A
sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 19 May 2019, the fifth Sunday
of Easter,
by the Rev.
Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 148; Acts 11:1–18; John 13:31–35.
Opening Prayer
Loving God,
Open our
heart to listen to your Word.
Holy Spirit,
come to inspire us and transform us to live a life like Christ. Amen!
Good morning
sisters and brothers.
Sermon
This year KUC
is celebrating her 95th birthday.
The theme for
this 95th anniversary is “Witnessing for Christ, building community”.
Today is 19th
May. The first half year is almost gone. I thought it is about time to share
the theme with the congregation so that we may reflect together of our identity
and our purpose as God’s church.
This morning,
I take “Witnessing for Christ, building community” as my sermon title.
Sisters and
brothers, what is “witnessing for Christ, building community” for you?
I would like
to invite you to start thinking and reflecting on this as part of your
devotional for the rest of the year.
Witness in Greek meaning martus or martur (in English, it means ‘martyr’).
To
witness for Christ may require sacrifice for Christ. Are you ready for that?
Are you willing to do that?
In witnessing
for Christ and building community, what are the inspirations we may get from today’s
lectionary we heard
-
the Book of Acts and the Gospel according to John?
From the Book
of Acts, Apostle Peter shared with his Jewish fellows (the circumcised people) of
his vision. God asked
him to eat
the animals
that
were forbidden
and considered as unclean according to the Jewish traditions and
religious laws. The unclean food symbolized the Gentiles. Jewish people
separated themselves from other races. They regarded themselves as God’s chosen
people. Peter shared that God revealed to him the Gentiles were included in
Christ’s salvation plan.
What do we
learn from Apostle Peter?
Be Open and Listen:
From Acts 11:12 I quote: He said, “The Spirit
told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.” Them refers to the Gentiles.
Peter has
opened his heart to listen to God and follow His will.
With the
inspiration received through the Holy Spirit, Peter broke his boundary as a Jew.
He allowed himself to be in touch with the Gentiles and proclaimed the good
news of salvation to the non-Jewish people.
In witnessing
for Christ and building community, we need to be inclusive. In the early
church, it’s never been easy. The Jews had a very strong identity as God’s
chosen people and they separated themselves from other non-Jewish people with their unique culture and religious law
practice. Indeed it requires radical openness to God as Christ’s followers to
be an inclusive person and inclusive community to accept other people who are
very different from us, to be part of us and to admit that they are equally graced
by God’s love and salvation. For us here in KUC, we have been preaching about
the importance of inclusiveness again and again. Our Motto – ‘Where All Are One’
has made it clear that our church life is guided by this faith and value.
Today I would
like to highlight in building an inclusive community, we are required to be
open and always listen. Apostle Peter listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
He followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit and accepted the invitation to go
to the Gentiles. By taking time with them and listening to their stories and
experiences. He was transformed.
When Peter
was challenged and criticized by his own people, the circumcised believers, saying, “Why
did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Peter was courageous to
share his vision and his encounters with the Gentiles. Peter set to us a good
example. To witness Christ’s inclusive love requires courage to speak and act
especially in a time when our buddies and our friends from the inner circle do
not fully understand or do not fully support us.
What I
appreciate about Peter’s community is they listened to Peter in return. They listened
with respect and patience. They allowed themselves to be changed too. The text from Acts described in
this way: “When they
heard this, they were silenced. And then they praised God and affirm God has
given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life. ”
How wonderful
it is that Peter’s community did not just criticize. But they listened. They
were silenced. Only when we are silent we are able to listen. When we are
silent and focused, we can hear much better of God, other people and our own
inner voice.
Active listening
is important and powerful in building an inclusive community that make
transformation of life possible. Active listening also makes reconciliation possible. The followers
of Christ in the Jewish community
have gone through a profound change in the early church. A community that listens
to God with an open heart to the Holy Spirit is able to understand better of
God’s will and God’s love. God’s love is radical. He loves the world and,
everyone is loved and accepted. Jesus demonstrated his love and compassion to
everyone, even to his enemies and those who nailed him on the cross. This is
exactly why Jesus came to the world to live and to die for the sake of love for
all.
