Sunday, October 16, 2011

We Shall Be Distinct


A Sermon for 18 Pentecost (RCL A) 10-16-2011
Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry


Texts:              Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; Matthew 22:15-22
Themes:         the people of God, the glory and holiness of God, the impartiality of God
Title:               We Shall Be Distinct

My dear brothers and sisters, I have a question for us to consider together this morning:
What does it mean to be holy?

Holy and holiness are words which we use quite often here in the church, but they are not very popular in our culture today. That much is obvious, I am sure.

Not many among us would like to be described as holy by our friends or neighbors; more often than not, this word carries a heavy negative connotation.

But let me ask again: what exactly does it mean to be holy? It is not an easy word to define.

Perhaps it might be easier to define if we can explain the opposite of holy.

Is sinful the opposite of holy? This is most likely what you are accustomed to hearing: a holy God versus sinful humanity. Holy and pious actions as opposed to immoral and depraved ones.  

However, let me suggest to you that I believe the more correct opposite of holy is in fact the word ordinary. Ordinary, commonplace, quotidian.   

When Moses spoke with the LORD on Mount Sinai, he pleaded that God’s presence might stay with the Israelites: “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth” (Exodus 33:15-16).

Here we are given an excellent and clear description of what it means to be holy: to be distinct, to be different, to be separate. It is a comparison term; holy is always used to compare two things.

A holy God versus ordinary gods. The Holy Spirit versus commonplace spirits. Holy Scriptures versus regular scriptures. The holy church versus ordinary churches.  

The church is holy in the same way that the Rotary Club is not – no offense intended at all to any Rotarians out there!

God is holy in the same way that our politicians are not – that much is obvious to everyone, I am certain!

To be holy is to be different than the ordinary, separated and set apart for a special purpose.

And that is not always a comfortable thing for us to experience.

You have heard me speak about the neighbor on my block in Moorestown who hates me and my family. Everyone calls him Uncle David. And he is still this ongoing, inexplicable enigma to us – why he behaves toward us as he does. So one day recently, my wife Erin was walking by his house and David was on his front porch putting up Halloween decorations. While passing, Erin made a neighborly comment: “Oh David, I like your decorations.” You know, she was trying to be kind and neighborly.

No response at all from him, not even a glance in her direction! So, being the stubborn, hot-headed Irish girl that she is, she stops and asks him, “David, is there someone that I’ve done to offend you?”

(Well, that was the big mistake, if you ask me! I mean, do you really want to know what he is thinking? I’m not so sure.) But then David turns and says to her, “Your husband is rude (now I told you about the time when I ignored his dog whistle call to me, didn’t I? OK, well he said)…your husband is rude and your family is too flamboyant. I’m a quiet guy. You are too flamboyant and I don’t want anything to do with you.” And he turned away and that was that.

Now, I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. I object to being called rude, as I am the one shocked at how rude he is! And I do not consider myself to be rude in the least. But, flamboyant?! Wow, I actually think that is a compliment!

Of course, this caused Erin and me to have a long talk about standing out and being different in our neighborhood. What exactly do our neighbors think about us? Besides, Uncle David, who is just plain bizarre in my opinion, what do the others think? Do many of our neighbors think that we’re flamboyant? Does this have anything to do with our faith in Christ? Or is it just our family personality?

How do we stand out in our neighborhood? Or are we ordinary and indistinguishable from everyone else?

Ask yourself that question: does my life – does the lifestyle of my household – indicate in any way that I am – or that we are – followers of Jesus Christ?

There was a time in our nation, in our culture, when pursuing a faithful Christian life was normative and not any means at all of distinguishing oneself. But that has changed drastically, and particularly so for younger people.

Last week, I caught a few minutes of a conversation on the WHYY radio show “Fresh Air” between Terri Gross and Jeffrey Eugenides, an award-winning author of fiction. In this interview, Eugenides spoke of his own experience in college at Brown University and how he received the inspiration to leave college for a bit and to volunteer in Mother Theresa’s home for the dying in Calcutta, India.

This is what he said about the inspiration behind his decision:

EUGENIDES: “Well, I do remember thinking that the most radical thing I could do in my college among my friends was to become devout. You know, I mean, that was better than being a punk rocker and having a Mohawk, [it] was actually to say the Rosary in your room. So it had that appeal to me, as though I was really thinking independently and wasn't going along [with everyone else]. … I wanted to make a radical decision.”
Do you see? Being truly different and being radical today for young people has nothing to do with getting tattoos or lots of various piercings or strange hair colors. Everyone does that now, right?!

That’s nothing different; that’s simply following the crowd, being a sheep blindly following the flock.

But try to actually live your life as part of the covenant community, under the instruction and teaching of our Lord and Master, Jesus of Nazareth. Now that is radical, and that is different!

But we need to be careful. It has long been a temptation for the people of God to consider their peculiarity, their holiness as a measure of worth or value greater than other people. But it is not that.  

Even though their intentions were malicious, the Pharisees and the Herodians spoke words of deep truth when they addressed the Lord in our reading today:

“Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”

Jesus shows us the true nature of God, and in this Incarnate One we see that God loves all people, regardless of the particularities of their lives.

So how can it be that the covenant people of God are called and set apart to be distinct, peculiar, unique among all of the peoples of the earth, while at the same time we know that God regards no one with partiality but loves all people of the earth with equal compassion?

Here, my friends, we come upon one of the beautiful and paradoxical mysteries of our life in Christ.

We are indeed called to be different than others, to be set apart as God’s holy people. But the reason for this distinction, this separateness is that in this way we might serve as the channel through which God’s equal love for all humanity might become manifest!   

This is the sacred task that is set before us now in these days of challenge.

How do we stand out in our neighborhood? Or are we ordinary and indistinguishable from everyone else around us?

Does our lifestyle indicate that we are followers of Jesus Christ, part of God’s covenant community?

 And what is more, how do we ensure that this holiness never becomes a license for perceived privilege, but rather a continual call to serve those who are in fact outside of our community?

God has called us together to be in the world, but not of the world, and yet always for the world. 

May we be given the grace and the strength to live out this calling with courage and boldness. Amen.


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