Always Being Reformed

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday October 10, 2011, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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Exodus 32:1-14

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Philippians 4:1-9

Matthew 22:1-14

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

One of the joys of cable and satellite TV is that there are hundreds and hundreds of channels; and once someone finds a program that works it is copied and spun off until there is a channel devoted to it. Sports channels began that way, so did the Fox Reality Channel until it went off the air. I’m waiting for “The Wedding Channel.” Somewhere, with all of the shows devoted to one bit of the wedding industry or the other, there’s going to be one place where “Bridezillas” everywhere can hook up with the “Cake Boss” and then “Say Yes to the Dress.”[1]

It is the nature of the parable to have several different kinds of truth in its words, this parable about a wedding banquet is no exception. There is historical and cultural truth. Since we are not fully familiar with those times, we may not catch some of those references. There is literary truth, because the parable as a form of literature contains truth in that context. There is also the truth of interpretation since there is nearly 2,000 years of analysis behind Matthew’s gospel.

So, let’s begin with the setting of our parable, the king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. One of the historical things we need to know is that before a wedding celebration, days or weeks in advance, the guests would have received invitations delivered by the king’s slaves. This announcement would not have the precise time or day of the wedding feast though. Another bit of history we need to know is that at this time weddings were not the timed to the minute thing they are today. It would take some time for the king’s slaves to prepare the great banquet.

Our parable doesn’t say how many oxen and fatted calves were slaughtered and prepared, but as it was a king who gave our parable’s banquet, we can imagine the number was substantial. The language tells us it was absolutely plural, so the preparations took quite a while. The banquet master would get in touch with the priest to butcher the animals. Then they would need to be cooked. How long does it take to cook not an ox but oxen? Just consider how long it takes to smoke a brisket an go up from there.

He would have needed the people who provided bread, spices, and other foods. And don’t forget the wine merchant. Since so many were involved in its preparation, the kingdom and all who were invited would know the feast was coming, just not exactly when.

Since preparing a wedding banquet was a long and inexact process, there was a two-step invitation procedure. The first invitation was sent so that the guests would know something was coming. The first invitation also made it so they would not be surprised when the slaves came with the “day of event” invitation.[2]

Another important historical element to this piece is that when the people say, “we’re busy” to the king’s servants; it means more than “we’re busy.” To reject the king’s invitation, or more properly the king’s command, is an act of rebellion. To do it en masse is a sign of conspiracy.[3] Historically, no king would stand for this.

Parables are great, but these historical and cultural nuances that the chief priests, elders, and Pharisees would have known are lost on us until we learn them. There are elements of truth in the history and culture of this story, but there is truth beyond history and culture.

Another part of the truth comes from the literary qualities of the parable. One of the key concepts of the parable is that it is not a true story. Even though as we have just heard, there is historical truth mixed in, this story does not reflect an actual event.

So in our story, after the slaves return to the king mistreated and worse, the king wages war on those who reject him and his invitation. This part of the story should be a red flag that this is not a true story. I ask what king would delay his son’s wedding and let his supper get cold to go and wage war on a city, his city? This is wonderfully epic, filled with dramatic exaggeration, and highly unlikely.

As a nation, our recent experience with “shock and awe” warfare shows there is no way to wage war and be home for dinner in any age. So in the realm of factual events, the battle described in this story would not have happened. But in the parable we are given a clear lesson, we see that those who betrayed the king got what they deserved.

As literature, this parable brings us a broad epic sense of scope which the story misses without its literary elements. It’s not that all pieces of the parable add up, but as a story, there is truth within the exaggeration.

As for truth found in interpretation, there is much. This is the third of three parables Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, chief priests, and elders in the temple. Scholars say the first parable, the one of the two sons, focuses on John the Baptist and the people’s response to his ministry. The second, the parable of the vineyard, uses allegory to interpret Jerusalem’s fall as punishment for the leaders’ unfaithfulness. This third parable is a final warning to the church of Jesus Christ to remain faithful and not follow the footsteps of the Pharisees, chief priests, and elders.[4]

The history of interpretation gives us a chronological progression of stories warning the Pharisees, chief priests and elders who rejected John; then rejected the prophets and then the Son; and a final warning that the church might never reject Jesus and the vocation he has lain upon it.

Often, we speak of faith in terms of putting on new clothes. We talk of the church as being the bride of Christ. So a part of the history of interpretation leads us to be called to put on Christ as we join together with him as his bride.

The truth found in the history of interpretation is that while all are called, those who do not respond to this call are dealt with harshly. I am not saying that we are saved by works because we are saved by grace through faith. I am saying that there are dire consequences if we accept the Lord’s invitation and all we do is show up expecting to be fed.[5] This judgment was true in the days of the prophets, in the days of Jesus, and it is true for us today.

Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda; the church reformed and always reforming. This has been the call of the reformed churches since the days of Luther, Calvin, Knox and dozens of others. These words are being shared still in Sunday Schools, pulpits, and in seminaries. These words are important to what we understand as our specific place in the Body of Christ, the universal Church.

There is another way to translate this statement which I prefer. “The church having been reformed is always being reformed.” It’s longer and not nearly as catchy, but it’s important for us. This translation maintains the Latin verb forms[6] which focus on God’s work on the church. The church is not an active participant in the kingdom, it’s passive. This is important, from a grammatical point of view, it’s passive not active.

This means that we can do nothing on our own, it is only by God in Christ, it is only by our salvation. It is only by our constant sanctification that we can make any difference at all. The church exists only to do God’s work shaped by God alone. The church does work, but only under the authority of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The chief priests, elders, and Pharisees seemed to have forgotten this. They thought they were the king, the mice and the cheese[7] and they thought they had the world by the tail. They knew their positions were precarious, the Holy Land was under Roman rule, but they had the system figured out… as long as nothing changed.

Jesus was there to tell them that times were changing. Using three parables of judgment, Jesus shows us, history teaches Jesus did not show them, Jesus shows us that there is peace and there is grace, but it is not cheap. God paid a great price, suffering death on the cross to give us what we could never earn.

So like the guests who came to the banquet, we are called to be transformed, reformed, and dressed in our own wedding robe. If we are not transformed by God’s invitation truly we are in no better shape than those who rejected Jesus 2,000 years ago.

Today Marla and Baby Elizabeth will put on that robe. Symbolically they will receive the sign of the beginning of Christian transformation in the waters of baptism. They have been called and they have chosen to answer. God honors the sacraments he institutes.

Our reading ends as Jesus says that many are called but few are chosen. While this sounds like a threat, it is actually a promise. It sounds like a warning, but it is a goal. It is up to us to live into our baptism. It is up to us to remember these promises, the ones we made when we were baptized. It is up to us to remember these promises when we were baptized as babes and someone made them for us. It is up to us to remember the promises we have made as elders, sponsors, and members of this part of the Body of Christ. This is how we begin to remember our baptism.

Now it’s up to us, do we remember and live into the promises of God or do we fade into the antiquity of the chief priests, elders, and Pharisees? Friends, let us go to the banquet and put on the wedding coat of the Lord. Let us remember the waters of our baptism. Let us approach God in joy and peace. Let us be reformed, and continue always being reformed.

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[1] Actually, it has been done, a couple of times; at least once as a TV channel and more recently as in internet portal. So the idea’s out there, all it needs is a little more traction and then it’s off to the races.

[2] The New Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. VIII. Leander Keck, General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 417.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid. pages 412-419

[5] Ibid. page 419

[6] “Reformata” is the Perfect Passive form of the verb. This denotes action performed with future implications. “Reformanda” is the Passive Present form which means action is taking place on it, not by it.

[7] Title of an old children’s book.

Hinting at Jesus

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday December 5, 2010, the 2nd Sunday in Advent.

Isaiah 11:1-10

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Romans 15:4-13

Matthew 3:1-12

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

Meredith Kemp-Pappan is a recent Austin Seminary graduate working in the denomination’s Office of Evangelism & Church Growth. The other day her twitter feed offered this little tidbit about today’s gospel reading, “The more I think about it, John the Baptist was a real pain in the @#%* neck.”[1] This much is true, John was a thorn in the sides of many people, especially those who were the rich and powerful people in the Jewish community; and particularly Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of the region John called home.

John came from the wilderness of Judea, which meant to everyone who knew the formal politics of the region that he was nobody. Where is power focused? It’s in the cities, of course. Whether Austin for state government, D.C. for the federal, Louisville for the denomination, or even Dallas for the Presbytery and the Synod, the seat of power ends up being in the cities. It may not have happened in that order. Everyplace was nowhere before it became somewhere, so it could well be that the seat of power nested and the city grew up around it. Regardless, the wilderness is not where power comes from and it’s where John set up his operation. But hey, the wilderness was good enough for Elijah when he started in ministry, so it can’t be all bad.

