What Does It Mean to Love the Church

This is a question I am asking myself and anyone who may read this blog note. In this case I am not talking about loving the church in the sense of the whole Body of Christ on earth. Rather, I am reflecting on what it means to love a congregation of church members.

To truly love the church one must be more than a "worker bee." It seems to me that one must hold the church--every member of the church--in their hearts. As the song says, "I will hold your people in my heart." Back stabbing, power plays, manipulation of people and situations, condescending attitudes or behavior are not the marks of one who truly loves the church and holds the members of the church in their heart. But this is answering the question in a negative way. What does it mean to love the church? How does one show their love for the congregation? I have started a possible list and I would appreciate your responses:

How does one love the church?

• Attends worship services on a regular basis
• Prays for the church and its mission on a daily basis
• Attends Christian Education programs
• Sunday school
• Bible study

• Shows genuine concern and respect for every member of the congregation
• Nonjudgmental
• Shows compassion
• Impartial--no cliques
• Speaks and acts toward other members in a way honors the dignity of the other

• Participates fully  in the fellowship of the congregation (not necessarily every activity or function)
• Respects the dignity of  others even in a disagreement
• Discrete
• Respectful
• Even tempered
• Patient
• Charitable

• Supports the congregation with "time, talents, and treasure"

Boundaries

Psalm 16 speaks to us of boundaries. Those who trust in the Lord are protected by God. The Lord puts a boundary between them and evil doers. And those who live within the boundaries God has established are happy. And the evangelist who wrote 1 Peter agrees: Those who have faith have the inheritance of new and eternal life, protected by God. The Lord has placed a boundary line between us and death through the resurrection of Jesus.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1: 3-9 NRSV)

In the beginning God created. That’s what the scriptures say. And with everything else God created, the Lord created boundaries. He placed a boundary between the heavens and the earth. There is a boundary between the oceans and the dry land. He separated the light from the dark and day from night. Those are boundaries. And he set boundaries for human beings as well.

God told Adam and Eve to go and populate the earth, to increase in number, and have dominion over all things on earth. But God still set boundaries. God said of all the wonderful trees in the garden Adam and Eve could eat freely. “Except,” God said, “do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That’s a boundary.

Maybe we learned it from God, but we set boundaries, too. We set boundaries between states, and nations. We build walls between ourselves and our neighbors. And sometimes we even build walls between ourselves and God. But that’s another sermon.

We also set boundaries for our children. When they are very young we tell them where they can play. “Don’t go across the street.” Or, “Don’t go off the block.” On occasion we tell them who they can play with and who they need to stay away from.

When they grow up we set boundaries about study time and leisure. We set a curfew time and a lights out time. Human begins live inside boundaries and we set boundaries for ourselves and for others.

We often think of boundaries as bad things. Boundaries hold us back, contain us, restrict us. But boundaries are good things.

They tell us how far we can go and they protect us from others who may want to violate our space. And the boundaries God has established are good for us, too. When we stay within the boundaries we live at peace with ourselves and with God. Most of the time we can say with the Psalmist, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.”

And the writer of 1 Peter agrees. The evangelist says that those who believe in the resurrection of Christ, those who accept its promise, have received hope of new life—even in the face of death. Our new life is kept for us, unfading, incorruptible, and undefiled according to the grace and mercy of God.

Fallen Empires

Ezekiel was the prophet known by his vivid visions. In Ezekiel 37: 1-14 we hear Ezekiel describing a vision he had about the “resurrection” of his beloved Israel.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.‘ ” (Ezekiel 37:1–14, NRSV)

We know that throughout history greations, even empires, have been born and then died. And those that didn't become extinct survive to this day, but they are different than when they were young and vital.

Some interpreters have argued that this passage from Ezekiel is about personal resurrection; that it is a vision ehiovh teaches how God brings new life after death to believers. But at the time Ezekiel had this vision the people didn’t understand personal resurrection. They did, however, believe that their God would not abandon them forever. They believed that in time God would bless Israel again and bring the nation a new life.
 

So, the dry bones are a vision of Israel dried out and deteriorating in a foreign land, Babylon. Away from Jerusalem, with the temple destroyed, and living in captivity in Babylon they felt like dried bones baking in the desert sun.

Then, Ezekiel had his vision of dry bones. God breathes new life into the bones. They begin to come together, bone to bone. They grow new sinew and muscle and flesh. Israel lives again!

Like others, I have been closely watching the developements among the nations of Northern Africa. We have been seeing the transformation of whole nations right before our eyes. And then I began to think about our own nation.

Although we are not in open rebellion, we are troubled. Our economy has been shaken to its very foundations. And I watched this past week as our national leaders argued about how to cut billions upon billions of dollars from our current budget. And again I thought of Ezekiel and his vision of dry bones.

We are not dead as a nation, but we are struggling. And I honestly believe that our leaders are trying to give us new strength. But, without the Spirit of God, without God breathing new life into us their efforts will likely fail, or at least fall short.

As a nation we need to pray, not so much for God to give us prosperity, or power, or authority. What we need to pray for is God’s spirit to breathe on us and give us new life. The Hebrew language calls it nefesh—the spirit of life and vitality, wholeness. So, let us pray together for God to revive us, to breathe into us, and give us new life.

