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SermonSome Thoughts on Being “New”Revelation 3: 15-21 Luke 5:33-39
A few years ago I divided my time between Little River UCC in Annandale, Virginia and with a UCC church in northern Virginia. I had been at Little River first as a member and then a part-time staff member for about 10 years. I began doing some consulting with the other church on church growth. It was a learning experience to “listen” to how we see ourselves as the people of God gathered at a particular church house. Congregations have some similarities even across denominational lines. As insiders we look one way. Outsiders looking in may see us another way. Let me give you some “outsider” pictures that I noted being new in a congregation. I read the church’s newsletter, about the Strawberry Festival. And there was a sentence in there having to do with the food served and noting you could have the “church special”—with or without. When I asked someone what “with or without” meant, I was told it meant with or without sauerkraut on your hot dog. “How do people who read the church newsletter know that?” I asked. The answer: Everyone reading the newsletter knows what “with or without” means. In talking with someone else I said, “I want to start putting a reminder in the bulletin for people to sign the attendance pad.” The answer: We all know to do that without it being in the bulletin. I am sure when I just said that; you probably heard what was unsaid, just as I did. What was unsaid was “There is never anybody new here and we are not expecting anyone new.” One day someone remarked about a change in the bulletin: “We are more comfortable with it the old way.” Now lest I give the impression that one congregation is alone in this exclusive way of thinking, let me hasten to point out that this is a common way people in churches and other institutions relate. I served a church once where an announcement in the bulletin told people the meeting was at Marie’s house and those who needed a ride should call Frances. One Sunday it was announced that if you wanted more information about a certain meeting just see Robert after church. Unfortunately, all of those comments convey exclusivity. You have to be in the know to know what “with or without” means, you have to be in the know to take the attendance pad and sign it and pass it down the row, you have to be in the know about how the bulletin used to be to know if you are more comfortable with it that way, you have to know Marie and where her house is, and Frances and what her phone number is. And you have to know who Robert is if you are going to talk with him after church. So how does the church respond to a God who proclaims, “Behold I make all things new!” How do we create new garments and new wineskins? I am speaking here personally—about me. If you see yourself in what I am saying, then I am speaking to both of us. It is sometimes difficult for me to be open and welcoming of other people and new things, simply because I believe myself to be an open and welcoming person of others and open to new things. That was brought home to me very clearly in a meeting where people were discussing why they had become members of a particular church and how they saw the church in terms of its welcoming of new people and diverse ideas. Many around the table were like me—upper middle age, white, life-long church members. And as we went around the table people began to say how friendly their church is (which is true), how new people immediately feel at home, how diverse they are (an African woman had recently joined), how many years they had been members and had seen many changes. And we all patted ourselves on the back. And then the new member spoke. “Excuse me,” she said. “I agree that this is a very friendly church. I want to tell you, however, how it looks to me who is not white, who did not grow up in this community and who came into this denomination as a convert to Christianity. I am always greeted warmly on Sunday morning. However, when I bring food to the potluck suppers, I notice people seem to pass it by more than the other food. All of the hymns we sing in church are not hymns I have heard very much. And everyone dresses up so fine, which is not a custom I am used to. Most of the sermons seem to be preaching to older people and children do not seem included very much.” Suddenly there in our midst, new wine, a new wineskin; a new garment, not just a new patch of cloth sewn onto an old garment. The church is about the business of calling together an upside down kingdom. A lot of the church growth movements focus on growing in numbers without growing in new experiences. There are many things that grow, but pretty much stay the same. Plants and flowers grow and mature, a child grows into adulthood, and a puppy grows into a full-grown dog. But institutional growth often means more than getting larger but staying pretty much the same. Many congregations work to have more members, but they do not take the steps needed to grow in other ways than numerically. So, ultimately, a congregation stays pretty much the same in terms of race, and social and economic profile. There may be a surge in attendance, at least temporarily. How do we celebrate diversity and difference? How do we affirm the sacred worth of each person? How do we extend the welcome so that here all people will find God and will experience wholeness? How do we grow in new ways as well as simply numerically? How do encourage the world to come to the feast of Christ, to eat at Christ’s table, not the church’s table. If the church is more than our social clubs, more than Rotary and Lions and Chambers of Commerce, then our coming together is a time for the gospel to transform social relationships, a time for spiritual and social reconciliation. I believe when the church gathers and proclaims “Jesus is Lord” we are declaring a new unity that transcends the social status of secular society. The good news is not “we are all alike.” Rather the good news is that here rich and poor, female and male, straight and gay, people of all colors and ages, can bond together as one in Christ. Being one in Christ is much different than being all alike. Have you noticed, in the New Testament, when people declare “Jesus is Lord” they experience a new unity that transcends their social positions? Even the disciples are not people who would ordinarily have known each other and been social friends. But people are drawn together to experience a new life because of this Jesus and his proclamation of God’s redemptive love. As the church carries on this witness and this proclamation, we can be the place where people from every walk of life can gather and experience new life as we also proclaim God’s love and presence here, in our midst, and out there where we will go to live next week. I think the parable of the new garment and the new wineskins may have been hard for the followers of Jesus to hear and comprehend. Here was a rabbi who did not do the usual and whose followers did not act like the followers of John. With John there was apparently frequent fasting and praying. But with this group of the followers of Jesus there was eating and drinking. What is going on here? Why are your followers not doing what we have always done? I’ve spent a lot of hours over the years helping organizations think about what they have always done and some new ways they might look at the future. How does an organization grow? Or, to say it differently, how does an organization understand that growth is more than doing more of the same thing with more people? So, for example, at a shelter for women we look at what are the needs women who are homeless have today that they did not have some years ago and that are not being met? How can this shelter meet those needs and assist those women to become more independent in their living? Or with a group of African-American young men and boys, what can be done to help integrate these young people into the fabric of the community and help mold them into future community leaders? And with the church, who is my neighbor in this time and place and where is the church called to be a neighbor and to engage in mission? How is the church to be a neighbor? If you stop and think about it, the church has an international pool of talent, wisdom, energy, ideas, and resources. And we gather weekly—so we keep in touch. Think of our collective power and presence in a community. No wonder our ancient ancestors thought we might be capable of turning the world upside down. The church, with all of its failings and sinfulness, is still a place—like home—where we are accepted just as we are. This is still the base from which the hands of Christ are extended to and into the community. This is the launching pad for mission. This is the sanctuary to rest and refuel and renew. I have served former Evangelical and Reformed congregations in my ministry, plus I grew up in a former Reformed Church. I always like those Sundays when we prayed for the church using the prayer litany in the Hymnal. There was a feeling that the Spirit was infusing the church with energy and new life. Listen: That the church may strive not for her own safety, but for the world’s salvation. That the church may proclaim the gospel throughout the whole earth. That you will give to all your people grace to understand and to believe your word, and to show forth their faith in their lives. That you will remove from us all hatred, prejudice and narrowness of thought; that we may receive and rejoice in all that you reveal. That you will guide us in all perplexities of belief and conduct, that we may hold fast that which is true, and faithfully confess you before others. That regardless of the praise or contempt of the world, your church may worship and adore you in spirit and in truth. And then the final petitions of the prayer were on behalf of the people gathered in that church on that day of worship:
Do you hear it? How inclusive the church is—welcoming and praying for both the faithful and careless, the doubting and anxious, the tempted and sorrowful, the weary and strong, the old and the young. Do you hear the church’s strident response to God’s call—a response that seeks the world’s salvation above the safety of the church, a prayer to live faithful lives, a petition to remove hatred and prejudice and narrowness from our lives, a hope that we will remain faithful in spite of life’s complexities and a prayer that we will not be swayed by either the world’s praise or contempt. This church, sitting on this street in this neighborhood, is God’s instrument and the messenger of God’s word in the world at this time and place. That is an awesome call. It is also an opportunity to always be about creating new garments and new wineskins as we discover new places God calls us to be present. We are called to share the good news, to provide cups of cold water and bread for the journey. Literally losing our life in the world, we find our life in Christ. As we struggle to be faithful to our roots, we are also listening for God’s call to us to be open to our future; we are striving to incorporate past history and future possibility into our common life as we come to understand that following Christ in the 21 st Century has different challenges than following Christ in the 19 th Century. The past is our much loved old garments, our valuable old wineskins. We who live in the present are always looking back and we are rooted in who we are and from whence we have come. But we are also envisioning the future of who we can be and what new roots we can plant as we spread seeds of God’s word for today. The future holds glorious new garments and fresh new wineskins. The past, the present, the future—how do I embrace them so that I am a whole person and not a conflicted person who becomes prisoner to one and misses the opportunities of another? I remember the past. It is usually remembered as “the good old days.” Unless, of course, we are reminding the present generation of how much better things are today. Then the past is remembered as “I walked to school every day in freezing weather and it was uphill both ways.” The past is that cloud of witnesses who surround us and remind us of who have been and who, as the church triumphant, cheer us on to who can become. I live in the present. Some days it is the most exciting time in all of history to be alive. Other days it is the real struggle to pay bills and educate children and get through the week. The image of the past where things seemed less complicated and less hurried makes my present seem hectic and harried. The look into the future which is moving so fast that I cannot comprehend all the changes taking place daily around me, makes me want to wrap myself in what I know and lock my doors to protect my world from the invasion of this fast-paced change. I believe in the future. It holds challenge and opportunity. And, for me, it also holds the unknown and anxiety. I struggle to make the transition from the simple—keeping a handwritten address book—to the complex—entering everything from address book to calendar to reminders of important dates in a hand held electronic “blackberry.” And just when I master one new thing in this technological world, my children walk in and tell me this new thing I just mastered is already obsolete. I love old garments and old wineskins. But deep in my soul I know that each new generation needs new garments and new wineskins. I am aware that “new occasions teach new duties.” And each great new cause offers us the choice between darkness and light. I am trying to encourage myself, and hopefully to encourage you, to look at the possibilities God continues to set before us and to see new things, to have “ah ha!” experiences, to realize that the church today (even if we think it is) is not the church of our parents and grandparents and other ancestors. The church of tomorrow will not be the church we inhabit today. But the church—in its past, its present, and its future—will be a vehicle for God’s word and presence to be made known in the community and world. “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. New wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” Our challenge in mission and ministry is to create new garments and pour fresh wine into new wineskins. And we do that here, in this place, where cross the crowded and contradictory ways of life. The hymn writer reminds us that even if we have new garments and new wine in new wineskins, this is the reality: The cup of water given for you Amen. Jim Bell 6/17/07
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