SCRIPTURE: Matthew 18:20
“[Jesus said:] ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’”
SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:24-25
“24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
SERMON: “Noticing God in the Church”
Have you ever noticed how church is portrayed on TV? Generally, it’s not good. On TV, people who go to church—lay people and clergy alike-- are often portrayed as crazy, naïve, judgmental, hypocritical, abusive, or all of the above. In fact, in most of the “whodunit” crime dramas or detective shows that I watch on TV, whenever they introduce a character who is a priest or a minister or a religious lay person, you can pretty much count on that religious person being unmasked as the murderer in the end. I find this phenomenon somewhat amusing—or perhaps a better word is “ironic”--because it is the exact opposite of my experience: most of the religious people I know who go to church (present company included) are people of great faith and integrity who do their best to follow the teachings of Jesus.
Sadly, though, much of our culture today does not see the good side of church. In chapter 7 of his book, Noticing God, Richard Peace acknowledges that the general stereotype of church or organized religion is something that [QUOTE] “…reek(s) of rules and regulations… hierarchy and lifelessness, [and] is seen as irrelevant at the best and destructive at the worst.” (Peace, p. 121) But nevertheless Peace goes on to say that even though some of these “indictments… have truth to them, it is virtually impossible on one’s own to explore, much less to live out faithfully, the Way of Jesus…We need others both to find and to follow God…We need the stories of others to point the way.”(Peace, p. 122)
We need the stories of others to point the way. That is what church at its best provides: the stories of others to point the way, to help us find and follow God.
So, how does church do this? How does church provide the stories of others to point the way, to help us find and follow God?
Professor Peace lists a number of ways church—at its best—provides those stories.
One way is through worship, through all the elements that make up a worship service: music, scripture, prayer, sermons, sacraments. In any given worship service, we may notice or experience the presence of God through one or more of these elements.
You know what I’m talking about, right? You come to worship bringing your own personal joys and concerns, the issues you are struggling with, the things you are celebrating—and you pray for openness. And, then something happens as worship progresses—you hear something specific that makes you think that the music or the pastor is speaking directly to you. Maybe it’s a melody that lifts your spirits, or maybe a phrase from the scripture or an image in the sermon connects so perfectly with something in your own life that you get goose bumps as you realize: “This is exactly what I needed to hear to give me the strength to handle what I’m facing.”
It’s pretty amazing when that happens, isn’t it?! And the more we are open to it, the more it happens. This is what our first scripture reading is talking about when Jesus says, “…where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” These words are not just metaphorical. When we gather together with our fellow Christians, the Spiritual presence of Jesus actually shows up. Christ is here in our worship. Our task is to be open and aware enough to notice!
But Worship is not the only time the spiritual presence of God, of Christ, shows up in the church. Christ also shows up in our interaction with each other in community: in what we call “fellowship.” One church I worked with, in their Vision process, described and defined fellowship like this: “enjoying each other’s company and deepening our connections with one another in our family of faith.” It is through fellowship that we can more completely share our own personal stories with one another—and in the process encourage one another in our journey of life and faith. Our second scripture reading puts it like this:
let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”
If you’re like me, the word “provoke” might have jumped out at you. Really? We are called to “provoke” one another? That might not be the first word we think of when we think of “fellowship.” At least, I hope not, as “provoke,” in our culture, tends to have more of a negative connotation, like baiting each other or needling each other. Needling for Jesus—not what church should be about! So, this is one of those cases where going back to the original Greek to see if there are other ways to translate the wording sheds some light. According to Biblical Scholar Fred Craddock, the Greek word translated here as “provoke” is intended to have a positive connotation in this context. It is used here in the sense of “disturbing [or spurring on] the apathetic… person into activity.” (NIB, Vol. XII, p. ) So, in other words, Craddock understands this passage to mean that Christians are called to meet together in order to motivate and encourage each other to lovingly engage in good deeds.
Because, here’s the thing. Each individual can only get so far on our own. Whether we are talking about learning a new language, improving our golf game, giving up a bad habit, recovering from an addiction, or following Jesus, we human beings do a lot better in our learning, our growth, our recovery, our faith when we engage with other people. When we work on things together, when share our stories, we motivate and encourage each other.
Richard Peace gives an example of this kind of encouragement in faith and fellowship when he quotes from an email he received from Rev. Mike Duda—who happens to be the pastor of a church in Wenham, Massachusetts where my husband Paul and I are members. Rev. Duda describes an interaction he witnessed on a church mission trip—when a group of adults and teenagers from the church went to a low-income community in the Appalachian mountains to help repair houses. Mike writes, “…as we gathered around a campfire in the mountains and shared the high points of our experience, a young man stood up and said how for the first time in his life he had seen his father as a man, a separate individual and not just his dad, and how he was inspired by what a compassionate and caring person [his father] was [and the email goes on to say] (his dad wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes.).” (Peace, p. 136.) This kind of sharing in Christian community is a powerful way to encourage one another to “love and good deeds.”
As I relate this story--of the powerful fellowship that occurred when a small group of Christians on a Mission Trip gathered around a fire to share stories, it occurs to me that many of us are longing to be able to gather again like this in close proximity with our fellow church members--in person, on Mission trips, in the church dining room and sanctuary, in each other’s homes. And it has been so hard not to have been able to gather in person for a full year!! We are not used to being physically apart from the people who support and nurture us in the faith.
But, that said, this year it has been inspiring to see the creative ways we have still been able to gather as church - for support, prayer, and outreach during this pandemic. Zoom meetings--though not the same as face to face, have still been platforms where we have gathered for Bible Study, book discussion, prayer, outreach, and organizing. And one of the gifts of Zoom is that people who may tend not to speak up in large gatherings, are more apt to share in small group Zoom sessions. Plus, people who live far away--or who can’t drive at night can still participate. So Zoom has enabled more voices to be heard. Further, you have used virtual tools such as email and Facebook announcements and on-line giving options to encourage donations to mission projects such as the giving tree, which was a huge success this past Christmas in providing gifts to families in need and gift cards to women at the Meadows House. And, isn’t it incredible that despite all the challenges, we have still managed to worship God each week through our livestream services and prayer times. And, even more amazingly, we have connected with some new people during this pandemic who would not have found us if we had not been streaming on line! Praise be to God!
So, as we move forward and work toward phasing back into in-person worship down the line--which your church council is working on, let us continue to be led by God’s Spirit. Let us continue to look for creative ways to provoke each other to love and good deeds and, in the words of our new purpose statement: to be “a community of abundant welcome to all, growing together in Christ and serving with Love.” Amen
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA