Sermon (January 31, 2010)

Scriptures: Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13


On twitter this week, I found a link to an article by one of the great professors I had in seminary. He was talking about the church of the 22nd century, and I realized with a start that everyone I know has been talking about the church of the 21st century as if it is the church of the future. It isn't! Its the church of the present. And I don't know about you, but I'm deeply invested in a church of the 22nd century. We've been passed a torch of 2000 years of Christian life, and its ours to pass to the next century. Yes, I'll be dead – most of you will be too, and if anyone here isn't, that person will be in their 90s.

That means we're talking about a church that we will not benefit from. Instead, we're talking about a church that will be the legacy of the one we have now. It will be unimaginably different. Much like the horse and buggy church of 1910 is different from the one we're in now. I know that some people would like to go back – remembering simpler days with all the churches in town full – but looking backward doesn't keep us in the present, much less the future.

An article in the New York Times recently pointed out that those of us in our 20s are technologically outdated already. And, I'll give to them – its true! I'd rather e-mail than text, and I don't know why anyone wants to send me a Facebook message instead of an e-mail. When I get messages from our teenagers, I often have to read them outloud, slowly, to figure out what all the abbreviations mean. (And I DO wish they'd just use words.) My 18 month old “niece” is at least as competent with an Iphone as I am (her parents have them), and probably more so. Technology is moving faster than it feels anyone can keep up with – if there is any good news, todays teenagers will be outdated even faster than I was! These changes are not minor in society either. Our whole lives are impacted by them!

Think, for a moment, about what church was like 100 years ago. In 1910, those who didn't walk here came by horse and buggy, right? People made CALLS in PERSON. I'm sure there was a telegraph here, I'm not sure if there were telephones commonly. There was no sound system – and I'm thinking there wasn't even electricity I know there was a coal stove that heated this building. Worship would not have included bulletins, as there was no way to copy them, and if the preacher used notes, HE wrote them by hand.

Today, people drive to church. When calls still happen, they happen by phone, and more often you just e-mail. Our church has a website, a facebook page or two, and just this week, a blog. When I'm away at a meeting (which I know happened less 100 years ago too), I can use my cell phone to check messages at the church, and I usually bring my computer to take notes.

In 2110, I can't imagine what it will be like. I just can't. At best I hope that people still gather, and don't just use the internet as a substitute. And don't get too high and mighty that “that'll never happen” - how many people do you know who aren't here but are watching worship on TV?

Believe it or not, I am on the scriptures today. Jeremiah is called by God to do God's work in the world, and has appropriate fears. God, however, will have none of it. The one who is called, is called, and God's power works through that person. Now, once we combine that with the fact that God calls EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US, we get back to this church of the 22nd century. How are you called to prepare for it? How is God using you?

I suspect that there are three major aspects to gifting the next century with a relevant church (because offering a cultural dinosaur is NOT the point). The first is to seek fulness of faith development in ourselves. Because if we aren't connected to God, we're useless! The second is to find the ways to share our faith – even amongst ourselves. When God acts in our lives, we are supposed to share it. Because once one person shares, another can see God acting as well. This is a whole lot of the point behind the Lenten Booklets. Third, and this may be the hardest of all, we have to be flexible! God is probably going to have to make some changes in churches if they're going to remain relevant and vibrant. Our faith ancestors COULD have refused to let electricity run into this building, and many tried to keep women out of the pulpit. But fights were fought and battles waged and the church changed.

We are now, in a time of great transition. Those of you over 40 probably like receiving information by snail mail best, right? I'd suspect that even if you have and use e-mail, if something is OFFICIAL or IMPORTANT, you still think it should come on letterhead, hand-signed by the person writing it. Some may disagree, and some will disagree with the following as well... those under 40 MOSTLY would rather just get the e-mail. The paper is a waste of resources, and then you have to figure out where you put and what to do with it. Our culture is changing SO Fast that at one time in history the primary way of communication is radically different for generations. And that's just one piece.

Which brings us, to 1st Corinthians. While people like to think that this is a sweet passage to read at weddings, its really written to a church in transition that was fighting amongst itself! One of the big fights in the Corinth church was about speaking in tongues – those who had the gift were perceived to be more important than others, and Paul spends a lot of time saying it isn't true. In the previous chapter he points out that whatever gift you have, you should use, and no one gift is sufficient without the others. He continues on that theme here, but pushes the people to consider how they are treating each other. His thesis, clearly, is that living out love is the most important part of Christian living. So, despite the poetic beauty of “Love is patient, Love is kind,” don't get distracting into thinking Love is weak or easy to understand!

There is that turn in verse 9, here again 9-12 “For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (NRSV)

Even the people we love, we DO know only in part. We even only know ourselves in part! God is the only one who knows us fully, and the only one who knows everyone else too! We do our best with the unknown, and trust in God who is good and all-knowing to guide us beyond. With maturity we can learn to respond to the unknown with flexibility and love. We can even disagree without malice!

You are ALL called to be seeking to live out God's love fully. This isn't the work of the pastor – its the work of all the people! You are CALLED to give to the next generations the chance to know God and live together as a church. We have NO idea where that's going. We are NOT able to do what needs to be done on our own. We cannot imagine what will be.

But God can. And God is trustworthy. So may we all open ourselves to God's work in us, to being more loving, and focusing on God's call for us, so that we together become more and more vibrant, open, loving, caring, relevant, and so that people who we will never know, who will live lives we will never understand, might someday worship in this space with great gratitude for our foresight and our faith.

May God move in us – HOWEVER God wishes.

Amen