I speak to you
in the name of the God who made us, the God who nourishes us, the God who never
abandons us. Amen.
Just
who are God’s people anyway?
The
easy answer is us.
It’s
true too.
We
are God’s people. We gather here in his
name to honour him and to be fed through his holy mysteries. We give of our resources of time and money to
see that God’s work is done here in this community and throughout the
world. At the end of the service I will
send you out to continue to live life as God calls you to live it. Just before we share communion I even say:
“The gifts of God for the People of God.”
We
are God’s people.
But
are we alone? Are we God’s only people?
No. It’s easy to see that there are more of God’s
people around. Some of you have even
married them. There are the United folk,
the Presbyterians, the Roman Catholics, the Lutherans, the Alliance, just to
name a few denominations. They, and all
who follow Christ, are God’s people too.
We
Christians are God’s people.
But
are we alone? Are only Christians God’s
people?
What
makes someone one of God’s people?
Do
they have to be free of sin? Do they
have to avoid working for Revenue Canada?
Not according to today’s Gospel.
Jesus kept company with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus sought out those very people whom the
“godly” avoided.
Do
they have to be the right gender? Or the
right social class? Jesus is quite clear
about this too. If anything, it is
easier to hear God’s call if you are in some way disadvantaged. The more elite you are in your society, the
more distractions you have to pull you away from God.
Nothing
we are or do makes us one of God’s people.
It is by the grace of God that we are named as God’s own. Not only that, but we cannot break God’s love
for us. In our reading from first
Timothy, we hear Paul’s voice telling us about God’s love. “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and a man of violence” … “I received mercy because I had acted
ignorantly in unbelief.” Paul was not
short of knowledge about Jesus. He knew
a great deal about him and believed very little of it. Paul’s ignorance was of the vast scope of
God’s love. He believed that he was one
of God’s people. He found out just how
much God loved him.
This
love is what makes a person one of God’s people. Jesus makes it quite clear that everyone,
whether they believe or not, is beloved of God.
There is not a single person in creation who is not one of God’s people.
We
are all here because we have been called as Paul was called. We have been shown God’s love in many
different ways. We are called to share
that experience. This is called
“evangelism.”
When
I was growing up, I spent considerable time with some of my cousins from
Southern California. Their parents
attended Pentecostal churches. They were
capital “E” Evangelists and they called me their favourite heathen. Their parents watched carefully to make sure
that they didn’t start to believe the same things as I did and that they tried
to “enlighten” me. This is not
evangelism.
Evangelism
is sharing the good news of God’s love in the way we act, both inside and
outside of these walls. Evangelism is
helping others to realize that God loves them too, that they are never alone. Evangelism is about opening ourselves up and
letting others see what God has done for us.
At
the end of September, we will be celebrating together at St. Paul’s with a Dr.
Seuss liturgy. Evangelism is what this
celebration is all about. This service
is a way of reaching out and showing that God’s love is for all and that our
response can be expressed in different ways.
We
are not having this celebration in order to bring in greater numbers, or to
increase the offering in the plate. It
is not even about showing our children that we can be silly and have fun at
church.
The
Dr. Seuss celebration is about spreading God’s word in different ways. It is about reaching out to say that no
matter what your age or your background, God is calling you. God loves you!
This
is evangelism … spreading the good news, the Gospel, to all who have ears to
hear it. We are merely the planters of the
seeds. It is God who tends the garden.
If
we can keep God’s love in our hearts and truly believe that God loves everyone,
we will be a place where they want to come when they are ready.
Thanks
be to God.
