Sermon March 4, 2007

Citizens of Heaven

Citizens of Heaven, today I call upon you to claim who you belong to. Today I call upon you to cast aside the labels that others put upon you to cast aside those who falsely lay a claim to you, to renounce any claim of your identity except that, you are a Child of God. You belong to God, you live in God’s kingdom, your loyalty remains with God as we live together in God’s grace.

For too long people have claimed citizenship to that which is inferior to God’s kingdom. Our very Bible records the difficulties people have had in claiming that they belong to God. The ancestor of our faith Abraham (and the faith of Jewish and Muslim people) understood he belonged to God. The covenant that God established with him continues to be a blessing for those who will live understanding the promise that God makes, “I am yours and you are mine.”

Yet frail people began to want more than a promise of relationship, they wanted land, they wanted security. God continues to remind us that our security comes in relationship not political power, yet we do not listen. God warned the people when the clamored for a King. (I Sam. 8) God warns them, kings like power, kings raise armies, kings are not all that they are built up to be. Yet the people get what they want. They get kings, and wars, death, and destruction.

Citizens of Heaven unless we too put our security in relationships instead of political power we will live with war, death and destruction. Citizens of heaven, you are all created equal in God’s eyes. The rich among you are no greater than the poor. In God’s eyes we are not American or Iraqi, Russian or Chinese, Shiite or Sunni, Baptist or Methodist, Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Progressive, Cougar or Husky, Gay or Straight. These divisions we create only lead to destruction.

Paul knew this when he was writing to the small church of Philipi two thousand years ago. Those who do not live knowing God’s grace through Christ perish, “Their end is destruction; their god is the belly and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.”

We have all been guilty of setting our mind on earthly things, we create great joy in it. As a youth one of my favorite moments in sports was the 1980 winter Olympics, I can still hear the chants, USA, USA, USA, and the great line from Al Michaels, “Do you believe in Miracles?” I have aligned myself with false citizenship to many idols. When I was a child I was a fan of the University of Washington, and my sin is ever before me. (When I attended Washington State University I turned from that evil.) As an American Youth I cheered, yes I cheered when General Norman Schwarzkoph showed video of missiles striking their targets with fantastic accuracy in the first Gulf War.

Citizens of Heaven we must be careful with our allegiances.
When I was a youth students who wanted to run for the Associated Student Body council would create political campaigns. Posters would be painted, gossip would be spread and of course speeches would be made. Inevitably the winning speech would be the one that was most convincing around the ambiguous idea of, “School Pride.” “We need more School Pride” the candidates would declare. We would cheer and then we would vote. Then we would ask ourselves, “what the heck is school pride anyway?” Our sports teams were not spectacular, it was always fun when teams and individuals did well, is that school pride? When I remember those school days, I don’t remember the teams as much as I remember my relationship with those who I went to school with.

Citizens of Heaven as humans we have a need to belong to groups. Some of our groups are small, some of our groups are large, but we have a need for identity within groups. This in itself is normal and healthy. Groups are places where we learn to live in relationship. I submit to you today that the purpose of our very existence is to be in relationship, relationship with one another, relationship with the created world, relationship with God. These relationships form our existence and without them we perish.

I implore you to seek relationships that build up the kingdom of God and to cast aside the labels that lead to destruction. You do not need to call yourself, American, or Washingtonian, you do not need to be Republican or Democrat your identity is not dependent upon false labels. Your identity is simply that you are a child of God. God love you. Your ability to live in that love, to share that love with others, that will form your identity that others will remember. They will not so much care about what teams you played sports with, or what city or state or nation you were from, they will remember the way in which you were able to express God’s love.

As a citizen of heaven I know you are working to share God’s grace. It is our patriotic duty to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. You are a sign of God’s grace when you assist a neighbor in need, when you volunteer your time for others, when you give your money to the poor, when you stand up for justice, when you pound on the doors of legislators, when you pray for healing, when you hold hands with someone you love, you are a sign of God’s grace.