There is another thing that Matthew’s gospel tells us that shows that John is a great big nobody, his clothes. I love driving through the square outside the Federal and County courthouses and looking at the people. The men and the women in their fine suits; you know who the people who have power are. You can tell by the way they’re dressed. You can tell by the cars they drive. You can tell by the way they carry themselves. The folks who are being accused, especially in the county courts, not so much, we often see them wearing jeans and a shirt. Their shoes aren’t shined. They’re scared of what could happen next.

The moneyed powerful have lunch at The Bakery Restaurant on the square. Those without power, prestige, and cash; it’s McDonalds if it’s not a bologna sandwich. Last Wednesday I stopped by The Bakery and as I walked around the square and there were more suits having lunch than you’ll find at a Tux shop before prom. Even the “Mother’s Day Out” crowd was dressed like they watched one too many episodes of “The Real Housewives” on Bravo.

So consider then as John comes wandering out of the wilderness and into a group of people. Some of them are the well heeled folks from the seats of power; others are rural folk trying to scratch out a living in the hinterlands. He doesn’t look much like either group. He is wearing camel hair clothes with a leather belt. In a fashion forward way, it sounds like he’s a sharp dressed man. In truth, the clothes he was wearing would look to us like a rough camel skin smock tied with a leather belt. There is no mention of sandals and certainly no mention of boxers or briefs. He doesn’t have the big bucks haircut and a comb would probably surrender the moment it saw his head.

He’s wild, he’s unruly, he looks dangerous, and he’s attracting crowds, crowds who have come to confess their sins and be baptized by him in the Jordan. The contrast between John from the wilderness and all of the people who came from Jerusalem and Judea to see him was deep, deep indeed, but there is one more thing that we must remember. The well heeled people came out to the wilderness to go see John. It’s like the Presbytery office heading out to deep west Texas because they heard there was a spiritual ruckus exploding around them, and they wanted to see what the hullabaloo was about and become a part of it too.

Style never goes out of style, and when a trend is to be followed; leave it to the trend setters to spot the good ones and latch on like a leech.

If the best defense is a good offense, John was the most offensive of all. He knows why they’re coming. He knows that they want to see the show and become a part of the show. The Pharisees and Sadducees figure that they’ll be able to tell their good friends and not-so-friendly rivals that “they were there” and “they saw it all” when John the Baptist was getting started.

Can’t you hear it now, “Oh yes, I was among the first to receive his anointing. You should have seen the scene! You should have been there!”

John of course isn’t having it. “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the coming wrath?” He not only doubts their intentions, he invokes an animal which is associated with the fall of humanity from grace into sin and for good measure isn’t kosher. He not only calls them insincere and insignificant, he calls them unclean.

In my opinion, television shows, movies, music, and even sporting events get bluer and bluer with their screams and their insults. I say that the well crafted insult with a well placed word says much more with far less, and John demonstrates this today.

Then he even derails their first line of defense, who they are with the authority they receive from the synagogues and the temple. John cries out “Don’t say to yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father,’” You know they want to answer back “How dare he! Doesn’t he know who we are?” John warns them not to go there, not to invoke their status as the sons of Abraham because God can raise children from nothing. Their lofty status and their expensive suits and fine shoes mean nothing to John the Baptist. John may be the original king of “what have you done for me lately?” Yes, the leaders of the temple and the synagogues have been important to the nation, but what have you done for me lately?

John’s take, you are nothing, nothing to the kingdom of God.

Given that John thinks little of the temple elite giving lip service, er, glory to God in the highest; he tells them to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. John tells them that a good tree will produce good fruit and the trees that are producing bad fruit are all ready marked for the fire by the ax setting at their root ball.

United Church of Christ pastor Mark E. Yurs recently wrote, “John’s wilderness preaching brings to mind a memorable line from Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon. …They write, ‘Indeed, one of [the two] us is temped to think there is not much wrong with the church that could not be cured by God calling about a hundred really insensitive, uncaring, and offensive people to ministry.’”[2]

On a side note, this speaks to political correctness. In the early 1990’s, when this Hauerwas and Willimon quote was written, political correctness was beginning to define itself. As for me, when political correctness was about treating others, particularly those who are different, with respect and dignity; I could get behind that. It reminds me of a step toward Christ’s invocation to love one another. Of course, when PC morphed from respect and dignity into not only people trying not to offend one another but legislating words and thoughts of offense, I became more and more leery. You could say I love the concept and the motivation, but I’m not much enamored with the execution or what has come from it.

John the Baptist would have nothing to do with the concept of not offending someone. He downright knew how to offend people for the kingdom of God. That being said, along with Hauerwas and Willimon, I can’t imagine the Church universal being able to handle more than a hundred John the Baptist’s at any one time.

Meredith Kemp-Pappan has a point, “The more I think about it, John the Baptist was a real pain in the @#%* neck.”[3] If the Reverend Kemp-Pappan threw this quip to the universe as a random thought in a tweet, she should be affirmed that Hauerwas and Willimon thought enough about that sentiment to publish a similar thought twenty years ago. Yes, John’s a pain, but he’s the kind of pain the Church could use from time to time.

Then, at this point in John’s wilderness sermon, I imagine he drops his voice to a different level as he tells the world what’s coming next. He hints that there is a change on the way. He hints that someone who will do the work of redeeming creation is coming. He is coming with the Holy Spirit and fire. The name is unknown, the person is unknown to John at this moment, but we know who he is hinting at, he’s hinting at Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus who is the Christ.

He hints that while the baptism he celebrates is a ritual bath cleaning us for repentance for sins. The baptism that is coming will serve as a refiner’s fire. The baptism of the one who comes will separate us from our impurities like the flames eliminate the chaff from the wheat leaving only the kernel of truth behind. He tells us that the fire is unquenchable, but the wind that blows, the Holy Spirit of God, we know that this wind will never quit blowing either.

So what does this tell us for today?

The first thing is that as John speaks truth to power, we are to speak truth to power. Folks who are so impressed with their own power and prestige have no place for God in their lives. People who are full of themselves have no place to be filled in Christ. According to scripture, over the course of the next few years the elite would show that they have no place for Jesus in their lives. The power elite of this age don’t seem to be much different.

At that, in many ways, many of the power elite of the church (lower case “c” here) seem to have been co-opted by truths that are not the truth John brings from the wilderness. It’s a metropolitan, cosmopolitan truth that has more to do with power and lunch than with the authority of God and bread of life. It is up to us to speak truth to this power. It’s not a comfortable place to be, and it’s not a comfortable thing to do, but John the Baptist was not about comfort.

So what is that truth we are to speak? Jesus is coming, that’s the truth. As he was coming 2,000 some years ago, he is coming today. Thy kingdom, the kingdom of God is coming. I always got a kick out of that old bumper sticker that said “Jesus is coming, look busy” because that’s hardly necessary. Jesus knows who has been busy and what they have been busy with. If we have been wrapped up with ourselves he will know. If we have been wrapped up with his people, he’ll know that too.

I am not saying that we are saved by our works, but we will be judged by them. All of the things that seem so important in this life which are not holy will be burned away by the refiner’s fire like so much chaff from the wheat. The branches, limbs, and even trees that bear poor fruit, or no fruit at all, will be introduced to the ax and thrown to the flame. No, we aren’t worthy to carry his sandals, but we are to carry his Word into the world.

Finally, John’s faith is dangerous. We all see where it got him. He spoke the truth to Herod Antipas and met his maker face to face for the trouble. To speak the truth to the world, we will not always be loved. Then again, this is the way of all the prophets.

Now, I’m not saying that we should go out there and bust chops in the name of the Lord. As the old English saying goes, it’s easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar. But sometimes, the vinegar is what’s necessary to clean up sticky theology when too much honey has been poured. The world may have a place for a hundred John the Baptist’s, but I don’t think even Texas is big enough for that much unvarnished truth at one time

So friends, beware the yeast of the Pharisees so that we aren’t lifted up in our own importance. Listen to the truth around us and know that some days will be better than others. Let’s know that John the Baptist was a real pain in the @#%* neck and know that his rough edges are sometimes necessary. It’s the rough edge of sandpaper that smoothes the surface of the wood. Let us prepare for the coming of Jesus, because yes, advent means coming. And that’s John’s message, Jesus is coming.

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[1] Meredith Kemp-Pappan, Twitter Feed, 8:17 AM, December 2, 2010. The word I mumbled through in worship is “ass.”

[2] Hauerwas, Stanley, and Willimon, William H., “Resident Aliens.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, page 167 cited by Mark E. Yurs, “Feasting on the Word” Volume A.1. Bartlett, David L. and Taylor, Barbara Brown, Editors. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, page 45.

[3] Ibid Meredith Kemp-Pappan.

Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

Marie and I were in Texas this year on Pentecost Sunday, so here is the sermon I preached three years ago at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Pentecost Sunday.

Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

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

Sin, righteousness, and judgment, that’s quite a mouthful. The title of this sermon should rightfully remind us of every crime drama books, movies, and television have ever given us. These terms themselves, sin, righteousness, and judgment, were legal words in the first century. These are the words of the courts yesterday and today.

Before we explore the big three, sin, righteousness, and judgment, we need to consider the legalistic format of the beginning of the verse. In the version we read from today, “When he, the Holy Spirit, comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment.” Instead of “prove the world wrong,” other translations say convict the world instead. The nuance what these phrases mean to us is quite different. The word used here, translated as “convict,” or “prove” can mean a number of things. It can mean examine carefully, or recognize wrongdoing, or express strong disapproval, or even penalize for wrongdoing. In the possible range of translation, the Spirit can do all manner of things in relation to sin, righteousness and judgment in the world. From a simple pointing out to administering discipline, there is a broad range in how the spirit exposes the world to the big three of sin, righteousness, and judgment. How we use this phrase says much about how we discern the role of the Holy Spirit.

Sin, I’m not sure if there is a stickier word in theology than sin. People tend to think of sin in two main categories: first, those thoughts, words, and deeds that are horrendous and dramatically outside of the norms of society and second, those we commit ourselves. As horrible as this is to stereotype people, based on information from groups of Presbyterians trying to vie for our attention before the General Assembly meets, this point of view is not wholly inaccurate. Horrifying, yet there is a grain of truth. This oversimplification of mine is another way of saying that people tend to forget that sin is the reality which determines the nature of the world.[1] If placed in relative terms, if horrible sin sits in the very depths of Death Valley and the least of all sins sits on the summit of Mount Everest, then one sin seems to be far graver than the other. Based on how our culture’s views of height and depth, while sin is found in all parts of the world, the sins of the summit might not seem as bad as those in the depths. What is neglected in this little example is that the sun is still 93 million miles away. There may be thousands of feet difference here on earth, but there are still millions of miles to the light of the world. Because of all sin, humanity is millions of miles from the light of God. Redemption is summed up in remission of sins, all sins regardless of their relative shame and horror. This feature is distinctly Christian. Since any sin is a rejection of God’s claim on our life all sin must be confessed and turned from.

Righteousness is based on just judgment and rule—right conduct before God.[2] According to John’s gospel and epistles, all right action must be linked to Christ.[3] John’s gospel tells us that without Christ, we can do nothing; this is never more obvious than in pursuit of righteousness. His resurrection and ascension declare his righteous being. Compared to these works of God, our righteousness is just a shadow. Yes there are some who think they know all that God knows. This sort of esteem is dangerous because it is rooted in nothing more than who we are, what we know, and what we do. Instead, all true righteousness is based on who we are in God. In Acts, we saw a beginning of this when the Apostles began to testify in the native tongues of all in attendance. They did not speak in the language of angels. Angelically, they spoke in the languages of other peoples. And when the people heard, they were amazed, they were utterly astonished. Pentecost allows us a glimpse, a touch of this righteousness. Through the Holy Spirit, God completely transformed the cowering disciples who changed the world.[4] Amazing! And yes, the ability of the Holy Spirit to transform individual people, collections of people and the world are still in effect.

Judgment in the ancient world looks an awful lot like an episode of Law and Order or CSI, starting with discovery and ending with discipline, there is a procedure to judgment. In the ancient Mid East, judgment can come from either divine or human sources. Often it is penal in nature. But in John, judgment comes from Christ. And as seen in Matthew’s gospel, judgment of the world always involves separation.[5] From the parable of the vine, John 15:6, Jesus threatens judgment on the world when he says that vines that are not fruitful will be pruned and burned. Yet one of the most famous pieces of scripture ever quoted comes to us from John 12:48 where Jesus says he comes not to judge the world, but to save it. This may be explained in John 16:11 where Jesus says (literally) the ruler of the world will be judged. This judgment took place the hour when the Son of God resolved to sacrifice himself to the Glory of the Father and God promised to glorify him.[6] Both sides of judgment, discovery and discipline, are present in this single motion. This form of judgment is unique to John’s gospel: the world is judged and the sacrifice is made in one fell swoop. This judgment and offering were made outside of our world in the eternity of the relationship between Jesus and his father, a relationship we talked about last week. A relationship we are invited to join into.

