I preached this sermon on May 31st at my internship site in Chatfield, MN. The text was John 3:1-17. I hope God speaks to you through these words.
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Once my husband Tim & I were grocery shopping on a Sunday after church. It was a busy suburban store on a weekend-
Lots of people, lots of cars. A guy
stopped us on our way out- perhaps you could say he ‘attacked’ us- he asked us
if we believed in Jesus. Yes, we said,
we just got back from church. At this we
were ready to be done with the interaction.
We already believe in Jesus, and that’s his goal- no need to spend more
time trying to convert us. But he wasn’t
done. ‘Are you born again?’ he asked,
‘because the Bible says you have to be born again to be saved.’ ‘Well, we’re Lutheran.’ We replied- our ice
cream is already melting- we’d better go!
- But this wasn’t enough. ‘Can I
pray for your salvation?’ he asked us. We
said ‘pray all you want- we’re going home with the groceries’. We left.
This
man basically told us- both active Christians, not to mention a
soon-to-be-pastor, that our faith wasn’t enough because we didn’t have the
right beliefs, and we didn’t claim being born again. He focused first on what we believed- and
only if our beliefs were ‘right’ would we belong- to the church and to
God. He put belief before belonging. He made no connection with us.
When
belief comes before belonging like this it leads to conversations (and
arguments) like the one I had with the parking lot lurker. We accuse people of the wrong belief. We picket and argue and blame and shame and
do anything except love or listen or be a friend. We forget to love our neighbor when we’re
trying to change what they believe.
Belief
first can push connection and belonging entirely out of the way.
Belief
first people read John 3 and focus on verses like verse 18- “Those who believe
are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already, because
they have not believed in the name of the only son of God.”
Belief first puts
a lot of pressure on HOW people believe and WHAT people believe.
Putting belief
first is stressful. We will never have
perfect belief. And we will never
completely understand everything about God or faith- that’s a pretty constant
theme through the book of John- Jesus says things and people
misunderstand. We are those people, and
we misunderstand. We will never have
complete faith without doubt.
Instead we will
eternally find ourselves like Nicodemus- showing up in the dark of night,
perhaps a bit afraid and embarrassed, to ask questions we think we should
know. Belief first is hard because of
the pressure to have the right beliefs in the right amount. Belief first is hard because we don’t get to
belong until our beliefs are straightened out.
I propose a change
to the belief first chart. I think it
should start with belonging. Maybe it
could look something like this:
That’s a bit
simpler, right?
Belonging is
extremely important. I think belonging
comes first before belief in John’s gospel.
Certainly it means something to believe that Jesus is the messiah, but
even before that we belong to God. God
created us. God loves us. John 3 tells us over and over how much we
belong to God. God loved the world so
much that he sent his only son to us.
God sent the light into the world for us. God gives us new birth from water and the
Spirit.
Before we believe,
we belong.
When belonging
comes first we see each other as neighbors, friends, children of God, not minds
to be changed. We find ourselves with a
community, a support group, a safe place in which to ask the questions of
faith, to read the Bible, to learn and shape what we believe with the guidance
and support of others who will listen, love, and walk with us.
Imagine what it
would feel like to walk into a church as a newcomer and be told- in word and
action- that you belong. No strings
attached. What would it be like for
newcomers and old timers to know first and foremost that you belong? To know that you belong to a place that will
be there as you figure out your beliefs, through doubt and joy and sorrow. Together we belong- and this is part of the
Good News that we proclaim- there’s no boundary to God’s belonging.
So how do we
proclaim belonging? Maybe we start with
words- words like “Jesus loves you no matter what!” or “All of your sins are
forgiven!” But we need more than
words. Maybe we proclaim belonging by
supporting people in joy and difficulty- widows, alcoholics, or parents of
children with special needs. Maybe
proclaiming belonging involves handing out meal tickets for a community meal,
or inviting children to after school homework help. Maybe it happens inside the grocery store
buying groceries for someone whose food stamps don’t stretch very far. Maybe it happens in mentoring at-risk youth
who need to know they’re loved, or in visiting seniors who battle loneliness
and depression.
When we see
belonging first, we see everyone as a neighbor.
We see that God created us- God loves us- God sent the Son into the
world for us. So let’s proclaim a
radical belonging, a radical welcome into this community as gathered children
of God, and then as a community that belongs together we can join in Bible
study and conversation about what we believe.
Look at John 3:5
for a second- “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water
and Spirit.” Any confirmation kids out there? What do we do in the
church that includes water and spirit and birth? If you answered ‘baptism’, see me later for a
high five because you’re right.
In baptism we
celebrate that we belong to God. We are
reborn of water and spirit. God claims
us at our baptism. Some of the first
words we speak to the newly baptized are “You belong to Christ, in whom you
have been baptized.”
In the service of
baptism we proclaim “we are children of a fallen humanity; by water and the
Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the
body of Christ”
We say “In Holy
Baptism the triune God delivers us from the forces of evil, puts our sinful
self to death, gives us new birth, adopts
us as children, and makes us members of the body of Christ the church.”
When Jesus is
baptized in the book of Matthew, God tears apart the heavens to come down and
be with Jesus. God tears apart heaven to
be with us at baptism, too, because we are God’s children too. We belong to God.
God loved the
world so much that he sent his son to us, sent light to us, and marked us with
the water and the Spirit and gave us new life in baptism.
We belong to God
in this place and every place- on this day and every day. We belong to God!
Amen.
