“Will We Go?”

Karen Sloan 01/10/2023

Readings - “Uluru Statement from the Heart”, Matthew 21: 28-32 , Galatians 5: 1,13, 22-25; Revelation 3.20

Recently I have had quite a few conversations with friends about life.  About turning 60 and what is happening to them as they age and retire from the job they may have been doing for many years.  Meaning and purpose seems to be the underlying questions they are asking, some very deeply and some from places of turmoil and unhappiness.  It seems to me that As life going on, and we experience both joy and sorrows over the journey, and our time here shortens, we are left exploring the meaning of life, ours and others.

Often I think when people think of faith they think of a crutch.  Instead I think of it as a way to journey, from a place of inner connection out into the world, a connection that keeps us linked with all that has come before and all that is to come after us.  A connection to a deeper reality that is seen in everything from the largest galaxy to the smallest creature here on earth.

But choices have to be made, and sometimes it’s not easy, but perhaps it’s the mindset that matters…for it will affect the outcome. And the outcome has to be action in the world for it to be real.

So with that in mind lets look firstly at the parable from today’s reading….

And here I am going to be honest, for when I was wondering how to approach the reading, I looked at various thoughts from various people, all that had something different.  Is it just that the son who says no but then says yes does the will of Jesus, rather than the son who can say all the words but not do anything.  While I like that interpretation is it really a parable, maybe its about being able to change to turn around, to begin again, as Matthew alludes to in his interpretation about the tax payers turning around. 

Another commentator  on parables, David Buttrick, points out that there are two manuscript versions, with the second being the exact reverse of the first with the Pharisees choosing the one who didn’t go. He sees the parable being “trickier than it may seem" and ends up with the father wanting his sons to both say and do.

Both sons need to say and do.  Both need to act. Because both have dishonoured the father.  I like that.

With that in mind I wanted to widen the topic to look about how Jesus call to say and do helps us find meaning and purpose in life.  For the way of Jesus is the way to life for everyone. This seems to be the topic that everyone, including my friends, want to talk about.

Over the past few years there have been a number of books released that have talked about what makes a good well lived life. They are not Christian books but secular books asking questions about life`s meaning and purpose. What they all have in common is that they have discovered that a well lived life is a life lived for others. It is a life where peace, love, compassion, generosity and justice are central. Where possessions, money and power, both individual and systematic, do not rule and where the urge to do things because it is good for the individual is overridden by the needs of the community. 

As Bill Loader suggests, Paul, in many of his letters in the NT, was not wanting people to keep rules of goodness, replacing like for like, rather he wanted people to change in themselves through their new relationship with God. We heard it today in one of the other readings I used. As he says, goodness generates goodness, love generates love. This relationship with God and the freedom to live with love would lead to what we would term `a good life`. A life rich in mutually enriching human companionship, peace, happiness and joy, a life lived for others. This is an insight our modern writers are starting to discover.

But we should not be not naïve or unrealistic. Many things get in the way of this `good well lived life`. Many things get in the way of God`s spirit working in the world.  We are still subjected to the desires of the individual which say my needs are more important than yours. things like jealousy, anger and self-centredness.  How many times have we yelled at each other or the shop assistant at the supermarket. I know I have had to ring someone back at the RAC and apologise for my rudeness when I got frustrated, which itself was a surprise to them as no one ever does that!

But the problem, we know, is much bigger than the individual. It involves the cultural messages a society gives as the norm for living well. I have had numerous conversations with my son Nathan, who at 27, a recently qualified lawyer, on how he should look forward, how to live this good life.  And it does not come down to earning lots of money in an area of law that takes advantage of others.

This is what our young people are up against, a cultural message that is still very individualistic, competitive and consumer driven, which sets people apart, regardless of the amount of material written that says this is counter-productive to our wellbeing. Or if not that, where the family is the sole focus, and everyone outside of that has to fend for themselves, lest they take what is ours and diminish our entitlements. We see that so much in the refugee debate but even in the debate over public education, public housing, public health and welfare support.  And of course the debate about the voice. There is still much to do to promote the idea of the common good, a good that is wider than our nuclear family or even our church family.

As Albert Sweitzer has said, “It’s not enough merely to exist.  It’s not enough to say, “I’m earning enough to support my family. I do my work well. I’m a good father, husband, churchgoer”. That’s all very well.  But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere”.

But it can be difficult. Very difficult to go against society norms without a guide to follow. We are urged as people of faith to keep focused on our relationship with God, so that the spirit flowing within us gives us the strength to follow a different path within our own society. But how. Maybe that’s where Jesus comes in. We see the tangible product  in Jesus. Maybe that’s why I stay a Christian, rather than something else! Somehow, in some mysterious way Jesus speaks to me about how to live in the spirit. How to live a good and faithful, inclusive and compassionate life. Not for a trip to heaven but for all of us down here on this tiny blue dot in the universe called earth.

