“The Substance of Church Membership”
Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 7 September, 2008
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
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 The day is finally here! In a little while we will welcome five new members into the official community of St. Mark’s United Church of Christ. Mary, Patti, Sue, Danny, and Timmy are already baptized Christians. Timmy was raised Methodist. Patti and Mary were Catholic. Sue has been both Catholic and Methodist. Danny, as we know, was baptized in our very own UCC. But when we are baptized, we are not baptized Catholic or Methodist or UCC or Presbyterian or Lutheran or anything else. We are baptized Christian, we are members of the family of Jesus Christ. This means that these five people were already our sisters and brothers in Christ. They have belonged to this church, the community of St. Mark’s for many months too. But when they stand before us this morning to reaffirm their baptisms and accept membership into this church, and we extend to them “the hand of Christian fellowship” and present them with membership certificates, we will be formalizing the relationship, recognizing them for the commitment they have already shown to our little church.
In the past months I have already talked with them, and we have talked as a larger congregation, about what church membership is all about. We have talked about discipleship, the importance of serving the church and possible ways to serve. We have talked about the history of the United Church of Christ and what the UCC is all about today. We have shared meals together, and the new folks have been introduced to recipes that have been shared in this congregation for many years. We have gotten to know each other and, I hope, to like each other.
But we haven’t talked a lot about the other “L” word yet: “Love.” It’s nice to like the person sitting in the pew next to you. It’s pleasant to be friends with your fellow church members. But liking our church friends isn’t really (or shouldn’t be) the reason we’re here. Love is the basis not only for church membership, but for Christianity itself. God sent Jesus Christ to us because God loved us, and the primary message that Jesus brought was one of love. The word “love” occurs 301 times in the New Testament. It occurs some 458 times in the Old Testament. That’s a lot of love! Whether we are speaking of God’s love for us, our love for God, God’s love for God’s Son, Christ’s love for us, our love for Christ, or our love for one another, the word is everywhere.
Most of the places where love is mentioned in our scriptures, it is referring not to ooey-gooey, Valentine’s Day, hearts-and-flowers, romantic love -- known in the Greek as “eros” or “philia” love. Instead, it’s referring to “agape” love, the kind of love that is divine, self-sacrificing, unconditional. This is how we are commanded to be in relationship with our fellow human beings on this planet. We are to love them unconditionally, be willing to make sacrifices for them, love them as much as God loves us (or at least as close as we can get). It is love like this that is the real substance, not just of church membership, but of Christian life.
Indeed, in our reading this morning from Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us that we are obligated to love one another. He reminds his listeners of the commandments and tells them that loving one’s neighbor is the fulfillment of the law itself.
Even though this passage from Romans has been around for a very long time, we’re not accustomed to thinking about love in this way. People fall in love -- they don’t just love someone because they have an obligation to do so...right? We are taught that “you can’t help who you love” and that, in turn, you can’t help it if you no longer love someone. ...But here it is: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.”
“Love” here represents action more than it represents a beating heart. Paul suggests that “love does no harm to a neighbor.” Therefore, we are obligated to do no harm to one another.
This should be obvious, especially when we’re talking about loving our fellow church members. Church folks are members of a family, right, and you’re not supposed to harm members of your family. But, unfortunately, church life isn’t always that easy. Anyone who has ever had a relationship of any kind with another human being knows that relationships aren’t easy, and “doing no harm” isn’t always easy either.
Life at St. Mark’s seems pretty blissful, relationship-wise. In the two years I have been here I have not seen a whole lot of conflict; people seem to get along fairly well. Those of you who are joining this morning have been around even less time than I have, and unless I am not privy to some underlying conflicts, St. Mark’s is a pretty easy-going church. But I can guarantee you that members who have been around here for decades have seen conflicts arise. I have been in other churches that have split over one disagreement or another, and in these situations any thought of Christian love -- doing no harm -- can go flying out the window.
At times like these, when brothers and sisters in Christ fall into disagreement, we can pull out this morning’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Here Jesus essentially teaches his followers effective and healthy conflict resolution skills: When you become angry at another member of the church (sometimes translated: “another brother or sister”), try to work the matter out between the two of you first. If that doesn’t work, bring in witnesses, and if there is still no resolution bring the matter before the whole church. ...Now, this scripture must be dealt with carefully, as it can be misused. I read a story this week about a senior pastor who used the scripture to indicate that a conflict with his associate pastor should stay between the two of them; by using the scripture in this manner he hoped to avoid taking responsibility for the wrong he had committed against her. (He conveniently left out the rest of the scripture, in which the offended person can bring in witnesses and ultimately bring the issue to the entire congregation.) But I believe that Jesus’ intent was to point out the fact that yes, disagreements will erupt within the community, and that they can be dealt with in such a way as to avoid doing harm. Just about any counselor will tell you that the key to healthy relationships is conflict resolution, and this was Jesus’ way of teaching it to his followers.
It is certainly my hope that life at St. Mark’s will be conflict-free, but in those inevitable times when it is not I encourage you to remember both Paul’s words, that we are called to do no harm to one another, and the words of Jesus, that we are called to resolve conflicts in a healthy manner. I suspect that if more churches were reminded of (and chose to follow) these words, there would be less hurt and fewer splits.
Being in Christian community is hard, but it can have tremendous rewards, not just heavenly either. First, we do often make good friends in the church, and church can be just plain fun. Second, we are surrounded by a community that can help us in times of trouble. And third, but most importantly, we have a place to worship and praise God together.
Now let us do so with prayer!
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