The Book of Relationships

Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20; 2 Cor. 13:5-14

Today is a very special day for all of us in Dundee. Today is Graduation Sunday. Its a day in which our young people and their family and friends will begin a new phase of life. It is a time when some of our graduates will complete their school days, while others will be going on with their education this fall. In any case, whether it be work or school, relationships will be changing. You graduates will have a different relationship with your parents. You will no longer be the school kid living at home. Rather you will be seen as an adult in the world. For some of you, you will not be the college kid who comes home ever so often, but, rather you will be seen as an adult who is ready for a place in the work force. Parents and friends, these young people will need space to try their hand at life and cannot be over protected.

Yes, today is a day marked by changing relationships. And relationships are complex, at times demanding, frustrating, and challenging . . . sometimes they bring joy, sometimes sorrow and tears. Learning to let go or learning to be on your own and trusting your own gut feeling can be frightening, as well as a thrill and a challenge.

There will be some relationships you will want to maintain, as well as some relationships you will want to establish. Each means a commitment to a continual adaptation on your part and with the others involved. Happiness in relationships always means some kind of compromising. And, in order for the relationships we have to work, we must sometimes willingly give up part of ourselves, our desires, our independence, in order to ensure the future of the relationship. All earthly creations, whether biological or relational, entire ecosystems or your own household, exist because some individual concessions have been made in order to support the whole. Life is a world of give and take. And, as you leave school you will be in the world of give and take.

Now, there are some persons who think they can escape relationships and the time and challenge they involve. But, this is not true. We, as God's creatures, are relating all the time, even when we don't know it. Think of the Genesis scripture lesson. We are a part of creation. Our bodies are even hosts to millions of live bacteria and micro organisms.

For example: "On any given acre of land -- let's take some part of the forest of Michigan -- the human animal is outnumbered by other animals by about 125 million to one. According to estimates of the biologists who calculate these things, there figure to be about 50,000 vertebrates making their homes on such a one-acre parcel -- toads, turtles, snakes and other reptiles; rodents, squirrels, possums, raccoons and other mammals; robins, sparrows, woodpeckers, crows and other birds; plus fish and frogs and assorted amphibians. In addition there are some 124 million other animals -- invertebrates -- sharing that same turf, including 89 million mites, 28 million collembolans, 662,000 ants, 388,000 millipedes, 372,000 spiders, 90,000 earthworms, 45,000 termites, 19,000 snails, and a large number of various other crawling things, not including protozoa. And that says nothing about the vegetable life that may be found within that acre, from the trees and vines to the bacteria, molds and actinomycetes, altogether amounting to some 5,000 pounds worth of plant life, roughly 37 times the weight of the average human individual."

So even when we think we aren't relating, we are.

So how do we get through life the best way with all the relationships we will form and change and end?

Some unchurched people have recently discovered an amazing ancient text. They have found it filled with real-life problems and interpersonal situations so complex and involved and messy and challenging that they can apply what they read to their own lives. Its a remarkable book, filled with love stories, war stores, stores of hatred, family problems, stories of lust and sex, ecology, fortune telling, stories about the future, integrity, and suicide and death. It is a book with a remarkable collection of wisdom and guidance for the 21st century living. It has been called "The Book of Relationships". We call it the Bible.

Again and again throughout the centuries, the stories of this "book of relationships" demonstrate that establishing communion with another entails sacrifice and sometimes real suffering. Abraham left his homeland and all he knew in order to be in relationship with God. Moses gave up the false but safe identity of Egyptian royalty in order to be in relationship with his true people, the Hebrews. David gave up his dream of seeing the temple completed, for the sake of righting his relationship with God and raising the standard of his successor-son Solomon. The prophets Jeremiah, Hosea and Elisha gave up respectability and reputation in order to bring a saving word to Israel and to her relationship to God.

In the New Testament, Paul gave up his hatred and anger at the Christians to be in relationship with Jesus the Christ. The disciples gave up their safe, established lifestyles to be in relationship with their living Lord. Later they gave up their lives to stay in relationship with the risen and reigning Christ. But no one in all of human history has given up as much for the sake of being "in relationship" as God, who in order to constantly renew the relationship with men and women, "became man, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, was buried, and on the third day rose again in accordance with the Scriptures."

Now, I know you've been in school for a long time and you've had to read many books and take many tests and write many papers. So, probably the last thing that you think you want or need is another book! But this book is the book for your life. It is a book that will never become outdated. It will guide and help you as you live your life to the best of your ability, finding your way to your hopes and dreams. And God the Creator, Jesus Christ the Savior, and the Holy Spirit the Comforter and Guide, will be with you to inspire you and direct you. Trust in this. I have never found this to be bad advice.

Congratulations on your special day and may God bless you.

Amen.