Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
In the British TV show Grantchester, Sidney Chambers is the vicar of a church during the 1950s in the town of Grantchester, just outside Cambridge, England. Chambers, in addition to being a priest, also occasionally helps the local police solve crimes.
In the third season of the show, Sidney is dating a woman, Amanda. They have known each other for many years, and normally this would not be an issue except that Amanda is a divorcée and in England at this time, the church does not support divorced people getting remarried.
Towards the end of the season, Sidney is faced with choosing either a life with Amanda or serving the church. It's not a decision he takes lightly. Sidney grapples with what he should do. It takes conversations with his superiors in the church, time away from the parish with somehow ending up in a Romany camp, and a couple of murders for him to realize what he needs to do. He realizes that his call is much bigger than just him, and that his people need him.
In a dramatic scene, Sidney shows up at Amanda's home in his collar, and she realizes he's chosen to remain true to God's call for him. Amanda, despondent, yells at Sidney to leave, ending their relationship.
The tension between Sidney and Amanda exemplifies what we hear in the Gospel today, that Jesus has come not to bring peace, but a sword.
Or rather, the division Jesus speaks of is really already there. It's not that Amanda doesn't love Sidney. The problem is that she wants to be the only thing in Sidney's life. She doesn't want there to be any room for God.
But our relationship with God is so vital. It is life-giving and life-affirming. Our relationship with God is what gives us purpose. After all, God is our creator who gives us our very being.
When we let our relationship with God slide, an emptiness pops in. Sometimes we try to fill that hole with various things, but it doesn't quite fit. Nothing else makes us whole.
Real love wants us to experience that life-giving relationship. Real love is willing to share with God.
Unfortunately occasionally there are Amandas in our lives. As Jesus says this morning, they can even be those we love the most.
The division Jesus brings isn't the purpose of His mission. In reality it is already there. Some, like Amanda, don't want us to have anyone else in our lives. Some, like Amanda, don't want us to have a place for God.
In our lessons from Luke this past month, we have heard continually that we need to remove all things that keep us from the love of God. That, at times includes our loved ones too.
Here's where our hope is: when we are all in right relationship with God and with each other, those relationships can actually help build each other up in our relationship with the Lord. As long as we can share our family members with God, we can move forward together to love God all the more.
We can also build that relationship with God through our relationships within our church community. In our lectionary reading this past Wednesday, Jesus tells the Disciples in Mark that those who give up their families in this life will gain a hundred more as part of the Christian Community. These people aren't just the ones we like and love, but they include all people we work together with to build up the Kingdom of God in this world.
Our relationship with God is the one thing that matters. It is what gives us life and fuels our purpose. There are many things that can try and keep us from having that closeness with God. Sometimes those things come from our family members, especially those who do not want us to make room in our hearts for anyone else.
This is the separation Jesus speaks of this morning. It is the division that those in the world force upon us to choose between them and God. Our hope is that we may change their hearts and bring them to know and love God too. Like Sidney with Amanda, though, that is not always the case. Unfortunately there are times when we, like Sidney, will have to walk away from those we love in order to continue to walk with God.
For this reason, it is all the more important that we, as Christians, work to help build up our family members and one another in our relationships with God. We need that help from others as we walk the journey with God. That's why we call on the help of the whole body of Christ in the Baptismal service.
We don't just help those Christians we like or love the most in building our relationship with God. We are called to help everyone. None of us can make this journey alone. Don't let anyone or anything hold you back from God, and help anyone who walks this Christian journey with you.