September 10, 2017 - Sola Ecclesia from the Reformation Series

Sermons by Hamilton

Scripture: MATTHEW 18:15-20
You may know the story about the little boy who was looking up at a plaque full of names on the wall of his church one day. The minister came by and looked up at it with him. When he asked her why these names were listed there, she said, “They’re the people from this church who died in the service.” Suddenly wide-eyed, he paused and said, “Which one? The 9:00 or the 11:00?” This is not what we want from the church!
But, on a more serious note, what do we want from our church? In the last church I served, in Rhode Island, a woman came to me one day saying she wanted to join the church. As the conversation unfolded, she said to me, “It suddenly came to me one day that when I die I won’t have anyone to bury me. I need to be part of a community that cares for each other and that is there for each other until the day we die.” What we hope is that the church is there, not to kill us, but, as a family, to nurture life.
Today we begin a series of worship services focused on the great themes of the Protestant Reformation. That Reformation came to a head on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, his 95 theses objecting to the ways of the Roman Church, the only church anyone in that part of the world knew. In the eyes of Luther and a number of his contemporaries, the church had come off the rails and it was crucial that it find its bearings again. And in the wake of those reformers’ efforts, we’ve all—Protestants and Catholics, fundamentalists and progressives, those with high, formal liturgy and those with low, free-church liturgy—we’ve all struggled with how we might best be the church and how we might discern the presence and the truth of God in this complex, challenging, fraught time in which we live.
What the Reformation did was to re-center us. It recalibrated us and, like a good compass, pointed us once again to our true north. Because we’re coming, at the end of October, to the 500th anniversary of that pivotal moment, as worship leaders we thought we’d look this fall at some of what made the Reformation so distinctive and world-changing.
First a caveat. For some here, it would be richly satisfying to explore in great historical detail what went on during that time 500 years ago. A careful retrospective about the events of the 16th century would be, for you, stimulating and rewarding—church history illuminating the past. For others of you, though, that sort of historical re-creation would be like a hot poker in the eye, the last thing you want to hear about in worship.
So let me say that I am mindful of both perspectives. I want to be clear that we don’t come to worship simply to learn historical lessons. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a great preacher of the last century, once quipped that no one comes to church hoping to find out what happened to the ancient biblical tribe of the Hittites. Recognizing that, we will let the lion’s share of the historical details be explored elsewhere.
At the same time, though, it’s also true to say, as the philosopher George Santayana once pithily put it, that “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” So we will make reference to some of those long-ago events in hopes that they will shed light on who we are now and where we’re going.
Historically, the Reformation had several notable priorities, and these were expressed in a series of catchy taglines and slogans, not unlike Nike’s “Just Do It,” or Apple’s “Think Different.” These taglines or slogans were framed in terms of the Latin word “Sola.” Sola means “only” or “alone.” Luther said that we are saved only by grace, and only as it is received in faith, and only as it is shaped by scripture. Other reformers added their own taglines. They said we are saved only by God, only through Christ, and only by love. In coming weeks, we will look at the Reformation through each of these taglines or lenses, to see why they were important 500 years ago, and why they still matter now.
And today, we will look at things through the seventh of those tagline “Solae”: that we are saved only through the church—“sola ecclesia” is the Latin phrase. It seems an apt theme for Rally Day here at Federated. The church, said the reformers, is distinctive, and indeed saving.
And the church is distinctive and saving, at least in part, because of one particular quality: we are family. Today’s gospel reading begins, in the translation we heard, “If another member of the church sins against you . . .” (Matthew 18:15). The actual word, in the original Greek, is not “another member of the church,” but rather “brother,” meaning “brother or sister.” Meaning family. When we come together here, what’s fundamental is that we’re not so much random members of a voluntary organization. We are together here as brothers and sisters. We are here together as family.
Over the last several years here at Federated, we have emphasized what we call the four pillars of the church. These are the heart of our identity as the family of God, and they’re the North Star for how we determine who we are and what it is we’re to be about. Worship, faith formation, the building of community, and reaching out to the world beyond us—that’s the heart of Federated. As we engage, as family, in those central tasks, we’re being true to the church of Jesus Christ. And it’s then that the presence of God comes most richly to life.
Worship, first of all, joins us to the heart of God. Numerous times I have sat in worship and been moved to a new place, a new recognition of what’s at the heart of life. Something in a scripture reading, a choral anthem, a prayer, a hymn, a baptism, a communion meal, a sermon has touched me at the core. When I was in seminary, I went to chapel one day and a man named Gardner Taylor was preaching. Sometimes called “the dean of African-American preachers,” Taylor preached that day on the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Rivetingly, he conveyed the love God has for each and every one of us. And as I listened to him, the tears poured down my face. Seldom have I been as entranced as I was that day by the beauty and power of God’s love, a fatherly love, a motherly love, a love offered to me, as well as to all of you. Hearing that transformed me. It reminded me that I am God’s child, and because of that, my life is full of blessing and promise and hope. Here, in the family of the church, we worship, and it matters.
