Reflections on "Welcome to FPC" Genesis 17: 1-8; Romans 12: 3-8

When I picked the sermon topic, I had in mind the gathered crowd for Rally Day.  In my mind, that meant members of the church who were getting back into gear for the fall.  As the week progressed, I discovered the high school soccer team (men's) were going to be in attendance, which meant that we would have at least 20 visitors, who were also younger than the average member in attendance.  As I worked through the sermon, I kept asking myself, "How does this sermon get heard by non-Presbyterians who are 16-18 yrs. old?"  I'm not sure I arrived at the best answer, but it did change my approach to the sermon.

About Wednesday, the beach illustration came to me as I reflected on being the church.  I loved the illustration, but I had a lot of trouble shaping a sermon to make it fit (note to self - not a good practice to shape the sermon to the illustration!).  What finally came together was a somewhat desperate attempt to get a sermon, since I had to preach one!

I found the N. T. Wright quote to be very powerful, but it also kept me boxed in a bit. At one point I thought about scratching the quote and then focusing on a personal relationship with Jesus, but I decided that if I believed Wright to be correct (I do), then it lacked some integrity to just ignore his thoughts because they made the sermon more difficult to write.

“Welcome to FPC” Sept. 8, 2013; FPC, Troy;

Introduction:  "Welcome to FPC" Genesis 17: 1-4; Romans 12: 3-8; Rally Day

Introduction:  Welcome to First Presbyterian Church on our Rally Day celebration.

We have spent the last year reflecting on and celebrating our 200 years of ministry in Troy.  I hope you can join us next week as the Bicentennial year culminates in a blow-out worship service!

Ironically, even as we have focused on this church’s ministry, I had several people request sermons on what makes us uniquely Presbyterian.  So for several weeks this fall, I will be reflecting on what it means to be Presbyterian. 

This morning, I want to begin with the broader context of what it means to be the church by reflecting on two things:  First of all, the primary purpose of the church; secondly, the greatest challenge we have in being the church.

Move 1:  First, the primary purpose.

a.            IN his book “Simply Christian, N. T. Wright reminds us that the early church did not understand itself to exist for the primary purpose of providing a place for developing spiritual potential.  *(See end of sermon for complete quote)

Nor did the church understand itself to exist for the primary purpose of being a place to escape from the world.

Nor did it understand itself to be a place where people would come to get saved.

Now all those things could and did happen, but they were by-products to the church’s primary purpose.

b.            Primary purpose was to announce to the world that God had acted in Christ to save and redeem the world, and that by the power of the Holy Spirit God was still at work in the world.

1.      The church stands as a witness to the world that God is alive and in our midst.

2.      All we do ought to act like a giant billboard or FB post or Tweet and say, “God is alive.” “God is at work” “God is saving the world.”

c.             Why did you come through these doors today?

1. Maybe kids choir?  See Bibles handed out?  Rally Day –start to the fall?   Soccer coach “suggested” you come and worship with him.

2. do not know why.  But no matter what brings you here, my prayer is that you leave knowing that God is not done with you; that God is not done with the world.

3. The God who called Abram and made covenant with Israel, the God who sent Christ to save the world, this God is still at work.

d.            And God invites you to be part of that ongoing work.

1.      We read Paul’s letter to the Romans in which he describes for the early church how God has given different gifts to different people in their church.

2.      Those gifts are all needed to do the work of the church.

3.      God has given each of you unique gifts because God knows that those gifts are needed in the world.

Together, using our gifts, we live out our primary purpose to announce to the world that God has acted in Christ to save and redeem the world and that God is still at work in our world.

Move 2:  Greatest challenge to being the church – the tendency to see the church as our church, not as God’s church.

a.              the summer after my Freshman year in college, I worked at a Presbyterian camp in Port Aransas, TX as one of three lifeguards/cooks/maintenance men.

The camp was about a block from the beach, so much of the camp activity revolved around the beach, as did our off-duty activities.

We arrived in Port Aransas on the Saturday night of Memorial Day week-end.  We went down to the beach (they allow cars on this beach), and discovered a giant party.  Cars parked one after another down the beach; people walking up and down, mingling with anyone and everyone;

It felt like we were in a giant outdoor stereo as seemingly every car on the beach was tuned to the same station.

We began walking down the beach meeting people to the sound of "Welcome to Electric Ave."

It seemed like a party to which everyone was invited.

On a good day, the church is like that. 

Fast forward to the 4^th of July, the next big week-end at Port Aransas.  By then the three camp staffers had become part of the Port Aransas scene. In our minds, we were islanders, and in fact we carried with us the “residence” cards that we would use if to get back to Port Aransas if there were an evacuation.

That week-end as people gathered on the beach in similar fashion, we no longer saw it as a party we wanted to join -- instead, we were part of the Port Aransas crowd that saw all these visitors as intruders to our beach. the loud music was now a source of irritation, rather than an invitation to join the party.

In just a few short weeks, we had gone from seeing the beach as a place to be shared and instead saw it as our private domain.

On a not-so-good day, the church acts like that.

b. The church lives in that tension.

1.      We hear the call to extend ourselves to others, but we really like having our own little comfort zone with people who support and nurture us.

2.      we understand that God sends us into the world, but we cling to the familiarity of our church surroundings.

3.      We speak glowingly of our church, but then forget that the church exists for God’s purposes not for us.

c. At our best, we provide a place of nurture and challenge for people even as we extend ourselves to the world. Not an easy balancing act, but then being God’s witness in the world is not necessarily easy!

Conclusion:  Welcome to First Presbyterian Church – an imperfect gathering of those who announce to the world that God has acted in Christ and continue to be at work through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*“According to the early Christians, the church doesn't exist in order to provide a place where people can pursue their private spiritual agendas or develop their own spiritual potential. Nor does it exist in order to provide a safe haven in which people can hide from the wicked world and ensure that they themselves arrives safely at an otherworldly destination. Private spiritual growth and ultimate salvation come rather as the by-products of the main, central, overarching purpose for which God has called and is calling...that through the church God will announce to the wider world that he is indeed its wise, loving and just creation; that through Jesus he has defeated the powers that corrupt and enslave it; and that by his Spirit he is at work to heal and renew it” (203-204). N.T Wright, Simply Christian