Preaching and The Cross & the State

I find that all of my studies this semester have been further illumined by my readings, experiences, and reflections from my Cross and the State Class.  This past Sunday I preached at Fair Play Presbyterian Church in South Carolina.  Somehow our class' conversation with Randy Loney from last week made it's way into my sermon (must have been the Spirit!).  Here is my sermon from Sunday.  I would like to work on some more sermons that further incorporate what I am learning and experiencing through our class this semester.  I would also like to note that this sermon received a positive response from the FPPC congregation.  Check it out and let me know what you think! 

“What God Has Promised”


Joshua 5: 9-12; 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

I don’t know about y’all, but I feel like this has been a LONG winter and I am so ready for spring! Granted, we have not had as much snow in the southeast as our northern and Midwestern brothers and sisters, but we have certainly had more than we are used to. Over this past week, I have seen and felt several signs of spring, and I have to admit…I am struggling to wait patiently for it to fully arrive. In fact, my aunt, who lives right down the road in Townville, said this last week: “Chickens hatching, goats born and puppy tails, spring has to be close!” I especially crave the arrival of spring when I am here in the upstate of South Carolina. I love living in Atlanta, but the minute I cross into South Carolina on I-85, I feel at home and I feel a deep connection to the land. The Israelites in our passage from Joshua were also exploring their connection to land-the promised land of their new home Canaan. While we are all anticipating the arrival of spring and the planting season, they were anticipating the fruits of the first harvest in Canaan! I imagine that the joy we feel over the arrival of spring is nothing in comparison to the joy experienced over the first harvest of the Israelites in Canaan.

We must remember: we’ve been waiting for the arrival of spring for only a few months, the Israelites waited to inhabit the land of God’s promise for forty years, an entire generation! For years before their journey in the wilderness they had been waiting on the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey to come to fruition. Through famine, oppression in the form of slavery, and desert wanderings they lost hope and confidence in God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” As we see in Joshua 5, God was true to the promise made to Abraham: “the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year”; however, God’s timing was probably not up to the Israelite standards.

Impatience with God’s promises also seems to be alive and well in the life of the Corinthian church that we read about in our New Testament passage today. Just as we ponder at the words, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new”, I am sure the Corinthians did, too. We’re looking for signs of newness present in the arrival of spring and in the state of our world. How can everything be “new” if our world continues to show signs of brokenness? Children are still growing up in abusive homes, slavery is alive and well in parts of our world, and greed is rampant as the poverty rate is growing…where is this new creation? The Corinthians were longing for the return of Christ in light of Roman domination and discord within their community. Paul urges the Corinthians, Paul tells them in the surrounding chapters, “do not lose heart” and “now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation”. Just because Christ was not physically in their midst and just because Christ has not physically returned to be among us, the saying is true: reconciliation and a new start is possible here and now, by the power of Christ!

Reconciliation is tough stuff: it is tough within our families, within our churches, and within society. As tough as reconciliation can be, we must never forget that God goes with us, aiding our reconciliation attempts. Whenever the power of our strength and our love is not enough, God is there working through us. I would like to share a story of reconciliation that I find incredibly powerful: Earlier this week, I met with my new friend Randy who serves as a pastor for men on death row in Georgia. Over our two hour conversation, Randy shared stories of the men he visits with weekly. All of the men that Randy ministers to are murders, waiting to be killed themselves. If anyone is waiting for promises of new life and reconciliation, it is some of these men, their families, and the families of their victims. One of the stories Randy shared with us speaks deeply to our passages today. One young man he visited on death row had killed his mother, father, and sister. Every year his grandparents and aunt, the family members of his victims, came to visit him in prison. They would always meet Randy at the local truck stop restaurant after visiting their grandson and nephew. They shared with Randy that they had forgiven their grandson for his murderous actions because that is what their Christian faith led them to do. They were frustrated; however, because he did not respond to their forgiveness and love when they visited. They would sit quietly with him, occasionally talking of the weather, but the family shared no conversations of substance. Finally, after they had been visiting him annually for a decade, he broke down with remorse and accepted their forgiveness. In 2 Corinthians, God promises new creation and reconciliation, but the family of the young man on death row had to wait over a decade for these promises to come to fruition.

Reconciliation is a vital part of God’s promise of new life found in Christ. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians: “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us”. I can’t help but wonder: maybe we can’t always see the new creation promised in Christ because we don’t take our charge as ambassadors of reconciliation seriously. As the Interpretation Commentary on 2 Corinthians puts it:

“We can’t claim peace with God unless we are at peace with our neighbors…The theme of restoration of an original ‘Golden Age’ is found in many cultures; it appeals to something in all of us which longs for a fresh beginning. With Paul, however, this longing is no longer a wish about a faraway future, but a present reality. Through his cross and resurrection, Jesus Christ has already created his followers anew.”

We must trust that we have already been reconciled to God: in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We must also remember that the time is here and now for reconciliation with God and neighbor. If reconciliation and the promise of new life is possible in the bowels of a prison, then it is possible for us, here and now. There may be times when we, like the Israelites, think that God’s timing is not up to our standards, but believe me, it is. God gave the Israelites a land and a work to do and in our passage from 2 Corinthians God gives us a land and a work to do as well. Our work is the ministry of reconciliation and our land is the whole earth, each person we encounter in life. Our task is to be ambassadors for Christ, to help usher in God’s new creation.

While we are waiting for spring, in our Christian life, we are also in the midst of waiting for Easter, when yet again, we will be reminded that we are made new by the transforming power of Christ. Today, we will gather around this table to break the bread and share the cup. May this be a joyful feast, as it was for the Israelites in Gigal as they feasted on the produce of the land. Let this be a glimpse of God’s new creation, let this be a taste of reconciliation as the Spirit lifts our hearts to God to gather around the table with all believers in every time and place. Brother and sisters, children of God-Hear the good news: Just as there was a day that the Israelites no longer ate manna in the wilderness, there will be a day when we will no longer feast around this human table, but we will feast at the table of the Lord at the heavenly banquet of the cosmos! Because what God has promised, God has done and continues to do.