Sermon: "The Fabric of Life"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

The Lambeth Conference is scheduled for this summer. That's the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world, brought together by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I have been doing some reading, in preparation for Lambeth. One of the things I've learned is that our times really are not all that different from other times in church history. In our own self-preoccupation, we tend to think that our particular problems and challenges are worse than those in any other period. But, actually, that is not the case.

For instance, in 1867, date of the first Lambeth Conference, there was a serious problem involving a couple of bishops serving in Africa. One of those - the Bishop of Cape Town - actually deposed the Bishop of Natal, on grounds of heresy. A church schism resulted, followed by appeals to secular courts in England. In that charged atmosphere, the Archbishop of Canterbury - Charles Longley - called the first Lambeth Conference. Many bishops declined to attend that gathering even though Archbishop Longley was clear in his letter of invitation that the Conference "would not be competent to make declarations or lay down definitions on points of doctrine" (quoted in "A Fallible Church," p.66). Rather, the Lambeth Conference was intended to be an opportunity to confer, to pray, and to spend time with other bishops.

Now, much about those circumstances of nearly 150 years ago seems strangely familiar today ... and we actually could say much more about that comparison. However, the point to make for this sermon is that the intent from the very first Lambeth Conference has been to build relationships among bishops - to confer, to pray, and to spend time together, in service to the Church and her Lord.

I am more and more convinced that the building of relationships and connections are crucial for us in life ... to our well-being and adjustment and ability to cope in general. Connections between people are certainly significant ... connections like ones among bishops. But people connections are not the only ones of which I speak. Indeed, I think also of significant connections with place and with time and with message and event.

Indeed, all of those connections weave the fabric of life, and we are all parts of that fabric. Such connections make sense out of our experience by securing us within its fabric. They provide meaning in the midst of what appears to be chaos. Life's fabric binds us to the world and to our place in this world. The fabric sometimes is the scarf of joy which we toss happily in the air ... and at other times, it is the cloth with which we dry our tears.

Therefore, I say with certainty that our relationships and connections weave the fabric of life for us - connections between and among ourselves and other people; connections between our inner world of the mind and spirit and the outer world of experience; connections between the life we hope for and the life we live; and connections in time between the past and the present, as we weave our way into the future.

The Gospel reading today points to a connection that is crucial to the Christian life we live. In fact, this connection has much to do with our relationships with God and with other people ... much to do, that is, with the task of being a person of faith. And this is the fundamental connection between love and obedience. I suggest to you that we need to get this connection right in all our relationships - whether those relationships involve other bishops or our family members or God Almighty or anyone else that we encounter on a regular basis.

For instance, the complicated relationship between parent and child has much to do with love and obedience. In fact, both parties learn lessons in manipulation by playing love against obedience. The child might try to earn love by being obedient, while the parent might hold out the possibility of love if obedience is practiced. Thus, the lesson often learned early in life is that love is earned, only after obedience is fulfilled.

This kind of parental control seems to provide a model for many human relationships - for instance, among bishops in the Anglican Communion. At least at times, obedience seems to be expected before love becomes a possibility. At any age and within any relationship, therefore, becoming stuck in such an adolescent stage seems likely indeed. That childhood lesson of earning love through obedience is difficult to unlearn, at any age.

I am afraid, also, that is the stage beyond which many of us sadly never grow in our relationship with our heavenly Father. We may think, "If I obey the Commandments and the laws and the rules, then God will have to love me." And so, we set about trying to earn that love - and we may spend a lifetime in the attempt.

But we miss the point of this very important connection that way ... and there most certainly is a connection! The point is that God loves us already - not because of what we do, but usually, in spite of it. The relationship of love directed from God toward us is as fundamental as creation itself. That is what the person of Jesus Christ is all about - the highest expression of God's love toward human beings.

The challenge, then, is what we do with what has been given to us already. What do we do with God's prior love ... the love that does not depend on our actions? Do we feel unworthy and continue to try to earn that which we can never deserve - the love of God? Or, do we accept God's love gladly and gratefully, and then, in response, attempt to be obedient? If we grasp and perceive a bit of the truth of the love of God - and a bit is really all that we can hope to perceive - then, with joy, we will desire to be obedient to our calling as children of God.

Love and then, obedience - that is how this connection is woven. Thus, Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." He does not say, "Keep my commandments, and then I will love you." Surely, Jesus loves us already. And that is precisely the point. Love results in obedience - not the other way around.

What if we lived our lives with love as the basis of relationships rather than as the byproduct? What if we accepted God's love as something given to us who are God's creatures, simply because of our being? What if we began by loving other people rather than by making them prove their worthiness of our love? What if we could count on love from others rather than always believing we have to earn that love? In summary, what if we lived as though we got right the connection between love and obedience?

We may never see the day in this life when the world looks like that - when love is the basis for life rather than a byproduct. But we can begin to make a difference - to start with love - in our church, in our families, and in our relationships with God and with one another. Who knows what transformation might take place as a result!

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Love comes first!

Copyright © 2008 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee