The 4th Sunday in Lent, Year B You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:1-10 NRSV) And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." (John 3:14-21 NRSV) “THE WORLD? THE WORLD!” Belonging to a group is a basic human need. There are all sorts of groups in the world, large to small, formed by people with a common purpose, or common interest, or common origin, or common beliefs or ideals, or a common identity. They vary as widely as Kiwanis to bowling leagues to Sons of Norway to political parties. Sometimes these groups arise naturally as when those sharing a hobby get together or when people from a certain part of the world move and settle in a new place together. Sometimes the people can be different in almost every way except the one that they share. Sometimes they are alike in almost every area of their lives. They might have all grown up together. Sometimes, though, very different people come together without any prior connection and form a tightly knit group. The story of one such group has recently been told. “E” Easy Company, the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the Army, has been described first in the book by Stephen Ambrose and then as a 10-episode miniseries for television. It was impressively done. They run it occasionally. I have seen a few episodes. One quick note from what I saw, there are a few scenes and some dialogue that are not rated PG. It follows a group of soldiers, as realistically as possible, from their basic training in Georgia to D-Day to liberation of Carentan and the siege of Bastogne, to the liberation of a concentration camp, and they were the first to enter Hitler’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgarten. It shows their part of the effort to stop evil and set the world right. But it not only the story of the action one group of men saw in WWII; it is the story of how the men from all over the country, with very different backgrounds, formed one unit in that war, in which they fought the enemy together and fought for each other. They left their homes to find one in each other. It shows their triumphs and losses, their joys and their sorrows. The name of both the book and TV series is “Band of Brothers” which is taken from Shakespeare’s play Henry V. King Henry is outnumbered by the French on the eve of St. Crispin’s day and gives a speech to his men. This is a part: From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; Such is the character of those tied together. Even the lowest of them, by fighting together becomes the brother of the king. But enough with Shakespeare. That is where the title comes from. “Band of Brothers” tells the story of great WWII heroism and camaraderie, but even in it there are hints of how it does not always work, as when one of their buddies is wounded and comes back from the hospital and then is not accepted back into the unit because he did not suffer as they suffered at Bastogne. And in spring of 1945 the replacements that come are not welcomed. They had not been together from the start. When a group draws together tightly, people can be excluded if they have not shared in the experience or values. The Gospel reading is the familiar words, maybe too familiar. God the Father sent Jesus into the world to save it. We hear again that God loved the world. Not one little corner of it, not just the people who think like we think, not just our family and friends. God loves the whole world. God’s purposes and love are bigger than ours. God loved the world and did something about it. That is why God sent the Son into it. All the things that we think make up community pale in comparison to this. It is faith in Jesus which either makes a person part of the community or not part of the community. It is like a bright light which either you turn to or run from. This is a community across the ages and across the globe with only one thing in common—faith in Jesus. It is faith in Jesus that gives us eternal life, makes us one, makes us brothers and sisters. For a long time now, this passage from the Gospel of John has been used in many places to call people to join churches. It is used as a means of invitation. There are those who think that churches are to be tightly-knit communities and they are right. We share a mission to promote the gospel. We share many views and an identity. We come together to support one another. But we also have to ask the question of whether others are shut out when we come together. Do we understand God’s love which is given to us is to be shared or think it is to be hoarded? In Ephesians, we are given another version is this idea. Do we earn our place in the kingdom? Paul talks about how the gospel and faith has given them life, has taken them from what they were, dead because of their sins, going through the world completely unaware, slaves to the lower passions of life. Even in that state God loved them and had mercy on them and us. And God made us, like them, alive with Christ. We have been saved by God’s grace, by God’s gift. It is not through our greatness that this happens. We are not loved because of what we have done; we are loved despite what we have done. And so we have nothing to boast about except God’s greatness. We have no great superiority we can claim. And anyone else has the same way of belonging. Does what we do invite others to join us or turn them away? Are we a part of this community of faith because we are better than others? No, it is given to us as a gift. If we understand this, then others should be welcomed on the same basis. Places can become closed off without really intending to. Gina Bridgman’s eyes were opened when at the library and she picked up a book on the architecture of houses in America. She found that one of the earliest design elements was the porch, connecting the house to nature and the world outside. The tall stone structure of castles are designed to keep the world out, the porch welcomes the world to the front door of a house. She thought of the “front porch people” she’s met, whose ways invite others to get acquainted. It’s too easy to smile and say Good morning, without much thought behind it in a Sunday-morning service. We should be giving others a genuine welcome. The porch is not only the place where people see us. It is not only the place where we talk to those we know well. It is where we can invite them in. We welcome others on the basis on which we ourselves are welcomed, God’s love. We long for closeness. Closeness gives much joy and meaning to our lives. The danger of closeness in groups is that it can turn from including others, especially strangers, to excluding them and just staying around each other. We remember God’s invitation. It is for the whole world, it is for those who have faith to join God’s family. It is an invitation to belong to a community formed by God and serving God’s purposes. When we find that for ourselves, it is life’s greatest blessing. And it is a reminder that it is to be shared with others so that they can find a home. For God so loved the world. For God so loved us.