As many of you know, today marks the 500th anniversary of the
Protestant Reformation, a movement that began with a young monk with a law
degree nailing a list of 95 arguments, or thesis, to the church door in
Wittenberg, Germany. Or at least that’s the legend. We don’t know if he simply
mailed it to his local Bishop or posted it for public viewing, but his
arguments against Catholicism changed the way that believers in Jesus
understand and experience God’s active presence. And we are a part of his legacy, even though
our views may not exactly line up with his.
For those that may not know, two of his greatest concerns were
the selling of indulgences that would confirm the entrance of a loved one into
heaven, and the access of the average person to scripture. Now, indulgences
were kind of the tip of the ice berg of a theology of power wherein the church
believed that power to be entrusted to them by God and that Luther believed was
being abused.
Access to scripture was a part of that, but it was also the key
to understanding that our salvation was not dependent on anything other than
God’s
grace – God’s decision to love
us – and that everything we do is in response to that grace. Now, I’m betting
we’re all on the same page so far. Yay, Reformation! But I wonder how much we
really know, or think about what it means to be followers of Jesus in the
Reformed tradition.
A friend of mine from seminary recently posted some Reformation
humor online, and I thought that might give us a little something to start
with. So, here it goes.
Q: Did you hear about the new bubble bath that regenerates
itself when it’s gets too low?
A: It’s refoamed, always refoaming. (Reformed always reforming –
as the world changes we seek to stay true to the promises of scripture.)
Q: What do you call a group of basketball players who decide to
go into the ministry?
A: The priesthood of tall believers. (Priesthood of all
believers – through Christ we are able to forgive one another and act as
connectors for one another between us and God’s active presence.)
Q: What did John Calvin use to heat his home?
A: Sola panels. (Protestant watchwords – sola fide, faith
alone; sola gratia, grace alone; sola scriptura, scripture alone – for our
means of salvation.)
Q:
When is it a good time to start a new Presbyterian church?
A:
Whenever opportunity Knox. (John Knox was the founder of the Church of Scotland
that became the Presbyterian faith. Government by presbyters, or elected
elders, and Christ is present in the act of communion when common elements are
put toward divine ends.)
Q: Do Presbyterians want the end of the world
to come by a giant meteor or by environmental decline?
A: By a giant meteor. They prefer the Shorter Cataclysm. (The Shorter
Catechism is one of our confessions and it was produced to create union between
the Church of Scotland and the Church of England.)
Well, now that we’ve had a good laugh (or groan), let’s not let
our Reformed heritage get in the way of our Reformed theology – particularly
the claim that we are a people who are centered around scripture. Believe it or
not, there is a lot competing with our attention to God’s word on this day. Sure,
there are political and social issues. Debates rage over health care that no
one wants to be responsible for. Division in our society seems to increase
daily, whether it is economically or ideologically or racially. In the midst of
that, life marches on with all its joys and challenges (church ceiling repair,
and a stewardship campaign to boot).
With all of that in mind, some of us may feel a bit like Moses
in today’s reading. He’s been wandering in the wilderness with this stiff-necked
people for a generation. In fact, some have said that is exactly why they’ve
been wandering for so long – the generation that left Egypt was not able to
conceive of one God above all others, and so they could not enter into the
promised land. Put more simply, they just would not stop and ask for
directions.
The faith of Moses is certainly not in question. We aren’t given
a clear timeline, but we know that Moses knew that he would not enter the
promised land. But that didn’t stop him. The people’s faith or lack thereof did
not stop God, either. For God is faithful to God’s promises.
And what does God promise us? Well, God promises to be our God,
for sure. God promises us to bear witness to our faith, just as God did for
Paul and his co-workers. And this is the uncomfortable part, God promises us
that if we put our trust and our faith in buildings and structures, then we
will be let down.
But more than that, God promises that when we truly understand
the importance of God’s grace – God’s choice to love us – then it will move us
into sacred and covenant relationships where we, like Paul, want to share our
very selves with one another. Our time, our treasure, our priorities are not
wrestled from us by some slogan or campaign or tradition or doctrine. We simply
respond to the gospel together.
That has been our story these past seven years that I have been
here. Sure, we may wrangle over a theological point or two. Yes, we have
struggled to try to provide programs, and sometimes we get caught up in trying
to be like larger congregations with programs for every age and stage. And oh
yeah, have we got some building issues to deal with!
But, with no disrespect intended, these things that seem like
mountains remind me of the words of the great modern reformer, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr, who reflected on the promised land of social justice and racial
equality – and even the probability of his death – by saying, “it really
doesn't matter to me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I've looked
over, and I've seen the Promised Land.” If he can say that about the injustice
of the 1960’s, then there’s a lot more to following Jesus than all our worries
over a saggy roof. There is yet a world around us bent on injustice where there
is a great need for people who are naturally, instinctively, and theologically
moved toward constant reform.
That’s us, friends. If we would rather hide behind our anxieties
over a building that is designed for impermanence – needs maintenance but is
not expected to last forever – and deny our constant calling to render over our
very selves to others in our work, our play, our classes, and our constant
interactions, then we will miss out on the promised land. We will miss out on
the true nature of Christian fellowship and the whole point of being the church
in the first place.
This weekend several of us were on retreat thinking about that
very thing – what it means to be followers of Jesus who are reformed and
reforming – and one of the many things we talked about is the value of
perspective as it relates to our sense of vision or purpose. The example was
given of a photographer from National Geographic who talked about the way
photographs are composed by taking in a scene and then looking for that one
element that made it all make sense. As Christians that one thing can be
nothing other than our faith in Christ – our expectation that God calls each of
us beloved and expects us to do the same for one another; indeed, for all of
creation.
That’s the big picture that we are here for, and in our tradition,
we call it “the great ends of the church.” We
exist as a people for these reasons:
• The proclamation of the gospel for the
salvation of humankind.
• The shelter, nurture, and spiritual
fellowship of the children of God.
• The maintenance of divine worship.
• The preservation of the truth.
• The promotion of social righteousness.
• The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven
to the world.
Presbyterians
in the US have been using these six phrases to describe what it means to be the
church since 1910. Do you feel that this describes us? I sure do! Given our
support of C.U.P.S., Meals on Wheels, Family Promise, the Wesley, and our hands-on
relationships with PDA, I think we’re on the right track. We can always do
better, and as we continue to grow we will.
Let’s
just be sure to keep our vision broad enough to see the promised land on the horizon,
but focused enough to remember who we are as God’s people. Let’s take comfort
in the basic truth that our scripture affirms today. That truth is that there
are only two constants in the universe. The first constant is God’s love, which
is unchanging. The second is change, which is happening whether you like it or
not.
Another
modern reformer, David LaMotte, once said, “Just by breathing you change the
molecular structure of the air around you. Wouldn’t you rather be intentional
about the changes that you make in this world?” I couldn’t agree more, and
thanks be to God that we have been given one another to become formed and
reformed again and again and again into the image of God, who sends us out as a
display, an exhibit, and a demonstration of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.
Therefore, let us take to
heart the words John Calvin, who wrote that, “We should ask God to increase our
hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is
wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is
overthrown.”
Friends, what I need you
to hear is not simply a bunch of quotes from old guys with beards. What I need
you to hear is that you are the next reformer that God has called onto the
stage, and that we have been called into this work together. It is not our own;
it is simply our part to play in the work that God is doing. And to God be the
glory as the Kingdom is demonstrated here and there just as it will be then and
there. Amen.
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