A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 8, 2009
Isaiah 43:18-21
Philippians 1:1-11
Ours is a rich and wonderful story, stretching back to those who cleared the land and built the meeting house in 1734. A significant part of our anniversary celebration has been telling the stories, and offering thanks to those who have been the church through the changes and challenges over these 275 years.
It’s time to turn our attention forward with the question: what legacy do we leave? How will our successors at the 300th or 350th anniversary remember us… if at all?
• Will they tell stories of how our membership numbers and attendance figures reached a peak in 1955, and how they’ve been in decline ever since?
• Will they look at the world you and I live in every day and shake their heads in amazement about the things we felt were so huge and they see them as inconsequential?
• Will they speak of our faithfulness in the face of struggles and changes?
Probably some of each. But one thing is certain: The changes we’ve seen in our culture over the last 30 years, and the role of churches in particular and religion in general have been dramatic.
I thought of that a couple of weeks ago when I wandered through Wright Pavilion the day before the rummage sale. It was filled with electronics – amplifiers, speakers, TV’s and the like. I poked around and picked items up. And here’s what I found: a record turn-table, an 8-track tape player, several cassette players, several CD players, and several MP-3 players. (If you don’t know what all this means, that’s OK).
Each of these items plays music – or did in its day. And each one has been replaced by something newer – maybe not better, but newer. And as each new generation of music player was developed, the previous generations were rendered obsolete.
Now you may have a collection of classic 8-track tapes of Perry Como and Frank Sinatra, but I’m here to tell you, they won’t last forever. And when the player dies you’re going to have to face the truth that you’re not going to find another one… except maybe at a church rummage sale.
My point is this. The Good News of Jesus Christ is like music that will always be with us. But in each generation we have to ask how we’re going to play it. We, the church, have to pay attention to the risk of obsolescence. As I have said often, we’re clearly the church our grandparents have loved; we must also dare to become the church our grandchildren will love.
Science, technology, globalization, human rights struggles, and the impact of other religions have turned our world upside down in just the last 20 – 30 years. And in the face of these changes we’ve had to decide just what discipleship looks like.
Polls and surveys show that most churches are shrinking, especially our kind of church in our corner of the country! As our culture has moved away from the civil religion of the 1950’s and 60’s, virtually every mainline church has been in decline. Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, UCC (Roman Catholics, too) — only a small fraction of worshiping congregations have grown steadily; the rest of us have shrunk.
Just as significant is the fact that fastest growing group on the religious landscape is “none of the above…” This is particularly true here in northern New England. Maine is the third least religious state in the union.
To put this another way, being part of a church and worshiping with any regularity has shifted from being the norm to being a radically counter-cultural activity. (Did you think anyone would ever call us “radically counter cultural!?”)
So, recognizing the many external factors that may work against us, let’s also celebrate the reality that our congregation is healthy and strong and ready to meet the challenges. So when we ask what our legacy will be for future generations I lift up one truth.
We’ve become clear the Gospel message is about God’s readiness and desire to liberate us – to set us and others free from whatever afflicts us – from sin, from judgment, from self-righteousness and from the presumption that we’re right while others are wrong.
We’ve become a congregation that’s clear the Gospel message is not about threatening people or keeping them in their place or denying that God cherishes them.
We don’t believe this about the Gospel because of political party or economic status;
We don’t believe this because we’ve twisted and perverted the scriptures;
We don’t believe this to be “politically correct.”
We don’t believe this because the preacher or the pope told us to believe it.
We believe it because this is the Jesus we see in the Bible.
In this sense we’re a progressive Christian church. {Don’t let that frighten you.}
• We’re progressive meaning we’re moving forward.
• We’re moving forward because we understand that stability and permanence are not core Gospel values…
• The Gospel affirms that God is moving us forward through times of challenge and change,
To understand what this means, think with me about Question One on last Tuesday’s ballot. Let’s think about what we heard in the campaigns leading up to election day, and in the post mortems.
We heard two voices, each claiming to know the will of God and the position of scripture:
• One group of Christians say their faith is about preserving traditional marriage, refusing to the legislature redefine what God has defined, protecting our children, and enforcing what they call Christian morality. This Christian voice includes Bishop Richard Malone directing local parishes to show a video-taped homily during the mass on why Catholics should vote “yes”. And this Christian voice featured fundamentalist pastors {quote} “hating the sin though loving the sinner.”
