Exceptions to the Rules

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
Romans 13: 8 - 10, Rev. Marianne Niesen, September 7, 2008

 

Do you remember the last time you learned how to play a new game? It might have been a card game or a board game or game of physical activity. Very likely, as you got started, you learned the basic the rules of play. But, typically, early on - whether you knew all the rules or not, you were encouraged to just "start playing" because, of course, "the best way to learn is to do." So . . . you did. And all went along quite smoothly until, just when you thought you hand the ‘hang’ of it, you made a play and someone said no, no! You can’t do that! But the rules say, you protested. Right, they responded - and then came the crucial word - except for . . . "Except" is that little word that heralds for us all the inevitable next step in learning. Knowing the rules is good but it is not enough. In some ways, the more important thing to learn is typically the exception to the rules.

Or, consider another example - our language. They say English is one of the most difficult languages to learn precisely because there are so many exceptions to the rules. For example, you make a noun plural by adding ‘s’ to the end of the word. That is, except when the word ends in ‘y’ at which point you change the ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es.’ That works except in certain cases like with the word ‘boy’ or ‘toy’ when you just add the ‘s.’ Or, remember . . . "I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in neighbor and weigh." I still use that little ‘ditty’ at times when I’m stuck on a word. Or . . .the letter ‘q’ is always followed by ‘u’ except when it isn’t. Avid Scrabble players have learned that there is a ‘u-less’ word ‘qat.’ (A very handy exception!) Or . . . the definite article ‘the’ is not used to precede the names of countries except in the case of The Netherlands and The United States of America - but France and England and India and Korea and Japan all stand on their own! The indefinite article ‘a’ precedes a word that begins with a consonant and ‘an’ precedes a word beginning with a vowel except when the phonetic pronunciation of a word dictates otherwise. For example, we say ‘a user’ and ‘an honest person.’

Those of us who are native speakers of English negotiate most of these rules and exceptions rather smoothly in our daily lives. Still, I would imagine each of us has stumbled a time or two and found ourselves embarrassed by our mis-use of a word or by a grammatical error. It’s also true that we judge the fluency of a non-native speaker by how well they know not just the rules but the exceptions. On our recent trip to Europe, we had guides in both Barcelona and Livorno, Italy. Both of them were remarkable in their command of the English language. They were fluent. As I thought about it, I realized that their fluency had as much to do with how well they knew the exceptions to the rules as it did with how well they knew basic grammar and pronunciation. Exceptions are essential to know. In games and life.

Paul in his letter to the Romans didn’t speak English. He spoke Greek but, more than that, he spoke Jesus. He was a speaker and a live-er of the Christian life. Before it was a church with a hierarchy and a book of law, Christianity was a lived experience. There were already laws, of course - and Paul referred to them . . . you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not covet. But then he made a most remarkable statement . . . the laws you know and all the other commandments are summed up in one word love.

Now, folks, I know it is dangerous to disagree with St. Paul. Still, I don’t for a moment think that all law is summed up - then or now - in the word love. Some laws, maybe - but all? Nice and noble as it might sound, I don’t think he’s right on that. In fact, I would suggest that a good many of our laws can be summed up in the word protection. Laws protect citizens from bad behavior on the part of others or, sometimes, even themselves. And, many of our most oppressive- and least effective - laws are summed up in the word fear. And that is not just a symptom of the modern world. It was true in Paul’s day as well. Don’t get me wrong. Laws are indeed important. Just as rules make a language understandable and a game playable so does the rule of law make a country liveable and safe. There is a place for law. But, no matter how lofty the purpose, I think Paul was just plain wrong when he said that all law was summed up in the word love. So what was Paul getting at? What did he mean - and what does it mean for us?

