Transformed By Grace: Embracing The New Creation

May the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. Please be seated.

I want to begin by acknowledging all the father’s and father-figures joining us here and online today. I hope you all feel honored and celebrated on this Father’s Day.

158 years ago, on June 19th, 1865, Union troops led by Major General Gordon Granger marched into Galveston, TX and announced that under the Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln more than two year earlier, all enslaved persons were now free. June 19th, or Juneteenth, then began to be celebrated as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day and across the United States, communities gather to honor the struggles and achievements of African Americans throughout history. But Juneteenth is not merely about celebrating a past event. Rather, Juneteenth challenges to examine our present and to work together to build a better future through reconciliation, healing, truth, justice, and equality.

And given the focus of Juneteenth and within the Diocese of Virginia on the important work of racial reconciliation, it is perhaps fitting that we read from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Church in Corinth this morning. In these verses, Paul paints a vivid picture of the transformative power of Christ’s love and the profound implications it holds for our lives. This passage is pivotal within the letter, offering deep insights into Paul’s theology of reconciliation and the transformative nature of the Christian life. Furthermore, this passage serves as a theological reflection on the believers identity, purpose and hope for salvation.

There is a tension in this lesson that I think we may all be familiar with. For Paul, he describes it in Verse Six by acknowledging believers current state of being “at home in the body” but separated from the Lord, which highlights the inherent tension between the physical and spiritual dimensions of human existence. For Paul, this reflects his dualistic worldview that we are caught between the already and the not-yet of salvation. Jesus has already died for our sins and we believe so we are already saved - but we live in an imperfect, human world and make imperfect, human choices separated from God’s physical presence and perfection, and so we do not yet experience the full glory of that redemptive salvation.

Our lectionary reading today cuts off about halfway through Paul’s introduction of the Ministry of Reconciliation. And in next week’s lesson, Paul goes to on talk about how we are reconciled to God through Christ. But before this can happen, Paul must first talk about the reconciliation between us humans. This is theology Paul has taken directly from his Jewish roots. In the Jewish calendar, the most sacred day of the year is Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. On this day, Jews around the world ask for God’s forgiveness for all sins - sins they have commited knowingly and unknowingly as a community. However, God ONLY forgives sins that affect no one else other than the relationship with God. If you have sinned and caused harm against others, you must first ask their forgiveness. Only THEN will God forgive. Jewish tradition holds that you are expected to sincerely ask forgiveness for your wrongdoing from the person you have wronged 3 times. If they refuse to forgive you after the third time, then you are absolved of your wrongdoing as you have shown genuine remorse and the person you have wronged is, instead, guilty of bearing a grudge. Forgiveness, in Judaism, takes two active participants. Before we can seek to set our relationship with God right, we must first set right our relationships with one another.

Walking by faith means placing one’s confidence in God’s character, God’s promises, and God’s revealed will, even when it goes against conventional wisdom or seems contrary to human reasoning. In the alternate lectionary reading for today is the story of the selection of David to be King of Israel among the son’s of Jesse. God has Jess parade all his sons before Samuel and God will tell Samuel which one has been chosen. The first son to come before Samuel was Eliav, and Samuel took one look at him and “thought ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” The Hebrew in this section helps really drive the point point home. When Samuel “looked on Eliav” the verb used is [ראה rāʾâ] but when God rebukes Samuel and warns him that he must not “look” at appearance or stature, the verb used is נבט (nābaṭ). The difference between these verb choices is critical: נבט means to look at, but generally in a shallow, superficial kind of way. ראה means to see. While these verbs are similar, their juxtaposition here strongly implies that God was upset with Samuel for looking but not truly SEEING.

Eliav looked the part to Samuel, but lacked the qualities of leadership needed in a King. Paul exhorts us to stop looking at one another as humans do and try to see each other as God sees us. And Christ further elaborates on this point in the Gospel lesson today when He highlights that the greatest of shrubs comes from the most humble of beginnings. When you see a fully grown mustard plant, you would have no idea that it came from such a tiny and seemingly insignificant seed!

One of my role models at work is a senior manager named Jen. She was my supervisor during one of the most difficult personal experiences I’ve had to go through and she has continued to serve as a real mentor for me ever since. One day, I was incredibly angry and frustrated at another person - I honestly have no idea who or about what at this point but it was PROBABLY to do with the Finance person not approving my voucher at the speed that I thought necessary for me to keep getting the job done. Jen happened to be walking by my office and could tell that I was heated. She asked me what was going on, and when I explained it, she just kinda looked at me for a minute. And you know that look your parents give you when you’ve said or done something and you KNOW you done screwed up? Yeah … it was THAT look. Jen then explained the background of how things work from the FINANCE person’s perspective - all the rules and regulations that they face, all of which is to make sure that we are all being good stewards of taxpayer money and that we all follow the law. Sure, it’s annoying that we weren’t getting to Yes as quickly as I wanted, but not going to jail and not having Congress or the IRS come after me are all major career goals of mine, so I decided to let the finance person take the time they needed to make sure I was doing everything correctly. The finance person, me, Jen - we all had different perspective and experiences. Which is when Jen gave me the most valuable and the most difficult advice: Assume Noble Intent. The finance person wasn’t slowing me down just to be obstructionist or difficult. There was a process they had to follow and they were being diligent about making sure that it was being followed. Until someone proves that they are acting maliciously, assume that they are trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. You may not agree how to go about it, but grant them a bit of grace.

Racial justice and reconciliation is a difficult and fraught topic. Even amongst people who fundamentally agree on the principals of justice and reconciliation, there is widespread disagreement about what that looks like and how to best go about achieving it. Do we take difficult statues down? Do we move them? Do we add commentary that tells a more complete history? Or does erecting statues to fill in the gaps and honor the ignored work best? How do we talk about historical figures who accomplished great things, but whose accomplishments were achieved on the backs on enslaved persons? And what is the best way to set right historical wrongs? Do we tear down the systems and processes we already have and start afresh or do we try to use those systems and processes to bring about change? How fast should we move? How do we balance the needs and interests of a variety of diverse communities across a large geographic and ideological landscape? These are all difficult questions, and people from a variety of backgrounds all with the same goal and desire of making a more just and equitable world have different ideas about how to go about answering them. OUR challenge is to step outside of our limited and imperfect human worldview and try to see and listen to one another as Christ taught us. To assume noble intent and grant one another a bit of grace and, in that grace, a bit of space to disagree. And, of course, whenever we are dealing with hard questions and issues, there will be times when we and others - despite the best of intentions - get things wrongs. But I think Maya Angelou said it best when she said: “Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better.”

In essence, Paul’s admonition to walk by faith and not sight encourages believers to cultivate a deep and abiding trust in God, even when circumstances may seem bleak or uncertain. It challenges us to view the world through the lens of faith, seeing beyond the physical realm to the spiritual realities that underpin our existence. Ultimately, walking by faith leads to a deeper intimacy with God and a more vibrant and transformative Christian experience. Personally, I can’t wait to see what that means for each and every one of us.

Amen.