Welcome to Nassau Church

Seven days ago we were fed at the Lord's Table. Just a few moments ago we gathered around the font. And like the church in Philippi we break the loaf, pour the cup, splash in the waters; we feel the companionship, we savor the fellowship; it’s idyllic at the Philippian table; it’s heavenly......except it's not; it's not......there’s an argument at the table; there’s a fight at the font, between two key members of the church. And it’s not an argument over the debates or elections; worship or theology B it’s much, much bigger than that B there’s a crisis in relationship; two people just don’t get along:
- Bread isn’t passed; the wine is scuttled across the table;
- Comments are muttered under the breath; not to take sides mind you, but out of “Christian” concern.
- The community of faith bends in on itself. Sides are taken. Fear and upset turns people into cliques.
- Up go the walls; down go the connections.
- “It doesn’t surprise me at all that she's acting this way, how typical.”
- “Well if he's going to decide to show up; I’ll just leave.”
- ANo wonder she’s so lonely, all she does is gripe and complain.”
Or, no comments are given at all. Instead of the right hand of friendship, what's given is the cold shoulder of self-righteousness.
Euodia and Syntyche, two leaders in the Philippian church are in crisis. We don't know the substance of the quarrel, but whatever it is, it’s not inconsequential. (2) We don’t know why they don’t get along. We assume it’s a personality issue but for all we know the pressure is coming from the outside.
Have you noticed when life becomes anxious and fearful on the outside, sometimes people can turn against each other on the inside.

Paul writes this letter to his beloved Philippians and to us because it’s time to peal down the walls of the church; peal back the ceiling. Take a look. What do you see?
The times are ominous. The times are frightening. Yet we have so much to give and we have every hope that this time, no matter how uncertain, is the time to declare the certainty we have in our Lord. There is no place for fear. Or if we feel fearful, we feel it, acknowledge it and move on. Because we stand firm as a community of faith. We stand firm with the church in Philippi. We are members of one another in the Book of Life.
For Paul, it is ultimately significant for the relationships of Christian community to be healthy and strong. To pray with one another; to lead beside one another. It’s difficult at best to lay before one another our joys and sorrows, our delights and burdens; let alone our fear and distress. (3)When we do, as a community of Christ's companions, we stand the world on it's head.
In our world, where criticism is a professional sport, Christ Jesus shows us the way to encourage one another through our gentleness and kindness; our serenity and confidence.
In our world, where reality is known as Big Brother and Flavor of Love, Life on the D-List and Hell’s Kitchen – anywhere when someone’s abuse and mistreatment becomes best-see, 5-star entertainment, Christ Jesus shows us the way to encourage one another is through our life of prayer and supplication; through our advocacy on others' behalf.
Or as Luther says:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all,
subject to none,
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all,
subject to all.(4)

Beverly Harrison puts it like this: Our world is on the verge of self-destruction because we as a whole have so deeply neglected that which is most human and most valuable and most basic — the work of human communication, of caring and nurturance, of tending the personal bonds of community.
This has been seen as too relational and insignificant, too mundane and un-dramatic, too distracting from the serious business of world rule.
Yet the urgent work of love is subtle and powerful. Through acts of love — what Nelle Morton calls “hearing each other to speech” — we literally build up the personhood in one another; build up dignity and self- respect. (5)
We take the nourishment of the bread, the sustenance of the cup, the cleansing of the font and we go beyond our own doors: to the table at the hospital bed; to the table in the surgical waiting room; to the meal after the funeral; to the home of exhausted new parents.
And when we finally sit down at our kitchen table to write that note of encouragement to someone who's been on our hearts; when we finally make that step in humility toward someone we’ve hurt or betrayed, and we ask for forgiveness; when over a cup of coffee we stop to listen to what our elderly parent has been trying to tell us and we just didn’t want to hear: then the bread, it nourishes; the wine, it sustains, the water, it cleanses.
Community is experienced in the crucible of Christ's spirited life and extravagant death.
In the midst of our anxieties of the future, our worries over finances for our nation and world and war, our families and community, our Lord calls us to see our names in the Book of Life; not as disconnected lines on a ledger; but beside one another, interconnected members of the economy, the household of God.
We are to stand firm. And do you know who needs us at this very moment? Crisis Ministry. We’re running out of food and we need, all of us to gather food and fill the bin at the back door; to do it everyday.
We are not to fear in isolation. We are to give thanks in community. We are not to shut down. We are to open up to God and each other in prayer and supplication. And what Paul calls for is to bind ourselves in the community of our Lord.
And what is that community?
Well, whatever is true, whatever honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things. And for Paul thinking leads to doing and to living out.
Live out what you have learned from our youth and children. Live out what you have received from table and font. Live out what you have heard from pulpit and pew; choir loft and classroom. Live out what you have seen of the faithful here and throughout the world.
It’s God’s economy, God’s household, God’s peace.

(1) Philippians 4:1-9; NRSV: Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

(2) Fred B. Craddock. Philippians, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, 69.

(3) Fred B. Craddock. Philippians, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, 70.

(4) Martin Luther. The Freedom of a Christian, Luther's Works 31, 344, 1520.

(5) Beverly Wildung Harrison. Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1985, 12.