The Second Sunday after the Epiphany (January 16, 2021)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

From the beginning of time, it seems that the way humans have made sense of the world is through stories. As individuals, we think of our lives in terms of autobiography, accounts of where we’ve come from. We also tell stories about our communities to help us understand how they developed. of course, the tricky thing about stories is they inculcate in us a certain way of thinking about their subjects. It’s very easy, when thinking about our individual life stories, to self-justify ourselves by ignoring the perspectives of others or by rationalizing everything we do. So, part of the power of stories is that inspire us to act a certain way.

Given how connected we are through television, the internet, and social media, we are always being told stories by our dominant culture. We tailor the stories we hear to those that agree with us by selecting certain news channels, certain online media outlets, and certain Social Media groups that tell the stories we want to hear. But based on the media we consume, we are constantly absorbing elements of these stories. So what are some themes in the stories we’re told? I would isolate three themes that you get in different ways from our dominant culture. First, we’re told that the world is a constant struggle between “us” versus “them.” The “them” can be people who think differently than we do about religion or politics or who look or talk differently than we do. We are taught to find our tribe and define ourselves over and against those who are different. A second theme that we’re taught by the stories our dominant culture tells us is that individual autonomy is the most important virtue; that it doesn’t matter what we choose so much as we have a choice. This allows us to be the self first, especially before the “them.” Finally, we’re told that “they,” whoever “they” are, pose an existential threat to us and must be neutralized.

Christianity broke into the world to tell us a new story, a different story. It’s a story that brings us together around the common core of the Gospel, a story that humanizes us, and reminds us of the humanity of others. It’s a story that teaches us to love our enemies even in the heat of persecution. It’s a story that often runs counter to what we expect, especially if we have been inculturated by the other stories. He was wrong, but at least the 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche understood how the story we humans like to tell ourselves is incompatible with the Christian story by calling Christianity a slave religion because of its care for everyone, including the weak and the poor. When the world encounters the story we tell, it must either lash out in violence, stand gawking at what it deems unintelligible, or convert.

The next few weeks constitute what will be a sermon series of sorts because we will be in Romans 12 and 13. If we had to give it a title, we might call it “Living Sacrifices: Living into the Christian Story.” Today, the first part of our series, we will focus on how our identity as “living sacrifices” impacts our lives together as the Church.

Last week, with Ephesians 3, we saw how the Gospel according to Paul, entailed the integration of people groups as disparate as Jews and Gentiles into a singular organism, the Church. This is the same theme of the book of Romans. In the first three chapters of the book, Paul makes it clear that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” In chapter 1, he focuses on how Gentiles are sinners; in chapter 2, he demonstrates that Jews are sinners; and in chapter 3, he reiterates that everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, stands condemned before God by their sin. In chapters 4-8, Paul shows us how we escape condemnation: we are rescued by the Incarnation of our Lord who dies for us. That salvation is given to us when we have faith, a gift we receive by baptism which is imparted to us by God’s love. In Romans 9-11, Paul applies this theological reality to the issue of Jew-Gentile relations: we are all members of the Church and there is an inherent equality between all Christians because we are “in Christ.” Beginning at Chapter 12 to the end of the book, Paul turns his focus to ethics: how should Christians behave in light of the Gospel?

Romans 12:1-5 lays a foundation for all that follows in this closing section of the book that interrogates ethics. Paul opens the section by reiterating the location of all Christians, Jews and Gentiles. We are “in Christ”: “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things.” As the Church, then, we respond to what Christ has done for us in the continual presentation of the Cross to his Father by presenting ourselves as “living sacrifices.” In effect, we take that moment where Christ offers himself and bring it into our present moment by reproducing it. if we do this, then we will not be “conformed to this world” because we must be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” We must tell ourselves new stories. What is the lens whereby we understand the story we participate in? Paul tells us in Romans 12:4-5: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” So the vision here is unity in diversity: different parts joined to the same body.

Within the Body of Christ, the Church, God has, by his grace, bestowed gifts upon the various members. The list of gifts in Romans is by no means exhaustive but all of them that are present are ministerial (though they don’t belong exclusively to the clergy). They are given to all Christians so we can each contribute to the upbuilding of the Church. The goal of that upbuilding is to build a stronger, thicker community build around the faith but also one that replicates itself, which we do by passing our faith along to our children and by attracting outsiders to join themselves to it. The seven gifts he lists are prophecy (words of exhortation to the Church on the foundation of Scripture and the deposit of faith received by the Church), ministry (which is service of others), teaching, exhortation (which is words encouraging and motivating others to be faithful), generosity (which is giving to the poor and to the mission of the Church), ruling with diligence (which has to do with community leadership), and showing mercy (which is working with the poor and marginalized). None of these gifts are more important than others but all are necessary for the Church to live out its vocation; all of the gifts are avenues whereby the Church can tell the story of redemption God has given it.

Binding all these gifts together should be the virtue of love. Whatever your individual gift is, it’s a way to express a “love without dissimulation” or, at the NET Bible translates it, “Love without hypocrisy.” To demonstrate what love in action looks like, Paul provides us with a series of doublets. Love leads to the avoidance of evil while cleaving to what is good. Love causes us to act kindly in a sort of brother love, showing preference to the others. Love doesn’t allow us to be slothful and lazy, but provides us with fervency. Love always us to have hopeful joy, patience during tribulation, and prayer in all things. Love pushes us to give and be hospitable. Love enables us to bless our persecutors instead of cursing them or retaliating. Love makes us rejoice with those who are rejoicing and weep with those who weep; in that ministry of presence, we bear the burdens of others. Love provides us with a common mind and deference to the lowly. Love doesn’t allow us to retaliate tit-for-tat but is an impetus for honest and honorable conduct.

At the end of the day, stories matter. Here, at St. Paul’s, we immerse ourselves in the story of redemption. But all the liturgical reenactment, sacramental representation, Bible study, etc. are just empty routines if we don’t really, truly inhabit this story. As Christians, our calling is to love. The question is how do we demonstrate the love that was shown to us in Jesus Christ our Lord? What gifts can we offer? What part can we play?

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.