The
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, tells
the 2nd Chapter of Philippians this way:
Walking
the Road Together – As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained
from him courage for the journey? Have you found comfort in his love? Do you
share together in his Spirit? Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart?
If so, then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together
in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. This will make my heart leap
for joy.
The
Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian community of faith. There is no doubt
in the telling from the First Nations Version that the letter is to a group. Have
the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit.
Walk side by side on one path. Or as we heard from the NRSV: be of the
same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind; let the
same mind be in you.
Those
who are grammar oriented probably balked at the opening line printed on the
bulletin:
What
gratitudes are in OUR heart this am? It was written this way to describe a
collective heart: my sense of gratitude is not
mine alone, the items for which I am thankful are also items others are
thankful for; we bear each others gratitude, our collective heart offers thanksgiving
together. This collective heart of gratitude (encompassing individual gratitudes)
is evidenced in the singing and swelling of hymns, voices weave and sound grows,
and the joint expression turns the air to joy. Gratitude interconnected and inseparable.
In
writing his letter, Paul uses the Greek word phronesis- which in English is
often translated ‘be of one mind.’ Be of one mind- only kind of gets at the power
of this word. Phronesis is not a word used in relation to an individual.
Phronesis is a property or ability that is created within community -one mind-
and is defined as ‘the wisdom of knowing what to do.’
This
is a unique gift that faith communities have. When you look at the world where
does one experience a place where with others phronesis is created – one mind,
one heart? At school board meetings, town councils, legislative assemblies, the
House of Parliament, NATO, the UN? – maybe not as much as we would hope.
Phronesis
is used twice in Phil.2:2 and is the active verb in verse 5-11; which has been
called the Christ Hymn, a poem that describes Christ – not as a sole individual-
but with phronesis, with God, people, creation.
Let
the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus, who though he existed in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God, as something to be grasped, but
emptied himself…
Paul’s
letter directs the community’s collective heart to the core of its being. The centre
from where comes power and healing and wholeness; courage, comfort, love, tenderness,
and mercy. When you come into the sanctuary, in fact in most Lutheran churches,
the centre focus -front and centre you will see a cross. When altars were
against the front wall, a large brass cross sat on a stepped stand or shelf on
the altar. In remodels – like here- the cross was kept central in a new design,
here the altar cross was affixed to a large wooden one. Our collective heart -gratitudes
in our heart- begin in the phronesis of God/Jesus/Spirit. We are who we are as
a faith community because we are embraced into and whelmed by the phronesis within
God’s self, who works redemption and salvation in one mind –meaning continued
through ‘one mind’ created and practiced in faith community; a community attuned
to the cross and emptying themself.
What
I appreciate most about this passage from Philippians is that it addresses the present
struggle congregations have when they discuss what to do with their sanctuaries.
Congregations talk about their sanctuaries and the feeling they get when being
in the worship space. Consider for a moment the feeling you have when you step
inside this space;
when
you step inside a little country church, or a magnificent cathedral.
The
air is different. The light or the smell is different. Sound changes.
Paul’s
words to the Philippians identifies this intangible, unmeasurable substance of
faith community. It is phronesis - (Ancient) wisdom created and gained over
time –a group of people of ‘one mind’ working out saving paths together (for
they are of one mind and heart with Christ) and together discern faithfulness
and together know how to act especially when face with in complex and confusing
situations. From generation to generation, this phronesis seeps into the walls,
into the wood, into the air. … into our
hearts … one heart.
That’s
what I feel in this space.
Sadly,
I have experienced a church or two, where the sanctuary was cold – not because
they had turned the heat down to save fuel costs- but cold as in empty of joy,
void of love and compassion, disjointed and only going through the motions of
worship. In these cases, the congregation was about the Pastor’s ego, or a singular
person or two who used money or influence or bullied their way to attention. The
phronesis within God’s self, the focus of the cross, and the working out of
salvation through faithful community – being of one mind- was missing, lost
along the way.
As
our morning shifts from worship to discerning next directions for this
congregation and this place of worship, let us return to the questions asked in
the First Nations Version:
As
you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the
journey?...
Have you found comfort in his love? … Do you
share together in his Spirit? … Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart?...
If
so, No because this
is so - then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together
in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. May this phronesis guide Our
heart, Our conversation, Our gratitude.
And,
this will make Our heart leap for joy.
And
Our tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God!
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