Holy Hunger -- September 25, 2011

Holy Hunger

Exodus 17:1-7

The Reverend Chris Adams

The last time Pastor Tricia and I worked together in worship was at the February Presbytery meeting. We preached a sermon together, based in the story of Jesus calling Peter to get out of the boat. It was a dialogue sermon between the two of us and one additional pastor and we offered the message seated together in an actual boat. We called it, “Three Bored Pastors.” It was a lot of fun and a joy to work together.

As I remember now, my character (I guess that’s what we call it) was very hungry. Over and over, to interject a little humor into the message I told the others that I was hungry. Over and over Tricia and Tim responded, “You always are.” Did I mention it was fun?

To be honest though, I wasn’t really. Hungry that is. In fact, as I read the Exodus story again this week, only part of which we have today it occurred to me that I have never really been hungry. Not the way the Israelites seemed to be anyway.

It’s funny how we talk about being hungry and thirsty. My children, four years old to fifteen, come in to me sometimes, “Dad I’m hungry!” My youngest daughter has this recent routine where the last thing she says before we turn off the light for bed is to tell us that she is thirsty. It’s a great stall tactic to get just one or two minutes more out of the day.

But to be honest, none of my children have ever really been hungry or really been thirsty. I am not saying I want them to be; of course I don’t. It’s just funny how we use those words and do not distinguish their meaning from other ways of being hungry and thirsty.

You probably watched the media coverage of this year’s drought in east Africa. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, one of the medical correspondents with CNN I think, traveled to Somalia and reported on the crisis level, shortage of food there caused by the drought. I remember the video of a small boy that was literally starving to death. Dr. Gupta reported that even if they could keep him alive, his life would be forever changed by this event because his body would never fully recover. His brain would be smaller than normal because his young developing body was hungry for so long.

That kind of hungry is nothing my children will ever experience, I pray.

Remember the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The country’s infrastructure was destroyed and even now has not even begun to recover. In the weeks and months following, because clean water wasn’t available, a cholera epidemic devastated the already desperate situation. Moms and dads had to choose whether to give their thirsty children infected water or watch as their children became more and more dehydrated. If you have children, can you imagine that kind of decision? But we won’t have to make such a choice.

That kind of thirsty is something my children will probably never experience, again I pray.

You see, we use words like hungry and thirsty, but they clearly aren’t the same as the kind of hunger and thirst other people in our world know all too often. I have never really been hungry and really been thirsty.

So how can I read a story like this Exodus story and make any sense at all out of it?

You see, we pick a side pretty quickly in this story and it’s the side articulated by Moses. Perhaps that’s because the story is told from the perspective of Moses, and so naturally that is the way the author is leading us.

But have you ever considered that you might read a story like this differently if you lived, say in East Africa or Haiti? I guess I wonder how much our experience affects our ability to identify with this story. You see, don’t you, that the story never declares that God is on one side or the other. It simply points out that there is an argument.

You see, friends, I have never really been hungry or thirsty, and so it’s pretty easy for me to get self-righteous with such a story and take the side of Moses in this quarrel. That’s what the words at the end mean. Moses names the place Massah and Meribah, meaning trial and quarreling.

The traditional interpretation of this story is that the Israelites are just ungrateful to God for being delivered and fail to appreciate Moses and the strain of his leadership of a stiff-necked people. That’s the way I have always seen the story, anyway. In fact, that’s clearly a way to understand the story. If you read Chapter 16, then there is even more grumbling and an even clearer denunciation of that grumbling.

The Israelites are ungrateful it seems. They constantly grumble, and Moses and even we see that today as testing God, who has been gracious in delivering them from Pharaoh. In fact, Moses even asks them in the story, “Why are you testing the Lord?” It seems the Israelites are never satisfied. That’s the way we understand this.

But if I were a father that had just made a life and death choice about my dying child and her need for food or water in Haiti or some other place in desperate need, I wonder if the demands of the Israelites wouldn’t seem quite so obnoxious. I wonder if I might want to have a word with Moses about the things that are lacking?

Because in the end, water is provided to the people, just like quail and manna and just about everything else the Israelites needed. The very thing that they needed the most is there when Moses cries out to God about getting ahead of the people and leading them. When Moses follows the instructions of God, then the rock (even a rock) provides life-giving water.

That’s the good news of this story. God provides. God provides life-giving water to the Israelites, in spite of the quarreling and disagreement. Of course God does this. Would we expect anything else? Of course God provides for His people. You and I, we believe in that don’t we.

The Israelites grumble, they ask, and Moses with God’s help delivers. In fact, if I were to again put on my parenting hat this morning, I would notice that surely the way not to spoil these Israelites would be to stop giving in to their every demand. Every parent knows that giving in to whining only encourages more whining. Right?

Except, again, let’s look again at the story with different eyes. The Israelites aren’t asking for another piece of candy or the latest video game they saw on television. They are asking for water, and food, and shelter. They grumble for the basic necessities of life, and God provides. That’s what happens in this story, and over and over in the story of God with God’s people.

So here’s the question... What are we grumbling for today? What is it that we that are not particularly hungry and thirsty really want from God?

Or do we understand a story like this one as prohibiting grumbling? Are we not supposed to ask God for things anymore, because of this story and the grumbling of the Israelites? We certainly wouldn’t want Moses and others to think we are spoiled. We certainly want God to know how much we love Him and appreciate all we have been given. So maybe we think that means we don’t ask?

There are some pastors I know that won’t ask God for healing as they visit a person in the hospital or suffering from cancer. They figure, and I know this because I have asked, that God already knows what they need so they don’t have to ask. They only need to pray to the Almighty deliverer of all things. Maybe that’s okay.

But for me, there is something intimate about asking. I realize that we might be disappointed if the answer is no, but I want to ask anyway. I want to grumble a little. I want to be sad and disappointed when the world is not as God created it to be. There isn’t supposed to be death, and sickness, and poverty, and hunger and thirst. That’s not what God created.

So I want to join the Israelites and do a little grumbling this morning. I want to join the people of East Africa and Haiti, and the Middle East, and India, and the Sudan. I want to join people that live without a job, and a home, and healthcare. I want to join people that sit by the bedside of someone they love with the specter of death in the room. I want to grumble.

I don’t want to just assume God knows what we need. Sure, I believe the Almighty knows. I know God knows the ways we suffer in the world, after all, He created the world without suffering and so surely God knows when people and creation end up less than what He created. In fact, I believe as Paul says in Ephesians 4 that Christ is already in all things and through all things and works in all things.

But I want to grumble a little, because grumbling demonstrates my dependence on God. I share intimacy with God when I get down on my knees, with you and others, and grumble about the things that aren’t yet part of the Kingdom of God. Does that make me spoiled? Does grumbling make us the new Israelites, testing the Lord? Maybe.

However, it’s not like we are grumbling for our version of a piece of candy or whining like a child. I am not advocating grumbling to God for a new car, the expensive kind, or a better house, or more comforts. You see, when so much of the world lives without the basics, that kind of grumbling isn’t about anybody but us. It’s just selfish. It’s not the holy hunger for the Kingdom of God.

Holy hunger and a thirst for justice seems to be different. It seems almost worthy of grumbling. Maybe that’s not quite what you see in today’s lesson? But maybe that’s also because we have never really been hungry or thirsty. Maybe we have never heard shots ring out in our neighborhood at night and wonder if it’s close. Maybe we have never returned to the place where our home used to be to discover that fire, or tornado, or flood has destroyed everything. If we have, then I wonder if we might read the story differently.

Grumbling is what we do when we realize that things aren’t as they are supposed to be. We are sad when we live in a world that falls short of the glory of it’s creator.

The good news for you and I today, my friends, is that God provides. That’s our God’s answer to grumbling. God grants the wishes of the grumblers, then in the ancient world and now.

Awes and wonders continue to happen in our world. People are healed. The hungry are fed. The thirsty are quenched. Prisoners are freed. Wars end. The unemployed get hired. The homeless find shelter. The naked are clothed. The sun rises and sets on all of creation, which sings of the glory of God.

I guess, in the end, just as I was back in February sitting in that boat with Pastor Tricia and Tim, I am still hungry. Perhaps as my friends reminded me that day, it seems like as God’s people, we always are. We all still share that holy hunger for the Kingdom of God.

The good news is maybe not what we expect. The good news is that we find joy in knowing that we can grumble. That God hears our prayers and answers. That God is out in front of us creating the world into what God intended all along, and in the end we trust in Jesus Christ, the one in whom every tear is wiped away and every prayer is answered.

We trust in the Holy One of Israel, the one who will return to bring all things to their God intended end, to bring Shalom to the entire world! May we continue to grumble joyfully in our holy hunger until then...

Thanks be to Almighty God. Amen.

Who is Going with Us?

Matthew 20:1-16; Luke 14:1-6; 12-14
Series on the Foundations
Elizabeth M. Deibert

When you’re a teenager and you hear about an event coming up, what is the first question that comes to your mind as you decide whether you want to go? Who else is going? Who’s going to be there? Who is going with us? Maybe some of you who attended the Adult Night Out with Peace last night wondered, “Who is going?” You knew Peace people were going, but maybe you knew nobody in particular. As we mature, we usually feel more secure about going places, even if we’re not sure who will be going with us.

This is the fifth week of a five sermon series on the Foundations of Presbyterianism, in which we have we have looked at the mission of the church, asking “What are we doing?” We have remembered Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, asking “Whose in charge?” We considered the ancient marks of the church, asking “What makes us who we are?” Last week we examined the great ends, the goals of the church, asking “Where are we going?” And now we ask, “Who is going with us?” The section of the Foundations we are dealing with today is titled “Openness to the Guidance of the Holy Spirit” In this section, we learn that the Church is marked by both continuity and change. The great slogan of the Reformation is “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda scundum verbum Dei….“The Church reformed and always being reformed according to the word of God.” We do not reform the church just for sake of change, for a sense of freshness or innovation. No, we reform, as we believe the Spirit of Jesus Christ, speaking through the Word, prayerfully interpreted by the people is calling us to “not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by a renewing of our minds.” (Romans 12:1-2)

That’s what happening in the Presbyterian Church now, as we receive this new form of government, as we are more open to the Spirit, less prescriptive in our ordination standards, believing that anyone who joyfully submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ can be called to ordination to service as elder or minister.

For many years, unity in diversity has been a high value of Presbyterians. We take the words from Galatians 3 very seriously – there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for all of you are one in Christ.” We believe we should actively seek to become more diverse and should guarantee the full participation and representation of all persons, “regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, geography, or theological conviction.”

We require one essential for membership – trust in Jesus Christ, which includes renouncing evil and affirming reliance on the grace of God. We expect of those being ordained as leaders that they live exemplary lives of faithfulness and that they can affirm the questions of ordination. But we always want to be open to the Spirit’s calling persons different from ourselves. We respect differences of opinion in theology, politics, and sociology. We are open to all others, even those we are tempted to scorn, because we see in the gospels that Jesus was radically open and hospitable to those whom the religious authorities of his day shunned. This boundless love of Christ, which seems to put everyone on a level playing field, is our subject today in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The parable in Matthew teaches the profound generosity of God to give freely to all, even those we deem less deserving.

Hear the good news: ^NRS Matthew 20:1-16 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; ⁴ and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. ⁵ When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. ⁶ And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' ⁷ They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' ⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' ⁹ When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. ¹⁰ Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. ¹¹ And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' ¹³ But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

It is not fair. It never will be fair. That’s grace – the free gift of God that I do not deserve and cannot earn. So why not live it up, do whatever the H you wanna do, until you get to the end of your life as if you know when that is? Because, despite what the world tries to tell you, that is not really living it up. That’s living it down, living it rough, living it hard, though it may initially seem easy. That life of self-indulgence, party until you drop, do as you please is not the best way to live. It looks attractive but it’s not. It looks liberating but it’s not. It looks enjoyable but it’s not. No, the free life is the life lived for others. The best life is the life given over to God. The joyful life is one in which we worship God, love others, and respect what God has created. We were made for this, and in this we are becoming who were intended to be. To do anything else is to run away from our destiny. You are a child of God, destined to live a life pleasing to God. The consequences of sin (doing things not pleasing to God) are not pretty; they are harsh. So move toward God. Live for God. Live for others. And then accept that God will continue to be generous to all people, which means those who think they need to be in first place, will often be put on hold. It’s not fair, but it is right. It is about building our character, developing our righteousness, our likeness to Jesus Christ.

And moving from one reversal story to another, we turn to Luke 14, where Jesus cares more about healing a sick person than about obeying rules, where Jesus challenges the important leaders that they’d better start thinking about the people they ignore, the people they consider beneath them.

Hear the gospel: ^NRS Luke 14:1-6; 12-14 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. ² Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?" ⁴ But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ Then he said to them, "If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?" ⁶ And they could not reply to this….¹² He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

If we are gathering for worship on a Sunday, and we are too pre-occupied not to notice the hurting among us, then shame on us. If we hold a committee meeting to accomplish the work of God without taking time in that meeting to attend to the cares and concerns, burdens and the joys of the people gathered for that work, then shame on us. We are the church, not just a civic organization. We all need the healing power and presence of the Spirit of Christ, and we certainly must attend to that Spirit when we gather two or more together.

When someone comes to the doors of Peace or when we go out from this place to be God’s peace in the world, we must sow love generously, not being concerned with how much we get in return. Our reward is not in being paid back by the recipient of our generosity. Our reward is in the resurrection. Every single person we encounter – no matter their problems or ugly circumstances or sins is a beloved child of God, for whom God’s grace is a boundless, free gift. They, like us, do not deserve such grace.

Our job is live faithfully and to encourage faithful living, within the constraints in which we find ourselves. Our responsibility is to open our minds and hearts to people, whose constraints are different from ours.

Everyone of us has a skeleton in the closet. Some of us have closets with glass doors, while others have solid or locked doors to their skeletons in the closet. Our role is promote healing and wholeness and right living within the context of each person’s life and all its unique challenges.

Jesus said his mission was to announce good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. When challenged by the Pharisees and scribes about the company he kept, he said “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." (Matt. 9:13) In the parable of the sheep and goats, he says, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' (Mat 25:40 NRS) He taught his disciples again and again about the last being first. Saying "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." (Mar 9:35 NRS) He challenged them in the Sermon on the Mount, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; Jesus says he will know us by our fruits, by the evidences of God’s grace in our lives. ²¹ "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' ²³ Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' (Mat 7:21-23 NRS) We are taught in the gospels, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. (Mat 23:12 NRS) The Apostle Paul adds to this by affirming the strength of weakness: Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

So in the end, we do not know who is going with us? What we do know is that God is free to call whomever God chooses, and we are called to love all people as we have been shown love by Jesus Christ. If he could say from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” who am I to hold anything against anyone?

When the thief on the cross, said “Jesus remember me,” Jesus responded without hesitation, “Surely today you will be with me in paradise.” In fact, Jesus served his betrayer Judas at the table, so why would I withhold Christ’s body from anyone who comes? There is no worthiness, only neediness met by the love of Christ. I’d be wary of any Christians who think they own a corner lot on Holiness Street, and equally I’d be concerned about people who act like they can live however they want because they own stock in heaven.

Hear this story sent to me by Jim Padula: Once upon a time, two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into serious conflict. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference and finally, it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence and a growing wedge. One morning there was a knock on the older brother’s door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I 'm looking for a few days' work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with? "Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my hateful younger brother! Last week there was a meadow between us. But he took a bulldozer to the river levee and just to spite me, put a creek between us! See that pile of lumber by the barn? I want you to build me a fence an 8-foot fence -- so I won't need to see his face anymore." The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day -- measuring, sawing and nailing. About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge .. A bridge that stretched from one side of the creek to the other! And the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming toward them, to shake hands. "You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done." The two brothers met in middle of the bridge, in an embrace. They noticed the carpenter smile and turn to leave. "No, wait! Stay a few days.” said the older brother. But the carpenter replied, "Got many more bridges to build,” and he disappeared in the sunset.

The church is different from every other community I know in this way: power is found in weakness, forgiveness is the truest sign of strength, riches are found among the poor, those who are hungry, get filled, and people who are excluded and despised because of their faithfulness, get rewarded in the end. Those who are weeping will be rejoicing, the lowly are lifted up. If Jesus ever excluded anyone, it was those who thought they were God’s favorites. The tables are turned completely upside down in the realm of God and that’s why we must stay open to all such surprises that the Spirit of God might bring to us. Who is coming with us? Anybody who wants to come.

Where Are We Going?

Colossians 1:3-14
Series on the Foundations
Elizabeth M. Deibert

You know what was so frightening about 9/11 was that we did not know where we were going. This unprecedented act of terrorism on our soil ushered in a new world for us, a world in which we were not safe. We always knew some parts of the world were not safe, but we thought over here in our piece of the world, we were secure. This sudden attack left us feeling very vulnerable, so we have spent the last ten years trying to make our part of the world a safer place. In these ten years, I hope we have also come to a deeper appreciation of the value of helping make the whole world a safer for all people, no matter their race, country, their culture, or their religion. We do not have control everywhere, but we can do our part to build trust and harmony with nations whose leaders are open to that. And we can listen carefully to those leaders who blame us for some of the world’s problems, because great as our country is, we are far from perfect, and like any other great world power in history, we have our blind spots and failures. But we are thankful to live where we live.

Where are we going as a nation? The last ten years have been challenging, compared with the 80’s and 90’s, where many of us enjoyed security, stability, and success. I cannot answer where we are going as a country. That’s not my job. In fact, I cannot always say where we are going as a church. But I can say with confidence that God is with us, and that we Christians need to keep our focus on living lives worthy of Jesus Christ.

This requires stepping back to examine where we are going. Here at Peace, we’re in the fourth week of a five week series on the Foundations of the Church, because for the first time in thirty years, the Presbyterians have a new form of government, affectionately called the new FOG. And because I don’t want us to be lost in the FOG, we have spent this time on its very significant opening.

And since most of you could be counted new members of this church, as we’ve only been a church two years, I am taking you on this journey of theological inquiry, using this Foundations statement, grounded by scripture. We have looked at the mission of the church, asking “What are we doing?” We have remembered Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, asking “Whose in charge?” We pondered last week through readings and song the ancient marks of the church, asking “What makes us who we are?” And today we examine the great ends, the goals of the church, asking “Where are we going?” Now even if this intensely theological, doctrinal journey has seemed long or winding to you, I hope that you will find yourselves more acquainted with the path of the Presbyterians and of Peace Presbyterian in particular.

Yes, sometimes, in order to get perspective on where you’re going, you have step back and examine your past, you have to think about why are you who you are. You have to wonder where am I going? What are my priorities or goals? Are you a person who likes to make a task list and then check things off, that you’ve done or are doing reasonably well? That’s easy if it’s a grocery list, or a packing list, or a simple household task list, but a little harder with broad goals. One of my broad goals coming out of seminary as a new mother was to balance my calling as a mother with my calling as a minister. Some weeks, months, and years, when I stop to consider this, I say, “Okay, not bad.” Other times, I say, figure out a new way to balance. Make adjustments. A more recent goal is to spend more time exercising and in faith-building prayer. Thus the prayer walks, which I invite you to do with me on Saturday mornings at 10.

Are you a goal-setter? Or are you one who floats along, thinking only occasionally about the chief aim of your life. How many of us have set new year’s resolutions, only to ignore them by January 15 because it was too hard? Goal setting is not helpful unless you make a commitment to keep getting up every day and trying to do some little thing to achieve your goal. The tragedy in life is not in failing to reach your goals, it is failing to set them or set them high enough.

One of the first things we did as a new church development back in 2006 was establish what we then called “Core Values” and later we named them goals. The Presbyterians one hundred years ago wrote some goals which are still at the heart of our denomination’s identity today. Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul had some goals for his new churches.

The Gentile Christians who comprised the Colossian church were a little insecure about their status before the God of Israel. They were not certain about what Christ had accomplished for them and the fundamental change which had taken place in the created order by his life, death, and resurrection. Paul’s goal for them was that the good news in them would bear fruit. He badly wanted them to fully comprehend the grace of God. Paul prayed for them daily, asking that they would be filled with God’s wisdom, strength, patience, endurance, and thanksgiving, so that their lives would be worthy and pleasing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the before all things and in him all things hold together. Hear now Paul’s encouragement to the Colossians to grow toward maturity in Christ:

Colossians 1:3-14

In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. ⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. ¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NRSV)

Number one Peace goal and fourth goal of the Presbyterians – Worship. Communal Worship is essential to being Christian. Get away from it and you will languish in faith and practice. Paul who twice mentions his own prayers, says, “Be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father,” who has given you this gift of grace and hope. He talks of growing in strength from the power we receive from God’s glory in worship. Worshipping God is first and foremost, acknowleding God’s prime status, as in the first four commandments, and the great commandment: loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Number two Peace goal and goals four and five in the PC(USA) relationships that are true and holy and just and peaceable. Faithful relationships mean that we take the dignity of others seriously. We listen to people, even those different from us. We care about their concerns. We live a consistent life of Christian love in all the areas of life: personal intimate relationships, work, school, family, neighborhood, and church. In our private and public life, we are faithful in loving care. Paul calls it the “love for the saints” and “bearing fruit in every good work.” Loving your neighbor as you love yourself, the second half of the great commandment, and the second half of the ten commandments are all related to being in right relationship with other people.

Number three Peace goal and two Presbyterian goal – nurturing discipleship. The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God. Growing toward full maturity in Christ and helping others to do the same is a lifelong commitment. I hope many more of you will be involvement Lively learning this year, or maybe you will commit to Stephen Ministry training or the Men’s Group on Tuesday mornings or the weekly prayer walk with me. All God’s children need to be nurtured in faith. Why not give it one more disciplined hour out of your 115 waking hours. I know you have good intentions at home, but it is harder to keep your spiritual growth goals with no accountability, no fellowship.

Number four goal of Peace is compassionate outreach. That fits with the number one great end of the church, proclamation of the gospel for the salvation (the healing, the wholeness, the peace) of all humankind. Paul says you have heard of this hope, this gospel which has come to you. You see the fruit of it in your life, in others’ lives, as we together begin to comprehend the magnificence of the grace of God. What makes you a child of God? Grace – God’s free gift of love that we do not deserve and cannot earn. (Belonging to God: A First Catechism) We reach out because we have been rescued from the darkness and transferred into the realm of God’s marvelous light. This marvelous light is such a blessing, we want all to be able to enjoy it. So we care for the needy with Christ’s love – whether their needs are physical, emotional, or spiritual.

Number five goal of Peace is responsive stewardship. You might wonder how that fits with the Presbyterian goal: the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world. Stewardship is all about how you use the gifts you have been given – gifts of time, of treasure, of talent. When you choose to spend your Thursday mornings packing groceries at Beth-El Farmworker Ministries or one of your evenings or overnights providing hospitality for homeless people in the Family Promise program, then you are exhibiting the kingdom of heaven for the world. When you are willing to drive an old car, or eat more simply or forego expensive trips or entertainment, so that you can give more generously to support benevolent missions of the church, then you are exhibiting the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus said meant the first would be last and least, greatest, and the lost, found. When you give your time at church, and love your neighbors like nobody’s ever seen before, instead of doing what pleases you and yours all the time, then you a demonstrating the realm of God, where self-sacrifice is valued over self-service, where love is found when it is given away.

Do you want to do your part to make this world safer? Then join with me in a recommitment to Peace Presbyterian’s goals, in order to fulfill our mission to make God known by growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, building a community of peace, and caring for the needs of others. That is the best gift we can offer the world – to be more fruitful and faithful, peaceable and respectful Christians.

What Makes Us Who We Are?

1 Corinthians 12:12-27
The Foundations of the Church
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Andrew and Rebecca have the same English teacher this year. She assigned all her classes the task of creating a poster with five images, representing the five major influences of their lives. Today we consider as a church, as a community of Christians named by our allegiance to Jesus Christ, and marked by our Presbyterian style of shared power, what makes us who we are. Obviously, being part of the body of Christ is the first answer to that question, but let’s go further and try to describe what it means to be part of the body of Christ. We will read Paul’s effort to explain to a divided Corinthian church that every part of the body is valuable for the role it plays.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body,

though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks,

slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

¹⁵ If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,"

that would not make it any less a part of the body.

¹⁶ And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,"

that would not make it any less a part of the body.

¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?

If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be?

²⁰ As it is, there are many members, yet one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you,"

nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

²² On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

²³ and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe

with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;

²⁴ whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,

²⁵ that there may be no dissension within the body,

but the members may have the same care for one another.

²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it;

if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

(NRSV)

We need to remember the value of every leg and arm of the church. The weaker parts are given more respect. If one member suffers, all suffer with it, and if one is honored, all rejoice. We need to remember that within our particular congregation and as churches united in the Universal Church.

Please join me in a reflection on what it means to be the body of Christ, reading by the four sections, right, left, mid right, mid left. We are a community of faith, hope, love and witness. But that’s not the only right answer to the question. There is a more historic answer to the question.

In 325 Constantine convened a council in Nicaea, to resolve the conflict over the nature of Jesus Christ. That council group wrote a creed which is still the most ecumenical of all, accepted by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and by most Protestants for 17 hundred years. In it are the “Marks of the Church” which are the defining character traits of the church. You might say, these are what make us, the Church, the Universal Christian Church, who we are. We will reflect on these marks of the church, through a variety of voices, who are reading what we, the collective we in the Presbyterian Church have said about these four marks of the church – one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. After each of the four, we will sing a related hymn. You could call this a sermon by the people.

