"Walking the Walk" - I John 1:1-2:2 - April 23, 2006

My wife and I like to take walks. When we walk we generally have meaningful conversations since we are free of distractions. When we walk there is no television, no phones ringing, or awareness of chores to do around the house. For us it creates an opportunity to listen to each other and to share things on a deeper level. Walking can be therapeutic, strengthen a relationship and good exercise.

In I John the unidentified author is speaking to the early church. They were struggling with the embryonic stages of Christianity. Unfortunately there was much conflict and they needed some guidelines and assurance. They were having difficulty finding their way, thus they were "walking in darkness." They needed light to find their way and so the author offers them the following lessons.

To walk in darkness means to be estranged from God. We live as though God is not relevant. We stumble and fall because we cannot see where we are going. We may live in denial, believing that we don’t need to make any improvements or adjustments in our lives. Or, we have our priorities out of order. God wants us to come out of the darkness. God wants us to see clearly, both ourselves and the world in which we live. To accomplish that we have to "walk in the light."

The early church was told that to walk in the light meant that their Christianity required fellowship. "We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ." The Greek word for fellowship is koinonia. Fellowship is a common theme in the New Testament, a major tenet of what it means to be the Church.

On our walks, my wife and I pass by several homes of people in our congregation. There are times when we stop and visit (fellowship) with them. Because we are connected through the church we experience a warmth and openness that we don’t experience with other folks we encounter on our walks. We have a special bond with folks in the congregation and our faith is strengthened when we are in fellowship with each other.

The word, fellowship, can also me partnership. It implies sharing and exchanging resources. In Acts, chapter 2:44-45 it reads (concerning the birth of the church) "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."

To walk in the light of God is to share. Last Sunday afternoon our family was together for Easter. We had finished our dinner and my three-year-old granddaughter wanted desert. Her mother gave her a cupcake and she looked at it and said, "I can’t eat this by myself." I said to her, "Do you want to share with grandpa?" Without hesitation, or even taking a bite out of the cupcake she put it in my mouth, so I could have the first bite." I was totally amazed at her willingness to share without taking the first bite for herself.

I realize that I hold a special place in her life. But for a three-year-old to share without even thinking about it is highly unusual. When we put ourselves first, or when we stockpile things and fail to share with others we are walking in darkness. Perhaps my granddaughter has learned the meaning of sharing in her preschool. It’s that kind of generous spirit that is motivated by the light of God.

Secondly, we walk in the light when we are open and honest about our "sins." The early church was instructed that confession of sins is also essential. "If we say that we have no sins, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

For me, this too has to do with sharing. Besides sharing our resources with each other, we are to share our shortcomings, our doubts, our feelings and our pain. I don’t see it as just listing our faults and mistakes. I see it as admitting our humanness, our mortality, our infallibility. In other words, we express our questions and doubts. We recognize we are helpless and vulnerable and therefore dependent on God.

President Harry Truman had a reputation for having never been sly or disloyal in his life. He stood by a friend even when he risked public ridicule for it. One of Truman’s friends from his army days was Jim Pendergast, whose uncle Tom was the head of the democratic party in Kansas City. Jim and his dad urged Truman to run for office, a judgeship in rural Jackson County. A year later Truman did so, and with Pndergast’s support, he won the election. As judge, Truman didn’t always agree with Pendergast’s practices. Unfortunately, Pendergast’s penchant for horse racing caused him to be investigated for income tax evasion. He confessed, was fined, and was sentenced to serve fifteen months in a federal prison. When Pendergast died during Truman’s vice-presidency, Truman didn’t hesitate to fly to Kansas City for the funeral. "He was always my friend," Truman said, "And, I will always be his." (from God’s Little Devotional Book for Teens, Honor Books)

I believe this is the kind of relationship the author of I John was speaking of when he told the early church to confess their sins to each other. The church is strengthened when we stand by one another, even when we make mistakes. My experience over the years has been that people in the church fade away when something goes wrong. They leave because they are embarrassed or others make them feel guilty instead of supporting them through a difficult time. When we support each other through those times when someone stumbles we are walking in the light.

As a community of faith, we walk in the light when we practice forgiveness. That makes us unique as a group of people in society and keeps us connected to the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is in the forgiveness business: A man’s shirts were dirty and needed to go to the cleaners. He threw the shirts into the trunk of his car and promptly forgot about them. He also forgot when he changed a flat tire the week before that he had left the jack lying loose in the trunk. Several days passed and the man remembered his shirts and took them to the cleaners. When he opened the trunk to get the shirts out, they not only had the normal dirtiness but were also streaked by the grease from the jack. They were a mess.

When he walked into the cleaners with his dirty shirts, he began to apologize for bringing in such filthy clothes. The young lady at the desk broke in abruptly and said, "Don’t apologize. That’s why we are here. If you could take care of them yourself, you wouldn’t need us." (from Homiletics, April 2006)

We depend on God for forgiveness. At the same time God wants us to forgive each other. A forgiving congregation is one that walks in the light of God.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio