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spool TIS Hecke; abot Mother tnt- Shradind Simee BETHANY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

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ie 1973 bee fh well wt be 6 typiee/ Bed. stim JOHN M. BUCHANAN
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tee day expecting to hear a Mother's Day sermon | 0+ For me <—§f is another occasion: li+

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: | itinchalledinoabanthenasnaa | am very much aware that a lot of eople come to church on
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is the last time | will be preaching a full sermon from this pulpit until August 26.

will be here next Sunday for Communion - but in terms of the traditional Job of preaching,

this is it for three months. \ It's a strange fee! ing: \one that I've never experienced

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before. \ In preparing to go to Scotland and preach to a congregation I don't know, and to

whom | will be committed for a relatively brief period of time, a congregation with a
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different tradition, a different style and cancept of Chureh life than this one, | have
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learned a little bit about the act of preaching itselt. \ I have |4arned, for instance,
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that after spending six and one half years with a congregationysermon content is very

heavily influenced by the shared life, the concerns, problems and priorities of that
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congregation: and that it is one thing to prepare a sermon for this congregation - and
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anothering thing altogether to think about preaching to an anonymous group of people.

In any case, as | thought about this day, | found myself under the kind of pressure
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that usually happens only at Easter and christmas:\.e. the significance of the day out-
STE wee, EET A eeataie

strips the minister's ability to deal with it:\and there is more to be said than either
time or skill will al iow.\ And as_| thought about what | wanted Ttansay,at the last

opportunity I'd have to say much of anything for three months | kept returning to sat he

central theological theme of the Gospel in our age - namely - Reconciliation.

Thus | invite yau to think with me about what has emerged in our time as a critical
iin]
Biblical motif - and the guiding theglogical concept for the modern church.| The key

passage is || Corinthians 5 - which I read this morning.

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Webster defines Reconcilication: \"to cause to be friendly again:\ to bring back to
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harmony." The root of the Greek word which Paul used in his letter to the Corinthians
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means:["2 new stage in personal relationships in which previous hostility of mind or

estrangement has been put away in some decisive act."\ (Theological Wordbook of the Bible)

In Paul's mind a man in Christ was an entirely new person, living in the context of brand
ny Sa Pa ar

new relationships with God, self and other nen. \ The old order is gone | sonething fresh

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and new and creative is now possible’\ Reconciliation for Paul, was the closing of the gap
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between men. and God: and it was something already done. [ Reconci tetion is God's work:

accomp | ished_i in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus christ \ Paul describes it as

something which has already = need only accept the new status God has provided:

men only have to "be reconci led" \ But it was more than a personal sense of salvation for

—

Pau] \ Rather, reconciliation becomes an experienced reality in the new community of

faith made up of reconciled invididuals - namely the churen \ Ane at this point the emphas:

——

alters dramatical ly.\, The reconciled community becomes a recongiling community |\ 2 or group

—SaS

with a task to do and a job description o\ God, Haut asserted, has made us agents or

ambassadors of reconciliation in “the world.

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The importance of that is defined by the fact that the theology of reconciliation

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runs through the Confession of 1967, the most recent theological statement of the United

Presbyterian church \ and that the mission of the church has been redefined in terms of

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reconcitiation.| Beyond that it is important because it is exactly the opposite of what a

lot of people seem to believe about the Gospel \ To be a Christian means to be good for

a lot of folks.\ But Paul held that God doesn't count our offenses:\he forgives and acgeuts

—— ——,

“prior to anything we dol For a lot of people there is a great chasm between self and God:
- — =< <P | iene

se and the only way to bridge the gap is to feel guilty about one's sins, obey the religious

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cules cf the Church and keep trying to be an acceptable person in God's sight. \ Buz Pau |
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JK asserted that it's already been accomp | ished | everything that needs to be done for

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rN reconciliation to become a reality has already happened \ God was in Christ reconciling

the world to himests.') AL that is required of men is to accept what God has done \\ to be

it, live It, share. it, celebrate it, and carry it out into the world.

a eS. Ss

Art the h heart, of it is the assumption that God's gift of reconciliation meets
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man at the point of his deepest need.\ To be recqneiled assumes het something was —s
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separated, alienated; apart, divided. btinioinerncroeeinetiensentiainuantineniaetot,

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igre tanita iad age-oF Ss+rangement and al — nity thlalnabvad wet angenant

A di soneroeren iii terms of oursetves;-our—famities.and-marriages-and—then—trethe=cen-

“rext..of..our sir ceria SA

Personal estrongemen+ is a much used phrase and it means, essential ly, that most of

us don't like who we ore:|we are alienated from ourselves:| we pretend to be something we

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are not:for we knock ourselves out trying to win the acceptance of other people which, we
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hope, will compensate for the fact that we have trouble accepting ourselves} J. Martin

Baily suggests that most of us ~ as chifdren - were either "bullies or sissies", that we

found it difficult to accept others as peers, or To accept peer status for ourssives.| As
Ere EERE

children and adolescents we were driven by an obsession to prove ourselves, academically,
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athteticaily, social ly. \ ans as adults we are stili doing e\gerting ulcers or setting
eo mere jer sen

the stage for an eari ly he art attack by working 18 hours a day everyday, not because we . >

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really have to - but because psychologically, spiritually, we need to.| We need to prove

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our acceptability\ And if the job simply won't sustain that need we fill it with

excessive busyness \ wearing ourselves out for tha P.T.A., Scouts, Service Club, or what-

ever we can find that will tell us we are acceptable, needed and wanted.

The culture of youth coined a phrase not long ago that pin points our ditemna:

(‘oot it regetner') lt serves, | believe, as an adequate synonym for the Gospel of
atin Alaa SATII T,

Reconcilliation.\ Because God has made us his friends, we may be friends with ourselves.

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Because God accepts us aS we are, we are free to accept ourseives.\ We don't have to be

someone olse\we don't have to attack sach day [ike the 500’ drivers, risking life,
‘tmaeny ’ a cing ana oe

and sanity in order to break yesterday's record.\The Gospel of reconciliation opens = gar
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ta a new wortd In which it fs O.K. to be who we are. ni i

And from there we are In a position to think about family and marriage. [There is no
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doubjt about [t that we are in the middie of a demestic revolution on this front, and

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where if will finally end no one Knows .\ The nuclear family is bending and breaking under

the tensions of the i970's \ Parents and children are on opposite sides of a gap - which

in terms of time can be located at the point of the Second World War - and which has given

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each of them an entirely different history, expectation level and value system.\ That is
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so normative for us that it hardly needs to be documented. \ Two illustrations will suffice.
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| have a moral hangsup about discarding clothe s\Y weer a pair of pants and a pair of

loafers to work fn the yard that are barely respectableA, My children are Inclined to

not wear certain shoes because the color is wrong. \There's a gap there:\1'm on the side

That learned that shoes are expensive - and that everyone has two pairs \one for dress-up;
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the other for play: land that when the dress-up shoes are beyond repair they become play

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shoes. \ The children are of another schoot al fogether.\ Or think about sexuality and moral

values\ My children can see moré erotic material by fooking at the newspaper movie ads -

or glancing at the magazine rack at "Night Ow!" or "Payless! than 1 ever knew existed

unti! | was t&,

There are a lot of other gaps, and | believe that Margaret_Mead was correct when she

Suggested thar anyone born before |941 is now an immigrant in a new land the Natives of

which are our children | There is bitterness and defensiveness on both sides of that gap.
- nana ey .

The Beatles were speaking for a lot of young people when they sang in 1967:

"Sheets leaving home

After living alone

for so many years."

And Edgar Friedenberg, a sociologist, has observed that: [Yeni tren are not tighting

their parents any nore.| They're abandoning “f *~- “]
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Reconciliation between God and man begins with God's initiative in Jesus Christ, and
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is fulfilled by man's response. \ So in the context of the family the estrangement between

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parents and children that has become so destructive in our time wiil be overcome by people

meme tti(‘éR

of intelligence and grace and jove, \ soneone has to take the initiative:\ instead of
———ae

retreating to both sides of The gap someone has to have the courage to come actress.

—
Instead of waiting for children to sey, ("I'm sorry® - |'m wrong, rebellious, and immature"
Eicher ee ee

someone has to have the grace to say ris OK to be you:\end even though we are differ-

ent - | fove you and accept you for what you are.”

= ee Piree*

Marriage? | Someone has suggested that the best thing a man can do for hig children

is to love their mother.\ The reverse is equally true.\ and yet the venerable Institution

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of marriage Is in deep trouble today. \ It was a bong time coming - but women all over the

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country are discovering that They are persons :\that parenting is a shared task: that main-

taining a home is a responsibility that belongs to two people not one \ And all too often

+he male response has been chauvinistic on the surface; but beneath the surface one of
Sr alata

terrible tear -\ And so we're deal ing with new tensions:\new demands: {new estrangment.
ail ney

John Ciardi, writing tn Saturday Review gerttrh-erPr: cNusbrake 4 os

wo Hon
"| love you", she said
*Y adore you," he said
my love you more," she said
"More than what," he said
"Than you love me,” she said.
"Impossible," he said
"Don't argue," she sald.
| was only....," he said.
“Shut up," she said,

Marr tage? \I'm convinced that someone has to learn the Biblical concept of reconcilia-

Hee naadiemnine A, ce oi ee id

tion. \ Agressive love that accepts and forgives without being asked \ Love that affirms
aso Beara Toe eas aie aad
the dignity and particularity of the other: \\ove that sees marriage in terms of a deep
Dei es ens on — te
and intimate mutuaiity - not an arrangement of convenience from which each partner gets
CN nina ‘arc. 7.

what he wants.

And finally socioty.\ tn no other arena is the Idea of estrangement and alienation
ehesere wren Fannin daiamin! ONSEN TEMNNEATTRIIAITENE

so dramatically real than between the Individual and society.\ Again, that has become a

kind of overworked cliche for us.\ But it was dramatized for me by the words of Albert

Cutter, professor at Perkins School of Thee ogy \ There was no one in his entire circle

of acquaintances, Outler maintained, who did mt feel discriminated against, put_upon and

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thus alienated from society. \Think about that for a minute.

