"REFORMING THE REFORMATION"

Psalm 46; Hebrews 11:1-12:3

A few years back in the "Presbyterian Outlook,"

one of my seminary professors wrote an article

to suggest that we rethink the notion of Reformation

in the Presbyterian ChurchUSA.

Well, it's been 487 years on Tuesday since the Reformation.

And it's been three years

since the last time I preached on this.

A LOT has changed in the last three years,
enough that I think it's time we look at this again.

But first,

let's talk for a minute about the day

that became the era

that we call the Reformation.

The Reformation grew out of a really rich time in European history

which we now call the Renaissance.

The world as Europe knew it

was changing about as fast as ours is today.

They were coming out of what was comparatively called "The Dark Ages"

or the "Middle Ages,"

and artists and musicians and mathematicians and scholars

were growing like topsy on the face of the earth.

World-changing inventions and discoveries were making their debut.

In fact, much of the art and science we take for granted today

had its roots in the Renaissance.

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest who was living and serving God

in those rich Renaissance days. 

He loved the God he had come to know through Jesus Christ,

and he loved the institution of the church.

Luther surely was not the only person in his day,

holy or not,

who thought that the church was corrupt and needed reforming.

But he was the first one brave enough to speak out about it.

There were a number of things which Luther would change about the church -

which in those days was indeed the Catholic church

because all Christians were one denomination!

There were ninety-five things in fact,

which today we call Luther's ninety five theses

or premises that he would change, or reform. 

They ranged from allowing priests to marry -

which he himself wanted to do -

to ending a practice called "indulgences,"

where people who came to confession

had to pay money to the priest

before that priest would declare God's forgiveness. 

Not that I see anything wrong with that,

but whatever?.

Now Luther himself said

that he never intended to start what we now call "denominations."

He always intended

that there be one holy catholic and apostolic church,

but he wanted it to repent where it had fallen short

and re-form into what God had intended for the church all along.

But there was this groundswell of support for Luther's ideas.

Everybody got behind it

and learned about it

because of one of the greatest inventions of the Renaissance itself:

the printing press. 

Because of that one invention,

people far and wide were able to learn what Luther had to say -

and then share it with others 

as fast as it could be reproduced. 

Those who agreed with him began to call themselves "Lutherans."

And then there came Episcopalians, and Baptists,

and some people who followed a man named John Calvin

who began to call themselves Presbyterians -

and there was no turning back from there.

-----------------------------

And it's not over yet!

The principles behind what became known as the Reformation

still reverberate down to our time today.

In fact, you and I and a number of other denominations

call ourselves "Reformed"

because of those bold and original steps of Martin Luther's

which have now become codified four hundred and eighty-seven years later

into "we've always done it this way."

That means it's time for another Reformation. 

The very nature of Reformation,

like the very nature of the living God who shapes that Reformation,

means that we will never be allowed

to think that we have finally arrived

as long as we are fueled by the creative winds of the Spirit.

The slogan of we Presbyterians

who are heirs of Martin Luther and John Calvin

and John Knox is this: 

Reformed and always being reformed. 

Not that we are "always reforming,"

always capriciously changing just because it is good to change.

We are "always being reformed" -

always moving from where we are now //

to where God wants us to be. 

Look at our reading from Hebrews this morning. 

Almost a whole chapter's worth of heroics

from our mothers and fathers in the faith,

and even so,

time fails the author to tell us of even more

who shut the mouths of lions,

conquered kings,

were tortured, stoned to death,

and sawn in half,

all in the name of Jesus.

Those deeds in themselves would be enough, wouldn't they?

But the writer to the Hebrews doesn't stop there!

Therefore, the author writes,

being surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses,

let US run the race that is set before US.

No lollygagging allowed. 

We are not called to lives of ease

because of these faithful servants,

no matter how much they had us in mind

when they witnessed to their faith.

We are called to lives full of action verbs:

running, looking, enduring.  

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It's clear that we are, even today,

in another sort of reformation.

Societal changes are coming at a fast and furious pace.

In the last hundred years alone

we have seen the advent of the car, the telephone,

electricity, air travel and even space travel,

not to even mention DVDs, and Ipods,

and computers and the Internet. 

I remember laughing at my high school journalism teacher in 1974

when she said the day was coming

that each of us would have a computer in our own home.

And seeing who I'm married to,

suffice it to say we now have more than one in ours.

Interestingly, there's a similar renaissance going on

in the worship life of the church.

Those who study such things

tell us that right now,

we are living in one of the richest periods

of hymn writing and worship practice in centuries,

probably since the Reformation.

Printed hymnbooks can hardly keep up.

I don't think it's any coincidence

that societal change and changes in worship are dovetailing.

Just like the Renaissance and Reformation,

we are living in a rich time of sweeping change -

so sweeping, actually,

that sometimes we feel like we've been swept off our feet

without any idea of where we will land, or when.

