Communion Meditation

“This Wild Untamable LoveR= 21;

Ephesians 2: 1-10
Colossians 3: 23-24

We live our lives within a context. We live in a phy= sical environment of home, work, school and neighborhood. We live in a relational context of parents, siblings, spouses, children, co-workers, store clerks, telemarketers, and strangers. = St. Paul’s theology is that when we put our lives into the hands of Jesus, the context becomes something else; it becomes sacred community. Our context becomes th= at new reality in which we pay attention to how Jesus lived and defined humani= ty. In this new reality we are called by God to dignify our surroundings by pou= ring God’s love, mercy, and respect for the dignity of all human beings in= to every available person and situation in our lives. Eric Elnes calls this “ wild, untamable love.” It is the love of God that spins its w= eb far beyond anything we could think of or imagine.

The church exists in this same context, this new rea= lity. And when we have spent too much time looking inward, this “wild, untamable love”, calls us to push out the walls of the church and move into the world where Jesus is, and begin new ways to live out our congregational life. We are called to push against the walls of confinement, self interests, self satisfaction and institutions, pouring God’s lov= e into available and urgent needs.

That orientation to life is not new in the life of t= his congregation. The Constitution for this congregation, dated February 6, 184= 9, sets the tone by including a strong commitment statement for all members. Church membership was not just your name on the roll as it is for so many people today. It was recognizing that the context of life had changed; had become sacred community; and self interests must give way to the manner in which Jesus handled human life.

When this congregation was formed there was a parall= el movement called the Sabba= th School. This was in= the era of the development of the Sunday School movement. Sunday Schools were o= ften established independent of congregations. While that was not true at First Church, the Sabbath School had its own constitution, officers and most importantly, its own treasury.

It was the “wild, untamable love” activi= ty of the church! As early as 1859, the Sabbath School had sent funds to the cau= se of Foreign Missions, for the needs of a colony of Father Chinigi in Siam. T= he vote to send the money passed by a 10 to 9 vote! In 1887 there came a letter fro= m a missionary, Mr. Dunlap, in Siam, asking for money “to build a boat so that his work could be greatly facilitated.” The S= abbath School voted “= ;quite unanimously to raise the required sum.” And thus came into being the = boat “The Kalamazoo” that became the means for Mr. Dunlap to carry t= he Good News to the people of Siam. We Presbyterians thought we were so clever in the 50’s and 60’s when we provided small planes for pastors in the ranch country of Wyoming a= nd Montana to reach far flung parishes; and for pastors and missionaries in Alaska, Africa and Lain America. Well, it all started with the boat, “= ;The Kalamazoo” in 1887!

What is it that moves some Christians to this kind of living and witness? St. Paul says it is nothing more than “being save= d by faith,” meaning that we turn from living for ourselves to living for = God; living to expand God’s kingdom, love and compassion to all peoples, y= es, even to the whole of creation. It is a path of life outside of a variety of spiritual communities. You will not find many people, family or friends on = the path. We have been called to live on that peculiar path, as this congregati= on has done throughout its history. Paul emphasizes that it is not our doing! = Lest we think we have reason to be proud and boastful.

In Paul’s theology there is always this healthy tension. It is not of our doing; he says, but in the next breath he says God demands our good works, our walking on this unique path of sharing good new= s! So in this rich tradition there appears this incredible Health Clinic in Kalamazoo! It com= es as no surprise. It is a gift from God. It does not come out of human ingenuity al= one. And as people wander into this ministry of compassion people encounter mean= ing and significance that they find no place else in their lives. They find themselves immersed in this “wild, untamable love.” I have talk= ed with between 20 and 30 people in the past year who have been at one time or another intimately involved with the Clinic and you can see the look in the= ir eyes, this ministry brings them alive in the world! And they exclaim, “This is why I love doing this so much!” It is this wild, untam= able love that God puts in their life path and journey. It is not of their own doing. It is truly the gift of God deep in their hearts. No one has any bragging rights. It is God who has done this. How do we know this? Because = it is service that brings people fully alive in this world. There is this bliss deep in the soul that comes from caring for the stranger.

How could there not be this bliss deep in the soul w= hen it is a ministry that extends the Kingdom of God to people wh= o have been “left out” of that love; indeed, in cases forced out of th= at love by a cultural path that deems them unworthy of that wild, untamable lo= ve. Including such children of God is what being saved is all about! Being save= d is about being humble and thankful that God has deemed us worthy of being incl= uded in sharing of this love; that God deemed us worthy of being made alive as we struggle to stay on this important kingdom path. And now we know and are confident that God is going to thrust into our hands a new gift, requiring = new skills, and imagining new ways of expanding God’s wild, untamable love into the world.

In Colossians, Paul takes this theology a bit furthe= r. He says: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it.” Eugene Pete= rson in “The Message”, puts it this way, “Work from the hea= rt.” What is it we do not understand about “whatever”? In everything, work from the heart. Our ministry, daily in the world, wherever= we are and whatever we are doing, is a gift from God that we might become aliv= e in the world. Until Jesus can say unto us: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took ca= re of me, I was in prison and you visited me…as you did it to one of the= least of these, you did it to me! That is transforming the context in which we li= ve into sacred community. Amen.