Faith formation is a second pillar of the church. Our lives are enhanced by growth in the knowledge and love of God. Not everyone is as much of a God-geek as I am, I know. But I’m convinced the lives of all of us can be enriched by spending time in prayer and spiritual growth.
The spiritual teacher Pico Iyer talks about why he sets aside time for spiritual focus: “when I’m at home, if ever I’m tempted to read a book, a part of me is braced for the phone to ring or the chime of [arriving email] in the next room. So I interrupt myself even if it doesn’t interrupt me. And if ever I’m tempted to look at the stars, I think, oh no, there are a thousand things I have to do around the house or around the town. Or if I’m involved in a deep conversation, I think, oh, the Lakers game is on TV. I should do that. And so one way or another, I always cut into my own clarity and concentration . . .. And it reminds me why sometimes people like me have to take conscious measures to step into the stillness and silence and be reminded of how it washes us clean, really” (quoted in Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise, p. 198). To step into stillness and silence, to be washed clean, Pico Iyer knows he has to make time to be alone and away. Here in the family of the church, we shape faith, and it matters.
Part of the richness of church, its third pillar, comes from connecting to others, and especially connecting with others who are different from us. Sometimes we wish the church were a little more like us. “People don’t believe exactly as I do,” we may think. “They’re too liberal or too conservative. They’re too young or too old. They’re not interested in the same things I’m interested in.”
Part of the magic of church, though, is that it brings together people who are different from each other. And here the family imagery comes even more richly to life. In this place, God says to us, “You can make community from all your disparateness. You can find a unity beneath all the differences you like to think are so important. You’re diverse in age and race and gender and sexual orientation and occupation and ethnicity and political leanings. And you have the chance to do something truly special: you have the opportunity to be in communion. Very few other places give you that chance. You live here in a laboratory of love. And in that, you can be surprised by grace.”
You know, there’s not one single belief we could all agree on if we were to try to enumerate what mattered to us. Not one single thing. So there’s got to be something more to life than agreeing on thoughts and ideas. And it’s this: it’s when you share a hug with a grieving neighbor whose way of looking at the world seems totally different from yours. It’s when you send a card to someone in our Fellowship of Prayer even when you’re disappointed in something they’ve said or done. It’s when you make a pledge to our capital campaign even when church leadership does things you think are stupid. Here in the church, we build community, we build family, and it matters.
The fourth crucial pillar of church life is our reaching out in mission. If all we do here is gaze at our navels, we are a lost cause. No matter how you and I feel at this very moment, we have been blessed. I have a family whom I love and who love me. I serve a church whose heart is in the right place and who care for each other and the world. I have health and strength and laughter and music and friends. And I have the amazing opportunity to share some of what I have with a hurting world.
And church gives me a fantastic place in which to do that. Here we meet needs at Chagrin Falls Park and St. Paul’s Church. Here we collect Christmas Eve offerings for families living in poverty and a restaurant that gives a new start to people coming out of prison and a cafe that gives work opportunities to people with special challenges. Here people knit blankets to give to others when they’re in the hospital; they tend to grieving families at memorial services; they bring meals to families overwhelmed by sickness or sorrow. Here we look honestly at society’s fissures and fractures, and we seek remedies rooted in justice, remedies that are not always popular in the culture-at-large. We reach beyond ourselves and we question the status quo and we respond to suffering. Here elders and children and youth and everyone in between are sent in God-given mission to the world, all of which, in God’s eyes, is family. And it matters.
This weekend we have a prime opportunity to respond to some of our hurting sisters and brothers. With Hurricane Harvey having just passed through and done its staggering damage, with Hurricane Irma now laying waste to much that stands in its way, there is abundant need for people who live in those areas to have some relief. And one way we can help with that is to put together buckets with various tools and cleaning supplies to aid in the clean-up. In your bulletin today, you’ll see on p. 5 of the announcement section a list of items to go into each bucket. And as I said earlier in the service, next week we want to collect as many buckets as we can to make them available to those who have been battered by these two hurricanes. Can we collect thirty of these buckets? Forty? Maybe even fifty? Or offer cash or checks for church members to purchase and pack these items? Mary and I will be going out tomorrow to get our bucket together. Will you add a bucket of your own? Let’s commit to this very particular way of responding to crisis. Here in the church, we share what we have with brothers and sisters in need. And it matters.
In words we heard this morning and that Mark Simone and I teach to every fifth-grade communion class, Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). When we gather to worship, to grow, to connect, and to share, Jesus is here among us. Jesus. Jesus is here. Here in the church. Here among us. Let’s continue to be the church, and to share in its power and grace, and to know, in our life together as family, the transforming presence of the risen Christ.