The last time we talked about the Reformation in worship,

I came up with my own list of theses,

which I decided not to nail to the front door of our church

since the doors were fairly new at the time 4

and I have to work with the Building and Grounds committee.

Even after just three years, though,

I did feel the need to make some changes to them.

So, without further ado,

here's how I believe the church needs to be reforming itself

in 2006.

Thesis number one:

The Church, capital C, should be based on faith and not on fear.

Maybe "fear" is too strong a word, but maybe not.

Even when we are only seeking to be safe,

that desire for safety

can be driven by the fear of its opposite.

I also believe

that churches can easily fall captive to the fear of irrelevance

by trying to be all things to all people,

like a merchant that has to compete against other merchants

just for survival. 

When we think of ourselves

as competing with other denominations,

not to mention other churches in the PCUSA,

we are giving in to the fear that we might not survive,

or even worse,

that another church might have something that we don't have.

If we can truly confess today

that God is our mighty fortress,

we have nothing to fear even though the earth should change.

In the words of Martin Luther,

 "Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing."

We need to live and act

as we believe that God is calling us to live and act,

not out of reaction to what some other church is doing

or what someone else thinks that we should be about.

If we can make the move from being fear-based to faith-based,

then we won't need to do another thing

to reform the Reformation.

Everything else will fall into place. 

Thesis number two: 

Just say no to our self-indulgent streak.

One of the most important things

that still needs reforming in our day

is the lack of civility that we show each other on the highways,

in our neighborhoods,

and even sometimes in the hallway at church.

Tell me it's not true!

It doesn't take a drive across country -

Sometimes it doesn't even take a drive across town

for us to encounter someone whose need to turn left

is greater than our need for survival!

Or whose distraction by a cell phone

can put the lives of strangers in shambles.

But it's not just about crabby drivers

or thoughtless cell phone users. 

It's about how we live together

and talk to each other

and treat each other

as a faith community.

When the author of Hebrews invites us to run the race set before us,

we're not being invited to run competitive laps,

or to say or do something that would trip our colleagues up.

We're being invited to be part of a team effort. 

Surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses,

let US run the race that is set before US.

Just ask your favorite Bonham Warrior:

An athlete who is more concerned about his or her own welfare

is guaranteed to ruin the efforts of a team. 

Winning teams, however,

praise all their members. 

They welcome constructive criticism for the greater good.

And in the end,

they are less concerned with who won it

than that they won it.

And so it must be with us. 

Our team effort needs to run counter

of the culture which urges us to indulge our every whim

without regard to how it may affect someone else. 

Instead, we can choose to be fearless in running the race

and generous in seeing that the entire team gets to the goal together.

Maybe even letting someone else get there first.

Thesis number three.

Live outside of ourselves:  not because we should, but because we must.

As we realize the magnitude

of the great love with which God has loved us,

we can do no other

but to give to others,

and encourage others,

and serve others,

and help others to grow in love,

both inside Fannin County and outside of it:

not because we should, in order to receive brownie points,

but because we must, out of gratitude.

A colleague of mine in Austin

was for years a missionary to Brazil.

One of the things I remember best

from our conversations

was how she said the churches in Brazil do evangelism.

Every Christian church in Brazil

sees itself as a mission outpost, she told us.

They don't assume

that God is worshiped and,

that at the name of Jesus,

every knee is already bowed. 

Every church of any size there,

even churches smaller than ours,

are typically the parent church of two or three mission churches,

and maybe even more. 

Everyone kicks in and makes sacrifices

in order that worship can be held within everyone's reach.

They don't think about how much it might cost,

or whether they can afford it,

or even which members might go from their own church for awhile

to go and help another. 

All of their gifts are shared gladly and multiplied

as more and more mission "projects"

become mission "outposts" in their own right.

One of the best ways I can think of

to reform the church today

is to see ourselves, First Presbyterian Church,

as a mission outpost. 

Every time we leave these doors,

we see signs that remind us

that we are now entering the mission field.

We are.

In gratitude for all that God has given us over the course of 134 years,

let's give generously

and reach outside of ourselves,

nurturing and encouraging other churches,

lending our time and talents and even members if need be,

without politics and without calculation,

to the end that Jesus Christ may be worshiped.

This the race that has been set before us,

on behalf of the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before.

We need to live outside of ourselves,

not because we should,

but because we gladly can do no other. 

Legend has it that,

when Martin Luther was brought to trial

because of the reforms he was leading others to make,

this is what he said to the authorities: 

"Here I stand, I can do no other.  So help me God." 

As we consider how it is

that we can be Reformers in our own day and time,

let us act so boldly

that we have occasion to say the same. 

And then, with the confidence of the children of God,

in gratitude to those who have gotten us to this place,

let us together run the race that is set before us

in the name of our mighty Fortress, the Bulwark never failing.

Amen.