Text: Ephesians 2:13-22
I heard it again a week or two ago. "The church should keep out of politics." It's a statement I've used. I'd like to agree with it 100%. Politics, especially Australian party politics just seems to push people into two opposing camps. You're either for a republic or against it. In favour of Sunday trading or opposed. You see the benefits in a GST or believe it will benefit only the rich. And almost always there are good strong arguments on each side. So how could a congregation cope with a pastor getting up here telling you that Christians should be in favour of one and not the other. It just couldn't survive. It would rip itself apart. And that's the last thing any pastor wants.
I want instead to tell you about God and his wonderful love for you. I want to read you stories about all he's done for his people in the past and remind you that this same God wants to work for you in the present. I want to wash you with the cleansing water of Baptism and say, today God has worked his creative miracle in your life and claimed you as his own special child. Little insignificant you now belongs to the almighty God of the universe. I want to give you the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper and remind you that your Lord is coming into your life in a very special and real way assuring you of his saving presence in your life, and that one day you will feast with him at the heavenly banquet table. And I want you to take this wonderful life-giving message and go out there and live it, enjoy it, and share it with everyone so that they all can also know of this wonderful God of ours.
But, there it is. The nice safe broad diving line between church and politics has been crossed. As soon as we say that the Christian message is for living, that it's meant to be put into practice out there - we're involved in politics. If we could restrict God and the Gospel to this building it would be wonderful - comfortable, safe, selfish and completely irrelevant and meaningless. If we want the Gospel to change lives, thinking and actions, then that automatically involves our political action and thinking.
But let me make it clear I'm not so much talking about party politics. I have views, strong views on whether Australia should become a republic, I've got some ideas about the funding of the ABC, the basic wage and so on, but those views don't belong in a sermon. Mind you, it would be pretty tough if a few years down the track some party decided that since there were so few Christians left, all church property were to be taken over by the government and worship only allowed in especially provided buildings say, in Longreach. Surely then it would be my duty to say from the pulpit and publically that Christians shouldn't vote for candidates who agreed with such a policy. Similarly, if one party decided that children needed more discipline, and so planned for all children from ages 2 to 10 to be taken from parents to live in huge institutions where they would be brought up and educated more strictly, with chores to do, responsibilities to bear, and less T.V. and pocket money. Surely pastors would not be doing their job if they didn't speak out against such a cruel policy in their sermons.
Just last week someone shared they'd never heard the terrible of abuses East Timor mentioned in a Lutheran pulpit. He suggested it indicated the church was in a pretty sad state. What do you think?
Now that's a pretty long introduction to a sermon, but I hope when you hear the text
again you'll understand my caution. Ephesians 2:13-22
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the
blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has
destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with
its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man
out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace
to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both
have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and
aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy
temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit.
How can I preach a sermon about reconciliation in our town, in the climate of our modern society, and just after a visit by Pastor George Rosendale, without mentioning the views of our federal member? Her words and attitudes are now part of our everyday conversations and thinking. She's spoken against the process of reconciliation with our aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people, and yet in our text, this is the very path Paul calls all Christians to walk. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
And let's not forget the awesome impact these words must have had on the early church. In Paul's society no division ran more deeply than that which existed between Jew and Gentile. It was entrenched in their politics and even their religion. In the old temple in Jerusalem there were plaques in the court surrounding the main part of the temple that read, "No person of another race is to proceed within the partition and enclosing wall about the sanctuary; anyone arrested there will have himself to blame for the penalty of death which will be enforced as a consequence" Similarly the Greeks classified all non-Greeks as "barbarians".
In our society, and if we look deeply enough in ourselves, those barriers still tend to be there. But now Paul comes and says, the consequence of our being reconciled with God is that we strive to be reconciled with each other. In Christ all barriers come down, not just between me and God, not just between me and fellow Christians, but between me and other ordinary everyday people. Christ's death on the cross not only changes our relationship with God but our relationship with others, our everyday lives, even our political attitudes.
The process of reconciliation is much more than simply saying, O.K. I accept you as my brother or sister. It also means as Paul says, "making peace", "bringing an end to hostility". Reconciliation means we are no longer dealing with an enemy but a brother or a sister. Once you've classed someone as an enemy, you can justify doing some pretty terrible things to them. You can drop atomic bombs on enemies, you can exterminate them in concentration camps, you can steal their possessions and take over their lands. But when peace and reconciliation come, things change. We look for and offer apologies, compensation and whenever possible the repairing of past wrongs, because we are dealing with people who our God loves, and for whom our Lord gave his blood.
Let's not forget that many of those who are asking for past wrongs to be acknowledged and righted in our land are not only people who are loved by our God, not only brothers and sisters in Christ, but also fellow Lutherans. Those of us here on Monday evening who listened to Pastor George speak of his own pain and hurt will find it difficult to think in any other way. What is our response to them?
This is not party politics. Reconciliation - bringing different races together as one people in Christ is not the task of politicians. Paul tells us this was the work of Christ on the cross. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." The new position Gentiles now enjoy as God's people didn't date from their conversion, but from the death of Christ. Jesus gave his all, he died not just for us, not just for white Europeans, but for each and every person. As Christians, we simply don't have a choice. Our God given task, our responsibility is to speak out against injustice and intolerance. We are called to love as unconditionally we have been loved. We must encourage our politicians to act in God pleasing, peaceful, reconciling ways, so that we are able to reach out in love and acceptance with the great news that God's love is for all people, of all races, and that in Christ they are one with us and God.
May I close with a quote from an address by Dr Noko the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation to its recent assembly in Hong Kong.
"When the Church tries to speak with a critically prophetic voice, there are those who rebuke the Church for what they describe as the Church's involvement in political activity. Sometimes another question is asked; "what is the church doing for these poor people whose dignity and rights are being violated?" The underlying assumption in both these cases is that the Church can somehow stand apart from the context in which the suffering and crisis is being experienced. The Church, as the people of God, cannot be a reality apart from the human condition. In fact, where wars are fought - the Church is being trampled over, where there are refugees, the Church is the asylum seeker. Where impunity and injustice poison reconciliation, the Church is divided...."
Jesus said: "So if you are about to place your gift on the altar and remember that someone is angry with you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. Make peace (be reconciled) with that person, then come back and offer your gift to God."
Reconciled, loved, chosen people of God, go out there and put your faith into practice in your life
and politics, and be reconciled with all people.
© Copyright Rev. K.W. Stiller.