Community Church Sermons
Year A
October 30, 2011
Pentecost 20
The River
Matthew
23:1-12
Rev. Martin
C. Singley, III
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. The river rises in western Minnesota and slowly flows southward for over 2,500 miles before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. For at least 10,000 years, native Americans have lived along the river, surviving in the early times as hunters and fishermen. With the arrival of Europeans in the 1500’s, the Mississippi became a vital transportation and communications link between their growing settlements, and it provided a connection to other rivers like the Missouri, creating new opportunity for expansion to the west.
The Mississippi is quite a river. For those who have lived alongside its banks, the river seems like the one permanent feature of their lives. Settlements come and go, people are born and die, but “ol’ man river, he just keeps rolling along.”
Well, not exactly.
The fact is that the Mississippi River is constantly changing. The effects of floods, and silt buildups, and earthquakes, and human engineering have brought about many changes to the river’s course. Every thousand years or so, the river experiences major course changes. In fact, four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 caused the river to actually flow backwards for a time, creating Reelfoot Lake here in Tennessee, before resuming its southward flow.
Scientists today tell us that the Mississippi is long overdue for another major course change, and they think it’s going to happen in the lower river – down by New Orleans - where it empties into the Gulf.
The river that is always there, and seems so permanent, is always changing, always seeking a better way to the sea.
The same thing is true of Christianity.
Although we may think of this Christian faith of ours as a static theological system of beliefs and practices – an established religion that never changes – Christianity is far from that, and never was that. Christianity is more like a river flowing through the world and our lives. And like every river, Christianity is always changing course on its way to the sea.
500 years ago, the river of our faith experienced a major change in direction. It was called “the Protestant Reformation.” People with names like Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others saw things in the established religion of the day that seemed not right. And they saw other things in the Scriptures and in the life of faith communities that seemed to need more attention. These courageous people called themselves “reformers”, and they raised up a protest movement. And so was born the Protest-ant Reform-ation. Today’s opening hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” was written by Martin Luther and was to the Protestant Reformation something like Rocky Top is to us in East Tennessee. It was the fight song of the Reformation. The river of Christianity was changing course, and the result was the emergence of Protestant Churches no longer under the control of Rome. That was a BIG change 500 years ago!
But this wasn’t the first course correction of Christianity’s great river. 500 years before THAT there had been another change caused by different views that Christians had about whether the main headquarters of the Church should be in Rome or Constantinople, whether the mass should be said in Latin or Greek, whether only unleavened bread should be served at Communion, and most importantly, who should be Christianity’s top dog – the Pope in Rome, or the Patriarch in Constantinople. Well, the Pope and the Patriarch clashed over these and other issues and finally resolved them simply by excommunicating each other! And so 500 years before the Reformation, Christianity’s river split into two streams – one that became the Roman Catholic Church in the west and the other the Eastern Orthodox Church.
And 500 years before THAT…
Anglican Bishop Mark Dyer humorously observes that history shows that about every 500 years or so the Church feels compelled to have what amounts to a giant rummage sale when it cleans out its attic of things that are no longer useful and are sometimes just plain broken. And when that happens, new forms of the oldtime religion begin springing up.
And though these changes are unsettling when they occur, the changing course of Christianity always results in two important things: one, they cause us to ask questions and examine our true values as Christian people, and two, they bring the Christian Faith to larger populations of people who are outside the reach of the Church-as-it-is.
Now here’s a newsflash: Today we are just about 500 years removed from the Great Protestant Reformation. We Christians are due for another rummage sale! And have you noticed what’s happening in the Church all around us? The river IS shifting. Our faith IS changing. The Church is floating around a bend and coming to a new channel of this amazing river called Christianity.
Now if you grew up as a Congregationalist like me, you may be inclined to answer the question, “How many Congregationalists does it take to change a lightbulb?” by saying, “CHANGE? Who ever said anything about CHANGE?” We Congo’s don’t like change! We are God’s frozen people.
And, as we were building this new Sanctuary, we discovered that many of our beloved Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics, Episcopalians, agnostics, atheists, heathens, pagans, vegans and other Community Church folks don’t much care for change either! In fact, when people came into this worship space when it was under construction, they would look up to those large openings where the screens are now and ask, “What in the world are those for?” My favorite answer was that those are luxury boxes that could be had for $50,000 a year. And you’d not only get a bird’s eye view of all the sinners down here, but also 3 flat screen TV’s with your choice of religious programming, hot hors d’oeuvres, and cocktail service. Several people reached for their checkbooks…
Actually, even having projection screens was pretty unsettling to many. But today I’d say about 98% of our congregation uses them to sing the hymns and people note that the singing is so much better. In fact, the spouse of one of our dear members who never sang the hymns out of the hymnal told me the other day that once the lyrics were where he could see them, he started singing again! Isn’t that wonderful?
Change can be unsettling. But changes like those that come with a new building are minor and not what this sermon is about. These are all pretty small and superficial when compared with the big changes going on within Christianity. I hope no one here has gotten hung up on the little things and is missing out on the big things the Holy Spirit is doing in our day.
For instance, Quaker pastor Philip Gulley writes: “Several years ago, I was speaking at a church where the worship service was concluded with an infant baptism. During the ceremony the pastor spoke about the child’s being born in sin. As he spoke, I caught a glimpse of the child. His right hand was curled around one of his mother’s fingers, a beatific smile illuminated his face. Were I asked to paint a picture of an angel, I would have painted that infant. I wanted to stop the ceremony and ask the minister how that tiny, beautiful infant could possibly have sinned. Think of it! The church’s first liturgical words to that child were to condemn him.”
Have you ever taken a moment to think about the words the Christian Church speaks to people? We use words like sinner, evil, fallen, abomination, and many other expressions that convey disgust and condemnation. I once heard an evangelist say, “When God looks at you, he wants to vomit.” And the only thing worse than those words, was that most of the people there believed them.
Including me – at that time in my life when I was caught in the grips of an old theological system that I had been taught, indoctrinated into, and was afraid to challenge for fear of going to hell in a handbasket. But sometime later, the river shifted for me, and do you know what happened? As I drifted around the next bend, I saw something new and different in the river. I no longer saw St. Augustine and the theologians of old who introduced us to the idea of original sin. Instead – over and above them - I saw Jesus who treated people as though they are originally blessed. I discovered that Jesus never treated people with the kind of contempt with which churches sometimes treat people today, and that Jesus never spoke words like the kinds of words spoken to that beautiful baby on the day of his baptism. No, I heard Jesus say, “Let the children come to me for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And when I saw and heard Jesus’ voice over the voices of all the others, the river of my faith changed course.
Many Christians today no longer find meaning or even truth in some of the theological systems into which we were born and nurtured. In fact, the most important change taking place today in Christianity’s river is the search for a faith that is not centered in the teachings of 16th and 17th century theologians, but rather in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
How did Jesus treat people? Was he a giver, or a taker? Was he a critic, or a fan? Did he preach condemnation, or hope? Did he hold peoples’ sins against them, or did he forgive and help people turn their lives around?
And how do you treat people? How should we treat people as a church?
How did Jesus treat those of other faiths? Did he reject them outright, or did he engage them in conversation? Did he make statements, or ask questions? Did he tell them all that’s wrong with them, or treat them with dignity and respect as though they had something good to offer?
And how do you treat people of other faiths? How should we treat people of other religions?
Where did Jesus get his spiritual strength? In the rituals of the Temple, or in the practice of prayer and personal relationship with God? In the religion of “me and God”, or in the communion of “all of us needing each other and all of us together with God?” In a belief that God is the Judge handing out sentences, or a belief that God is like a father giving good gifts to his children?
And where do you get your spiritual strength? Where will we find ours as a church?
And maybe most important of all, what did Jesus call people to do? Sit back, relax and wait to go to heaven when they die because they believe the right things and go to the right church? Or did Jesus call them to deny themselves, take up the cross daily, and follow Him in ministering to the needs of the world all around?
Our Christian Faith has no value or power in the lives of those who are not prepared to serve, to give, to sacrifice, to put away bitterness, to take up justice, and to lay down self for the sake of others. It just doesn’t work for people who are not serious about commitment and letting Christ become their Leader. But for those who decide to follow Jesus, making sacrifices and taking up great endeavors that contribute to the salvation of the world, there is joy and peace and eternal life.
Have you decided to follow Jesus?
500 years after the Great Reformation, the river of Christianity today is making a major course change. It is calling us to reexamine our deepest Christian values. You may have to let go of some old familiar things. You may have to take up some new unfamiliar things. The river today is streaming out to those who have been locked out of the Church for too long. And it is demanding of those of us who take the name “Christian” to live as Christians.
The river is lifting up Jesus. I think that is the most wonderful change of all!
So listen to him.
Learn from him.
Make a commitment to follow him.
And let the river of his love – always seeking new channels to reach every person in every corner of the world - flow freely and powerfully through you!
Amen.