First, we need to know that Paul wrote to Jewish and Gentile Christians who were sharing a rather uneasy community in Rome. Jewish Christians had one background, Gentile Christians another. They were undoubtedly suspicious of each other and probably a bit fearful of each other. Yet, despite their different backgrounds, beliefs and values, once they were Christian, they were supposed to live together and be followers of the Jesus way. Was that to include the law of the Torah - which after all was the law of Jesus? Of course, said the Jewish Christians! But we don’t know that law, protested the Gentile Christians. That makes us better than you, said the Jewish Christians. But we aren’t tainted by your history and we have learned our faith directly from Paul, the apostle, said the Gentile Christians defensively. Of course, we don’t know the exact conversations and arguments but it probably went something like that. It is always hard for people to live together. We are perpetually suspicious of one another and, too often, we think the worst. And many times the worst happens and so we make laws to protect ourselves. Paul knew all that - and had probably heard tell of some specific outbreaks of fearsome squabbles between the Roman Christians.

So he responded. Paul reminded those who called themselves Christian - whatever their background - that for the follower of Jesus, while the law was important, there was one major exception to all law. Love. If they were to live and speak ‘Christian’ they needed to know not just the rules but the exception as well. Love. It was not a mushy-gushy-cushy-feely-thing for Paul, it was an action. Christians were to act lovingly no matter what. For them, love was the exception to all the rules. Jew or Gentile, love was the trump card. In other words, to be a Christian was, in a sense, like learning to speak a foreign language or play a new and incredibly important game. There were rules, to be sure, but there was always that one major exception. Treat all people with love. No matter what.

There were great divisions in that day. Paul himself identified them most clearly in his letter to the Galatians . . . Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free. There were civil and religious laws regulating how the game of life was to be played among those players. However, no matter what the laws dictated, Paul directed Christians to live with an accent . . . the accent of love. In other words, love did not sum up the law. It was the exception to the law. Owe no one anything except to love. And the only way to learn it was to do it - just like we learn anything else. And the best place to start was at home. Paul challenged the diverse Christians of Rome to begin with themselves. Despite their serious differences of background and belief, they were challenged specifically with this . . . if you are a Christian, you will not do wrong to your neighbor. Love starts there - not with feeling but with doing.

Today is our ‘homecoming’ day. Today we celebrate our coming back together after the activities and travels of the summer months. Downstairs, in the Fellowship Hall, there are tables set up with information about all the fall activities available for getting involved. At the 11:00 service, we welcome our choir back. At the 8:30 service, we are continuing to encourage the start of a new choir just for that service. Soon our Wednesday night dinners will begin again. Our Mission Team is seriously working on a mission trip to Africa. Our Church and Society group is gearing up to begin the shower ministry. Our children will begin church school next week. Our youth group begins their activities and a Confirmation class is just getting started. We have some great classes for adults. We’ll be offering the Amazing Grace class for those of you who are new and want to check out what it might mean to be a member of St. Paul’s. Our acclaimed St. Paul’s Lecture series is just one month away and the title Politics for the Progressive Christian is an intriguing one. In the end, the hope we have for that event is to help faithful Christians who may disagree on issues, find ways to talk to one another without hurting each other. We can do better than engage in the name calling and vitriolic rhetoric that so characterizes the political climate of our nation. I am convinced that the church is the best place for us to learn how to live together - but only if we learn the rules and the Christian exception to the rules. .

And so - on this Welcome Home Sunday I remind us all that, at St. Paul’s as followers of Jesus, we are welcomed home to a church that dares take seriously Paul’s challenge to become fluent in Christianity. That means becoming an exceptional church committed to learning how to embrace the exceptionally difficult exception to the rules. Let’s face it - the divisions in the Christian community are every bit as serious and as big today as they were in Jesus’ day. The divisions of gender, race, culture, religion, politics, economics, sexual orientation - are real. And there are very real differences on what the rules are. But, I am convinced that if we don’t practice love and respect here, we’ll never get it right out there. Rules are fine but our future depends on how well we learn and live the exceptional Christian challenge to love. In fact, I think that’s what Paul meant when he said that the law was summed up in love. The faithful Christian was to make that true!

So, today, I challenge us to be exceptional, committed to the way of Jesus and the vision of Paul. Let’s be more concerned with doing the right thing than with doing things right, owing no one anything, except to love one another. It is a radical path that will challenge the very fiber of life as we know it. But we’re here because a small community of Romans worked at it and kept the vision alive - learning the rules and living the exception.

So welcome back . . . together, let’s become fluent in living and proclaiming an exceptional Christianity!