A New Greatness

1997-10-19·Sermon·Mark 10:35-45; Philippians 2:1-11

MUSKINGHAM VALLEY
October 19, 1997

Good to be back home in Ohio _C whut

Good associations, friendships ... x

Muskingham Coll |
College of Wooster - 2 grads)

and enormous respect.

- Presbyterian Church gave me my sense of the

—_—eRNwN_aa
transcendent
—_—<—$—$———

——

-- Told me the story of Jesus

-- And slowly introduced me to something
marvelous — _
i \
a larger family neon?
-- Camp s

| was thrilled to learn that because of BAPC-_|
was part of Huntington Presbytery yr
Synod of PA.

working together.. .

Presbyterians all over the country

For 34 years | have loved being part of this
great tradition/church.

I’ve loved its commitment to the world and

involvement in issues.

—_—_—_—

foo fy — Canes

I’ve loved its self consciousness its

willingness to debate the issues even when |

anne _— a

don’t agree with its conclusions.

I’ve loved its commitment to education —

children and higher education.

—_—_>_ =

I’ve loved its community of scholars.
eH

And | love it for continuing to take the world

seriously by discussing the most critical and Biss
controversial issues of our day —Gexuali and
Sen = ees i

responsible, faithful behavior that reflect the

mind and Spirit of “CED

And so | hurt when we start to talk about

dividing the church | idgologicall

And when someone says we are a very sick

ower
Mad -
Pescoumd =

church,

Or when good, authentic, faithful brothers and
sisters in nes are ue’ nd maligned and

their credibility ~ iang with their peace of inne

- is intentionatty-destroyed — because of their

—_—_——_" re)

opinions - their faith positions.

AncH think it is supremely naive to conclude —
so simplistically 7 that we are in a post-
denominational age: $0 we can just all go our

own way while the Spirit creates a new thing.

<
Although | do believe we are not very good at
listening t to the Spirit and we do hold too tightly

to na past § roMAcrs _
and as MZ Mort relieve the last 7 words of

the church will be —“We never did it that way

aie
“Be,

before.”

I’m not proposing an uncritical love for the

ca an idolizing of its unity — not at all.

lama perhaps too proud son of the

—- 2 We w| ~ ai Geel Deecctepal m Vian. Uuik,
Spitink. Gage ab makers wbredued ty CArwe,
In Rome - in front of the Basilica of St. pater Shae

Reformation for eet

greeting the Pope — | had two feelings:
-- awe at the global scope of the church
and its rich history

oe and gratitude for my Presbyterian/
fates resi

Reformed tradition.

So — no uncritical love for church. In fact -— more

like a lover’s quarrel.
ee

Good precedent -

C.S. Lewis — Screwtape Letters, Wormwood and

Screwtape:

Loo tore —

— ited Cmunt -

—_—_—

“My Dear Wormwood,

| note with grave displeasure that your patient
has become a Christian.... There is no need to
despair; hundreds of these adult converts have
been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the

Enemy’s camp and are now with us...

One of our great allies at present is the Church
itself. Do not misunderstand me. | do not mean
the Church as we see her spread out through all
time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible
as an army with banners. That, | confess, is a
spectacle which makes our boldest tempters
uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to
these humans. All your patient sees is the half-
finished, sham Gothic erection on the new
building estate. When he goes inside, he sees
the local grocer with rather an oily expression

on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny

“These things in the Presbyteriz
Church , their contentions ané
janglings are so ridiculous; so wicked,
so outrageous, that no doubt there is a
jubilee in hell every year, about the
time of the meeting of the General
Assembly. And if there were tears in
heaven, no doubt/they would be shed
over the difficulties of the Presbyterian

urch.”

little book containing a liturgy which neither of
them understands, and one shabby little book
containing corrupt texts of a number of
religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small
print. When he gets to his pew and looks round
him he sees just that selection of hisneighbours
whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean
pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his
mind flit to and fro between an expression like
“the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the

next pew.”

+o Kk

Wits Cam The first to have a lover’s quarrel was St. Paul.

Two years ago we were asked to study 1
Corinthians. | did

TO PAGE 5

Good yrecedent (lovers’ quarrel —C.S.

s’ quarrel — all these

people living church but clearly

aes Chapter one “must have been written last
eek - for us.”

We hear 1 Cor., 13 Chapter mostly on
Saturday afternoon at 2:30 - actually 2:37 - © "37

during a wedding.

Not about marriage at all, but a church

fight((Cirea 50AD.

There they were, precariously perched —
pi a

—_——_

ignorant| ridiculed - and instead of tending to
business they close up sides and had a fight ...
an embarrassingly public fight.

Some said, “I belong to
(intellectuals)” - a philosopher: others — “I
belong to Peter (the conservatives),” others,

“Paul (the liberals),” others Jesus: “We have
_
the real thing.”) All the rest of you are wrong,
a ot

maybe heretical, outside the boundaries of

orthodoxy.

/
Paul wrote, “Is Christ divided?/ | appeal to

you that all be in agreement — that there be no

divisions among you - that you be united in the

same mind and same purpose.”

Two years ago at Wichita — “Theology

Matters.”
Last year -* ion Matters.”
pd " cn Matters.”
You and | belong to an old church. [nore

before the nation)\helped to form it - supported

the Revolution — helped write its constitution.

We have shared issues -\split over slavery
*. ee
— sexuality.

We are a big church:
e 2.7 million members
e 11,400 congregations

e 68 colleges

e Mission in 87 countries

We are a distinguished church and

once a year we get\together.

[Cuba, Brazil, Chile,
E. Africa, Sudan, Korea]

oatia, Zaire/Rwanda,

A Presbyterian General Assembly is a

wonderful event, not unlik@\a family reunion.
Reunions too arg annual, no more
frequently — for good reasons. \It’s great to be
together, but not for too long! It doesn’t take
long for you to kn6w why you only meet yearly.
Some of the family are a little different. Families
are diverse: egcentric aunt, frenetic nuclear

families, lively/singles, noisy teenagers. Some

PAGE-SA-INSERT

Mission stories —

e First Presbyterian Church - Havana, Hector
Hernandez qu.

e First Presbyterian Church - Community
cont Fortaleza bavi - children with

cups
* Croatia, Ociiek porkiediarly Vivlent athechs poble bhdss.
e Vinkovsci Rd Camb \
e Evangelical Seminary - Steve and Ort.
Michele Kurtz - ph, Aecf
e Agape, Peter Kuzmic en id

e Antol Belao
See Page 6 Sermon Unity?

e Korea
e Schools/hospitals
e Evangelism in service

e North Korea-500 churches Sad“.
LES Glan Underworl

e ineiteKim= Seance
T1640 Clolers
L4ito = Myrg~
We are an old - big - distinguished n missionary WI idl

church fd we are badly divided. d= \ \Maace™
: Yo iaicable >

auton
\Aa 208" Amendment B - Fidelity - Chastity = pass é by our Vn shy 4

| an 209" Amendment A - Fidelity - Integrity

Many had hoped the issue would be resolved
and we can move on.

Many want desperately for us to move on, I do.

(But-jwe are divided.
ct at

Presbytery vote for B was decision— Ces OL,
—

Reality is that the division was almost equal:
50:6 - a2 and the fact is that the issue of
sexual orientation and sexual behavior will not

go away after B - or A- or whatever comes

next.

Fact remains that Presbyterians of integrity and

faith differ on this one, and so\this issue

becomes - is this particular issue the one on
which we are willing to stake the future of our

church?
Some are saying yes.

lsayn o.\ wonder why we can’t agree to

disagree; re respect diversity and diff ce and

hold on to one another. | iphones Yusty, ~ how |
—

Whether we can or can’t will have a lot to do
NAaVe AION!

skh
with how we conduct the conversation.

Can we do it with civility, courtesy, love?

We are in a culture war.

Discussion becomes attack -

Dialogue = contention

People who differ look like enemies
Opponents are demonized

Oder ert
Motleretar’s respect for diversity looks like

weakness.

How can we get through this? ac Rogers
—

suggests a moratorium — stand down and
continue the conversation which actually just

began.

———$—_

We are still generating resources and energy.

Kathleen Norris in Christian Galt?
“In our ideological age, making room, especially
for those who disagree with us, is a dangerous
thing to do.”

Kathleen Norris suggests that these complex

. J
matters won’t be resolved legislatively.
— a

And | wonder if she isn’t right, |i.e., that we
Lee
Presbyterians — with our Book of Order — want

—

to reduce it all to resolution, policy, amendment

to our constitution.

Kathleen Norris: \“We might explore ways in
which poetic intelligence could be of use to
churches that seem to be in danger of
becoming just one more place in our society
where people become polarized over political

issues.”

Chur
So what if we reclaimed our oldest tradition? + | —

A community of praise and celebration.

We begin at i -- and we disti ish
e begin at worship/table -- an we distinguis

ourselves by our love and service.

Could we?

We have important work to do and | have high

—_____

hopes --

SEE PAGE 18

My hope and vision is based on the notion

that we are a reformed church, a church that

understands that reformation and creative

engagement _within-the culture is the tnadition.
Motto of the Reformers —

“Reformanda (?) —- Semper Reformata”

reformed and always being reformed — in

accordance with scripture and in engagement

with the world.

My hope for our church is that we will
always remember that church is not static, but
always changing + remember that we are a
reforming church, We began when an
individual, under the compelling call of God,
reimagined the church for the 16" century.

Max Depree(?) _headership jazz(?) only

organizations that will survive/thrive are those

that learn to initiate and manage change from
within the organization tant todior are

accountable for the continuous renewal of this

organization.” )

And that we will acknowledge that
reimagining and reformation is already

=_—

happening + as energy shifts and relocates from

national structures to congregations and as
new challenges and configurations and

requirements present themselves to us.

A reality — a shift in energy and money

| have seven ideas. | hope that we can and

will:

i
1) (Reinvent Church:>-We have a model that
doesn everywhere —

Urban and rural: decline - old model doesn’t

work.

The dilemma.) Heavily invested in real estate —
——— —<—_$_$

no longer in right place:| building designed to
serve a different era — a sociological

configuration that doesn’t exist any longer.

—

Declining resources; rising expenses

The response: one, at least, Commissioned lay
pastors is an attempt. /Jim Capps — retired

cattle rancher in Oregon - lay pastor of several

little churches thap are thriving under his
leadersh{i ip.

We need new, forms of “church” ... looser, not
tied to expensive buildings. See CWL

2) NCD wrkonaeet growth (handwringing
—_—— a ae
for 35 years) mostly trying to find someone to

blame: |we’ re not having enough babies; we te ;
not starting enough new churches eee
seismic population shifts ... nay sayers will not

accept non-judgment

Need 100-150 (one per presbytery annually.
Southern Baptist and Assembly of God are
having more babies and starting more

congregations.
-_

New ways to do it ?

Collaboration between GA, Synod, Presbytery

and congregations.

3) Communication: an every home Wx r| Wot

publication/ We don’t doit very well. = C\\__

4) igher Education2 a natural for us.
Mulder et al suggest relationship between

member declines and change in relationship
with colleges and attitude about higher
education and campus ministries.

- Colleges

- Campus ministries

- Moderator’s Forum

5) Global Mission

yaa

“Sin

ate

“——

We have a distinguished tradition in 87
countries — faithful witness — cite Global Ministry
E. Europe, Croatia, AGAPE proje¢t - Bosnia,

Croatia, Herzegovenia.

Cuba. /

/
Zaire - Kasai: 30 villages slestroyed
/
Brazil/Chile/Argentina [Reformation celebration
sponsored by the Grandmother-Mother-

Daughter]
Eastern Europe /
Soviet Union/Russia - New nations emerging —

new possibilities as churches emerge from

oppression.

6) Reclaim our commitment to be a racially

inclusive church in a racially inclusive society. -
scesiegeiniicneeeniah

Church burnings: a wake-up call and an

opportunity. Cite trip: Cliff Kirkpatrick, Curtis

Kearns, Pam Worthy, Larry Hill, Matthews

Murkland Presbyterian Church, “God didn’t

provoke, but will use.”

7) Tobe a Biblical church} body of Christ —

that attempts to model and live like Jesus, who

| mint

dined with Pharisees and prostitutes, rich and

poor, pious and sinners.

- inclusive

- attention to the marginalized

<_< ——— sc cere ——

- love for world

——

- hopeful

And one more>

8) Rebuild Trust

—————
It is our first and most critical priority. \|f we

can’t do this, all the rest is simply talk, If we

can’t - rr won't - trust one another, we might as

—_ ul

. our tents as a connected church.
| How

How?) Well, how about we just do it?
I

about we “just say yes to one another.”

My mail | we'll never trust until “they earn it.”

My family would have been a disaster: I’m glad

we risked trusting because w , e kids.
God’s love isn’t based on OU
by deciding to.

. You trust

—

How about we declare a cease-fire in the

cultural war that is raging within the church, a
pethidine

ever

general amnesty.

-—_—

Turn down the volume.| Stop maligning
neiulceadey alla faith, integrity into question.

Liberals and conservatives are not enemies,\but

— ey

brothers and sisters who diffe - but who are

united in their faith in Jesus Christ and

—_

commitment to his church and devotion to the

work of his Kingdom.

| call our whole church to repent, not only of our
—

sins, but of demonizing members of our own

family + to reach out to one another in the spirit

of the apostle who, addressing himself to a

divided church, wrote, My will show N you a more
excellent way. an speak in the tongues of
mortals and of angels but do not have love, | am

a noisy gong or clanging omeet\

And then went on...

(‘ove is patient;|love is kind; love does not
| insist on its own way.” What if we became

iteralists about that orsx-phrase.

This church of ours is a precious gift./ Those of
elias a” aa
us who are ordained promised in our ordination

to further its “peace, unity and purity.

NOTE: Not unity after we have peace and purity

— agresment= but central to the entire prize is
something we are given. .

Wouldn’t it be something if we actually did that -
- actually loved one another enough to show the

world what unity, with diversity, looks like.

SSS _
—_—_

Showed the world the transforming power of a

Gospel that turns ideological opponents into

brothers and sisters who can’t stop loving one

another and enjoying one anothef and praying

for one another|and caring for one another and

protecting one another and standing up for one

another.

Why, j we did that {the world might find us
interesting, might pay attention instead of

ignoring us/as-a-dectining;rigid;-moralistic little
sect consumed by its own bickering): wing if

we showed the world the power of love the

world might, as our Lord once intimated, even
might sod

ask or demand to know the secret of this
cS tem

amazing, transforming power\ Wouldn’t it be

SSS

something if the whole church were free to love
-_—_—_— ee}

as radically and inclusively as Jesus
\A\U Presbyterian Chu Church (U.S.A.), NC National

Association of Evangelicals, PLO, the

Witherspoon Society. | Pro = Chace \P FR, Semper Efuman d,
. \J otes c So Pic ing

| wear the cross 4 the idea was Harrison Ray

Anderson’s, one of my eredboneess treo
e —”
Ray Anderson worked for unity, reunion. His

—

great grandfather (1861) made motion -

Lek a traveling {with money donated by Japanese

Congregation. ona - 2 crosses — one for each
Moderator. iA third one added later.|In 1958 the

- inte

first step,| In 1983, 122 years after split, 4 years

after his death -- 3 crosses joined in Atlanta.

Memorableithrilling occasion of healing,

renewal and hope.

1926Minutes.
This church is reciouel It is our privilege to
serve it for awhile + to sing with that great

chorus which has been praising God before we
joined it and will go on after we are gone \ . to

strengthen it, and then hand it on to our

children and grandchildren.

~~, —

Thank you for all you do/for your faith in Jesus

Christ!and for the hope ‘you hold for the future.
Tr

Church Matters,| Your congregations \ this “Wee spur y=
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) the Holy —

Catholic Church - the church of Jesus Christ.

A NEW GREATNESS

10-19-97

The single best line from an American
motion picture this past year was when an
aspiring professional athlete bellows to his
hassled agent, “Show me the money!” | was on
an airplane, having exhausted all the reading
material in my briefcase and the seat back
compartment, including evacuation instructions
in case of an emergency water landing, so |
turned to the movie. “Show me the money?” |
loved it. | took out my notebook and wrote.
October 19. Stewardship Sunday. Show me the

money!

The fact is, we don’t say it that directly

here, in church. The fact is, we will go to great

lengths not to say it that directly. The fact is,
we have a whole ecclesiastic vocabulary of

euphemisms to avoid saying it directly.

A Princeton University sociologist
observed recently that while modern Americans
are quite willing apparently to talk openly about
the details of their sex lives, their bodily
ailments, even their own deaths, when it comes
to their money, a protective “cloud of secrecy”

descends on the conversation.

Ministers generally don’t like to preach
about money, will do anything to avoid asking
for it, will sometimes act as if we don’t
understand it or care about it, even though
historian Charles Beard says that our nation’s
history is best understood by looking at it
through the lens of economics, and even though
we have come to describe our common life in

this nation as a marketplace.

There is, however, a growing literature
which is taking us to task for our shyness about
money. Presbyterian theologian Robert Wood
Lynn went from teaching at Union Theological
Seminary in New York City to the Lilly
Endowment as director of the division which
deals with and makes grants to religious
institutions and causes. Lynn discovered that in
that world, religion was ill-informed,
unsophisticated and falling far behind
everybody else in our culture. And so, after
leaving Lilly, he is now focusing his
considerable abilities on helping churches and
church people think and talk creatively and
intelligently and intelligibly about money. Lynn
and Wuthnow plead with us to stop using

euphemisms and simply say it.

When the old European churches re-

invented themselves in the new world with its

commitment to non-established religion, which
meant the state would not fund religion from tax
revenues, they had a problem: how to pay the
bills. Lynn suggests that one of the most
efficient ideas the church came up with was
pew rentals. In a market economy, why not sell
seats in church? The best seats go for the
highest price, cheap seats in the back, one of
the results of which was that the paying
customers, the wealthier members of the parish
were front and center. It was, unfortunately,
also a devastating system, not only in terms of
its elitism, but because it helped the church

avoid the subject of money.

Let it be said that the pew rental system
here, which ended essentially in 1960, had long

since stopped being a major source of revenue.

in our recent sanctuary renovation

project, someone came up with a variation on

the old theme which had us in stitches. Mr.
McCasky was in the newspapers, arguing that
sky boxes are the key to a successful football
franchise, so why, the suggestion was made,
why not build sky boxes all the around our
galleries? They could have comfortable, swivel
seats, discreet access for late arrivals or early
departures, piped-in sound and TV for close-
ups, and best of all, juice, coffee and bagels.

Now the problem will all of this is that our
money, how we earn it and how we use it, is
very close to the heart of each one of us and
reflects our own sense of ourselves, our
expression of the purpose and meaning of our
lives. The market knows that about us. We buy
our clothes, automobiles, wrist watches, and
scotch to make a statement about who we are.
And, how we use our money finally reflects our

own singular truth, our own singular love.

Robert Wuthnow scolds ministers, not so
much because in our avoidance of the topic we
aren’t efficient money-raisers, but because we
are not speaking to challenging and helping our
people with one of the most important areas of
their lives. “Your people,” he writes, “are much
more concerned about how to work
responsively and manage their money wisely
than they are about the propriety or impropriety
of a Robert Mapplethorp photograph.”

[Opinion, October 2, 1997, “Churches’ Financial
Woes: a Crisis of Spirit]

So — this is Stewardship Sunday, the day
when we hope to persuade one another to give
enough money to pay all the bills next year and
maybe even aliow a few of our programs to
grow. We have, for instance, made a new
commitment to Christian education and youth

ministry reflected in two part-time positions

becoming full-time Associate Pastors and we
are looking for those two new people now. We
are, for instance, continuing to expand our
commitment to our neighbors and their children
in educational outreach in a new scholarship
program and in tuition supplementation in our
Day Care Center. We hope to do more in
Guatemala next year, and Cabrini. So yes, we
need money. We get about a third of what we
need from our endowment, which represents
the faith and love of those who have gone
before it. Two thirds of what we need comes
from you. So, | invite you to give because this
institution needs help ~ but also because | know
~ that you and | need to give, need to use our
resources intentionally and faithfully, for the

health of our own spirits.

And that, finally, brings us to the text for
the day, Mark 10:32-45.

They were on the road, going up to
Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking
ahead of them; they were amazed,
and those who followed were afraid.
He took the twelve aside again and
began to tell them what was to
happen to him, saying, “See, we are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son
of Man will be handed over to the
chief priests and the scribes, and
they will condemn him to death; then
they will hand him over to the
Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit
upon him, and flog him, and kill him;
and after three days he will rise
again.

James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, came forward to him and
said to him, “Teacher, we want you to
do for us whatever we ask of you.”
And he said to them, “What is it that
you want me to do for you?” And
they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one
at your right hand and one at your
left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to
them, “You do not know what you are
asking. Are you able to drink the cup
that f drink, or be baptized with the

baptism that | am baptized with?”
They replied, “We are able.” Then
Jesus said to them, “The cup that I
drink you will drink; and with the
baptism with which | am baptized,
you will be baptized; but to sit at my
right hand or at my left is not mine to
grant, but it is for those for whom it
has been prepared.”

When the ten heard this, they began
to be angry with James and John. So
Jesus called them and said to them,
“You know that among the Gentiles
those whom they recognize as their
rulers lord it over them, and their
great ones are tyrants over them.
But it is not so among you; but
whoever wishes to become great
among you must be your servant, and
whoever wishes to be first among
you must be slave of all. For the Son
of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life a ransom
for many.”

“Whoever wishes to become great among

you must be your servant.”

One of the most amazing and successful
missionary endeavors in the history of
Christianity is the story of the Presbyterian
Church in Korea. Presbyterian presence in
Korea today is about the equivalent of the
Roman Catholic Church’s presence in our
culture. Itis huge. There are large
Presbyterian Churches in every city and village.
Some of the biggest churches in Seoul have
30,000, 40,000, 50,000 members. There are
wonderful Presbyterian universities, hospitals,
secondary schools and welfare agencies. The
women of the Presbyterian Church Korea, long
denied access to leadership, formed over the
years, a church within a church with their own
headquarters building and foreign mission
program. Korean missionaries are ali over
South America and North America. | was
astonished to find myself at a meeting last year

with the Korean Presbyterian Presbytery in

Santiago, Chile. Every Presbyterian Church has
on the steeple a red neon cross and at night,
approaching a city or looking out a hotel
window, one sees many red crosses in the night
sky, an affirmation of the presence of the

church and the gospel.

it began in 1885 when two missionaries — a
Methodist and his wife, and a Presbyterian by
the name of Underwood, arrived from Tokyo.
Korean Methodists and Presbyterians argue
about who arrived first. The Methodists claim
that since Underwood was a Presbyterian and
thus a gentleman, he must have deferred to the
Methodist missionary’s wife and allowed her to
get off the boat first. Presbyterians remind the
Methodists that their man was calied back to
Tokyo, so Underwood, who walked all the way
to Seoul, was the first Protestant. Roman
Catholic missionaries had been working in

Korea for years.

When Presbyterians visit Korea, they
always ask how did it happen? Why is
Christianity so successful here? What are you
doing that we aren’t doing? We asked those
questions to Don [ik Kim, pastor of the oldest
Presbyterian Church, Underwood’s church, and
he told us that there were four periods of

dramatic growth, each with a particular story.

Five years after Underwood arrived,
Severance Presbyterian Hospital was delivering
western health care in Seoul. And in 1890 there
was an enormous cholera epidemic. Fifty
thousand Koreans died, many of them simply
abandoned in the streets because of the
absence of health care facilities. Christians,
Presbyterian members of that congregation,
Sac-Moon-An Church, went into the streets and
picked up the sick and dying and took them to

the hospital or ministered to them. And the

government wondered and inquired, “Who are
these people who care for the dying? Why do

they do this?” The government, in the midst of
the 1890 cholera epidemic, began referring to

Christians as the “angels.”

in 1910 the Japanese invaded and
occupied Korea and the Presbyterian Church
was involved in a huge public protest, and later,
when the Japanese ruled that all public
meetings, including Christian worship, must
begin with a Shinto ceremony and Presbyterian
pastors were imprisoned and executed for

refusing, the church added 200,000 members.

In 1950 when the armies of the north
invaded and the church provided social
services and food and shelter, its membership
doubled.

And in 1980 in the midst of a military
dictatorship when the church once again stood
with the people and Presbyterian leaders were
publicly reprimanded and imprisoned, the

church grew rapidly.

There is, apparently, a connection
between the greatness of the Presbyterian
Church in Korea, and its willingness to serve its
country, its people, with courage and

determination.

There is in the Korean story a direct
relationship between greatness and service
which is exactly what Jesus told his disciples
one day. It’s a wonderful story. An aimost
embarrassingly human and contemporary story
and an occasion of one of the clearest
articulations of the essence of Jesus’ own faith,

his sense of his own life, anywhere in the Bible.

They’re on the road to Jerusalem. Three
times he has tried to warn them that there will
be suffering and persecution and quite possibly
death when they arrive in Jerusalem. His
friends are amazed and afraid, as well they
should be. And it’s precisely at this moment
that James and John, two of his dearest and
closest friends, come to him and instead of
standing with him in his hour of trial, instead of
trying somehow to encourage and support him
as he walks toward his own hour of truth which
he knows, increasingly, will be his hour of
death, instead of compassion and kindness and
elemental human decency, they use the moment

to ask for a favor.

They still think this is going to come out all
right. They still think his arrival in Jerusalem
will result in something good - like his

becoming the king, the leader, number one in

Israel. And when it happens, whatever it is,
they, James and John, would very much like to
be at his right hand and left hand in positions of

power and prestige and visible greatness.

It had to have been one of the most
devastating experiences in his life. Where have
they been? Haven’t they seen and heard a
thing? Did they completely miss the point when
he put the little chiid in their midst, or told the
rich man to sell his possessions? Were they
deaf and blind?

It’s so embarrassing that Matthew softens
it a bit for us by having their mother ask the
question. But Mark writes first and so it must
have been James and John who ask it. Jesus
does not scold them. In fact, there is a very
interesting sense in which he accepts and even
affirms their question and what lies behind it —

their ambition, their desire for greatness.

They simply have the definitions wrong.
it’s all right to want to be great. But greatness
is not what you think. It’s not about sitting at
the right and left hand of the king. It’s not about
having lots of money or even lots of professional
success. In God’s kingdom, which Jesus
believes is now the operational reality in the
world, greatness is measured by service.
“Whoever wants to be great must be the servant

of all.”

That’s a bit of a jolt, isn’t it? In an obvious
way it challenges a basic, foundational rubric of
the culture—market in which you and I live and
work and earn and spend. Greatness is
bigness. Greatness is political power,
corporate success, a big salary, a big batting
average. [t shapes the way we think and live. It
results in our brightest and best, no longer

going into teaching, social work, ministry, even

law and medicine. Our best today are in
business, economics, management. The text
challenges the culture to find ways to heal itself:
to celebrate the teacher, for instance; the
young woman or man who consciously chooses
to limit her or his financial future in order to
teach children. Or the social worker, or police
officer, or the nurse or physical therapist.
Jesus would call them great. Or - and this is
the critical point - the man or woman who has
achieved a measure of this world’s greatness
with its rewards and then finds a way to invest
it, give it, use it for the service of one’s fellow

human beings.

And the text is a joit to the way we think
theologically. Lamar Williamson puts it
beautifully. The text challenges “any simplistic,
self-centered understanding of discipleship.
Getting right with God by coming to Jesus is not

simply a basic factor in an ordered life.

Discipleship wili mean more trouble, not less ...
Jesus is likely to be disruptive.” Interpretation,
Mark, p. 195]

It means that at a basic level, religious
institutions are great, not because of their
beautiful architecture, or robust budgets, or
growing membership roles, but because of the
service they provide to their neighbors, the
world, their communities, the needy all around
them. It means that the purpose of the
endeavor is not merely to assure us that we are
the objects of God’s unconditional love, but to
teach us to live our lives fully by expressing that

same love to others.

It means that the purpose for the whole
enterprise: your being here this morning
instead of somewhere else; this church being
here instead of Nordstrom’s — is to advocate for

greatness — a new greatness based not on

wealth, power, success, bottom fine, influence,
but very simply, on the people who are served,

helped, loved, affirmed.

When Mother Teresa died, | went to my
shelves to find and reread a little book entitled
Something Beautiful for God. It’s about Mother

Teresa and it was written by Malcolm

Muggeridge, British journalist, intellectual

gadfly and long time editor of Punch Magazine.

Muggeridge was sent to Calcutta by the BBC to
do a TV special on an Albanian nun whose
ministry was picking up the wretched dying
from the streets of the city and taking care of

them in the hospice she had established.

Muggeridge, a skeptic theologically, who
had very little good to say about religion
generally, was swept off his feet. He observed
the simple rituals of the Sisters of Charity which

Mother Teresa founded and headed: how, after

morning prayers they went to work on the
streets and in their orphanage and hospice. He
listened in awe as she told about her simple
purpose, to “bring the dying within view of a
loving face” and how she told him that “tt is
being unwanted that is the worst disease that
any human being can experience.” Muggeridge
chuckied as she told him that the Indian
government had given her a free rail pass but
what she really wanted was a free airline pass
to visit her many convents and when she was
refused, how she offered to work as an airline
stewardess in exchange for one - a prospect

Muggeridge called “delectable” and | do too.

Muggeridge observed how effectively
Mother Teresa communicated the claims of
Christians without preaching: that people know
and understand the truth by seeing it lived, in
the same way, apparently, that crowds of

people were enchanted by Jesus because what

he said and did was not austere, rigid,
judgmental religion, but love lived out by
accepting, affirming, touching, and loving all

who came within its magnetic pull.

And Muggeridge observed one thing more
~ her joyfulness, her happiness, in the midst of
what for any of us would be unimaginable
austerity, poverty, filth, stench, uninterrupted
suffering - a community of remarkably and

profoundly joyful women.

He wrote, “There is much talk today about
discovering an identity, as though it were
something to be looked for, like a winning
number in the lottery; then, once found, to be
hoarded and treasured. Actually, in a sort of
Keynsian principle, the more it is spent, the
richer it becomes. So, with Mother Teresa, in
effacing herself, she becomes herself. | never

met anyone more memorable.” [p. 16]

When she died the whole world paused
and, | believe, took stock for a moment. And in
the midst of the state military funeral India
provided, saw with momentary clarity the truth
that Jesus taught and that Jesus was ~ namely

that true greatness is in becoming a servant.

This incident concludes with Jesus
reflecting out loud on his own life. “The Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve and to

give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus forever changed, in that one
sentence, the way we think about God and
religion. itis the nature of God to serve, to give,

to empty self for others.
That was so radical, his contemporaries

could barely hear it. They believed God was

most like a holy judge whose concerns for the

human race were to make sure the law was
obeyed and standards of purity and cleanness
were maintained. Their religion was a system
by which God's holiness and human purity were

celebrated and protected.

And here is this man, this unforgettable
man with his radical ideas that God is far more
concerned about compassion and service than
about ritual purity: far more interested in
service than in religious power and prestige.
And then he goes about living it —- healing,
accepting, reaching out, welcoming the
children, the old ones, the sick and lame and
blind and diseased, the unclean, the taboo, the
socially rejected -- and keeps on living it on the
road to and then dramatically in the heart of his
nation — his people, and then incredibly, keeps
pouring himself out, until on a Friday afternoon
he dies - so that a few years later one of his

followers will write

Let the same mind be in you that was

in Christ Jesus.

Who emptied himself

taking the form of a slave.

Therefore God also highly exalted

him.

Let the same mind be in you— that’s you
and me — loved by the Lord, ransomed, set free
from whatever about us or about our worid
inhibits us, restrains us, chains us to lesser
goals and aspirations and challenges us to

become great men and women.

Who, in our better moments, God-given
moments, know that it is in service to others, to
those who need our love, our strength, our help;

that it is in emptying ourselves that we become

ourselves: that in our service is our true and

only greatness.

Malcolm Muggeridge tells an entrancing,
fascinating story of filming Mother Teresa in her
convent. It was in the late afternoon. The
cameraman insisted that it was too dark to film.
A heated discussion ensued. Muggeridge
convinced him to give it a try even though
everyone knew there simply wasn’t enough
light. When the film was processed, Mother
Teresa and her convent was “bathed ina
particularly beautiful soft light, like the kindly
light in the old hymn.” “This love is luminous,”
he wrote, like the haloes artists have seen and

made visible around the heads of the saints.”
[p. 44]

Well, maybe. But what! know is true, with
everything in me, is that God is love and God’s

will for you and me is that we know that love

and live out the rest of our days rejoicing in that
love and sharing it, passing it around, among
those who need it — and in the process
discovering that we are having a great time,
that we are doing great things, that we have
become, because he said, great in our service,

great in our love, great in our generosity.

Amen.

CHURCH MATTERS

“What's it like being Moderator?” my son
asked me. | had to say, “It’s great. You travel
around to interesting places and every time you
walk into a room, people stand up and clap for

you.

It’s a nice’custom. I’m trying to encourage
it at home —An my office and with my family . . .

but it’s not going over well there.
know what it means and | am grateful.
It means you have deep loyalty, affection —

and love for this church of ours — and that, |

think, is very important these days.

Because if all you know about the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are criticisms of
laymen and GAC response everyone agrees the

church is in trouble.

In the August edition of the Atlantic
Monthly, there is a major article everybody is
reading on The Next Church. The church of the
future. It’s about the new, huge mega churches
... churches with membership in the tens of
thousands, with enormous professional staffs,
churches that work very hard not to look and
feel like traditional churches: hymns are
“songs,” sermons are “messages,” overhead
projectors instead of hymnals, light rock
instead of Bach, synthesizers instead of pipe
organs. Building complexes which are referred

to as campuses and which resemble shopping

. Ngan — so Lol, emis litre.

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fapetctc - Cpanncber | he UP

MODERATOR’S REPORT
209™ GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JUNE 14, 1997

This is an extraordinary church. I have loved it all my life and after a year of service as
Moderator, visiting its congregations, presbyteries, synods, GA Mission programs in this country
and abroad, its colleges and seminaries and networks, I love it even more. And I am happy to
report to you that in spite of what you might read about us in the press - or in the newspapers
printed by various parts of our own family who want us to be different and who hold us up for
criticism, in spite of that, I’m happy to report that we are a strong and vital and creative and
mission minded and faithful church of Jesus Christ and that there is much about which to be
hopeful and positive and deeply grateful. And if that is news to you, you might want to try
reading a different newspaper, or at least expanding your horizons a little bit. May I suggest the
brand new Presbyterians, “Being Faithful to Jesus Christ” which we are introducing at this
Assembly, and which you may receive in your home, four times a year, and which will tell you
every three months, good news about your Church.

Thank you for the honor of serving as Moderator of the General Assembly. It has been a
great privilege, an exciting and exhausting adventure and I shall never forget it.

My heart is full of gratitude to Moderators who have preceded me and shown me how to

do it. I think particularly of Bill Laws who, in 1970, led us with grace, faimess and conviction in
stressful times.

And I want to thank the people with whom I have been privileged to work:

« Gay Mothershed, our gracious Vice Moderator.

* The General Assembly staff at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, particularly
Valerie Small and Diane Dulaney.

« Cliff Kirkpatrick,our distinguished Stated Clerk,and personal friend.

* Frank Diaz and Youngil Cho who have led this year with stability and courage.

* Executives of Board of Pensions, Foundation, PILP, Publishing Corporation, who
have established a new style of collaboration and cooperative leadership.

« The General Assembly Senior Staff , Eunice, Curtis, Gwen and Bob, who serve our
church with great dedication.

* The Commissioners to the 208" General Assembly who elected me;

* The people of Fourth Presbyterian Church who allowed me to be away and supported me

with encouragement and prayers, and who have thrived this year without me.

« My circle of friends from Chicago, Columbus, and Altoona, PA, who have been with us
all year and have come to be with us today.

¢ Sue, my wife, my children and son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, whose love
and support sustained me all year long.

I have been pleasantly surprised, every singie day at how much affection and pride
Presbyterian people have for their church. The Moderator receives it every time people rise and

applaud. But ail Moderators know that the affection is not for us personally, but for the office
and what it symbolizes: the history, unity and mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.}

[ have received a lot of mail: much of it expressing anger, pain, concern about the issue

which has dominated our life this year. But, also encouraging letters, letters expressing the hope
and love of Presbyterian people.

This one arrived on December 15":

“Dear Mr. Moderator,

When things get frustrating and discouraging, please remember that people
you don’t even know are earnestly praying for you and for our church. What a
cloud of witnesses!

May God give you grace, strength and wisdom for your office.
tn Christ,
Jim Gooch and the Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Corsicana,
Texas”

Presbyterian congregations are worshipping faithfully, baptizing their infants, teaching
the children, standing with their young people, learning and growing in faith and engaging in
mission where they are with unique faithfulness. Presbyterian congregations are feeding the
hungry, sheltering the homeless, counseling the disturbed, advocating for the oppressed every
where.

And they are doing it with consistent joy from Fifth Avenue Church in Manhattan to John
Knox Church in a racially mixed neighborhood in Los Angeles, from First Church downtown
Atlanta to Community Presbyterian Church, Millwood, Washington.

At our best we Presbyterians have a twinkle in our eye. It’s theological for us. We know
about grace, we know that none of us deserves to get into the kingdom. We’re in because God

has invited us in — so there is an element of joyful playfulness at the heart of the enterprise at our
best.

At San Rafael, California, Norm Pott used me as a prop in his children’s sermon. He told
about the cross and invited the children to give the Moderator a “high-five” and then not wash
their hands for the rest of the day.

_ Fairlington Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, Virginia, invited me to preach for the
church’s 50° Anniversary. Now the Moderator receives many more Sunday invitations than
he/she can accommodate, so difficult decisions must be made. Sometimes the invitations are
creative in order to influence the decision making process. Fairlington’s, for instance, was three
pages long, and said “Mr. Moderator, believing like you do that “church matters,” we, the
congregation of the Fairlington Presbyterian Church hope and pray you will honor our request
and come and speak to our congregation.” Attached was a petition signed by 108 members of the

church. Well, who could resist that? Jan Edmiston and Fred Lyons are co-pastors and as Jan
was introducing me in worship she said. “Mr. Moderator we have a confession to make. You
know that petition with all the names on it? Well, if you looked closely you’ll see that the
handwriting is very similar for many of them. After we sent it | was looking at a copy of it and I
noticed that. I noticed that there were names on that list of people | know were out of town on the
Sunday we passed it around. And then I noticed names of people who used to be members but
have moved. And then I noticed the names of a few members of Fairiington Presbyterian Church
whose funerals I’ve had recently. [ was horrified. I called the Elder in charge and she said, “yes,
as a matter of fact, we didn’t get many signatures — so the committee signed for people we
thought might like a moderator visit... Same for the ones who died. We chose the ones we
thought might like it. Besides the Moderator’s from Chicago, he’il understand that. That’s how
they elect alderman, isn’t it?”

[ have visited 72 of our Presbyteries and even though we love to complain about
Presbytery meetings, I’m pleased to report to you that our Presbyteries are functioning effectively
and nurturing community. I traveled to the Presbytery of South Dakota in the dead of winter, the
tiny plane circled the field several times before deciding to land on the snow packed runway. On
the ground I discovered a Presbytery of 70 congregations, mostly small, scattered all over the
state — and those commissioners were happy to be together. We had a great roast beef dinner for
the occasion. I’m not sure they weren’t pulling my leg a little but they told me our dinner was
waiking around in the pasture earlier that same day. While I was there, the Executive Presbyter
Richard Melin told me what the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) means to the people of South
Dakota. It was a rough winter with huge, disastrous snow accumulation. 100,000 cattle died in
South Dakota, many small ranches went bankrupt. Almost all ranches lost fences, barns, heavy
equipment. Snow is a benign disaster, Rick explained. It looks pretty, but people here are
desperate and alone. And grateful for an immediate grant from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A_),
One Great Hour of Sharing to start the relief process and for the 20 Presbytery volunteers from
the Synod of the Trinity who traveled to South Dakota to help rebuild.

Iam happy to report to you the health and vitality of our seminaries — I’ve visited and
spoke with students at every one of them. Our community of scholars is one of our most
precious treasures. Our Presidents and faculties care deeply about the church and their role in
educating leadership for the future.

Our colleges and universities are asking the critical question of how they can maintain a
more important and closer relationship with the church and I am greatly encouraged that there is
a new day for our ministry in higher education.

And New Church Development, we know the New Church Development is the strategy
which will allow us to obey our Lord’s mandate and at the same time to take seriously our
membership loss. We’re thinking about NCD, and we're doing it, and we need more - more
plans, strategies and resources

We are an old church. [I’ve brought the greetings of the whole church to congregations
celebrating anniversaries - 50", 100", 200", 250", 300", We have congregations on islands off
the coast of South Carolina that are almost 325 years old. This is the 209" General Assembly, but
we were here a century before that. Our Presbyterian Scots-Irish ancestors were among the first
settlers in the new world and they brought with them their Calvinist suspicion of authority and
hierarchies and monarchies and their insistence that individuals have God given rights and
responsibilities for their governance. They provided the philosophic/theological rationale for
revolution, so much so that William Pitt, on the floor of parliament, referred to the skirmishes at
Lexington and Concord as that “Presbyterian Revolt.”

After Independence was won, we Presbyterians helped to write a constitution and build a
nation and because our theology is Reformed we expressed ourselves on all the matters of
concern in the society and brought into our courts and meetings and worship services the issues
that were vexing and troubling and sometimes dividing the nation: slavery, war, economics,
poverty, race.

We are an old church.

And we are a big church. There are still 2.7 million of us. And the polls indicate that
perhaps twice that number think of themselves as Presbyterians. There are 11,400 congregations,
68 colleges and universities and we are in mission in 87 countries.

And we are a distinguished Missionary church. Presbyterian mission activity began in the
middle of the last century. Presbyterian missionaries were often on the field first and always with
their Reformed concern for evangelism and social justice, establishing churches but also
everywhere schools, colleges, hospitals.

The Moderator brings greetings and encouragement to our Mission personnel and our
mission partners on behalf of the General Assembly and so we were privileged this year on your
behaif to visit:

« The Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba

* The Presbyterian Churches in Brazil, Chile and Argentina

« The Waldensians in Rome

* The Vatican Secretariat for Ecumenical Relations, bringing greetings to Pope John Paul I
* The Reformed Church of Hungary

* The Reformed Church of Croatia

* The Presbyterian Church of Korea and the Korean Presbyterian Church

Because of the faithful and courageous witness of missionaries 100 years ago there are
today thriving indigenous, partner Presbyterian Churches all over the world.

There are more Presbyterians in Kenya than there are in our nation.

There are strong Presbyterian Churches and hospitals in the new Republic of the Congo
and the Sudan.

In Cuba — our Presbyterian partners are now free to live as a church in a new way. with
amazing results. Churches are full — bursting at the seams. The Seminary at Matanzas is full of
bright, committed young students and the new President, Ofelia Ortega, will be our preacher
Tuesday night at the Ecumenical Worship Service.

In Brazil — the dynamic Presbyterian Churches are moving toward reunion as they are in
Chile — a development that will greatly enhance their evangelical witness in those two critically
important nations.

In Argentina, a group of 15 wonderful young Presbyterian young adult Volunteers in
Mission traveled, some for hundreds of miles, to meet with the Moderator and to hear a word
from home. They live on a shoe string so I bought their dinner - I hope you approve.

In Croatia we spent time with our mission workers in Osijek, a beautiful old city that
sustained serious damage in the recent war. We support a seminary in Osijek and Agape, a
refugee resettlement project. We visited a feeding center — the refugee problem in Croatia is
horrendous. Osijek is flooded with Bosnian Muslim refugees, Serbians, and Croatian Catholics,
Orthodox and Muslims, all of whom have suffered ethnic cleansing, destruction of homes and
entire villages, and who have literally no where to go. At the feeding center I met the workers and
the people lined up to receive a loaf of bread and a bowl of soup ladled into whatever container
they brought: jars, cans, pots and pans, even a scrub bucket. A litile self-consciously, I ladled
soup for a while and then as we left a Muslim woman asked who we were. Our translator told
her we were Presbyterians from the U.S.A. She took my hands in hers and with tears flowing
freely she told the translator to tell me that her husband and sons were executed — ethnic
cleansing. Her daughter was raped and disappeared. Her home was destroyed, she had nothing.

“Tell them —I thank God for them”, she said. “Tell them that without this help, this food we
would starve.”

On Sunday I was invited to preach at the Reformed Church of Vincovsci where the
Bishop of the Reformed Church of Croatia, Endre Langh is Pastor. That little church sustained a
direct mortar hit in the bombardments that virtually destroyed most of the public buildings in
Vincovsci: hospital, museum, schools, the Roman Catholic Cathedral was leveled. So the
Orthodox Cathedral was blown up in retribution. The little Reformed Church was hit too, the
people had evacuated. But now they are back. A grant from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)}
has helped repair the building, a small sanctuary and attached manse. On the Sunday after Easter
the church was crowded with men, women and children to see and say thank you to the American
Moderator. What an experience, to be in that tiny pulpit one week after standing in the high
Gothic pulpit of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago — totally safe —- in the midst of the
secure comfort and affluence we take so for granted — and to preach about the hope of the

resurrection and to assist Bishop Langh by breaking and serving the bread of communion and see

the tears in the eyes of our Croatian brothers and sisters, tears of gratitude for the church and for
the hope of the Gospel.

In Korea | brought your greetings to congregations, colleges, seminaries, denominations,
staff members, and at the end of a 1,000 meter tunnel, 75 yards underground, beneath the DMZ,
at the 38" Parallel, to the surprised South Korean sergeant on guard. The Presbyterian story. in
Korea is amazing and all of us were deeply grateful for the strength and faithfulness of the
Presbyterian church and the courage of our missionaries who arrived there in 1888. Our General
Assembly staff has been to North Korea where a major crisis is occurring before our eyes, But
there are, we know, 500 Presbyterian congregations in North Korea, ali but two functioning
without a building, meeting in homes ~ South Korean Presbyterians have family members in
those churches who they have not seen for 47 years. They pray for reunification. They help, in
every way they can think of to send food and desperately needed supplies. If there is hope for a
peaceful future in North Korea it is in part because of the church that transcends the 38" Parallel.

We are an old church and a big church and a distinguished mission church. We are a
diverse church and we are, all the world knows, a church deeply divided over an issue which is
very clear to some of us, and for many of us very complex. When the vote on Amendment B was
taken on Friday of the 208" General Assembly, I knew that in the Spring of 1997 the Presbyteries
would vote and there was coming a day when a significant part of this wonderful family was
going to be deeply disappointed, hurt, angry, and wondering whether or not there was any longer
a place for them in the family, I knew that it would be painful — because I have good and trusted
friends on both sides of this issue. We did not know, of course, which side was going to be
happy and which would be unhappy: only that someone was going to be very disappointed.

[am glad to report that the conversation throughout our family went well. We can be
grateful for the respect, civility, courtesy and love which characterized the Amendment B debate
in our Presbyteries. We did something important, I believe, in the way we talked with one

another.

And now, you are the General Assembly which inherits the process and the decision.

I will tell you that | have heard from a lot of people about this issue. I have received
every day for the past three months, long and painful letters, from faithful, life long Presbyterians
announcing their resignation from the church, from gay and lesbian Presbyterian elders, deacons,
trustees, church members, Sunday school teachers, letters from parents of gay and lesbian
Presbyterians who cannot believe what our church has done to their children, and want me to
explain. [ have heard from people representing one side of the debate who are furious with me
for not condemning the decision and giving public voice to my personal opposition.

And I have heard from people asking me to lead the implementation and enforcement of
Amendment B, furious because I have said that “enforcement” is the wrong word and wrong

concept: very angry because I said that there are many churches which will have a very difficult

time changing their behavior, which has historically been more inclusive than this provision
allows, my own among them.

And in the midst of it all I have heard many, many voices — worried, fearful — saying
please, please God, let’s not divide or destroy this church, I have heard voices on both sides
saying we do not intend witch hunts or mass resignations, we do not intend to turn our beloved
church into a battle field of acrimony, accusation and ecclesiastic litigation,

We need more of those voices now. The conversation will go on. Some believe it is
resolved. [tts not. It is not resolved in the congregation I serve. We must, I humbly suggest,
like it or not, continue the conversation. Churches and individuals who cannot implement
Amendment B, must work to change it. Churches and individuals who rejoice over its passage
must help churches and individuals whe must out of conscience and conviction and theology and
Biblical authority, disagree and dissent.

I hope that somehow in the next week, you will find a way to move us ahead. Seventy
years ago, when the church was almost coming apart over the Modernist/Fundamentalist debate,
the General Assembly created a commission to consider all the implications of the action and to
preserve the unity of the church. Perhaps we need such a commission now.

What we need, I know, is God’s spirit; the gentle, reconciling Holy Spirit. What we need,
I know is one another. What we need is Presbyterian Christians with enough grace in their hearts
to reach across the gaps and fissures and divides in this great church and hold on to one another
for dear life.

That Commission, back in 1925, produced a report which I have read and reread
carefully. In that report they said some important things about who we are as a people. Let me
read a few sentences to you. They have encouraged and inspired me during this year.

“Presbyterianism is a great body of belief, but it is more than a belief; it is also a.
tradition, a controlling sentiment. The ties that bring us to it are not of the mind
only; they are ties of the heart as well. There are people who, despite variant
opinions, can never be at home in any other communion. They were born into the
Presbyterian Church. They love its name, its order and its great distinctive
teachings. In its fellowship they have a precious inheritance from their forbears.
Their hearts bow at its altars and cherish a just pride in its noble history. Attitudes
and sentimenits like these are treasures which should not be undervalued hastily,
not cast aside lightly.”

Special Commission of 1925
Members 138" General Assembly (1926) p. 62-87

Commissioners to the 209" General Assembly, thank you for your service to our church.
Heip us see the way ahead. Cherish this precious church, its name, its order, its distinctive
teachings, its fellowship, its ties of the heart.

There is so much for which to be grateful and hopeful. We stand together on the
Common Ground of the Gospel, ground carefully and lovingly cultivated by those who have
gone before us. We live in a household of faith carefully and lovingly constructed. May we be
good stewards of the gift and may we at this Assembly and in the days ahead strengthen and
cultivate and build and hand the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) whole, strong, faithful, to our
children and our children’s children.

Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to be your Moderator. Madam Vice
Moderator, this is my report.

209" GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Syracuse, New York
June 15, 1997

THAT WE D LL T ITY
Matthew 16: 13-20
Ephesians 4; 1-6

John M. Buchanan
Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois

On the Sunday after I was ordained, June 1963, I was invited to preach in my home church, the
Broad Avenue Presbyterian Church in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

I chose for my text the portion of scripture I had been assigned for my senior thesis, the most
ambitious academic project I had ever tackled, or have ever since. My professor and thesis
advisor was Marcus Barth. I waded through everything anyone ever wrote about that text in
antiquity and modernity. I knew the passage in Greek as I have not known anything in Greek

since. I explored the text from every perspective — linguistically, theologically, historically,
socially, politically.

The text was Matthew 16:13-20, and what I did for that unsuspecting congregation, of course,
was take my thesis, bristling with footnotes and scholarly citations and turn it into a sermon.

