Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13 [This passage was read responsively as printed in the bulletin] [1]For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: [2] a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; [3] a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; [4] a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; [5] a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; [6] a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; [7] a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; [8] a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. [9] What gain have the workers from their toil? [10] I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. [11] He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. [12] I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; [13] moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.

We know the work of the Apostle Paul through the letters he wrote to the fledgling communities which he founded. His letters to the Christians in Corinth show Paul to be not only an intellect, but a practical theologian. His responses to the exigencies of the Corinthian community are dictated neither by expediency nor by timidity. Rather, he bridges the human situation with the mandate of the gospel. Hear his greeting to that community, as I read from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 1-9:

[1]Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, [2] To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: [3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [4] I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, [5] for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind [6] just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you [7] so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. [8] He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

SERMON:

I recently read a letter that set me to thinking about our church, and about our prospects for 1997. The letter concerned another congregation.(1) Among other things, the letter records the sins and weaknesses of this other congregation, which were many. The church was split into factions (1:12) and full of conceit (4:8). The members tolerated gross immorality (5:1), sued each other in the courts (6:1), patronized prostitutes (6:15), toyed with idolatry (10:14), and even got drunk during communion! Times of worship were times of confusion and chaos (14:33). And some of its members even denied the resurrection (15:12).

I was very interested to read how the minister of this other congregation who by necessity was itinerant and only able to be with them once in a while responded to their wanton activity. Surprisingly, he was quick to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for them (1:4-9), and even spoke of them as saints (1:2). What struck me most was that he emphasized to his congregation that they were not lacking in any spiritual gift (1:7) that they had what it would take to be fully faithful to God in their struggle to witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As some of you may suspect, the congregation I have been referring to is the church of Corinth in the first century, and the itinerant minister is the Apostle Paul. One of the reasons why preachers return again and again to Paul's letters to the Corinthians is that it is ever the case that where two or three are gathered, there will be at least that many factions, each promoting behaviors that seem irreconcilable, one to another.

On my better days, with Paul, I realize that this is to be welcomed and blessed as diversity. Heaven forbid that we should all agree on how to resolve any of the numerous challenges we face! On my worse days, I recognize that God brought me to a congregation where God has gathered an amazing assembly of informed, gifted, and rather strong-willed folks, and I sometimes stare out the window and feel a bit lost. I know I don't often show it, but occasionally the compass spins, and the path of discipleship appears a bit overgrown and hard to follow.

I'm reminded that Daniel Boone was once asked if he had ever been lost. He promptly replied, "Lost? No sir, never! But once I was confused for four days." I would guess that any of you who have truly ventured out as an explorer in your business, in your personal relationships, in the development of your spiritual life, or more literally on a bike or with a backpack that any of you who have taken the road less travelled' have found yourselves to be similarly confused for a day here, or a week there!

What Daniel Boone refers to as confusion I would re-frame as gaining perspective. While the world around us may appear as a blur, and the way of progress may seem completely hidden, what awaits us amidst the confusion is perspective.

* Sometimes we "win" our bearings by exercising the gifts of reason or instinct, or utilizing memory and all our God given senses. * Other times we gain perspective through an act of surrender by accepting the inevitable or befriending what is unavoidable. If you have any friends in Seattle, they can tell you more about this!

Think of the responsive reading we read a moment ago. The writer of Ecclesiastes was comfortable with the rhythm of life which necessarily causes us to rock back and forth between clarity and confusion, between celebration and mourning, between sound and silence, between being driven and gaining perspective. Perhaps you had a few days off during the holidays, and like me, after adjusting to the rhythm of vacation time, you found yourself searching for, and perhaps gaining, perspective.

As I thought about the year to come at Plymouth, at first I conjured a few grand images:

that the momentum of Advent would carry on right into the summer; A that Wednesday night suppers and programs would begin to push the limits of Fellowship Hall; that we would identify and commit to a new mission project like we did last year with Habitat for Humanity; that parents and children would find our new arrangement of Sunday School, adult education, and Children's Church to be truly nurturing; and that our plans for a capital campaign would come to fruition in a way which plainly demonstrated our commitment to God and this community.


Then something happened. Amidst these grand notions, I was reminded of a thought left lingering from Christmas: that all saving ideas are born small(2) like a mustard seed rather than a clanging cymbal! God decided to enter our world, not in a form that was larger than life, but as an infant who was like all life: vulnerable and full of potential. You have heard me say that we want God to be strong so that we can weak, but God wants to be weak so that we can be strong. Now that doesn't undermine the truth of Mary's assertion that "with God all things are possible." But God's activity in our lives, which brings out the best in us, is never a replacement for our agency and responsibility for the person we are becoming.

God comes to earth as a child

• so that we can finally grow up:
  
  
• so that we can stop blaming God for being absent when we ourselves were not present;
  
  
• so that we can stop blaming God for the ills of the world as if we ourselves had been laboring to cure them;
  
  
• so that we can stop making God responsible for all the thinking and doing we should be undertaking on our own.

It has been said that God provides minimum protection and maximum support support to help us grow up and stretch our minds and hearts until they are as wide as God's universe.

So let's take a moment to stretch our minds and hearts, and in the final hours of an extended holiday, let's identify a few small, but saving thoughts about our life together during the coming year as the body of Christ at Plymouth Church. In the spirit of the New Year, I will offer these reflections as resolutions.

Let's begin by noting that while we can all take comfort and perhaps some pride in noting that we have a church, of far greater importance is that we BE the church.(3) To have a church is like having a house or a car or some other possession to be used or discarded at will. People who "have" a church recognize that the church is there to be attended, joined, patronized, and on occasion to be manipulated, used to one's personal advantage, and abandoned when that seems desirable.

People who ARE the church feel possessed and shaped by the gathered community. Their connection is more like our connection to family than our membership in a club. They recognize that unlike any other entity or reality in the world, the church is gathered by God to enact God's purposes. Many who are central to this community are unable to articulate why they are here. Yet the reason each of us is here is because God has called us. Our role is to be responsive and responsible to that call. And what about the many times the church disappoints us, or fails to live up to our expectations? We can't walk away from its failings because we ourselves are part of the failing, even as we are part of its accomplishments. As we work our way into the new year, let's each resolve to BE the church, and not just have a church.

A second small but saving truth is the recognition that the church does not have a mission. The church IS mission.(4) The church does not have ministerial employees who carry out ministry on behalf of or for the benefit of its members. The church itself is SENT into the world as the body of Christ to complete the work of Christ. The church does not exist for itself. The church exists for the world. It exists for those who are not yet experiencing its good news.

A third truth follows the second. If WE are the church, and if, in being the church, we exist for the sake of the world, then I would invite each household present this morning to make the following resolution: sometime before Easter, reach out to at least one person or family and invite and encourage them to worship at Plymouth. The season of Epiphany which begins tomorrow is a natural for this kind of activity. It is the season in which the light of God spreads to every corner of the earth.

Now I'm well aware that for many of us, this may seem to be an impossible commitment. Perhaps we've never done this sort of thing, and feel uncomfortable even thinking about it. Perhaps we've considered this, and have drawn a blank about whom to invite. In 1996, we were blessed to have over 30 new members join Plymouth. Most of them came, and all of them stayed, because various ones of you undertook your mission of love and service, and drew these newcomers in. There's a related form of outreach that's also very important: reaching out to people who have been members of Plymouth or affiliated with Plymouth in times past, but for one reason or another haven't been around recently. We have Good News to share about our church and the first to hear it should be those who are on the periphery. In the weeks ahead, make a call; show that you care; share your enthusiasm; lend an ear.

These resolutions to be the church; to see ourselves as sent; and to share the Good News by inviting a neighbor to worship these resolutions may seem insignificant or small, but remember: all saving ideas are born small. And the salvation of this congregation is being built on a series of small, God-inspired commitments and actions. Person by person. Person to person. May each of us receive the grace which even now, God is extending, to enable us to be the church, the body of Christ, sent into the world to proclaim justice and love, and to build community. Amen

Footnotes: 1. The references which follow are from Paul's first letter to the Church of Corinth.
2. I first heard this, and a few other phrases in this paragraph, from William Sloan Coffin when he was minister of Riverside Church in NY where I was a member.
3. This distinction was suggested on January 31, 1988 by George W. Hill in his sermon at Riverside Church.
4. This point is made in the writings of Charles D. Keen.