Sunday, May 13, 2007
“Salute Our Women”
Text: Romans 16: 1 – 3
Today message is the final part of a two part series designed to provide a response to our women’s month theme: Union Women: United in Spirit, Strength and Service. Why, because they are gifts from God.
My objective is to outline seven characteristics of Women who are Gift from God. Last Sunday we identified four of those characteristics that where found in the Old Testament personality of Mrs. Job: forceful, frugal, faithful, and fruitful.
In saluting our women, our mothers, the text informs us that it is proper to salute them with a holy kiss. A holy kiss is a philos sign. It’s an endearing symbolic touching of cheeks that communicates that our minds, hearts, and spirits are joined together. The actual holy kiss is the touching of your right cheek to another’s right cheek. The significance of touching on the right side is that in the mind of the ancients, you wore your sword on the left side. It was felt that left handed persons where infirmed, but right handed persons communicated strength. Your enemies you seated on your left side which enabled you to draw your sword with your right hand and aggressively attack if necessary.
Your friends you seated on your right side which created an awkward position to attack and therefore you had to feel very comfortable with those seated to your right side. So significant is the right side that Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Father in Heaven.
The symbolic holy kiss is the touching of right sides of the cheeks which also creates a symbolic touching of heart to heart and breast to breast. This was seen as the ultimate greeting among Christians during the days of the early church formation with Paul.
If the claim was that you where a Christian, when you met with another you greeted with a holy kiss; regardless of rank, social status, community position, racial or ethnic background, or gender. The holy kiss along with the sign of the cross and the fish were identifying signs of the early Christians.
The power of the symbol of the holy kiss creates an encounter with another that causes one to speak, to touch, to slow down and to greet another. That is so important in our fast paced lives. The symbol causes us to slow down and share time with our Christian neighbor. It causes you to get to know one another.
Christian encounters like that can change lives. The holy kiss symbolizes acceptance. It places one another on equal terms.
You’ll find the five scriptural references to the command by Paul to great one another with a holy kiss: in Romans, I and II Corinthians, I Peter, and I Thessalonians.
From these references we learn three things from the idea of a holy kiss:
1. The importance of touch in a spiritual dimension
2. The significance of knowing and remembering names
3. The consequence of speaking to another
Allow me to be clear, the saluting of Christians with a holy kiss was not confined to gender, rank, status, or position. The saluting of Christians with a holy kiss was symbolic of their love for Jesus Christ.
The problem we must face is that a kiss among supposed Christians may not always be holy. Sometimes a kiss can bring horror. That’s what made the kiss by Judas of Jesus so distasteful. Above and beyond the deception and deceit; one must understand that Judas took a symbol of endearment and transformed it in to an act of rebuke.
Mix messages, confusing signals, deceptive practices are not acts of a Christian. And, the early church understood that it is better to establish in the beginning of the relationship where everyone stands.
I had the experience of traveling to South Korea and spent some time with the people. As I understand their customs they utilize the initial greeting exchange to establish their relationship with two important elements that are critical to their culture: 1) who is the eldest, 2) giving respect.
In their greeting they establish through bowing the lowest who is the elder and the one who is the younger. The younger in that culture must always give respect to the elder.
We have so much to learn. Respect in our culture does not come because of age or seniority. Respect in our culture; if it does come, unfortunately comes from status or wealth. We take the onus off of the individual and place it upon things.
The early church in the days of Paul knew the importance of practicing what you preached; to borrow from Barry White.
If you are a Christian you should act like a Christian every where you go. And, being a Christian in that day and time was dangerous. You were an enemy of the state. So Christians had to be careful in their interactions with each other. To believe in Jesus Christ was possibly a death sentence; therefore your faith had to be secure.
So the idea of a holy kiss was important to clear the air to avoid any misconceptions or mixed signals about your belief.
So when we salute one another with a holy kiss we are holding firm to a practice and tradition of long standing.
I know that some of my theologians in the congregation will say you have identified a holy kiss and a horror kiss; isn’t there another type of kiss?
Yes, I would call it a hollow kiss. A hollow kiss is the type of kiss you find in Genesis 27: 26 where Jacob lying on his death bed asks Isaac to kiss him. Isaac has disguised himself like his brother Esau, knowing that by receiving Jacob’s kiss he would receive Jacob’s blessing that is really due Esau. A hollow kiss is one that is devoid of meaning and sincerity. It is also deceptive because one party thinks you mean it while the other party knows the kiss is only really intended to dupe the other party.
Paul understood all of this and that’s why you find him making the distinction when he says to salute the women with a holy kiss; not a horror or a hollow – but a holy kiss!
During this month were we honor and recognize women and on this day where the contributions of mothers are preeminent in our minds; a symbol of endearment is important; and I can think of none better than a holy kiss.
So my argument is that we should salute our women, our mothers with a holy kiss because they are gifts from God.
Let’s look closely at the role of this woman in our text. Paul begins by greeting Phoebe and he runs through a listing of salutes for twenty-six persons nine of which are women. To all of them he says greet them with a holy kiss.
The main character in our textual story is Phoebe who provides us with the remaining three characteristics of why women are a gift from God.
Before I share those characteristics you must understand that central to the development to the early church was the faith community assembling in houses.
House churches were crucial to the early formation of the faith community. In those house churches of the early church you find women playing a key role in the formation of the faith; most of them where wealthy women who where prominent within their communities.
A house church is really our concept of a circle meeting. We meet in each others home, share scripture, and share our testimonies, share fellowship, share hospitality, and share with each other in prayer.
That’s critical to faith formation - house churches, or as we would call them circle meetings. The early church did a similar thing: they met in each others home and shared the same aspects we have in our circle meetings.
Just like in our church, women of that day played a critical role in the faith formation of the community. And Phoebe is identified as our model of a gift from God.
The three characteristics she posses:
1. She is a sister. The idea of sister describes her relationship to fellow Christians. Be careful that you don’t interpret sister as the step-sister type found in the fairy tale Cinderella. It that story, her step-sisters did everything they could to demean, deprive, and deny Cinderella her rightful place in the family and society. Let’s be pristine clear, in this text when Paul says sister he means one who encourages, one who assists, and one who goes the second mile to make certain that you are alright. A Christian sister is a friend for life and a friend indeed. Women who are gifts from God are sisterly.
2. She is a servant. That describes her relationship to her church. She does all she can to make certain that the church operates in a manner that is pleasing to God. No task is too small or too big for a servant. No matter is too minor or too major for her creative genius to resolve. A servant is always looking out for the last, the least, and the lost.
No one is left out of the love of God that is resident in her spirit. Women who are gifts from God are servants.
3. Finally, she is a saint. That describes her relationship to God. Many of us have met sainted women and mothers; who by their actions you know they are living life so God can use them at anytime and anyplace. Sainted women and mothers live life on a different plane. They have placed their affections on things eternal. They have learned to lean on God.
Sainted women and mothers love so deeply that when you come within the sphere of their love you are engulfed with a special feeling of affirmation that you leave their presence feeling just like Paul – I can do anything through Christ that strengthens me!
Union Women to be United in Spirit, Strength and Service you must beyond a shadow of a doubt be women who are gifts from God.
Allow me to tie our two sermons together and present their essence to you.
Women who are gifts from God are forceful, frugal, faithful, and fruitful; as well as they are sisters, servants and saints.
Two women Mrs. Job and Phoebe present us with a collective model of Christian women – union women: united in spirit, strength and service.