Apostle Peter’s
genuine listening to the Holy Spirit and the Gentiles who are very different
from him as a Jew allows him to break the cultural boundaries and religious
barriers.
“Witnessing
for Christ and build community”
Sisters and
brothers, we are all invited and reminded to examine if our tradition, our fixed
belief and mind-set have hindered us to truly live a life Christ wants us to have.
John 13
Now let me
move to another scripture reading: the gospel reading according to John 13:31-35. What do we learn from this gospel account?
Jesus gave to
his disciples the second commandment.
34I give you a
new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
What do we learn from Jesus?
He did not
only use words but he took actions to teach us what’s love all about.
Before Jesus
made the new commandment of loving one another for his disciples, he washed
their feet to demonstrate his deep love to them. The way he showed his love was
his humble service. As we have already known washing feet is the duty of slaves
in Jesus’ time. Jesus has set a good example for his disciples to follow his footstep.
Jesus asked
his disciples in his time, and today, (you and me) to follow this new
commandment – to love one another. The way to show this love is to serve each
other with humility. Without a humble heart, loving one another is difficult if not impossible. Jesus has
demonstrated to us how to let go of our self-centreness and our ego.
“Witnessing for Christ,
building community”. To build a
community of Christ, what we need is a loving heart and humble spirit to serve
each other.
Jesus who is
the master, the Son of God, is willing to humble himself to do the job of a
slave. To Christians who are committed to follow and to witness Christ should
form a community that is welcoming to strangers and is humble to serve the
little ones, the vulnerable and the poor in society.
I am glad
that KUC is in one way or another has been walking along this line.
I would like
to share a message I received from a sister who joined our community recently
but just returned to her home country for good two weeks ago.
Here I read:
“I would like to thank
our almighty God and KUC pastors and all the church members. We came from a
country far away to this beautiful land to work for our survival. Indeed we are
strangers but your kind hospitality made us forget that we are strangers. On
behalf of my friends, I want to say thank you and we are grateful for your warm
welcome in this church and we feel safe here. You are truly our real brothers
and sisters in Christ. The love and affection you had shown us would never be
forgotten until our last breath.”
This sister’s message is very touching and encouraging.
Her message is not to make us feel good. Her message reminded and encouraged us to continue to make
our church a welcoming and loving community where people realize we are
Christ’s disciples and where people may experience God’s deep love through us.
While the
sisters appreciated what the church has done and shared with them, I wanted to
say these sisters have contributed to the congregation abundantly.
Their
presence and participation in the choir to sing on Sunday
and on Special worship such as on Christmas Eve and Easter have uplifted the
worship and made KUC a truly diverse community that enriches everyone.
In fact, to
build a loving and serving community requires everyone’s effort. Sisters and
brothers, in what way you can contribute/participate and make KUC a place where
people find God and experience love and unity? One of the ways I am sure is
prayer. Bring home the bulletin and pray for the individuals, the congregation
and different communities that required our care and God’s love.
Let us
remember Mother Theresa’s remarkable words: do small things with big love. With
Christ living in us, I am sure everyone has something to give for God through
the KUC community.
“Witnessing for Christ,
building community”
Dear sisters
and brothers, united in the same Spirit, let us grow to be open minded
Christians willing to listen and make changes for God’s sake. May we support
each other in practicing how to love one another and serve as a community that
may reveal God’s glory.
Closing prayer
Heavenly God,
you have welcomed us into your kingdom
and your heart’s desire is to draw
every human being to yourself.
Grant us clear eyes to see people as
you see them,
sensitive feet to stand in their shoes,
and warm smiles to welcome them into
your name.
Give us generous hearts
that our church becomes a foretaste of
heaven
where every soul you send us
finds their loving home in the
community of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 19, 2019
