In the world not of the world

 

Reflection Sunday 30^th August 2020 – Romans 12: 9 – 21

 

The Church, the body of Christ, has been referred to as being “called out” of the world as a community “set apart” for a distinct mission to the world. We are in the world but not of the world. But this raises some questions? Why are we different? What is distinctive about the Church? How can we be in the world but not part of the world? And if we are apart from the world, what is our stance in relation to the world?

These have been questions for the Church since its very beginning. And certainly, it was a real issue for the Church in Rome Paul is writing to.

How the Church relates to the surrounding world determines how the Church’s identity and character is formed. The early Church saw itself as very much set apart from many of the values of the Roman Empire. The early Church wrestled with how to stand in contrast to the privilege, power, influence, and affluence of Rome.  The early Church was very aware of how to live differently as defined by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. A Jesus who had been killed by the authority of Rome and yet who showed himself more powerful than Rome through his resurrection.

The challenge for the Church has always been not to be sucked into conformity with the ways of the world. When the church has been faced with the overwhelming power of a mighty Empire or government, it has been very difficult not to conform. For example, in Nazi Germany, significant number of Protestants joined the National Church – a Nazi initiative. (A significant minority including Dietrich Bonhoeffer – formed the Confessing Church, in opposition to Nazi ideology.)

But we shouldn’t assume that it is just in times of oppression that the Church can conform to the world. Conformity to the ways of the world is just as much a temptation when the surrounding world seems benign and presents itself as a patron of the values that Christian communities emulate.

And this I fear is where the Church in most of the affluent Western world finds itself today. The Church has influenced much of the society around itself. But society has taken the nice easy bits and chosen to ignore the harder aspects of faith. With genuine respect to our Anglican friends, they in practice find themselves in the cosy position through 600 years of history, of being the State Church. And for much of that time they undoubtedly had some truly Christian influence. But now the world has moved on and the world sees them (and all Christians in this country) as an irrelevance.

But it is not just an Anglican issue. The Methodist Church at one time punched above its weight in advocating the Christian message on the wider stage. But like many others, we’ve become so comfortable with the world that we’ve lost our identity as an alternative community.  Driven by the desire for relevance, and seduced by what Eleazar S. Fernandez in “Feasting on the Word” calls the 3 Bs (Buildings, Budget and Bodies [members]) we’ve ended up being comfortable with the world around us rather than standing in opposition to it where necessary.

In the part of his letter to the Romans we are thinking about today, Paul is reminding the fledgling Church in Rome of the values they need to adopt to make the Church there distinct from the world around. It is a long list – though all the things Paul espouses are founded on love

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Romans 12: 9 – 10

What Paul goes on to say is a radical agenda for a Church faced with real hardship and oppression.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil… ¹⁸ … live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge…. ²⁰ On the contrary:

‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

We who live in the power of Christ embody virtues and practices that promote life giving relations. We are called “to engage a way of being and acting that seeks to embody genuine love, mutual regard, humility, solidarity, peace and harmony. It is a way of being and acting that cares not only for members of the faith community but also wider society, particularly strangers in our midst.” Eleazer S. Fernandez

Over recent weeks, the news has carried reports of refugees trying to reach this country in small boats from France. Some of the newspapers, stoked by some of our politicians (or vice versa?) have condemned these people.

I am not telling you what to think about the issue. But I ask you to reflect on what Paul is saying in this passage. To me Paul’s words remind us what we as the community of faith should be thinking, doing, and saying in contrast to the world. We should we part of welcoming the stranger. But we should also be part of the solution. Seeking peace. Seeking solutions to the causes that make people leave their homelands.

The world around us won’t want to hear this message. Such a message doesn’t get the votes, doesn’t sell the newspapers. But it is the message Christ wants us to bring to our troubled world.