Go out into the world...

In our lives of faith, it is important to rehearse the many and often mysterious ways in which God has guided and saved us in the past. This enables us to build our courage for the future. Many people have grown more comfortable in bringing their specific petitions to God in public worship. It is far less frequent that we have the confidence to praise God in our public worship for what God has done for us in the past.

Acts of pure praise are largely missing from many of our current models of worship whether we are speaking of the traditional churches or those who have become seeker churches. We alter our music, reduce the number of Scripture lessons, shorten our prayers and reshape our sermons so that they might be more attractive to our audience.

While it is important to structure worship in a way that is user friendly, we seem to have forgotten who is the audience for our worship. Soren Kirkegaard provided the now famous analogy of worship as a play with the actors being the congregation and the leaders of worship being like a director of a play. The audience for our worship is God. True worship is the opposite of narcissism. We come to give not to get. Perhaps an additional mark of the true church should be where praise is authentically offered.

Worship becomes the people’s response to that incredible reality that the author of all the universes, creator of all time, fulfiller of all futures is actually present in our time to us. Leander Keck suggests that the integrity of worship centers on praise. (The Church Confident, Leander Keck, Abingdon, 1993) The vast majority of the psalms are psalms of praise.

Why does God want us to offer our praise? From a purely human point of view if someone insisted that we continually offer praise to them, we would think of them as a hopelessly insecure egomaniac. From a faith standpoint, God may insist on our praise for our own good rather than for what it does for God. God may be pleased with our praise but it is because of the benefit we derive from it rather than that our praise meets some need that God has.

Humans need to recognize, on a continuing basis, the transcendent reality of God to prevent them from distorting their own perception of reality. As humans, our biggest temptation is to want to believe that the universe has its center in us. In this we relive the story of the tower of Babel where praise of God ceased in people’s headlong effort to supplant God with their marvelous works.

Offering praise to God becomes a continual reminder that all life centers in God. The place of memory is also essential to the practice of praise. In the psalms the worshipers were repeatedly called upon to recall the great saving acts of God as a basis of their praise. This was more than an exercise in fond memory for the good old days. This was an act that provided courage for the future when the hand of God was less visible.

Let us look at the place of worship in our contemporary society. Consider that most of the activities that take place in a church also take place in other institutions within our society. In those activities the church competes with other institutions for constituents. But that which is uniquely offered by the church is worship. (I am aware that synagogues and mosques, as well as some spiritualist groups also offer their form of worship. My comparison is to other organizations and groups in society.)

In liturgy the community comes together and discovers its true identity in relationship to that which is entirely outside itself and its environment. Humanity has always sought places of communion with God and traditionally they have been located upon high mountains. These mountains, such as Mt. Sinai, have been seen as windows on to the eternal. Jesus went up on a mountain to be transfigured. Matthew even suggests that Jesus went up on a mountain to preach that unique expression of faith which we now call the Sermon on the Mount.

The church makes the audacious claim to be a moveable window onto eternity. Where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, there Christ, the Word of God, promises to be present. We come to church to be in the presence of God.

The church is, in some mysterious way that defies complete explanation, the downward movement of God to the people. God comes off the mountain top and dwells among the people. “See, the tabernacle of God is among mortals. He will tabernacle with them as their God and they will be his peoples, …” Note that in this translation of Revelation the word people is plural. In Christ the possibility of God dwelling among more than one people has become a living reality. Regardless of their particular background or heritage, when the church gathers for worship, their true identity is revealed. They are the people(s) of God. God has come down to dwell among them.

The word of the meeting spread quickly. There was some of the usual hate mail by people who were too frightened to sign their name but there were also some very poignant phone calls. Several people called and said that they had always been afraid to talk about it but that one of the members of their family was gay as well. Others talked about friends who were gay and about their confusion as to how to respond.

After about two weeks some members of the board called and confessed that they were ashamed of their own behavior during the meeting and asked for forgiveness. Howard and Lisa began to realize that by their willingness to speak up they were slowly releasing others from a prison of fear that had entrapped them.

Someone expressed the fear that Howard and Lisa would leave the church after the way they were treated in the board meeting. Howard was quick to respond. “That passage from Romans about not judging lest you be judged continues to live with me. If I left the church, it would be like I was judging them. I don’t have a right to judge them anymore than they have a right to judge me. We all are in need of forgiveness.

