Ezekiel 33:(1-6)7-11
Psalm 119:33-48 or 119:33-40
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 18:15-20
He was a kind, gentle and caring man as well as a good priest of the church. After five years in his tenure as Rector of his parish, the bottom seemed to “fall out of everything.” Put more bluntly, all hell seemed to break loose! His honeymoon was over and he was knee deep in troubled waters filled with many alligators.
A particularly powerful person in the congregation was more and more critical of his leadership. He criticized him behind his back and gathered around himself those who took his viewpoint. Factions were forming—those who supported the priest in one faction and then who didn’t in another. Many in the congregation were clueless as to what was going on but this trend and these developments continued for another 3 or 4 years. It impacted worship and permeated meetings and the work of the church.
During this period of time, numerous people either strayed or left the church. In talking to many of these people who had left the parish, the constant refrain that I heard from this is that in all the years they were gone—nobody in the church seemed to miss them. They told me that nobody ever phoned or visited to find out what was wrong. No one really cared whether I was there or not. They all said that, I got the impression that the church really didn’t want me. Of course, the church wants them back. But, what are you and I doing to help these people find their way back to the church?
Think for a moment all those who you know who still live in town or in the area and who have left (St. Stephen’s or Good Samaritan) over the years? Granted, they may have found another church, but many of them, I’m sure, were still without a church family.
Today’s readings invite us to reflect on our own “I don’t care attitude towards the fallen and lax members of the church, reminding us that it is our duty to reach out and bring these people back to the church. It’s not the priest’s duty alone to do so!
Oh well, I don’t have time to reach out to others—I barely can have time to take care of myself, might be a response one would hear. God, on the other hand, tells is in today’s reading from Ezekiel that it is our job as members of the church and as prophetic persons to reach out to those who have strayed or seemed to have left the church. Listen to the reading from Ezekiel again as it pertains to our own situation here in September 2002 in (St. Stephen’s/Good Samaritan).
So you, (Harriette/Doris), Jack and I have made a sentinel for St. Stephen’s; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you should give them warning from me if I say to the wicked, “Divided ones, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways. The wicked shall die in their inequity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their inequity, but you will have saved your life.”
Besides reaching out and caring for those who have left the church, we also need to work internally with one another on handling disagreements. Verse 15 specifies that first the offended party must go to the person who caused the offense and explain the hurt that has been received. Oftentimes the offense wasn’t even intended. If both parties then want to end the argument, the sister or brother may be won back. But sometimes this doesn’t work. When the offender continues in his/her behavior, it is no longer a private grievance.
The second step, then, is to call one or two members to witness the fact that the offended one has sought peace. Perhaps such a meeting will move the offending party toward agreement with the principles necessary for unity. However, there remains the outside chance that the offender will still refuse to yield to the community’s overall welfare. Then this matter must go before the whole church where presumably the leaders of the community will make a decision.
It is clear what is at stake is how to bring an erring member back into the fold, to full reconciliation and communion with God and with the community. A community is Christian in the measure in which we all know and want ourselves to be responsible for the good of each member. People in the parish I talked about at the beginning of my sermon had all sorts of disagreements with one another and their priest. Things got so bad that people were reneging on their pledges, refusing to take communion and not volunteering to sing in the Choir, be on the Altar Guild or work with the youth of the parish. Pledging units were down by 45%. Clearly, they didn’t follow the process for handling conflict as laid out in Matthew’s gospel. The priest eventually left the parish because of all this discussion and lack of support.
The work of the church was negatively impacted by these dysfunctional dynamics and Christian love certainly wasn’t in the mix! What does this mean for you and me? Our parish is certainly not in this sad state of affairs. We don’t have such acrimony and divisions. For us the message is simple—
Think of one person you will visit or call this coming week with whom you can offer a loving hand of forgiveness and reconciliation. Set a date and time and follow through on it because –
Amen.