“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
--Jeremiah 31:33-34
Sunday again. You know what that means. Time to think about the church.
David Whyte is a poet who writes about belonging, finding the family of which one is innately a part. ("House of Belonging" is a wonderful book of his poetry. See the link below for an excerpt.) We all want to belong, we all need to belong. We were created for community-- and without it, we simply are less.
So think about where you belong.
Churches want us to belong. Every church has its rites of membership. The United Methodist liturgy includes a pledge to support the church with prayers, presence, gifts and service. That's my part of the bargain.
How much I "get back" for my investment in the church, really, depends on how willing I am to get involved. The fruit borne out of belonging is pretty much up to me.
And over time, our relationship may change. I may even choose to leave that family and join another.
Sometimes it feels like a bad divorce, a violently broken contract. Sometimes, the dissolution of the relationship is barely noticed.
Such is the nature of human contracts or compacts. We enter into them with expectations that we will receive as well as give, and if the other party stops giving-- we have the right to say buh-bye.
And then there is God.
Our relationship with God is so much more. It is a covenant relationship.
I love the way Eugene Peterson, in The Message, puts it. In a number of places, God announces, "They will be my very own people, and I will be their very own God."
God will be our very own God.
And the thing is, even when we stray, even when we turn away and try to ignore God-- whether by accident or intentionally-- whenever we turn back, God is still there.
God's covenant with God's people (us) stands unconditionally.
God loves us so much, there is nothing we can do, no sin so profound or horrible that it places us beyond the reach of God's grace and agape love.
When we worship on Sunday morning or whenever your church joins in worship, are we placing conditions on what is "okay"?
Have we decided there are things people do, ways people live their lives-- "sins"-- that are unacceptable? Some sins more detestable than others?
And more important: Is your "walk" matching up to your "talk"?
Jesus did not say, "Let the children come to me, for to such belong the Kingdom of God-- oh, except I didn't mean you!"
He welcomed all. Even me. Even you. Thanks be to God.
Ever-loving, everlasting Lord, thank you for stretching your arms out and embracing your children in perfect love. Help us, Jesus, to love as you have loved us. Amen.
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