Epworth United Methodist Church

Epworth United Methodist Church
Rev. David Weekley, Pastor
Aug. 2, 2009
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35

The Gate of Heaven

Both of our Scripture readings this morning describe Jesus as the one who mediates and connects heaven and earth; as the gospel of John expresses, “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians says of Jesus, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive…He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.”

This image and symbol of a gate of heaven is not unique to Christianity. Every faith has a person, a place, a sacred teacher or leader who serves as a gateway to heaven, connecting heaven and earth.

The ‘Dome of the Rock’ serves as one such place for persons of the Islamic faith, the remains of the Temple- the Wailing Wall, is one place for like this for Jews. Buddhists strive to follow the eightfold path and the teachings of Buddha in search of Nirvana.

For Christians it is Jesus the Christ who fills this space, this gate of heaven, connecting heaven and earth for us, among us, and within us.

It is the connection with the sacred that Jesus is talking about when he declares that those who come to him will never be hungry or thirsty again.

He certainly is not talking about physical hunger or thirst, for we all know these physical needs are part of life and following a spiritual guide or path does not assuage these basic biological necessities.

Of course we still need to eat and drink for human survival.

The point is that these basic needs take less priority, are less consuming of our focus, time and energy when we are spiritually grounded.

I am reminded of a Christian such as the late Mother Theresa of Calcutta who managed to survive with one outfit of clothing and no permanent home, mode of transportation, stocked pantry shelves or stored barrels of water for more than 80 years, focusing her hope, and her life energy on the poor, outcast and homeless people of her country and the world.

Do you remember when the Vatican gave her a car, and she sold it so she could use the money for the poor?

Priorities and identified needs shift when we follow the spiritual path; when we seek the gate of heaven.

The apostle Paul, ever the pragmatist, goes into considerable detail about what it means to dwell at the gate of heaven with Christ in this life.

Paul says: “The gifts Christ gave were that dome would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us some to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be blown about by every wind of doctrine, be people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into the one who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

The whole point of our gifts, Paul says, is for functioning in the unity of the body for the sole purpose of building itself up in the love of Christ.

In our age of fierce individualism this is such an important message to hear.

The Episcopal Church recently held its national conference.

I have a friend who participated in some of these leadership gatherings, and so I followed what happened there with much interest.

One of the most striking and prophetic messages I read from this conference was delivered by presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, who preached about what she calls the great Western heresy of individual salvation, “that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God. That individualistic focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence…”

John Wesley, the founder of what today is The United Methodist Church understood this heresy as well, although he taught much about the importance of a personal, spiritual relationship with Christ through worship, prayer, good works, fasting and every other positive means.

Wesley was famously known of writing in his journals, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness” [Works vol.12]

Religion cannot and will not be limited to an individual, private, inward spirituality if it is true Christianity.

God gifts every person of faith to serve the unity of the body in building up love.

It is through the grace of God that we are empowered to love and act hospitably toward one another.

For John Wesley this was especially lived out through acts of mercy, especially towards the outcast, poor and needy.

I am so excited that our Friendship Sunday theme is “Aloha, one Ohana.”

It is a Hawaiian and also a very Christian theme; it is the theme of both our Scripture passages today.

The Communion table, these elements of bread and cup are sacred signs for us of Christ’s presence with and among us as the gate of heaven today.

As we share this gateway together may we discern both as individuals and as a community how Christ leads us to become a gate of heaven in this life.

PRAYER:

Dear God, in and through Jesus the Christ you call us and lead us to become open gateways for the world to know your love. Help us, as individuals and as this community of Epworth United Methodist Church to abandon whatever restraints bind us from reaching out to one another or to the greater community, with the love and hospitality of Jesus. As we gather at your table today, be with us, and heal our wounds, so that together and as individual persons of faith we may become all we are intended to become in the full maturity of Christ- even a gate of heaven for someone, in Jesus’ name. Amen.