When I was preparing to preach this morning I ran across a word that I do not recall ever reading before.Perspicacity.In case you are no more familiar with it than I am, it means to discern with clarity, to have a keen vision....for sure in reading these lessons today perspicacity is hard to grab.That long litany in Romans in which Paul tells us in quite literal terms how we as Christians are to act and Jesus’ admonition to us today – telling us that life is not going to be a bed of roses – of we are to be Christ’s disciples then we are going to have to hump it through the muck just like he did.Uhhhhh!
In the first 11 chapters of Romans Paul lets us know that God’s grace is extended to Jews and Gentiles alike.Now in Romans 12 there is a “but”I have shared it before but I am always reminded by this passage that my children accuse me of qualifying my motherly love by saying:I love you more that anything – BUT I would rather you not...whatever the topic of the day might be.I am caught by this idea and I wonder if we in the church do not suffer from an “I am a Christian but...” syndrome sometimes.There are times when being a Christian is impractical, doesn’t make sense, certainly at times it is counter to what seems to be most prudent or in self-interest—I am a Christian, but I don’t think that person should be on that committee – I am a Christian, BUT that person isn’t worth saving he/she should be executedI am a Christian, but those people should not get public assistance they don’t earn their keep.I am a Christian, but my wife/husband/child/ girlfriend/boyfriend is weak or stupid or a nagger so I hit them to teach them a lesson.I am a Christian but my taxes should not go up just to feed and house those who are hungry or homeless. Any of those sound familiar? For the Christian, there has always been the challenge to hold the “being” a Christian and the “doing” a Christian in tandem. To the Christians at Rome who lived among competing cultures, loyalties, dogmas, and moralities, Paul wrote this long letter, in some ways the most complex letter he wrote. Here he reminds the church and its followers it is not enough to "be right" but to "do right." Paul weaves the being and doing in such a way that it seems impossible to separate them. Listen: again to the words from Romans 12 but this time listen to them as if they were a covenant, an agreement between the church and God.Listen to them as a promise – a baptismal promise: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”Romans 12:19ff You see this is not just about yours or my relationship with each other or about our relationship with the stranger who walks in the back door.This is about our relationship with God.It is about our piety, our worship, our spiritual health.The opening lines of Romans 12 sets the tone for these admonitions:“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,* by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual* worship.” These instructions on how we are to conduct our day to day lives provide concrete applications of the call to discipleship not just in our head – it is bodily – active worship with our lips and in our lives. I am always conscience of the danger of using the pulpit as a means of propelling a particular political or social agenda.But that does not mean that there are political and social issues that Christians should not speak out on.If we do not use these teachings that we hear today about showing honor, being hopeful, forgiving our enemies, feeding and housing the stranger to inform our actions around how we address the rising debt in this country, or the Kyota Protocol, or our response to war and other disaster, or any other of hundreds of issues then we will diminish our worship because we will have limited ourselves to “I am a Christian – but” Paul’s instructions give us guidance for the daily sacrificial living to which Jesus calls us.“Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.”This is the model for a cross shaped life and this is the model for a cross-shaped church.(Borrowed metaphor but I really like it!) Last week Jesus told us that we as the church are to be “the Rock”, set apart from the world for God’s mission.This week Paul tells us what that is like.These are good words to put on the bulletin board or at the top of the weekly insert.Maybe we should say them together when we lift the offering plate before the Eucharist.Maybe they should be the words of commitment on our pledge cards this fall.They are good words to live by.Then as we pick up that cross and follow Jesus - instead of saying to the world I am a Christian, BUT……. we will say “I am a Christian AND these words are not just unattainable, empty platitudes for me – they are the foundation and the hope of my life.Amen.