Sermon Romans 13:8-14 & Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus says, "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone."

It feels odd talking about conflict in my first sermon. But the truth is that in the months ahead, we will wrong each other somehow. There will be times when we will need to meet together to work out differences, to clarify misunderstandings, and to ask forgiveness.

It is not just my ignorance of Taiwanese culture since certainly there will be wrongs to work out between myself and the Anglo members of the congregation.

At this point I imagine that the Ministrial Search Committee might wondering "Maybe we should not have appointed Jim if there is certain to be some conflicts!" Yet I trust that many of you know that whenever you get two or three human beings together there will be conflicts.

As we near the anniversary of the attack on the United States, we have become more aware of global conflicts which threaten to break into war. Most North America are waking up to the many complex disagreements that trouble and threaten us as human beings.

Conflicts seem deeply rooted in the human condition. Even in families there is conflict. Throughout the Bible there are stories of persistent conflict. Between Cain and Abel. Between Sarah and Hagar. Between Isaac and Essau. Even amid families that appear outwardly peaceable there can be deep divisions.

And in churches, Jesus knows there will be wrongs we commit against each other, intentionally and unintentionally. Just look at Paul's letters to the new Churches. What are most of them about but handling the conflicts that come with being a community. Paul would not have told the community to put aside quarrelling and jealousy if there wasn't a problem would he?

Conflicts are not something that Jesus hides. He even gives us a good method for dealing with the wrongs that happen. He says, "Talk one to one." If that doesn't work bring in some friends to help bring reconciliation. If there is no success bring in the whole community. If not, then there is a separation, but always the hope of reconciliation.

This might seem like just simple advice except for what Jesus says next. "Truly I tell you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

How can church fights or church reconciliations, have heavenly implications? How can what happens here at Shiloh or down at 6^th Ave or at Queens or at Zion Mountain Lutherian or all these other churches, be reflected in Heaven?

Paul knows because he says, "Now is the time to wake up from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers, the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light."

We must wake up! Bishop Cruckshank, Anglicans Bishop of Northern BC was asked by a student friend of mine, "What is the first thing we should do when we start with a new church?"

Bishop Cruckshank immediately replied. "Once you arrive, go to your office, sit down and remain there until you realize that what your church is doing is the most important mission in the community. And then give thanks that Christ has called you to be part of it."

And of course this wisdom is for all of us, not just clergy. Paul says, "Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light!" All of us are to wear light as protection! But what is armour for? To resist blows, to protect against attack, to ensure that the body remains alive.

But Paul goes even further and says, "Put on Jesus Christ!".

Wake up from a way of life clothed in conflict, to ways of life that cause violence and death to others and to the earth. Put on a new way of life that reflects the light of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, he says, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."

We know the story, Jesus was born into a time of conflict in a nation swallowed up by a great empire. Born and grew up among the poor. He healed the sick. Ate with sinners. He proclaimed forgiveness for sins. He announced that the kingdom of God was among them. For this humanity put him to death on a cross. The most shameful of deaths as a criminal he died ... nailed in the arms and feet and his side pieced with a spear to make sure he was dead.

At the cross the power of humanity meets the power of God. And it is the cross that God choses not destroy us or condemn us ... but rather even as Jesus dies, he says, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." Amid our deepest failure, God brings new life and forgiveness.

Think about the cross! At the core of the Gospel stories is God's willingness to reconcile with us.

Paul says in Chapter 5 of Romans, "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

Are you waking up to what God has done and is doing? God has reconciled us through Jesus Christ ... and made us a sign of that reconciliation The cross which was humanities greatest failure is now the sign of God's greatest love for us and a call to us to share in the life of our reconciling God.

And this is why we gather as a community, because of what God has done and is doing. We worship God under the sign of the cross ... the sign of this God who reconciles with people like us. What have been enslaved to conflict and death, but through the power of God's reconciling love we are putting on a new way of life.

And what is the sign of the life of Christ ... reconciliation. Where two or three gather in Jesus name, which means in the spirit of Jesus Christ, he is there. Paul says, "Put away the ways of darkness and put on the armour of light. Put on Jesus Christ ... be a crucified people who reflect God's reconciling love."

This is why it is such a shame when children think that Church is boring. Boredom means either we don't understand the importance of what's going on, or it means what is going on IS unimportant! God forbid that we are asleep to the importance of the mission God, or worse that we have replaced it with something less important.

Perhaps we as a church should do as Bishop Cruckshank said we should do "Sit here until we all know that Shiloh is part of the most important mission that is happening in New Westminster.

One of the reasons we worship together each week is to remind ourselves that at the centre of our life and the life of the world, is not perpetual war, or death, or despair, but Jesus Christ and the love of God.

This is why though we may or may not speak the same language, we are friends. We are Christ's mission to witness through our words and actions that God is at work reconciling this world out of conflict into the light of peace.

This is why I accepted this appointment. Forgive me for being blunt, but I am curious how two very different people's can be one community for ten years and have not killed each other! Others have not done so well, even when sharing one language.

Of course, I'm old enough not to be naive. There must be tensions and things not talked about, stuff avoided rather than being dealt with. However I see in this community the work of Jesus Christ among you, doing something amazing and new and wonderful. I see Jesus Christ in you and among you.

It is my hope that together we will continue to put on Jesus Christ and share his love such that others in this community see Jesus Christ reflected in who we are. If we ask, through Jesus we know, that the Holy Spirit is ready to help us do so.