I am blessed to know a lot of chaplains and religious leaders from many faiths and backgrounds. While we share and grow through the diversity of our experiences, the true gift is the camaraderie we have in a particular shared experience. We each want so deeply for the people we encounter to grow more deeply in their faith.
To grow in faith sounds simple enough on the surface but in reality most of us feel like Paul in his cry from Romans 7, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” The truth is that all of us struggle to grow in faith in some way. It might be the adhering to spiritual practices or it could be the living out justice filled beliefs. Regardless of the particulars, faith is always marked by some sort of strife.
Next come the behaviors we use to cover our pain and sorrow. That too is varied in its expression. For some, they hide the pain by delving into false piety and “holier than thou” behaviors. Others of us take on the experience as a personal failing resulting in self-loathing. Still others work very hard to desensitize themselves and live in the proverbial bliss of ignorance.
We religious leaders bump up against these behaviors that are symptomatic of faith struggles both personally and professionally. Whether it’s congregational life, hospitals, or park benches the sore spots of our faith struggles are out there to be rubbed and made even more raw.
This is where that shared experience of clergy comes back. Our desire for people to grow either becomes a healing balm or an irritating liniment to those sore spots that reveal the faith struggle. When we are blessed to witness healing, it is a deeply meaningful experience as a person of faith. However, when that healing doesn’t occur it can be painful, frustrating, and even consuming when our own faith struggles take this experience personally.
I feel such deep sorrow when I watch other clergy become so wounded and discouraged with the strife they experience and the perceived lack of growth in their flock that it becomes a barrier to their own faith and participation in creation. All this leads me to what I see as the true miracle. To me, the true miracle is that in spite of humanity’s bent toward violence, destruction, and fearfulness healing continues to occur and the lives are transformed.
When we look throughout history, it’s remarkable that faith persists at all. The perception of “end days” violence today holds nothing against the atrocities against people, races, and nations throughout history. I personally might have lost faith in God if I had been part of the one million plus Armenians slaughtered in the early 1900’s or witnessed the inquisitions of the 12th and 13th century. Moreover, these are not isolated incidents. The pain and suffering of humanity when we look at the lives of everyday people has been and continues to be on a scale that most privileged people in the United States cannot begin to imagine. And yet, faith persists. The violence we wrought on one another cannot seem to squash the meaningful ways faith keeps us going despite all that we face.
We, as clergy, keep looking for people of faith to become something wholly different and completely transformed. I personally even preach about transformation in a way that unfortunately misleads people into thinking that they are chasing after a destination rather than an ongoing process that will be ever challenged and ever changing. But the reality of history and our daily lives is that of a process. We take steps forward that are met with a new challenge that could push us back.
Therefore, when we see people that work to stay bind to the injustice of the world or persons in the hospital who act “tougher than cancer,” we are seeing defense mechanisms that have been heaped on after experiencing so much disappointment and pain. Deep down they want to live a life of faithfulness that matches an unrealistic ideal. Deep down, that ideal crushes. But again, instead of completely running away, humanity finds a way to maintain some level of faith in spite of the struggles.
Truly I can’t tell you how many people I know that are completely unable to forgive themselves for their struggles in faith yet act content in their faith on the outside. Sadly, the notion of a loving and forgiving God is not near as difficult to grasp as the concept of forgiving ourselves. And still, we persist in faith.
The call of faith is tough and the notion of celebrating the journey is rarely upheld or practiced. We place too much emphasis on the destination or expect people to be at a point on their journey that is unrealistic given their experiences and level of faith. Yet, I suspect that reorienting ourselves to celebrating even the little milestones is what we need if we are to heal the sore spots that become barriers to healing. That healing likely won’t bring about a radical transformation in the church, but it is part of the ongoing work that counteracts the sorrow, fear, and destruction of the world. May we all be instruments of healing and peace that represent the true miracle of creation.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Where Are We Going?
Ordinary 25A - Where Are We Going? - (off
lectionary sermon series on the body of Christ based upon Isaiah 43:18-21 &
Matthew 9:9-17)
Good morning. It’s
great to be with you today as we wrap up the 3rd in this sermon
series about being the body of Christ alive in the world. If you missed the others, you can pick up
printed copies just outside the back door or listen to them online. You could also just use your imagination from
the recaps I’m about to offer. See, 2
weeks ago, we talked about Christ being the only true authority in the
church. The rest of us are faithfully
trying to live out Christ’s calling but do not stand over or under one another.
We are faithful together. Last week we
tried to zero in on the diversity of calls within the church and uplift all
forms of service as holy. We are all called to be ministers in different
ways. So whether it’s inside or outside
the church doors, but most especially outside the doors, using our gifts and
the fruits of the spirit honors God and builds up the body of Christ. This
week, we’re going to look at where our lives in the body of Christ might lead
us when we’re open to where God is taking us and we’re doing so by examining scripture
from Isaiah 43.
The Isaiah passage shows God as both guide and
comforter. In this monologue, God is
telling the people of Israel that they need to let go of old ways so that they
can be open to what God is doing. They
need to trust that God is not going to burden them with things they can’t do
right now. Rather, the call of the Holy
is to lay our burdens and sins to rest with God so that they may be healed.
All this relates to being the body of Christ alive in the
world because we need to figure out what God is calling us to in our lives and
we need this for two main reasons. The
first is that to see where God is doing something new like Isaiah says, we need
to let go of and grieve those things, places, times, and people. The second reason is so we can open ourselves
up to being instruments of that unfolding… and unfolding of something God wants
for us and others that maybe we’ve never even imagined before.
Let’s reread parts of this Isaiah passage.
Now first, let’s tease through some of the language here
and get some stumbling blocks out of the way.
When God says, “18Do not remember the former things, or
consider the things of old” this does not mean that we should not have
memories. The Hebrew word we translate
as “remember” is a much deeper word than that.
This word implies intimacy and deep connection. When God says, “Do not remember” our
understanding should be do not be bound to or let our minds be so deeply
attached.
The second translation
issue we need to understand more deeply is the idea of God being burdened or
wearied. Does this passage does not mean
that when we heap upon God our concerns that God is crumbling under the weight
of it. The linguistic piece that is lost
here is that of transference. We are
burdened by sin and wearied by iniquities.
We transfer that to God and God blots out sin and does not “remember”
our sins. There’s that word remember
again.
So what is it that we need
to not be bound to so tightly so that we can be open to where God is
going? Well, we really could spend days
unearthing all kinds of things that we each need to be let go so that we can be
part of God’s always unfolding reality.
But for time’s sake and for from what might be very pertinent to this grouping
of the body of Christ, let’s get very specific here for a few minutes. Then if we do this well, the model can be
used for dealing with other areas of our lives.
What if God stepped right
here and said to us, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things
of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive
it? I will make a way.” What do you
think God might be talking about? Well,
a few things come to mind but the search for a new pastor seems to loom large. And I believe God truly is saying to this
grouping of the body of Christ that very thing.
God is saying, “grieve what you need and open up for something
new.”
Now before you think I’m
just pulling a scripture passage and making it say what I want it to say, first
of all I want you to hear that I’ve been hearing this message for a long time
from God about this body. I’ve even been
addressing it in worship at different times.
But more importantly, you can judge for yourself. Is that what God is saying?
Let’s look at the
evidence. This congregation has gone
through some tough ups and downs and turns.
Even in good times, transition is hard and this church has stayed in
transition for a long time. But when you
look around at each other, the quality of the faith and the earnestness of the
love for one another is extraordinary.
I recently told someone
that by all accounts, most churches that have gone through all this church has
gone through would have closed their doors.
Yet, this one is thriving. It may
have lost some members and it’s had it’s financial concerns but from what I can
tell, the faith here is outstanding. So,
if you just look on the surface at the faces and numbers, the church is
definitely different from 10 or 20 years ago.
But when you look into the hearts, the body of Christ is most definitely
alive and well here.
And, how did all this
happen? All I can surmise is that God
has been here every step of the way making a way. And I think the very best thing we can do is
figure out how to be open to that.
So, did I convince you I’m
not just making this up? I hope so. Because here comes the hard part… actually
letting go of the things, places, times, and people of the past in a way that
still honors the meaning they still hold but not being bound to them as if they
rule where God is going.
So often we long for the
way things were or at least the idea. It
seems simpler and more comfortable. And
sometimes it really was a simpler and more comfortable time though often that’s
a trick our mind plays. But regardless,
we are called to live as God’s people in a living, moving, every changing, body
of Christ so we can’t go back in time no matter how badly we might like to and
we can’t recreate the past because God has already taught us those lessons so
it’s time for something else.
See, just like the
Pharisees and the followers of John the Baptist in today’s gospel message, we are
often our own stumbling blocks. Many
times it is the existing people of faith who struggle most by holding fast to
our own notions, pride, memories, wounds, and other things that keep us from
seeing where God is leading us today.
When we think of this church being without a pastor or
calling a new pastor, what notions about old pastors gone by or old times in
the church do we need to honor and let go of?
Where do we need to honor the things we’ve learned or the people we’ve
encountered so that we can cherish what is good and move forward? What are the old wounds, doubts, grudges, and
struggles that we need to place in God’s hands so that God can heal and
transform them into some new thing? I
trust that God has already placed something on your hearts even now.
So, what does grieving the things gone by like? How
do we do this? Letting go and grief is a
process but, let’s keep it simple. Earlier,
you were given slips of paper to write on.
In a moment we’re going to pray to hear what God wants each of us to
cherish yet move forward from when we think about this church’s past. We’re also going to pray for God’s support to
grieve and mourn the things of the past that we feel bound to or that still
have a hold on us.
Next we’re each going to
write just 1 thing on this paper that God said to us. Later, when the offering plates go around, please
place it in the plate. I’m going to
collect them and burn them. On October 2nd,
in 2 weeks, you can join me as I take the ashes and till in the old memories
into the flower bed outside where the things we let go of will always be a part
of the beauty of this church but don’t have to bind up where it is going.
Sisters and brothers, being
the body of Christ alive is about being here and now and
participating in what unfolds. When we
unburden ourselves from wounds, sin, and the past by turning to God, we become
fertile ground for God’s plans. Pray
with me now that we may be a full participant in that plan.
What happens next? Does this mean that God is going to turn
everything upside down? Well, it could
happen. But more likely we’re going to
feel the anxiety of the emptiness from trying to let things go. Yet, we have each other to see it
through. And where there is emptiness,
God offers us hope: hope that God’s workings in and around us are healing, hope
that life in the body of Christ is faithful, hope that with God’s help we can
grow in deeper love of creation, and hope that First Presbyterian Church is on
the edge of something even more remarkable and beautiful than it is right
now.
Now I invite you to write on the paper what God has told
you and give it to God in the offering plate.
And trust that God will take it and heal or transform it into something
even more extraordinary. Amen.
18Do
not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.19I am
about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will
make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.20The wild
animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the
wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,21the
people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise. 22Yet
you did not call upon me… 23You have not brought me your sheep for
burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you
with offerings, or wearied you… But you have burdened me with your sins; you
have wearied me with your iniquities.25I, I am He who blots out your
transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
Holy God, thank you for the way you have
guided us. Please help us cherish the
meaning of the past and honor what you’ve taught us. Also, speak to us what we need to let go of
so that we can be a part of your plans as this church calls a new pastor. God we trust in you and your work. Relieve our fear and anxiety during this time
without concrete answers and help us to stay focused on faithful living
today. Amen.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Serving Together
Serving Together (off lectionary sermon series on the body of Christ based upon Matthew 28:16-20, Galatians 5:16-6:2, & G-2.0101)
Good morning. If you were here last week, you know that this is week 2 of a 3 week sermon series on being the church alive in the world. But as I said last week, don’t worry if you’re not here for all of them. They stand alone nicely so even if you missed it, you won’t be lost today. But just to recap, we looked at scripture and at a passage from the book of order and talked about how Christ is the only true authority in the church. Our job is to faithfully live out Christ’s calling. So we do not stand over or under one another in our workings and callings. No one calling is more special than another. Whether it’s my calling to be a pastor or someone else’s calling to put out donuts, we are faithful together… side by side.
So this week, we are taking the next step trying to unearth what those callings might be for each of us and as a church and our scripture for the day gives us a great place to start. But much like last week, I want to weave in another nugget of wisdom from the Book of Order that we might use as an outline for our thinking today. It comes from G-2.0101 and is entitled "Christ’s Ministry." It reads:
The Church’s ministry is a gift from Jesus Christ to the whole Church. Christ alone rules, calls, teaches, and uses the Church as he wills, exercising his authority by the ministry of women and men for the establishment and extension of God’s new creation. Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry, the pattern of the one who came "not to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God, from whose midst some are called to ordered ministries, to fulfill particular functions. Members and those in ordered ministries serve together under the mandate of Christ.
Well, given what I just read, you might be thinking "isn’t that the recap of last week’s sermon?" Well, sort of. But we are going to go deeper in to 2 of these ideas and think about "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" and "The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God." And I think today’s scripture lessons have some guidance for our thinking.
Our scripture passages are The Great Commissioning found in Matthew where Jesus calls on his followers to go out into the world and baptize, teach, and fellowship with others while all along knowing that Christ is always with us. The second passage is about the fruits of the spirit and reminds us what living by the spirit looks like. It also calls on us to be healers of one another as we struggle to claim who and whose we are.
So we have these very big ideas and as a big picture kind of person, these are the things that ignite in me curiosity and wonder about how it will all unfold. But I realize that for more detail oriented people, these open ended visions are somewhat anxiety producing. So, we’re going deeper today to look for the practical ways of ministry and our callings within it. We are doing so because some of us are curious. Some of us find comfort in details. Others of us need reassurance.
I raise this issue of what we are each getting by our study together because it has bearing on what we will uncover. See, if it is that "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" then a great thing to recognize about the life and teachings of Jesus is that he lived and taught in ways that spoke to people the way they each needed to experience it.
We are all very different from one another. Different gifts, different personalities, different interests, different struggles, different experiences… all of which come together to make us unique and yet somehow only made whole in the body of Christ. So to reach out to such diverse groupings, Jesus used stories so that people would zero in on the parts they each needed to hear. He also shared a lot of meals and living room time where people have their guards down and true relationships are built. He used symbols and metaphors so that people would have to think and stretch themselves to understand. And no matter where he was or what was going on, his starting place was that of love for God’s special creation… people.
Over and over again, he astounded people by loving them instead of judging them because he knew that judgment is God’s and the path to true healing is that of love. He didn’t walk up to the woman at the well and call her wretched names or think judgmental thoughts about her. His starting place was that of love for who she was: a child of God with gifts and struggles that was living a life of suffering. Harsh words would have just alienated her more but love heals and transforms.
And while we’re looking at Jesus as the foundation and standard for all ministry, let’s not forget his humility. He is the one who came "not to be served but to serve." Ministry that models Christ is that of service rather than status. Born in a barn, murdered for his faith… those are extraordinary bookends to a life. But in some ways, even more extraordinary are the pages between the bookends that tell of a life of reaching out in search of God as a young child and extending the love of God as an adult. What would our lives look like if we each had such love?
And that’s the question of the day. Christ modeled what ministry looks like and we are called to minister to the "whole people of God." So what would our lives look like if we each had such love? What does ministering to the "whole people of God" look like?
Last week we read scripture that talks about the body of Christ and the different callings. This week we see in Galatians different gifts that we are given by the Spirit. And all along we have Christ telling us to go out and do something with these callings and gifts.
So what does it look like? Well, it starts by taking the time to find out who God made us to be. Jesus invited us to look into ourselves to know and honor this special creation of God. Searching ourselves is critical to knowing how we can serve. God asked Moses to live beyond his skills and God still asks the same of us today but we can’t go farther if we don’t know where to start.
So we each need to consider what our personality is, what our interests are, and what we have to offer as we look to see how we each may minister in the body of Christ. For example, you wouldn’t want me to sing in the choir but thanks be for those that can and we welcome them back this year. And I would be pretty bad at serving on the budget committee because I get overwhelmed with all the numbers. But you know what? I love the bible and I love people so one thing I can do is weave those two together into sermons and worship leadership.
See, it’s pretty much as simple as that. We start with who we are and what God has given us and ask "where can God use me?" Lend a Hand Day, teaching Sunday School, greeting, serving on committees, and all those other forms of stewardship are servant ministry. And even talking and sharing with one another is servant ministry because we are building up the body of Christ as we extend ourselves to one another in fellowship.
But ministry is about far more than what happens inside these walls. The real work of Christ is out there in the world. So again, let’s ask the question, what would our lives look like if we each had such love as Christ? What is our ministry in the world? When we look at our gifts and skills, how do we serve in the body of Christ beyond these walls?
The answer to those questions are as varied as can be. But I think our scripture can guide us. Galatians 6:1 reads, "My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." What does that have to do with our servant ministry? Well, most of our work both inside these walls and beyond is about healing. Almost everything we experience boils down to the brokenness we encounter within ourselves and around us. So much of our ministry and ministering is about being conduits of peace, healing, and reconciliation through the love of Christ.
Our charge is to heal with a spirit of gentleness. When we see wrong doings, we’re not called to judge, we’re called to restore. Sisters and brothers, each and every one of us struggle. When we think about the things we do wrong, we see a chain of events where we didn’t set out to hurt anyone but it all made sense at the time. As Paul said, "why is it I do what I don’t what to do?" As parents, as teachers, as ministers, as friends, as business people… we all struggle because we all have broken places in us and all need the grace of God and the love of Christ. The surest path to healing is not by wagging a finger at ourselves or others. Changing our behavior out of guilt isn’t really living in the Spirit. Healing comes by modeling Christ and loving the wounds away.
So if our lives are at the intersection of brokenness and love, who are we each called to be in the world? For the person who’s a little shy but always watching, maybe part of their calling is to be the one who always extends a kind smile. For the one gifted with leadership skills, maybe servant ministry looks like being a business person of respect who looks out for how employees are treated. For the ones with a mind for numbers, maybe it’s being a beacon of integrity so that wealth is not used to corrupt or squash others. For those who cook well, maybe it’s offering a meal to someone struggling or bringing the cookies to a meeting that reminds us of what’s important. Perhaps for those of us with old wounds that have been healed, it’s about sharing our path with those in need. If one of our blessings is extra time, maybe servant ministry is about volunteering.
And when the big stuff like 9/11 happens we still see the same things. Firefighters being firefighters and caring about people, even at the risk of losing their lives. Everyday folks dropping everything to clear debris because it serves and restores hope. People far away donating money, blood, and other resources because they love enough to want to be a part of the healing.
See, we get caught up in thinking of our daily lives as work, chores, and strife but if we look deeper we’ll see the way we are functioning as the body of Christ and honor that. And when we look deeper, we might even see new and different ways of sharing our gifts and callings. And that’s what we’ll talk about next week.
But for now, Christ invites us to see who God made us to be and offer that back to creation. As we go from here this week, may we look more deeply at who we are and what we can be in the body of Christ. And most importantly, may we live that calling each and every day. Amen.
Good morning. If you were here last week, you know that this is week 2 of a 3 week sermon series on being the church alive in the world. But as I said last week, don’t worry if you’re not here for all of them. They stand alone nicely so even if you missed it, you won’t be lost today. But just to recap, we looked at scripture and at a passage from the book of order and talked about how Christ is the only true authority in the church. Our job is to faithfully live out Christ’s calling. So we do not stand over or under one another in our workings and callings. No one calling is more special than another. Whether it’s my calling to be a pastor or someone else’s calling to put out donuts, we are faithful together… side by side.
So this week, we are taking the next step trying to unearth what those callings might be for each of us and as a church and our scripture for the day gives us a great place to start. But much like last week, I want to weave in another nugget of wisdom from the Book of Order that we might use as an outline for our thinking today. It comes from G-2.0101 and is entitled "Christ’s Ministry." It reads:
The Church’s ministry is a gift from Jesus Christ to the whole Church. Christ alone rules, calls, teaches, and uses the Church as he wills, exercising his authority by the ministry of women and men for the establishment and extension of God’s new creation. Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry, the pattern of the one who came "not to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God, from whose midst some are called to ordered ministries, to fulfill particular functions. Members and those in ordered ministries serve together under the mandate of Christ.
Well, given what I just read, you might be thinking "isn’t that the recap of last week’s sermon?" Well, sort of. But we are going to go deeper in to 2 of these ideas and think about "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" and "The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God." And I think today’s scripture lessons have some guidance for our thinking.
Our scripture passages are The Great Commissioning found in Matthew where Jesus calls on his followers to go out into the world and baptize, teach, and fellowship with others while all along knowing that Christ is always with us. The second passage is about the fruits of the spirit and reminds us what living by the spirit looks like. It also calls on us to be healers of one another as we struggle to claim who and whose we are.
So we have these very big ideas and as a big picture kind of person, these are the things that ignite in me curiosity and wonder about how it will all unfold. But I realize that for more detail oriented people, these open ended visions are somewhat anxiety producing. So, we’re going deeper today to look for the practical ways of ministry and our callings within it. We are doing so because some of us are curious. Some of us find comfort in details. Others of us need reassurance.
I raise this issue of what we are each getting by our study together because it has bearing on what we will uncover. See, if it is that "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" then a great thing to recognize about the life and teachings of Jesus is that he lived and taught in ways that spoke to people the way they each needed to experience it.
We are all very different from one another. Different gifts, different personalities, different interests, different struggles, different experiences… all of which come together to make us unique and yet somehow only made whole in the body of Christ. So to reach out to such diverse groupings, Jesus used stories so that people would zero in on the parts they each needed to hear. He also shared a lot of meals and living room time where people have their guards down and true relationships are built. He used symbols and metaphors so that people would have to think and stretch themselves to understand. And no matter where he was or what was going on, his starting place was that of love for God’s special creation… people.
Over and over again, he astounded people by loving them instead of judging them because he knew that judgment is God’s and the path to true healing is that of love. He didn’t walk up to the woman at the well and call her wretched names or think judgmental thoughts about her. His starting place was that of love for who she was: a child of God with gifts and struggles that was living a life of suffering. Harsh words would have just alienated her more but love heals and transforms.
And while we’re looking at Jesus as the foundation and standard for all ministry, let’s not forget his humility. He is the one who came "not to be served but to serve." Ministry that models Christ is that of service rather than status. Born in a barn, murdered for his faith… those are extraordinary bookends to a life. But in some ways, even more extraordinary are the pages between the bookends that tell of a life of reaching out in search of God as a young child and extending the love of God as an adult. What would our lives look like if we each had such love?
And that’s the question of the day. Christ modeled what ministry looks like and we are called to minister to the "whole people of God." So what would our lives look like if we each had such love? What does ministering to the "whole people of God" look like?
Last week we read scripture that talks about the body of Christ and the different callings. This week we see in Galatians different gifts that we are given by the Spirit. And all along we have Christ telling us to go out and do something with these callings and gifts.
So what does it look like? Well, it starts by taking the time to find out who God made us to be. Jesus invited us to look into ourselves to know and honor this special creation of God. Searching ourselves is critical to knowing how we can serve. God asked Moses to live beyond his skills and God still asks the same of us today but we can’t go farther if we don’t know where to start.
So we each need to consider what our personality is, what our interests are, and what we have to offer as we look to see how we each may minister in the body of Christ. For example, you wouldn’t want me to sing in the choir but thanks be for those that can and we welcome them back this year. And I would be pretty bad at serving on the budget committee because I get overwhelmed with all the numbers. But you know what? I love the bible and I love people so one thing I can do is weave those two together into sermons and worship leadership.
See, it’s pretty much as simple as that. We start with who we are and what God has given us and ask "where can God use me?" Lend a Hand Day, teaching Sunday School, greeting, serving on committees, and all those other forms of stewardship are servant ministry. And even talking and sharing with one another is servant ministry because we are building up the body of Christ as we extend ourselves to one another in fellowship.
But ministry is about far more than what happens inside these walls. The real work of Christ is out there in the world. So again, let’s ask the question, what would our lives look like if we each had such love as Christ? What is our ministry in the world? When we look at our gifts and skills, how do we serve in the body of Christ beyond these walls?
The answer to those questions are as varied as can be. But I think our scripture can guide us. Galatians 6:1 reads, "My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." What does that have to do with our servant ministry? Well, most of our work both inside these walls and beyond is about healing. Almost everything we experience boils down to the brokenness we encounter within ourselves and around us. So much of our ministry and ministering is about being conduits of peace, healing, and reconciliation through the love of Christ.
Our charge is to heal with a spirit of gentleness. When we see wrong doings, we’re not called to judge, we’re called to restore. Sisters and brothers, each and every one of us struggle. When we think about the things we do wrong, we see a chain of events where we didn’t set out to hurt anyone but it all made sense at the time. As Paul said, "why is it I do what I don’t what to do?" As parents, as teachers, as ministers, as friends, as business people… we all struggle because we all have broken places in us and all need the grace of God and the love of Christ. The surest path to healing is not by wagging a finger at ourselves or others. Changing our behavior out of guilt isn’t really living in the Spirit. Healing comes by modeling Christ and loving the wounds away.
So if our lives are at the intersection of brokenness and love, who are we each called to be in the world? For the person who’s a little shy but always watching, maybe part of their calling is to be the one who always extends a kind smile. For the one gifted with leadership skills, maybe servant ministry looks like being a business person of respect who looks out for how employees are treated. For the ones with a mind for numbers, maybe it’s being a beacon of integrity so that wealth is not used to corrupt or squash others. For those who cook well, maybe it’s offering a meal to someone struggling or bringing the cookies to a meeting that reminds us of what’s important. Perhaps for those of us with old wounds that have been healed, it’s about sharing our path with those in need. If one of our blessings is extra time, maybe servant ministry is about volunteering.
And when the big stuff like 9/11 happens we still see the same things. Firefighters being firefighters and caring about people, even at the risk of losing their lives. Everyday folks dropping everything to clear debris because it serves and restores hope. People far away donating money, blood, and other resources because they love enough to want to be a part of the healing.
See, we get caught up in thinking of our daily lives as work, chores, and strife but if we look deeper we’ll see the way we are functioning as the body of Christ and honor that. And when we look deeper, we might even see new and different ways of sharing our gifts and callings. And that’s what we’ll talk about next week.
But for now, Christ invites us to see who God made us to be and offer that back to creation. As we go from here this week, may we look more deeply at who we are and what we can be in the body of Christ. And most importantly, may we live that calling each and every day. Amen.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
A Community Of…
Off lectionary sermon series on the body of Christ based upon Colossians 1:15-23a, 1 Corinthians 12:27-28, &
F-1.0301
Good morning. Today starts
a three part sermon series on being the Church Alive. You may or may not have noticed that for this
sermon series, we’re going to be off the lectionary path. And what you’re also about to find out is
that I’m going to be weaving in pieces from the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s
constitution. But the hope is that all
of this, the sermon, our worship time, and the weavings of the Holy Spirit,
bring us to a place of looking with fresh eyes and renewed hope at how we can
be the body of Christ and the church alive in the world.
So, today is just the beginning.
We’re going to focus on Christ as the head of the church. But come back the next 2 weeks and we’ll be
considering our various callings within the body and how we can be open to and
participate in what God is calling us to right now… or if we’re already open to
it, how we might make it even better.
Well, I said I’d be drawing from the constitution and I am. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the time to
read some of this book but you should.
Sadly, what most Presbyterians know of this book is how to spew an
alphabet soup of rules that work for or against an idea. But there is some truly beautiful and amazing
theology in here. Given the history of
this document, it makes it even more impressive just how clearly the love of
Christ flows through its pages.
So, hold our scripture readings from Colossians
and 1 Corinthians together in your mind and let’s see what the foundations
section has to say about how to understand it.
Section F-1.0301 “The Church Is the Body of Christ”:
The Church is the body of
Christ. Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The
Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the
world (1 Cor. 12:27–28):
·
The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God
alone, even at the risk of losing its life.
·
The Church is to be a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and
certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation
is a new beginning for human life and for all things. The Church lives in the
present on the strength of that promised new creation.
·
The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven,
reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn
down.
·
The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself
through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ
Jesus its Lord.
This brief passage is really quite amazing. I couldn’t preach a better sermon or hold out
a better vision than that. It’s a whole
statement of faith… no really a statement of calling… no more like a statement
of having been called and truly heard the word of God.
So, tipping my hat to the years of history, tradition, and
faithfulness that goes into this (F-1.0301), I’d like
to use it as the outline for our thinking today. See, this statement reminds us of just how
deeply relational God and creation are.
God doesn’t stand in the distance like a puppet master and we are not
islands unto ourselves. The
church is a community of:
·
faith
- entrusting itself to God
·
hope
- rejoicing in the prospect that God is making a new creation
·
love
- forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration
·
witness
- pointing beyond itself to the transforming work of God
So let’s start with the first marker of the church. We are “a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of
losing its life.” That’s a pretty
powerful statement. Does it mean that
we’re called to go out and be martyrs for the faith? No, this statement is about the church as an
institution verses the church as the body of Christ. We, meaning all believers, are called to live
as the body of Christ, no matter where that leads us, even if it means losing
the institution we call the Presbyterian Church (USA) or it’s buildings or it’s
holdings.
We, the body of Christ, are not the stored up
treasures of an institution and we should not be bound by them either. So long as the organization of the PC(USA) is
a wonderful and beneficial thing, it can support us, help us join together our
resources in more useful ways, and be a true conduit for making Christ’s reign
known in the world. But the faithful
wisdom built in these pages (The Book of Order), is that we are to live as if
the institution doesn’t matter.
We do this because we are not only a community of
faith but we are “a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge
that, in Christ, God is making a new creation.”
Our hope is not in our own ingenuity or cleverness. It is not in politicians or even religious
leaders. No, our hope is in the way God
works around and through us to transform life after life after life.
It is God who pours out gifts on us and then calls us
to organize as a body so that they will be used in even more amazing ways. We “strive to demonstrate these gifts” in the
way we are together and in our workings in the world. But it is because Christ is the only true
head of the church, calling, guiding, proclaiming, that we have seen and felt
the vision of something bigger when we join together in service.
Now, take a look here at the statement “The Church
lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation.” This is a pretty power packed sentence. It does not say the church only lives in the
present because we know that it has been, is, and ever will be alive. Rather this is about how we can find our way
to stay living in the present. It is in
the strength that hope provides us. We
can keep our work focused here because we are emboldened by our hope in the way
Christ is timelessly working to make creation new.
And with experiences like that, we know that we are
also “a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is
accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down.” Our lives individually, as families, as
congregants, as coworkers, as sisters and brothers are bound in the quality of
love we share… a love that we learned from the first lover of creation, God.
When we are living as the true body of Christ, our
work is that of building up each other, healing wounds, soothing anxieties, and
even the big stuff of dismantling the walls that divide us from one another and
the rest of creation. The work of love
in community is beautiful but it is demanding.
Yet, when we are living the love of God together, moments and lives and
communities are forever made different… holy.
And that’s why we are “a community of witness,
pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s
transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord.”
Our time together is for the cultivation of and fellowship in the love
of God. But our calling is not to come
into the church walls and hang out. Our
lives together should be pointing to something bigger, to God, all along the
way. Our words and works should not be
pointing to us to say, “look what I’ve done.”
They point to God to say, “look at the never ending, always faith
inspiring works of God.”
See, the point of all of this is that we are living in
a body of faith, hope, and love… and a body with a calling to share those and
other gifts with the world. We are all
called to be nurtured by and serve in the body of Christ. We don’t have to worry about the future of it
or how it will sustain itself because Christ, as the head, is in charge of
that. But we are called to be the living
body of Christ.
The reformed tradition has a way of talking about that
called the Priesthood of Believers and Baptismal Calling. See, we are called to honor all works in the
body because they all serve as witness in different ways. All believers are ministers, just of different
callings. The words “lay leader” or “clergy”
and “teaching elder” or “ruling elder” are words of the institution for how it
orders itself. But our work transcends such
language, no matter our title or calling.
The person who unlocks the doors and scrubs the toilets is as
deeply honored in the body of Christ as the person who leads worship. Does that offend me? That I compared the work of a sexton with the
work of a pastor? No, and it shouldn’t
offend you either. Membership and
witness in the body of Christ is about commitment in covenant, not status. And ministry and ministering is about
service, not privilege. My ordination is
about my function, not my rank or prestige.
The things that should offend us are when we stand in the way of
that witness and become stumbling blocks to one another’s callings. The things we should feel anxious about are
when we stop loving and working together or become indifferent to the needs
around us. Our real work is to hear and
respond to the cries of those in need of the body of Christ. Our focus need not be on solving every
problem but it should be on the call of Christ in each one of us and living
that each and every day. Everything else
is in God’s hands. And thanks be to God
for that. Amen.
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