And as the first two readers are coming forward, let me remind you that every time today when you hear the word catholic, please remember that we mean universal church, not the particular Roman Catholic Church, which is a very valuable part of the body of Christ.

All: The Church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”

a. The Unity of the Church

Sue: Unity is God’s gift to the Church in Jesus Christ. Just as God is one God
and Jesus Christ is our one Savior, so the Church is one because it belongs
to its one Lord, Jesus Christ. The Church seeks to include all people and
is never content to enjoy the benefits of Christian community for itself alone.
There is one Church, for there is one Spirit, one hope, “one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and
through all and in all”

Bill: Because in Christ the Church is one, it strives to be one. To be one with Christ
is to be joined with all those whom Christ calls into relationship with him.
To be thus joined with one another is to become priests for one another,
praying for the world and for one another and sharing the various gifts
God has given to each Christian for the benefit of the whole community.
Division into different denominations obscures but does not destroy unity
in Christ. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), affirming its historical
continuity with the whole Church of Jesus Christ, is committed to the
reduction of that obscurity, and is willing to seek and to deepen communion
with all other churches within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Hymn sung by the people

All: The Church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”

b. The Holiness of the Church

Drew: Holiness is God’s gift to the Church in Jesus Christ. Through the love
of Christ, by the power of the Spirit, God takes away the sin of the world.
The holiness of the Church comes from Christ who sets it apart to bear
witness to his love, and not from the purity of its doctrine or the righteousness
of its actions.

Jane: Because in Christ the Church is holy, the Church, its members, and those in its ordered ministries strive to lead lives worthy of the Gospel we proclaim. In gratitude for Christ’s work of redemption, we rely upon the work of God’s Spirit through Scripture and the means of grace to form every believer and every community for this holy living. We confess the persistence of sin in our corporate and individual lives. At the same time, we also confess that we are forgiven by Christ and called again and yet again to strive for the purity, righteousness, and truth revealed to us in Jesus Christ and promised to all people in God’s new creation.

Hymn sung by the people

All: The Church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”

c. The Catholicity of the Church

Elizabeth: Catholicity is God’s gift to the Church in Jesus Christ. In the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, by the power of the Spirit, God overcomes our alienation
and repairs our division.

Peter: Because in Christ the Church is catholic, it strives everywhere to testify
to Christ’s embrace of men, women, and children of all times, places, races,
nations, ages, conditions, and stations in life. The catholicity of the Church
summons the Church to a deeper faith, a larger hope, and a more complete
love as it bears witness to God’s grace.

Hymn sung by the people

All: The Church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”

d. The Apostolicity of the Church

Richard: Apostolicity is God’s gift to the Church in Jesus Christ. In Christ, by
the power of the Spirit, God sends the Church into the world to share the gospel of God’s redemption of all things and people.

Tricia: Because in Christ the Church is apostolic, it strives to proclaim this gospel
faithfully. The Church receives the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ through
the testimony of those whom Christ sent, both those whom we call apostles and
those whom Christ has called throughout the long history of the Church. The
Church has been and is even now sent into the world by Jesus Christ to bear that testimony to others.

The Church bears witness in word and work that in Christ the new creation has
begun, and that God who creates life also frees those in bondage, forgives sin,
reconciles brokenness, makes all things new, and is still at work in the world.
To be members of the body of Christ is to be sent out to pursue the mission
of God and to participate in God’s new creation, God’s kingdom drawing the
present into itself. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirms the Gospel of
Jesus Christ as received from the prophets and apostles, and stands in
continuity with God’s mission through the ages.

The Church strives to be faithful to the good news it has received and
accountable to the standards of the confessions. The Church seeks to
present the claims of Jesus Christ, leading persons to repentance, acceptance
of Christ alone as Savior and Lord, and new life as his disciples. The Church
is sent to be Christ’s faithful evangelist: making disciples of all nations in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; sharing with others
a deep life of worship, prayer, fellowship, and service; and participating in
God’s mission to care for the needs of the sick, poor, and lonely;to free people
from sin, suffering, and oppression; and to establish Christ’s just,loving, and
peaceable rule in the world. Hymn sung by the people