The context for the sermon is Rally Day, which we hope means some people starting back to church as they try and get their fall routines into order.
I am also aware that the soccer team from the high school is planning on being in worship, which means we will have 20 young men who are not Presbyterian (well, one is) sitting in our worship service.
What do we Presbyterians/Christians have to say about who we are and what we do? What makes us uniquely Presbyterian?
I have been thinking about an experience I had the summer in college when I worked at a Presbyterian camp in Port Aransas, TX. it was about a block from the beach. I was one of three lifeguards/cooks/maintenance men. We arrived in Port Aransas on Saturday night of Memorial Day week-end. We went down to the beach (they allow cars on this beach), and it was a giant party in stereo. 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. By the time 4th of July rolled around, we had become part of the Port Aransas scene. 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 not a source of irritation, rather than a party to be joined. the church stands in that tension -- we hear the call to welcome any and everyone; we find ourselves preferring the group that we know.
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 “Simply Christian,
N. T. Wright (203-204).
Paul reminds us that we all have different functions that are needed for the whole to function as it should.
No comments:
Post a Comment