The "P" Word (Patience)

“From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:1–7, NRSV)

I am an impatient person. On a recent visit to a retreat center (St. Benedict’s), it was time for me to check out. But no one was on duty at the front desk and I needed to return my key.

Then, I noticed a bell on the front desk. A sign next to the bell said, “If you need help, ring the bell.” So, I did. And then I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, I tapped the bell again, respectfully, not aggressively. After all, I was in a place of retreat and worship. But when I tapped the bell the second time an old priest sitting nearby came to the desk and said, “Patience, brother, patience.” I was, I guess showing my impatience.

But I think impatience is universal in our society. We don’t know how to wait for anything. We have a hard time waiting for one another. We get impatient with our leaders, and we quarrel among ourselves. But we have an even harder time waiting on God.

When we pray we expect an immediate favorable answer from God. When we don’t get what we want or need we quickly grow impatient. Some may even begin to doubt that God is listening at all and we may begin to lose faith. It’s hard not to be impatient.

The good news is that God does want to bless us—at the right time and in the right way. God wants to bless us abundantly like he did Moses and his people with the manna from heaven and the water from a rock. But we have to be patient. We need to learn patience.

Fear not, in God’s time and in God’s way blessings will flow to us like the water that gushed from the rock in the desert.

The Testimony of Creation

Lent is a time for reflection and prayer. It is a time when we examine ourselves and come face to face with our humanity and all the ways we fall short of God’s glory and expectations. But Sundays during Lent remind us of God’s love and infinite grace. Sundays in Lent are a time revel in the glory of God and one way we experience God’s glory is in the created world around us. Just watching the world reawaken reminds us we, too, can reawaken to God’s plan for salvation. The Psalm for today is a testimony and celebration of God’s glory and righteousness in all the world. Listen for a Word from God in Psalm 19:


“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19, NRSV)

John Calvin said that there is no reason anyone can claim that they never heard of God’s glory and saving grace. Why? It is because all of creation is a testimony to the One living God. Every passing cloud, each drop of rain, from dandelion to rose, and from singing bird to the rustle of dry leaves, God’s glory is proclaimed in all creation. All any of us have to do is open our eyes, or feel the coolness of the morning air, or hear the gentle purr of a kitten to know that God is real and alive. The testimony is all around us and fills every day. Even if there were no words, nature itself proclaims God’s presence and goodness.

So, it should humble us while at the same time fill us with joy that the creator of all all worlds should desire a relationship with us–call us his children–and extend to us his grace. And in extending his grace to us, God offered up his own son. And the Lord sealed our relationship and fills us with the very Spirit of his holiness. Not that we, ourselves, are holy but, God is holy for us.

We may not be able to understand God’s plan for salvation, but we can accept the gift of salvation God offers us in Christ Jesus his son. In just calling on his name–even in a whisper–we become one with him. And then, like all the created world around us, we begin to make God’s presence, grace, and glory known in the world. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Unity and Diversity in the Church

The founders of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ believed in the unity of Christ’s Body on earth, the Church. But from its birth the church has been diverse in its gifts, its traditions, and in its theology.

Paul saw the Corinthian church struggling with its diversity. So, he wrote to them, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Cor. 1: 10b NRSV). But is it realistic for us to truly be one?

Historically, even Judaism was not as unified as we may think—especially at the time of Jesus and Paul. You know the two main parties—the Pharisees and the Saducees. Paul was a Pharisee. And there are some who argue that Jesus, himself, was a Pharisee. Among other common beliefs of the Pharisees was the belief in personal resurrection.

But there were other parties within Judaism. There were the Essenes who lived in the desert, alone. They believed in a final cosmic struggle between good and evil which God would eventually win, and then God’s reign would be set up on earth forever. Then there were the Zealots. This was a conservative group within Judaism which advocated the overthrow of the Romans. Judas Iscariot may have been a Zealot. Some scholars think that Judas may have become of follower of Jesus because he believed he would lead an uprising against the Romans and restore the Jewish nation. In fact, there are some who argue that Judas handed Jesus over to the Sanhedrin to force Jesus into open rebellion in which he would call down the wrath of God to destroy Roman rule. There were other sects or parties within Judaism, but these were the main divisions.

In Corinthian the church was divided along the lines of who baptized them. Moreover, they argued about who had the greatest most significant gifts from God’s Spirit.

Today, in the 21st century, we have more divisions in the Christian Church than Paul could even imagine. We have Roman Catholics, Lutherans (several synods in fact), Baptists (there are more divisions among Baptists than there are among the Lutherans), Presbyterians, Methodists, and Disciples of Christ, to name only a few. There are Protestant, evangelical, Pentecostal, and Reformed. We have liberal, conservative and fundamentalists. And this is only in Western Christianity not to mention all the divisions among the Orthodox Churches of the East. So, today, it looks more and more like the Body of Christ is divided.

Was unity in the church a misguided dream of the restoration movement—a good idea but a little naïve? In what sense can the church be unified today?

We can celebrate the diversity of gifts among believers. The variety of our traditions adds “salt” to the church. And the varied ways we perceive the reality of God are a tribute to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But as different as we are there are at least two things that unite the churches: baptism and communion.

We are all baptized according to different traditions into One Christ. And we each share the meal Jesus ordained among his followers even if we celebrate it in diversity of form. So, you see, the Body of Christ on earth is indeed one. We are one in Christ.