Sermon
January 19-20, 2008
I Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-41
Who Are We?
Everyone knows about MySpace. But, just in case there are some of us who need an update… MySpace is a website that defines itself very simply, as “a place for friends”. So, if you’re looking for a way to get connected, try MySpace.
First, you need to be at least 14 years old. Then, you need an e-mail address to sign up. Once logged on, you can design your space with songs, graphics, wallpaper, video spots, and any text that best fits what you want to say about yourself. As others read about you, and you’re reading about others, supposedly, friendships form.
Jeremy, our assistant youth minister, tells me that Facebook is better for building relationships. Jeremy’s on Facebook. My niece, Hillary, is also on Facebook. She’s a very gifted musician and singer. And, on Facebook, I saw and heard her perform and saw and heard the positive reactions from others to her talents. She’s created a huge network of friends and fans through Facebook.
Facebook originated when Harvard undergrad, Mark Zuckerberg created a website for college students to connect with one another. He has termed it a “social networking website”. Now, Facebook claims more than 60 million active users, beginning at age 13. Daily 250,000 new users log onto Facebook. We can learn more about one another through Facebook in just a few moments than we probably can learn in countless face to face conversations.
It seems that we have a great desire to be in relationship with one another, to build trusting friendships and communities. What happens on Facebook and other websites designed to bring people together, is we discover ways to be recognized, to be identified; a way to have a sense of belonging. In our belonging, we have meaning and we discover that we matter.
In our community as Christians, we also strive to belong; to have purpose. The initial steps to a Christian community are not unlike Facebook and MySpace. Some actions are similar. We get a password and we sign on. But, in our case, we all have the same password: Christian. And we all sign on under the same identity, our baptism.
Through our baptism, our network looks a little bit different from Facebook and MySpace. Our network is about who we are, and how we’re connected. But, there’s so much more to this Christian network.
This is what John the Baptist is trying to tell us today in John’s gospel. It’s not so much about us as it is about God revealed to us, with us in Jesus Christ; about how, we may well search to have recognition in community; but Jesus, in his love for us, has already identified us, initiated the relationship and called us to follow. Consequently, each of us is unique, important, and essential to the community.
In today’s lesson, we learn of John’s value to the community. He’s the premiere messenger, this strange baptizer. I’d love to see his page on Facebook; yelling and screaming out about who he is and who we are.
He’s pretty clear about who he’s not. He tells inquisitive clerics, he’s not the Christ, the anointed one; he’s not the great Elijah who, drawn up into heaven, is promised to return; he’s not a prophet telling of a new age. And, he’s pretty clear about who he is. He’s a witness who leads us right to Jesus. As any good witness, John tells us what he has seen and heard. Jesus is the lamb of God, the one who comes to take away the sins of the world; the one who is with God from before time and always; the one who bears the Holy Spirit; the one, Chosen by God as the Son of God.
John keeps the focus, not on the messenger, but on the message, Jesus. He sends two of his followers to join Jesus. We have a sense that they’re anxious to follow, but unsure of what it means. So, Jesus helps things along and initiates the relationship. He turns to the disciples and asks, “what do you want?” Jesus knows that these followers are searching, looking for a way to understand what it means to know God’s love. They want to follow and be a part of Jesus’ life. They want to know grace and mercy. They’re looking for affirmation, and acceptance and security; a way to belong. To get the answers, they’re going to have to spend some time with Jesus. So, he invites them, saying, “come, stay with me.”
It seems that in spending time with Jesus, one follower, Andrew, has his questions answered. Compelled to bring others to Jesus, Andrew goes out searching for his brother and invites Simon Peter to be uncovered and discovered by Jesus.
The lesson we’ve read today is ended. But, the story is by no means completed. The next day Jesus continues to form his community. We learn in the synoptics that he builds his partnership to include James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas, son of James and Judas Isacriot. Jesus calls a group of mismatched, questionable characters, knowing full well of their great potential.
These disciples could not be more different, nor could they be more alike. Some struggling, finding success through competition, others miraculously emerging as leaders through their weaknesses, a few questioning the power of God’s love, all never really coming to terms with who’s in charge, and how the power of God’s love surrounds us and captures us and folds us into community.
But, Jesus calls them anyway. And he calls us as well. He’s not interested in what we’re not able to do. He’s fully convinced of what we can do. Jesus sees great potential in the disciples to do his work. And he sees the same for us. He empowers us with the Holy Spirit and bestows upon us gifts, gifts that, when used, form us to be his people, the Church. Those very first followers of Jesus, desperately desire to be in communion with Jesus and with one another in their common belief of God’s love for them. But, their Facebook and MySpace has a very different goal. Their goal is more than belonging and fellowship. Their goal is accepting God’s love and together, embracing the full meaning of what it means to live as the body of Christ. This type of community is known as koinonia.
Koinonia is an association or a partnership of people dedicated to serving as God’s holy people, chosen, named and called; purposefully living in relationship with a common understanding that God loves us.
koinonia is, about a spirit of generous sharing. Not just sharing of possessions and financial gifts; while that is part of koinonia. Rather, koinonia is about seeing the Christ within each of us and intentionally sharing those blessings. It’s about honest and truthful giving of ourselves, and sometimes having to admit wrong as well as humbly accepting success. It’s about recognizing that we each have a share in the fellowship, and collectively, we own the responsibilities of the koinonia. Koinonia is a give and take, a receiving and sharing, a finding of common ground, all centered on the love of Jesus Christ.
Years ago, while visiting in Rwanda, shortly after the genocide, a group of us were asked to row across Lake Victoria. The bishop had just planted a church in a small village and we were asked to join them for worship. Hospitality is a significant characteristic of Rwandans, and, for other Africans, as well, I’ve noticed. But, these people had nothing. No substantial homes; just tiny, straw, thatched huts. No running water or electricity. No modern form of transportation. No shops or stores or schools or libraries. Climbing into the makeshift rowboats, one small boy, invited by the bishop, joined us. He was carrying a case of orange soda pop on his head, – Fanta. When we docked at the bottom of the mountain side, we were greeted by all the local officials and hundreds of small naked, dark skinned children, welcoming us joyfully in song. We climbed up the mountain and more and more people gathered to join us. Eventually we reached the top and dozens approached us waving their arms happily in the air, singing, now in English, a song they had learned in our honor. Moving through the crowd, we were invited to visit with one of the local officials and his family. The entire village surrounded the hut outside, waiting, as our group of 8 crammed into a tiny straw hut, no bigger than 8 x 8 feet square. We sat crouched on the dirt floor, trying to speak in some kind of common language, sharing as best we could. They offered us refreshments.
We were told that to decline would be an offense. So, we accepted knowing full well that they had absolutely nothing to give, nothing to share. To our surprise, and amusement, our hosts, graciously, and with some pomp and circumstance, passed around bottles of orange soda pop, Fanta. Our host offered up prayers of thanksgiving for our time of fellowship and for the many blessings we have received. We shared in our Amens and enjoyed our beverages and one another’s company. What a gift to have connected, and to have fellowshipped with our strange, new friends, our new koinonians ½ way across the globe.
So, here we are koinonians, called by Jesus to connect with one another, to be intentional about our identity in Jesus; to serve as partners in following Jesus; giving of ourselves. What’s your koinonia? Where do you share in the love of Jesus Christ? Of course, it’s here, with Christ Church, in this very place, with this common meal that Jesus so graciously provides for us. But, where else might our koinonia be; and what is our role in koinonia? Maybe our koinonia is our dinner table this week and our role is to serve as receivers and thoughtful listeners. Maybe, our koinonia is in that meeting we’ve been avoiding for weeks and we’re the ones who have to be the voice of truth. Maybe our koinonia is to gather with those precious to us, in those places that are so painful, so difficult, and simply serve as a peaceful presence.
You decide. Look for your koinonia. Jesus is there, offering himself fully to us, giving and sharing of all that he has; loving and trusting in who we are. He has named us and called us his own. He will have it no other way than for us to live in partnership with him; in his grace; in his mercy; in his love.
