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Today we celebrated Gideon Sunday at First Presbyterian Chruch in Berryville, Arkansas, so today I post a sermon from the archives. This sermon was delivered on the July 16, 2006, the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. This is the sermon I preached after returning from the "Hope of the Church" conference in Montreat, North Carolina, July 2006.

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Friends, please excuse me, these are ramblings of a man that has had too much time to think about the happenings of the PC (USA) over the last month or so. Dealings with the denomination have been on my mind, seriously on my mind, and I want to share some of them with you.

“The Banner” is the newsletter of the Arkansas Presbytery. In the June edition, published before the General Assembly met last month, the Reverend Bill Branch, who is in essence the Pastor to the Presbytery, writes, “In thirty-six years of in the pastorate I can count on the fingers of one hand and still have four fingers left over the number of people who left churches that I served because of something the PCUSA did or didn’t do.”

In his book, Jesus, Homosexuality, and the Bible, Explode the Myths, Heal the Church, former moderator of the PC (USA) General Assembly the Reverend Jack Rogers, recounts a story of a church where he was serving as pastor where a young man, and several others, left the church because of an action of the session, namely not becoming affiliated with the “More Light” movement of Presbyterians, a group dedicated to the ordination of gays and lesbians.

About three years ago, a church in Mission Presbytery, a Texas Presbytery that ranges from El Paso to Austin to Corpus Christi to Brownsville lost a congregation because of what the congregation deemed the presbytery’s and denomination’s slide into impiety, specifically because of the issue of ordination of gays and lesbians.

In his article, Reverend Branch says people leave congregations, not denominations. Reverend Rogers and Mission Presbytery beg to take his assertion one step further, people do leave congregations, and they leave denominations.

That’s the joy of using anecdotes, stories and examples, to try to prove points; you can always find the rule and its exception. In cases like this one though, it is difficult to decipher which is the rule, and which is the exception.

Others don’t have that difficulty. In a recent posting on their website, the Presbyterian Lay Committee has deemed the church apostate because of actions taken by the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago. If you are not familiar with the word (and I wasn’t until a couple of years ago), as a noun apostate means “a disloyal being who betrays or deserts a cause or religion or political party or friend. As an adjective it means one who is not faithful to a cause or religion or political party or friend. One of the indications of apostasy is that the denomination did not put a stop to the ordination of gays and lesbians immediately.

But fear not, on the other far end of the political spectrum are those who also consider the church to have left the will of the Lord in the realm of social justice. A fellow seminarian who I saw at a conference last week told me that there were some at General Assembly who were upset with the church because it did not repeal a part of the Book of Order that deals with ordination of gays and lesbians. Many at the conference who agreed with this point of view revived a call of racial inequality from the 1960’s, “no justice, no peace.”

Some are willing to leave the PC (USA) because one clause in the Book of Order is not strongly enforced. Others are willing to leave because it is not repealed. In the end, some are willing to leave.

About ten days ago, I attended a conference in Montreat, North Carolina. One of the many speakers, The Reverend David Dobler from Anchorage, Alaska had this reaction to the last General Assembly. He said that the bulk of our pastoral care in the next few years will be done in a time of schism in the church. It will be a difficult time.

Another speaker, Eileen Lindner, an elder from a church in New Jersey, agreed with this opinion, with a caveat. She told the congregation that about every five hundred years, the church faces major upheaval and reform. It happened in the late fourth century with Constantine and the writing of the Nicene Creed. It came again in the eleventh century as the church separated between Constantinople and Rome—the Orthodox verses the Roman wings of the church. Of course the sixteenth century brought about the protestant reformation. Her take on the situation of the church, yes it will be a difficult time. There will be great upheaval in the church, and it will happen like it has every five hundred years or so like clockwork.

So we can probably look forward to great upheaval in the church, the kind of upheaval that we probably won’t recognize fully because of the good ole matter of not seeing the forest for the trees.

The moderator of the General Assembly and the Stated Clerk of the PC (USA) of the denomination have asked this letter be read in worship:

June 25, 2006

To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Lectionary Psalm for today is Psalm 133: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”

As the 217th General Assembly met together in Birmingham, it was remarkable to see Presbyterians from north, south, east, and west gathered together to discern the mind of Christ for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We witnessed the work of the Spirit in and through the assembly, giving us a glimpse of our visible oneness in Jesus Christ. We give thanks that the assembly theme, “So Great a Cloud of Witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) permeated the community of faith within the convention center.

In this meeting, we saw commissioners and advisory delegates living out in word and deed their deep commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, their passion to be living expressions of Christ’s love to the world, and their eagerness to be a part of the future God intends for the PC(USA). We experienced the Presbyterian process of doing things at its best. We observed people working fairly and treating each other graciously.

This assembly dealt with hundreds of items, and a few made headlines across the country. Most likely, you have read or will read about the assembly’s actions from a number of sources over the next many days and weeks, but we want you to hear about this important gathering directly from the General Assembly. That is why we are writing this letter to you.

We know of three particular decisions that made immediate headlines. Here is what the assembly did with each of them:

--Israel/Palestine issues: This General Assembly acknowledged that the actions of the 2004 assembly caused hurt and misunderstanding among some Presbyterians and our Jewish neighbors. However, this assembly did not rescind the previous action on divestment. Divestment is still an option, but not the goal. Instead, this assembly broadened the focus to corporate engagement to ensure that the church’s financial investments do not support violence of any kind in the region.

--Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church: With the approval of this report, the assembly did not alter our historic standards for ordination. However, it did make clear that more responsibility is to be exercised by sessions and presbyteries regarding the examination of candidates for ordination. By an overwhelming majority, the assembly also affirmed our covenantal partnership, our common theological roots, and the need for prayer in Christian communities as we make decisions.

--The Trinity: The assembly received a paper that affirms “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” as the church’s primary language for the Trinity. The paper also lifts up other biblical images of the Trinity for study and use in worship.

We hope, over the months ahead, you will hear about the other items that did not make headlines— new church development, Christian education, evangelism, older adult ministries, homelessness, globalization, international mission, multicultural issues, disability awareness, and military chaplains, to name a few.

It was obvious to us that this assembly, like the church, had deep differences on a number of issues. But, the longer we were together, the more we realized how much we have in common in Jesus Christ—and the more we realized we need one another.

The unity we seek for the church—and the unity we experienced at the assembly—is not just about coming to an agreement. It is also about being with each other in the healthy struggle to discern God’s will. It was that healthy struggle we witnessed at the assembly, and in that struggle we were blessed. God’s Spirit was with us. Not everyone will like what the commissioners did, but the spirit coming out of the assembly was something we think will be a blessing to the whole church.

Indeed, we are convinced that God has a future for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We invite you to join us as we move with renewed enthusiasm to doing God’s work in the world.
Yours in Christ,

The Reverend Joan S. Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and The Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Indeed, the two top leaders of the denomination are convinced that God has a place for the PC (USA) in the future. But not everyone shares this opinion. Michael Walker, a self described conservative, evangelical Presbyterian asked a pastor friend what he would say to his congregation about to the actions of the General Assembly. This is his friend’s response:

“In some sense that’s a peculiar question, because I’m an evangelical. What I will do Sunday is what I do every Sunday: preach the Gospel. The Gospel’s central themes are well known, its details being spelled out in Holy Scripture, the text from which we read and preach week after week. It’s about a creation gone awry, a God whose capacity to love and forgive exceeds our capacity to sin and rebel, and a hope for a glorious future where there is no more crying and no more dying – all revealed to us in the work and person of Jesus Christ. In one sense, [the acceptance of the Peace, Unity, Purity Report has] very little impact on what I’ll preach on Sunday. Misguided decisions of ecclesial assemblies don’t do anything to diminish or obscure God’s victory over sin, death and the devil.

But from another perspective, in all honesty, I suppose recent events will have something to do with how I approach things on Sunday. It’s not as if the Gospel has undergone any fundamental change. Jesus doesn’t change. We know this because of the constancy of God’s Word and the presence of God’s Spirit. But the context into which we speak these great truths has changed and is always changing. So what’s the word for this time and place?

The church is sinful but God is faithful. In the midst of corruption, deception, and confusion in the Church, which at times like this seems as Babylonian as the world, the Gospel lifts high the cross. The cross judges all human sin and subterfuge, whether in the Church or in the world. It is God’s word to our confused and broken church. But it is not the last word. There is another word, equally abiding but much more hopeful. There is the word of the resurrection. Many of us are as confused, afraid and despairing as that original band of disciples first faced with the loss of the Master. The risen Christ speaks the same word to us as to them. He shares his peace and bids us not to fear. He is with us now and to the end of the age.

Friends, I do not agree with the writer’s view on ordination of gay and lesbian members of the church. I believe so strongly in the sovereignty of God that I cannot deny the Lord the opportunity to call homosexual members of the assembly into the kingdom’s service. But I do agree with this pastor’s expression about who God is and who we are. I preach the word to creation, and oh yes, I am a part of that creation, creation gone awry. God forgives more than we can rebel. God is constant and God’s Holy Spirit is ever present. This is about God being God and us being us. We are the servants of the Lord and are called to be obedient.

Some groups within the PC (USA) think they have the market cornered on obedience. These groups are both conservative and liberal and I believe neither is completely wrong, nor completely right. God does not change, but how we understand God does; this is the root of the phrase that the church is reformed and always reforming.

The issues I have discussed in this sermon have been an issue of the PC (USA) for over forty years, nearly all of my life. It would have been naive of anyone to think that one silly report would be able to end this strife. Thank God the task force members were under no such delusions.

I took the long way to get here, but our message for today comes directly from Psalm 24, our call to worship. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it, for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.” The church belongs to the Lord, and I do not mean the denomination, I do not mean the PC (USA). The church, the Body of Christ belongs to the Lord and I praise God that the denomination is a part of the body. The psalm asks, “And who is this glorious Sovereign? The Lord, the Lord of hosts is the glorious sovereign.” We must listen to this sovereign the same way that Herod listened to John. It is not always comfortable, but we still are compelled to listen. The church is not apostate, we are not apostate, and those who believe the exact opposite are not apostate. We must learn to live with one another, especially those we do not agree with.

We are called to take the Word into the world; this is the heart of evangelism. We take God’s word to young children in school supplies. We take God’s peace and care to New Orleans and the world. We take God’s peace and God’s healing to a hospital room in Springfield—and to the family and friends of the young man who recuperates there.

We are at our worst when we hold ourselves above others in the church. When will we learn that it is how we love, not who we love? We are best when we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. All—it’s quite a thing to say all. As long as we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, we can treat one another like our Lord treats us, with peace, and dignity, and love.