"The Church - Why We Do What We Do"
Matthew 25:31-40
Many of your church leaders are reading the book Sailboat Church by Rev. Joan Gray. They are part of a Discernment Team, working on a way forward for our congregation. The book aims to help the church rethink its mission and practice. Gray notes there are typically two kinds of churches in terms of how they function. The first is a Rowboat Church. Gray writes that "a rowboat congregation believes and acts as if its progress depends on its own strength, wisdom, and resources. It's all about how hard, long, and well people are willing to row."
She then contrasts the rowboat church with a sailboat church. In scripture, the wind often represents the Spirit, so it does for the sailboat church. The sailboat church doesn't rely on church members rowing. It depends on the Spirit's blowing as it tries to discern God's will. Gray states, "Sailboat congregations know they cannot make the wind blow, but they do realize they can tap into spiritual resources beyond themselves by reorienting themselves and catching the wind of the Spirit."
I'm only three chapters into the book so far, and I am leaning toward our congregation being a rowboat church rather than a sailboat church. I still have many chapters to read, however. So, who knows where I'll come down on this issue? You can read this book in October, too. We'll make it available to our members and friends, and I'll lead a weekly check-in time to discuss the book and your thoughts.
As I considered how our church might function, I began to feel something else. What is its purpose? Why do we do what we do? Or, as the French say, what is our "raison d etre'—our reason to be? We recently celebrated 149 years of existence as a congregation in Ashland. Why are we still here, and what is our raison d etre as we move into the future?
I believe this morning's scripture passage can be a lens to help us focus on why we do what we do.
This passage, called by many theologians a parable of Jesus, is a vision of what the end of time may look like—a Messiah ruling in power, sitting on a throne, and separating those who serve others through doing acts of justice and mercy from those who don't.
We begin with the idea of a part of God speak (theology) known as eschatology- the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and humankind. This idea of a return of the Messiah begins in the Hebrew scriptures in the book of Daniel, chapter 7:13-14. Daniel has a dream, writes it down, and then tells King Belshazzar of Babylon all about it.
The term "son of Man" comes from this passage and was used by Jesus as a title for himself. The NRSV translates this phrase into a more modern version, "one like a human being." So Daniel says,
13 "As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being[ coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion, glory, and kingship that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed."
This idea of a human being or son of man was transferred onto expectations of a Messiah and then embraced by Jesus, who claimed that title as his own. This idea of the return of a messianic figure and the final destiny of the human soul reflected throughout scripture is one we humans have tried to pin an exact date upon for centuries, with numerous spectacular failures.
My favorite story about pinpointing the exact date and time was as we approached the year 2000- the beginning of a new millennium. Ooooh! Scary! That must mean the end is near! Jesus is coming back! Computers will stop, and society will plunge into chaos! Remember all of that? One group of Christians pinpointed the date of Christ's return as January 1, 2000. Although the internet was pretty new then, they managed to rig up a camera with a continuous feed on the gates of Jerusalem, with a countdown clock. They expected Jesus to return at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, and we who tuned in could all see it! Of course, nothing happened as the clock counted down to zero. Then the clock started moving forward… Perhaps Jesus was on Middle Eastern Standard Time and would be showing up later??
It is quite evident in Matthew's gospel that even Jesus didn't know when this event may happen, as he is quoted saying in Matthew 24:36, "No one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son of man, but only God." So look at all the signs you want and interpret them as you see fit. You don't know, and I don't know. In the meantime, as one of our refrigerator magnets used to say, "Jesus is coming. Look busy!"
I would argue that the parable's point isn't about the end times. The parable's point concerns what we are called to do in the meantime, however long that may be. Just as Jesus came not to be served but to serve others, he also expects that of humanity.
In this scene, those at the Messiah's right hand are called righteous (dikaioi). The idea is that they live rightly, or as we say every Sunday when we recite the Lord's Prayer; those who live righteously strive to make the world "on earth as it is in heaven." But it isn't because of their scriptural knowledge, their church attendance, or spiritual gifts that they are righteous. Instead, it is because they show mercy, compassion, and justice to the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the sick, and the imprisoned. They haven't been acting in some calculating way to earn God's favor. Their righteous way of life comes from being in a relationship with a loving and merciful God, who sent the Messiah, who came not to be served but to serve others. So, one of the reasons we do what we do is to live righteous lives by serving others and working to make it on earth as it is in heaven until the day of Christ's return.
The second "raison d etre" for people of faith relates to another teaching from this parable. Jesus says to the righteous that they get to inherit the kindom of God, for he was hungry and given food, thirsty and given drink, etc. The righteous are confused, for they never saw Jesus when serving others. Jesus then clarifies. "Truly as you did these acts of kindness to the least of these, you did it to me." (Matthew 25:40). Theologian Robert H. Smith says, "The Son of God stands deliberately and voluntarily in the shoes of the powerless, the weak, the defenseless, the hated, the tortured. He began as a refugee and ended as a condemned criminal."
I saw Jesus at least three times last week. The first time was in a parking lot at a grocery store. Jesus was there, begging for food as I drove by, and I opened my middle compartment between my front car seats and handed him a bottle of water and a packet of cookies. Then I saw him again. Jesus was one of our congregants with significant brain damage in the ICU, as her husband held her hand at her bedside. Then I saw Jesus a third time in the eyes of another member of our church as she lay in a hospital bed, and we shared scripture and prayed together. Jesus is all around us in the faces of those in need. We can see him in others through the eyes of compassion and faith.
In 2019, our church session voted for our congregation to be led by this passage as we became a "Matthew 25 Church." Accepting this title means that our congregation is committed to living righteously by embracing three areas of focus: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism, and eradicating systemic poverty. How are we working on these three areas?
Regarding building congregational vitality, we have a group of approximately 15 people of elders, deacons, and church members trying to discern this church's future. We just recently celebrated this congregation's 149th anniversary. They are working towards congregational vitality in year 150 and beyond. After two more gatherings this fall and forty days of prayer, we hope to present one of seven possibilities for the church as our way forward, led through the power of the Spirit.
We are a vital congregation now. We proclaim the Good News weekly to those who gather in person, to those at Central Point Presbyterian Church, and to those 142 subscribers who watch us on our YouTube broadcast, wherever you are😊We are working to be vital to our surrounding neighbors as well, offering fun events like the upcoming Octoberfest, Advent and Easter Faires. In addition, we have another COVID-19 shot clinic coming up.
When it comes to dismantling structural racism, we as a congregation embraced a statement recognizing that the land the church sits on is not its own but belonged to the Indigenous ancestors of this land. We made this statement not because it was trendy. We made it and still make it today because it recognizes the structural racism of what white settlers did to the Indigenous people of the time through the Doctrine of Discovery. Then, we gave this statement some teeth by funding an Indigenous Peoples scholarship for Native American students at SOU. We still have a long way to go to dismantle anything, but it is a start to living righteously in this area.
What about eradicating systemic poverty? We address food insecurity in Ashland with our Little Free Pantry, which is filled by our congregation, surrounding neighbors, and the Ashland Community Food Bank. We also offer spiritual nourishment to those who come to the pantry with our community prayer box. We hand out Shop N Cart food cards to hungry people each month through our deacon funds and help people struggling to make ends meet, helping them pay their utility bills or paying rent. We invite people who live in their cars to sleep safely at night in our Safe Parking Program.
We are a Matthew 25 church. When considering whether this commitment fit our congregation, one of our elders said, "Well, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck." We have our raison d etre. We know why we do what we do as a church. We follow Christ, who came not to be served but to serve others.
In looking at this passage, Rev Elisabeth Johnson wrote, "Even as the Son of Man is now highly exalted, raised from the dead, and seated far above all rule and authority, he is not distant and aloof. He is a sovereign who still lives among his subjects, disguised as a pauper. He is a merciful ruler who still comes to meet us in all our brokenness and calls us to meet him in the needs of a broken and suffering world." God be with us as we live out our raison d etre - not just to "look busy" while we wait for Christ's return, but to actually be busy, looking for Christ by serving the needs of others in a broken and suffering world. Alleluia. Amen.
