishing strength, is a godsend to us ministers.” He concluded: “I have listened to many learned arguments about God, but for honest-to-goodness experiential evidence of God, His power personally appropriated and His reality indubitably assured, give me a good meeting of A.A.!”
The 12 Steps speak of “God as we understood him,” challenging each member to choose their conception of God, or as some call it: “Higher Power.”
I have come to believe in the loving God that Jesus taught, and that it’s not me. I try to keep it that simple so that in virtually any situation, I can call on God’s help by reaching outside of myself; by not going it alone.
I know there is a God, because on multiple occasions things have happened to and for me “out of the blue,” when I most needed them; not a lot, but often enough for me to believe. I call them “God things.”
The reality is, whether I “know” it or not, each day I act on faith. So, just like I can’t say there isn’t a God, I can’t say that God cannot have parted the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites, or that Jesus could not have made the bind see or have been resurrected. Others I respect believe, so why not me?
Another thing I have learned in my journey is that it’s ok to love someone, but not like them. Acceptance of them as a person does not mean I endorse the way they behave.
By way of example: some of my family members, here and departed have behaved in ways that I don’t approve of. So do others I encounter. But they’re all God’s kids, just like me.
In some instances, I’ve discovered things about them that tend to explain their behavior, and that helps me accept them, and believe that they’re doing the best they can.
With others, I avoid them, and try my best to politely tolerate them when they’re unavoidable.
But in all cases, I try to remember that what’s happening is part of the plan: not my plan; God’s plan!
If I try to love them as they are, in the fullness of time I may be blessed with a better understanding of why I experienced them as I did, and at least I will hopefully avoid the wrath of God that Matthew speaks of in today’s reading.
It also helps me to think of God in terms of Mother Nature. Acknowledging the continuing evolution of things all around us as being accomplished by Her is a way in which I am able to conceptualize, and even visualize, the “infinite,” which is God.
She can be both predictable and spontaneous, beneficial and destructive; but always uncontrollable by us.
That reality better explains Paul’s injunction that if we Christians live by the Spirit; that is, love our neighbors as ourselves, we will inherit the kingdom of God, whether we like it or not!
I am often able to get in touch with God in my garden. Some of our neighbors are helping us tend our church’s garden, and there are many other ways in our daily lives that we interact with each other.
Let’s keep loving them, no matter who they are, what they believe, or where they came from. Mother Nature is not concerned with such things.
