05/01/2016 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9 ~ Communion Sunday ~ * During Eastertide a reading from Acts is often substituted for the lesson from the Hebrew Bible.
Pentecost Daily
“...the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, / whom Abba, God, will send in my name, / will teach you, instruct you in everything; / and She will remind you of all that I have said to you.” — John 14:26.
I need to start with an apology. I apologize because I know some of you will find my comments today totally and incredibly boring.
Why? I want to address church structure. (Now that I’ve named where I am going with this I think I can already hear the snoring commence.)
I’m going there in part because I stumbled across an article written by a Baptist, Jeffery Brumley, which led me to thinking about church structure. The article had a provocative title. Can Congregational Polity Weather Cultural Challenges? [1]
Why such a title? Well, said Brumley, we live in an era when we are fond of claiming we like democracy, an era when we all want to get our own say. But democracy has a trade off.
Yes, democracy is defined as one member, one vote. But in a democracy that one vote counts only insofar as the voter is also willing to participate in the work that vote supports. (And we won’t even go to what that means in civil life. But it means something.)
In a true democracy authority is not passed off to someone else or to a committee. Each person needs both to claim authority by voting and to exercise authority through action, involvement. That’s the way a true democracy works.
The article pointed out while we live in a era that claims to like democracy, the exercise of direct power, we also live in an era when a lot of people are fond of letting others execute decisions and thereby we avoid direct involvement.
That having been said— now here’s the really boring part— this is my explanation of the three basic patterns of church structure. There are three prime forms— Episcopal, Congregational and Presbyterian.
To be clear, the explanations of each one I am about to offer are the simple, short definitions. But they are adequate. Which is also to say I could do at least a half hour on each of these and then you would be really bored.
Episcopal church structure is any church with Bishops or with a well defined hierarchy. The hierarchy, the ruling group, is in charge in these churches. They make decisions and a decision can mean one size fits all.
Congregational structure, on the other hand and on paper at least, is a clear cut form of straightforward democracy. Further, there is no denominational hierarchy, no Bishops. No one can give an order to the local church in a Congregational structure about anything. And yes, we fall into that category.
Presbyterian structure is perhaps the most complex. Local churches elect representatives to a regional body. These, in turn, elect representatives to a larger region which, in turn, elects representatives to a national body.
In a Presbyterian structure, the national body rather than individuals such as Bishops can tell the local churches what to do. Therefore through this process, local autonomy is surrendered to the national committee structure.
I believe Congregational form, Congregational structure, is ideally suited to enable a congregation to be who we really are together, to be where we are, together. Hence, the Spirit can work so that each church is an expression of its own context and is flexible to minister in its own context. Perhaps more to the point, with Congregational structure each member can be empowered by the Spirit to be an expression of their own context and flexible to minister in their own context.
I am sure for some that description of Congregational government sounds like shear chaos, anarchy— everyone does their own thing. To me that sounds like shared authority and shared responsibility.
I also need to emphasize I believe the Spirit can and will work in all the structures I’ve just described. But, needless to say, I also believe the Spirit can be most effective in a Congregational structure. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work we know as the Gospel According to the School of John: “...the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, / whom Abba, God, will send in my name, / will teach you, instruct you in everything; / and She will remind you of all that I have said to you.” (Slight pause.)
All this brings us to an interesting place, an interesting question. What is the Spirit about? (Slight pause.)
Poet and pastor Maren Tirabassi has written a poem which illuminates what listening to the language of the Spirit might be like. I want to recite part of it. The title is Pneuma-lingual— the language of the Spirit. (Slight pause.)
“I used to teach ESL – / English as a Second Language. / So on Pentecost every year / I pray for SSL / for myself and for the church I love— / Spirit as a Second Language— SSL.”
“Pentecost – / Spirit for Speakers of Other Languages— / the day when everyone heard / the words they knew.”
