REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
September 20, 1987, Morning Worship Service
John M. Buchanan
Centennial Celebration

Broad Street Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio

7
=} I cannot begin without saying what should not

need to be saidland in a sense can never be said
ee ey

adequately and yet must _be said and that is that I

am lag to be here, fan I love seeing you again]

and that you_and this place and this city will
always be a major part of what the Buchanans cal]

home. Thomas Wolfe was only metaphorically right.

Sometimes you can come home. (ee
I also wish to so tent 0.

9 Tom York for 1% Hee

his graciousness in allowio this4 presiding

over it with such sensitivity and efficiency and
even apparently enjoying it.| He is a man of
yal couse) iz? Owe of ANWe Sr vens iA oN \roféssiws that a
a — Res Ojedecessoms te an Creek 9 eae... cot agg
a ——mnmmS. § TOM YOK has \ayannh ~ o> wrt
=e, Las , F ’ >
pz.

= ei .9

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done it all at once - all us - in one service,

SSS
SO, TOM tha pie you for your bravery and let me say
Sasa, ean

hat is in Hie heart of Oi2us and that jg_that

WwW
is cCVowneled spwerd You
our ovenfon this place. now focuses on as

this group of brothers and sisters is part of your

personal Communion of Saints,\that we pray for you,
cheer for youland pull_for you Daeg ae Yow are_clea
Gala pesm wi

courageously foolish, or foolishly courageous jd ve pevole

— SS SS SS
enough to have us all back at the same time.
E— SS aerate

Al Smith and I consulted about how to
qa,

exercise the privilege and responsibility of

preaching on this day and chose an G@iportant text>

through which to reflect on the occasion - and a
SS
titig/—- Remember who You Are.

Thatis what Centeonialkare for, of course.

To remind_us who we are.\ So are family reunions

and anniversaries and birthdays. \ They tell us
ae Sa earn

2

CD an identi what i

gives A U%~

about an identity_which is ours apart from anything
= ae
we have ache)\3 history which precedes us and a
Ss

future out _ahead which will succeed us. Teir

focus, their center, as it were, is us — we who
ft S| =a

celebrate - we who remember the past in order to
remember who we are nowy®

his
eneratiop of Americans may be losing touch with an
ae

important part of our identity because we don't

fame
remember the pas

in_a book |

Professor E. D.

Cultural Literacy, suggested th ‘
aa 1A. & regent Survey
“of
A eed 2
one_thousand sixteen to eighteen year olds, half
==, / Pore == =o

could not identify Churchill or statin. | 758 hacl no
idea what Reconstruction vas|and 10% thought Peter
ee es
Ustinov was the leader of the Russian Revolution."
eS ey

[See Craig Dykstra, Memory & Iruth, Theology Today,

i “\ we Ave coef)
July 1987, P. 159 ff! teks est ee cornell

IA @ fascinating book about memory loss, The
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, }observes -

ln antl.

| "you have to begin to lose your memory, if only in

bits and pieces, rc realize that memory is what
ean Se

makes our Vives. | Life without memory is no life at
all. } Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our
feeling, even our actions. | With@it, we are
nothing." 4 [Luis Bunel, in The Man Who Mistook His
Wife for A Hat. Oliver Sacks, cited by Dykstra,
Ibid, p. 60)

So, it's not only Okay to stand around at

reunions reminiscing and laughing and shedding a
eerie Sr

tear together | It is good and necessary because

awe “Wer
what we areidoing is remembering who we age in order a} cw wh we
dk axe wl freshvest

order to move into a future with intentionality and

& Whew cud

integrity_and faithfulness. +0 Shed idewlih Khel .- t orby
——~ ( Who are vor is Gurr a

| You are wonderful church which has Cg) 'F4
distinguished itself for 100 years.

You are a church that knows a secret and that
aa ee)

is that it is the best part of Presbyterianism to
keep together -

theology and mission

4

to synthesize

faith and action
= eas

to combine in creative and dynamic tension the love
Sea (Se

of God and love of WOr 1d | aneaiiemeRebingmiageieiny (|

You have remegpered that God_calls a people

to follow into an unknown wilderness at times fond
Da

never to remain in its opulent tents, enjoying its
a a, eS eae,

prestige, status and comfort.
e) You have avgjded the less attractive

characteristiciof public religiosity in this
ee poimpry els cut AM ewlhort 7

culture, which is eager _to_use the world’s criteria sy @vo-wens svece=s
Sap EE ey = Seine cee
Frrarngatt — Put

for its own success. w] “WS arcu lol
awe & e law
You have been willing to take chances, to ee He Werk & Yaw
— Like “Cregsaikh, ..
open your doors and your hearts re prudence rs
==, —
would dictate caution.
i \e Howsless = oh vat SUR
You have always looked out and asked about
pe ae

the needs of people and in that looking out you

SS
Jesus {orist that simply does _not get communicated

have communicated something about the Gospel of
Sees

in thunderously successful enterprises that ask

only about the emgtional needs of their own
constituents. etererlevarcs »
eS SS Sy
God bless you for that.

[ “Remember who you re HE

oo a

Whur oo ~ SS
Tt _ QE “Loner one Of nis church. a>. a=
1s. with Paul and Lee “and ie ne Rutty and Gerry Gregg
Hs
g C and Barbara, Jerry and nd I stand in a very
Ae esting eat
berry Moy portpait was stolen off the
Ber\oor- during my watch and Harry Cotton who became my
Rage
aun, ® ° mentgp_and friend before he ciied,\ and cake Little ,
juin Yi and Ray Kearns Jang Al Smith who was here while
other ugban churches were eemee/fscurrying into the
corners of imelevenry high-tai ling it to the sete
green pastures of suburbia, while this church made
Wee
decisions which gave it life fond now a that
SSS ea
extends into an open future and contains a new name
Se
- Tom York.

L of < I keep a rts and my coming back
Cammnh ol i today see ge to read through a bit of it. I'd

. char =
ys _ preecor Tike to read you what I wrote on March_10, 1984.

— TEM Met Sinn

It was a Saturday morning. The Committee work ing

on plans for the organ ren ti was meet ing.
— OV Vos Ke Sees - Whette Yosh
The_subject was the i e: omumnien oneness tw XL org
Reape For 4
oumea@atses 1. And in order to get the feel of it we AA Pes ovt of

were ‘in here - sitting on the Foor. 1 was so Sh tbe
Seas RS TSS ers,

taken with what this place looks like from the
Le cy er a TC [aE oreo

floor that I continued to do it — come in here ona

Saturday morning and sit down - or better yet lie
—Eaeasy Des |

== Se rs,
\ XL down and Jook around. | You might want to make sure

wg no one else is around before you do this.
5 a4 Le) This is what I wrote on March 10, 1984:
pi "sitting in soft morning light, something
+ Wo -

provocative happens, something spiritual ly

suggestive.\ The perspective here is fascinating,

— the shapes, forms, shadows. | Without_actificial

Dao

light something good happens to the color of the

wood,, first A rich, earthy, brown fand then the
subtle shadowing of carved rosettes, arches,

——SEo]S Ee,

crosses, ... |}symbols of so much that is

universal ly Christian, yet individually of these

particular people who sit here praying, hoping,

weeping, rejoicing. Lin

From this angie, the jt/- tempted to say
.*
mine | ming for_ this while? |@~@ not mine at_all,
—oe ake,

theirs perhaps. | on cou God's, in which I dare to stand

on occasion from here, the pulpit... such wooded

strength rooted fagaly, balanced, not L_brecar ious iy
Ee

but with symmetrical ” sntent on, i Here I stand,’

it says] yet suspended, nearly, it seems from down

here between heaven and earth or blue sky and city
f i oh, =e

street.
And the choir - the chancel, surrounded with
arches peminiscent of medieval cathedrals and monks

at oraver chanting Gregorian in soft candlelight -—=»

And the windows through which light conies

Paaiiaae

better when its source is Qutside and this morning

proms the wood and rose and Jack dgsdims Greaves
aig

carefyl_cglors and makes suggestive shagiows.

The Chairman, Dick Maths, asked if I had

Praepemeaed startied, I said ‘no'."
[ay ba

8

I will always be tha And I have become

T am a grandfather arandfather.\(7 have —

discovered over the years that al] grandparents say IN
Sse:
per”

something else.

essentially the same threg_things -

Isn't this child the most exis ite, most

beautiful baby in the world? ait
This event
(©) e-rerorntenemeneneerent:nosniities and $|nlae
eclipses my own parenting in ways I can't begin to a .
[Sa
understand.
Here) let me show you some pictures.

Those three are true, I now know, including

the third one, and in that I did look at many of

yours for eleven years,| it only seemed fair that ,

you take a look at Caitlin Elizabeth Andrew. aU

Remember who you are. One dey Ket quest Cam up.
eg .

One day Jesus asked his disciples what other .
—_——— Wes de Perp\c sey HO Sm HY Vim S*
people were saying about him. “Funan, nny you should

ask," they said. ("some people think you are John
ey

the Baptist... we've even heard someone suggest

that you are one of the great prophets of Israel

reincarnated." | TAG

Notice that Jesus doesn't even acknowledge
ay ey
their speculative suggestions and instead redirects
SS Se ee
the question to them in the most personal way:
See Se

"But who do you say I am?"| There is no suggestion

that they had ever discussed iets so Peter must whe he wea.

a
SSS

have left them ing, when he heard his own voice
SSS

saying, |""You are the christ. | the annointed one,
Messiah,} the Son of the Loving cod." |
ee
Now, the classic treatment of this incident
a; es
includes stopping right here and rolling up our
SE Re
sleeves and digging into the meaning of those
a )
words.) We Presbyterians, whose forte has been
[Ee =e,
SQueeiiimmeed jiterate retigion| want to head out
es Ls TT =
for the library and find out what recent German
ea SSE SR,
scholarship is saying about “the Annointed One."
See eS Se
In fact, I think the disciples wanted to stop
right there, reo I hear them saying, ['Now, Jesus,
= Gey —
how exactly does what Peter just said correspond to
what the Prophets te Rabbis teach?" But there is
VA >

so much momentum here, so much energy, Jesus won't
ES aay Ss ass

allow it and says to Peter -{"Blessed are you Simon
a= aay

SSS

10

~ congratulations! | that's quite_an insicht | In
Ea ee es
fact, it's a God-given moment of revelation.) And

still the momentum pushes on — ["You are Peter and

on this rock I will build a church."
iM\ the point is not

speculation. e point_is not what we like to call
Christology.| The question is not finally who femmes dana ve
Sea SB Seas
— but who they are. VW ce lotimaly + \an « _¢
"You are the Christ - and you are Peter."
aS (eens 2)
"You are Son of the Loving God - but you -

you are a rock_on_which I'm going to build a
church." \
And so, before you know it the Biblical

question evolves - changes right in front of your

EYES, «> owen rolattw seth, of acede

wad droves

ty Qeespler WP

The matter of Jesus’ divine nature ends up
SS See

4
being a human quest ion.
Theo logy becomes life Vivecl

SROs ial oldggiap Batak — Dit At eae Ane S

You must be what you have been.{ You_must
Meee ee

show this city that religion is not hopelessly
archaic; \that the Gospel of Corist, when it gets

lived in a chupchis.aodvnamic, creative and
= Sa
fertile source of new life.
Gane aes

Tom Driver put it this way -
| “The main purpose of the church is not to
Paro been

remember Jesus. It's main purpose is to
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participate now, in present — ot, in the P a /
redemption_of the world." ~ ee — : :
(Christ 3 Changing World, p. 17] —.

“You are | you are A 0Ogk 29 which I

will build a church.
See ae
And you know, that is exactly what i#e did.

Oh, Se@er didn't always remember who he was. { In
fact, he forgot, flagrantly, appalling ly.
In the next breath Peter has already

forgotten.
EEE

And at the end, in a courtyard, at dawn,
Ss ae ESSE,

12

Peter - the Rock - denies ever knowing Jesus.
cy eI Ge yen
when their eyes meet: | HSS, _now being marched out

rhe of the interrogation, and pa his death | when
4,0 lo le es
yarn ¥ Whe their eyes aime, Peter's. Till with tears of a

am. -

rctoirel altima SUK. e Avi Id, (We ed for gcten

\ wy Sa

Lge ae ee ae
But Jesus deesrimforset .| s01'g grace in “? . ek

Jesus Christ acceptal, forgeves, embraced, hea and

recreateé Simon, Son of Jonah — who in spite of
yonse-L
a rock upon whom a church is built.
et Gas a eS re =

So that is where it rests doesn't it?\ For us
i ee SS oye =

- who like Peter - are capable of appalling
eee) ey Louk
forgetfulness: who can f be Pru bra WY iccipleP Oe

minute and foraerali about it the next. Yeoman. Sea
é med Sas wih Wot eA ap of

The good news is that the issue rests with
Pair eae) aE ae

C him as it always has. coo
Les]

remember who we gre... enjoying

memor#és of the past - may also remember who he

13

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