Based on Haggai 2:6-9, 2Thessalonians 2:1-4, Luke 20:27, 34-38
The veterinarians that I have used ever since our dog Hope came to live with me named their business the “Madison Companion Animal Hospital”. I find the name to be descriptive because I got our dog to be a companion to me – to keep me company, when I was living most of the week alone in a parsonage in Madison County. I found that I needed another being in my life to help me navigate my time living apart from the rest of my family who were still up in Arlington. I needed a companion to care for and who would care for me as well. A being to interact with and learn to love – and one that could return love back to me. Hope has been a great companion over the last 8 years, and not just for me, but for the whole family.
Companions come in all shapes and sizes, don’t they? I have friends who have accompanied me since I was five years old. Lucinda has dear companions who have shared a profession and their lives for almost 50 years. God’s thinking on our need for companions is clear from Genesis 2:18 where God said, “…It is not good for the human to be alone….” We all know that it is not good for any of us to be alone – we all need someone to share our lives. A companion who is trustworthy, supportive, empathic, respectful and loving, with whom it is easy to connect and communicate, who has a good sense of humor and who shares many of our interests.
We who believe in God also have an ever-present spiritual companion. Our God is the companion who has abided with countless generations of believers. God our companion shares our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our dreams, supports us in challenging times, and provides comfort and consolation, wisdom and guidance, strength and peace. God also created for us a community of others who share faith – the Body of Christ now more than 2 billion people strong across our world – companions in mission and ministry.
Our scripture readings today speak to us about our companion God. The God who did not abandon Adam and Eve is the God who did not abandon the people of the Babylonian Exile. In the verses just before our reading from Haggai today, God states clearly, “’…Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you…This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit is among you. Do not fear….’” God goes on to state God’s promises to make them great again once they rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple complex.
The letter we know as 2Thessalonians is possibly written by the Apostle Paul, but this is disputed. However, it is written in the style of Paul to the believers who are suffering persecutions. They were concerned that Jesus had come again and that they had missed it. The writer corrects this misconception and lets them know to be wary of “the man of lawlessness” who will proclaim himself to be God. This is an imposter who our companion God will overthrow when Jesus comes again in glory. The writer is implying to them that they will know when Jesus comes back because they are connected to him and that he will never abandon them.
The Temple leaders are continuing to try to trap or trick Jesus into saying something errant so that they can arrest him. Jesus has just stumped them with his answer to whether or not to pay taxes to Ceasar Augustus. He now moves on to answer a trick question from some Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection. They ask him a question about a woman who marries seven brothers consecutively. The question is whose wife is she when the resurrection comes? Jesus answers that to God everyone is always alive – even when they die an earthly death. God is our companion from the moment of conception onward. For as Professor Nick Petersen notes, “…What makes someone alive is not biological function or social recognition but relationship with the living God....”
This is what it means to live each day in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. That through God’s loving companionship we are all connected across space and time. That’s what our companion God wants us to understand, that we’re all family and that nothing can ever break that bond. To understand that all the blessings that God brings to us need to be shared with all of our neighbors. When we experience God’s love for us in our lives we can’t help but love God back and then share that love with others. When God cares for us through thick and thin, then we can’t help but care for the hurting people in our community as well. That community is not just our congregation or for the members of our Charge, but the greater community all around our churches.
Professor Petersen continues, “…Our practices of communal care are not merely social work, they are modeling resurrection kinship in the here and now. They demonstrate what it looks like when the organizing principle is God’s parentage - not paternity, maternity, or economic standing. When neighbors feed the block, they aren’t just being nice; they are embodying a spiritual imperative that [n eschatological vision]: all God’s children eat.
The goal of Christian [Black] kinship is not to model relationships that appear successful in this age but to live into the eternal truth of God’s parentage. This is an invitation to care for those whose being this world forecloses on - by modeling, even imperfectly, what it means to be children of God. In resurrection, we learn that divine kinship exceeds every logic of ownership, exploitation, and death that organizes society. Christian [Black] communities practicing this kinship become witnesses to what resurrection looks like when we organize around not this age’s logic but the radical claim that in God, we are all family….”
We are a family that is unconditionally loved by God and is asked to learn to do the same to all our brothers and sisters – all the fellow children of God. The world as a whole is in crisis right now because we do not recognize some humans as children of God – children whom God companions just like we are companioned by God. Julian Hartt writes: “…We have a great and desperate need for the gospel. The power of that word is not in utterance but in concrete life. The power of the word is that real, transcendently righteous and creative love. That alone is the power which can place us in solid and productive relationship to the real world. Hence, while the church has an utterance to make, sermons to preach, hymns to sing, and prayers to offer, above all it has a life to share….”
That sharing of our lives is the essence of our call to companionship. It is a call for all of us – not just the Pastor, not just the Lay Leader or Council Chair, not just the active or retired health professionals in the congregation. We are all gifted and called to companion as God companions us. In our companioning each other we discover just how essential relationships are for our Christian journey. Companionship enhances our spiritual lives and serves as a profound reminder of God’s love for us and abiding presence with us. We realize that we are not meant to walk alone; instead, we are called to engage with one another, offering support, love, and encouragement. Whether through our pets, friendships, community and shared mission, or our shared love for God, companionship sustains us. Therefore, let us seek to companion each other and our greater community in ways that reflect the mind and heart of Jesus - creating strong and resilient bonds that reflect Christ’s love.
As we navigate our lives, let’s remember to actively invest in these relationships, affirming each other through times of joy and hardship. Let us be willing companions who share our joys as well as our sorrows, our needs as well as our strengths, the fullness of our lives as well as our fellowship. Through the presence of God’s grace at the center of our companioning, we will help each other grow in love, understanding and forgiveness. May we strive to live out these actions every day, cultivating a robust community that glorifies God as we journey through life together.
Ultimately, let us appreciate the beautiful gift that is God our faithful companion and the unique ways that God has woven our lives together. As faith-filled and loving companions, we can realize how to live out Jesus’ two Great Commandments of loving God with all that we have and all that we are and lovingly companioning all of the children of God as God companions us. May God’s grace make it so, amen!