Musical Prelude and Service.

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 & Luke 12:49-56
I know I have often referred to the life, work and teachings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the past. His life and his writings have been a significant influence on my own understanding, of how God works in our lives and how we are called to live in God’s world.
Pastor Bonhoeffer was a German minister and theologian. He was also a teacher instructing seminarians within the Confessing Church of Germany. He was ordained in the years leading up to the Nazi takeover of the German government. He protested and resisted the subsequent takeover of the German Lutheran church. Early in their domination of German culture, the Nazis also worked to alter the work and teaching of the church there. It became incredibly nationalistic and even worked to excise the Old or Hebrew testament arguing it promoted Judaism.
Bonhoeffer, along with contemporaries such as Karl Barth, and Martin Niemoller resisted this push, and this led before long to the creation of what is called the Confessing Church. It was quickly made illegal and the seminary that Bonhoeffer taught at went underground, moving often to stay ahead of German authorities. Many pastors and leaders in the Confessing Church were arrested and imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. Others went into exile.
Bonhoeffer eventually became a courier for German resistance and was eventually arrested in 1943. He was later accused of and convicted of being part of a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and he was executed in April of 1945.
Much of his writing is crucial for much of contemporary liberal Christianity. Especially when it comes to taking difficult stances in the face of oppressive forces, and resisting a society that is losing its capacity for compassion and mercy.
In 1937 he wrote the book The Cost of Discipleship, which is a reflection on the Sermon on the Mount. Within that book he reflects on the nature of grace and compares and contrasts what he calls Cheap Grace and Costly Grace.
To quote in part from that section;
“Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without
price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?…
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.”
He summarizes by stating; “the Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
God’s love may be freely given, but what are we doing with it? What does it mean to us? What are we prepared to sacrifice or commit to in our gratitude for what God has done?
Which brings us to today’s scriptures. Jesus is pretty blunt and even a little shocking in his declarations this week. I do not come to bring peace but division.
We declare Jesus the Prince of Peace, but here he says he brings division. I will confess these are challenging words, but I also realize that this is a reality. He notes that his followers are struggling to read what is actually happening to their world right now. Or perhaps, refuse to read. Peace is promised, but it isn’t here right now. And Jesus is certainly a focal point of conflict, of division. And so, it has always been. The wars, the schisms, the reformation, the horrifying conflict within the German church in the 1930s and 40s; even the divisions we can see within the Christian church or churches today; there is certainly division.
But I also think Jesus encourages us to take a stance. That doesn’t mean brutalizing those who stand opposite you; don’t lose sight of their humanity but also don’t ignore God’s call to be a faithful witness to your faith.
We are constantly reminded by scripture, and by the faithful witnesses who came before us, that following Jesus and answering God’s call can and often does come with a cost. The writer of Hebrews enumerates the names of many, and the prices paid by others in their faithful journeys. It can be a tough read.
In fact, I and many others suspect one of the points, if not the point of this book Hebrews; is to offer encouragement to the community of Hebrews who were followers of the Jesus movement, but who were also starting to question their decision to follow in the path of Jesus. What was in it for them? Where were the benefits? There’s no prestige. We are not being blessed with wealth and it doesn’t seem to be making our lives any easier, no more comfortable or secure. And wasn’t Jesus supposed to have returned by now?
Our author has argued we must emulate those who came before us and continue traveling and being strangers in the land until this new country is made known to us. But it may also not come in our time; just as it was not time during the lives of such luminaries as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Hebrews argues we must continue moving forward – run our race, so to speak. We must take encouragement from those who came before us, but carry on their work. And when we reach the conclusion of this race, we will join with the great cloud of witnesses; of saints, in celebrating the completion of this race, together.
And I wonder if that is in part what the author of Hebrews points us towards. We don’t take this journey alone. We don’t run this race by ourselves. We are part of a long tradition. We are part of a large and interconnected community. We can look to those who ran this race before us and find inspiration. We can look around us and receive encouragement from our neighbours. We are not alone.
We do not receive an immediate reward for our efforts, for our endurance, for our sacrifices. It’s not about our own advancement, our own comfort, our own security in this world. Our faith is about seeing the world for what it is and also receiving the blessing of a vision of what this world can and will be, and what our part is in moving towards making that visible for others.
But even if sometimes we may feel lonely in that work, we are never alone. Even if we are abandoned by our family and our neighbours, we are surrounded and encouraged by the great cloud of witnesses who ran this race before us. We are never alone. We live in God’s world.
The church has always struggled with its relationship to authorities, to the empires of whatever age. We can find our identity mixed up between our devotion to God and our loyalty or affinity to our nation or the earthly authorities. We can all too easily link them in our minds and perhaps in our hearts. There are far too many examples throughout history and in this current time and place.
There are those who pronounce a faith in God and Christ who also preach a message that proclaims glory in nationalism, that a particular country is blessed and favoured by God. They find proof for these claims in scripture. Resisting that reading of scripture and our faith is crucial, and often comes with challenges. But we are encouraged to
remember who the perfector of our faith is. What he taught, what he endured and how he continues to encourage and heal us.
Faith is not easy. It is sometimes painful and messy. Some of the most faithful seem to pay a heavier cost than others and that can seem brutally unfair. We are encouraged to keep our vision – our hope focused on what this world can be if we live in faith of what God promises us. Not as individuals but as part of the body of Christ.
The hope that comes with our faith is powerful. May we never forget it. And as I said last week, may we never forget that love is the vital way we make that faith and hope visible for the world.
Thanks be to God. Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789