• Another group of Christians, along with many other religious communities, say that loving God and following Jesus aren’t about fighting change or judging others’ morality. They say that the church should not try to tell governments what proper moral values are; that preachers should not tell parishioners how to vote; that Christianity is about creating a just and loving community where everyone is welcome because we’re all forgiven. That Christian voice says: “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
Now here’s the (rhetorical) question: which kind of church do you think we are?
• Do we read in the Gospels that Jesus came to preserve law and order, or to confront the oppressive leaders of both the government and the temple?
• Do we believe the Gospel is about liberation or obedience?
In this past week especially, I’ve heard many disheartened, even fearful, people dismissing all Christians as judgmental, hard-hearted and mean-spirited. I hope they’ve heard me (and you) say that many Christians will welcome them, not reject them; that we here on Meeting House Hill are Open and Affirming. And I’ve heard some folks who were in certain churches every Sunday but who say they can’t go back. They want to belong and serve and worship, but not as second-class Christians.
As we’ve become a church that’s not afraid of change, we’ve adapted to the reality of the culture around us, because we believe that God is not confined to the way things used to be, and that our society is moving forward and as disciples of Jesus we must, too. That’s what I mean by “progressive.”
That’s why we talk about pilgrims who strike out into the wilderness trusting only in God; that’s why we talk about journeys and the confidence that God sustains us. That’s why the story of the Exodus, and the story of the Emmaus Road, and the stories of Jesus breaking down barriers all hold prominent places in our story.
Let’s be honest. We haven’t become a progressive Christian community because your pastors had that agenda and have forced you against your will. We haven’t become a progressive Christian community because the UCC has forced subversive. This change has come because we’ve deepened our understanding of the Gospels, because we’re growing in our desire to walk the path that Jesus walked, and we’re keeping open to God’s new truth and light.
Our Open and Affirming vote nine years ago was the catalyst, our true commitment to see the Gospel as an invitation. Most churches would say they’re open to everyone as long as the guests don’t mind being scrutinized and stared at.
But Affirming? That’s a tougher step, saying that we don’t just tolerate you, but we want you to bring your gifts and join us in our ministries. We want to celebrate your God-given talents and spirit, no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey.
Tougher still was the vote in 2002, when 60% of you, the members, authorized your pastors to give the church’s blessing to couples regardless of whether has a state-issued marriage license. We were all bruised by the process and the fall-out. It still grieves me that many felt they had to leave our church. And it thrills me that so many more have come here in part, or large part, because of our courage at that time.
This openness to understanding Jesus and the movement of the spirit have been manifest in many other ways:
• Community Crisis Ministries, started with an extraordinarily generous gift nearly ten years ago now annually helps our neighbors with some $80,000 of direct assistance.
• Our consistent witness with issues of food, clothing, shelter; our action in earth stewardship, peace, civil rights and more – these, too, show our understanding of the Gospel.
• Our building renovation ten years ago affirmed our commitment to access and inclusion, to fellowship and to outreach to the community. Each week hundreds of people from the community walk in our doors for various events.
• Our new hymnal, Hymns of Truth and Light, bears witness to the rich variety of good, singable hymns available to us from many cultures and traditions. Many of us have known and loved the Pilgrim Hymnal which was in our pews since the 1930’s. But didn’t it make it appear that the only music Christians sing was written by European men at least 150 years ago?
• The chancel project has opened up sacred space in wonderful ways, such that even those who didn’t approve the changes 18 months ago have taken the time to say it’s beautiful, and it works.
The list goes on – new governance, gifted lay leaders, strong Sunday School and opportunities for adult faith formation. Each of these represents our sense that God is liberating, freeing, forgiving, renewing, and empowering us for ministry in the world.
We can’t stop the world from changing. We won’t gain anything by chastising the world from our holy gatherings. But we can leave a legacy of openness and trust, of hope and joy as we ask the spirit to equip us for living faithfully in just such days as these. There are exciting and good things happening here and now – this is a church to which you can joyfully invite others.
As we work and celebrate our life together, take to heart the Apostle’s words in Philippians 1:11:
And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Let that be our prayer today and for generations to come.