Racial minorities feel discrimminated against by the white majority., While The

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white majority feels put upon by the demands of the minority \ Both the eiderdy and the

eer MeNPEE SS eT

young are caught up in & causesdemanding rights, care and attention \Wonen feel oppressed

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by men:\men feel threatened by women «\ The working man feels that big businessmen hold

all the chips) Big business Is sure the scales are weighted in favor of laborA Everyone

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feels shut out toby someone else. \ic matter who you are, you belong to a group that today

7

wot gare
is frustrated, angry, defensive and mifitant. | Outier concludes that the nation is in 4

“sour mood". \ an Watergate, Yescoe and the Ellsberg frial haven't helped much.

What do we have to offer in that overheated atmosphere?\ What do we have that will

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sustain us and support us as we attempt to make some semblence of sense out of our lives?

ES ig TR

-~6-

The answer | believe is Reconcilfation\ God's good gift of reconciliation that he has

given in Jesus christ.\ Ane (t+ begins between us and our God:\ i+ is, primarily, but not

exclusively - a personal tntoo\\ i+ makes no sense to rush out into the world trying to
Ce eal | meena Ee aaa |
reconciie untit you know personally what it means and feels like to be reconciled.

It begins with us, | believe, as we hear the words:\it begins when the idea of
a anal

reconciliation is implanted in the mind when, intel Jectually we stowly begin to be com-

fortable with the concept that in Jesus Christ God has made us his friends’ \that we are
cE aGKEREEoy eT leita

acceptable fo and loved by god.\ that's the function of preaching - to ppeclaim good

bi tiated eel

news - to tell the Gospel.
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But it's stil] cerebora| \reconei Liation is stilf an intellectual thesis until ft
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is experienced and that brings in the chureh.\ For 1 is here - and only here - that people

gather to celebrate together their common reconci|}ation In Christ.) [t+ is here that what

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is given to us personally is passed around and shared - liturgically in the Sacraments -
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but ordinarily in the common concern and support we offer to each other.

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And then - once we know ourselves To be reconciled yonce we grow into an _understand~

ing of our church as a reconciled community - are we fn a position to become a reconciling

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community in the wor 1d: Athen we become ambassadors of reconciliation§ i+ isn't optional:

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it's not an honors course for super Christians. \ It is simply the way it Is with people

a een te oa terre eee,

who know who they are.

Saul Alinsky, a community organizer was once speaking To 4 group of clergymen and

————

said: \" You've got to get away from this reconciliation jazz... Reconc}liation means
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only one thing :\when one side gets enough power then the other side gets reconciled i
a emmmareyianicrreramrmmrrnaeprmerrie TCL a anneal

And it is the saddest commentary | can think of that in a nation that calls itself

Lcehiabiieshinniiniaihiammnanmatl es.

Christian Alinsky fs right\ Racial reconcifiatton of sorts happened only after Biacks

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got some power «\ Universities and students get reconciled when the students burn down
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the Math put iding.\ The government takes the indians seriously when a Town is stezed,

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several peopte kiiled and a million doliars in damage done.

=.

The job ef the church - the job which needs doing today - is to presént an alter-

ive. iliavi » bas] ; . z isti ance
native.to reconciliation on the basis of threat \ut means always resisting the arro

oo

of an Alinsky; \the self-righteousness that may produce temporary results but which further
Seer sree oT

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alienates in the process.| The job of the Church, corporately, in our culture is to move

beadieh conan os, To

out - to listen, to support, to heal and bind up wounds - to move tnto the sticklest areas
ut pe P_WOL errors aa

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of political, ecanomic and social division and bring people back In touch with each other.

it's not easy to do;\ the man in the middle often gets hurt { but | believe, deeply,

that it is what we are called to do3\ and That it is all we have to offer \*The, Gospel of
eee EEE Do re ae C smindaiiemeiimad
Reconciliation.
The promise of God is a new creation} e new veing:\a whole new world for those who

would accept their reconciliation and then dare to become agents of recsonciliation.4 That's
RS ican ilieliainiehiatninanienementienl ‘ =—

the promise - and as | teave for three months | know of nothing that | would rather hold
itl maT Tt NL

— eer PaCS,

up before you\ [+ begins hera - between God and oul is experienced here between you
Fee SS Oe “ rr Ply, Cea eh tailed

and your fellow Christian:\ and it is carrted from here and practiced between you and your

neighbor, your spouse, your children, your nation.

in Jesus Christ God extended himself across the gap between men_and rinse! between

Us and him,

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself Nand he has made us ambassadors of
reconci lication.\ If a man is in Christ he is a new person altogether.

That is the Gospel. AMEN
Father, just as we are Incomplete apart from from you, so the world needs to know you
and your love. Gantus here to experience our reconciliation. And give us courage to

become your reconciling people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN