Imitation Christians

8/16/09 from my sermon from Eph. 4:25-5:2

"Be imitators of God," the text says. I want to give up before even starting. It sounds impossible. I know that I fall far short of this goal....because I am married. And I am the parent of 2 adult sons. They are good about reminding me of my failings. I feel like an imitation Christian.
And did you see what the text says? "Be imitators of God"...not just Paul....or Jesus....but God. This is only place in the N.T. where it, says this but it does remind us O.T. where we are called to be holy as the LORD is holy.
The text says we are to do this imitating in our conduct and especially in our speech. Here I really feel that I fall short because I am a pastor. I know I have done things and said things that reflect well upon our God.
So I hope what I say today in the sermon follows the text where it says to "speak the truth...because we a members of one another." But especially, "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so your words may give grace to those who hear." I want these words not to be mine, but the Lord's.
The truth is that I know that I have offended persons in this church and in others I have served, especially the one where I preached last Sunday, Laurel Heights UMC, in San Antonio.
That was my hardest pastorate and my shortest tenure.
I own 100% responsibility for my role in it. I was still naive. I am a nice person. People in the church are nice persons. I thought all I had to do was to work hard and love the people and everything would be fine. It wasn't.
I know we have some guest in our midst this day and some new Christians. I need to tell you the truth: conflict and anger are inevitable in the church. Did you see how many words about this are mentioned in our short text? Anger, evil talk, bitterness, wrath, wrangling, slander, malice.
I tried for the longest time to deny and run from anger and conflict. It didn't work. Things only got worse. When I left LHUMC, that first summer, I took a course on conflict management and resolution. Then another. Then I did Partners in Ministry. We have done that course around here. Remember the HEART principles. They have much to say about fighting fairly and communication: Hear me and understand me. Even if you disagree, don't make me wrong. Acknowledge the greatness within me. Remember to look for my loving intentions. Tell me the truth with compassion.
Here's what I found. These skills can be learned. Education is really a lot about imitation, isn't it. We learn by following others. I found I was pretty good at it too. I have even been called into other churches and situations to defuse conflict.
Remember my first year as your pastor, how I preached from I Cor. the whole year? WE found that there was a lot of conflict in the church from the very beginning. We have fought over women in ministry, over power, over sex, over sacraments, etc. And here is the amazing good news: Christ comes not in the absence of conflict, but in the midst of it.
So, how are we to be imitators of God? First, it is not by how hard we work. It is by how hard God is at work within us. The passage says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption." This is baptism language. I bet we have some baptized folks here today. We have been claimed, marked, sealed. We are not our own.
The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in every present moment. My favorite image of the Holy Spirit today is that pesky God. You know, that God, who interrupts my life, my plans, and my schedules, but God has even better ones for us. We have been marked. Even on a large church level.
I was reading our UM newspaper a couple of weeks ago. To be candid, I usually just scan it quickly. But there was the title to an article that said something like, "Holy Spirit shows up at Annual Conference." Now Annual Conference is a big, once a year meeting where some 1,000 delegates gather to pray, debate, vote, and do the business of the church over a large region. This particular meeting was in Western North Carolina. There was the closing ordination service. It is always long because there is great music and liturgy and preaching, and then those 10 persons who are to be ordained expect to kneel before the bishop and have hands laid on them. It takes awhile. Well, the service was nearly over. All that remained was the closing hymn, the benediction, and then the recessional. But the presiding bishop, whose name is, Goodpaster(what a great name!), says, "The Holy Spirit is moving in me. I know the worship committee will kill me, but, I want to give an invitation during this last hymn. I want the District Superintendents to line up here behind me on the stage and if any layperson here feels the call to ordained ministry, I want you to come to your D.S. and make an appointment with them. Some of the D.S.'s were saying, 'this won't take too long.' But then there was clapping as someone from the back of the worship center started coming forward. Then another. The music was playing and people were coming forward. The bishop was trying to greet them as they came on the stage. Now on this side, now over there. Thirty-seven person came forward because the bishop gave an altar call at annual conference! We are not our own. We have been marked, sealed with the Holy Spirit!
We are imitators because we have been forgiven. Did you see what the text says? It doesn't say what the Lord's Prayer says, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." It says, "forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you." Because we have been forgiven by God, we can forgive others.
I don't know about you, but I need to come to worship every week, confess my sin, and hear that I have been forgiven.
I was reading this past week about grief, the kind of grief when someone you love dies. I found a quote that might also apply to the kind of grief, the grieving over sin. It said, "I am not perfect. I am loved." Oh, how I need to hear that! Say it to yourself. I am not perfect. I am loved. Say it out loud. I am not perfect. I am loved.
And this is how we become imitators of God, because the text says we are "beloved children." That's why we come together to worship week after week to remember who we are. We wrangle and fight, but we rub off each other's rough edges and call each other to become who God intends for us to be. And we learn how to love each other.
I like what they say in AA. You know that Alcoholics Anonymous has wonderful meetings and pithy sayings that help people recover from addictions. One of the sayings ties in with today's passage, "Fake it till you make it." That's what we are called to do.
C.S. Lewis says it in another way, I think in his book, Mere Christianity, "pretend that you love, until you actually love." We keep going through the motions until we become genuine.
There is a phrase from common culture, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." We are called to be imitators of God. If we don't imitate God, them whom will we imitate? We say like father, like son. We were made in the image of God. We are called to be like our Father.
Maybe all we will ever be is imitation Christians. But by God's grace, that's enough. That's the good news I have to share with you today. Amen.