Jesus presented a different way of living, and his message and teachings challenged the accepted norms of his day.

In the scriptures Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, to a certain death. Not because it was preordained but because he challenged the power of the Roman Empire and the conventional wisdom of the day which excluded people. We know that he calls his disciples to leave behind the security of a home, family obligations and even a regular meal to follow him, to a greater more universal freedom. He calls them to leave all that they have known, and follow him. The disciples were being pulled and challenged to a new way of living and seeing the world, and as we listen to the story of Jesus so are we. Our loyalties are also being challenged. But they are being challenged by a human Jesus who faced what we all must face, a culture that we are inevitably going to be at odds with. Choices must be made. This is a challenge that is in front of us every day in the 21st century.

Jesus re-imagined a different world, a different way to a good life, which entailed embracing everyone, not just those in our family, our race, our country or our football team. He represents the universality of God`s presence in the world, and in all people. We have to raise our sights beyond those closest to us to actively include others to be his followers.  And this can be costly.

 Again, as Albert Sweitzer writes, “The demands of Jesus are difficult because they require us to do something extraordinary. At the same time he asks us to regard these acts of goodness as something usual, ordinary”.

Yet, he goes on,   “Constant kindness can accomplish much.  As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate.”

I think we would all agree that the cost is worth it. Because it leads to a life of engagement with one another, with love, to a life lived for others that everyone can share in. It leads to a life in the spirit.

This is what we hear from Jesus in the gospels, this is what we are even hearing from the secular world, but often it is missing from the church. Rules and dogmas have plagued the church for hundreds of years such that the idea of a transformed life is lost. But what we are finding now in 2023 is a reawakening of the spirit.

I believe the secular is joining the sacred to cry out for a new understanding of a good life. Not one based on rules and dogmas and doctrines but one based on the heart, and on love and on forgiveness. When we live like this, we find ourselves engaging in the mystery of life where we find God. A mysterious reality that permeates the universe and holds everything together in connectedness and relationship. Whether you are religious or non-religious, Christian or Buddhist. 

Let me read a quote from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks..

“So in the silence of the soul I listen for the still small voice, which is God’s call to each of us to engage in the work of love and creativity, to bring new life into the world, and to care for it and nurture it during its years of vulnerability.  And whenever I see people engaged in that work of love, I sense the divine presence brushing us with a touch so gentle you can miss it, and yet know beyond all possibility of doubt that this is what we are called on to live for, to ease the pain of those who suffer and become an agent of hope in the world.

That is a meaningful life.  That is what life is when lived in the light of God’s presence, in answer to the call”

It’s all about a presence that can be felt and a presence that takes us out into the world to act. That urges us to love one another.

Maybe we shouldn`t worry so much about who is in and who is out of the church or the rules which do the separating. Maybe instead we should see the fruits of the spirit in all those who work for others, who see a better life for others, and who in the process touch something very deep and profound about life. And be part of it. Who when called to the vineyard actually go.

And from this point lets go back to the Voice.  We heard the Statement from the heart earlier, an invitation from our indigenous brothers and sisters.  Our current Uniting Church Assembly President, Reverend Hollis, has described the Voice to Parliament as a moral and theological issue, not a political one: “Like Jesus, we are called to be bearers of justice, not just in our words, but in our actions and by changing systems which continue to deny the place and rights of the first Australians.”

 Sometimes, just sometimes what we do can is make a statement for the wider society and country. And reveal a little or a lot of the spirit moving in the world. For everything that we do in congruence with that spirit can make a difference.

As Dr Daniel Vujcich writes in a recent sermon, “The Uluru Statement from the Heart ends with these words: “We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.” Through them, I am reminded of Christ’s message to John: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me” (Revelation 3:20). “

And as he concluded,

“We have been graciously invited to answer a call for fellowship from First Nations sisters and brothers. It behoves us to respond by walking with them to support their call for justice “across this vast country”—anywhere and everywhere.”

Maybe this is how to keep belief alive in the 21st century.  By practicing it in the world, every single day. 

So finally, where does that leave us this morning.

It leaves us still here, in the church, gathering together. Maybe in the hope of changing the status quo, and making love and compassion central to life.  

We go to Church not to belong to some club, but to be part of the movement that recognises, acknowledges and connects to the spirit of God present in the world and to act in the world for others.

And in the end the reward for us is a life well lived in and through God. A good life

Because in the end, as Nev has said,  it’s the mindset that matters!

Amen