“Do not be afraid, little flock,
for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.”
In case you didn’t catch it,
the
theme in all three of the readings for today is faith.
God says to Abraham, “Do not be afraid… your reward shall
be very great.”
And
he believed the Lord, he had faith,
and
the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
And from the Epistle reading from Hebrews,
“…faith
is the assurance of things hoped for,
the
conviction of things not seen.”
And from the Gospel:
“Do
not be afraid, little flock.”
Even though the Gospel lesson does not use the word faith
in it,
it
is about faithfulness, being steadfast in trust and watching in faith.
“Do
not be afraid, little flock.”
These words might seem to be offered especially for us here
today,
just
one week after we said goodbye to Hunt and Lisa and Will.
And now we come back together a week later
without
the rector at the helm,
and already I have heard some quavering,
a
small edge of anxiety, fear even.
And that’s natural.
But,
do not be afraid, little flock.
I would hazard a guess
that
most of us have already been through a time like this
in
the life of a particular congregation,
when
clergy leadership changes,
and
there is an interim period.
I have been through this with quite a few congregations,
and
can say with assurance, do not be afraid, do not be anxious.
In fact, I came to this congregation during an interim
period.
I would like to say to you,
that
you now have before you opportunity and possibility.
The good work that Hunt has done here
and
the ways in which you engaged with him in ministry
give you a platform from which you can take the next
steps.
And typically, the time between rectors is a time in which
people
become more active in participation in the life of the congregation.
What I would like to say to you as we purposely undertake
transition here
is
to ask some questions to provoke consideration
about
just why it is that we are here.
What
is the purpose of this congregation?
What
is Emmanuel?
What
is needed for a church? for a faith community?
These are questions which will
be asked again and again in the months to come.
I think I can say with some accuracy,
that
the first thoughts that come into the head
typically have to do with the budget,
what
it takes financially to have clergy leadership
and
to maintain the campus and buildings.
What do we need to maintain this church?
Well, that is, I hope you can see, thinking too narrowly.
It
is important and necessary, but way too limited in focus.
What we need to bring into question is the church, what it
is.
Otherwise we are reacting to the temporary loss of clergy
leadership
by
focusing on security, preserving what we have.
If we do that, we reduce the church to simply a cultural
enterprise.
The Gospel reading for today helps us reorient back to
purpose,
purpose
for the Church:
“Do
not be afraid, little flock,
for
it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom!
The
Kingdom of God, the ultimate end of what the Church is for!
It doesn’t say, it’s the Father’s good pleasure to give
you
the
building and clergy and format for association,
the church as the place where you can find comfort and acceptance.
There is nothing wrong with that at all..
We need comfort and a place where we are accepted,
but
that is only the exterior of what is Church means,
and it certainly does not describe the Kingdom of God.
You know that I always want people to go deeper with their
faith,
so
let me outline for you five stages or steps
for
describing the process of maturing as the Church,
each
stage or step going deeper into
what
our identity is as the Church,
and
what our purpose is,
because, as we know very well,
the
Church is not the building, but the people,
the
people who gather week by week
to
hear God’s word,
to
offer our worship in prayers and thanksgiving,
and
to be fed with the Body and Blood of our Savior Jesus.
And I want you to think of these five stages
as
five steps that serve as a trajectory toward the Kingdom of God.
The first focuses on what I have said already:
the
building and clergy and format for association.
what
it takes financially to have clergy leadership
and
to maintain the campus and buildings,
the
value and worth of the Church.
Here attention goes first to the budget
where
worth is expressed in terms of dollars.
We think in terms of maintenance of the facility and
providing for leadership,
so
that we can receive the worth that the Church provides us spiritually
and
in association with one another.
It’s a physical foundation for what comes next.
But again, the Church is not the building but the people,
and
our worth is measured in terms of what we do,
our
participation.
This is the second level or stage, the pragmatic doing.
This is where mission begins.
This is where we gain the understanding
that
the Church is composed of those who have been called out by Jesus
in
a special way and with a purpose
-- for serving.
That takes us to the next point, number 3,
based
on the spiritual foundation of baptism,
which
links us with Jesus in his death and resurrection
where
by faith we enter a new life in Christ.
Faith points us into relationship with God through Jesus.
It is here in baptism that we discover what goes beyond
ourselves
that
reveals to us unbounded, limitless potential and possibility.
We discover what it means to be
created in the image and likeness of God.
Understanding the Church in terms of baptism
takes
us to a new descriptor of the Church as the Body of Christ,
of
which we are member body parts;
we
are part of a being of organic wholeness.
This
is the source of our worth, and it is radical worth.
Let me say it again:
Christianity is based on the creativity of the Holy Spirit
acting in the Body,
of
which we are all members making up the whole.
The good news is that Jesus baptizes us with Holy Spirit,
and
Holy Spirit will handle everything.
This is the resource for building us up in the image of
God.
This is what the Church is for, the purpose, in this third
stage,
to
live fully into the image of God,
which
is what we were created for,
and
that is what it means to become fully human.
In the words of one who has been my mentor and guide,
“If
you take care of your relationship to the Holy Spirit,
the
Spirit will take care of you.”
Or to put it another way,
“…do not strive for what you are to eat and what you are to
drink…
For
it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things,
and
your Father knows that you need them.
Instead,
seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
That brings us to number 4, which is the
process of discipleship,
the
means by which the Apostolic Mission of the Church is grown;
it
is what steps 2 and 3 empower us for.
For each faith community that apostolic
mission gets worked out
depending
on the setting in the world and environment,
what
is around us that the Church can speak to and address.
But this is worked out through each of us
by the Holy Spirit,
working
on each one, squeezing us, guiding us, impelling us,
bringing
out the fullness of Christ in each
--
until the Church becomes the Body of
Christ
the
place of the fullness of the Resurrection Presence of Jesus.
This is the personal spiritual work that leads to the
realization
of
what it is to be a New Being in Christ, as the Apostle Paul discusses it,
the
one who lives guided by the Holy Spirit,
living
in communion with God.
And here is where that “Do not be afraid, little flock,”
takes
on its real meaning.
For where is the real fear?
I am suggesting to you that it is fear of this divine
intimacy,
fear
that we would be swallowed up in this huge Presence of the Holy.
Yes, we are afraid of that.
Yet this is where true joy is to be found,
where
we are utterly loved,
where
all that binds us is dissolved
and
we are unleashed into the most amazing creativity
where
the Kingdom comes.
And now we are at step 5:
the
Church in union with God,
in
communion, true communion,
not
only with God but with all beings.
It is the Kingdom of God come among us,
just
as we pray it will come when we recite the Lord’s Prayer.
In the world , in society, in the way of relating that we
are enculturated into
our
relationship with Jesus is most often an external relationship.
Jesus is Savior, Lord, the focus of worship,
but
we are still separate from that Presence,
that
Holy Spirit of the Resurrection Jesus.
There is relationship but not communion,
acknowledgement
of Jesus, but not yet intimacy.
I am speaking in generalities here, of course.
Some know, even fleetingly,
times
of deep intimacy and communion with Jesus.
But it is not yet Kingdom come, not yet this final step.
So, and here is the point of this sermon, again from the
Gospel reading,
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.”
so
be careful about what our hearts are attaching to
when
it comes to this faith community and where we are going.
“And do
not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not
hover between hope and fear.
For it is the nations of the world that
strive after all these things,
and your Father knows that you need
them.
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these
things will be given to you as well.
Do not be afraid, little flock,
for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.”