“What Lisa and I will continue to do is to listen for how Christ addresses us in this congregation. This is the church to which Christ has called us. This is the community of faith in which he has spoken to us.” And so they stayed.

Eventually a small group of people asked if Howard and Lisa would lead a Bible study on sexuality in their home. Some of the very board members who had treated them poorly asked if they could come. “If you come to listen to Christ in our midst, you are welcome,” said Lisa.

Later they would give thanks to Christ that he had called them to ministry. Someone asked him later why they had stayed and Howard responded, “One night when I was feeling pretty low about the church, I came across a passage where Jesus said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ I figured that that meant that our church was a pretty good place to be with Jesus. I certainly knew that I was in need of a physician and I have to admit that I felt there were many others here that could use one too.”

There is not experience in the Body of Christ in which Christ cannot speak to you if you are willing to listen.

The 218 General Assembly is all over except the shouting. There will probably be some shouting but it was an Assembly that may well reflect the changing climate of our society. It began with the election as moderator of Bruce Reyes-Chow, the 38 year old grandson of Filipino and Cinese immigrants. He was clearly the youngest and most liberal of the candidates. Yet, what probably tipped the scales was a combination of his energy and his desire to listen to everyone.

A signal of the Assembly mood may be in the fact that when the tough question of how they stand on ordination arose, three of the four candidates suggested in some way that they wanted the church to move in the direction of inclusion. Bruce was the most direct about it but also he emphasized the importance of “deep listening” to those who disagreed with him.

The Assembly did vote to remove G.60106b, popularly known as the Fidelity and Chastity portion of the Book of Order and to overturn the recent PJC decision that emphasized this criteria as almost an essential to ordination. This does not mean that this was a liberal Assembly. Rather, reflective of our larger society and its current political debate, the Assembly was searching for another way to get beyond a tired debate. It also reflected a desire to put the question back to the Presbyteries where it will now be debated. The issue is whether there has been a similar change in mood in the Presbyteries.

The irony is that I do not view this as a particularly liberal Assembly. Rather, it seemed like an Assembly that was invested in trusting the process. In the early part of the week, the commissioners were sent into a series of committees to examine and then respond to the various overtures before it. I was in the Health Committee but I also heard from many people in the other committees that people were willing to take a lot of time to make sure that all voices were heard. Then when the proposals were brought to the plennary, every opportunity was given to make sure that all voices were heard. When they voted, however, the tendency of the Assembly was to trust the committee and their work. The assumption was that they had more time to hear all the voices and that when they made a considered opinion, the Assembly was willing to support them. There were only a couple of minority opinions that prevailed among the many that were put before the Assembly.

There will be much discussion about several of their decisions, as there should be, but it is my opinion that the Assembly was a reflection of a strong and vital church that hungers to be faithful to God in their witness even when it is a difficult witness to make.

So they went to their official board, told them about Ferris and offered to start a chapter of “Parents of Lesbians and Gays” (P-Flag) in their church as a way of helping other parents who might be having the same experience.

Their reception was awful. The pastor did quote some Scripture at them and suggested that they should get counseling for Ferris to straighten him out. One prominent member loudly proclaimed that if the church ever allowed organizations like P-Flag to meet in the building, he would leave the church. Some did say that they were sorry for this terrible tragedy that had befallen Lisa and Howard’s family and that if they could help they should give them a call. It was clear by the looks on other people’s faces that they either agreed with the negative opinions expressed or were more interested in avoiding conflict than in expressing contrary opinions.

Howard and Lisa were stunned. They left the room and walked out to their car. “Well, so much for revelation,” said Howard. “I’m sorry that I got you into this, Lisa.” “I’m not,” said Lisa. “I really do think that Christ spoke to us in that passage. Jesus didn’t always meet with success when he was obedient and we shouldn’t expect to either. Actually, now that its out in the open, I am a little less afraid. I also know the risk Ferris took in telling us.”

Howard and Lisa were really shaken. First, they had been told by their son four months ago that he was gay. They had not expected such news but because they loved him so deeply, they spent a great deal of time and effort trying to understand and stay in close contact with him.

First, they had to disabuse themselves of all the myths that they had about homosexuality being an illness or something that was created by bad parenting. Once they put that behind them, they had long conversations with their son and read several books that he recommended to them. It had opened up a whole new world of understanding for them and a deep compassion for the suffering caused by bigotry and fears in society.

Still, they had not risked telling their church. Then one night as they were having devotions together they were reading the first chapter of Romans which has been used so often to condemn homosexuality. “It’s verses like that which make me fearful of being honest at church about Ferris,” said Lisa. “I’m just not a good enough Biblical scholar to answer if people start hurling Scriptures at me and it would hurt terribly if they said terrible things about our son.” Howard was about to agree when his eye fell on the first verse of the second chapter. “Listen to this,” he said. “Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.” (Romans 2:1) “Maybe Jesus is speaking to us in this passage, Lisa. What does it say to you?” Lisa thought for awhile and then said, “I think rather than judging our church we should go to them and share our concern.”

One of the images that Jeremiah used for the faith community was that of the potter and the clay. (Jeremiah 18:1-11) While Jeremiah used it in reference to the destruction of the nation, there was also in the image a suggestion of hope. There was nothing, including the destruction of the very people that God had called to be a light to the nations, which God could not remold into a new possibility of hope.

This same truth was revealed at the crucifixion of Christ. The act of crucifixion was a reflection of the worst that the world could do in rebellion against God. Yet God took the clay of that experience and remolded it into the way of salvation for the world. The God of redemption is not defeated by even the worst of sins and is capable of working redemptively through them.

There are many things that happen in the life of the church which could not be pleasing to God. Yet there is nothing that happens in the Body of Christ that God cannot remold into a saving possibility. While a member may well protest the decision of a church or the behavior of its members as that which is not faithful, that same member needs also to listen for how Christ can address him or her in that very experience.

The Body of Christ is the locus of God’s continuing revelation of God’s Word and that revelation is not defeated by those times of disobedience anymore than it was defeated in times of disobedience of the disciples.

The gift of Christian community which God offers those whom God has called is an invitation to both be in communion with each other and with God. In the history of Israel, God’s revelation often came in powerful ways precisely in times of distress. When members of the Body of Christ can trust that God can take the clay of all of their experiences and mold them into saving possibilities, then they have the capacity to face their own sinfulness honestly and also to celebrate what God continues to do in their midst.

In the next few posts, I will try to give you a fictional account of how this might work out in a local church.

The Assembly has separated into a series of committees to consider the issues that have been brought to it. Monday and Tuesday have been heavy work days for most of the committees. Their reports will be taken to the plenary beginning tomorrow.

One of the interesting results is that the committee dealing with the ordination issue voted overwhelmingly to recind previous authoritative interpretations and to essentially follow the original recommendation of the PUP report. This would suggest that, at least in that committee of randomly selected 75 people, the Assembly is growing tired of the scare tactics of the right and is willing to trust that Presbyteries are responsible in their actions. If that same attitude prevails in the Assembly, then we will experience some wailing but may also move on to trying to listen to God rather than fear.

It looks like the recommendation on the new Form of Government will be to allow for some trial runs in some presbyteries and then review the results at the next GA. This would suggest a cautious opptimism and a belief that the church fares better when they try to empower rather than restrict the elements of the body.

While people are woried about the future of the church, this assembly seems to reject the suggestion that we respond out of fear. Maybe we are beginning to turn the corner,

An additional opportunity made possible by relating to structures above the local congregation is to enable Christians to wrestle with the complex ethical questions of our time. Many of the complex issues which face us have global implications and sound different depending on your condition, culture and position in life.

The Body of Christ reaches across age, sex, race, culture and economic status and binds us together in Christ. Being bound together does not require uniformity but demonstrates the strength of God’s diverse people. Building upon the strength of our diversity, we can trust that when the Body of Christ is gathered, Christ addresses us.

As a Body of Christ, we have a revealing Word to proclaim. We can bring together people who hear God differently on difficult issues. In doing so we can both enlarge our understanding of the issues and deepen our understanding of our faith.

Because we are united in Christ, we can rise above our fears and listen to Christians with perspectives totally in contrast to our understanding. It is not that they or we have the better perspective on the truth of any ethical challenge, but, rather, that the God of both yet has more truth for us to hear.