Reflections on "Am I Saved?" Romans 5: 6-11; John 3: 1-21

I noticed that the sermon title in the bulletin shifted from "Are You Saved?" to "Am I  Saved?"  not sure why that slip happened, although this sermon grew out of a lot of personal experiences that I have had as a cradle-Presbyterian living life among my more evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ.

I love the Nicodemus passage in the Gospel of John.  That is always a fun text to preach.  If we had read farther in Paul's letter to the Romans, we would have found some challenging stuff.  I chose to read less of that passage than was originally noted.  It did remind me that even as I seem to make a clear statement about one issue, in this case salvation, I open the door to other issues, in this case free will and God's sovereignty.  it reminds me that we can never quite grasp who God is -- we can merely hope for glimpses of gospel along the way.

I particularly enjoyed this sermon because it reminded me of my time on internship during my seminary years. Those two years not only shaped me in formative ways that still impact who I am as a minister today, but my internship connected me with some wonderful people who still act as models for what Christian discipleship looks like (not to mention having a lot of fun while on internship).

"Am I Saved?"  Romans 5: 6-21; John 3: 1-21 Sept. 29, 2013; FPC, Troy; Presbyterian mini-series

Introduction:   Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, a person whom Jesus acknowledged as a teacher.  He knew his stuff, but he seems perplexed in this story in the Gospel of John.

He comes to Jesus in the dark of the night (which we know in the Gospel of John is the sign of confusion) to ask Jesus how a person who is grown can climb back in the womb to be born again?

If he were not a Pharisee, I would have guessed from that question that Nicodemus was a Presbyterian.  So rational in his thinking.

Most days I love being Presbyterian with all our thinking and analyzing; but some days, I wish tings could be a lot simpler.

One of those days has always been when some of my more evangelical friends talk about when they were saved.  Or perhaps more specifically, when they tell me about being saved and then ask, “Are you saved?”

 

I envy there simple answer as I speak a lot of words to explain salvation in the Presbyterian tradition.

Let me share a few of those thoughts on salvation in the Presbyterian tradition this morning.

Move 1:  Salvation question is about more than our personal salvation.

a.      To ask “are you saved?” is to make the act of salvation into a very personal, a very private, and a very particular act.

1.       It makes it about me.  Or about you.

2.      We Presbyterians want to push back on that notion of salvation being so private by pointing out that salvation is first and foremost about God.

3.      About the God who comes in Christ.

4.      About the God who comes in Christ to save and redeem the world.

5.      About the God, who as Paul describes, sends Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners.

6.      Salvation is primarily about the God who acts to save, not about our choice of accepting God’s offer of salvation.

b. It is why infant baptism works well with our Presbyterian theology.

            1. In traditions where baptism is only linked to a person’s acceptance of Christ, the emphasis is on the person’s decision.

            2. In infant baptism, we emphasize God’s grace that claims us in the waters of baptism.

            3. We proclaim the God who declares, “You7 are mine” even before we even know enough about God to make a personal faith statement.

In other words, we Presbyterians shift the question from “Are you saved?” do the affirmation, “God saves!”

Move 2: We Presbyterians also shift the “Are you saved?” answer from one moment to a process

a.      IN more evangelical traditions, the salvation question is often met with a very precise answer.

1.       A date and time when the person was saved.

2.      A specific moment – maybe at a church campfire on the last night of camp.

3.      Or listening to a particular sermon on a particular Sunday.

4.      Or after an event like a car accident where the person felt that God had literally steered her to safety.

b.     It does not seem to work that way for Nicodemus.

1.       Jesus invites him into what seems like a process.

2.      Not a single moment, but a changed life.        

3.      In some ways, how much easier it is simply to remember the exact date and time you were saved.

4.       A lot harder to live each day as a person who has been changed by following Christ.

c.       I am reminded of someone who asked, “Why don’t we pray to become worthy of being saved, instead of for personal salvation?”

