Let us
pray
O God be in my mouth as I speak
for you and fill this place with your great grace, that we may be leave this
place less of what we use to be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen
On March 1, 1586 the Master of
the Temple Church in London, Richard Hooker preached a morning sermon on
religious matters involving Roman Catholics.
Those of you who know church history realize this was a dangerous topic in Protestant England.
Rumors abounded about Catholic
plots to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and Hooker’s had his own problems with his
assistant minister, Walter Travers, an avowed puritan, who preached each Sunday
afternoons.
According to the chronicles of
the day, the pulpit at the Temple Church spoke pure Canterbury in the morning
and pure Geneva in the afternoon.
On this particular morning
Hooker discussed whether “our fathers who were so infected with popish errors
and superstitions could be saved”.
Hooker argued in his sermon that
heresy and error are two different things. It is ultimately the foundation of
our faith, faith in our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus as revealed in Holy
Scripture that can save a man or woman from everlasting damnation.
Hooker took an even bigger
chance later on when he said, “I will go further still further and state that
the Church of Rome, however broken and misshapen by its heresies, is still part
of the Church. She has never directly denied the foundation of faith. I do not
intrude this idea upon you as some private opinion. The best judgment of the
learned men in the church are of like opinion.
Of course, Hooker’s words did
not sit well with most of his Protestant listeners and he soon found himself
looking for another position.
Of course, this occasion might
seem like the wrong time to bring up our painful past but I also believe that
those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
And it is certainly not a bad
thing as brothers and sisters in Christ to reflect on how far we have come in
our ecumenical journey together.
Instead of gathering here at Our
Lady of Assumption, worshiping side by side and dedicating this church, there
is a good chance four hundred years ago that we might have instead been trying
to burn each other at the stake.
And it is important to recognize
even in the most difficult times such as the 16th century, there
were people like Hooker who had a larger vision of what it meant to be part of
Christ’s catholic and universal church.
This gathering tonight affords
us the opportunity to honor those men and women who have come before us.
Those who have worked tirelessly
through the years from our respective traditions to insure that someday there
might be a way that Christ’s words that we should all be one could come true.
So as we gather to dedicate this
beautiful church, I want to put aside the things that have divided us through
the centuries.
Instead I would like to use this
opportunity to celebrate three things we share in common as witnesses to our
Risen Lord: The first is evangelism, the second is outreach, and the third is a
focus on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
First let me say that some
churches see evangelism as only involving other Christians. Let’s market our
churches to attract those that already know the Lord.
I feel though it is vital we
remember Jesus’ instructions at the end of St. Matthew’s gospel:
All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you
always to the close of the age.
In order for our church’s to
remain vibrant places filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We must commit ourselves
as Christians to evangelism, taking the gospel to those who do not Jesus as
their Savior.
Go and make disciples of all
nations the Lord said. He did not say catch all of the fish that jump into your
boat.
I know that most of us have
institutional church structures. These are needed for a variety of good
reasons. But they should never be the things that we worship.
Our institutional bureaucracies
are not the church nor should we let them become a hindrance to introducing
folks to a new life in Jesus Christ.
God so loved the world that he
did not send a committee or a resolution. The church forgets this truth always
at her peril.
My second point about outreach
also comes from St. Matthew’s Gospel chapter twenty-five verse 36 when the Son
of Man tells those at his right hand, I was naked and you clothed me, I was
sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me…..Truly I say to
you, as you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters you did it to
me.
As we dedicate ourselves to
making disciples of the Lord, we must not forget that our baptism is a
covenantal relationship. We pledge ourselves to minister to those in need and
to live out the words of Christ from this gospel passage.
My own church, St. Martin in the
Fields, honors a saint that cut his cloak in half for a roadside beggar, little
realizing that this seemingly humble act was done for Christ himself. So even
though, I know that Martin Luther was not fond of the epistle of St. James, it
is good to remind ourselves that our Christian faith does need some works.
This is not because we get
brownie points in heaven but because it changes who we are and helps us be more
like the sons and daughters that God desires us to be.
The third and final thing is probably
more controversial in our church’s today but it still needs to be said. We must
as Christian Churches take the claims of Jesus Christ seriously.
Too much ink, is spilled by
well-meaning people who want to make Jesus palatable or at least find ways to
make him less offensive.
Yet it was more than fifty years
ago that C. S. Lewis dismissed this feeble attempt with the following
well-known quote:
I am trying here to prevent
anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: I am
ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to
be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man, and
said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would
either be a lunatic—on level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he
would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice
The Christian
Church fails in its mission when it preaches a Christ that has been turned into
only a moral teacher or a personal therapist.
Instead, we
must be willing to have the courage to preach a messiah that was crucified for
our sins and raised to life by God so that we too might become God’s sons and
daughters.
And finally in
conclusion let me share with you a Jewish parable that came from my friend the
late reverend dr. John Claypool.
The story
hopefully reminds us that we are not in competition with each other but we are
all working in our churches to the spread the abundant and life giving love of
Jesus Christ.
Once upon a
time, a farmer lived in Poland. For generations, his family had been poor and
had struggled to survive. One night he was awakened by an angel of the Lord who
said, “you have found favor in the eyes of your maker.
God wants to
bless you in the same way that he blessed your father Abraham. Therefore make
any three requests that you will of God and he will be pleased to give them to
you. There is only one condition; your neighbor will get a double portion of
everything that is given to you.
The farmer was
startled by this revelation and woke up his wife to tell her all about it.
She suggested
they put the whole thing to a test. So they prayed, “Oh blessed God, if we
could just have a herd of a thousand cattle, we would break out of the poverty
we have lived in for generations.
No sooner than
they said these words than they heard the sound of animal noises outside and
behold they had a herd of a thousand cattle.
During the
next two days his feet hardly touched the ground, he divided his time between praising
God for his generosity and beginning to make plans to build a barn.
Up on the hill
overlooking the house he looked across to his neighbors property and he saw two
thousand magnifincent cattle grazing in his neighbors field.
For the first
time since the angel of the Lord had appeared, the joy in his soul evaporated
and was replaced by envy.
He went home
in a terrible mood, refused to eat supper and fell asleep in a terrible rage.
Deep in the
night he remembered that the angel had said he could make three wishes. With
that he shifted his focus away from his neighbor and focused once again on his
own situation. He found the old joy returned and he thought further on what
else he might desire to make his life complete.
In addition to
material wealth, he had always wanted descendents to carry on his the family
name.
So he prayed a
second time, Gracious God if it pleases you, please give me a child that I may
have descendents.
After a night
spent together with his wife he soon discovered that she was expecting and it
filled his heart with unbounded joy.
Nine months
later on the night his child was born, he was absolutely overjoyed.
The next day
was Sabbath so he went to synagogue, he stood up and shared with his community
that at last a child had been born into their home.
He had hardly sat down when his neighbor got up and said, God has indeed been
gracious to our little community, I had twin sons born last night.
On hearing
that he went home in an utterly different mood. Instead of being joyful, he was
once again full of jealousy.
This time his
envy and jealousy did not abate. Late that evening he made his third and final
request of God. God, Please gouge out my right eye.
No sooner than
he said these word than the angel appeared again and asked, Why son of Abraham
have you let your envy and rage deform your soul.
With pent up
rage he exploded and said, “I cannot stand to see my neighbor prosper. I’d
gladly sacrifice half my vision for the satisfaction of knowing that he will
never be able to look on what he has.
Those words
were followed by a long silence and as the farmer looked, he saw tears in the
eyes of the angel. Why O son of Abraham have you turned an occasion for
blessing into a time of hurting? Your third request will not be granted, not
because the Lord lacks integrity, but because God is so full of mercy. However
know this O foolish one, you have brought sadness not only to yourself, but to
the very heart of God.
It is my
sincere prayer that as we continue to journey together as brothers and sisters
in Christ, let us seek in our own churches, in our own ministries and in our
ministries to bring joy and not sadness to God’s abundant and generous
heart.