the church matters

1997-05-19·Sermon

"The Church Matters"
A Sermon by John Buchanan,
Moderator of General Assembly
Preached May 19, 1997 at 71st Presbytery of Arkansas, Jonesboro

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Startle us, oh God, with your word and open our hearts and our minds to your spirit. That
hearing your word we might also believe, and believing, we might be willing to trust you with

our lives. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Our lesson this evening is from St. Paul’s First Letter to the early Christian Church in

Corinth, reading from the introduction to that letter.

Listen for God’s word.

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among
you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

For it has been reported to me by Chioe’s people that there are quarrels among
you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong
to Paul," or "I belong to Apolos,” or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to
Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except
Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know
whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to
proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ
might not be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The word of the Lord.

[response from congregation]

Don’t you just love those Corinthians? There weren’t very many of them, maybe fifty,
seventy-five, Perched in one of the most cosmopolitan seaport cities in the Roman Empire,
Wt
a trade crossroads,, merchants, tradespeople coming and going,” fnere was a thriving
marketplace in downtown Corinth, Theses a theatre, a synagogue, a temple to Aphrodite
outside town that employed one thousand working sacred prostitutes. This was an interesting
city. Here they were, perched in that precarious situation where the city virtually ignored
them and when it paid any attention to them at all, as Pau! indicates in the introduction to the
letter, concluded that their ideas were foolishness Phere they were and instead of sitting down
together and doing a little strategic planning about how to survive in Corinth, instead of putting
a mission plan in place about how to say a good word about Jesus Christ that had a chance

of getting heard in that interesting cosmopolitan city, the Corinthian Christians decided instead

to choose up sides and have a fight. How like a church.

And Paul, Paul was worried that that fight was so public and so vehement that the little church
would whirl apart. It was, in fact, a public scandal. "Is Christ divided?" he asked them, I

think testily.

They took their theology seriously. It was a serious theological dispute. Some said, "We
belong to Apollos.” Apollos was apparently a professor from Alexandria who had stopped in
at Corinth and had his version of the Christian gospel and he collected some supporters and
they believed this was the way. "We’re the Apollos’ party." And others said, "Well, we

belong to Paul." Paul would have been the liberal. Paul would allow anybody in the church,

even the Gentiles. And others said, "Well, we belong to Peter." Peter was the Torah
Christian. The one who began with the rule book, the Book of Order. And, others said,

"Well, you all may belong [notice the way after a year I've learned how to say y’all?}...
flaughter from congregation]

...you all might belong to Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but we belong to Jesus. We, we have
the real thing." And to them all Paul writes, Is Christ divided? Be. of one mind, Be in

agreement.

Two years ago at Wichita, at the event in which I first met Kathy Ulrich, we talked about Ye om
imagining, and at the end of that assembly the Presbyterian Church said, "Theology matters."
And it does matter. Last year we elected a Moderator who reminded the church that mission
matters and mission does matter. And I’m suggesting this year that the church matters. And
that in these precarious and interesting times in which God has called us to the Presbyterian
Church, USA, it’s about time to say that loudly and clearly because if we don’t say it loudly
and clearly and hold onto one another we may, in fact, find ourselves as divided,

embarrassingly so as that group in Corinth.
These are interesting days, are they not, for the Presbyterian Church? We're a big church.

We have 2.7 million members.

And while that’s not as many as we wish we had, that’s still a lot of Presbyterians. We have
11,400 congregations all over this country, serving God with distinction, serving the Kingdom
of Jesus Christ with commitment to justice and peace and love and compassion. We have 68
colleges and universities that are still related to our General Assembly. We have mission work
in 87 different countries. And when we pull our funds and do our program together, we

spend $116 million per year, so we’re a big operation. And we’re an old church.

It’s one of the joys of the Moderator of the General Assembly to be invited to preach at
church anniversaries. I’ve preached at a few 100s and a few 150s and a couple of 25s and
50s, but I’ve also preached at a few 200th anniversaries and a 250th and a 275th. And before
it’s over Pll be in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, preaching at the 300th anniversary of the
Lawrenceville Church just down the road from Princeton. We have churches on the shores
of the bay down here that are more than 320 years old. We were here before the nation.
Our predecessors, those crusty, stubborn Calvinists from Scotland and Northern Treland brought
with them a deep-seated suspicion of hierarchies and monarchies and authority and so they
brought with them the philosophic seedbed of the American Revolution. So much so that
William Pitt, on the floor of Parliament, called the skirmish in the Colonies that "Presbyterian

revolt.”

And when independence was won, those sons and daughters of John Calvin dove deeply into
the life of the nation and helped to write what historian Martin Marty calls the singular, most
public, Calvinist document ever produced - the Constitution of the United States of America,
with its suspicion of one another, with its realistic view of humankind, with its checks and

balances and its continuing insistence on the dignity of the individual.

We're a big church and we’re an old church and we are a distinguished missionary church.
I’ve spent my life pretty much in and around cities and P’'ve been concerned mostly about
urban ministry. And so it’s been a wonderful experience this year for me to have seen the
global worldwide ministries of this Presbyterian Church of ours and to learn a lot of things
I didn’t know before. Namely, that we Presbyterians are the premier missionary church in
the United States, that our missionaries were phere first, .xe-wer—theoneaiar staan ent mere,
resqurces-than any -other-American-denominajion. _s that all around the world now
there are Christian communities flourishing because of Presbyterian missional gone still
related to. partner projects in 87 di@egent countries. We still have more than 400 full-time

mission personnel in the field and probably another 500 or 600 volunteers coming and going.

It’s an impressive operation.

Much of that early mission work has borne amazing fruit. I was privileged to bring your
greetings to the Presbyterian Reforn@Church in Cuba which finds itself suddenly free, since
1990,, free to operate ooh in the aye and re ees its sanctuaries are full, and it doesn’t have

pes owed
enough ministers. ve le Pree het is crow with bright, energetic, committed

young Cuban christians. sliitttiut 4

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I was privileged to Oo Sonctomncse Brazil and see one of the fastest growing Presbyterian

Churches in the world, collaborating in Brazil, interestingly enough, in theological education
with the Pentecostals. What an interesting combination - a Reformed theological seminary

helping the Pentecostals, the Pentecostals helping us.

And then to Central Europe, to bring your greetings to the Waldensians in Rome. and to the
Vatican, which is, indeed, interested in what’s happening in this church of ours in the United
States. Then to Croatia to bring greetings to Presbyterian partners in that tortured part of the

warld.

We were visitors in Osijek, a large city, 100,000 people, where 800,000 mortar shells fel! in
a very short period of time, and where 1,000 people were killed. Not combatants - we're
talking about children and women and people just doing their grocery shopping and hanging
up the wash. Then on to Vinkovsci, a small town where the Bishop of the Reformed Church
of Croatia and his wife live. He’s the pastor of the Reformed Church in Vinkovsci.
me 1 te po

Vinkovsci is where aittigeeit-ef ethnic cleansing took place. You've heard the horror stories
of one race simply killing other people because they’re Muslims or because they’re Catholics.
But ethnic cleansing also does something very devious. One side targets the heart of the
culture of the other side. The Serbians targeted the hospitals and the town hal! and the schools
and the symphony hall, and the churches, and there they gf were in ruins. The Serbians
bombed the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Vinkovsci, and so the Roman Catholics went down
the street and blew up the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, aati Gir little Reformed Church took
a direct hit. Because of our partnership and our generosity, a grant was made to repair rae fh
building and since the dakstiee poase-aceords were signed, the people are back, and Bishop
Langh and his wife are back and the building is patched up and the organ plays again. I was
invited because I’m Moderator of the Church that made all this happen, to receive the thanks,
the gratitude of this modest little church on the Sunday after Easter. I was there to preach and

to preside at Communion. What an experience to preach about the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, about what that means historically and what that means in terms of existential hope in
deva shake

a city that was fattened a-couple ef years-ago and nga where new life is beginning to happen.

What an experience to break the bread and serve the cup to a congregation of about 120

Croatian Presbyterians crowded in this little church, shoulder-to-shoulder. Croatians stand for

the entire ceremony of Communion and the pastor gives the bread to each person. Aid I saw

the tears on the cheeks of the Croatians, not only in gratitude to us, but, think, gratitude for

the larger fellowship of the church of which we are all a part.

Just three weeks ago today we were in Korea bringing greetings again to interesting and vital
and important mission partners. There are a lot of Presbyterian Churches in Korea. There
are big churches, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 members. We called on our partners in Hannam
A Gals Sctrof
University and Yong Sei University, and to girls schools and saw Presbyterian Christianity as
vigorously and vitally alive as any place in the world. We also visited the 38th Parallel. I’m
old enough to remember the events that happened in the Peninsula of Korea in the early 1950s
and saw that harsh barbed wire demilitarized zone on the other side of which one of the finest
and largest and most aggressive armed forces in the world, the North Korean Army, is perched
waiting for the order to invade. Seoul, by the way, is just a 35 minute drive from the 38th
Parallel, so we’re talking about the immediacy of danger. Let me tell you that among the
hopeful signs, and there aren’t many, but among the hopeful signs in the Korean Peninsula is
that on the north side of that harsh border, the 38th Parailel, in North Korea, the most closed
society in the world, a continuing Stalinist society, there are still 500 Presbyterian Churches.
All but two no longer have buildings. There are two operating in buildings, but there are 500

congregations meeting in homes, meeting secretly, waiting for the day of reunification. If

there is hope, it’s there. And let me tell you just one little vignette that touched my heart very

deeply. We have a fine Presbyterian executive who is in charge of our work in Korea. Insik
Kim is the secretary for that part of Asia and he is,-in fact, a North Korean, and because of
our long and faithful witness we have the respect of the North Korean government, as much
respect as they’re going to give any organization affiliated with religion, Insik is permitted
to get into North Korea and can bring back first-hand reports and while there he told this
touching story. There igaensweeut, a very distinguished Korean artist by the name of Kim as
well, who is now in his late seventies. He left North Korea, left his wife and smail child in.
1950 ecause he was openly a Christian and would have been executed, so he went to the
south and he has not seen his family since 1950. Ten million Korean families, by the way,
share that experience. It would be as if this country were simply divided in half and we had
not seen anybody on the other side of the divide for half a century. That's what it is to live

in Korea. Mr. Kim has not seen his wife or son since 1950. Somehow, our Insik and Mr.

Kim, the artist, got together.

Mr. Kim, the artist, told Insik his story and said, if you’re ever there in the village where ?'m
from and should happen to remember, would you see if my wife is alive? Would you just go
find out and bring me news back? Well, Insik did that. He found Mr. Kim’s wife and said,
your husband is a distinguished artist in the south. She said, 1 know, I’ve heard that. She
said, tell him I love him. Tell him 1 think about him every day. And come back before you
go back to South Korea. So Insik came back and she gave him a jar of honey and said take
this honey to my husband and tell him 1 love him and think about him, So Insik did it, took
the jar to her husband who could not believe the good news and in tears accepted the honey.
Insik called on this gentlemen a year later and the little jar of honey was still there. I eat it

because I know she thinks of me everyday, he said. I eat a bite every day and I’ve made it

last for a year. That kind of faithfulness, that kind of love transcends politics, transcends
military violence and because it is connected to the church and the cause of Jesus Christ I

think there is reason in the midst of that dark situation for a prospect for hopefulness.

This is a distinguished missionary church. Do you know that there are more Presbyterians in
Kenya than there are in the United States? Do you know that the fastest growing Presbyterian
Reformed Church in the world is in the Sudan where suffering is off the charts, but the gospel

of Christ is welcomed and churches are growing?

Well, once a year we Presbyterians have a national meeting called a General Assembly, part
religious parliament and part family reunion. I don’t know about you, but my family gets
together for a reunion once a year and I go to it, oh, maybe once every five years and it
doesn’t take long at a family reunion, I’ve discovered, to realize why we only do this once

a year.
flaughter from congregation]

As soon as you get together with your family you realize that this is a diverse group. We

don’t have a whole lot in common except our genes.

Well, the Presbyterian Church gets together once a year and because all those commissioners
are Calvinists, because they’ve felt the personal call of God to have an opinion about

everything...

flaughter from congregation]

... and because they are seriously convinced that we are not closeted, cloistered Christians and
that our faith exists in the marketplace. So the General Assembly can be an interesting event.
I was delighted to read something that old Charles Finney wrote in the last century, 1835.
Finney was a great revivalist and he was apparently worrying about the Presbyterian Church
because he wrote in a book on revivals and religion in 1835 the following: "These things in
the Presbyterian Church, their contentions and janglings are so outrageous, So wicked, so
ridiculous, that there must be a jubilee in Hell every year about the time of the meeting of the

General Assembly.”

{laughter from congregation]

Well, I don’t know about a "jubilee in Hell" but because we are worldly Christians, we do
reflect sometimes all together too accurately what’s going on in the world. And I propose
tonight that we are currently reflecting, too accurately, something the sociologists call a cultural
war. Cultural war is when ideology overtakes us. Cultural war is when the civil exchange
of opinions becomes the verbal equivalent of hand-to-hand combat. It’s a situation in which
you can’t compromise any more because you might betray your truths. It’s where the
moderate middle all of a sudden sounds like a waffling place. There’s an awful lot of that
going on right now in the Presbyterian Church. The Assembly did manage to stay together
this last year. We, as you know, decided to send to the Presbyteries a proposal to amend the
Constitution and the Presbyteries have now voted on that amendment and it has passed. When

I was moderating through those intense discussions, I knew that there would come a time along

about March, 1997, when a Presbytery would cast its ballots and this issue would be
adjudicated one way or the other. We really didn’t know which way it would go. Smart

money was betting that Amendment B would lose.

Originally everybody thought it would lose, but it won. I knew then that at some point in the
spring there was going to be a sizeable portion of the Presbyterian family deeply, deeply
disappointed, perhaps very angry. Before I knew how it would come out I was saying, in
every speech I could make, that I hoped we could find a way to somehow affirm the diversity
which exists in this beautiful church of ours, to hold onto one another and to respect the fact
that we do not agree on this issue, that we are as deeply divided in terms of the actual
percentage of Commissioners who voted on this issue as you can get. The vote is about 51
to 49 percent in terms of the Commissioner vote. So I’m calling on our whole family now,
in these critical days, to extend what Cliff Kirkpatrick, our new Stated Clefk calls an extra
measure of grace. We've been promised by advocates of Amendment B that there will be no
witch hunt and I hope that’s a good promise and I’m calling also on the other side, the people
who are vehemently opposed te Amendment B, to not walk away from this, to not declare
absolute independence, but for all of us, for Christ’ sake, literally, to take a big, deep breath
and to stand down and to step back and take the measure of what we've done. After the vote
there was a, I thought, a pure Presbyterian moment. The Moderator had met with people on
both sides of the issue and had decided that whoever won or whoever lost this vote would
have an opportunity to express themselves to the Assembly so when the vote was taken and
Amendment B was passed, the gay-lesbian organizations were granted ten minutes on the
docket to do with it what they wished. They could speak, but they decided instead to simply,

quietly, with great dignity, to walk into the Assembly singing a South African anthem, Walking

in the Light of God. And so in they came and there were 900 people before it was all over.
Gay Presbyterians, lesbian Presbyterians. But probably the majority were their parents and
their brothers and sisters and their heterosexual friends and their general supporters and they
walked in very quietly and some were wearing white stoles, memorializing Presbyterian gay-
lesbian persons who had died of AIDS. A remarkable thing began to happen. The
Commissioners sitting at their desks began, here and there to rise, to stand in solidarity. I
could see all this emerging from the platform. Then an even more remarkable thing began
to happen. People who had voted against them began to rise and stand in solidarity, and 1
thought, God bless this church of ours which is willing to debate and argue and fuss about this
most difficult issue. And having made a decision then, even in the midst of that intensity to
reach across the divide and try in some way to extend the compassion and love. and caring of
our Lord, Jesus Christ. If there is hope for our future, brothers and sisters, it is in the

replication of that moment, that spirit of inclusivity and compassion.

I think there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful about this church. I think there are some
things we need to be about. I think we need to reinvent our church in many places for the
21st Century. I think we need to learn how to start more new churches than we have for a
long time. We've been losing members every since I was ordained in 1963; I hope these two

facts aren’t connected, but...

[laughter from congregation]

_..a§ a@ matter of fact, we continue to lose members and about all I can see that we’ve done

for thirty years about that membership hemorrhage is wring our hands and being good

Calvinists, try to figure out who did something wrong and blame them for it. Conservatives
know who is at fault, it’s the liberals. The liberals know who is at fault, it’s the
conservatives. The evangelicals know it’s the social activists. The social activists think it’s
the conservative evangelicals. And I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. I think we haven't. been
quick enough to keep up with demographic change. Don Leiden, who is a wonderful
sociologist over at Hope College in Michigan, has called to our attention to the fact that
churches have always grown by reproducing themselves in larger numbers each generation.
Our birthrate went under zero twenty-five years ago. As did the Methodists and Episcopalians
and other mainline churches. Now, Sue and I have five children. We've done our evangelical

best.

flaughter from congregation]

We need to start 140 churches a year. We simply need to figure out how to do that. And
that means no longer people in Louisville or New York and Atlanta, it means the Presbyteries,
folks like you and me, have to figure out how to start 140 churches. Wher we do that, this
Presbyterian Church of ours will grow again. We need to get ourselves back aggressively on
the campuses of this nation. We need to be in the very places where young people are asking
the questions of meaning and life and the future, We need the gospel of Jesus Christ to be
in the marketplace of ideas. And we need an every-home publication. We need to tell this
family the good things about the Presbyterian story. The simple ancd-towaiate truth is that most
of what Presbyterians know about their church is bad news because it comes from papers
whose whole purpose is to tell bad news about. the church. So we will have an every-home

publication and I hope with the cooperation of the whole family we will figure out a way to

pay for and put into two million homes the story of what Presbyterians are about in this nation

and the world.

What’s ahead?

I think it all depends on how we conduct ourselves in these next two years. I believe that it’s
time to reach out to one another in that compassionate love of Jesus Christ, and perhaps to
stop using labels for one another. Wouldn’t it be something if in the midst of this dispute we
could continue our reading through First Corinthians to Chapter 13 where Paul suggests a
better way to be a church, a more excellent way, the way of Agape. Agape, which he defines
beautifully as love that is patient, kindness, gentleness, love that does not insist on its own
way. Can you imagine what a different place this church would be if we all became literalists
about that single phrase. We will treat one another with a love that does not insist on its own
way. You know I think if we did that, if we showed the world how to do that, how to
transform ideological combat back into a love affair, if we showed the world how enemies
become brothers and sisters, the world might find the Presbyterian Church interesting again,

might in fact want to know the source of that power of love to convert and to change lives.

This is a very precious church and it’s unity is one of the gifts that has been given to us. It’s
my profound honor every day this last year to put this cross around my neck, the Moderator’s
Cross. It’s actually three crosses riveted together and I hope that if we have an opportunity
to greet one another afterward you’ll take close look, and I hope you'll even hold onto this
cross a little bit, It’s wonderful; the edges are wearing off now. It’s like those wonderful

marble stairways in the cathedrals of Europe where people have been up and down so many

times they're worn smooth. Well, these crosses are worn smooth by the loving touch of
thousands, hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians. The idea for this cross and its symbolizing
of the unity of the Presbyterian Church was Harrison Ray Anderson's. Anderson was one of
my predecessors, the pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church. He cared very much about the
unity of the whole church of Jesus Christ, the ecumenical church, but particularly as
Presbyterian Church, for a very personal reason. It was Harrison Ray Anderson’s great-
grandfather, in the year 1861, who at the meeting of the General Assembly leapt to his feet
at that Assembly and in a moment of patriotic fervor made a motion that all Presbyterian
ministers should sign a loyalty oath to the Union. Well, in 1861 there were some Presbyterian
ministers and elders that didn’t think that was a very good idea. So as the War Between the
States loomed on the horizon, that motion had the effect of splitting the Presbyterian Church
into a southern church and a northern church. Anderson bore that split personally and felt
called by God to do everything he could in his ministry to reverse it, to heal it, to bring the
two branches back together. He travelled extensively and tried to cultivate influence in north
and south and persuade leaders to put the contlict behind and to get the church back together.
One time he was on the Island of, oeand I think he was inspired. He found these beautiful
silver, Celtic crosses and bought two and brought them home and gave one to the Moderator
of the southern church, a friend of his, and gave the other to the Moderator of the northern
church, a friend of his, and said these crosses are for the day when the two churches will
finally unite and the two crosses can be joined. Later, a third cross was purchased and given
to the Moderator of the old United Presbyterian Church in North America, You know the
story, I’m sure. In 1958, the first step toward Presbyterian reunion happened in Pittsburgh.
Two denominations joined, two crosses joined. And in 1983, in Atlanta, 122 years after his

great-grandfather made that motion and sadly, four years after he died, the two churches met

together. Two General Assemblies met side-by-side, passed overwhelmingly the Articles of
Reunion and there was a great celebration as the Presbyterian family finally got together. The
Service of Holy Communion was planned to celebrate the reunion and in the midst of that
Service of Communion someone was inspired to invite a welder to join the liturgy. The three
crosses were placed on the Communion table and the welder put the visor down and fired up
the gun and in a clatter of noise and shower of sparks riveted these three crosses together.
It was, brothers and sisters, a memorable, high and holy moment. There was not a dry eye

in the 15,000 people who were present.

This church of ours is a. precious legacy. I didn’t do anything except receive it as a gift from
my parents and my grandparents and the people in the church which handed on to me; the
legacy of Presbyterianism. Its unity, I happen to believe, is something that God gives the
church. It is the gift of the spirit and it is one which you and I are to treat lovingly and
carefully and honestly and compassionately. So will you join me in the effort to hold this
family together for another generation so that we can hand it on. And as we join in the
sacrament of Communion this evening, may we remember how precious this tradition is and

how important it is and how much it matters to the life of the world,

Thanks be to God. Amen.

06/04/97 16:34

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16:35 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER

"The Church Matters"
A Sermon by John Buchanan,
Moderator of General Assembly
Preached May 19, 1997 at 71st Presbytery of Arkansas, Jonesboro

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Startle us, oh God, with your word and open our hearts and our minds to your spirit. That

hearing your word we might also believe, andhat believing we might be willing to trust you

with our lives. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Our lesson this evening is from St, Paul’s First Letter to the early Christian Church in Corinth,

reading from the introduction to that letter.

Listen for God’s word.

For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among
you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong
to Paul," or "I belong to Apolos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to
Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except
Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know
whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to
proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ
might not be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The word of the Lord.

06/04/97 16:35 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER i4j003/018

[response from congregation]

Don’t you just love those Corinthians? There weren’t very many of them, maybe fifty,
seventy-five. Perched in one of the most cosmopolitan seaport cities in the Roman Empire.
Trade crossroads, merchants, tradespeople coming and going, there was a thriving marketplace
in downtown Corinth. There was a theatre, a synagogue, there=was a temple to Aphrodite
right outside town that employed one thousand working sacred prostitutes. This was an
interesting city. Here they were, perched in that precarious situation where the city virtually
ignored them and when it paid any attention to them at all, as Paul indicates in the introduction
to the letter, concluded that their ideas were foolishness. There they were and instead of,—
instead of sitting together and doing a little strategic planning about how to survive in Corinth,
instead of putting a mission plan in place about how to say a good word about Jesus Christ
that had a chance of getting heard in that interesting cosmopolitan city, the Corinthian

Christians decided instead to choose up sides and have a fight. How like a church.

And Paul, Paul was worried that that fight was so public and Tcthivlesseesincere-and so
vehement that the little church would whirl apart. It was, in fact, a public scandal. "Is Christ

divided?" he asked them, I think testily.

Now.they-wererthey-weretheologians in that-church. They took their theology seriously, it
was a serious theological dispute. Some said, "We belong to -we-belong—to=a Apollos.”

Apollos was apparently a professor from Alexandria who had stopped in at Corinth and had
his version of the Christian gospel and he collected some supporters and they believed this was

the way. "We're the Apollos’ party." And others said, "Well, we belong to Paul." Paul

06/04/97 16:36 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [004/018

would have been the liberal. Paul would allow anybody in the church, even the Gentiles.

And others said, "Well, we belong to Peter." Peter was the Torah Christian. The one who

began with the rule book —The Book of Order. And, others said, “Well, you all may belong
J

[notice the way after a year I’ve learned how to say y’all?]...
flaughter from congregation]

...you all might belong to Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but we belong to Jesus. We, we have

the real thing.” And to them)Paul writes, Is Christ divided? Be of one mind. Be in

agreement.

Several years ago at Wichita, at the event in which I first met Kathy Ulrich, we talked about
re-imagining, and at the end of that assembly the Presbyterian Church said, "Theology
matters." And it does matter. Afid last. year we elected a Moderator who reminded the
church that mission matters and mission does matter. And I’m suggesting this year that the
church matters. And that in these precarious and interesting times in which God has called
us to the Presbyterian Church, USA, it’s about time to say that loudly and clearly because if

we don’t say it loudly and clearly and hold onto one another we may, in fact, find ourselves

as divided, embarrassingly so as that group in Corinth.

These are interesting days, are they not, for the Presbyterian Church? We’re a,_weze-a big
church, stifr, We have 2.7 million members. | And while that’s not as many as we wish we
had, that’s still a lot of Presbyterians. Aid we have 11,400 congregations all over this

—_ ‘Serving God with distinction, Serving the Kingdom of Jesus Christ with

06/04/97 16:36 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM 35+ FOURTH PRESBYTER [@/005/018

commitment,-deep-commitment-to justice and peace and love and compassion. We have 68
colleges and universities that are still related to our General Assembly. pen 74 have mission
work in 87 different countries. And when we pull our funds and do our program together,

we spend $116 million per year, so we're a big operation. And we’re an old church.

It’s one of the joys of the Moderator of the General Assembly to be invited to preach at
church anniversaries. And-so.I"ve preached at a few 100s and a few 150s and a couple of 25s
and 50s, but I’ve also preached at a few 200th anniversaries and a 250th and a 275th, And
before the-axpenionce 3s over I'll be in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, preaching at the 300th
anniversary of the Lawrenceville Church just down the toad from Princeton. We have
churches on the shores of the bay down there that are more than 320 years old. WeveBeen—
here before the nation. Our predecessors, those crusty, stubborn Calvinists coming-Over nere
from Scotland and Northern Ireland brought with them a deep-seated suspicion of hierarchies
and monarchies and authority and so they brought with them the philosophic seedbed of the
American Revolution. So much so that William Pitt was-said-to-have remarked famdtsty-one—.
_tumf@on the floor of Parliament that sae mee called the skirmish in the Colonies

that "Presbyterian revolt."

And th¢p. when independence was won, those sons and daughters of John Calvin dove deeply
into the life of the nation and helped to write what historian Martin Marty calls the singular,
most Caivinismaseumitnmeverspreduced, public, Calvinist document ever produced - the
Constitution of the United States of America, With its suspicion of one another, with its >with-
it€realistic view of humankind, with its checks and balances and its continuing insistence on

the dignity of the individual,

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We're a big church and we’re an old church and we are a distinguished missionary church.
I’ve spent my life pretty much in and around cities and I’ve been concerned mostly about
urban ministry. And so it’s been a wonderful experience this year for me to have seen the
global pss worldwide ministries of this Presbyterian Church of ours and to learn a lot of
things I didn’t know before. Namely, that we Presbyterians are demekof the premier missionary
church in the United States. “That our missionaries were there first, we were there first and
with more resources than any other American denomination. So much so that all around the
world now there are Christian communities flourishing because of Presbyterian mission. We
are still related to 87 partner projects in 87 different countries. We still have more than 400
full-time mission personnel in the field and probably another 500 or 600 volunteers coming and

going. It’s sii an impressive operation.

Much of that early mission work has borne amazing fruit. I was privileged to bring your
greetings to the Presbyterian Reform Church in Cuba which finds itself suddenly free since

wae Free to operate out in the open, and suddenly its sanctuaries are full, it doesn’t have

enough ministers. Its seminary at Mi & is crowded with bright, energetic, committed

young Cuban christians.

_Poe I was priviledged to go on down to Brazil and see one of the fastest growing Presbyterian

Churches in the es Collaborating in Brazil, interestingly enough, in theological education
ay

with the Pentecostui What an interesting combination— Keder theological seminary helping

the Pentecostals, the Pentecostals helping us.

06/04/97 16:37 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [¢)007/018

And then to ge-te-Central Europe, WheresPdidii"t-know-mueh-about the réformechurett and

to bring your greetings to the ; A $s in Rome and to the Vatican, by the=iWay- Which
Pj
is, in , interested in what’s happening in this church of ours in the United States. And—

en to cored and- to bring greetings to Presbyterian partners in that tortured part

S a a large city, 100,000 people, where 800, 000 mortar
Ast A —_! it

shells fell in'a very short period of time, And where 1,000 people, “Hot combatants news——<~

of the world. | | We were visitors in @

we’re talking about children and women —" people just coing their grocery shopping and
pen \t

hanging up the wash, wereekilled: Amd then on to Wine ce a small town where the Bishop

of the Reformed Church of Croatia and his wife live. He’s the pastor of the Reformed Church

HG@GkG is where a little bit of ethnic cleansing took place. You've heard the
horror stories of one race simply killing other people because they’re Muslims or because
they’re Catholics. But ethnic cleansing also does something very devious. One Jouve targets
the heart of the culture of the other force the Serbians had targeted the hospitals and the
town hall and the schools and the symphony, nie ‘the-symphony-pleys ) “And the churches.,

And there they all were in ruins. | The Serbians bombed the Roman Catholic Cathedral in

ef, and so the Roman Catholics went down the street and blew up the Serbian Orthodox
Cabeceal and our ae R m Church took a direct hit.: Aid am of our i ah Lan
siceasiesice our generosity, a grant was made to ae ag building and since the datefaccords |
ieee signed, the people are back, and Pishop-beng" and his wife are back in=place and

the building is patched up and the organ plays again. As I was invited because I’m
Moderator of the Church that made al! this happen to receive the thanks, the gratitude of this
modest little church on the Sunday after Easter. I was there to preach and to preside at

Communion. What an experience to preach about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, about what

that means historically and what that means in terms of existential hope in a city that was

06/04/97 16:37 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM ++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [#)008/018

flattened a couple of years ago and now where new life is beginning to happen. ae |

an experience to break the bread and serve the cup to a congregation of about 120 Croatian
Presbyterians crowded in this little ohnt Shoulder-to-shoulder¢ Standing,—byathewey they
stand for the entire noresnony of aes and the pastor th@f€ gives the bread to each
person. Amdt see the tears on the cheeks of the Croatians: Not only in eratnd;fout 1 I ~
think gratitude for this larger fellowship of the church of which we are all a part.
And=ttameMiGitea. Just three weeks ago today we were in Korea bringing greetings again to
interesting and vital and important: mission partners _in-Kerea. There are a lot of Presbyterian
Churches in Korea. yaene are big churches, ,20, 000, 30, 000, 40,000 members. We called

yencanng

i University and } You's

~ University and to girls schools and saw
j

Presbyterian Christianity as vigorously and vitally alive as any place in the world. Am Tet

on our partners in Hi

visited the 38th Parallel. I’m old enough to remember the events that happened in the
Peninsula of Korea in the early 1950s and saw that harsh barbed wire demilitarized zone on
the other side of which one of the finest and largest and most aggressive armed forces in the
world, the North Korean Army, is perched waiting for the order to invade. Seoul, by the
way, is just a 35 minute drive from the 38th Parallel, so we're talking about the immediacy
of danger. Let me tell you that among the hopeful signs, and there aren’t many, but among
the hopeful signs in the Korean Peninsula is that on the north side of that harsh border, the
38th Parallel, in North Korea, the most closed wiciaiy. a aneeine Stalinist society ‘irmthe
_wesit>there are still 500 Presbyterian Churches. All but two no longer have buildings. There
are two operating in buildings, but there are 500 congregations meeting in homes, meeting
secretly, waiting for the day of reunification. If there is hope, it’s there, And let me tell you

just one little vignette that touched my heart very deeply. We have a fine Presbyterian

06/04/97 16:38 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM 72+ FOURTH PRESBYTER [009/018

ial

executive who is in charge of vet. We divide-the-world-into sections-and -we have a-seeretary

for mission for-cackesestion.

fact, a North Korean, and because of our long and faithful witness we have the respect of the

Wi is the secretary for that part of Asia and he is, in

North Korean government, as much respect as they're eng to give any organization affiliated

with religion. iin, because-efthis, is allowed-to get into that-sournry aad can...
incfa@t, bring back first-hand reports and while there he told this touching story. There is an
artist, a very distinguished Korean artist by the name of Kim as well, who is now in his late
seventies. He left North Korea, left his wife and small child in 1950 because he was openly
a Christian and-heswould have been at thaftime executed so he went to the south and he has
not seen his family since 1950. Ten million Rorcan families, by the way, share that

experience of-heing=divided. It would be as if this country were simply divided in half and
we had not seen anybody on the other side of the divide for half a century,.wetf that’s * what

and Mr, Kim the artist got together. Mr. Kim the artist told ou
story and said, if you're ever there in ig village where I’m from and should happen to

remember, would you see if she's ‘alive? “would you just go find out and bring me news

back? Well § “fi did that. He found Mr. Kim’s wife and said, your husband is a
distinguished artist in the south. She said, I know, I've heard that, She said, tell him I love

him. Tell him I think Spent him every day. And come back before you go back to South

Korea. So our Kim; Bt came back and she gave him a jar of honey ssc said take

this honey to my husband and tell him I love him and think about him. So ouf#

did, took it - the ‘husband who could not believe the good news and in tears accepted the

pees

honey. -Ourtn “ait called on this gentlemen a year later and the little jar of honey was
Kw iSaee 4
still there. He-had-been,—he-said I eat it because I know she thinks of me everyday, I eat a

06/04/97 16:38 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [¢)010/018

\ — \ ins i
bite ofthis every day, but I’ve made it last for a year. -Now fhat kind of faithfulness, that
kind of love transcends politics, transcends military violence and because it is connected to the _
church and the cause of Jesus Christ I think there is reason in the midst of that dark,~dark-—

prospect for hopefulness.

‘This is a distinguished missionary church. Do you know that there are more Presbyterians in
Kenya than there are in the United States? Do you know that the fastest growing Presbyterian
teform-body in the world is in the Sudan where suffering is off the charts but yet the gospel

of Christ is welcomed and churches are growing?

Well, once a year we Presbyterians in-this-country pause=hrourskirmishing and-we-go have
a national meeting called a General Assembly —Nowysif=you-ve-been you" know that” that
GeneraleAssembly~is part religious parliament, it's-also part family reunion. I don’t know
about you, but my family gets together for a reunion once a year and I go to it, oh, maybe
once every five years and it doesn’t take long at a family seuss ti discovered to realize

why we only do this once a year.

[laughter from congregation]
Families may be-bétiersin_the-abstract-than-they-are, ‘as"soon as you get together with youreig
family you realize that hey, this is a diverse group. We don’t have a whole lot in common

except our genes.

06/04/97 16:38 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +25 FOURTH PRESBYTER [@011/018

Well, the Presbyterian Church gets together once a year and because all those commissioners
are Calvinists, because they’ve felt the personal call of God to have an opinion about

everything...

flaughter from congregation]

. and because they are seriously convinced that we are "re not
f Pw Sa fAY
closeted, cloistered Christians. We boliove tha it gets. joinedin the an tl our-faith-and
——— tig / 6 iw

Alife. And-besausenat-traris” saibeeapthe General Assembly can be an interesting week, I
was delighted to read something that old Charles Finney wrote in the last = 1835.
Finney was a great revivalist and he was apparently worrying about the Presbyterian Church
because he wrote in a book on revivals and religion in 1835 the following: "These things in
the Presbyterian Church, their contentions and janglings are so outrageous, so wicked, so
ridiculous, that there must be a jubilee in Hell every year about the time of the meeting of the

General Assembly."
[laughter from congregation]

Well, I don’t know about a "jubilee in Hell" but because we are worldly Christians, we do
reflect sometimes all together too accurately what's going on in the worl, And 2k cece:
to -yesr tonight that we are currently reflecting, too accurately , scien leak sociologists call
a cultural war. Cultural war is when ideology overtakes ob. Cultural war is when the civil
exchange of opinions becomes the verbal equivalent of hand-to-hand combat. It’s a situation

in which you can’t compromise any more because you might betray your truths. It’s where

06/04/97 16:39 501 372 o110 HILBURN LAW FIRM 3+ FOURTH PRESBYTER [7012/0118

the moderate middle all of a sudden sounds like bet waffling place te-be. sna exe's va
awful lot of that going on right now in the Presbyterian Church. The Assembly did manage
to stay together this last year. We, as you know, decided to send to the Presbyteries=eF6ur-
choreh a proposal to amend the Constitution and the Presbyteries have now voted on that
amendment and it has passed. When I was moderating through those intense discussions, I
knew that there would come a time along about March, 1997, when a Presbytery would cast
its ballots and this issue would be adjudicated one way or the other, wiles really didn’t
know which way it would go. Smart money in=the=family at-thetepeint was betting that
Amendment B would lose. | Originally everybody kintisS5f thought it would ag but intieed it
won. -Agd I knew then that at some point in the spring there was going to be a sizeable
portion of the Presbyterian family deeply, deeply disappointed, perhaps very angry. Before
I knew how it would come out J was saying ,in every speech I could make that I hoped we
could find a way to somehow affirm the diversity which exists in this beautiful church of ours,

to hold onto one another and to respect the fact that we do not agree on this issue, that we

are as deeply divided and=allemesteevenly~divided in terms of the actual percentage of .
Commissioners who voted on this issue as you can get. The vote is about 51 to 49 in terms (a,
ofthe percent in terms of the acti Commissioner vote. So I’m calling on our whole family =
nowjn these critical — to extend what Cliff Kirkpatrick, our new Ste te Clerk calls an

extra measure of grace. We've been promised by advocates of Amendment B that there will

be no witch hunt and I hope that’s a good promise and I’m calling Ea on the other side,

the people who are vehemently opposed to Amendment B, to not walk away from ee) To

not declare absolute independence but for all of us, for Christ’ sake, literally, to take a big,

deep breath and to stand down aod to step back and take the measure of what we’ve done.

After the vote there was a, I thought, a pure Presbyterian moment. The Moderator had met

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with people on both sides of the issue and had decided that whoever won or whoever lost this
vote would have an opportunity to express themselves to the Assembly so when the vote was
taken and Amendment B was passed, the gay-lesbian organizationswes granted ten minutes on
the docket to do with it what they wished. They could speak, but they decided instead to
simply, quietly, with great dignity to walk into the Assembly singing a South African anthem,
\stawehing in the Light of God. And so in they came and there were 900 people before it was
all over. Gay Presbyterians, lesbian Presbyterians. But probably the majority were=not-
Probabig-thaurrajority were their parents and their brothers and sisters and their heterosexual
friends and their general supporters and they walked in very quietly and some were wearing
white stoles, memorializing Presbyterian gay-lesbian persons who had died of AIDS. A
remarkable thing began to happen, The Commissioners sitting at their desks began jhere and
there to rise, to stand in solidarity. I could see all this emerging from the platform. Acrd;~
—then an even more remarkable thing began to happen. People who had voted against them
began to rise and stand in solidarity anc I thought, God bless this church of ours which is
willing to debate and argue and fuss about this most difficult issue. And having made a
decision then, even in the midst of that intensity to reach across the divide and try in some
way to extend the compassion and love and caring of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If there is hope
for our future, brothers and sisters, it is in the replication of that moment, that spirit of

inclusivity and compassion.

long time. We’ve been losing members every since I was ordained in 1963; I hope those two

06/04/97 16:39 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM 322 FOURTH PRESBYTER [¢)014/018

facts aren’t connected, but...

flaughter from congregation]

_..as a matter of fact, we continue to lose members and about all I can see that we've done
for thirty years about that membership hemorrhage is wring our hands and being good
Calvinists, try to figure out who did something wrong and blame them for it. Conservatives
know who is at fault, it’s the liberals. The liberals know who is at fault, it’s the
conservatives. The evangelicals know it’s the social activists. The social activists think it’s
the conservative evangelicals. And I don’t think it’s anybody's fault. I think we haven’t been

a2 aer
#40 who is a wonderful

quick enough to keep up with demographic change.
sociologist over at Hope College in Michigan, has called to our attention and-askemfmour
serictis=mittemienmete the fact that churches have always grown by reproducing themselves in
larger numbers each generation. Our birthrate went under zero twenty-five years ago. As did
the Methodists and Episcopalians and other mainline churches. Now, Sue and I have five

children. We've done our evangelical best.

[laughter from congregation]

this Presbyterian Church of ours will grow again. We need to get ourselves back aggressively

on the campuses of this nation. We need to be in the very places where young people are

06/04/97 16:40 501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM ++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [#015/018

asking the questions of meaning ang life and the future. We need the gospel of Jesus Christ
to be in the marketplace of ideas. ‘is need an every-home publication. We need to tell this
family the good things about the Presbyterian story. The simple and terrible truth is that most
of what Presbyterians know about their church is bad news because it comes from papers
whose whole purpose is to tell bad news about the church. So we will have an every-home
publication and I hope with the cooperation of the whole family we will figure out a way to
pay for and put into two million homes the story of what Presbyterians are about in this nation
and the world.

—wan, yitat’s ahead,/I think it all depends on how we conduct ourselves in these next two
years. I d6 believe that it’s time to reach out to one another in that compassionate love of
Jesus Christ perhaps to stop using labels for one another, Wouldn't it be something if in the
midst of this dispute we could continue our reading through First Corinthians pale 3 = 5
Chapter 13 where Paul suggests a better way to be a church, a more excellent way, the way
of Agape. Aga, which he defines beautifully as love that is patient, kindness, gentleness,
love that does not insist on its own way, Can you imagine what a different place this church
would be if we all became literalists about that single phrase. We will treat one another with
a love that does not insist on its own way. You know I think if we did that, if we showed
the world how to do that, how to transform ideological combat back into a love affair, if we
showed the world how enemies become brothers and sisters, the world might find the
Presbyterian Church interesting again. yMight in fact want to know the source of that power

of love to convert and to change lives.

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This is a very precious church and it’s unity towne is one of the gifts that has been given to
us, by=ourepast. It’s my profound honor every day this last year to, one_of_the_firstthingst
do in Héemorningeis to put this cross around my neck, it#s the Moderator’s Cross. It’s
actually three crosses riveted together and 1.46 hope that if we have an opportunity to greet
one another afterward you'll take close look, and I hope you'll even hold onto this cross a
little bit, It’s wonderful, the edges are wearing off now. It’s like those wonderful marble
stairways in the cathedrals of Burope where people have been up and down thi6m- so many
times they’re worn smooth. Well, these crosses are worn smooth by the loving touch of
thousands, hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians. The idea for this cross and its symbolizing
of the unity of the Presbyterian Church was Harrison Ray Anderson’s. Anderson was one of
my PIeMECOSSOTS.. Incfaet, the pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church. aubhe cared very much
about the unity of the whole church of Jesus Christ, the ecumenical church, but particularly
as Presbyterian Church for a very personal reason. It was Harrison Ray Anderson’s great-
prandfather in the 4 1861, who at the meeting of the General Assembly, old-Reverend_
stead acer of the First Presbyterian Church-in--San—Francisee; andehe leapt to his
feet at that Assembly in a moment of patriotic fervor ame made a motion that all Presbyterian
ministers should sign a loyalty oath to the Union. Well, in 1861 there were some Presbyterian
ministers and elders that didn’t think that was a very good idea. So as the War Between the
States loomed on the horizon, that motion passieg> had the effect of splitting the Presbyterian
Church into a southern church and a northern church. Anderson bore that split personally and
felt called by God to do everything he could in his ministry to reverse it, to heal it, to bring
the two branches back together, He travelled extensively and tried to cultivate influence
in north and south and persuade leaders to put seat contsiet behind and for-cmmdageeut-loud to

get the church back together. One time in-Sugepe he was on the Island of Ione and I think

06/04/97 16:41 @501 372 0110 HILBURN LAW FIRM +++ FOURTH PRESBYTER [#017/018

he was inspired, He found these beautiful silver, Celtic crosses and bought two and brought
them home and gave one to the Moderator of the southern church, a friend of his, and gave
the other to the Moderator of the northem church, a friend of his, and said these crosses are
for the day when the two churches will finally unite and the two crosses can be joined. Later,
a third cross was purchased and given to the Moderator of the old United Presbyterian Church
in North America. You know the story, I’m sure, In 1958, the first step toward Presbyterian
reunion happened in Pittsburgh. Two denominations joined, two crosses joined. And then it |
wes ca in Atlanta. Finally, 122 years after his great-grandfather made that motion and
sadly, her years after he died, thet the two churches met together, ina#tfanta. Two General
Assemblies met side-by-side, passed overwhelmingly the Articles of Reunion and there was a
great celebration as the Presbyterian family finally got together. The Service of Holy
Communion was designaterl asathe-timne to celebrate eur eunion and in the midst of that
Service of cn anda somenine, was inspired. Bhoy invited’ a welder to join the liturgy;-and
igulctx tne erveies ‘emt on the Communion table and breygit the welder sut-andehe put
the visor down and fired up the gun and then a clatter of noise and shower of sparks Tiveted
these three crosses together. It was, brothers ane sisters, a memorable, high and holy

LA.

moment. There was not a dry eye of 15 ‘000 pecs were present , and there-wasn t 4 Ury eye.

—

in -thetror Se.

This church of ours is a precious legacy. I didn’t do anything except receive it as a gift from
my parents and my grandparents and the people in the church which handed on to me ‘the
legacy of Presbyterianism. Its unity, I happen to believe, is something that God gives the
church. It is the gift of the spirit and it is one with which you and I are to treat lovingly and

carefully and honestly and compassionately, So will you join me in thet effort to hold this

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family together for another generation so that we can hand it on. And as we join in the
sacrament of Communion this evening, may we remember how precious this tradition is and

how important it is and how much it matters to the life of the world.

Thanks be to God. Amen,

View the original scan on the Internet Archive →
Original file: Sermons/1997/051997 the church matters.pdf

John M. Buchanan

the church matters