“So Pentecost us now, O God, / let us learn / to conjugate the Spirit, / shed the comfortable accents / of churchy insider talk, / fit our mouths to something strange— mostly verbs, / present tense, active voice / not many possessive pronouns” — the words of Maren Tirabassi. [2] (Slight pause.)
Jesus says the Spirit will teach us, instruct us, remind us. So, what is the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, reminding us about lately? What is the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, reminding you about lately? (Slight pause.) Here’s what I can guarantee: whatever the Holy Spirit is saying to each of us and to all of us, it’s not about church structure.
At its best church structure is, pardon the expression, a necessary evil. Indeed, to the extent that the church— all church— is a human institution, structure is essential.
But structure is human language. We need to listen for and to hear the language of the Spirit. We need to listen for and to a spiritual language. I would, in fact, suggest listening to the Holy Spirit is like, as Tirabassi implies, learning a second language. (Slight pause.)
I’ve said this before. In part because we tend to look at Scripture as a narrative, we envision the stories presented as happening in the past rather than happening to us today. So, our proclivity is to see the Resurrection of Jesus and the Pentecost event, the Holy Spirit visiting the church, as happening in the past.
But, as Tirabassi also says, we need to be aware that the Spirit can indeed (quote:) “Pentecost us now!” We need to hear the Holy Spirit, the language of the Spirit today, now. We need to be aware that today, now, the Holy Spirit is alive and with us, present.
And today, now, Pentecost does happen daily, when we listen. We can have a daily Pentecost when we attune ourselves to the language of the Spirit.
And what does the Spirit say? I firmly believe the Spirit says seek the peace God wants, now. I firmly believe the says Spirit seek freedom and equality for all, now. I firmly believe the Spirit empowers each of us to be kind, thoughtful, caring, now.
All of which is to say we need to be attuned to the Word and the work of the Spirit among us today, now. How does that happen? Well, yes— occasionally— our frail, human church structure might help, despite its own self. But more to the point, we need to listen for the Word of the Spirit in one another— listen for the Word of the Spirit in one another— and to act upon that Word.
Indeed, what is really central to Congregational polity, Congregational structure is listening for the Word of God we hear from one another acting on the Word of God we hear from one another. And so we need to listen to one another and learn from one another. Why is that? Well let me be parochial. As Congregationalists our firm belief is the Spirit speaks to each of us and to all of us, daily, now. Our firm belief is the Spirit is active in each of us and all of us, daily, now.
And we also believe Spirit forms us to be a community, speaks to all of us as a community, now. After all, when Jesus said this (quote:) “...the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, / whom Abba, God, will send in my name, / will teach you, instruct you in everything; / and She will remind you of all that I have said to you.” When the Risen Christ was speaking to all the disciples and saying this, the truth is it was not and is not in past tense. The Risen Christ was saying is saying this to us to us even today, now. Amen.
05/01/2016
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: “A week ago Bonnie and I attended the Susquehanna Association Meeting— speaking of Congregational polity. Our former parishioner, who many of you know and who now lives in Homer, her childhood home and attends the Homer United Church of Christ— Lynn Olcott was there. She sent us an e-mail which says in part: ‘It was fun to see you and it got me thinking about when I was a kid in the U.U. church— that’s Unitarian Universalist— I got the impression of a huge, inclusive, present God but as an adult it seemed to me the U.U. message had changed to one of the high-minded absence of God. And that must be how I have found my way to the U.C.C. sanctuaries.’ I do need to add I think we here strive to see God as present, with us now. It’s a mark of this church.”
BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places. God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago. God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity. The grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May the One Triune God sustain us today and throughout the infinity of what is commonly called tomorrow. Amen.
[1]
https://baptistnews.com/2016/04/14/baptist-leaders-wonder-can-congregational-polity-weather-cultural-challenges/
[2] This poem was slightly altered for this context— two stanzas were removed. It was posted on Maren Tirabassi Facebook page. It is, hence and by definition, public.
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