Pentecost 13: "Hold Fast to What is Good"

“Hold Fast to What is Good”

            Dear friends in Christ, dear people of Grace, grace to you and peace….

            “Let love be genuine.  Hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”  A long time ago, at least it seems like a long time ago, I had decided was going to preach on this passage.  And why not?  It’s such a lovely passage, and a college friend of mine even wrote a song about it, a song that I can still remember, just a little, and that shows the power of singing that we can remember what we sing …

            Let love be genuine… hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good.

            Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor,

            Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the spirit, serve, yes serve the Lord….

            Well, you see what I mean.  I can almost sing the whole passage of scripture, even after all these years.  And singing them, the verses seem beautiful, not so impossible.

            Like I said, that was my plan:  preach on Romans 12,  the marks of Christian discipleship. 

            It seems like so long ago, I had that plan. 

            That was before hurricane Harvey, the deluge, the planning, trying to get out of our apartment and into our house and have the supplies, trying not to be afraid, seeing pictures of strangers and people I knew deluged by rain,

             feeling helpless, feeling like I would much rather be hunkered down in a blizzard than experience this. 

            Everything seems so different now. 

            I am lucky.  We were lucky.  We are okay. 

            I keep telling people that. 

            But I know people who have lost everything.  I know people who have to burn their furniture. 

            I know people who put all of their furniture upstairs, I know people who had to leave their home, who were evacuated.

             I know churches that were filled with water.

             I talked to a woman who was homeless and just drove around looking for high ground until she ended up in Conroe.  Parts of our communities have been devastated.

            And I know people who helped, too. 

            I know people who helped evacuate their neighbors, who let people stay in their home, who brought food to shut ins, who waded through waist-deep water to check on neighbors. 

            I know people who helped their neighbors tear out old dry wall out of their houses, who sorted clothes and food and gave donations and talked to people.

            I saw pictures of people forming human chains to rescue neighbors.  They would not leave someone behind.

            Everything seems so different now.

            So, now, I am thinking of the gospel reading, the one from Matthew, and how Peter, who was so smart last week (although we weren’t here last week were we?) 

            Peter seemed so smart and he Knew, he just KNEW that Jesus was the Messiah, but all of a sudden, this week, he is satan, the adversary.  Because he doesn’t think Jesus, the MESSIAH, should suffer. 

            And we are so used to Jesus crucifixion predictions that maybe we don’t hear how offensive it is. 

            Crucifiixion was a means of torture and it was used on CRIMINALS.  Respectable people did not get crucified. 

            Jesus did not come to be respectable.  He came to save us. 

            He came into the storm, into the hurricane, not to the people who were above it all, but to those down in the water, down in the muck, in the middle of it all, afraid. 

            And then he says, “Follow me.” 

            And that’s so hard, it’s so impossible, because you know, I want to be respectable. 

            But Jesus wants us to go where people need him, where people are dying, because that’s what he did. 

            That’s what the Messiah does.  He is in the hurricane. 

            It’s about what it means that Jesus takes up his cross – that he goes the distance for us.

            Everything seems different now.

            Someone sent me an email this week about the fulfillment of prophecy – the end of times, because of the eclipse, and the rain, and all of the signs – and I think those signs are around us all of the time

            – but once in awhile there is an urgency that perhaps clears our eyes

            – that makes us realize what is really important – or at least I hope so – and it’s not the somehow we are okay

            – it's that we are all together – in this  -- in this world – and in this life

            – and that every single one of us in worthy in the eyes of God…       That we are all worth wading through the flood waters for – that we are all worth forming a human chain to rescue –

            And the invitation to take up the cross – also becomes more real – and harder – but also more necessary – because everybody needs to know their beauty and their worth

            “Let love be genuine.  Hate what is evil.  Hold fast to what is good.  “

            I can sing that whole song, and there are so many words, and it can be overwhelming.  I mean, I could preach a whole month on these words from Paul, what it means to “Extend Hospitality to strangers”, or to “be constant in prayer” or to feed your enemy when he is hungry. 

            Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

            But those first few words – that’s all I need today.  “Let love be genuine.  Hate what is evil.  Hold Fast to what is good.” 

            You know what genuine love is – at least the love that Paul is talking about? 

            It’s not a feelling. 

            Genuine love is not the way you feel – it’s the way you act.  It’s what you do.  It’s praying with someone you don’t even really know. 

            It’s going to help muck out a house for a neighbor, it’s making that human chain. 

            It’s wading through the water to get to a neighbor.

            It’s sorting clothes and giving out food and looking into people’s eyes.

            It’s getting hot and sweaty and tired.

            Genuine love is being willing to not be respectable, in order that people know the love of God.

            Take up your cross, Jesus says.  It’s not an athletic competition, to show how strong you are.   It’s genuine love.  It’s what Jesus did for this whole world, this whole messy, screwed up, sweaty, sinful, beautiful world. 

            He took up his cross.  For us.  For you.

             For all of the people. 

            For all of the people standing in line to receive free food. 

            For all of the people who drowned trying to escape.  For all of the people who lost their homes. 

            For all of us who were able to come here today.  For all of us. 

            Let love be genuine.  Hate what is evil.  Hold fast to what is good.

            Hold fast to what is good.

            Let it be in our hands and in our lips and in our feet today.  Let His Spirit come and live in us anew.  Let his life be part of ours.

            AMEN