1.      Not that we can ever be worthy of God’s grace, but notice the shift from “look what I got from Christ” to “watch what I do as I follow Christ.”

2.      It might in fact be easier for Nicodemus to figure out a way to climb back into the womb to be born again than to give up his Pharisaical ways and follow Christ each day for the rest of his life.

3.      That’s why Jesus introduces the role of the Holy Spirit at this point.

4.      Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can Nicodemus be born again and live his life as the new creation God calls him to be.

The Presbyterian understanding of salvation invites us into a process of changing our ways as we follow Christ.

Move 3:  But, I have also come to recognize the importance of moment, or in keeping with the idea that we understand salvation lived out in a process, a moment or two or three!

            a.  Baptist funeral.

                        1. Best fired of the dead man was a Deacon.

                        2. He was invited to do the eulogy.

                        3.  Shared his dead friend’s desire that everyone accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

                        4. Funeral became an altar call.

                        5. I have participated in lots of funerals and memorial services and have never quite gotten there, but I now recognize a bit about what that man was saying.

            b. We need those moments of clarity, those times when we commit, or recommit ourselves to following Christ.

                        1.  Samuel Shoemaker in his book How to Become a Christian writes about how salvation comes from God, but people need to make a Christian commitment:  "No man [person] can redeem himself [herself].  No man [person] can make a cross of his [her] own that saves [him]....I am shocked to find how many people in our churches have never anywhere made a decisive Christian commitment.  They oozed into church membership on a  conventional kind of basis, but no one has ever effectively dealt with the spiritually, or helped them make a Christian decision" (67-70).

                        2.  One of the challenges for we who practice infant baptism is to find a way for those who were baptized as infants to feel that claim that God has on their lives and make their commitment to following Christ.

5.         Why confirmation is a big deal.

5.      Why they will profess their faith in public worship and be anointed.

6.      We want our confirmands to have that moment when they know they are committing themselves as followers of Christ.

7. In fact, it’s why our new members stand before the congregation in worship and reaffirm their faith – a moment for them to lay claim to their faith.

d.     Work to provide moments of clarity.

1.      It cannot, of course, be scripted entirely, but that’s why we renew our baptismal vows periodically.

2.      Go back to Kirkmont and gather around the campfire for worship.

3.      Have a labyrinth that people can walk.

4.      The God of grace who saves us continually calls us to new commitments.

Conclusion:  If someone asks you, “Are you saved?’ the short, Presbyterian answer is “Yes” (and then I would suggest leaving the scene immediately).

The not quite so short answer is, “Yes, God acted to save me in Christ.”  And then fill in the answers with the details you know, the details that you have lived as you have experienced Christ in your life.

Of course, answering the question is the easy part.  The hard part is living each day as a person who is changed by Christ’s gift, as a person who commits and recommits to serving Christ in the world.

Amen.

Although not specifically quoted, I consulted with Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt by Ted Foote and Alex Thornburg as part of my work on this sermon.  As a personal aside, I was the last in a line of interns who served First Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, TX. The line began with Ted Foote, so although I have only met him personally a few times, I spent two years hearing about his work in that congregation. 

"Am I Saved?" Romans 5: 6-21; John 3: 1-21"

We continue reflecting on what Presbyterians believe with the topic of salvation.  Growing up in the Bible belt brought this question to forefront on a regular basis -- both as a question I might be asked, but also as an observation I might make of what others were doing at their churches.

A simple Presbyterian response to the question, "Are you saved?" might be, "Yes, Jesus saved me on the cross."  But that would not fit what the person asking would consider to be a good answer; nor does it offer the same sense of making a commitment or decision that the Presbyterian answering the question might seek one day.  The man in the Gospel of John story is caught in that place where experience and theology meet, and he's not sure what to make of it.

Nevada Barr, Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat (18):  “I cannot know what will happen when I get around to shuffling off this mortal coil.  That must be left in the hands of God.  Not knowing the unknowable, I cannot prepare for it….What I can do is prepare my little corner of earth so that should He come to me in any form, He would be met with kindness and generosity.”

Discipleship/salvation: Why don’t we pray to become worthy of being saved, instead of for personal salvation? 

A really good illustration was found via Martin E. Marty's newsletter CONTEXT, which quotes Notre Dame Magazine (August 1996), which further quotes Wendy Kaminer, author of "I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional" as she believes..."the talk show phenomenon grows out of the US tradition of revival meetings. The host takes the place of the evangelist, and the guests stand up and give testimony of past sins. Most of these sins, however, were committed by someone else. 'People don't get up on Oprah and say 'I've sinned'. The focus is never on their own behavior and always
on the behavior of other people towards them. They're not confessing, they're complaining. But its complaint in the form of testimony" "Even when you're confessing your own sins, penitence is no longer a requirement in the talk show revival tent. The simple act of "being honest" about some heinous deed is considered penance enough. It's a bastardization of the
revival tradition. It's the idea that salvation comes simply from the act of confession. That's just cheap grace." CONTEXT, February 15, 1997 page 4.

Christian Century, 6/27/2012; “A Hopeful Universalism,” Paul Dafydd Jones (27):  “My point is this:  in light of Christ's person and work, sin no longer sets the terms for our relationship with God and God's relationship with us.”

Will all be saved?  Willimon says we are not permitted to believe that, but we are encouraged to hope that.  Willimon, Evangelism interview, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, OH, fall 2009

Ron Hall:  “Looking back now, I mourn the mutual wounds inflicted in verbal battles with the 'unsaved.'  In fact, I have chosen to delete that particular word from my vocabulary as I have learned that even with my $500 European designer bifocals, I cannot see into a person's heart to know his spiritual condition.  All I can do it tell the jagged tale of my own spiritual journey and declare that my life has been the better for having followed Christ.” Same Kind of Different, Ron Hall and Denver Moore, 60

Samuel Shoemaker in his book How to Become a Christian writes about how salvation comes from God, but people need to make a Christian commitment:  "No man [person] can redeem himself [herself].  No man [person] can make a cross of his [her] own that saves [him]....I am shocked to find how many people in our churches have never anywhere made a decisive Christian commitment.  They oozed into church membership on a  conventional kind of basis, but no one has ever effectively dealt with the spiritually, or helped them make a Christian decision" (67-70).

How would you answer the question, "Are you saved?"  Better yet, when you look into the mirror how do you answer the question, "Am I saved?"

Reflections on "Do I Have to Believe in the Bible?" Acts 8: 26-40; Galatians 3: 23-29

The Acts story is a great story for lots of topics, including a sermon on Scripture.  Of course, the sermon can only be so long, so stuff gets left out -- in this instance, the role of the Holy Spirit in interpreting Scripture did not make the sermon, although it is an important aspect of how we interpret Scripture.

I added for the Sanctuary service the little bit about the Reformation's emphasis on reading the Bible in the vernacular (native language).  It seemed so obvious, except it did not occur to me until after I had preached the sermon in the Chapel.

Someone noted that I didn't need the sermon, all we needed to do was sing the hymn after the sermon and say the Affirmation of Faith, which covered the topic very well.  That, of course, is the goal -- to have the different elements complement each other.

There is still a lot more that could be said on the Bible in the Presbyterian tradition, but I'll have to cover that at a later time.

“Do I Have to Believe in the Bible” Sept. 22, 2013; FPC, Troy;  Acts 8: 26-40;  Galatians 3: 23-29;

Introduction:   This is a continuation of the series I began the week before the Bicentennial that will address a few topics in the category of "What Presbyterians Believe."

Let me begin by assuring everyone that Presbyterians do believe in the Bible and that we believe in the authority of Scripture. But, what that means for Presbyterians (and, of course, I can't speak for all Presbyterians) is different, I suspect, than what it means for some other Christian traditions.

Move 1:  We read the whole Bible (or at least we ought to).

            a. Begin with reading the Bible.

1.      It does not matter how much authority we bestow on Scripture if we never read it.

2.      hallmark of the Reformation was the belief that people should hear the Bible read and be able to read it in their own language. 

3.      Baptism – Beginner’s Bible

4.      1^st Grade – study Bible

5.      Read the Bible in a year;

6.      Cannot learn from it if we do not read it.

7.      Al Pitsenbarger – read through the Bible twice at his wife’s bedside.

            b. We read the whole Bible.

1. We cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible to accept or not accept (well, we probably do)

                        2.  “All Christians are bowdlerizers. When we come to something we cannot or will not accept, we skip over it, hoping to find something we are happy to hold on to in the next chapter, the next verse, the next page, the next Evangelist” Reading Jesus: A Writer's Encounter with the Gospels, Mary Gordon, (xvii)

2.       “If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” St. Augustine

3.      We're stuck, or challenged, or corrected by the entire Bible.

4.      Study may lead us to decide that how the early church understood a text, or how the Reformers interpreted a text is different than how we might interpret a text in our context, but it does not mean we can throw out the parts of the Bible we do not like.

c.                   Part of our task is to invite the different biblical texts to interpret each other.

1.  Not lifting up one text as the final answer over and against all other texts, but letting the texts speak to each other.

2.  "He [Tom Boomershine, the founder of the Network of Bible Storytellers] said he was becoming more and more convinced that we can't tell stories in isolation – especially violent stories. So we can't tell about David killing Goliath (I Samuel 17), he said, without also telling the story of God not allowing David to build the temple because he was a violent man (1 Kings 5).” Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road, Brian McLaren (194)

3. There are people who do not like what Paul writes about how women should behave in church.  But, when we read those texts in conversation with the passage we read from Galatians today about how in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, we might understand Paul differently. 

We read the whole Bible.

Move 2:  In the Presbyterian tradition, we look beyond a literal interpretation Scripture.

            a. N. T. Wright tells a legend about “Karl Barth. On being asked by a woman whether the serpent in Genesis actually spoke, he replied, 'Madam, it doesn't matter whether the serpent spoke. What matters is what the serpent said.'” Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (184).

                        1. Authority of Scripture does not rest in every word being interpreted literally.

                        2.  The authority rests in the God revealed in those words.

                        3. Genesis – we read the first two chapters and discover that God is the author of all creation; nothing exists outside of God’s purview. 

                        4. We also read about how God breaths life into humans – our very existence connects us with God.

                        5.  We then know the truth that God created all things and that God is intimately connected with us.

                        6. Is that a step-by-step manual to how the world was created – no, the science books can handle that.  But the Bible tells us who created us and to whom we are connected.

            b. Leads us to studying the Biblical texts.

                        1.  Acts story – Ethiopian eunuch asks a great question – how can I know this if I do not have someone to interpret it for me.

                        2. We need to study the text.

                        3. Great to read the Bible by ourselves, but to really grapple with the text we need to be in conversation with others – scholars who have studied the text; people in our small groups; church school classes.

                        4. We need others to help us interpret the texts.

5.  According to Tom Long there was an occasion a few years ago when a biblical scholar was explaining Mark 1 to a group of teenagers. This scholar told the teens that when Jesus was baptized, the skies did not just open up, as some older translations said, but in the original Greek of Mark 1:10 we are told the skies ripped open, split in an almost violent way. This was very dramatic and forceful. "Get the point?" the scholar asked the group. "When Jesus was baptized, the heavens that separate us from God were ripped open so that now we can get to God. Because of Jesus we have access to God--we can get close to him."

But there was one young man sitting in the front row, arms crossed, making a fairly obvious display of his disinterest. Yet suddenly he perked up and said, "That ain't what it means." “What?" the Bible scholar said, startled. "I said that ain't what that means," the teenager repeated. "It means that the heavens were ripped open so that now God can get at US anytime he wants. Now nobody's safe!"

c.              Easy way to expand our interpretation – see yourself as different characters in the story.

1.      The biblical text offers a great example of that. 

2.      Remember when the prophet Nathan goes to King David and tells him the story of the rich man who has a huge flock, but still takes the little lamb from the poor man.

3.      David immediately sees himself as the third party to the story who needs to rescue the poor man and punish the rich man. 

4.      Then Nathan tells him that he is the rich man.

5.      The story suddenly feels a little different for King David and the lesson he learns changes.

We Presbyterians study the text and look beyond a literal interpretation.

Move 3:  Scripture reveals God’s liberating truth.

a.              The Reformed tradition maintains that the truth of Scripture is discovered when it reveals God's liberating truth to us (see Faith Seeking Understanding, by Daniel Migliore, particularly his chapter on the authority of Scripture, pp. 40-55).

1.      This does not mean that Scripture does not call us to accountability or act as a corrective in our lives.

2.      We cannot read the prophets, for instance, and not recognize how God calls us to change our ways.

b.              But it means that our interpretation of Scripture must reveal God’s saving grace, or we might have it wrong.

1.      If we find that our interpretation is oppressing others (remember how slave owners used the biblical text to support slavery);

3.      Or if our interpretation is beating others up (or leading us to beat ourselves up), we probably need to listen again.

b.        “What I noticed at Grace-Calvary is the same thing I notice whenever people aim to solve their conflicts with one another by turning to the Bible: defending the dried ink marks on the page becomes more vital than defending the neighbor. As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God. In the words of Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas, ‘People of the Book risk putting the book above people.’” (106) Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church

1.      God does not need to be protected.

2.      God needs to be revealed as the one who calls us to new life and new possibilities.

3.      We do not worship the words of the Bible, but the one whom the Bible reveals

c.      I love that the encounter between Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch moves from interpreting the text to the waters of baptism

1.       Bible study leads to the eunuch being baptized in his baptism being united with Christ in his death and resurrection.

2.      Studying the Bible matters because it reveals God’s saving grace.

Conclusion:  A guy I referee with asked me if Presbyterians believed in the Bible? I responded yes, but then I thought about it and clarified with, "By the way you ask the question, I would guess that you might not think we Presbyterians believe in the Bible."

“You’re right.  I probably don’t.”

The world understands and approaches the Bible from a variety of vantage points. 

We Presbyterians approach the Bible seeking study God’s Word to discover the new life and saving grace God offers each of us.

"Do I Have to Believe in the Bible?" Acts 8: 26-40; Galatians 3: 23-29

This is a continuation of the series I began the week before the Bicentennial that will address a few topics in the category of "What Presbyterians Believe."  Let me begin by assuring everyone that Presbyterians do believe in the Bible and that we believe in the authority of Scripture.  But, what that means for Presbyterians (and, of course, I can't speak for all Presbyterians) is different, I suspect, than what it means for some other Christian traditions.

A few thoughts or snippets I have run across in my reflections on this topic.

1.  We cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible we like or don't like. We're stuck, or challenged, or glorified by all the Bible.

       a.  “If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”  St. Augustine

      b.  “All Christians are bowdlerizers.  When we come to something we cannot or will not accept, we skip over it, hoping to find something we are happy to hold on to in the next chapter, the next verse, the next page, the next Evangelist”  Reading Jesus:  A  Writer's Encounter with the Gospels, Mary Gordon, (xvii)

      c.  Part of our task is to invite the different biblical texts to interpret each other.  "He [Tom Boomershine, the founder of the Network of Bible Storytellers] said he was becoming more and more convinced that we can't tell stories in isolation – especially violent stories.  So we can't tell about David killing Goliath (I Samuel 17), he said, without also telling the story of God not allowing David to build the temple because he was a violent man (1 Kings 5).” Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road,  Brian McLaren (194)

2.  The Reformed traditions maintains that the truth of Scripture is discovered when it reveals God's liberating truth to us (see Faith Seeking Understanding, by Daniel Migliore, particularly his chapter on the authority of Scripture, pp. 40-55).

     a.  Wright tells a legend about “Karl Barth.  On being asked by a woman whether the serpent in Genesis actually spoke, he replied, 'Madam, it doesn't matter whether the serpent spoke.  What matters is what the serpent said.'” Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (184).

3.  According to Tom Long there was an occasion a few years ago when a biblical scholar was explaining Mark 1 to a group of teenagers. This scholar told the teens that when Jesus was baptized, the skies did not just open up, as some older translations said, but in the original Greek of Mark 1:10 we are told the skies ripped open, split in an almost violent way. This was very dramatic and forceful. "Get the point?" the scholar asked the group. "When Jesus was baptized, the heavens that separate us from God were ripped open so that now we can get to God. Because of Jesus we have access to God--we can get close to him."

But there was one young man sitting in the front row, arms crossed, making a fairly obvious display of his disinterest. Yet suddenly he perked up and said, "That ain't what it means." “What?" the Bible scholar said, startled. "I said that ain't what that means," the teenager repeated. "It means that the heavens were ripped open so that now God can get at US anytime he wants. Now nobody's safe!"

4.  “What I noticed at Grace-Calvary is the same thing I notice whenever people aim to solve their conflicts with one another by turning to the Bible:  defending the dried ink marks on the page becomes more vital than defending the neighbor.  As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.  In the words of Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas, ‘People of the Book risk putting the book above people.’” (106) Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church

5.  A guy I referee with asked me if Presbyterians believed in the Bible?  I responded yes, but then I thought about it and clarified with, "By the way you ask the question, I would guess that you might not think we Presbyterians believe in the Bible."

6.  The Acts story points out the need we have for someone to help us interpret the text.

7 The Acts story connects the interpretation of Scripture with the sacrament of baptism.

Any thoughts or stories about your Bible reading?  How often do you read the Bible?  When do you read the Bible?

Reflections on "the Next Fifteen" Acts 14: 19-28

We had a terrific worship service with wonderful music, litanies, energy, and excitement as we celebrated our Bicentennial.  In that context, the sermon gets a boost.  I wish I had chosen a different text, as the sermon did not connect with the Acts passage as well as I would have liked, but overall, the sermon went just as I had would have liked.  The conclusion was a bit different live than on paper because that last page of my sermon notes got lost in the shuffle.  But in keeping with the day, the conclusion I preached was better than the conclusion I wrote.

“The Next Fifteen” September 15, 2013; Acts 14: 19-28; FPC, Troy; Bicentennial celebration

Introduction:   “Fifteen pioneering spirits” as the written history of our church describes our organizing members;

Fifteen pioneering spirits started what we celebrate now 200 years, and 2 days later.

The church I served in Ky celebrated its Bicentennial while I was there.  For their final, celebratory worship service, they had the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church preach a grand and glorious sermon.

Today, here in Troy, you get me. 

So here goes.

Move 2:  I could have titled the sermon “The first fifteen” or “the desire of the first fifteen” because I find it both overwhelming and powerful to remember the desire of those first fifteen to worship God and form a church.

a.      They had settled in this part of OH.

1.      still a frontier.

2.      Threat of Indians

2.      War with the British

4. it was a hard life.

            b. In the midst of it all, they desired to worship God, to form a community of faith.

1.      And a Presbyterian one at that.

2.      They looked around and said, “this is what we want,”

No, “this is what we need, “

No, “this is what we have to do – we have to worship God and be the body of Christ in this place.

c. When we read about Paul’s journeys in Acts we read of his desire to form the body of Christ in place after place.

1.       Even when he gets driven out of one place, he immediately goes somewhere else.

2.      Reminder that as the first followers of the resurrected Christ tried to figure out what that meant, they discovered that they needed to be in community with one another and they needed to worship God.

4. We spend a lot of time finding excuses for not attending church.

1. Or the church leadership spends time and effort trying to figure out how to entice people to come and be a part of the church.

2.               Those fifteen needed no enticement; they needed God and community.

I could have titled the sermon “the desire of the first fifteen”

Move 2:  Or I Could have titled the sermon the “Imperfect fifteen,” in recognition of the failings we see as we trace the history of our congregation.

2.                                  Fast forward from 1813 to the 1830s.

3.      The church has grown from the first fifteen to 172 members.

4.      Over 1000% growth.

5.      Things should have been going very, very well.

6.      For two years there is talk about building a new sanctuary to accommodate the growth.

3.      But then the church splits.

1.      The divide and go their separate ways.

2.      They disagree on theology and polity; on who decides who can be a minister and what a church must believe to be considered Presbyterian; on the role of the General Assembly in how the churches respond.

3.      The imperfect church at its worst; the body of Christ, split in two.

      

4.      As we read the letters of the early church, we read of their controversies and compromises; their petty struggles; their work to stay together, even as some leave.

1.      it is hard to be the body of Christ because of our humanity.

3.         Our sinfulness,

3.                  Our thirst for power and control.

4.  Our inability to stay focused on what really matters.

5. It still happens today, even in the Presbyterian Church.    

d.      But we have hope in the God who calls us to be the body of Christ despite our failings.

1.      As we celebrate 200 years of ministry in this congregation, we celebrate the steadfast faithfulness of God who entrusts, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the work of the church to people like us.

2. All the ministries in which this congregation has engaged, all these activities that we celebrate now, point to the God who is at work in our midst despite our imperfections.

I could have titled the sermon the imperfect fifteen.

Move 3:  I did title the sermon  “the next fifteen”

           

            a. With all due respect to those first fifteen for what they started, with all due respect to what those who have came after them, what matters most as we move forward is the next fifteen....and the next fifteen.

1.      God does not work in reverse, somehow moving backward in time to change what has happened in the past.

2.      No, God pushes us forward to new plans and new possibilities.

3.      God has called us. 

4.      God has called you, to this place, in this time because God has a plan unfolding in our midst.

5.      A plan that moves us into the future God has for us.

6.      When they celebrate 225 or 250 or 275 or the Tricentennial, we do not know what they will look back on and claim as our ministries that mattered.

7.      But we recognize our responsibility to live into our calling as the body of Christ at work and worship in the world.

b. Our task is clear.

1.      To be the place where the next fifteen can worship God;

To be the place where the next fifteen can be nurtured by this community of faith;

To be the place where the next fifteen can hear God’s call for how to follow Christ into the world.

2.      In fact, we are the next fifteen, even as we prepare for the next fifteen after us.

3.      God is not done, so we are not done.

Conclusion:  too early to tell the behind-the-scene stories from our Bicentennial celebration, but I will tell the story Rev. Lillian Daniel tells as she describes how the church she served in New England prepared for the 75^th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of their church building.

Two years of preparation; special anthem commissioned; guest speakers lined up; feast planned. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Then, one month before the celebration, someone doing research discovers that the 75^thanniversary of the laying of the cornerstone had actually taken place the year before.

The news travels through the church like lightning. Is the celebration ruined?  Will it be called off?

At the next board meeting, they begin to discuss the anniversary plans.  No mention of the error that had been discovered.  But, someone notes that it took over a year to build the building; that the first worship service was not until one year after the cornerstone had been laid. So they are looking forward to celebrating the first worship in the building. On the correct date. Lillian Daniel, When “Spiritual But Not Religious” Is Not Enough (14-16).

Our Bicentennial celebration.  A celebration of an imperfect 200 years that propel us into the future following the perfect One.  Amen.