Fortunately, grace abounds, Everybody seemed pleased. I had not said anything heretical,
insofar as anybody knew. I had used a lot of fancy new words, but the church would survive.
My old junior high teacher, Magdalene Bair, who used to fill me with fear and trembling, shook
my hand and said, “I see you are still talking too fast - and too much!”

There was a festive hunch in our home and afterward my parents and I were alone, finishing up
our coffee and my father said one of the most important things anyone has ever said to me. He
said, “You told us what everybody in history thought (about Jesus’ question — ‘who do you say

that f am?). Next time you preach on that text,” Dad said, “save some time at the end for what
you think.”

He was right, of course. What you and I think and believe about Jesus of Nazareth is the
question. Our belief in him, our trust in him, our commitment to follow him, our obedience to
him is what allows us to call ourselves Christians.

The church’s affirmation of his Lordship is at the heart of our identity. Jesus Christ is what we
are about. Jesus Christ is our truth, our peace; Jesus Christ is all we have to offer one another
and the world. Jesus Christ matters, above all else.

Paul tries scalding the Corinthians; tells them there is a better way to be Christian, in fact, a
better way to be human. It’s the way of love. But the older Paul becomes, the wiser and more
mature, and the more he ponders the unfathomable mystery of God’s grace in Jesus Christ ... the
bigger and broader his vision of the church becomes.

Near the end of his life, in a Roman jail cell, he writes to the church in Ephesus and now his
emphasis is focusing on the unity of that church, the reconciliation between its Jewish and
Gentile members. And, get this—the unity of that church would demonstrate to the world the
truth of what God had done in Jesus Christ and continued to do in the world through the work of
the Holy Spirit.

Is there a more passionate plea than this —

“T therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to
which you are called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with
one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

Is there a more passionate —or relevant — plea in scripture?

You see, Paul’s thought has lately taken wing. Now he believes that in Jesus Christ God has
started a new creation, anew humanity. In Christ, God — with a plan before the ages — intends to
heal divisions, break down walls of hostility, unite all things. Paul soars as he sits in that
miserable jail cell. “He is our peace.” he says about Jesus. God’s purpose is to bring together the
human race, tribes, nations, slaves, free, women, men.

All the scholars agree — whoever wrote this thinks that the church is supposed to show the world
what God’s new creation locks like. Marcus Barth thinks it was, indeed, Paul and in his classic
commentary on Ephesians, he says, about that wonderful admonition, “Make every effort to
maintain the unity of the Spirit”, “It is hardly possible to render exactly the urgency contained in
the underlying Greek verb. Not only haste and passion, but a full effort is meant, involving will,

sentiment, reason, physical strength. Do it now! You are to do it. I mean it!” [Ephesians, M.
Barth, Vol. IL, p. 428]

Barth translated the critical phrase: “Take pains to maintain the unity of the spirit.” It is painful,
is it not? It is painful to maintain unity with people you know are wrong and obnoxious on top of
it. It is -1 propose — a lot more difficult to maintain the unity than to walk away, to destroy it.

Now, wait a minute. Are you proposing that belief in the church is of comparable weight with
belief in Jesus Christ and, furthermore, that the church’s unity is as important as my individual
conclusions about this or that? About COCU or mission budgets, or Amendment B? That’s
exactly what I’m suggesting and J am convinced that’s exactly what the Bible says.

Barth takes it a step further and says that “God’s oneness is related directly, causatively,
dynamically, effectively, to the unity of the church. Because God is one, God’s people are one

Just a few weeks ago, I was being interviewed by a reporter from one of the major weekly news
magazines about Amendment B. After trying everything he could think of to get me to say I
thought our church was aboutt to split, he finally said, with a little exasperation, “Look I’ve
talked to both sides. I know what they’re saying about each other. You’re already two churches.

So why don’t you just call a meeting, hire a good lawyer, get a divorce, split up the property and
move on?”

Bruce Bawer said the same thing in a New York Times Op Ed column on April 5: “American
Protestantism is in the midst of a major shift. It is being split into two nearly antithetical
religions, both calling themselves Christianity.” The battle in the Presbyterian Church, he said,
shows that we are already two churches: “a church of law and a church of love.” And I was
reminded of how many times this year Presbyterians have said to me and written to me long and
passionate and sad letters saying, “I have to leave. I cannot stay any longer.” I thought about
how many people on one side said, “This is a deal breaker, a boundary issue. If this doesn’t pass,
I'm outa here.” And how many now are saying, “I quit, this is it.”

Does it matter? Does the unity of the church matter as much as my conscience, my convictions,
my opinions which I increasingly believe are God’s opinions as well? Yes, it matters. It matters
because Paul was right — whether we like it or not ~ the church shows the world what God’s new
creation looks like. And if what we show the world is a fractured, broken fragmented mess, that,
I believe, is a major failure, a very serious sin.

Beverly Gaventa says this lection should be painful reading for contemporary Christians. “The
unity of the church is for its mission and its evangelical credulity.” [Texts for Preaching, Year B,
1993]

Our unity is for our evangelical credibility. It doesn’t take much experience with our Worldwide
Ministries Division to understand the truth of that.

The Presbytenan Churches in Brazil, divided by theology, are moving deliberately closer to one
another because they face an evangelical opportunity of enormous dimensions. And they will be
more effective when they are one church again.

What is transpiring between Reformed and Lutheran churches here at this General Assembly is
important for evangelical reasons.

Where Christianity confronts Islam, our unity is absolutely essential, Nothing ends the dialogue
quicker, nothing, I am told, discredits the Gospel more effectively than bickering between
Christians.

Peter Kuzmic is the President of Evangelical Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, where Presbyterian
Church (U.8.A.) mission workers Steve and Michele Kurtz are on the faculty. Peter, who is a
Calvinist Pentecostal and one of the leading Missiologists in the world, teaches that missionary
effectiveness depends on authenticity and that there is no authenticity in mission that does not
reflect not only Christian unity, but that deeper, magnificent new creation, new humanity St. Paul

— even when we do not know it or want it. It is a sign this morning of the oneness Jesus Christ
gives to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ~all of it— the Presbyterian Lay Committee and
Semper Reformada, PFR & PLGC, The Witherspoon Society, Voices of Sophia, Elders at
Prayer, The Coalition, Presbyterians Pro-Life and PARO. It is a holy communion because none
of us earned our way onto the invitation list. Someone noted recently, we don’t get to invite
people to this table. God does. Nor do we get to exclude any God invites. Our business is our
own table manners.

In a novel, The Clowns of God, Morris West portrays the return of Christ in which he holds a Down
Syndrome child, serving her the bread and wine of communion, saying,

“T gave this mite a gift I denied to all of you — eternal innocence. She will never
offend me as all of you have done. She will never pervert or destroy the works of
my father’s hands. She is necessary to you. She will evoke the kindness that will
keep you human. She will remind you every day that “I AM WHO I AM.”
[Diane M. Komp, Theology Today, Hearts Untroubled, Vol. 45, p. 273-279]

John Calvin was not hesitant to speak his mind, nor was he particularly easy to get along with in
academic, theological debate. But he did understand the evangelical importance of our oneness.
“T would cross seven oceans,” he wrote, “to advance the cause of Christian unity.”

And attributed to him are, I think, some of the loveliest words ever wntten and most important.
They are in the fourth verse of the hymn with which we began. May they be our prayer.

“Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness
No harshness hast thou and no bitterness
0 grant to us the grace we find in thee
That we may dwell in perfect unity.

Amen

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