“In The World, But Not Of It” Epiphany 3 Lectionary 3 January 25, 2009

(First read the text for this sermon: 1 Corinthians 7:25-31)

What a week it has been.

There’s been the inauguration of a new president, and that has included something rare among many nations of the world: a peaceful transferring of power from one party of political rivals to another. On our TV screens and computer monitors this past Tuesday, we saw political adversaries greeting each other with civility and even warmth. Man, if that doesn’t make you feel patriotic, nothing will!

But we’re not supposed to care anything about any of that – according to this morning’s second reading.

This past week I had to offer homilies for two memorial services. One of them was for Ardey Phillips, who was only 69 years old when he died. The other person was a college student who I had baptized 20 years ago, who died of cancer.

But I’m not supposed to let myself be affected by any of that. That’s what St. Paul teaches in those verses we read from First Corinthians.

This week, did you receive your 2008 year-end financial statements from your investment houses? My pension and savings funds lost a couple of hundred thousands of dollars in total. How about you?

But we’re not supposed to care anything about that – according to St. Paul who counsels the Corinthian Christians to deal with the world as though [we] have no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

The verses we read this morning from Paul bring us into a persistent tension in the life of faith: How much are we to be in the world – even though we are not to be of the world?

Have you heard that formulation of the Christian life: “in the world but not of it?” That formulation is not actually in Scripture. But it does paraphrase the point of several passages in the Bible. For instance, Paul himself writes, in Romans (12:2): Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. The writer of the gospel of John includes these words as a prayer of Jesus for his followers: I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

And there is this morning’s reading from Paul’s first letter to the tiny congregation he founded in the city of Corinth. Paul is expecting the imminent end to history. Paul expects that God will soon bring to a conclusion all that God is doing. And so, Paul writes, I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. He writes that those who are not married should not get married. Those who are married should not try to become free from those vows. Why? Because making such important life changes would distract followers of Jesus from the end that is coming.

In fact, Paul tells his readers, do not allow yourselves to be caught up in any human concerns. He writes: I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Obviously, you and I are not Biblical literalists. In this room are husbands and wives who are committed to each other. Some of us are mourning, and for good reason. Some of us are rejoicing. All of us (I hope!) are thankful for material possessions such as our furnaces and our warm clothing on this cold day.

But the point of what Paul writes remains valid: the present form of this world is passing away. That is why, in this morning’s gospel passage (from Mark 1:16-20) Simon and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John immediately follow Jesus when he calls them. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news," Jesus tells them – and they do!

So for you and me, in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, God’s new age has begun. The present form of this world is passing away, as Paul writes. Indeed, we regularly pray that the present form of this world will pass away. We pray, in the Lord’s Prayer: “your kingdom come.”

And so, knowing that God is doing something new, knowing that the present form of this world is passing away, we are in the world, but we know that we are not of the world.

Of course, there are various understandings of how to be in the world, but not of it.

Have you seen the movie, “Into Great Silence”? (I didn’t think so. I think a total of three people have seen it.) It’s a unique documentary, without any narration, of daily life in a cloistered monastery in the French alps, where the monks live in silence. It took a while to make the movie. The filmmaker asked the monks if he could make a film of their community’s life, and they told him they would pray about it and get back to him. They got back to him – 13 years later! They gave him permission, and the movie got made. But the monks had an utter disregard of human schedules and concerns. They got back to the filmmaker as God the Holy Spirit moved them to.

Are any of you called to be “not of the world” in that manner?

In fact, that monastery is much more closed off from the world than any I have visited. The monastery in which I have spent the most number of weeks is Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina. It too is a cloistered community, of Trappist monks. The official name of their order is the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Obedience, and their daily life is strictly regulated: sleep and work and prayer, and seven prayer services each day. But one of the images I hold dear from one visit to Mepkin is of the abbot, in his office, wearing his monastic habit, with his feet on his desk, reading that week’s issue of The New Yorker magazine!

In the world, but not of it. What does that mean for you? How are you called to live, in the world, but not of it?

That language, of “calling” tips you off to how I can best work this out. A resource in the Christian tradition is Luther’s teaching on vocation. Put most simply: Your vocation is the work that God calls you to do. It is work that you do in the world. But you are not of the world. You do not try to escape this necessary tension in the Christian life. Your work is not an end in itself. You are working for the coming kingdom. Perhaps this should be our prayer: “Your kingdom come. And may I cooperate with that which is coming.”

Some people are fortunate enough to be paid to do the work God calls them to do! Others do not feel so fulfilled in the work they perform to pay the bills, and so they pursue their vocations, their callings, in their volunteer activities. Others are retired from the work they did to pay the bills, and so they are freed to follow their callings in creative ways they never have been able to before.

God calls us to our work in the world – even though you and I are not of the world! Our faith must translate into such action, if we are to follow the model of Jesus. Our life of Christian faith cannot be something that we keep private – because then we would not be following the model of Jesus. Our faith must be our life. Our faith must motivate our actions in the world, even though we are not of the world.

It is instructive to remember that Jesus was quite public with his faith! And, as Jesus acted out of his calling from God, he got into trouble all the time! One reason why the church is dying in our time is because it’s been infected by an idea from American culture: that we need to avoid being offensive in church, or that we need to avoid controversy. If that is the case, then we who are the church are not enough in the world! And so, even though it quickly becomes uncomfortable, you and I are called to act, by God the creator who loves the creation and its creatures. We discern, for instance, how we are to act, our of our faith, when there are issues such as a proposal for a coal-burning power plant that will degrade God’s creation, or how inclusive we are to be to those God has created with various sexual orientations. (See how quickly we’ll get into trouble?)

We are called to do the work that God gives us to do. Our actions in the world express our faith and trust in the God of Jesus Christ, who is bringing into being something new. The present form of this world is passing away, and so our allegiance cannot be to that. You and I are in the world – but we are not of the world.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia