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TOVORROM'S: LAYIIA.| ye* BETHANY PRESBYTERIA.) CHU"Ch
I CORIUTH NS U2:4-12 “/-29; 26-27 LAFAYETTE, INDIAHA
JANUARY 2 ; 2 JOHN TH. BUCHANAN
Paul oh by the tail fn that Corinthian church The good citizens of Cgrinth were
strong people; a blend of the cosmopolitan atmosphere of their seaport city the Infusion of
cultural infl f th :
u nfluence from all over the world a mixture of pagan religions, Greek philosophy and
orthodox Judaism) They were a contentious bunch, given - apparently - to rivalry and compet ve -
eg ETT TE AE Ae to = =o

ness, \pn when they became Christians they brought much of what there were, and had been, Into
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the new Christian community In their gity. | when they observed the Lord's Supper some of them
[ones SEE ie

were so enthusiastic that they gorged themselved on the food and got drunk on the wine. When they
animal SRERES eee mers,

began to perform particular functions within the Church they were continually compar ing thelr

respective tasks in terms of Importance. Apparently there was quite a dispute about who was
Bieri serrations —=—= queers

most important - about which tasks were really vital to the Church - and of course, about who
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reposed where In the ecclesiastical pecking order,
5 ellen

And so Paul, gently - patiently, delt with this problem by way of several paragraphs in a
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letter he was writing to them - that portion of | Corinthians which | read this morning \ There
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are many gifts, he told them, many different talents and skills and abitities | God has given them
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hee,
al | |>ne God needs them al i\ All are necessary to the common good and none Is more Important
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more essential, more spiritual or holy than any of the others.\\ The Church Is like a body - and

RIG EST tients. | PPI it eR,

it depends on all Its parts performing the function they are best suited to perform. | The task

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of the Christian, as Paul saw it, was not to become something other than the person was Nput to
| fener

be oneself - joyfully and gratefully in the service of God and Man.
= Wars. ETE hy Bee 35} |#|# =e
The point of all of that Is that there are a variety of ways to go about being a disciple of
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Jesus Christ - a Christian - a Churchman - a la nen} There is - and must be - a great diversity

of "laymanship" which springs out of the very diversity of people themselves.\ And finally, that
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ee,

no one Is more of a Christian as a product’ what he does. | Healers are not more Important than
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teachers:|men who experience the Spirit by speaking in tongues are not more Christian than men
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who do not, etc.

Unfortunately, much of that has been lost on the Church Quite early In Its existence the
femme ee, Fem ad

ee. -
Christian Church took the flexible amd moving models of discipleship in the New Testament and
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squeezed them into a rigid ecclessiastical mold -or rather two molds, one called clergy, the other-
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laity.\ And it's not difficult to unterstand how it happened.\ As the Church became an Institution,
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an organization, certain people naturally emerged as leaders. \ And just as naturally those leaders
Ferecailh OP Sama aie

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were given a titiel see aside for their special tasks \ gradual ly elevated In both esteem

and authority, until they became a very special brand of christian.\ And at this stage of

development the Church reached backward into the religion of the Temple - and outward into

the other refigilons of the day to borrow an [dea that was comfortable, traditional and
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diametrically opposed to the ideas of the Nazareth C rpenter:«namely that the things of the

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spirit must be divorced as totally as possible from the things of the wortd.\ The reaim
SeECTIS ES [ee | Ee
of the Holy Is something different - something apart - accessible only to the special,

holy man, A Their Lord manifestly was not one of those: Nhe was no priest - in fact he exper=

i

ienced the most severe oppos it fon from those who had a stake in perpetuating the concept

of a religious elite\ One of the most striking symbols in the Gospel narratives fs the
Baa ns EO rere

rending of the Temple veil at the time of crucifixion: [the vel} fhat divi the Holy of

7 tin early chart ts

piel Yet that synbo!_was Wises meaning!ess - et the Holy

was stuffed back Into its “place, safe and undefiled by the wor!d, accessibie only to the

fow.
re

Now combine those two powerful forces: the emergence of 4 wie jeaders granted
EREtier wen

esteem and power:\and the idea that the things of the spirit are to be experienced as far

away from the things of ordinary !ife as possible = and the result is, simply put, two
2 eee

kinds” ristians -Clergymen and layman \ One is ftsolatax Oe wereld, undefiled by
such worldly concerns as earning a Tiving, sex, oh gen \the other eer es* in the world but
totatly dependent on the first fo put them in touch occassionally wi 5 holy A through
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prayer ~ which It was quickly assumed they could do vest\ through reading the sacred texts -
ar] seen ero
which were kept In a language they alone could read through sacred ritual - whieh they
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alone could perform.

From this development i+ was not far to the thealogical rationale which fol lowed

io
under the guise of "vocation.® \es have always assumed that God's will could be perceived

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in things as they are:\ that is - if this is the way it is, God must have intended it this
SR ene.

Cy =

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way rs, if certain men are special Christians God must have singled them out for their
position.\God calis men to be clergymen, it was suggested and then believed, and calls to

clergymen are the only calis he tssueg$’ thus to be a clergymen is to have a "vocation"

a "calling".
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As one who has inherited that mantle of tradiion let me share with you that its pretty
fo ey ewe,

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nice:\ It's not bad to have other folks think that you are a {tittle sere
emery

that you have access io

ts nobody else knows: trot the holy Is always at your #inger=

De. ;
tips: \ana that somehow you should ba spared the performance standards rigorously appl fed

to every ether protession.\ it's really rather nice. \ But jet me share my deepast convic-

tion that ft Is totally and utterty In violation of the word and spirit of the New Testa~

ment LG 1s demeantng to the clergyman as a human balng and the layman as a Christian.

As | read It, the New Testament talks about one vocation only ~ namely that we are

our tives however we have chosen to lead them.
Sete

Yet, only fhe nalve can fal] to percelve that we are here offending something that

runs deeply through the traditiona! plety and religtosity of our culture. it differs

according to geography, and denom{nation and the personal style of the particular clergy-

Da od

man. \ But 141s always tmece b kind of superficlal respect - fhat can quickly become pat-

ronfztng and fowntng \i+ Is stlit rather unlversally assumed that a clergyman !s something
Soper eres eet ca ares,

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less than a human being. | one of the most ammusing things people have sald to me on
Cconstemnansennmrerest mardeemntucoss 2,

occasion ts -('But you don't look Hike a nintater".) And one ef the most profoundly dls-

terbing things that peopte say 1a(¢eoverene, | really admire you for your cating.) You

see, what that says Is that everyone else Is a kind of second team Christtan:\that God had

it In mind that } should be a Presbyterian minister, but whether you became a teacher or

a housewlfe was no concern of his.
‘erento,

Le eal

What Paul was about In his letter to the Corinthlans - and what Is so vitaliy Impor-
tant to the church today - §s ¢nat God has glven gach of us something special - a gift -
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a tatent - a skill - that Is unique and particular ours. Ang that God has called you and

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me to be what we are - to use what we have been given - as his children - In his service.
TR saan r

Tener ERIN
Thera Is no major and minor teague in the Kingsom:{ no first and second toam {In Jesus

Christ - who was a Sarpenter - a very common layman ~ God has called all of us - equally.

Untit recently, a layman who was serious about his churchmanship, had a rather

simpte assignment:\ne did what his minister wanted him to do. \ Ane if he did enough - If he
See SEERA erent

performed as many adi me chares as he could around the Church, i+ was assumed

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that he just mught benefit from that special holiness that surrounds the full-time minister.

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But that day is gone.\ There is a lot of unrest In and about the Church today .WAnd part

itso

of it, at least, is coming from sensitive, creative laymen who want their churchmanship -

their discipleship - to mean more than ushering at Sunday service.\ Part of it js coming

ghia ot adn Del nts

ake
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from some very | rt souls who are seeing that The holy isn't confined to

the church: that God's werk goes on out In the world whert they spend their time - and

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from where their minister is notoriousty avsent\, Tomorrow's layman is g-ing to have to

have some better basis for this Churchmansh{p than he has been offered before. And | believe
MTR Le ad SER De

it will be in a rediscovery of the authentic Biblical basis of God's call comeing to al! men

SaaS Finials Sn aa

+o be his men wherever they are and whatever they are doing.
eal oR HEME

Truman Douglas of the U.C.C., has suggested that is presump tious at this point for the

acre,

Clergyman to tel! th an what that neans: that the layman is the expert. \ am _ei ther
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smarter or more foolish than Or. Douglas because I'm going to try in general terms - To

do just that.

Part of God's calf, | would suggest, is to be in The Church | htnestlonnsiemenin
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j have chosen to be in it full-time, as the way | earn my living.

But the call is to all of us\\ Ged calls us to the Koinonia - the fel

lowshi p of people who

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share a common faith, a common hope about the future Sthe laos - the whole of God who learn
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toesther, and grow together, and serve the world together | Having already implied, that
aS —_—y Denner ai ae od

being a Churchman is much more Than doing jebs around the Church, let me hasten to add
ai Hh Serre

that we would net survive long without lay attention to the unspectacular administrative
and organizational matters of the institution \ The clergyman - in an active parish -
TT, all ‘Saba

cannot do it ali and do any of it very wei | \ I+ takes more than 70 persons every Sunday
7_a swacearesmerirnerticneertt as =

morning to do what we de in this building for two and one half hours. It takes people

EO, SETTER iereeTeR

ects

spending hours in committee meeting, making calls, washing dishes, painting walled Any

delusions that | am a one man operation are quickty put To rest when my secretary becomes

ao
[eer

i] 1-\ ans | have come to the conciusion that Churches +hat are most effective in The
Fae inlet Da acl oer

highest theological sense - that is, 4s the announcer of the good news, the fellowship

SAP
and the servant - are those that pay attention To administrative detail:)those in which lay

people give time and jesdership. \tiow, some things become obvious at this point} it does-

not take every member to fill the committee and teaching responsibilities of our current
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oie
program, If everyone volunteered to teach Church School = the super|ntendent would have

a heart attack, ['m sures) but we don't need everybody - administratively \ Beyond that,

not everybody can teach = not everybody has the time to alve\ Yet God's calf fs to the

Church = to participation in and responstbiltty for the I}fe of the Church.
stained es a CPO

But [+t doesn't stop there Nai) of us are cal jgd, in daha A. T. Robinson's words, to
SEES eer:

tS SaneR ORT

a kind of "Holy Wor |di ness". | By that he does not mean a particularly identifiable kind of
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Ploty, but a being in the world, "up to the hilt", yet with a difference. trat difference is
ee ey, = hime

that we are In the world as childran of God our father ‘\ihat we receive Our accredidation

from him and net from the wortd\ trot we receive our marchin orders from him and no one

else, 30. (tn but not of, the word" the New Testament puts if. Yenc it is sub stantially

different from the tradidional definition of Churchmanship that has taught us that a man

is really beln Christian when he stands apart, when he keens himself and undef ted
y belng a ia enh ands apart, when he ) im pure and un

from the world -twhen he preserves his soul by not losing iy Jesus told his disciples
weet RRR ATI , aeiiamenieiilidia all stemmiahaieccr rn

to act itke salt.) And it has been suggested that he didn't mean In a salt cellar, but out
eer Spee

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there melting the Ice, or flavoring the food, or cleansing the wound,

Spree Terme LEY owe,
The Rev. Donald Benedict put it succinctly:4"Come, Follow me’ was not a call to
ea ne aL | eeatiathliet a
individual salvation aby removal fram historic real ity but rather a call to participation
and involvement." 4 (WhedemalGiddbogthe. Church) Andthat call comes to all of us:\mipisters
em bestdithinime 2d
of the Church, teachers, bricklayers, homemakers, salesmen.
PEI Se =a ware
Let me sugyest three ways God's werk goes on in the wortd - threes vocations if you
TET ernmetateriime st
with Va trip to the pediatrics ward is always a religious experience for mek A three
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week old infant, having undergone extensive intestional surgery, and now psering out

through the glass of her incubator, atte is. eloquent testimony that Godis will

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certainly, in my mind, serving the father of all men,

Le
——

And finally - the ordinary person, no doctor or politicaian - just the person who
Te se eee

PEE
knows how to fove: |r can sense my burt, my rged \ino has the grace to rejoice with me -
Ss ERT OE sameness, AER Anode

and weep with me - is performing the noblest of Christian ministries.

~G

You know, a funny thing happens on the way to Christian giscipleship\ We don't

really befleve Tt when we read it, but Jesus did say the way to find your life Is to lose
it

;, qHe did say that his yoke = this yoke of living in the world as servants and lovers
mE rere, 7 Stee cece aT
_ as
is Fatt and hfs burden ~ this burden of

i b Z ts of pe T don't
caring about all sorts o cople that we on
want to care about - that burden - Is light.
We don't always believe that - but It's true. To answer God's call ~ to be his child-

ren whe re is to experience a new Joy» a depth of fife that bist isn't very common,
“The NW. calls th Saluadion = _— heliidaiad eRe

May God bless us as we ~ each in a di

as

fferent way - with different gifts ~ live as
Se a eee

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his people. AMEN

Father, we are grateful for the Church - and for the world where we do our living.

Help us to see that both are holy: that we can serve you in ways that seem strange and

different} today as we gather and tomorrow as we scatter. Go with us - for we would be your

people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN