07/27/2025 ~ Seventh Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 12 ~ Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85; Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19); Luke 11:1-13 ~ VIDEO OF COMPLETE SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1105531702
YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/@ekcbroadcast2982/streams

The Climax of the Covenant

“In Christ also you have been given the Covenant through a transformation performed not by human hands but with a spiritual circumcision, by the complete stripping away of your body of flesh. This is what ‘circumcision’ in Christ means.” — Colossians 2:11.

Have you ever been someplace and it feels very familiar but you know you’ve never been there before? It’s like you already know the place but you don’t know how?

In a way what I’m trying to describe is a place which immediately feels like… you belong. Another way to put it is it’s a place that right away feels like… home. (Slight pause.)

The first time I stepped inside the chapel at Bangor Theological Seminary… it felt like I belonged. It felt like home. (Slight pause.) To be clear, any home demands a lot of work. I had to put in a lot of work at Bangor. But it did feel like home. (Slight pause.)

The first time I went to the island off Stonington that came into Bonnie’s family in 1898 was a couple years before I met her. However, strangely and despite my recent allergy issues which you may have read about in the weekly News and Notes email, the first time I stepped on the island it felt like I belonged there. It felt like home. (Slight pause.) And yes, there’s work involved with that place too. (Slight pause.)

My bet is this is true for at least some of you. The first time you walked into this place… it felt like you belonged. It felt like home. And yes, there’s a lot of work involved.

Now just for a moment, I’d like to offer some history about the island that’s in Bonnie’s family. It became a Summer place for family and extended family in 1927. Every day since then when someone is on the island a log has been kept, like a ship’s log. It’s a written account of the people who were there and the activities in which they engaged.

Hence, Bonnie can go to the log from 1927 and see entries about her father at the age of 13. She can see the first time she, as a youngster, wrote in the log. Bonnie and I met on the island and we can see the entry on the day we met. Keeping that log is a cherished family tradition. Remembering things in words helps make the island feel like home.

Remembering with words helps keep memories alive, helps in learning about what has been but also helps understanding things right now and even where things might go. Remembering with words helps make sure what’s important is not forgotten. Remembering, learning, never forgetting what’s important— all these are central to the process of bonding into family, of becoming family. (Slight pause.)

We hear this in Colossians: “In Christ also you have been given the Covenant through a transformation performed not by human hands but with a spiritual circumcision, by the complete stripping away of your body of flesh. This is what ‘circumcision’ in Christ means.” (Slight pause.)

British Theologian Nicholas Thomas Wright describes Jesus as (quote:) “the Climax of the Covenant.” What does that mean? (Slight pause.)

In order to unpack a term like “Climax of the Covenant” I need to state something I’ve said before. When reading Scripture we need to place ourselves in the context of the First Century of the Common Era and ask ‘what did the words mean to those who first read or first heard them?’

And so let’s state the obvious: Jesus is Jewish. The writer of Colossians— probably not Paul, by the way— it is clear the writer of Colossians sees Jesus in the light of the God of Israel, sees Jesus in continuity with Hebrew heritage and within the traditions of Hebrew heritage.

This writer hence seems to be making a connection between Jesus and the God of Israel. And so I see the words in this passage as a rethinking by early Christians about the God of Israel. In so doing they strive to wrestle with the reality of Jesus and wrestle with an understanding, their understanding, of who Jesus is and who God is.

The place on which they land is to make the claim that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. These early Christians— by calling Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah— then offer a definition of what being the Christ that might mean.

They proclaim Jesus as an extension of the Covenant made by God with Israel, with the people of Israel. By calling Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, they make a connection to the traditions of the God of Israel. Indeed, this wrestling, this grappling with the person of Jesus, this trying to connect Jesus with the God of Israel, should be seen by us as a tradition with which we need to grapple with which we need to understand.

I think if we claim to be Christians, as individuals and as a community, it is imperative we not merely or simply accept what modern books and preachers tell us about Jesus without examination or without question. Just as these early Christians wrestled with the identity of Jesus, I think it is imperative that we, ourselves, each one of us, wrestles with the very concept of who Jesus is, wrestles with the connection of Jesus and God, wrestles with what Hebrew tradition and Christian tradition say. (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to traditions. What is the purpose of traditions? Earlier I said traditions are about remembering, learning, never forgetting. Traditions are, thereby, central to the process of bonding into family, central to the process of becoming family, central to finding out… what home really is.

So, why do we need to grapple? Why not just accept? Why not just say, “this feels like home and be done with it?” (Slight pause.) The first verse in the reading today said (quote:) “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus,….” The Greek verb here translated as “received” refers to the reception of tradition.

In the Greek this receiving of tradition is not about a static or passive understanding of acceptance of tradition, not understood as the collection of historical particulars and constraints. That is not the implication of that word in the Greek.

Rather, the language indicates receiving this tradition allows for those receiving it to be built up in Christ, allows for continued growth in Christ, continued development in Christ. And the way for each of us and all of us to embrace that growth and development is by wrestling with and striving to understand how God and Christ are central to our own individual history with God and our collective history with God.

In short, if we are Christians, our tradition says we need to wrestle with the reality of who Jesus is, as did the early Christians. Put another way our tradition is not static.

Our tradition says we need to wrestle with the idea that Jesus is a part of the Covenant made by God with the people of Israel. Our tradition says we need wrestle with the connection between Jesus and God.

And yes, I think examining our traditions is a means of making sure we never forget what’s important. And yes, traditions are about remembering. And yes, traditions are about learning and never forgetting what’s important. And yes, perhaps the most important thing to realize here is that Christian traditions are about growth, our growth. And yes, these traditions are about our growth as individuals and as a community.

And yes, I think by wrestling with our traditions we, as Christians, will accomplish what is central to the process— holding, keeping and growing traditions. Of course, if and when we do that well, then we will bond into family, enter into the process of constantly becoming family. And so as Christians— this church— we are members of a family. Now that’s a novel idea— as church we are members of a family. How about that? Amen.

07/27/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I need to note that the name, the word Israel has a specific meaning. The word Israel means the one who wrestled with God. Wrestling with God and wrestling with our understanding of God and who God is may be our oldest and even our most cherished tradition. And just like a house or a family or a church, wrestling with our understanding of God takes a lot of work. It isn’t just a given.”

BENEDICTION: This is the blessing used by natives of the islands in the South Pacific: O Jesus, please be the canoe that holds me up in the sea of life. Please be the rudder that keeps me on a straight path. Be the outrigger that supports me in times of stress. Let Your Spirit be the sail that carries me though each day. Keep me safe, so that I can paddle on steady in the voyage called life. God of all, bless us so we may have calm seas, a warm sun and clear nights filled with stars. Amen.