Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Did you see in the bulletin this morning that we set a record today? In honor of Father’s Day 167 bricks were donated to Habitat for Humanity. That is translated into $835 given to the Thrivent Builds Habitat for Humanity House currently being built in Dover. In the eight years of this program this is the highest amount of bricks donated.

In addition to the Father’s Day bricks, Zion has also provided a number of volunteers who have spent work days building this house. In fact another work day is scheduled this coming Saturday if you are interested.

Zion celebrates all the money we donate, all the time we give, all the skills we share; not because it makes us look good, but because as a congregation we are helping a single mother with her two teenage children secure a home that they otherwise would be unable to afford.

But I’m saddened to report this morning that not everyone is celebrating the Habitat project in Dover.

I had lunch with Pastor Cheri Johnson on Thursday and she shared that some of the neighbors at the sight are upset. Upon hearing that a Habitat home was being built in the neighborhood, one family sold their home and moved out.

Another neighbor is so upset that he calls the police daily and files complaints. He complains about the noise, he complains about the parked cars, he complains that the builders are not building according to code.

He really has nothing to complain about. No laws have been broken in the construction. But it’s not the construction that upsets him; it’s the fact that this is a Habitat for Humanity house. You know the kind of people that move into these homes. In his mind the family who moves in, will not make a good neighbor.

Pastor Cheri said the man is afraid. In his mind one who moves into a Habitat House is less than desirable.

Just before we bought our home I remember Pastor Mike O’Brian, who at the time was pastor of the Long Valley Presbyterian Church, telling me about the controversy over the location of the Group Home that stands on the cul-de-sac of our street. Mike had parishioners who were neighbors who were very much opposed to a Group Home in the neighborhood. They labeled the residents of this home, who are mentally and physically challenged, as being less than desirable. They complained that their property value would go down. Traffic would increase. The home would be disruptive in the neighborhood.

The neighbors were afraid.

We have lived in our home for twelve years now, and the Group Home and its residents are very good neighbors. There is absolutely no reason to be afraid.

So how would you feel if a Habitat Home was built right next door? How would you feel if a Group Home was built a few doors down?

We have a tendency in society to label people. We put people into categories and then form attitudes about them. People who live in Habitat Homes are poor, and so less than desirable. People who live in Group Homes are disturbed, and so less than desirable.

These stereo types erode the foundation of society. When we allow people different than us to fall into categories often we become afraid. This fear can turn to hate. And this hate can turn to violence.

This is what was happening in Galatia. Violence had not broken out, but there was a good deal of fear. The Jewish Christians were afraid of the Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians claimed that if the Galatians really wanted to become Christian, they first would have to become Jewish.

In our lesson this morning Paul addresses this fear.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ breaks down the barriers that divide. Jesus Christ does not categorize people. In this verse Paul identifies the three main categories that divide society: race, economic status, and gender.

For people who follow Jesus these divisions are broken.

Our race will describe whether we are white, black, Hispanic or Asian. Our economic status will describe whether we are rich or poor. Our gender will describe whether we are male or female. But none of these descriptions truly define us.

The neighbors at the Habitat sight in Dover cannot define the soon to be residents of that house as being less than desirable. The neighbors on Overlook Drive in Long Valley cannot define the residents of the Group Home to be less desirable than the rest of the neighborhood.

God does not define neighbors as being rich or poor, God does not define people as being sick or well, God does not define immigrants as being legal or illegal, God does not define students as being popular or not; God does not define Christians as being Jew or Greek, Lutheran or Catholic, conservative or liberal.

Do you know how God defines us? By our baptism.

Baptism in Galatia looked very different from Sophia’s baptism this morning.

Everyone was baptized as adults. All baptisms were total immersion.

The one to be baptized would come to the river; they would remove their clothing which represented their pagan ways. Their body would go entirely under water as their old life was drowned. As they came up out of the water they would be wrapped in a white cloth. They had new clothes which identified them as belonging to Jesus Christ.

It didn’t matter if they were Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; what mattered is that they belonged to Jesus Christ.

And so Paul writes:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Their identity was no longer in society’s distinctions. Their identity was found in their baptism.

I know that some of the neighbors at the Habitat House will stable the residents of that house as less than desirable. I know that the residents of Overlook Drive here in Long Valley will still label the residents of the Group Home as less than desirable. The world will still categorize people. The world will continue to hold their stereotypes. The world will continue to live in fear.

But remember that Paul this morning is not writing to the world. Paul is writing to the church.

We can’t control the world’s labels, but Paul’s letter to the Galatians and to the church this morning is to not carry these labels into the church.

In the world we may be Jews or Greeks, we may be slaves or free, we may be males or females; but in the church we are baptized Christians.

We are defined by the cross of Jesus Christ. We are loved, we are favored, we belong to God; not by what the world says about us, but by Jesus’ willingness to go to the cross and die for us.

Our baptism is the sign of this identity.

In a few moments Sophia will be baptized. I will mark the sign of the cross on her forehead. She will be declared a child of God forever.

It won’t matter, therefore, what the world says about her. The labels, the categories, the stereotypes will not define her.

This moment of baptism defines her. Her identity will be found in the love of Christ.

When the world labels you, when the neighbors seek to define you; don’t believe everything you hear. Believe only in your baptism. Know that your identity is found in the love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Please contact us by phone at : (908) 876-3547 or via Email at : zionlongvalley@comcast.net