| Life Together: Congregation and Campus And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:4, 9-10). This side of heaven the Church appears dissected; parceled off according to tribe, that is to say, according to age, ethnicity, gender, social status. But what St John beheld, what he saw, was not a community broken into homogenous groups. What he saw was a great multitude . . . from every nation, all tribes, and peoples. This is the Church as she appears from heaven, coming down from above, dressed in the splendor of her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. She is not homogenous according to category, nor heterogenous according to class, she is the one Body, the gathered elect, the community of the faithful, united under Christ her Head. Every day you are segregated by category and class and status. Workers and retirees. Middle class and upper class. Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors. Athlete and non athlete. Greek and non-Greek. North-sider and South-sider. Near-Eastsider. The world operates according to label, according to group, according to classification. The great equalizer is the Law, the holy proclamation of God that we are all in the same boat - condemned and deserving death. We are homogenous under the Law. We all come under the same curse, the same condemnation, the same just judgment - guilty. Whether worker or senior, middle, upper, one-percenters, college students and grandparents, city-slickers, country-folks, we are all equally damned under the Law. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). But the One who breaks us all down to size by the Law, then obliterates all classifications, breaks down all barriers by His death gives His grace as free gift to all; God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11); For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, their is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:27-28). And here, in the Church, this divine revelation and free gift is seen in glimmers and sparkles. For the Church is the Embassy of that heavenly kingdom in which people from every nation, tribe, and language is assembled before the throne of the Lamb. She is the Haven for weary pensioners seeking rest. She is the Beacon for floundering college students seeking truth. She is the Mercy House for the poor and needy, the downcast and distressed. She is the glorious Body of Christ, people of all nations, tribes, languages, education levels, careers and families. At St Peter’s Lutheran Church we are privileged to see this divine gift more than others. The Lord has placed us where we are, and given our location, we are the spiritual home for suburbanites and inner-city livers, great-great-grandparents and college freshmen, life-long Hoosiers and Indiana transplants. We are not a homogenous group. I wouldn’t want us to be. The Church never is, never ought to be or seek to be. Despite our diversity, though, we are united under Law and Gospel, with Christ as our Head. We speak the common language of the Creeds and holy liturgy and hymns. We are joined together by one baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection for all. We partake of the same Body and the same Blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. By virtue of these we are more closely related to one another than to our unbelieving neighbors, friends, and relatives. We are tied up in life together by the blood of Christ. Barriers and classes and groups don’t matter. Christ has joined us to Himself and the Father in one Spirit. In Him there is no division. In Him you are one. Your unworthy servant, Pastor Mirror Commemoration of Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany |
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