So I think it’s important for us to reflect, as a community, on who we are during this move. Church for us is not about a building. We will never own a building. Church is not about bricks and mortar. We will not fight about what color the carpet will be, etc.
You will recall if you have been in worship for the past couple of weeks that we are basing our worship series on the book by Henri Nouwen called Life of the Beloved. You see, here at The Village, we understand that we are God’s beloved children, and we are living as God’s beloved children. That is our reason for being a church.
We are seeking to be a beloved community – a community of hope for broken people out there, like us, who wander into our community looking for God. They are just like every one of us. Our t shirts tell our story: “No perfect people allowed.” One of our newer members, Jodi, was telling me yesterday that wearing the shirt has caused her to engage in many conversations with people. They love her shirt and they ask her about it, and then she tells them about this new church that she has found for her family.
A critical part of being God’s beloved community, is this. We understand that people are not perfect. People are hurting. People have made mistakes. People have done bad things. People have had bad things happen to them, people have made mistakes, and they are looking for hope and healing. God is the source of that hope and healing. And in this community we can live that out with one another. But it means we have to be real with each other. People need authenticity. They don’t want churches filled with plastic people who are all pretending that everything is perfect. Show them a church that is fake and they will run screaming into the night.
Our friend, Rock, tells me that when she first came to The Village she went home and told a friend that she found this church where the people really seem to genuinely care about one another, but she figured we all went home and yelled at our partners and cheated on our taxes. Rock is kind of cynical. She said we could not really be for real. But over time, she decided we are for real. Not perfect, but real, an authentic community where we can all be who we really are.
So let’s take a look at today’s scripture and see what Jesus has to teach us about what his vision is for the “Beloved Community” of his followers. First, we’ll see what a group of religious folks of his day thought was good and proper. Now, in their defense, they were following the law of Moses. (1John 8:1-11 from The Message translation for those following along from the Net):
1-2 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. 3-6The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
6-8Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
9-10Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" 11"No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."
So here is what happened: Jesus modeled a new way of being community. In the Old Way, you judge a sinner, have no grace, put her to death. In the New Way, have some grace, consider the reality that we all sin, treat your sister or brother with some love; give an opportunity for healing. Decide if you are really perfect and blameless before God. Are you loving and kind and generous and forgiving when you are slighted? If so, go forward with your judging. But if you have faults, then give some of the grace you get.
Now, we don’t know what happens next in the story. I would so love to know what happens next in the story, wouldn’t you? Because you know that someone in that crowd had sympathy for the woman and wanted to reach out to her, right? Perhaps another woman who had made the same mistake? Or maybe the woman’s best friend from childhood who wanted to hear her side of things, but was forbidden from talking to her because of the rules of the day? But perhaps another person, who had also been touched by the healing love of Jesus, snuck over to her house later than day, and over a cup of tea (or whatever they drank in those days) they had a good cry, and some healing began. Isn’t that what Jesus would want? Isn’t it the beloved community. And don’t even get me started about how little power a woman had in that society anyway and where was the man in this story? But we don’t go there today.
Henri Nouwen, in the Life of the Beloved, has some good words for the woman in the story, and for us, when we get caught up in our own human brokenness and sorrow. He encourages two responses. First, he says, we should just face our brokenness squarely and befriend it, “step toward it” and “embrace our brokenness” (p. 75).
He talks about being with a friend who realized that his marriage was over. Henri went to visit this friend. No words can fix the brokenness in this sort of situation, but the presence of a friend with us, can provide some healing. In seminary, we call this the ministry of presence. There is power in being present without trying to fix someone, recognizing that a situation can’t be fixed, but we just have to sit with someone in the pain and let them know they are not alone. Henri wrote about a friend going through a divorce and how Henri was there with him and that all his friend could do was “stand in [his] pain and grow strong through it” (p. 77). Have you ever watched someone stand in their pain and just be strong as they grow through it?
It’s not so hard to say to someone, when something good happens, that this is a blessing from God. That is easy. This is the hard thing, writes Nouwen: “Didn’t you know that we all have to suffer and thus enter into our glory?” (p. 77) He goes on to say that “Real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy” (p. 78)
So he invites us, and challenges us to embrace our pain and lean into it. Here’s the thing, no one gets through life without pain. Then he says, the second thing we can do, is to “Put it under a blessing” (p. 78). This is really a stretch for us, but try to hang in here with me.
He says “Our brokenness is often so frightening to face because we live it under the curse. Living our brokenness under the curse means that we experience our pain as a confirmation of our negative feelings about ourselves. It is like saying, ‘ I always knew that I was useless or worthless, and now I am sure or it because of what is happening’” (p. 78).
So when we are living as Beloved Children of God, and being the Beloved Community, our call is to pull our brokenness out from under the shadow of the curse and into the light of blessing. This is not an easy task. It takes some spiritual muscle. This is why we need this community to help us.
The world is much more likely to support us in our self-rejection than in our self-love. But God is calling us to self-love and self-acceptance and that is the voice we want to listen to. Remember that a few weeks ago we talked about listening to God’s voice of love and acceptance.
We need to do everything we can to allow God’s blessing to touch our brokenness. Gradually, (Nouwen writes), “the brokenness will come to be seen as an opening toward the full acceptance of ourselves as the Beloved” (p.80).
Twelve Step programs know this process quite well. Addictions make us slaves but when we confess our dependencies and express our trust in a higher power, then we can be set free. When bring it out into the open, the source of our suffering becomes the source of our hope. We put our brokenness under a blessing (p 80).
I see us, at The Village, being this kind of community for one another. I see us sharing our brokenness and encouraging one another. We offer grace to one another. But we can always do better. That’s why we have to come back every week.
You see the question is this, do we embrace our brokenness and put it under a blessing, in a way that we can move on with God’s healing, or do we just get stuck in that mess of brokenness, never to break out? Ever see anyone get stuck in their brokenness? Ever been their yourself? Held your own pity party?
Being the beloved community for one another, means that we call one another out, from sorrow to joy. Yes, joy and sorrow live together. This means we don’t hide from our sorrow, but it also means that we don’t stay there. We live as God’s people of hope and joy.
For the woman in the Bible story, there was a second chance at life, literally. She could have been stoned to death. But she lived. She had a choice then. She could live as a condemned woman, an outcast, who had been shamed by her community. She could have lived as a broken woman for the rest of her days. Or she could have chosen to put her brokenness under a blessing, and live with the joy of having her life restored. She could have decided to wake up every day thankful that she is alive, and to live every day to the fullest. I hope she became the most passionate evangelist for Jesus on the planet. I mean, what a story she had to tell: “My life was saved because Jesus forgave me, and told the other people in my village to forgive me. We need to live as broken people who know that we are all forgiven!” What a message!
So, my friends, what will be our message? In two weeks, we are moving to a new home. A new home gives us a chance to get some new attention from a new crowd of people. Folks are going to be watching us, and asking, “What’s up with The Village Church? Who are these people and what do they have to offer me?”
What will we tell them? I hope we will tell them this: We are part of God’s beloved community. We know we are broken, just like you. There is no secret we are broken, but joy and sorrow live together. So we will walk with you through your brokenness. We invite you to face your brokenness, and put it under a blessing. Let God turn your sorrow into joy.
We have an amazing community here, and there are other people out there in Mammee and across NW Ohio and SE Michigan who are waiting to be part of our beloved Village community. Let’s get ready to be a part of God’s beloved community with them! Amen.
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