DATE: May 11, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
Acts 2:42-47
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Saugatuck Front Lawn
How do you know when a church is a church? How do you recognize it? Is it the architecture: The majestic steeple, visible from across town, commanding columns or stained glass windows? Perhaps, but there are plenty of churches that don’t have any of those features: churches run out of storefronts or stadiums or someone’s back yard. Silver Lake Conference Center – our summer camp – has an outdoor chapel: no walls, just benches and a wooden cross. Is it the cross that makes a church a church? Maybe, but there are any number of Christian churches built around other sacred images and symbols. At Immanuel Congregational Church, UCC in Hartford, CT, the front of the worship space is adorned not by a cross but by a vivid mosaic of a farmer planting seeds.
We know it’s not the style of music that tells us whether it’s a church; walk into a Christian worship service, and you might hear the soaring strains of a pipe organ or the delicate strum of a harp; the heart-pumping rhythm of drums, or the rich, unaccompanied harmonies of the human voice. This morning, we’re singing Handel and a 1966 American folk tune. Sacred music takes many, many forms…
So what is it? What makes a church – not just the church building or its aesthetic, but the living organism we call Christ’s Church? What distinguishes it from the other places we gather: the school yard or the board room, the rotary club or the Y?
It’s a question I mull over all the time; one we all ought to ask ourselves and each other routinely. What makes us Church? If you’ve been going to church your whole life, the answer may seem self-evident, or maybe you haven’t thought about it all. How does a fish describe the water in which it swims? Those who have never attended church, well, they’re not thinking about it, either. But when one of us church-goers runs into one of our non-church-going friends, it seems to me that we ought to be able to articulate, clearly and compellingly, what church is about, and why we call ourselves Christians. So what do we say? Better yet: what do we do, that others can observe? If we asked some of those non-church-going folks how they recognize a church, what would they say?
Here’s what was being said in first century Jerusalem: the word on the street about those first followers of Christ: “Christians? They’re the ones who get together all the time to eat and study and pray. Have you heard? They pool their resources, share everything they’ve got, to make sure no one goes without.” This passage in the Book of Acts is a snapshot of the early church, a kind of summary, maybe even a statement of purpose: Church is where you go to study, connect, break bread and pray. Church is full of people who are living with ‘glad and generous hearts.’
If it sounds idealized, it is. If you wonder how long they managed to live together without so much as a single dispute over the budget or the bylaws, the answer is: not long. You only have to read as far as chapters 4 and 5 in the Book of Acts to encounter disputes over property, who has it and exactly how much they should contribute for the common good (Peter says, all of it. Ananias and Sapphira say, we want to keep some). Living in community has always been messy and complicated – as much then, as now. Nonetheless, the early church was described as being glad and generous. As praising God, eating together and sharing their stuff … It’s not a bad place to start.
So here’s the question: What are the marks of the Church now? What are the essential practices that define us? … Take a moment to consider this.
Now, complete this sentence: “Church is the place where…”
[Invite responses from the congregation]
When we explored this question in Bible study, and when I posted the question on Facebook, here are some of the responses I got:
Church is worshipping together every seven days, and checking in with each other during the week.
It’s where we honestly try to see the face of God in others.
It’s where we strive to grow in faith.
Church is where we pray for each other and for the world.
It is a heart and a mission.
It’s a community that has shared stories about the ways in which the God of Grace, Love, Justice and Compassion is revealed in our midst and throughout history. In other words: Here’s where I’ve seen God. Where have you seen God?
Church is a conduit for self-awareness and accountability.
A community that helps us to discover and live out our purpose.
It’s a community of relationships – a household of faith…
Church is pain shared; grace received, hope renewed, joy and generosity expressed.
I suspect there are as many descriptions of Church as there are people in this room. Because if we’re talking about the core practices that define us – like praying and eating, connecting and serving – we do those things in all kinds of ways and places. It’s one of the reasons we call ourselves a Church Without Walls; it’s why I hope we’ll continue to describe ourselves that way, and be seen that way, even after we return to our beautiful restored church building. Because Church is a series of verbs; it’s what we do together, in response to what God has done for us.
When a group of folks gathers in someone’s living room to read scripture and ask the difficult questions, recognizing that the questions are sometimes more important than the answers; … We are being church.
When we gather around the bed of woman who is dying: sing songs or tell stories, weep and pray; reverently hold the space and attend to that woman as she takes her last breath… We are being church.
When members of all ages get together at the town beach and building a sand sculpture to benefit the local homeless shelter… We are being Church.
When we pray for the safe return of over 300 Nigerian teenage girls who have been abducted and disappeared, as we will do this morning…We are being Church.
When we march on the capital, build coalitions and take concrete steps to cultivate a more just and compassionate society…We are being Church.
When we bless: backpacks and animals, babies and new members, sailboats and mission trips; whenever we extend our hands and pray to God to pour out God’s blessing…We are being Church.
And here’s the lynchpin. We do all these things in response to what God has done. Like those very first Christians, we pray and praise and share our stuff because we’ve somehow been touched by the living God – touched/invited/ provoked/ inspired /called /healed/loved/transformed by God in Christ. I suspect that it’s that encounter – or sometimes the yearning for that encounter – that propels us into one another’s lives, into prayer and praise and action, and into generous living. We have seen signs and wonders – the everyday evidence of God at work, and we are in awe. So our lives together become a witness.
When that happens: When we let our lives radiate, then the word on the street in response to the question, “how do you know it’s Saugatuck Church?” might just sound something like this:
“Saugatuck folks? They’re the ones who get together all the time to eat and study and pray. Have you heard? They pool their resources, share everything they’ve got, to make sure no one goes without. They laugh a lot, and welcome strangers. They create beautiful art and invite meaningful conversation. You see Saugatuck Church folks all over town; they’re the ones who show up. They will bless anything that moves, and lot of things that don’t. They’re cool Christians and generous. If that’s what makes a church, I think I’d like to check it out…”
Imagine that. Thanks be to God. Amen!
Scripture Texts
Acts 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.