ores .
~

BEING THE CHURCH JUNE If, 1972
| Thessalonians 5:42-28 JOHN M. BUCHANAN

There are, at this point in time, about 575 persons who belong to and constitute the
congregation of Bethany Presbyterian Church. In addition there are several hundred children
of those members, adult famities who worship with the congregation regularly, people about
to become members and occassionat visitors. Altogether, it is an impressive number of people
when one considers the fact that revolutions are started by a relatively tiny group of
committed individuals. it is an impressive statistic - in light of the fact that people
attached in some way to this congregation represent a larger percentage of the population
of the Greater Lafayette area, than the percentage of Communist party members in the Peaptes'!
Republic of China. It Is even more impressive when one considers the fact that the members
of this congregation, individually, promised to give their lives to the service of Christ,
and said in effect, "my belonging to this congregation is the most important fact about me:
it is my first commitment: it is my first loyalty."

And yet it is obvious that something is wrong: statistics ~- as is often the case - say
one thing but reality says something altogether different. On the basis of raw data one
could conclude quite fogically that my group of people with the credentials | have recited
is able to do anything it wants to do. It is - on the basis of its relative statistical
strength - more than abie to turn this community upside down: to set large and challenging
goals and then accomptish them, On the basis of what's on paper, this group of people is
quite able to elect a city administration, build housing for the poor, send ambassadors to
Hano}, operate a rehabilitation center for drug addicts, or if it chooses, hire a staff
of professionals to provide the best educational program in the state. That's what the
raw data says.

However, the jarring reality of our situation indicates that the major goal at this
time of year is simply to make it to September without going too drastically into the red.
The jarring reality of our situation is that the vast majority of us aren't even here this
morning. And that even in the fall more than half of us won't be here on any kind of
meaningful basis when this people gathers to affirm its identity and cefedtaCovwho it is,

The discrepency between what's on paper and what is here, in fact, bothers ministers -

particularty this one. Every June | experience a kind of ego crisis, and even though |!

a?
should have learned better by how, | entertain the notion ~- back in the recesses of my mind
that this summer we won't make i+: that the life of this congregation is very fragile indeed.
| recall vividly that the Pulpit Committee that interviewed me six long years ago had at
the top of its agenda the fact that there was a great gap between the paper congregation
and the actual congregation: and | have great difficulty living with the fact that while we
are stronger on paper - 150 people in worship during June is a very good day.

| share this with you, in fult confidence that both my ego and the church budget will
survivé the summer, because | think it pushes us to do some hard thinking about the nature
of this thing we catl our Church. | share it because we are in this together, and if there
is a discrepancy between what ought to be end what is, It rests on all of us.

As we look for answers {| think there are three - for starters. First, there are two
kinds of people who are very uptight about their church today. One group resists change:
the church isn't what it used to be: Angeta Davis ts free, there are guitars in worship, and
next Sunday they're taking the whole thing out on the lawn. And rather than risk emotional
trauma it's simply easier to stay home. A second group of peopte sees the church as
irrevelant because it's not changing fast enough: because on the major, gut issues of the
day, ~ peace, race, arms limitation, gun control, busing, welfare reform, the Church arrives
on the scene notoriousty late. The third group isntt uptight particularly -for it, The
Church just doesn't matter. They joined sometime in the past, but there is no real sense
of belonging to a particular community of people: they don't get anything aut of It - and
they don't givé anything to if.

With this in mind - the discrpency between what ought to be and what is, and some
suggested analytical answers, | invite you to think with me for a few moments about another
situation, and to see if we cannot learn something about our own. The time was the middle
of the First Century - the place, Thessaionica, a major part of cali on the Aegean Sea.

A large Roman naval garrison was located there and Thessalonica was a very cosmopolitan city
bearing the influence of travelers and traders from all over the known world.

A man by the name of Paut came to Thessalonica, set up shop as a tent maker and began
the share his new faith - the religion called Christianity. Gradually he gathered about

him a tiny group of people who had come to believe the Gospel he represented. Because

t

un

of their beliefs they found themselves a smal! and distinct minority: and because of this
thin normal, casual relationships were intensified. They learned very quickly In Thessalonica,
that if they were to survive as a church, ft would be because their relationship with each
other had deepened to a new level of trusting and loving.

Paul feft them and went on to Athens - and then Corinth. When a messenger brought hit
the news that there were internat problems in the tiny Thessalonian Church he wrote them a
letter. That document is in the New Testament under the title "First Thessatonians." I+
is not a heavy letter theologically. I+'s trust, rather, is in the practical ,day to day
matters of being a church. | read, this morning the closing portion of that letter. Let
me refresh your memories by pulling out a list of injunctions - and then ler us assume
that these statements are applicable to any peopig who see themselves as the church.

Live at peace among yourselves

Admonish the careless

Encourage the faint hearted

Support the weak

Be very patient with them aj |

Be always Joyful

What comes through to me from that series of statements is a deep sense of community:
& group of individuals who knew each other intimately, and whose existence as a people
depended on the development of certain behavior patterns in the group. What comes through
to me is a living organism that needs feeding and nurturing. And | think it is precisely
at this point that those of us who want fo take the church seriously must do same growing,

somehow we expect people to act fike a church without ever knowing what it means to
be the church. Somehow we expect people to want to come to worship without ever sensing
that we need them here In order for our worship to be comptete. Somehow we expect peaple
to iove the world without ever sensing that the world starts right here.

One man put it this way: "The Christian Church must be the community of love before it
can really do the things it ought to do." Think of that in terms of your own relationships
with the other members of the congregation. How many do you know? Have you gone out of your

way to meat those you don't know? Have you taken time to Jet someone know that you care? Have

~4=
you been open to the concerns and hurts of others = or do you chose - from among the
congregation - a select group of friends? Are you supporting, encouraging and patient with
other members of the church - or do you stam the door on your Deacon's face, pretend as if
you're not at home on Stewardship Sunday, and divide the congregation generally into good
guys and bad guys?

You see, my basic assumption is that there is a discrepancy between what ought to be
and what is here precisely because most of us don't have the foggiest notion of what it
moans to be the church. And that is our misslon: that fs the first item on our agenda. Not
to do something - but to be something: not to love the world - out there at a safe distance,
but to discover what it means to love the worid as it comes to us in the form and person of
another human being who belongs to my congregation.

But we can't pray for each other in worship because that would look foolish: and we
can't argue with each other because we don't trust each other: and we can't embrace each
other because intimacy is suspect.

Well, | invite you today to share my impatience and boredum with the church as it is:
and to take a few risks for the sake of discovering what it means to be the church. |
Invite you to greet someone you don't know this morning: and fomorrow when you meet one of
our people who is on the fri-nge to tell them that we need them here with us and we miss them
when They're not here and wo care about what's happening in their lives.

Our first responsibitity as members of this congregation is not to do anything; it is
to be the church here, in this place. The dotng will come: the doing will grow out of our
being. But first, and atways we need to be what we say we are ~- a church - a community of
Joyful people, at peace with each other and in love with each other.

It involves everyone of us: the Elders we elect b rule: the Deacons we elect to serve:
and every individual whe belongs here. Together we are called to be a model of what life fs
about: to say to the wortd: "Look here: this is what human {ife human relationships can be."

The world needs afl the help it can get at this point. Let's provide it,

You and i need it too. In the name of Jesus Christ - who came to give us new life ~ let

us be the church to each other. AMEN

Father, we are grateful for each other. Teach us to be loving: and hetp us to fearn how to
communicate and convey our love. Through Josus Christ our Lord. AMEN