The DNA of Grace
Ephesians 4:1-16
This weekend marks the 2nd anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse here in Minneapolis. For those of us part of this community, it is one of those moments that will forever be seared into our memory. It galvanized this community in shock and grief. And it reminded us again how precious and fleeting life can be so we take every opportunity to celebrate life, friends, family and each new day. When a community goes through a traumatic experience like the bridge collapse it seeps into our being – it can have one of two results. It can destroy people’s sense of safety and connection. They can resort to blaming, finger-pointing and suspicion. Or it can be a rallying call that unites people to make their world a better and safe place. Either way, we are changed by such experiences. We, however, get to choose which changes will occur.
When the letter to the Ephesians was written the Christian sect of Judaism was quickly changing into a more Gentile body. Change of any kind always brings tension and there was certainly tension in this congregation. Earlier in the letter we see examples of this when the terms “the circumcision” and “the un-circumcision” are used to distinguish the animosity of the tension. Keep in mind that the message of the gospel is one of reconciliation, yet we see how easily a triumphalist attitude can creep into our language almost without notice. This is why the author of Ephesians goes to great length to talk about the things that unite us. We are one body, with one Spirit, serving one God through one faith, one baptism and with one hope. There is something that unites us – that we share in common.
Unity does not mean homogeneity. We each have a unique calling through “grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift”. Where once people distinguished themselves as Jew or Gentile, along national lines or part of an ethnic culture, now we are called to recognize that within the faith community operate all the gifts of the Spirit necessary to build up (edify) each other so that we all reach our potential. Yet, we still feel the pull that the ancients felt. How many times have you heard someone use the list from our reading in a hierarchical manner? The apostles are number one, then prophets, then evangelists… These designations of various gifts and graces were not given to divide us but to show that we need each other because none of us individually has all the gifts, but together collectively we have all the gifts. There was never an intention to divide between the ministering and the ministered unto. We are all ministers and we all receive ministry from each other. Even the word “ministry” was not intended to distinguish between those who care and those who are cared for. Ephesians uses the term “ministry” to describe building up the body of Christ ... to reach unity in the faith (vv. 12-13).
What unites us a faith community – as a movement – is that we share the same spiritual DNA. When we claim for ourselves being part of the family of God, we know that we don’t all share the same religious tradition, the same life experience, the same families of origin, even the same sexual orientations. We just celebrated our 35th Anniversary last week so we are just now growing up the first generation for whom MCC is their family church. Most of us grew up in our faith somewhere else. We chose this faith community for other reasons. So the things that often unite a faith community – family history, tradition, area of the country, religious affiliation – aren’t the driving force that unite us a faith community. What does unite us is that we share the DNA of grace.
We know that the image of “family” has powerful meaning – both positive and negative. There’s an old Southern saying, “you can pick your nose but you can’t pick your relatives.” The meaning, of course, is that when it comes to family there is something that binds us together beyond our personal opinions of each other, our fondness (or lack thereof) or whether we geographically live nearby. Families are bonded through genes and relationships.
Church families are bonded through the DNA of grace.
During the Large Church Pastors’ Conference that Rev. Robyn and I attended this past week in San Francisco, we spent a great deal of our time sharing experiences, resources, insight and hope with each other. I came away with a long list of ideas that I will be exploring with staff and ministry teams over the next few weeks. We spent one day with Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, the leader of our movement. Many of you receive emails from the denomination so you know about the challenges and opportunities that we have together as a larger body. The reduction of denomination-level staff means we now have four Elders and four regions. We are now officially a part of Region 5, which re-elected Rev. Elder Diane Fisher just a few weeks ago and who has been resourcing us during the interim. Also the Elders have developed a new strategy of resourcing churches according to size. So Rev. Elder Lillie Brock and Rev. Elder Ken Martin will be resource all churches with attendance greater than 75, while Rev. Elder Diane Fisher and Rev. Elder Darlene Garner will resource church with less than 75 in attendance. There is also some great ecumenical work that is going on between MCC, the Fellowship (predominantly African-American GLBT movement), Unity Fellowship (predominantly African-American GLBT group) and United Church of Christ. Building bridges between our clergy, congregations, credentialing process and conferences will continue to allow us to experience a larger communal connection with faith movements who share many of our values.
Nobody can look at you and see your DNA without a microscope. But observing a person can reveal the traits of the DNA they possess – hair texture, skin tone, height, etc. The same is true for the DNA of grace. It is the essence of who we are, what gives us passion, and what unites us into one body, with one God, one faith, one hope – with a multitude of expressions, experiences and traditions but a unity of spirit.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com Genes and Grace, August 2009.