Ambassadors of Christ
Note: The sermon I preached yesterday was somewhat different than what is present below. What follows is my best recreation of what I actually said.
Several years ago I was
driving home from church dressed as you would imagine in full clergy regalia,
-- black shirt, white collar. I was
stopped at a light waiting for an opening in the oncoming traffic to clear
before turning left when all of sudden I am jolted awake – as the woman behind me starts laying on her
horn. I glance in the rear-view mirror to
see someone who is obviously upset- swearing, making hand motions to express
her displeasure that I had not yet turned.
As she waits for me to turn, she slowly creeps
up and is able to wiggle by on the right side-all the while using choice words
about my driving as we just stare at each other.
And to say that I was
angry would be an understatement. I was
very tempted to use a bit of universal
sign language to register my displeasure, but in a split second I think
better of and my hand stays planted on the steering wheel. Instead the thought that races through my
head- “you almost just saw a priest flip you off.”
Of course that would
have been a really bad thing to do- in some way I am an ambassador, I am a representative
of the church and am an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
I can still remember the conversation in
seminary that a priest had with a number of us he told us about how you have to
be extremely careful when you interact with folks when you are dressed in
clericals. It could have a lasting and
damaging effect on someone - if you were to say flip them off dressed in clergy
garb.
Of course, once you take off the black shirt
and white collar-- all bets are off.
St. Paul in the New
Testament lesson this morning-- reminds
the people of Corinth of their own ambassadorship – the people of Corinth don’t
wear black shirts or have Father in front of their name, they don’t write
letter to far off Christian communities that end up in sacred texts, like St.
Paul did, but they the tent-makers, the
merchants, the carpenters, the tax collectors, the widows, they too are ambassadors for Jesus Christ—in
verse 20 Paul reminds them of this sacred privilege-“So we are ambassadors for
Christ… [and] God is making his
appeal through us.”
Their ambassadorship does not spring from some
sort of deft diplomatic prowess, but their ambassadorship is rooted in what Christ
done in them and for them. In verse 17
Paul writes, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is new creation- everything old has
passed away, see everything has become new.”
“…if anyone is in
Christ, there is new creation- everything old as passed away, see everything
has become new.”
Now when I hear this
new creation thing, I sometime think yeah right, new creation- often my
spiritual life looks--- more like--- it got run over by a Mack truck.
Doesn't new creation
come by spending hour upon hour in bible study? --Crawling our way through the pages of obscure biblical
texts like I and II Chronicles. Doesn't new creation come through connecting with God after hours spent on ones knees? Or maybe that’s just knee replacement.
Dirk Lange, biblical
scholar says that this “new creation in Christ already exists” He writes “The challenge posed to each and
every community is discovering the presence of God already active, [ discovering God] already
acting in the lives of each member.” [1]
Lange postulates that this new creation
already exists in each and every one of us- it is not something that is earned
by getting a seminary degree or it is not something we receive for pursuing some
sort of pious spiritual practice.
Each and every one of
us- through the work that God does in Holy Baptism is a new creation- the old has
gone and the new has come.
God’s new creation is
in the person who comes back to church for the first time in 20 years, God’s new creation resides in the person who has
been a fixture in the front left pew, not having missed a service for 7 years
running. It’s back there in Deacon Lee,
it’s in each of us.
Of course, Paul is
saying that this new creation thing is not just for the Corinthian people to
admire and enjoy for themselves, this new creation is not to be put up on the
mantle like we might a trophy. Paul
reminds them and he reminds us that we have become a new creation, and because
we are a new creation Christ has made us ambassadors of for the kingdom of God.
When I was in
Pennsylvania, there was a Lutheran Church on the other side of the city. The church was set up on this hill and it had
this long winding driveway, at the end of the driveway right before you turned
into street there was a
white sign with red letters- what the sign that said—You are now
entering the mission field.
As ambassadors we are
called to a foreign land out beyond those red doors, out beyond our parking lot.
As ambassadors we represent the
interests of God’s kingdom in this great big world.
We represent and carry
with us a God who loves unconditionally- without exception. We represent a God who welcomes home his son after
he has squandered a fortune- sleeping with prostitutes, a father who welcomes home a the son who had essentially wished him dead.
We represent a God who waits and scans
the horizon watching for the lost son. Who forgoes all dignity and run upon
first sight of the lost son.
Maybe there is someone out there that feels a little bit like the lost son--please know that God is welcoming you home [Not in the original sermon text, but something I felt led to add at that moment in the sermon]
As ambassadors we carry with us a universal sign language, a
universal sign language one that nothing to do with any of our fingers and everything to do with the love that has been poured into our lives.
We are a new creation
and we are ambassadors for Christ.
AMEN
[1]
Dirk Lange, Feasting on the Word- Fourth
Sunday of Lent:Year C. Homiletical
Perspective pg. 113.
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