A Common descent

Our nations, peoples and ethnicities of faith come from the same Patriarch and Matriarch. We are all descendants of Abraham and Sarah. We have been formed into many nations as God commanded. We have been called to be the people of God whether we are of Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim, Christian or of other faiths.

How was this made possible that despite the fact that we are so diverse and possess individual identities as peoples, we are still called as God’s people

Paul explains to the early church in Rome that it is the faith of Abraham and Sarah, which allowed them to bring forth nations and peoples; not by their own works, nor by any law, but by their faith and God’s work in their lives.

From Abraham, who is already “good as dead” (for he was about a hundred years old) and from Sarah whose womb was barren, came generations after generations.

Paul teaches us that the work of God is giving life to the dead and calling to existence the things that do not exist. (Romans 4:17) This was true in the life of Abraham and Sarah. And how can this be true for the Uniting Church today? With so many dying congregations, how would our faith revive and bring back to life these congregations in so-called palliative care? Or should we acknowledge that dying is part of the life of a congregation so that they can hold on to the promise of being resurrected as Christ was resurrected?

The youth in many congregations have disappeared since the 50’ and 60’s. How can our faith call into being the presence of the youth again?

 

‘Call’ Words

There are three instances where the word ‘call’ is used in our readings:

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. Genesis 17:15

As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Romans 4:17

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

The use of the word ‘call’ here has two meanings or as a verb, it has two actions. One is as in ‘to call someone by one’s name or one’s identity.’

This is similar to calling Abram no longer as Abram but as Abraham, and calling Sarai no longer as Sarai but as Sarah.

The other use is as in ‘to call one’s attention or to invite or command one’s obedience or loyalty.’ For example, believers and non-believers are called to become the people of God. This means people are invited and commanded to follow and obey God so that they can be rightfully identified as people of God.

What does it mean then when we say we are called to join God in what God is doing in the world? What does it mean to say when we say the church is called to do Christ’s mission?  A call is both an invitation for us to respond voluntarily and a command to follow in faith and obedience to the Divine will.

In the Mark reading Jesus was calling the crowd. He was addressing the crowd and calling their attention. Jesus was aware of the identity of the people he was teaching – they were the Israelites which God has chosen to be God’s people. They were the people from which nations would come from. But Jesus, and the writer of Mark treated and called them a ‘crowd’.

What is a ‘crowd’? How is it different from Abraham’s call to be a ‘nation’?

A crowd is a large number of people gathered together in a not so organized and can sometimes become unruly. It is a mass or multitude of people not relating to each other and swayed by external forces of influence. On the other hand, a nation is a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture or language, and may inhabit a particular geographical territory.

In Jesus time, has God’s chosen people turned into a crowd? Has disbelief and disobedience gotten the better part of them and turned them into disorganization and have become unruly and not so special? Have they lost the name given to them by God? Have they lost their identity as the Chosen People?

In our lives sometimes we are lost among the crowd. We become part of them and we lose ourselves. We lose our own identity. We become part of the unruly mob. There is disorganization and therefore there is no order. A society may have an economic and political order but may not necessarily be that which God wants it to be organized. Many societies today are structured in order that those who have wealth and power can have more while those who are at the bottom – the poor and powerless – are made to suffer the consequences of oppression and exploitation.

Such a society would have surely lost God’s trademark of justice, humility, love and obedience to the Divine will. Perhaps this was the reason why Jesus was addressing the people of God as a crowd for they have become lost, dysfunctional and disobedient to God’s will.

Jesus’ call is to follow
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. (Mark 8:34-35).
We are meant to be a people, to be God’s people and not a crowd. And in order for this to happen we are invited to lose that which make us a crowd – our unfaith in God, our disobedience to God’s will, and our disservice to God, our neighbors and even to ourselves – by which Jesus called the crowd of being an ‘adulterous and sinful generation’ (v.38).

We are called upon to a process of reconciliation with God and to reassume our original place in the God’s created order. A renewal of our being, by following and being identified as Christ’s, which means taking up our own cross.

We are called to remain faithful and obedient and become self-giving servants to our brothers and sisters especially those who are marginalized, oppressed and exploited. And in relation to this, we are called to participate in God’s mission in the world of realizing God’s reign of peace, justice, truth and love. Amen.