Rev. Chris Snow
North Hill Christian Church
February 5, 2023
Matthew 7:1-14, 24-29
At the moment, if someone were to come into our living room, one of the first things they would notice is the vast assortment of blocks taking up space around the room. Wooden blocks, and various sizes of interconnecting blocks. You see, Ruth has been at the developmental stage of figuring out how to build things. Often surprising us with some tall and skinny towers that shoot up in the middle of the room, and then subsequently crash down whether on purpose or by accident.
But this ability to build didn’t come without challenges early on. Ruth had to figure out the best place to build, and how to lay the foundation that would support the whole structure. She had to learn that a wobbly surface was not a good place to start, nor on a pile of pillows or blankets. Rather the ideal spot was right on the wood floors, using the large rectangular blocks to form that early foundation.
As I look back on Ruth’s learning process with her blocks, along side today’s text, I can’t help but be taken back to those classes on Christian Education. Learning theories on how people learn from simple concepts to, as they develop their faith, into more complex ideas of who we are in relation to God and others. But those early concepts are so very important. They lay the foundation for all that is to come…if we remember them and embody them.
I have grown up going to church camps and vacation bible schools, to then becoming a leader in one way or another in these ministries in which we seek to teach the youth and children the basics of our faith in a short amount of time; I get tired of teaching the same scriptures year after year. Forgetting that the texts we often rely upon in those settings are the same texts that laid the foundation for our faith. As I am reminded of that, I have to recognize my frustrations with using the same texts year after year, has to do with me getting bored teaching it in the same way year after year. Wanting to move into some more complex concepts of understanding scripture. But first we have to lay the foundation, upon which those more complex building blocks can rest.
This week we are at the end of the Sermon on the mount as Matthew has organized it. A collection of saying that are fairly straight forward and simple concepts. For the most part they are not confusing or requiring great amount of research to get the idea that Jesus is trying to get across. That is until the last section, which is an indication of what is yet to come. In verses 24-27 we have what could be understood as the first parable in Matthew’s gospel. The parable of the wise and foolish men who build their houses either on rock or sand.
Within the context of the sermon on the mount I can’t help but see Jesus teaching those who he saw as the future teachers. I have given you the foundation in the simple statements that I have shared with you. Those things that shall become for you the foundation of what I am about to teach you in more complex terms, that you will also use as the foundations of what you will teach the people.
When we think about those things that serve as the base foundation of our faith what do we think of? The golden rule “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the law and the prophets.” (7:12) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. (Granted that one comes after the sermon on the mount.)
We can even make things more simple than that. On our sign I have placed “God is Love.” A statement that I believe we can affirm is at the most basic level the foundation of our faith. But here is the rub…sometimes we forget that foundational piece of who we are called to be.
On the side of the building of Webster Groves Christian Church, where I served as an intern during seminary, there was carved into the stone wall these words, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials: liberty; in all things, charity.” It was a statement that I saw every time I walked into the that building, whether I was to go into the offices, or towards the sanctuary. In some ways it became a constant reminder of what we are meant to do as the body of Christ. But there was an issue…You only saw that statement if you knew which doors you were supposed to enter. There were no signs of where the main doors were, while there were roughly a dozen different exterior doors that you could enter, all around the building, and about half of those faced a section of the parking lot.
But that carving was situated where the congregation understood the main doors to be located. And the only way a visitor would see it is if someone showed them the way. The only way it could become a constant reminder is if we continued to follow that path. If we were intentional about how we came to church. If we were intentional about how we developed in our faith.
As we grow and develop our faith we have options. We have options of what we lay at the foundation. We have options of what stones or blocks we lay down and tend to as we seek to build up the structure that embodies our faith. But sometimes as we lean a bit less into the emphasis of God’s love, that stone can become a bit loose, much like those ideal blocks in the game of Jenga. When looking for that loose block to remove, sometimes we pull out that which is the foundation of our faith, leading to a cascading of falling blocks.
Sometimes, as the storms of life are raging around us, we need to go back and tend to those foundational blocks. Those stones that we have affirmed are the foundation of our faith and who we understand God to be. Sometimes, we need to return to those stories, narratives, and affirmations to remember who it is that has called us and how we have chosen to respond. Sometimes it requires us returning to those simple statements of our faith, to re-secure those foundation stones in place, so that the rest of our faith may once me become solid.