So there is the formula, when the Spirit comes he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment. Because of how humanity responds to the world and to one another, we must be proven wrong, corrected, about the big three. The scripture says “we will be proven wrong about sin because we do not believe in Jesus.” Sin permeates our beings to the core, there is no way we can know of the depth of sin without the leading of the Spirit. Righteousness only comes with the return of the Son to the Father. While Jesus, God walking the earth, God with us, is the perfect teacher—there is one more step needed on our development, the coming and conviction of the Holy Spirit. Finally, judgment comes in the eternal judgment of the ruler of this world. Since before the beginning of time, from the hour when the Son of God resolved to sacrifice himself, the world was judged.

So when the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide us into all truth. This guide, this advocate, counselor, helper, is the one called alongside us to guide us into the way of all truth. This advocate walks beside us on earth by the guidance of what he hears. This advocate indwells us with the truth of life and life eternal with the words of God the author of creation. This advocate is the one who is called to be alongside humanity as a source of the light of God. This concept of the advocate is exclusive to John’s gospel. From the Greek word, often this person is called “the Paraclete,” the one who is called alongside.

The Presbyterian Church USA has been held for years under a cloud of uncertainty and mistrust because of one particular issue, the ordination of gays and lesbians. I cannot tell you how long this has been an issue in the church. I can only say it has been a hot button issue for as long as I remember. This year, the General Assembly in Birmingham will vote on the recommendations contained in a report called “A Season for Discernment: The Final Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Purity, and Unity of the Church.” Much of the discussion about the task force has been on two of its recommendations. One allows ordination standards to remain as they are today, excluding practicing homosexuals from ordination in the church. The other would allow ordaining and installing bodies the responsibility to determine their membership by applying these standards to those elected to office. In a report that is to help the church with its striving toward peace, purity, and unity, I must admit a guilty pleasure. What I like about this report because it has something to make everybody at the church’s theological extremes upset. Those who seek a repeal of sexually based ordination standards will not be satisfied, and those who seek strong and swift disciplinary action in the event of violation of these standards will not be satisfied either.

It is all too easy to see how stereotyping and demeaning others hurts those who receive these slings and arrows. But because of the sins of human judgment against one another humanity hurts not only the opponents, but the whole church as well. The task force sees this and says in its report:

It is not possible for us to claim that we recognize all the ways the church and its members hurt one another. Nor can we claim that we have amended our lives adequately to signal full repentance for the harm we have done. What we can report is that as we became more deeply acquainted with one another’s thinking and life situations, we were chastened and humbled by the recognition that insofar as the body of Christ in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) is broken, we have all played a part in betraying and denying our Savior and in inflicting the damage from which the church, as His body, is suffering today. The recognition that the travail of the church is our fault as much as it is others’ sobered and saddened our task force but also brought us closer together.[7]

The Task Force, twenty people from all walks and political inclinations of the church, came together and through a covenant of worship, celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. In the end, they did not “find the solution” to the problems of “peace, purity, and unity” in the church. This was not their charge. Instead, what they found in their faith journey with one another in discerning peace, purity, and unity in the church, is that they needed the Paraclete, the one who walks beside all of us to come back into the life of the church. It is time for fresh listening to the tongues of the advocate in the words of those who share the pew and the world with us. It is a very difficult, very challenging call we have been given by the task force and by God. But we have the advocate who walks beside us here on earth in the Holy Spirit and the advocate who stood on the cross for us in Jesus Christ.

There is an old saying, if you are not a part of the solution; you are a part of the problem. We must reject the notion. Because of sin, we are all a part of the problem. We are unable to achieve righteousness, the solution, on our own. Our judgment against one another will always be clouded by our imperfect human nature. When we try to assert a sense of self rignteousness, the Holy Spirit is with us to prove us wrong about our sins and judgments against others. Jesus’ and his redemptive work in life and death and resurrection is the solution. He is the one who sends the Paraclete who stands beside us on earth and he is the Paraclete who stands beside us in eternity. This is the solution. When we try to be the solution, we will eternally fail because what we do is fully infused with sin, we are a part of the problem regardless of how hard we may try. God in three persons is the solution. Yes, this sounds like a platitude and it probably is being offered like one. But we need to take it at full face value. Let us give up our attempts to live into our own solutions and seek the source of the power of the true solution, just like the apostles did on that fateful day two thousand years ago.

[1] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament v. I p. 305
[2] TDNT, v. II, p. 198
[3] Ibid. p. 200
[4] PC (USA) Mission Yearbook, Day of Pentecost entry
[5] Matthew 25:31-46
[6] Interpretation Commentary, John, p 193
[7] PUP Report, lines 340-349