September 19, 2021 – 17th Sunday after Pentecost
“We need each other to fully live out who we’re created to be – in the image of God.”
Let us pray. Gracious God, we give you thanks for the gift of this day, for the gift of your presence in our midst and within each one of us gathered here and in the many places we are participating from this day. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day; and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
I want to begin this morning by giving you an opportunity for some introspection – an invitation to some self-awareness. I want to help putting you in touch with these kinds of experiences that we have all had from time to time. Let me explain – experiences where you read a line perhaps in a newspaper or on a Facebook page; when you hear a particularly wise statement on TV or radio, or maybe you even hear it in person – heaven forbid – maybe even in a sermon! And it causes you to pause, and if you allow it, to give it time and space to resonate inside of you – it strikes deep to connect to your own life experiences. Perhaps it touches you deeply. Perhaps it confronts you in such a way that it causes one of those deep reactions inside you. It unleashes thoughts and feelings. It sort of “jerks you off the autopilot” in your life, and for a moment, it suspends time. Suddenly it makes you much more aware of yourself, of others around you, of your context, and ultimately of what really matters and what’s really important.
One blatant example of that kind of statement is when someone thoughtfully, sincerely, intentionally, and without a rush of emotion, says to you, “I love you.” If we’re not careful, when we hear those words we brush them off and take them as just a kind of rote statement. What about when God says those words to you? This morning’s Opening Hymn “O Love how broad, how deep, how high” speaks those words to us. I invite you to turn to it on the inside of the front cover. The first two lines make the basic statement – “O love how deep, how broad, how high; it fills the heart with ecstasy.” And then the remainder of verse 1 and all of verse 2 explain the ultimate symbol of that love in the person of Jesus Christ, and his self-offering. Then verses 3 to 6 explain the full depth and breadth of that love. But this morning, to bring it really close to home, I want us together (this is a participatory sermon) – I want us together to read those verses. But I want you to substitute the word ‘me’ for every place you see ‘us’. And I don’t mean it in a selfish way, but it needs to be addressed to each one of us here. So read with me, please, beginning at verse 3. “For me he was baptized and bore his holy fast, and hungered sore; for me temptations sharp he knew, for me the tempter overthrew. For me he prayed, for me he taught, for me his daily works he wrought, by words and signs, and actions, thus still seeking not himself but me.
For me by wickedness betrayed, scourged, mocked, in purple robe arrayed, he bore the shameful cross and death; for me at length gave up his breath. For me he rose from death again, for me he went on high to reign, for me he sent his Spirit here to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.”
Those are all true statements, and they prepare us, I think, mentally this morning. They give us the ideal context to hear the depth of the first part of today’s Collect Prayer. We prayed these words, “Almighty God, you have created the heavens, and the earth, and ourselves in your image” – and ourselves in your image! It’s not just a theological dogma that we rattle off. It’s just as genuine and sincere as “I love you.” It is not a rote statement that we let go in one ear and out the other. We are created in the image of God. And we couldn’t get much more unequivocal proof of that “being in the image of God” then in the person of Jesus Christ. If God can become one of us, then we definitely have a likeness to God. But it’s not just an individual thing! God has revealed God’s self as a communal relationship of three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier – all in a perfect, dynamic relationship. And so it is with us. We, made in God’s image – we need each other to be, and to fully express, who we are. We don’t express that interdependence easily – at least not in our culture. Sure – we might admit occasionally that we need help from someone, or we need someone to show us the way or maybe even someone to confront us. But in reality, there is so much more to our interdependence with each other! Even Jesus, in his earthly ministry, needed others to help him express the fullness of who he is as God – people in need of healing, or liberation from evil. He even needed adversaries that he could confront with God’s truth.
The second part of today’s Collect Prayer reads this way, “Teach us to discern your hand in all your works.” Jesus was continually doing that – submitting to baptism by John the Baptist; choosing a particular 12 disciples; discerning whom to engage – the woman at the well, or when to extend healing – even to the non-Israelite Syrophoenician woman. We aren’t able to really live out this full image – this likeness to God –without each other!
Jesus discerns one of those teachable moments in today’s Gospel Reading, when he and his disciples settle into the house in Capernaum, and he says to them “’What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.” Sure – you could even say that the disciples needed each other simply to prove their own personal superiority against the other! Jesus asserts what being in the image of God looks like in real life. And so he says, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Notice how he explains it. He doesn’t say, ‘Well you need to be humble’, or ‘You need to put yourself last.’ It’s about how we view and engage others that matters. That is defined as a concern for the other. That’s the mark of God’s Kingdom and God’s likeness.
Here the Offertory Hymn that we’ll sing in a few moments is most helpful - “Sister, let me be your servant.” Notice the invitational nature of the engagement in those first two lines. “Sister, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you”, - let me more fully live out God’s image – more fully be whom God has created me to be. Equally important – in the last two lines – “Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.” No one can express servanthood if no one accepts service from the other.
So where does all this go in real life – in your “day-to-day stuff?” Well, it begins with a profound reminder for each of us every day. I, we, are made in God’s image, and God can and will freely express God’s nature in and through each one of us. We need to pray for God’s grace to discern God’s hand in all God’s works. Most of us are going to vote in our election tomorrow. Can your vote (even if it is very from mine) be an expression of God’s hand at work in you? Our parish Vestry is going to meet tomorrow evening. Can Vestry members engage each other with the common goal of expressing the image of God in each other and, together, being God’s hand at work? This Thursday evening the choir will gather to practice. Can they listen to each other, and sing in such a way that each part (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) supports and serves the other? The reality of being in God’s image calls this forth from us. The same reality – the same attitude – applies to all areas of our lives – families, friendships, colleagues, people we meet in stores, restaurants and on the street. “Sister/brother, can I be your servant?”, not because you’re deficient, or in need of help, but because of who you are and who they are – made in the image of God.
This is who we are but how easily we forget. Every day you and I bear the image of God. And as we live in that reality, the grace of God works through us to help others realize the image of God in them. This is the awe and wonder of God’s creation. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
