United in Christ and Country

Sunday, July 2, 2023
5 Pentecost Proper
The Rev. Christina van Liew

This weekend we are celebrating the day the colonies united to reject the monarchical control of England. Our forefathers created a new and unprecedented self-governance with remarkably Gospel-like principles of liberty and justice for all. We haven’t got it right yet, but we are still learning and growing. Our success depends on being united in these common values as the United States of America. 

“America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.” - Hymn 71

Being united is essential to the survival of any country, community, church or family. The question is, what unites us? Goodness - or corrupt and selfish values? The church at large suffers from this problem, made even more obvious by a recent article in The New York Times. People leave religions that prove hypocritical or complicit with abuses, especially Christianity. The sad truth is that most of the people who leave did not know the Jesus of the Gospels, they only knew the Jesus their religion selectively proclaimed or misrepresented. 

The more we proclaim, in thought word and deed, the simple truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we have the power to give seekers a holy alternative to corruption and abusive church. We are more successful when we remember we are not united in politics or denominations, we are united in Jesus Christ alone

The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation by water and the word.

Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth;

Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war
She waits the consummation of peace forever more 

Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed,
And the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union with God, the Three in One
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.

Oh happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee.  - Hymn 525 

How do we make this our reality, and spread this Good News, in a post-Christian era? In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus simply says to his disciples, go and be church. Share God’s Good News with all who will receive it. Be worthy of being welcomed into their hearts and hurts and hopes. When they welcome you, they welcome me. That’s how we give unbelievers and doubters and those who have been wounded and disgusted by the sins of the Church to maybe, just maybe, give the Jesus they never met in religion a chance to be a defining force in their reality. 

Amen.