May 20, 2007
Acts 16: 16-34
John 17:20-26
The Nature of the Church
The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson
This Sunday we have basic and generative passages for the growing Christian movement. When we read them we can get a glimpse on the dynamics of the early church and hints to why it grew. They also give us a sense of our mission as a church. To give you the end of the sermon it is all about holy hospitality.
John writes a theology for the third generation Christians. It is not about history but about ideas that will sustain the early community. He digs into the oral traditions and frames those oral traditions in his unique theological understandings. I tell you this because John is not writing a biography but uses remembered stories to form a narrative that will transcend the space and time of its writing. Like all great thinkers he gives succeeding generations a way of understanding the role of the church in the transmission of the faith.
As well, it is a good illustration of how movements gain an institutional form so the movement will last longer than the time of the original group. A movement is time bound and its energy is focused very much dealing with its present. It is a one generation reality. Sociological, a movement must become a institution to last. We have all sorts of examples of this in politics, in the care of the world. Think of CUSO. It emerged in a time of student activism and now is an important NGO that continues the work of those early idealists. Think of service clubs that emerged to bridge differences in communities . In small town america communities were segregated into different religious communities that did not talk to one another. Some visionaries,influenced by an religious movement called the ecumenical movement, secularized it into community groups that cared for community and national and international issues. They put service as the goal which then allowed a mixed religious community group without the religious problems
The story in Acts is another illustration of how an idea grows beyond its limited boundaries. Paul because of his Roman citizenship moves freely throughout the Roman Empire. Ironically this offers protection even while the empire is being challenged by this new faith. In the passages that follow this we get a fuller story of the power of citizenship in the empire. But what the narrative does is to offer a new understanding of citizenship - it is one of holy hospitality that will undercut the negative side of the empire. It is a citizenship that challenges the power of the state to determine reality and meaning, It is the kingdom values.
The story of Paul and Silas is another narrative about miracles being unexpected happenings. The jailer comes expecting the prisoners to have escaped. After all is that not what you would have done if the prison doors had opened. But no. Here they are singing away, praying away. I remember a family story when my father was in charge of a detachment and while he was at home the men on duty let a prisoner escaped. My father as the one in charge was the one who was punished. I always thought that unfair but for my father that is how it was - you have responsibility and you take the consequences. So in the case of Paul this is what would have happened. But no they are still there. This is an act of caring for the jailer, for they know what would have happened and thus remained.
This action is a metaphor the role of the church. It is to stand with those in need. And this standing with is captivating - it is catching. The jailer takes home his prisoners and feeds them. Again an act of hospitality. And then he and his household is baptized.
There it is again. Household. The growth of the church was its ability to provide care for all members of the community. There was no such thing as an individual joining for if it was crucial to life that all became part of the movement. It was a intimate sharing of what was important and a nurturing of all into the values of holy hospitality.
Here is a clue why Christianity grew. Its rationale was holy hospitality. Its method of conversion was not believe this but here is my confession and here is my action. Try it out. Live it. Love one another. Take care and walk with compassion for this is sacred space and these are sacred people - care deeply.
Of course to grow the church had to emerge and have some structure. But that structure was not for the sake of itself. It was so the mission could continue. So the church had institutional form but those forms were dynamic. This is the struggle today between those for whom tradition is given and those for whom tradition is living. We see the struggle daily in the press. Our denomination is built on the model of tradition being dynamic. New occasions teach new truths. For some that is crazy making. For in a time of chaos we seek stability. Yet our tradition tells us that for stability to be we need to be continually transforming.
To be flexible is possible when we affirm a deep spirituality - deep hospitality for one another. This is the genius of John. He offers a theology of inclusion.
It is easy to turn this passage of John into a cry for unity. It is deeper than that. Unity is important because the growth of the church is helped by that reality. However, John is speaking to a specific community and reinforcing their experience that they have nurtured the next generation in the faith. The testimony of one generation creates the testimony of the next generation. Now that testimony will always be specific to the time/space of that group.
We have a sacred trust of passing on our testimony. And that testimony is one of confessional approach and hospitality - action. We claim our faith and support others in the process of claiming their faith. It may look different from ours. However there is a trajectory of understanding. It is in the character of God who seeks us and needs us. God has assigned us the care of the world and all who inhabit it. We are to model ourselves around this dynamic love that is fresh in every generation. This lure of God is directed to the dream of God where all will enjoy holy hospitality. Now this is not uniformity nor one size fits all.
We live in a pluralistic world so our speech and witness - our testimony must be multilingual. We must address the issues of the world in speech they understand. This, though, is not to give up what understand our core values to be. In fact our core value is one of holy hospitality. There is a term used to suggest what testimony is- it is to listen the other into speech.
This means we need to probe deeply what is at stake in our discussions. What is it that makes us move in our response to fear towards oppression? How do we keep the great insights of openness in face of powers that want to segregate and deny a place in the common good to those different from us? This is the power of a church that lives out of the idea of holy hospitality. This is the understanding that this earth is sacred space and needs careful attention. This is the understanding that each generation is sacred space and needs nurture - no child left behind. This is to understand that the power of love is the power of persuasion not force. Testimony is welcoming and alluring not demanding and dogmatic. It is to say - how about trying this for a change and see if it does not enhance our life together. Holy hospitality is be the place where all grow in wisdom and strength where the blind see and the lame walk - this is meaning of unity - to be the church of welcome to variety of colors around us - to be a rainbow in a world that seek monochromatic experience. In this way our testimony is a living organism. We practice our faith by living for the common good.
George Hermanson
