THANKING GOD IN EXILE
As we continue our series on a summer of thankfulness I want to remind you last week we praised God for all things. We are reminded that God is in all things and promises to never leave or forsake us and there are times that life is beyond our understanding. We are faced with things that are painful; mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Today’s scripture is in part, Paul’s answer to the Corinthians about their feelings of exile. Paul had set up the church there. He loved them, he prayed for them and then in this second letter he wrote with heartbreak and defense of living into being followers of Christ because the people had turned on him and he had to defend himself and the faith.
Much like the many forms of Christian expression the early church is full of separated communities and families. They are learning about being faithful to Christ and how to live into a new reality.
For first century Christians they understood isolation, lack of information, death of loved ones they couldn’t connect with in time of need. I had the opportunity to stand in the places of the early Christians and saw how they created places of worship that allowed them to gather and praise God but as time went on they were put into isolation for safety. They needed assurance that Christ was there and that there was more beyond themselves as they knew there were groups elsewhere that believed but they weren’t sure how to live into their new reality.
Paul and the apostles took every opportunity to share their faith and allow families to gather at home and share the story. Much like the Jewish people coming out of exile they are people called to remember in order to live into the day to day parts of life.
COVID has created a type of exile that has never been seen before on a global scale. But what a wonder to be in a time where we can still be connected. I am able not only to write to people but create this video worship that is filled with voices, sounds, and visuals that connect us right now.
Today’s scripture comes from 2 Corinthians 5:6-17 hear now God’s word through Paul to the people of Corinth.
6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;[a] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,[b]we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
Paul mentions being “at home in the body”
What does it mean to be at home in the body?
If you are anything like me, I like noise, presence of others, and definitely not self reflection and alone time.
Through this time I have been far from isolated as I have two kids that I’m raising but I am fully aware of those that have been around themselves for far too long. The desire to be around others seems more and more imminent as time passes.
Last Sunday I was able to see so many beautiful members of this community and be reached out to online from even more. The phrase that stuck with me from several voices was the phrase.
WELCOME HOME
Home has been something that reminds us of the familiar. It reminds us that we are safe, we are loved, we can be vulnerable, we can be comfortable. Home is also where we need to keep up with a few things. We keep up with rest, we keep up with responsibilities to make it an environment that continues to foster those feelings of welcome of safety of love.
What makes you feel at home?
In your house, in your community, at church?
For many I know walking into a sanctuary makes you feel at home in a way that is different than anywhere else when it comes to worship. When I walked into the sanctuary here I look at the pews, the choir loft the places where the people of God sit and feel at home in their community.
I think about the exile you must have felt these past 15 months when you can’t go “home” in the ways that you desire.
I sat in a pew, prayed, looked around, felt the great cloud of witnesses that have filled this building with love, support, gratitude, and grace. A place where the spirit of the living God rests at home in our hearts. The exile of being at home or other places where you desire to sit in the familiar. To feel the warmth of the windows and the stained glass shining.
We are called to thank God in the exile. So as we have gathered outdoors and felt the muggy warmth of a late Georgian spring and felt the presence of one another you are called into a new way of being. I felt the “at home” and out of exile feeling that many had and the sigh of relief to have the opportunity to begin gathering in person. It has been a hard exile for so many of us. But we have adapted.
Paul in these verses talks about our bodies and being at home in that body. I pray you have continued to feel at home with the body of Christ as we are spread out to our homes. I pray that as we begin to gather again we remember our body of Christ and the vulnerability of the things we cannot see or understand. That we respect and honor each other's bodies and willingness to be close. I pray that we be patient with one another and witness to these verses that remind us of the importance of how we honor one another as we all have the spirit of God and we are all children of God.
In order to come out of exile it is easy to think of just returning to in person worship but it is more than that. It is about a commitment to Christ and to walk into faith into this new thing we are doing together not just as the body of Christ at Stockbridge but the body of Christ across the world as we reach others in new ways, as we care for one another in prayer and in physical need. As we learn about our friends and neighbors and see one another for the beauty of how they are created and living into their own walk of life.
One pastor spoke of this scripture as Paul saying to the church:
Convicted of this truth, we can no longer regard anyone “from a human point of view.” What is a human point of view? We see disabilities where God sees possibilities. We see differences as flaws; God sees our individuality as beauty.
We are called out of exile from not only isolation and pandemic but out of exile from our own habits and ways of this is how we have always done it. Friends, as we engage with the world around us we are encouraged to see the possibilities of this new day, of this new opportunity to gather and serve.
Friends we look to this passage in 2 Corinthians as one that reminds us of our thankfulness of Christ with us through times of isolation and exile. Scripture is filled with stories of the people of God feeling aimless and wondering when things will come together as hoped.
We look to how we can live into a new way of being the body of Christ and being a welcoming home of worship and service to this community.
We look at how we can see with the eyes of Christ and the possibilities of loving those we know and understand and especially those we do not know or understand.
I urge you this week to think about How you feel welcome and at home and how we can come together to be that for others as we pray for gathering in person again soon.
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