Sermon 09/21/08
Romans 14:19
Let us then pursue what makes for peace
and for mutual upbuilding.
Rom 14:19
Outline and talking points
Paul's invitation to respect one another
Paul has a vision of the Christian community as a unified community of diverse religious beliefs and practices; a community that can break bread together even in the midst of their differences and disagreements. He is arguing for mutual acceptance and respect. (Note: he was not always consistent in making this argument. Romans represents his thinking towards the end of his life.)
The differences he was dealing with were religious differences, that is, differences that proceed from sincere religious convictions and flow out of one's devotion and gratitude towards God.
Respect: a human issue
How we affirm and celebrate our unity within our diversity is an issue that is with us still today. Today we reflect upon a part of the process we call respect.
Definition of respect:
An act of noticing with attention; the giving of particular attention to; a high or special regard; the quality or state of being esteemed. (Webster's Dictionary)
This idea of respect as an act of noticing with attention is profoundly important. . . .
Paying attention to someone whose opinion you respect.
Paying attention to every person's inherent nature.
Paying attention to your self.
I also went looking for the definition of another word I associate with this idea of respect.
Definition of reverence:
Honor or respect felt or manifested; profound respect mingled with love and awe. (Webster's Dictionary)
Reverence is respect made manifest. It is not only a way of thinking but a way of being and doing as well. It is ultimately at the heart of one's spiritual journey.
Ecophilosopher Henryk Skolimowski says, "Reverential thinking creates a field of good energy; ultimately it is a healing thinking. Reverential thinking is not a luxury, but it is a condition of our sanity and grace." (Brussat, SPIRITUAL LITERACY, p. 393)
So what is stopping us from being and doing out of mutual respect?
For Paul, it was people's judgment, prejudice and resentment toward one another.
There's a lot of fear in all of that.
I think that Paul hints at the possibility that the movement towards mutual respect starts with gratitude. "Give thanks to God," as he says to both sides of his community.
So what are you grateful for? How have you been blessed?
I also believe that this movement towards mutual respect requires us to pay attention and become more aware of our sense of connection with God, self, and others, and our sense of belonging, of being at home in our own skin.
The following poem by Lynn Park speaks to me of this movement towards mutual respect. Although the word "respect" is never used, the poem is infused with a sense of reverential attention that in the Christian tradition is called prayer.
Prayer is about paying attention; taking the time to be quiet, to be open, mindful and aware, to awaken.
Poem by Lynn Park:
Take the time to pray-
It is the sweet oil that eases the hinge into the garden
So the doorway can swing open easily.
You can always go there.
Consider yourself blessed.
These stones that break your bones
Will build the altar of your love.
Your home is the garden.
Carry its odor, hidden in you, into the city.
Suddenly your enemies will buy seed packets
And fall to their knees to plant flowers
In the dirt by the road.
They'll call you Friend
And honor your passing among them.
When asked, "Who was that?" they will say,
"Oh, that one has been beloved by us
Since before time began."
This from people who would have trampled over you
To maintain their advantage.
Give everything away except your garden.
Your worry, your fear, your small-mindedness.
Your garden can never be taken from you.
The hinge of the door into the garden is oiled with prayerful attention.
Respect begins with self-respect.
The following poem by Emily Dickinson was written out of a deep sense of self-respect and self affirmation.
I'm ceded, I've stopped bring theirs-
The name They dropped upon my face
With water, in the country church
Is finished using now,
And They can put it with my Dolls,
My childhood, and the string of spools,
I've finished threading-too-
Baptized, before, without choice,
But this time, consciously, of Grace-
Unto supremest name-
Called to my Full-The Crescent dropped-
Existence's whole Arc, filled up
With one small Diadem.
My second rank-too small the first-
Crowned-Crowing-on my Father's breast-
A half-unconscious Queen-
But this time-Adequate-Erect,
With will to choose, or to reject,
And I choose: just a Crown-
Finally, a story told by Jack Kornfield in his book, A PATH WITH HEART. Here Kornfield is visiting with a friend who is a monk in Cambodia. . . . ( Kornfield, A PATH WITH HEART, p. 296f)
What a profound story about self-respect. Here we see that respect is knowing who you are: a being created for love. In spite of the hatred and abuse, the injustice and oppression, these people were affirming their inherent nature as people created to love.
Romans 14:1-8
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgments on servants of another? It is before their own master that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for God is able to make them stand.
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of God. Also, those who eat, eat in honor of God, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of God and give thanks to God.
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live in God, and if we die, we die in God; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are God's.
Copyright © 2008, the Reverend Rick Yramategui, All Rights Reserved