“No man is an island, No man stands alone, each man's joy is joy to me, each man's grief is my own.” Thus begins the song “No Man is an Island”, which today we’d probably start by singing, “no one is an island” – but whichever word we choose, we get the idea. We’re a social people. We live in communities, work in communities, worship in communities – until we reach the point where we say loudly, “I need some space”.
“Alone time” is very important for us, time to “get our feathers straight”, time to relax away from the noise and bustle and pressure of everyday life. We know that even Jesus, having slipped away from the throngs of admirers who followed Him everywhere He went, would, with His disciples, find some quiet space. Then He would leave the twelve and seek out a nearby place alone in which He could converse with His Father in Heaven.
But going away always involves the reassuring aspect of coming back. If we go on vacation, we know our job, our friends, and our family, will be there when we return. If we just slip away to our front porch or back yard to find some solitary time, we know that as soon as we choose we can easily rejoin our loved ones. But what would happen if we never came back? Such an action can hurt those we love, upset those we work for, and generally change reality and lives for many people who are close to us.
What would make us want to leave for good? Jesus talks today about a situation that exists even in our world today.
Jesus said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.”
When hearing this Gospel it is good to first define what we mean by “church”. If you asked someone “where is your Church?” – they might tell you the denomination, they would certainly say where the building is located. That answers two question, “What denomination do you belong to”, and, “where do you worship?”. It does not address the question “where is your Church?”. For us, here at Mystic Side, a better answer would be, ‘In Everett, Malden, Saugus, Boston, and environs – and we come together to worship in Everett.”
The Church is the community of faith to which we belong, and, as in every community, there are times when we feel like we need some space. In today’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges that there can also be troubled times among the members, and He offers, step by step, the loving way in which to deal with such situations.
Jesus’ first advice is to discuss the issue with the offending member. We have all experienced times when our impression of a conversation, or conflict, is at fault. This allows the opportunity for the two to reconcile their differences simply by clarification in a one-on-one conversation. It is also true that we frequently find that a fresh attempt to address a disagreement will result in a new insight or understanding. We may find that we can easily resolve the area of conflict.
The second step to resolve the conflict is to ask two other people to join the discussion. This is one of the earliest examples of arbitration. The advice is to get the help of two others to assist in resolving the conflict. It seems that all of us have a tendency to mellow when we state our differences in front of others. This reality, along with the stereo vision provided by having others hear and discuss the points in the dispute, can many times resolve it. (While the scenario of this Gospel lesson is within the Christian community, this advice can be helpful in any situation.)
The next step in the conflict resolution is to refer the conflict to the entire congregation. It seems that the threat of this action would be a powerful stimulus to resolve any conflict. It would likely be a very serious situation for the disagreeing parties to submit their dispute to their religious peers. Most of us would be very prone to work something out before accepting this public airing of the situation.
The Gospel states that if the disagreeing party is not reconciled by the community arbitration, then they should be cast out of the community. It would appear that this refers to very serious situations indeed, where the entire community is at risk due to the conflict. Treating someone as “a gentile or a tax collector”, as Jesus instructs, is a very last resort, and generally no longer the way we handle things,
We have to hear our Lord’s instructions clearly, and not as an excuse to judge someone. To address problems as “us”, the right ones, against “you” the wrong one leads only to pain and division. We want reconciliation, but handled without love, conflict within the community, being “called on the carpet”, can lead to someone leaving the church. Even for a small problem, some people will walk away. Because they feel pain, their logic goes, “I don’t need to worship with a community. I can find God in nature, or at home, or anywhere.”
While it’s true that God is everywhere, that we can seek a quiet place to be with God, discussing with Jesus anything we wish to bring to Him, as Christians we are called to be part of the Body of Christ – and that is the community, the Church. Solitary worship without group support eventual leads to introspection – and developing one’s own version of the faith – not the faith to which Jesus has called us, but to the faith as we want it to be to suit our needs.
“Our Father…” That’s how the great prayer given to us by our Lord begins.
We like to sometimes have “some space” – to be alone with ourselves and with God. This is healthy and reaffirming. Sometimes we try to stay connected to the Church without actually worshipping with others, without returning to the love, the understanding the support, the struggle involved in being part of the Christian community. Then we miss out on what Jesus wants and needs for us to experience and not only that we are deeply missed by others who love us and wait for us to return.
The song quoted at the beginning of this sermon continues, “We need one another, So I will defend, Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend.”
Our faith is not something we can live in private. We are a body, the Body of Christ. Being Christian means interacting with each other, lovingly interacting with each person in our life, and when one of us is wrong, having the courage and the humility to speak to that person without anger or condescension, knowing that we too are sinners. When we fail in this responsibility, we fail Jesus, we let Him down, and our relationships and our ability to love suffer terribly. It is when we humble ourselves, and open our hearts, that the Holy Spirit moves among us, and that chaos is held at bay.
Difficult though it may be to do as Jesus tells us, the Good News is that when we speak the truth directly and lovingly to our brother or sister, we are not alone. When we encourage those who have left to return, we are expressing the love we all share in Christ Jesus. We need to be together, for Our Lord has promised us, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.’”
Let us pray:
God grant us the patience to work together, bring us all together as a family. Let us work together with understanding and compassion in our hearts. Let us not be rude or arrogant towards one another, as we light the way to your heavenly kingdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. “No man is an island, No man stands alone, each man's joy is joy to me, each man's grief is my own.” Thus begins the song “No Man is an Island”, which today we’d probably start by singing, “no one is an island” – but whichever word we choose, we get the idea. We’re a social people. We live in communities, work in communities, worship in communities – until we reach the point where we say loudly, “I need some space”.
“Alone time” is very important for us, time to “get our feathers straight”, time to relax away from the noise and bustle and pressure of everyday life. We know that even Jesus, having slipped away from the throngs of admirers who followed Him everywhere He went, would, with His disciples, find some quiet space. Then He would leave the twelve and seek out a nearby place alone in which He could converse with His Father in Heaven.
But going away always involves the reassuring aspect of coming back. If we go on vacation, we know our job, our friends, and our family, will be there when we return. If we just slip away to our front porch or back yard to find some solitary time, we know that as soon as we choose we can easily rejoin our loved ones. But what would happen if we never came back? Such an action can hurt those we love, upset those we work for, and generally change reality and lives for many people who are close to us.
What would make us want to leave for good? Jesus talks today about a situation that exists even in our world today.
Jesus said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.”
When hearing this Gospel it is good to first define what we mean by “church”. If you asked someone “where is your Church?” – they might tell you the denomination, they would certainly say where the building is located. That answers two question, “What denomination do you belong to”, and, “where do you worship?”. It does not address the question “where is your Church?”. For us, here at Mystic Side, a better answer would be, ‘In Everett, Malden, Saugus, Boston, and environs – and we come together to worship in Everett.”
The Church is the community of faith to which we belong, and, as in every community, there are times when we feel like we need some space. In today’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges that there can also be troubled times among the members, and He offers, step by step, the loving way in which to deal with such situations.
Jesus’ first advice is to discuss the issue with the offending member. We have all experienced times when our impression of a conversation, or conflict, is at fault. This allows the opportunity for the two to reconcile their differences simply by clarification in a one-on-one conversation. It is also true that we frequently find that a fresh attempt to address a disagreement will result in a new insight or understanding. We may find that we can easily resolve the area of conflict.
The second step to resolve the conflict is to ask two other people to join the discussion. This is one of the earliest examples of arbitration. The advice is to get the help of two others to assist in resolving the conflict. It seems that all of us have a tendency to mellow when we state our differences in front of others. This reality, along with the stereo vision provided by having others hear and discuss the points in the dispute, can many times resolve it. (While the scenario of this Gospel lesson is within the Christian community, this advice can be helpful in any situation.)
The next step in the conflict resolution is to refer the conflict to the entire congregation. It seems that the threat of this action would be a powerful stimulus to resolve any conflict. It would likely be a very serious situation for the disagreeing parties to submit their dispute to their religious peers. Most of us would be very prone to work something out before accepting this public airing of the situation.
The Gospel states that if the disagreeing party is not reconciled by the community arbitration, then they should be cast out of the community. It would appear that this refers to very serious situations indeed, where the entire community is at risk due to the conflict. Treating someone as “a gentile or a tax collector”, as Jesus instructs, is a very last resort, and generally no longer the way we handle things,
We have to hear our Lord’s instructions clearly, and not as an excuse to judge someone. To address problems as “us”, the right ones, against “you” the wrong one leads only to pain and division. We want reconciliation, but handled without love, conflict within the community, being “called on the carpet”, can lead to someone leaving the church. Even for a small problem, some people will walk away. Because they feel pain, their logic goes, “I don’t need to worship with a community. I can find God in nature, or at home, or anywhere.”
While it’s true that God is everywhere, that we can seek a quiet place to be with God, discussing with Jesus anything we wish to bring to Him, as Christians we are called to be part of the Body of Christ – and that is the community, the Church. Solitary worship without group support eventual leads to introspection – and developing one’s own version of the faith – not the faith to which Jesus has called us, but to the faith as we want it to be to suit our needs.
“Our Father…” That’s how the great prayer given to us by our Lord begins.
We like to sometimes have “some space” – to be alone with ourselves and with God. This is healthy and reaffirming. Sometimes we try to stay connected to the Church without actually worshipping with others, without returning to the love, the understanding the support, the struggle involved in being part of the Christian community. Then we miss out on what Jesus wants and needs for us to experience and not only that we are deeply missed by others who love us and wait for us to return.
The song quoted at the beginning of this sermon continues, “We need one another, So I will defend, Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend.”
Our faith is not something we can live in private. We are a body, the Body of Christ. Being Christian means interacting with each other, lovingly interacting with each person in our life, and when one of us is wrong, having the courage and the humility to speak to that person without anger or condescension, knowing that we too are sinners. When we fail in this responsibility, we fail Jesus, we let Him down, and our relationships and our ability to love suffer terribly. It is when we humble ourselves, and open our hearts, that the Holy Spirit moves among us, and that chaos is held at bay.
Difficult though it may be to do as Jesus tells us, the Good News is that when we speak the truth directly and lovingly to our brother or sister, we are not alone. When we encourage those who have left to return, we are expressing the love we all share in Christ Jesus. We need to be together, for Our Lord has promised us, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.’”
Let us pray:
God grant us the patience to work together, bring us all together as a family. Let us work together with understanding and compassion in our hearts. Let us not be rude or arrogant towards one another, as we light the way to your heavenly kingdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.