Image credit: This image comes from the Leap of Faith movie
October 20th, 2020
Yesterday I went to see the opening premiere of a documentary film entitled Leap of Faith. The movie depicted the ongoing discussions of twelve pastors who served twelve very different churches – all in and around Grand Rapids Michigan.
Each pastor represented a different kind of Christianity. Each pastor held very deep commitments regarding their beliefs – and perhaps most importantly, each Pastor was a thoughtful and compassionate person.
The movie began with the gospel reading from the Book of Matthew that Laurie just read for us.
A lawyer, asked Jesus a question to test him.
‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’
Jesus said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The movie placed the twelve pastors together to see if their commitment to the love of God and neighbor that Jesus taught could help them to see beyond their differences.
At the beginning of the movie whole the voice over was introducing the concept of the film, the film maker, Nicholas Ma, interspersed a series of shots of churches, as seen from in and around Grand Rapids.
These were not still photographs – they were snippets of film showing the church buildings within the context of the town. You might see a steeple from a distance, from underneath an underpass. Another shot showed a steeple closer up, but behind a criss-cross web of electrical wires. Another shot, showed a steeple, as seen from an elevated train platform – sitting between two ads.
It was strangely beautiful. These churches were part of the community.
Houses of Worship.
Churches are a part of the landscape of America. When we drive into a town – a town almost anywhere in America – the most prominent architectural features are likely to be the churches.
There was a time when churches played a much more central role in our cultural life. Today, as we all know, many churches are struggling to survive.
And yet, I would argue that churches still play an important role in our culture…
Or at least they should.
On this, the final Sunday of our pledge campaign, here at the United Church of Jaffrey, I would like to make a case for continued cultural significance of the church – a case that, I hope, will inspire you to pledge your support to our church for another year.
**
The ongoing theme of this year’s Pledge season, has been “The Household of God.
When I think of the phrase the “household of God” I think of… a spatula.
A pencil
A phillips-head screwdriver.
A roll of toilet paper.
A paperclip.
A carton of millk.
The sponge that you use to wash the dishes with.
What do all of these things have in common?
They are common.
You find them in your house.
They are “household items.”
A household item is really nothing special. It is something that you run into everyday. It is so common that you hardly even see it.
This is one of the meanings of household. It is something common.
The word household also suggests a place – a building with walls and a ceiling. The house needs to be well built in order to withstand the weather. The house keeps us warm and safe.
This is another meaning of the word Household.
The phrase “Household of God” comes to us from the second chapter of Ephesians as Laurie just read for us:
you are no longer strangers and aliens, (the text says), but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
On one end of this phrase, is the word household. On the other end of the phrase is the word “God.”
If “household” suggests things that we know very well. If this word refers to a familiar place that we go to everyday to have dinner with our family and go to relax at the end of a hard day…
The word “God” – which is at the other end of that phrase – has a very different sense.
“God” is most decidedly not something common, like a paperclip.
Not at all.
We cannot put God in our pocket, or wash dishes with God.
God forbid.
God is the opposite of common.
God is universal. Unknowable. Mysterious.
We are insignificant creatures who live for a short time.
God is eternal.
One of the most earnest desires that a human can have is to catch a glimpse of God.
Indeed, to feel God’s presence is to have an experience that will remain with you all the days of your life.
So when, in the Epistle to Ephesians, we are encouraged to think of ourselves as members of the household of God – we find ourselves in a puzzling place.
How are we to understand this strange phrase that places the most mundane, common physical idea next to the most rare and astonishing spiritual idea?
How does common experience of common things help us to understand God?
Perhaps this is another way of asking the question posed by those pictures of churches, taken from all over town…
What do houses of worship – dedicated to God – have to do with our everyday experience of the society that we live in?
What does it mean to see the House of God from under an underpass?
**
A church is part of town. There are other things in town – like a laundromat, for example.
When we go to a Laundramat, we expect to do our laundry.
When we go to a hair salon, we expect to get our hair styled.
When we go to the gym, we expect to be able to exercise.
When we go to a restaurant, we expect to be fed.
When we go to see a comedian, we expect to be amused.
In a capitalist society, businesses appear that cater to the many desires that we have. The more we desire the product or service that a business supplies, the more successful that business is likely to be.
We need to eat several times a day, so a restaurant is a good business.
We want to be healthy and fit.
We want to be clean and neat.
We want to be amused and entertained.
This is all pretty straightforward.
But what about Church?
Church seems to be different from all those things.
And yet every town has a church. Most towns have several of them! And they are impressive looking, prominently placed buildings.
But a Church is not exactly a business. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
So what does a Church do for us? And why should we support it?
**
One of the twelve pastors in the Leap of Faith movie – Pastor Joan – is gay. While this fact would be a matter of almost no concern here at the United Church of Jaffrey, a number of the pastors present were committed to the doctrinal teaching of their church – which told them that homosexuality is a sin.
And yet, Pastor Joan, is a warm, brilliant, and deeply gifted pastor. All the other eleven pastors clearly understood, without reservation, that Pastor Joan loved God with all her heart, and with all her soul, and with all her mind. Pastor Joan represented a challenge to these pastors. God told them to love her as they loved themselves.
Could they?
It was clear, quite quickly, that the love had grown strong among all the pastors – including Pastor Joan. But love and respect was one thing. Could their deeply held beliefs be transformed enough to fully embrace her, in the fullness of her being?
This question became the central concern of the movie.
As I watched, it was quite clear to me that doctrine was getting in the way of relationship.
This, in spite of the fact that Christ’s central teaching – the most treasured doctrine of the Christian faith, is the one clearly stated at the beginning of the movie – that Jesus asks us to Love God and to Love neighbor.
How ironic.
Church doctrine gets in the way of relationship, even though the most important doctrine of the church is that relationship is always first.
This, to me, gets at what church is for.
This is why church has deep and abiding cultural value…
This is why church can proudly take its place at the center of our town squares…
It’s not a laundramat, but if you need a warm winter jacket, someone in a church might give you one.
It’s not a restaurant, but if you are hungry, you might get fed.
Why?
Because church is a place where relationship is first.
Before money.
Before power.
Before personal comfort.
Church places relationship before all these things.
Church may be hijacked by people who use it to make money, or support power, or feel superior – but ultimately, that is not church – that is something else. Ultimately, to be church, church is a place where relationship is first.
Church is where relationship becomes a spiritual practice – an expression of the holy.
So if you think church is about protecting and passing down doctrine, then I think this church is probably not for you.
That’s not what this church is.
Even though I stand in the pulpit each Sunday, trying to talk about what I believe to be true…
To me, church is not about teaching truth.
To me, church is about discovering how to love.
And this gets to the heart of the notion of “the household of God.”
There is another aspect to household that we have not yet spoken of.
A house is not just a place full of paper clips, sponges, bed linens, and phillips head screwdrivers.
A house is not just four walls and a ceiling.
A house, most importantly, is the people who live in it.
The people that you are likely to run into in a household are also people that you know well. They are your family members – your spouse, or your brother or sister. These are people that you love. They are also people that really piss you off.
They are both.
So they are the perfect people to help you learn how to be in relationship.
It’s the same here, in church… but we add God to the mix. We learn about God – we glimpse God here – when we learn how to be together.
When we learn how to give another person the fullness of their being – even when we think they are crazy.
When we are accepted fully by those we have learned to trust, we learn to offer ourselves – in our fullness – to God.
Church is the natural habitat, where love of God, and love of neighbor become one glorious, confusing, and undeniable love.
Amen