The world around us can
be a strange place. We dislike death, that’s understandable, and yet it is
inevitable. People now seem to think that in the name of compassion that we
should be able to choose when and how it happens, which is highly problematic.
As Christians, we believe that life is sacred from its very beginning to its
end, and it is something which we must all face. And yet, in Christ we have
hope, that our earthly existence is not everything, and His Death and Resurrection
shows us that our destiny is to be with God, forever in heaven.
As for the matter of judgement, we leave such things up to
God, we cannot know, all we can do is to trust in His mercy, and try to live
out our faith. Rather than trying to usurp the place of God, an act of pride,
and judge whether we are wheat or weeds, we leave such matters up to Him. Instead
we need to realise that as the Body of Christ, the Church, we are to be
concerned with living the life of the Kingdom here and now. Our faith is not a
private matter; it affects who we are and what we do. As people who have received
the love and mercy of God, we are to live accordingly.
It’s why we are here, it’s why Christians gather on the first
day of the week, to pray together, to listen
to the Scriptures, and to be fed with the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we
may have live in Him, so that we may be strengthened to live lives of faith in
the world, not conformed to it, not going along with what it says or does, but
living out a radical alternative, of costly love and forgiveness, looking to God
to heal our wounds and restore us, and trusting in His unfailing love.
It isn’t easy, it is difficult, and it is hard, and for two
thousand years we have been trying, and getting it wrong, but we don’t simply
give up – no, we keep trying, and keep trying together. Our faith matters to
each and every one of us, and we’re all in it together. The work of the kingdom
is communal and corporate. I’m no better than any of you, I’m weak, sinful, and
foolish, I follow Christ in a particular way, that doesn’t make me special or
better. You look to me to lead, to teach and to nourish, but I can only do so
with your love, support, prayers and forgiveness, so that together, as the people
of God in this place, we make the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of peace, joy,
love and forgiveness, a reality in this place.
In so doing, we are following Christ – this is what it means
to be a Christian. We follow someone who was not content just to go along with
the ways of the world, someone who enjoyed celebrations so much that he was
called a drunkard, but who ignored the petty judgemental comments, who ate with
tax-collectors, sinners and prostitutes, to take a stand against a society
where people think that wealth or birth, or anything else make one intrinsically
a better person. Only God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness can do that, which
those whom society scorned both knew and recognised and responded to.
Our calling then is a radical one, which aims at nothing less
than the transformation of the whole world, starting here and now, to make the
Kingdom of God a living transformative reality in this place for the glory of
God. We can only succeed if we do it together, and trusting in the God who
loves us, who heals and restores us, whose Kingdom it is.
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