Our Mutual Ministry

Today we come back to church, we have our annual barbecue, and the Summer season is unofficially over. After the rush of the end of the Spring and Easter seasons, and our travels and upheavals through the Summer, this day — for me at least — marks the beginning of what we’re really trying to build here as an Anglican-Lutheran presence in Burlington.

To be honest with you, we’re not as far along as I wanted us to be. I had hoped that we’d have a couple more teams in place, that we’d have other plans in place for this Autumn season, and while I won’t go into the details of where I hoped we’d be, I’m also not discouraged that we’re not where I hoped at this point.

Why not be discouraged? Well, simply, we’ve done a lot over the last few months. We’ve come a long way, and the progress we’ve made to date has been good.

Sin / Offense / Wrong

The first verse of today’s Gospel Reading talks about what to do if someone has “sinned” against you. Now, when I think back through my life, there are few — actually very few — people who I would say have “sinned” against me. And with my view of what “sin” is, I’m not even sure that I could say that it is possible for someone to have sinned against me. For sin can be defined as “human activity that is contrary to God’s will.” (The Lexham Bible Dictionary)

But there are other possible translations of the Greek in this verse. It could be translated as “offense” or “wrong”. Honestly, the list then grows a little. I’ve been offended by the actions of a number of people over the years (and that’s definitely a list I’m not sharing). I’ve felt wronged by a number of people over the years too. And that is where this verse becomes so important.

When someone wrongs us, when someone offends us, this verse directs us to go and work it out privately with them. That isn’t the natural response of many people these days. Far too often when we feel wronged, or offended, too many people take to social media to lay out their feelings for all to see. Jesus doesn’t tell us to post our offense on Facebook, or TikTok, or Reddit, or Threads, or … Jesus tells us to go and deal with them privately. Why? Because the goal is to right the wrong, not to shame, not to encourage gossip, not to create a bigger conflict.

Love

In the reading from Romans today, we hear about love. The third verse tells us that “love does no wrong to a neighbour”. I think we know that to be true. Yet, at times, we respond to being wronged, like a little child would.

In grade six, my teacher was also the vice-principal of the school. From time to time, he’d bring students into our classroom to sort out what had happened in the conflict on the playground. As the school only went from K to Grade Six, I think he did it as much to intimidate the students, as he did it because he couldn’t be in two places at once.

I remember vividly one interchange where he was getting nowhere between the two students who were probably in Grade One or Two. One said the other kid hit him first. The other kid vehemently denied it. They went back and forth, and back and forth, and as I sat at the front of the class, near to this interaction, I could see my teacher getting more frustrated. He finally turned to the kid who was denying he hit the other kid first, and asked him to explain what happened. After minutes of repeatedly denying that he had hit the other kid first, this student looked square at my teacher and said, “I didn’t hit him first. I kicked him!”

Now granted, there is an important difference between being hit by a fist, and being kicked by a foot, so the kid wasn’t wrong, but he failed to see why that kick might have precipitated the other kid then hitting him in response.

When we feel we’ve been hit, or kicked, or wronged, or offended, our first response too often is to lash out and do the same — or do something similar — to hurt the other because we’ve been hurt.

But that’s not the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is to love, to try and work things out privately at first, and if that doesn’t work then slowly build from there.

Life as a community

I wish I could say that I’ve always loved as Jesus commands us to today. I haven’t.

It is important though to try. In the course of the Gospel Reading, we hear the steps that are taken to try and build up the community — to build connections between people — not to tear it down as happens so often these days outside these walls — where people fight and fight with one another, and don’t try to listen to each other to understand each other.

We hear today that listening to each other, working out our problems with each other, is so important, that Jesus is present in the midst of that. Jesus comes when we’re gathered two or three in his name.

I would say that the only way we gather in the name of Jesus, is when we gather in love — love of God, love of neighbour, and love of ourself. If we, as a community, can commit ourselves to gathering in love, the outcome of our mutual ministry will be heavenly … and for that gift of love that God shared with us in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus — that gift of love in our lives — for that we give thanks. Amen.