Co-Lead Minister
“Shine Like the Stars”
Philippians 2: 1-5
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As we continue our series about the letters of the apostle Paul, we’re still in the one Paul wrote to the congregation in Philippi. Even though it’s a very short letter, it carries a lot of weight. I invite you to imagine unfurling a scroll hand delivered months after it was written, or opening an envelope you received in the mail, or clicking on an email just arrived from a friend and hear these words to the Philippians and to you.
“[From] Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, [ministers included]. 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in [proclaiming God’s Message] from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the [God] who began a good work in you will continue to complete[c] it until the day [God’s realm on earth is fulfilled]. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart,[d] for all of you are my partners in God’s grace,[e] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what really matters, … (Phil 1:1-9)
He goes on to write, as Marlene read, something that I find a bit funny: “If then there is any encouragement, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete; be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord…” Rephrased: If you have had any good experience in your faith, if you’ve been changed or softened at all by what you’ve heard from me…for God’s sake please be of the same mind and get along.
I stumble a bit on ‘be of the same mind’. These days we celebrate free thought and individualism sometimes almost to a fault – people often reject the insights of doctors, scientists, pharmacists saying they’ll do their own research. But without going to that extreme, none of us want to be told we must think the same way as everyone else. Even today, the people joining the church had choices as to the vows they would make, as to how they would express their faith. What Paul is asking for, pleading for, is not a lock step way of thinking or adherence to a particular doctrine. He is asking that the members of the congregation, as part of the body of Christ, also share the mind of Christ. The Way of Christ. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus: who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself,…and became obedient even to the point of death.” (Phil 2:6-8)
Being of one mind means setting our sights of the Way of Christ, on the way of love and compassion and grace. How we walk that path varies as much as the personality of each of you in this room. How we live, how we move through the day, where we place our time and our commitments, how we behave says much more about what we believe than any creed or doctrine. And yet we are encouraged to use as our plumb line, our way of telling right from wrong, the mind of Christ. The Way of Love.
On the day of Pentecost, we remember that the Holy Spirit poured on to each one of us the capacity to walk in the Way of the holy onto each one of us. On this day when we also welcome new members into the congregation, we all are reminded of who we are in faith, and how we are committed to be together on that Way: not in a crowded cluster, but in the unity of our hearts and minds set on the dreams of God for all Creation.
Paul writes: “I will know you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.” The faith of the gospel, the Message of God, is not only about a call for our faith in God, but an affirmation of God’s faith in us. The faith of the gospel is about a mutual relationship of faith based in love. God has faith in us to ‘shine like stars in the world’. To shine, graced by the strength of God, like stars in a world crying out for light.
Let’s be clear, the people of Philippi were no saints. They were people who struggled with their faith and struggled to live with the same mind just as we do today. They were ordinary people struck by the extraordinary message that Paul brought to them – the extraordinary news that they were beloved and valued by God. Hear now the final words of that scroll, that letter, that email to God’s people: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen [in me] and the God of peace will be with you.”
As it shall be with you.
Thanks be to Paul, and to the God he preached. Amen