Paul, Bonhoeffer and Galatians 3:28
Life Together – Paul’s Challenge to Us.
Gal 3:28 - 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.
It goes without saying, that this is a very challenging verse. It would have challenged the early church and the people listening to Paul, but it also challenges us. Here we have a verse which is basically saying that there shouldn’t be any barriers between Christians, but there are all sorts of divisions in our society and in our world, and these divisions also have a way of affecting our church life. Paul is challenging the early church and he is challenging to us today to be different.
So, what divides us and where are the barriers?
A starting place that can help us understand these divisions is our
equalities legislation. The Equality Act
2010 aims to tackle disadvantage and discrimination in the UK. The act has several
criteria known as ‘protected characteristics. These characteristics are
protected from discrimination, but they are also examples of some of the barriers
that exist in our society.
For example, age, disability, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage, civil partnerships and so on. The Act protects people who have these characteristics from discrimination. I am going to focus on race this evening, because it is a key challenge for churches and for society, and because Paul refers to it.
Paul’s words
go beyond protection from discrimination because Paul is thinking about life in
the Christian community. He is thinking about our life together. Paul wrote his
letter to the Galatians to remind them that they had been saved by grace and
because of that grace there should be no barriers between them and no discrimination.
Paul was asking the Galatians to focus on equity, justice and love.
When Paul was with the churches in Galatia, he taught
them that their salvation came through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Once he left
the churches in Galatia, the churches became influenced by teaching which centred on salvation through the Mosaic law. Paul saw this as preaching a
"different gospel" from what he had taught.
Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches emphasises the freedom that we have in Christ, that we are all one in Christ and that we all belong to Christ. If we are all one in Christ then there should be no barriers, no discrimination, no favouritism between us. The barriers that exist in society should not exist in the church but this is where the challenge lies because such barriers do exist.
They exist because we are all influenced by culture, history, and the prevailing trends in society but we shouldn’t just go along with this. We can change our church communities so that they become more inclusive and more accepting of difference.
We need to be the people that God has called us to be. We need to be inclusive communities that don’t discriminate or exclude people. This is a vital witness for the church because if we can model worshipping communities of radical inclusion, we can show the world how God intends humanity to live.
It easier said than done. Sometimes it can be very
difficult to actually recognise barriers and discrimination because
discrimination can be built into our systems and the way we do things.
What normally alerts us to the presence of discrimination or injustice
is a prophet, or a campaign or some clear act of injustice that we witness, like
the death of George Floyd. Something happens to jolt us and make us think about
the way that we have been living and such prophetic moments make us question
our systems and processes and work for change.
The death of George Floyd did this and led churches to
reflect on the legacy of slavery and colonialism, and to realise that much still
needs to be done to address discrimination and barriers within the Church.
The war in the Ukraine is a tragedy, but also a prophetic moment. Suddenly people are realising that refugees are not scroungers or a nuisance but simply people fleeing disaster. It is easy to criticise refugees who are sailing in unsafe boats across the channel or the Mediterranean, but suddenly war is on our doorstep, and we are seeing death and destruction every day. The nation is seeing why we have refugees and how we need to be compassionate towards them.
Michael Rosen the poet and author wrote a little verse on Facebook. He says
welcome
in Ukrainian.
Could we learn to say it in
some other languages too?’
Now, there are various debates about what Paul meant by the verses in
Galatians, and it isn’t wrong to have those discussions, but we are called to
live in anticipation of a new heaven and a new earth and we are called to live
in communities of justice, communities without barriers and discrimination.
Bishop Graham wrote a blog article
last year on Grace and Race. He said ‘It is the gospel, not a secular agenda that drives the
Church’s vision to combat racism and to see our churches genuinely reflect the
varied and multi-faceted wisdom and grace of God in Christ. If we are able to
respond to this with humility, creativity and a willingness to learn, we might
just enable something to emerge in our churches that is truly glorious, beyond
what we are able to anticipate or imagine. We might see churches in London and
beyond, that truly reflect God’s generosity of welcome and that reflect, not
just the diversity of our city, but the city which is to come – the city of
Grace.[1]
I
think we need to take Galatians seriously and we need to do what we can to
bring the verses to life in our churches and this is what Bonhoeffer tried to
do.
Bonhoeffer was someone who recognised what can happen
when racism and discrimination are allowed to fester in society. The Confessing Church, which Bonhoeffer was part of, resisted the way
the Nazi’s were infiltrating the churches with their own ideology and the
Confessing Church sought to testify to the truth of the Risen Christ at a time
when many other churches were paralysed or blinded by their fear of the Nazi’s.
For Bonhoeffer, Christianity was not just intellectual theory. He felt
that the Christian faith had to be lived out in practical ways in the everyday.
Christianity had to lead to action.
Christianity for Bonhoeffer also meant community through Jesus Christ
and in Jesus Christ.[2] Bonhoeffer
believed that we belong each other through and in Jesus Christ. He taught that
life as community means that we should listen to each other and learn to love
one another.[3]
In his book
‘Life Together’ Bonhoeffer also wrote that Christian community is a reality
created by God in Christ, in which we may participate. The more clearly we
learn to recognise that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship
is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship
and pray and hope for it.[4]
We
need to take the Bible seriously when it challenges us and we should take
Bonhoeffer seriously too because his story shows us what can happen in our
societies if we keep on feeding division and discrimination.
Jesus through his words and actions shows us that real love calls us to go beyond ourselves. It calls us to look beyond our personal feelings and the things we want and who we are. The love of Jesus calls us to step beyond the barriers of race and all the other barriers of difference, and to welcome into our lives people who are different to us.
We need to do this in remembrance of who Jesus is and who we are. It is within our reach to create racial harmony within our churches and to remove other barriers and divisions. It is possible for the Church to show something different to our divided communities and a divided world.
That is exactly what Bonhoeffer tried to do. Including and welcoming others will enrich our lives together in church and our life as a society.
Michael Rosen gave a speech at a rally a few days ago. He spoke about his experience with Covid and how he was saved because of the devotion and care of NHS staff.
‘I am only here because people of many backgrounds saved my life two years ago. I want to pay tribute now today to the migrants, the refugees, the people of colour of all backgrounds who worked to save my life two years ago. Hundreds of them. They were doctors, they were nurses, they were physiotherapists and occupational therapists who taught me how to stand up, who taught me how to walk again because I had been in a coma for forty days. I owe my life to migrant workers. The NHS would fall apart if it wasn’t for migrant workers and refugees.' (Michael Rosen - speech - Hackney Stand Up to Racism and Fascism. March 2022)
My question is: What can you do in church or in your life to
dismantle barriers of difference?
[1][1] https://www.london.anglican.org/articles/grace-and-race
[2] Page 21 Life Together
[3] Page 97 Life
Together
[4] Page 30 Life
Together
Comments
Post a Comment