Heaven's Picture Directory

Epiphany, Year A Heaven’s Picture Directory The Rev. Linda Campbell

How many of you have had your picture taken recently? I was sitting in my office yesterday, and my visitor thought they saw lightening outside – then, "no, that’s flashbulbs going off!" For the last two days, the parish hall has been the site of flashing bulbs, instructions to “lean this way just a little bit,” “Turn your head to the side. No, not quite that far.” “Tilt your head a bit to the right.” “Say Hawaii!”

There’s been an outstanding turn – out for the picture directory and we want to make sure to include everyone … whether you’ve been here eighty years or three months. Whether your birthplace is Baguio City, Philippines or Oakland, California. Whether you’re deeply committed to Rite 1 and 17^th century music, or you’d really like to chant Taize, light candles and always use inclusive language. Your picture is important in the picture directory whether you like small and cozy or whether you like big and noisy, whether you prefer the King James version or The Message, whether you would never, ever attend a demonstration against the war or you have several arrests to your name, whether you like organized and orderly, or spontaneous and chaotic.

You. You. You. In all your God given uniqueness, quirkiness, with all your scars and unhealed wounds and fears and anxieties – YOU – your shining face – the epiphany of you – is important. The picture directory isn’t complete until you are in it.

St. Paul didn’t have Olan Mills to help him out, when he wanted to describe the ineffable, indescribable, outrageously improbable mystery of God’s inclusive, welcoming, inviting, enticing love – there were no picture directories that Paul could point to and say, “See, here is a blank spot – that’s where your picture belongs – the Directory’s not complete without it.”

He had words, and he used them. He piled word upon word to try to get across this central point – THE Point – the essential thing at the heart of his ministry – at the heart of his calling. This one thing – this unifying principle for Paul’s ministry – was this: “the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

And of himself, sitting in a jail cell, Paul says: “Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.”

To get the full import of this mystery shrouded from prophets and angels, and revealed to Paul, through God’s grace, would mean transporting ourselves back into the 1^st century. Jew / Greek – the walls of separation and division simply don’t mean a whole lot to us. We are accustomed, especially in the Bay Area, to words like inclusion, tolerance, diversity, respect for the other ….. and they may even strike us as not particularly religious words, but words having to do more with secular humanism. My guess is that people having a leisurely breakfast right now down at the Sunnyside Café would agree with those words as much as you and I do. .

Of course, pick up the Chronicle, scan the national and international news and you will quickly see that even basic respect and tolerance for those who are different is not widely practiced. The overwhelming response – still, in 2008, to those who are different and perceived as threatening is violence, domination and control – whether through economics, politics, or firepower. It is human. The names many native tribes have for themselves simply mean “the people.” … When we are honest with ourselves, we too have the same proclivity to define ourselves over against others – especially others who are really different in ways that we don’t approve of.

Time for a confession. I don’t understand Islam. I haven’t yet taken the time to read the Quran, or commentaries on the Quran. I haven’t even read Karen Armstrong’s recent book on Islam. So – I am ignorant and yet I carry judgement. And I don’t think that it is possible for me to just intellectually jump over that judgement, even if I were to do research. I know it would help if I took it upon myself to form relationships with Muslim believers. It is always more difficult to judge when one is personally involved. Nevertheless – I know personally that it is possible to think of oneself as loving and inclusive and diverse and yet to draw lines – to be divisive in the privacy of one’s heart.

Faced with your “enemy,” it is tempting to pretend reconciliation rather than to face the brutal facts of what you actually think and feel – and then lay yourself bare before God. Prayer is hard work. Change is hard work. And a fundamental re-orientation of your life doesn’t happen automatically. The early church didn’t just easily understand or accept this glorious mystery that Paul reveals as the heart of the gospel. It took dreams, arguments and mysterious encounters, until by the 10^th chapter of Acts Peter finally “opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:” But church conflict didn’t end in the 10^th chapter! Paul was hauled before a whole church commission – kind of a Diocesan tribunal – because he insisted on coloring way outside the lines. He finally won through because by the 11^th chapter of Act, it is recorded that “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:18)

This wasn’t just a marketing ploy on Paul’s part, or a design to fill the church pews, or a way to poke at the main Christian community back in Jerusalem – Paul was absolutely and utterly convinced, to the point of going to jail and ultimately giving his life – of this one main big idea: read to us last week by John, from Galatians: “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” It is repeated again in this week’s reading from Ephesians: “Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

This is the church’s wealth – this wisdom of God in it’s rich variety – and the mission is to make this wealth – this mystery of God’s boundless inclusive love actively known.

And what do Gentiles – outsiders – bring in their wake? Well, like the Gentile Magi, they bring gifts – and sometimes the established community isn’t quite sure what to do with the gifts. Whether the newcomers are to a church or to a country, they bring gifts. Do you and I have the eyes to see the gifts, and the heart to receive them? The second thing outsiders bring are that they shake up power assumptions. Herod, the established ruler, got pretty bent out of shape thinking that there was another ruler in the neighborhood. The established church of Jerusalem got pretty upset with Paul for changing the power structure – for establishing far flung communities of faith that were building their own ways of doing things. Are you and I open and ready to let power change hands – to let those who haven’t had a voice began having a voice – a voice that effects change? And thirdly, outsiders bring joy. Outsiders can restore a sense of joy to communities whose lives have become kind of ho hum and ordinary. I like earlier biblical translations of the Magi’s response “When they saw that the star had stopped, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” The description bends over backward with expression! The NRSV tries to subdue the hyperbole, saying simply they were “overwhelmed with joy,” Either way, you get the picture – they were jumping up and down with happiness! In Acts – as a result of Paul’s conviction that they belonged as well: “when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord:” (Acts 13:48)

Outsiders restore joy, they upset the power balance, and they bring gifts. And the deep abiding long term vision of the church is that there is a place in the heavenly picture directory – whether Olan Mills is in charge or not – for each and every shining face of God’s beloved children. You and you and you. And those who are not yet known to us. Those who have yet to be invited.