Citizens of Heaven
Second Sunday of Lent
March 17, 2019
Sermon Texts
Genesis 15.1-6
And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.en and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. 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.
Sermon:
When I was ordained in the Church of England, I had to pledge allegiance to the Queen. The Chancellor of the Diocese of Southwark, my sponsoring diocese, assured me at my ordination rehearsal with the other 11 candidates, that unlike them, I would not have to swear allegiance to the Queen because I was not a British Citizen, and not to worry about committing treason against the United States when I made my vows. Phew. Well, by the time I arrived at Southwark Cathedral that Sunday, three days later, just before we processed in, I found out that I did in fact have to swear allegiance to the Queen, because as a minister in the Church of England, I was now her subject. I wasn’t sure if that was okay with the United States, but it was okay with me. I had nothing against the Queen, I actually did and do admire her, and I love the Church of England for better and for worse. I’m sure if I got found out, I had a pretty legitimate explanation to give Homeland Security.
Jump forward about 9 years: One beautiful spring afternoon, in 2004, I walked from King’s College School in Wimbledon Village, where I was a school chaplain, down to the town of Wimbledon. I walked into a lawyer’s office with some paperwork that had been sent to me by Her Majesty’s Government saying that I had been approved for citizenship in the United Kingdom. It was just me and the lawyer. I signed a paper. He signed a paper. And right then and there I became a citizen. There was no party, no trumpets announcing my change of status, no singing of God Save the Queen, not even afternoon tea. I can’t remember if I walked home or took the bus. There was no fanfare, nobody with me to celebrate the day – unlike the absolutely amazing ceremony my husband went through to become a US Citizen with about 1300 other people representing 134 different countries in the Seaport area of Boston. It was such a moving service that I was teary the whole time.
I didn’t feel all that different after becoming a British Citizen – but I knew that I had some new rights and privileges, and also some new responsibilities. I could now vote, which is a right and a privilege, but it also meant that I had a responsibility to stay abreast of the issues to be an informed voter. I also was being called to be loyal to not “the Queen”, but now “my Queen”, and to be loyal to my new country. My husband who is English reminded me when I got home that I was now obliged to fight for my new country should the United Kingdom go to war. A very unlikely prospect, but still a risk.
In our Epistle reading for today we hear that our citizenship is in heaven. What it says is this: Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.[1]
And not unlike my experience of being naturalized as a citizen of the United Kingdom, what that means is that we have some rights and privileges we might not otherwise have. For example, we can call on God to help us in times of trouble. We can call on God to help us make decisions. We are told quite clearly in the scriptures that we have access to eternal life – that is, after this short earthly life is over, we get to live with God forever – without separation – with the Lord. That is the gift we get in the righteousness we receive through Jesus self-sacrifice on the cross according to St. Paul.
But in order to live fully into our citizenship – here on this side of life, it is pretty clear that we have responsibilities. But let me clarify – there is nothing that will make God love you more or less than God already does. However, here is the hitch – there are practices commended to us by scripture and in our church doctrine that lay claim on us as faithful people. And they are summed up in our baptismal covenant that is said at our baptism and at our confirmation. Those are on pages 303-304 in our Book of Common Prayer.
And it is just this topic, the Baptismal Covenant and the life of being a Christian is the very topic I just spent 3 days learning about at a training I went to at the Barbara C. Harris Center in Greenfield NH. The topic was the Way of Love. The Way of Love is the dream child of our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. It sprung from a comprehensive study taken a few years ago by a group called Renewal Works Spiritual Inventory – which is part of the Forward Movement – the people who bring us Forward Day by Day, as well as our Sunday Forum book for this year (Walk in Love) and the one for next year (The Path). From that survey they found out that 60% of those polled said that they “wanted the church to help them have a personal relationship with God.” And what this study also found is that only 42% of those polled were extremely satisfied that their church helped them form a personal relationship with God.
Here’s another statistic: 57% of respondents said that they wanted to be challenged to grow. And yet only 38% of respondents were extremely satisfied that their church challenged them to grow spiritually.
And so, when they looked further into these statistics and others, this is what they found out about those people who were growing spirituality and in their personal relationship with God: They found they were engaged with four aspects of their faith.
- Serious regular, if not daily, engagement with scripture (churches with rigorous bible studies are those that are finding the most growth).
- People experiencing the transforming power of the Eucharist – by knowing the significance of the Eucharist, taking part regularly and understanding the importance of the Eucharist in their life.
- A deep practice of daily prayer.
- And they attended a church where the heart of the leadership (i.e. the clergy) were firmly committed to these practices I just named (study of scripture, understanding the transforming power of the Eucharist, and practice of prayer) and the clergy were devoted to providing opportunities and formation for congregants to find ways to develop a deeper relationship with God, and had an earnest desire to help people grow spiritually.
So, with this, the Presiding Bishop and his team came up with 7 practices to help foster these four necessary components in the lives of the believers. There is a photocopy in your service sheet.[2]
So those seven components in Christian Life are:
- Turn – includes pausing, listening, and choosing to follow Jesus
- Learn – reflect on Scripture each day, especially on Jesus’ life and teaching
- Pray – dwell intentionally with God each day
- Worship – gather in community weekly to thank, praise and dwell with God
- Bless – share faith and unselfishly give and serve
- Go – cross boundaries, listen deeply and live like Jesus
- Rest – receive the gift of God’s grace, peace, and restoration
I hope to do a preaching series on all seven of these practices in the Fall – but suffice it to say Lent is a time that God calls us to turn to Christ and to take up disciplines that help draw our hearts closer to God and closer in line with Jesus’ teaching. I invite you this week to think about these seven areas – and just to notice – where are you strong in these seven disciplines? Where are you lacking? All seven components do not need to be equal in the time you spend doing them – but notice if there is any serious imbalance in your spiritual life.
And why would we want to do this? Well, I was reminded of the benefit of a life like this when I was reading the scriptures on Friday morning. I came across this reading from Deuteronomy chapter 10. Verse 12
So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.
We engage in these practices because it is our responsibility as faithful Christians, and also for our own well-being.
As a post-script, I just want to mention our brothers and sister Muslims in New Zealand, and for Muslims throughout the world who suffer from terrorist attacks – from those outside their religion and within it but from different traditions. When Jesus called us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves – he meant every neighbor. It is times like these that we are all acutely aware that part of our responsibility as Christians is to love without exception and to work toward the end of hatred that is engendered toward any creed or culture or nation. As that Muslim community mourns, we are called to open up that tender part of our own hearts that calls forth our love and prayers, with the hope that they and we can heal in the face of such human tragedy. And when we start to lose hope, remember the 7 practices of the Way of Love, and engage with them, because that will help us grow in our relationship with God, and with our neighbors.
Amen
[1] Philippians 3:20
[2] www.episcopalchurch.org/files/documents/wayoflove_brochure_spreads_english.pdf
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