Admit it. You’re singing the song aren’t you? Well, if you are of a certain age, that is. It was 1971 when the Coca-Cola company debuted that commercial. Soft focus, hippie types standing on a hillside singing about perfect harmony. It was reworked a few years later as a Christmas themed commercial, revived in 1990 with a reunion of the original singers and their children, and then again in 2010 as a NASCAR promotion with actual drivers singing the lyrics as they drove in a race. It was released as a single and then a part of a collection. It captured the attention of a nation, and a world. There were international versions of the commercial, most notably in the Netherlands. And the group Oasis got sued for stealing the melody and some of the lyrics. Not terribly harmonious, I suppose. But it captured something in the psyche. And it sold Coke.
I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. A week ago today Maddie and I returned from a week at Anderson University for Choir School. To say that this is a week of singing and worship and singing and rehearsals and singing and fun and fellowship and singing would be to undersell it. It is something that needs to be experienced to begin to comprehend. Next year is our 60th Anniversary (and no I haven’t been chaplain for 60 years) and the only reason why I can find for its continued existence is that it is a taste of the kingdom of God.
Wow, that’s a bit much, don’t you think? It is a group of musicians who like singing together. Some are from small churches who never get the chance to sing with a large choir. And to be directed by one of the best composer/arrangers working in sacred choral music today is also a bonus. These folks have become close friends and companions on the journey of life. But the kingdom of God? C’mon. That’s a bit much to swallow. Isn’t it?
We move to the final third of our Follower series this week. We started, as you remember, with the Way. Jesus said I am the Way, and we found that meant we get to choose, we get to move, we get to say yes to this wonderful adventure of faith. The Way, Len Sweet tells us is Missional Living. The Way, he says, is Do.
Then we looked at the Truth. Jesus said I am the Truth, and we found that means we get to meet Jesus and in doing so we meet our selves, our true selves and then we are able to find ourselves in a community of true selves. The Truth, Sweet says, is Relational Living. The Truth, he says, is Be.
Now we move to the final movement of our journey of faith. Jesus says, I am the Life. Sweet, in his book “I Am a Follower” says that this is Incarnational Living. It is putting it into practice, it is grabbing hold of ths gift, it is embracing the promise, it is letting faith reach every muscle and sinew, every cell and process of our being so that we live fully, live outwardly, live joyfully. The Life, Sweet says, is Do Be Do Be.
Cute. Or fun. But what does it mean? How does it intersect with the gospel? With the teaching of Christ? Well, take a look. And trust me, there is a connection. Though it seems distant at first. Stick with it.
John 5:24-40 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 "Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27 and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and will come out-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. 39 "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Jesus is on a tear. Chapter five begins with Jesus coming to town for a party. A festival, a religious celebration and Jesus wanted to be with the people. He finds a man crippled beside a pool known for healing properties. He asked if the man wanted to made well, and all he got in response were excuses. He never said, yes I want to be healed. Jesus healed him anyway. But he forgot to check the calendar, it was the Sabbath, and so the man who was carrying his mat, got in trouble, but blamed Jesus for telling him to carry the mat, which ticked off the authorities and now they were out for Jesus. So, Jesus response could be seen as something like “Hey, don’t blame me, I’m only doing what God told me to do!” Read verse 19. “Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”
On the other hand, he just might be giving them and us a clue about this life thing. “Whosoever believes.” That’s the phrase we know and we quote every chance we get. Believes. In this passage we have believes, but it has hears added to it. Whoever hears and believes. But what does that mean? That we believe in Jesus like we believe the sun will rise in the east, like we believe winter follows fall, like we believe my party is better suited to run the country than your party, and my candidate’s mistakes are errors and your candidate’s mistakes are moral failings? Is faith in the same category as these beliefs? Or is there something deeper, some trust, some commitment involved somehow?
He then talks about testimony. John testified about Jesus. But that wasn’t convincing. Next he says his works testify about him. The stuff he did and said, pointed toward who he really was, someone to believe in. But many saw and didn’t believe. Finally, he claimed that God gave testimony about him. God? Prove it! That was the response.
We seek proof and then we will believe. Convince us, show us where it says that. Point out the words that will assure us that we are on the right track, Give us the formula for life. OK, he says, come to me. Believe in me. Follow me. It is all the same in the end. It is about aligning our lives with his. It is about allowing him to mentor us into life. Just as he saw the Father and now does what the Father did, so we are to hear and to do, to follow. Be like me, he says to us. Follow my lead. That’s how we prove it to ourselves and to the world. By doing it. By living it. By incarnating Christ in our everyday lives. By learning the song and singing our parts. That’s what will convince us and convince the world around us, when we sing in harmony. And then teach the world to sing with us. With Him.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. Just ask any number of directors who are trying to teach a choir to sing in harmony. The tenors who bump up against the basses, and the altos who wish the sopranos would dial it back a notch or two. It is hard to blend, it is hard to lose yourself in the glory of the whole when you are also worried about carrying your part. It is hard to find the balance, and it is hard to teach even while you are learning. But that is what we do. Follow me as I follow the one who teaches the world to sing, in perfect harmony
In the kingdom we will sing, we will live in community, we will find more joy in the relationships than in our own preferences. We will sing to the glory of God, and be glorified in the singing.
Shalom,
Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment