Sermon ~ 05/29/2011 ~ The Living Christ

05/29/2011 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 ~ Memorial Day Weekend on the Secular Calendar ~ 5th Sunday Hymn Sing as a Prelude.

The Living Christ

“A little while, now, and the world will no longer see me [said Jesus], but you will see me; because I live, you will live as well. On that day you will know that I am in God, and you in me, and I in you.” — John 14:19-20.


We are, as I am sure you know, in a new era when it comes to communication. Most of us are likely aware broadcast television, with its four network choices, has less and less of an audience share. Cable and satellite, while devouring more and more of the total number of those who watch television, at the same time fragments that audience.

By definition, the very number of competitors means each channel gets a small share. Therefore, less people are watching the same thing; less people are having the same experience.

This fragmentation is also happening in the medium called print— newspapers, magazines. Many well known outlets— The New York Times, Forbes Magazine to name one in each of those categories, are now using blogs, writings never seen in a paper and ink medium, writings which appear online only. Many of these blogs are by well known writers or staff, not part time or second tier personnel employed just to fill space on the web.

A recent online only blog post by a writer at Forbes caused a stir in Main Line Church circles. The piece contained a criticism of how things are done in the Seven Sisters of American Protestantism— American Baptists, Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians.

With minor exceptions, you see, Main Line churches are nearly universal in their requirement that Pastors be seminary graduates— seminary— a graduate school. That means most Pastors must have both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

One accusation the article made was Pastors with an upper education indulge in ideological tourism, stand not on theology but simply affirm political correctness. And, after all, churches with less formal educational requirements for Pastors, the article stated, churches who will ordain people with no theological education and only a High School diploma, sometimes less, are often larger, more successful.

Forbes, a magazine whose nickname is The Capitalist Tool, is, of course, a place where success with numbers is a high priority. But, while theology does have a lot to say about loving God and loving neighbor, the last time I looked theology has very little to say about efficacy— worldly success. Theology has, indeed, a lot to say about a relationship with God.

Now, many, many thousands of Main Line clergy who read this piece online disagreed with it and posted negative responses online. (I’ll bet you did not know that many clergy read Forbes.)

I, myself, had so many disagreements with the writer I don’t know where to begin. But let me cover only one item the author did not take into account.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The worship hour on a Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.” And Dr. King was addressing not just race but everything from class structure to taste in music. In short, Christians segregate themselves for all kinds of reasons and that segregation has little to do with theology.

Dr. King was also clear about this: segregation based on anything which separates Christians from Christians is theologically abhorrent. But the reality and the truth is such segregation exists. And the consequence is exactly what has happened in the media: fragmentation according to demographics, something which defeats even attempting a theologically unifying experience.

In fact, the problem with the argument being made by the blogger at Forbes is that, at heart, the issue raised was not just one of success. The argument being made is a dubious theological argument.

Indeed, I think the key premise in the blog, one with which I disagree, is this: fragmentation is good. And, if you have a theology which does not require work on your part, it is likely to be a successful theology.

Put another way, if you have a simple theology, life becomes both simple and successful. It seems to me this is a ‘best of all possible worlds’ ‘pie in the sky’ theology, but one that does not take the complexity of human life seriously.

You see, this blog post was a discussion about numbers and demographics— that’s all. It was not a discussion about the living God. Nor was it a discussion about the love offered by God. It is a recipe for a secular institution, devoid of mystery, devoid of spirituality. [1] (Slight pause.)

And Jesus said: “A little while, now, and the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you will live as well. On that day you will know that I am in God, and you in me, and I in you.” (Slight pause.)

I have said here a number of times I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. At the elementary school level, I attended a parochial school. Back then— in that place, at that time— the mothers of the students had what they called a “Mother’s Club.” Its purpose was to raise money for the needs of the school and to interact with the teachers. My late mother never tired of telling this story about that club. (Slight pause.)

Several times a year the women would raise money by having a Communion Breakfast. On assigned Saturdays parents would go to Mass, adjourn to the school cafeteria, pay a fee for entry— the fund raising part— and listen to the principal of the school (a Dominican nun) give an address. Then there would then be a question and answer session with the principal and teachers— a way to facilitate the interactive part.

Once, somehow, before one of these functions, word spread that, in an effort to save money, the eggs used for breakfast were of the powdered variety, not real eggs. After all, powdered eggs might taste a little pasty, but money not spent on real eggs meant more money for the school. Such rumors get around quickly in a tight knit community. The mothers got wind of it.

Before the principal spoke, seeking to bring some reality and some truth to the fore, the president of the club came to the podium with what appeared to be a very large brown paper bag. The bag was clearly filled with something and leaking.

“I’ve heard there is a rumor we use powdered eggs,” she said and then turned the bag upside down. Hundreds of cracked egg shells poured out on the head table and overflowed onto the floor. It was a mess.

“That rumor is false.” Then, without skipping a beat or cleaning anything up, just letting those egg shells sit there, letting that reality sit in front of everyone, she introduced the principal. (Slight pause.)

Let me ask a simple question: what makes us one in Christ? Do we believe this reality: Christ lives? Do we believe this reality: God offers salvation? Do we believe this reality: the Spirit is with us? (Slight pause.)

What makes us church? Do we recognize the reality of each other’s humanity? Do we recognize the reality of each other’s diversity and, therefore, also recognize our unity in Christ? (Long pause.)

Are we, each of us, willing to do the work that recognizes the truth of the living Christ. (Quote): “...because I live, you will live as well.” Does the reality of that sit in front of us like cracked egg shells. Or are we so fragmented that we ignore it and, like an audience seeking yet another cable outlet, do we not see the reality of the message of love already in front of us, the reality of the living Christ, as a unifying one? (Slight pause.)

Many things bring churches together. But unifying factors are, too often, sociological— race, music, class. These are, after all, simple— easy to deal with.

But to be church these factors cannot, must not be so central, so prime as to be the place in which we find unity. We must come to terms with a proclamation that Christ lives.

It is a messy concept, a theological concept, a concept not easy to understand. Indeed, a living Christ is not something to be understood but something with which each of us is called to grapple, something to live with, something to experience. (Slight pause.)

A couple of weeks ago we had an international forum with several speakers, all parishioners. One grew up in Argentina, one in Armenia, one in Mexico. And I know we also have parishioners who grew up in Canada, New York City, Indiana, Ohio, Jamaica, Wisconsin— the list goes on and on. We are diverse.

And for two millennia, the one thing which helps Christians be unified, be one— against all odds, against all the sociological factors which separate us— is that we can be one in Christ. Indeed, the logo of our denomination, the United Church... of Christ, clearly states these words of Jesus: “That they may all be one.”

Why? (quote): “...because I live, you will live as well.” (Long pause.) Amen.

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Each week, as we gather for worship, one thing stares at us like the cracked egg shells I mentioned in my comments. The reason we gather for worship should not be the music or the beauty of the building or even that we like the people we see here— even though the music is great, the building is amazing and the people are wonderful. The reason we gather for worship is and needs to be that we are one in Christ. The living God needs to be the unifying experience of worship.”

BENEDICTION
Let us never fear to seek the truth God reveals. Let us live as a resurrection people. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith as the Creator draws us into community. And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

[1] The Seminary Bubble ~ 04/20/2011 - Forbes.com ~ by Jerry Bowyer
http://blogs.forbes.com/jerrybowyer/2011/04/20/the-seminary-bubble/

SERMON ~ 05/22/2011 ~ Jesus Says: ‘Believe in God’

05/22/2011 ~ Fifth Sunday of the Season of Easter ~ Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14.

Jesus Says: ‘Believe in God’

Jesus said: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Or as it says in the translation I used this morning, Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” — John 14:1b

I have, several times before, spoken about the Reverend Carol Anderson, the person I consider my first mentor in ministry, the one who initially pointed me toward the path which eventually— many years after her initial push— led to my ordination. When I attended All Angels Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, Carol was the rector there. (To be clear: Rector is the Episcopal term for Pastor.)

Carol retired recently. Her last pastorate was at All Saints Church, Beverly Hills, California. Yup— 90210. Now, at a much earlier time in her life, when she was in college in the early 1960s, Carol did what many college students in those tumultuous times did. She headed South and took part in Civil Rights protests and marches.

A couple years after finishing college she heard a call to ministry and went to Harvard Divinity School. There was a problem, however. Good Episcopalian that Carol was, at that point in time Episcopalians were not ordaining women. She went to Seminary anyway. She had, after all, heard a call to ministry.

Having graduated, Carol was consecrated a Deacon, something which is, under normal circumstances in the Episcopal system, a step toward full ordination and at that time Deacon was a post which could be held by women in the Episcopal Church. She served in the role of Deacon for several years at Saint James Episcopal Church on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

Times do change and in 1976 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. Carol, ready to be ordained, was ordained in January the following year in a ceremony at Saint James and became their Associate Pastor.

Next Carol served as the Rector at All Angels for seven years, where I first met her. From there she went on to start the Institute for Clergy Renewal. The institute, supported by grants and still active, is a place where clergy can go for up to three months at a time to be on a retreat and work with Carol one on one as they rediscover themselves and explore a basis for their ministry.

Now, just based on the name ‘Institute for Clergy Renewal’ you might ask, ‘what’s that about?’ Why do clergy need renewal? Don’t pastors and priests get a full month of vacation each year and some extra time for education and even an occasional sabbatical? Well, yes— they/we do. But Carol was trying to address something other than vacation-like renewal with the Institute.

Carol’s idea for establishing this Institute developed because of her experience and because of what she had seen happen to other clergy. Indeed, Carol initiated the Institute in part because of what she had seen when she joined those protests and marches in the South in the Sixties.

Let me unpack that for you. It is good to be behind a cause. On a personal level, it was good for Carol— a tall, blond, very Anglo-Saxon looking woman— to join protests and marches in the South as many, many people did. It is good to be among those who work for equal rights and justice for all people.

But a deeper question needs to be asked: ‘why?’ What is the reason one might want to take part in protests and marches? Why be behind a cause? In fact, why should a person support equal rights?

After all, events both past and present, show not everyone is in favor of equal rights for all people. Some people oppose equality and justice— sometimes in very sly ways— but it is or it should be obvious just on reading the newspapers or listening to news broadcasts that not everyone is in favor of or stands up for equality and justice.

And that very issue— discovering the ‘why’ of social justice— is what led Carol to start the Institute for Clergy Renewal. What she realized is many clergy get involved in social action and social justice only for its own sake.

They take a stand on social action and social justice only for the sake of social action and social justice. Put differently, they take a stand without understanding why this is a good thing. And that is why, after a while, people who take such stands are in a large danger of just burning out.

Put differently again, many clergy get involved without remembering why. They get to the point where they take positions, support causes and totally forget there is a Christian basis for social action, for social justice. And here is a deep truth: look for the heart of God. At the heart of God, you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the Gospel we know as John— Jesus said: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Or as it says in the translation I used this morning, Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” (Slight pause.)

There is no question about this: the Gospel we call John was written last among the four and is among the latest writings in the Christian Scriptures. As such, it displays what scholars call— get ready for a $64 term here— as such, it displays what scholars call “high Christology.”

This high Christology says Jesus is more God-like in John’s Gospel than the other three Gospels. Even so, these words clearly separate God and Jesus. It, hence, leaves the answer to the question attributed to Jesus: “Who do you say that I am?” unanswered. (Slight pause.)

About the fourth century the church answers that question as well as it can. And the answer is the Trinity: the church proclaims that God, Jesus and the Spirit are intertwined. In other words, with the doctrine of the Trinity the church strives to explain how God, Jesus and the Spirit are one but at the same time are three.

In her retreat work with clergy that’s exactly the area Carol covers. ‘Who is God. Who is Jesus. ‘Who is the Spirit?’ She strives to help people answer the question: ‘how do you understand of this?’ And why does she do that? Unless a concern for social justice has a basis in theology, burn out becomes a given. (Slight pause.) And if you look for the heart of God you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

Last week, when Bonnie and I were in Cincinnati sharing family time with our niece, Phoebe, who graduated from her residency program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Linda Oehme shared the word here. I’ve listened to the CD. If you were not here, let me tell you she was wonderful. [Thank you Linda.]

Her sermon title was The Dash. The dash— often engraved on a tombstone— the time between a date of birth and a date of death.

Hence, the topic of the sermon was ‘what do we do with our time?’ Do we use it seeking equity, seeking justice? Put differently, do we use the brief time we are given to further the Dominion of God, the work of God, the world as God might see it. Do we use it in an effort to bring our hands in seeking some justice, some equality and some love. (Slight pause.) Look for the heart of God and you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

Let me come back to Carol for a moment. Among the first women to be ordained in the Episcopal Church, she was painfully aware of how privileged she was. For two millennia of history in Christianity women had heard the call to ordination. That call was, mostly, ignored by the church. It still is in some quarters.

But what Carol also understood is who was calling. You see, she realized that if getting ordained was simply a matter of social justice— rights for women— she probably would have burned out long before the church had allowed for the ordination of women. But because she was grounded in and grounded on who was calling, that sustained her.

In short, Carol understood that trusting God, trusting Jesus, trusting the Spirit is central. (Slight pause.) And if you look for the heart of God and you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

So, why do we, the United Church of Christ, First Congregational of Norwich, gather as a church? Why do people come here on a Sunday. You will hear a lot of answers to that question.

The music ministry is great. Our outreach is wonderful, our social action fruitful. I enjoy being with the people who worship here. Have you seen the worship space? It’s beautiful. These are all good reasons. They are all true.

But I want to suggest that trusting God, trusting Jesus, trusting the Spirit is central. (Slight pause.) Look for the heart of God and you will find justice. Seeking the heart of God is what makes us church. (Slight pause.)

Trust in God, trusting the heart of God, is necessary if our mutual ministry is to be really empowered. Indeed, I want to suggest that God is central to what we do as church. God is central to who we are as a church. Amen.

05/22/2011
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York.

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I do get out and around in this town a lot and I am fairly well known. What I am about to mention happened yesterday and the reason I want to mention it is because it happens so often. Someone came up to me and said: ‘Your church is wonderful. What your church does is wonderful. The people in your church are wonderful.’ Why, yes. We are. And yes, we do. But maybe, just maybe, we need to invite some of those folks who think so highly of us to join us on a Sunday morning. Why? So we can share with them the thought that the reason we are so wonderful is that, as Jesus did, we seek the heart of God and we trust God.”

05/08/2011 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Experience

05/08/2011 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (Used Acts 2:14a-41); Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35 ~ Note: Special Music by Rasely - Bells Will Play Also ~ Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar ~ The Festival of the Christian Home on the Church Calendar.

Experience

“...the travelers recounted what had happened on the road, and how they had come to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.” — Luke 24:33-35.

I have a suspicion things like Facebook will, over time, change how we interact with people, especially how we stay in touch with one another. As I have said here before, because of Facebook I am now in touch with friends and colleagues all over America, even beyond, friends with whom, just ten years ago, I did not think I would be able to stay in touch.

Susan Polizzi is one. Susan was the pastor at the First Baptist Church across the street. I respect and admire her. We were and are friends.

She moved to Lowell, Massachusetts. And my bet is ten years ago that relationship would have deteriorated, continued only in the exchange of Christmas cards or perhaps an occasional phone call. With Facebook I keep track of what she’s doing and vice-versa.

Susan was recently in Central New York but did not have time to come to Norwich. How do I know? Her Facebook page not only told me but pointed me to her blog where she wrote about a trip to her alma mater, Colgate-Rochester Crozier Divinity School.

This is some of what she said in the blog (quote): “It was the 30th anniversary of my graduation. I was a little leery about going. Only one faculty member who was there when I attended is still on staff and I didn’t know him well.”

“I did not know who else from my class would go. But I have friends in the area with whom I could stay and friends from other classes with whom I wanted to connect and I wanted to hear the featured speaker, Diana Eck, who spoke on inter-faith realities in America today. So I went.”

“I had a few ‘Aha!’ moments as I was walking around the halls of the school.” Susan continued. “The first was a reminder of how attached we all are to the way things were.”

“Even though I’ve seen some of the changes that have happened over the years, I realized I still mourn the change. I think that’s partially because they represent decline to me. But I also realized that maybe I need to re-frame these changes in terms of their obvious intentions for healthy living in the NOW.” Susan capitalized ‘NOW’ (N-O-W).

“There are all kinds of structures and practices we need to let go of if we are going to live fruitfully and healthfully today,” she said. “I was absolutely disoriented inside the old residence halls, literally did not know where I was in halls I had walked every day for three years. The residences have been transformed into the Hope Lodge for the American Cancer Society.”

“I was pleased with what had been done there and the purpose for which it is being used... but it was also disconcerting. So I was not anxious to linger.”

“I don’t think these feelings are a unique reaction. And the pastor in me needs to take those feelings with me to the congregation. I want to invite them to acknowledge and live into and through these feelings as we work to live into a transformed way of being Church.”

“The other insight I had,” she wrote, “was recognizing a sense of confidence in myself that I never had when I was a student. I thought to myself, ‘I have finished apologizing for my existence.’ I hadn’t realized this has been a constant thread through my life, but I suspect it is, if not a driving force, one of them in my need for perfection.”

“The only way I could justify my existence was if I was perfect. But I’m beginning to understand existence is not the end or a goal or a reward of our being (a sentiment which, in its extreme, gets translated into ‘if I am good, I will live forever’). But existence is the means to... I’m not sure what... something else— maybe a path to grace.” [1] (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Luke: “...the travelers recounted what had happened on the road, and how they had come to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.” (Slight pause.)

The mistake people most often make when reading Scripture is that we take it to be a narrative about occurrences, about things which happened. And reading it that way is understandable. Why? These two lessons today, in two different books of the New Testament both by the same author, are prime examples.

Luke is one of the most talented writers in the canon and spins out complex narrative tales which hold us in rapt attention. But these stories are not meant to be simply narratives. At best these are meant as remembrances, not intended to be read for accuracy. Rather, these are meant to convey not what happened but the meaning behind what happened.

In short, these stories are intended to tell us not what Jesus did nor what happened to Jesus but what Jesus means. That is not to say these stories failed to happen. Nor is it to say these stories did happen. It is to say conveying what did or did not happen is not why the stories are being told. Why would I say that?

Let’s look at the stories. Some disciples, perhaps these two who met Jesus on the road, presumably spent the better part of three years with Jesus. Then, in that story, they actually see the resurrected Jesus on the road but without recognizing Jesus. So, their memories need to be twinged. And even then, even once they had recognized the risen Christ, they do not do anything about it, except go tell other disciples.

So notice: despite having spent time with Jesus and despite having a vision of the resurrected Christ, it is only on the day of Pentecost, when they were open to the visitation by Spirit and the Spirit visited that these disciples along with other disciples, these followers of Christ, were ready to share their experiences beyond that small group. It took learning. It took time. It took... experience.

Once all these were in place and practiced, the disciples were ready to cooperate with the Spirit, participate with the Spirit of God. Then and only then did they testify that they recognized the Spirit of God was present.

All of which is to say reporting what happened and/or the narration of a story is not what we find in Scripture. For the people who wrote Scripture, Scripture speaks only in the past tense, only describes experience which has happened over time.

In short, Scripture describes the effect of experience. Scripture does not describe what is happening as it happens. In the case of these stories, what is being described is a summation of the experience the Early Church, a summation of the experience they had of the risen Christ. (Slight pause.)

As we grow older, we should understand that things around us are not constant. As we grow older our insecurities should diminish. But do they? Who among us has not gone to a reunion of some kind or visited an old neighborhood and not wondered why and how things changed or had some doubt, some lack of self confidence, like Susan? (Slight pause.)

As we grow older we should recognize that things don’t happen by magic or automatically. Things take time— time to learn, time to grow, time to understand. Experience takes time.

As Susan suggested we need to (quote): “...acknowledge and live into and through these feelings as we work to live into a transformed way of being Church” (unquote). Church, you see, is or should be a place for transformation. Church is a place where we grapple with our own emotional lives.

Hence, Church is also a place we become disciples of Christ. How? Again Susan has an answer (quote): “I also realized that maybe I need to re-frame these changes in terms of their obvious intentions for healthy living in the NOW.” (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest that there is only one way to live in the ‘now.’ We need to take all our experience and learning and bring it to bear on the ‘now.’ That has the potential to bring us to a place where we are secure in ourselves.

Mind you, this is not easy. It does not happen with magic. [2] It takes work.

But if there is anything I have found out in my life, being a disciple of Christ is not always an easy road. Being a disciple of Christ is not always a safe road. But being a disciple of Christ is a transforming road. (Slight pause.)

So, do we, as a church, want to be transformed and do we want to be transformative? Clearly, that is the place the disciples in the stories today find themselves: both transformed and being transformative.

Was it an easy path? Probably not. But that’s what makes a church; that’s what is church. Let us be church, together. Let us be transformed and be transformative. Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
05/08/2011

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I have a colleague who, when getting into a pulpit is in the habit of saying this: ‘Hello, Church!’ Then the idea is you need to say ‘Hello Church!’ back, O.K.? ‘Hello Church!’ (The people responded ‘Hello Church!’ You’re saying that to each other now, right, because you are the church. This building is not the church. This is a meeting house. You are the church. As the church you are transformative. And I think that’s why he says that. He understands that this is who we are in the church. So, don’t be surprised if someday I get up there and say, ‘Hello Church!’”

[1] This is edited somewhat but I believe I have not misrepresented Susan. If I did it’s my fault, not hers. Check our the original at: .

[2] It should be noted that at the Children’s Time the pastor talked about the idea that there is no such thing as magic. The pastor illustrated what magic might look like by pouring water into a glass which had been prepared with Kool Aid in the bottom. That, of course, changed color as the water was poured in and several children expressed surprise at this. The pastor went on to say that hard work and experience were keys to life, not magic.

PASTOR'S LETTER - MAY NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends in Christ,

A recent Alban Institute article discussed Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, in reference to the church (a “Wikipedia church”) at some length. For those uninitiated in “wiki,” these “wikies” are collaborative online efforts which became a lot more “mainstream” with Wikipedia.
The original Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multi-lingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia has over 3.6 million articles written in English and another 14 million or so articles in other languages.
This online resource has been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Wikipedia is a departure from the kind of encyclopedia which was expert-driven. It is, instead, built by both experts and non-experts all over the world, people with expertise represented by their academic degrees and people with expertise represented by their experience.
When the editors of Time magazine recognized “You” as its Person of the Year for 2006, they acknowledged the accelerating success of online collaboration and interaction by millions of users around the world. In so doing, they cited Wikipedia as one of several examples of Web 2.0 services, along with YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.
Back to what Alban says: at some level, the notion of a “Wikipedia church” —or “Wikicclesia”— makes a lot of sense, even if we have never thought of it before. Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Wikicclesia is the church that anyone can edit.
This concept touches on a reality facing the church today: the concept of Wikipedia, the collaborative editing process, is now a part of our everyday lives. Given this reality, how do we, as the church, expect to be the least bit appealing to people who increasingly go through their day knowing that they can “wiki” i.e. edit something for themselves?
Further, through this editing process people offer their gifts of knowledge to the world and to generations to come on a daily basis. So how can we expect them to walk into our churches and simply take what is handed to them and do it the way we say they should?
Read a blog post, an article or any number of books on emerging, emergent or emergence Christianity and you are likely to find some reference to Wikipedia in the text. It is increasingly becoming a popular metaphor for the way many would like to see the church structure itself and operate.
Given this, there are two observations I want to make. One is denominational. One is Biblical.
Our denomination is based in and based on the local congregation which is based in and based on each individual. The most important unit in our denominational structure is the local church.
But the most important part of each church is the individual. The way we, in the Congregational tradition, “see church” is, unless each individual both has their say and does their part to make the congregation whole, then the church is less than what it should be, less than what it can be. Please note: participation of the individual on both counts is imperative: having a say and taking action— participating— is crucial in making the church strong.
Second, there is a Biblical aspect to this outlook. The Apostle Paul says this: “I, Paul, handed on to you as of first importance...” (1 Corinthians 15:3a [ILV]). The words “handed on” are significant. We do not have a good way to translate the Greek behind these words. The effect of a more subtle translation might be: “I, Paul, traditioned on to you...”
Needless to say, “traditioned” is not a word in the English language. But what is a tradition? If two people become a couple, it is a guarantee at their first Christmas they need to decide ‘whose traditions will we follow?’ The most likely result is there will be some kind of merger of the two.
Paul is indicating that what is being passed on he has “made his own”— he has traditioned. Did what Paul pass on change? Paul certainly interpreted what Christ meant and did so within the Jewish tradition. He traditioned what was of first importance.
That brings us back to “wiki.” Just like the wiki movement, where people have made something their own, we in the church need to make the church our own. We need to understand the traditions of the church for ourselves. Only then can we be empowered to pass them on.
Note: this does not mean we discard the traditions of the church. Unless we make them our own, we cannot successfully interact with those traditions.
And since, in the Congregational tradition, each of us is important, that is precisely what each of us needs to do: make the traditions of the church our own and pass on the traditions as we understand them so that others may do the same. So, as a colleague of mine often says: “See you in church.”
And it is your church. And each of us needs to make it so by “traditioning.”

In Faith,

Joe

Sermon ~ 05/01/2011 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ Living Hope

05/01/2011 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Used 1 Peter and John.

Living Hope

“Blessed be Abba, God of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ, who with great mercy gave us a new birth: a birth into a living hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead;...” — 1 Peter 1:3.

Many of you know I was drafted into the armed forces and served in Vietnam. At the time I was drafted I was, in civilian life, a computer operator. The army, therefore, decided the job for which I was qualified was that of a cook.

Or as I have always said, the Army way of thinking went something like this: computer operator— that starts with a “C.” Let’s make him a cook.

And you know what the motto of the army is? There are three ways of doing things: the right way, the wrong way and the army way.

In any case, one mess hall I worked at was on the fifth floor of a building. And a new stove was delivered to the mess hall. Now, there was an elevator in the building. But you could barely fit three people into it, never mind a mess hall sized stove.

So, the C.O. took command of the situation and told the Mess Sargent: “get this monstrosity up to the kitchen on the fifth floor. And it’s your problem. Do it. The C.O. also made it plain failure on this mission was not an option.

Well, how did it get done? My memory is it took about 10 or 12 G.I.s to get that stove up those five flights of stairs. And at some floors we had to go around bends in the staircase. But we got it up there.

Once we had made the 5th floor landing, we all just collapsed from heat and from exhaustion. But we now had it all the way up the stairs so getting it into the position staked out for it was easy. One of the guys had collapsed right next to the back of the stove. He looked up and he realized he was staring at what military folks call the nomenclature plate.

For those of you unfamiliar with military jargon, nomenclature is simply a description. Most pieces of equipment used in the services have some kind of plate or tag with a description of the item— weight, measurements, use— hidden somewhere on it. This G.I., laying on the floor at the back of the stove, noticed the nomenclature plate because it was right at his eye level {the pastor twists down and looks up}— right down there— all the way at the bottom.

“Hey, guys!” he called out, still laying on the floor. “How much do you think this sucker weighs?” (I’ve cleaned that up.) A couple of soldiers offered a guess. They all guessed too low.

“Two thousand pounds. (Slight pause.) We just moved a ton of dead weight metal up five stories, five flights of stairs!” (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as First Peter: “Blessed be Abba, God of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ, who with great mercy gave us a new birth: a birth into a living hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead;...” (Slight pause.)

First Peter (as the name of the work implies) is not written by Paul. But, when it comes to Epistles of Paul, there is no question Paul’s works are the first, the earliest writings recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. The last Epistle Paul wrote was composed no later than the year 64 of the Common Era.

On the other hand, Mark is the earliest Gospel and it is written no earlier than the year 65 and probably not at least until the year 70. John is the last Gospel and many scholars date it from the year 90. Some say it dates even later.

Now, if you’ve read the New Testament, this should be clear: for the most part, Epistles concentrate on theology and on life in the Early church. Epistles do not tell us much about the story of Jesus.

All of which is to say the theology, an explanation of who Jesus is, something about the meaning of Jesus, is recorded in the early Epistles. All of which is to say understandings of what this new Christian movement thinks about the relationship of Jesus and God and the Spirit is recorded in the early Epistles.

All this is recorded in early Epistles before the stories about Jesus ever get recorded, before the Gospels are written. Indeed, sometimes I wonder why those who compiled the New Testament did not organize it chronologically, did not place the books in the sequence in which they were written.

Now, as to the dating of First Peter, many scholars think it may have been composed as early as 70 of the Common Era but 75 is a more likely date. Even so, if we assign this 75 date, First Peter qualifies as an early work, written at least before the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John are written.

As such, this passage is concerned with theology, with an explanation of who Jesus is. In short, this is nomenclature— a description.

And, in fact, this explanation is pretty straightforward. God has sent Jesus to be the promised Messiah. Why? God sent Jesus to renew our understandings of the covenant and of hope.

The theology of the Hebrew Scriptures makes it plain that the promise of God all along has been the world is in need of constant restoration. The world is in need of constantly being resorted. The presence of Jesus is both a reminder and a symbol that this hope, this restoration, that which is promised and ongoing both— this hope and restoration is real.

These words explain that Jesus, in some way, has a special relationship with God and the Spirit. Hundreds of years later, the church describes this relationship with the word ‘Trinity.’ (Slight pause.)

Again, many Epistles are nothing more than nomenclature plates. In that they are nomenclature plates, they might as well say this about the theology of the relationship between God, Jesus and the Spirit: “Warning! This weighs two thousand pounds!”

You see, nomenclature is not always easy to understand. But it is good information to have. It helps us when we understand the details. (Slight pause.)

Now, I am sure no scholar would say this, but I think that’s one reason the Gospels, the stories about Jesus, which are not the earliest writings, come first in the Christian Scriptures. You see, if those G.I.s had seen the nomenclature plate first, there is no way we would have even tried to get the stove up the stairs. They would have said, “If that weighs one ton, we cannot get it up those stairs.”

Equally, I think if, as we read the New Testament, and we were first confronted with the Epistles, the nomenclature, instead of the stories about Jesus, we would not have bothered with Jesus or with God or even with the church. We would have said, “That’s way too hard.” So the stories do come before the explanation.

However, are the stories all we need to know? I want to suggest— not— they are not all we need to know. To be clear: I am not saying that simply knowing or failing to know the story or knowing or failing to know the nomenclature, the theology, will or will not help anyone be a Christian.

The New Testament is a testimony, not a test. I am saying it is helpful for all of us to know both ends of the spectrum, the theology and the story.

(Sotto voce.) Suppose you had a child or a grandchild in the fifth grade who came to you and said, “This work we’re doing is too hard. I’m going to stop. Wouldn’t work for you, would it? What would you do to that child?

But the Gospels and the Epistles are presented in such a way so, yes, they get harder and harder and harder. But we need to keep at it. You see, knowing both sides can only help us better understand what God is doing in our lives and what God is doing in Jesus.

And what is God doing in our lives and in Jesus? This is pretty easy. God is trying to help us understand hope. The resurrected Christ is a sign to us that the love of God prevails.

The resurrected Christ is a sign to us that hope does not die. The resurrected Christ is a sign to us that Jesus is with is today and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. And that nomenclature is pretty easy to understand, isn’t it? Amen.

05/01/2011
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Sometimes people think, given the world in which we live, logic suggests that hope makes no sense. And they are right. There are tragedies which happen every day from violent storms to floods to personal tragedies. Therefore, hope is not logical. Hope is, however, theological— hope has God logic. And God logic says something which makes absolutely no logical sense. Christ is risen. The Spirit of Christ lives among us. God is with us always.”