SETTING THE CONTEXT

People will always find things to divide them. If it is not one difference, they will find another. The first great controversy of the early church was whether non-Jews could be Christians. You heard me correctly. The controversy was whether non-Jewish people had to become Jewish first (if that would be allowed) and then Christian. That’s why it has always seemed crazy to me to find Christians and Christian groups who hate Jewish people since Jesus, all the 12 disciples, and the first followers of Christ were all Jewish. The term Christian did not come into being until later after Jesus’ death and resurrection when the Jesus movement began taking form as a church. Anyway, in the passage we are about to read Paul is speaking of this division between the non-Jewish believers, the new converts from the Roman religions, and the Jewish believers, those who have the cultural and religious identity that is described in the Hebrew Bible, what we called the Old Testament.

READ Ephesians 2:11-22

Jesus was in the full swing of his earthly ministry. Most of it was happening in the area around the Sea of Galilee in the northern part of Israel. He went out from village to village and at one point he called his 12 disciples and he began to send them out 2 by 2 giving them authority to do his work on “solo missions”. So they went out and proclaimed Jesus’ message to repent, they cast out demons, and anointed the sick.

READ Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

THE SERMON

As I think of the church, the body of Christ, I realize I have always tended to think small. I think of the church as individual congregations, little groups of believers huddled in little and not so little buildings. It is so easy to let our differences overshadow our common love for Christ.

The passage in Ephesians tells us that God’s view is much broader than my view. Through Christ, God has brought those who were far off, those who did not know the story of the covenant, those who were of the pagan faiths, those who were strangers to God through Christ they gained access to God. Also through Christ, he proclaimed peace to those who were near, those who were part of the covenant, those who knew the story and had been brought up in the faith. I love that image, “So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Eph 2:17-18). Paul tells us that through Christ’s flesh, his body, his life, he has broken down the walls that divide us to create one, new humanity. This new humanity, this Body of Christ in the world today is the church and it’s not the little individual churches. It is the Church with a capital “C”, the universal church. It is all Christians all over the world.

One of the greatest truths we discovered on our recent mission trip to Africa has been the size of the body of Christ. I never really think about the size of the Body of Christ except on World Communion Sabbath and even then it’s only been an abstract idea. This month though we got to see and experience the breadth of the universal church. We learned while we were in Ethiopia that African Christianity is very ancient. While we were in Kenya we got to experience the breadth of our Methodist connection.

The Ethiopian kings claim their heritage all the way back to a union between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon from the Old Testament. The Ethiopian people feel a very strong tie with the Hebrew people. At a town called Auxum, we learned that the Orthodox Church claims to have the Ark of the Covenant in its possession. (The Ark is the special chest that holds the tablets with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought off Mt. Sinai.) One priest cares for it his entire life never leaving the church that houses it. He has deacons who bring him food and other necessities. Upon his dying breath, he names his successor.

In Lalibela, Ethiopia we saw Christian churches carved out of solid bedrock in the 13^th century made to represent Jerusalem so the people could make pilgrimages and practice their faith. We learned about the Ethiopian Orthodox Church even as we saw people worshipping and praying in these ancient churches. At one point we walked by caves and heard the monks chanting their prayers, at another we saw young deacons begin the procession into the church for the daily service. People of faith, the body of Christ have been opening their hearts to God and practicing their devotion for generations. On our last day in Ethiopia we worshiped at the Clouds of Glory Church, a Protestant Church. We danced and clapped. The service was all in Amaharic, but the joy of the Lord was unmistakable and we soon found ourselves dancing along. After a lot of singing, the pastor called all the children up for a prayer of blessing and George and I were asked to be part of that blessing prayer. We also stood and spoke to the congregation. It was amazing to be in a worship service in another language yet just like at Pentecost we had a pretty good idea of what was going on and we shared the love of Jesus that transcends language.

It was in Kenya where we really got to feel the closeness of the Body of Christ. Our host was Sam Mdune and he is the Community Development Coordinator for the Methodist Church of Kenya. Sam was a wonderful host and has become a good friend. As he explained to us the Methodist Church in Kenya, I realized how similar we are. Our structures are very similar, our commitment to helping others not only with their spiritual needs but also with their physical needs is very similar. The Methodist tradition of meeting and eating is very similar too. There is one difference. We learned that African Methodists and African Christians for that matter like to dance in church. I wish American Methodists danced more in church that was fun! As we spent time with the churchfolk of Bumula Methodist Church, we found them warm and welcoming. The women started teaching us some Swahili words and how to do some of their dances. Jean C. was learning how to uulate, that is how they shout for joy. We learned about each others lives and we worked together. As we talked to the pastor we found that we shared many of the same concerns, how to share the message of Christ with those have haven’t heard it yet. He talked about how he’s started several new congregations in neighboring communities, but he’s always looking for new ways to reach people for Christ. After Dave and Gwen’s visit last year, the church’s average attendance increased significantly. After all if people came all the way from the United States to this church there must be something important there and people came to see. We hope it will increase even more with nineteen of us visiting. Children along the road would watch for our vans and wave at us every morning and evening. The pastor talked about the problem of AIDs and the problem of domestic violence. We shared that both are problems in this country, too. He has a very dedicated and wonderful group of lay leaders in the church. The chairman of their Ad Council, their treasurer, head of the women’s society and the mother of a woman lay preacher were all there every day to spend time with us and they were so gracious to us. The church has an active youth group and our youth bonded wonderfully with their youth. I would say that over half of their congregation are children. When we worshipped together their order of worship was very much like our order of worship although I was told that normally they sing a lot more and each group in the church does a presentation, a song, poem, skit, etc so the services do last several hours. They kept it shorter for us since they knew we had to leave.

They told us that though some of the congregation are educated, most are uneducated and poor. Only a few members of the church have jobs. They wanted a better church building. They were worshipping in a small building made of sheet metal with a dirt floor {in center of the above picture} and they couldn’t afford better one so the pastor had them start making bricks. They literally made the bricks by hand themselves and started buildings the walls brick by brick. There was no way they could afford the roof and that is where we came in. As I told them in my part of the sermon that last Sunday, God heard their prayers and provided for them through the body of Christ through us. We are one body and they began in faith to build a church building and through you, through us, God helped them roof it. I told them that God provided this for two reasons, one God loves them and two God provided it so that they would go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (I quoted John 15:16). This is why God provides for all of us, so that we might bear fruit; that we might go and fulfill Christ’s mission in the world. We have left a lasting mark with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have already received letters from both the Pastor and leaders of the Bumula Church expressing their love and thanks and a letter of appreciation from Sam in the name of the Methodist Church of Kenya. As our brothers and sisters in Christ worship in their church, they think of us with love and affection giving many thanksgivings to God.

We are one body with one mission that stretches across one world, actually it stretches across one universe. As it says in Ephesians 4:5, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” The Church is far more than any walls can contain for as the hymn we are about to sing says, “All Christly souls are one in him throughout the whole wide earth.”^[i] Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on July 23, 2006.