UCC Church of Charlotte

'To download a copy of this sermon please click here

'
Sermon for May 24, 2009
...
Sunday, May 24, 2009 9:05:43 AM
From:
Phil Hobson   
...
View
To:
Phil Hobson 


Belonging or Not
Psalm 1
John 17:6-19

Grace and Peace to you this morning.  Grace and Peace.
    
Where do we belong?
    
Maybe we have memberships, in First Congregational Church, or Kiwanis,
or Optimists, or Rotary, or the country club or the book of the month
club or the AAA or AA or some other group.
    
I am not asking about membership.  I mean, where do we belong?  The
question itself has a couple of meanings: where ought we to be?  Who
would have us?  Where do we fit in?
    
And the world will give us plenty of answers:

    If you sing in this range, you need to sit in this part of the choir.

    If you like this or dislike that, you need to be over here.

    If you vote this way, you are on the left, and if you vote that way,
you are on the right.

The world has categories for where people belong based on what they
drive, how they talk, what they look like, what they wear, who they
hang out with, to whom they are attracted, what they have done or not
done, to whom they are related, and any number of other things.  None
of which gets to the heart of who someone is.
    
How many of us struggle from time to time about where we belong?
    
Last week we learned of a thirteen-year-old boy in Potterville, who
couldn’t find a good enough answer to the question of where he
belonged.  He took his own life.  We pray for his family and friends
and the schools, for all of them will be asking questions for many
years to come.
    
Belonging is a deep need in our human hearts.  The church is a place
of belonging.  But we don’t always get it right either, do we?
    
Today we listen in on one of Jesus’ prayers.  We are privy to his
request of God.
    
Jesus prays for his followers, for they are still in the world.  But
even though they are still in the world, they belong, not to the
world, but to Jesus.  So too with us.
    
We are still in the world.  We know the messiness of life.  We know
the pain of loss, times of grief and mourning.  We know the
difficulties of life, the struggle to be heard and understood, the
brokenness of relationships, the places that never seem to heal.  We
know the way the world works, with seductive calls to power and
status, the siren call of easy credit and cheap thrills, both of which
cost far more than advertised.
    
We also know how often we miss the mark, where we don’t live up to our
highest ideals.  We still do those things we ought not do; and we
leave undone those things we ought to have done.
    
But along with the messiness of this world, and our part in it, we are
reminded in Jesus’ prayer that we do not belong to the world.  Its
hold on us is incomplete, its allure is fading, its power temporary at
best, for we belong in a different world.
    
We are to be in the world but not of it.  Jesus doesn’t pray to take
us out of the world.  Apparently, we need to be in the world, just not
of the world.  We are called to belong to him, and witness to his
gracious love to those who feel like they don’t belong anywhere.  We
are to walk the walk and talk the talk and love the way Jesus did to a
world that is downright contrary to much of what Jesus wants.
    
Like the psalm that calls those who meditate on God’s ways, who live
graciously with others as Jesus did, we are called to provide a place
and direction for those who don’t belong.

    
It is Memorial Day weekend.
    
The world would have us think this time is about sales and specials in
the stores.  But for people of faith, people of the Bible, the hope of
the future is always connected to memory of covenantal faithfulness.
We call on God as our forebears did, whom God answered out of the
thunder and the pillar and the still, small voice.  We remember our
heroes of the faith, those who shaped our understanding of God whether
by stern correction or a quiet word, a moment of clarity or a moment
of forgiveness.  We remember all those who have gone before us, who
made it possible for us to be here, and for us to have the faith we
have received, and the freedom of thought and faith to pursue our
curiosity and questions and make the faith our own.
    
We remember our loved ones who have died.  We remember those who have
laid down their lives that we might live and enjoy the benefits of our
freedom.  We remember those serving now in harm’s way.
    
Memory is not enough.  If we are to be faithful, remembrance of
faithfulness leads to faithfulness in our generation.  Betty Crandall
told us in Bible Study that God does not have grandchildren.  Each
generation must claim the faith as its own; we cannot simply inherit
our parents’ faith; we must realize our own place as children of God.
I had never heard it put that way, but how true.
    
So back to our first question: where do we belong?  I would suggest
that question is secondary.  The real question is: to whom do we
belong.  Yesterday we celebrated Pastor Tom and Kate’s 25th wedding
anniversary with a party and a surprise renewal of vows.  We know that
they belong to each other.  But even those vows acknowledge that even
when we belong to each other, we first belong to the one who chose us
first.  We first belong to God, who has given us to Christ.
    
As we who find we belong to Christ, we then belong wherever Christ
calls us to live out his love in the world.  It may be in our own
home.  It may be in service to our neighbor around the corner, or
around the world.  It may take many different forms, using the gifts
we have each been given.
    
And the world may not understand it.  That’s okay.  We don’t belong to
the world.
    
Thanks be to God.  Amen.