Sermon Archive

In the first centuries of the Church, when decisions had to be made or theological doctrine clarified, bishops from across the Roman Empire got together in councils. The Church believed that the Holy Spirit spoke through its bishops in an especially strong way. In the early days, people thought that if you got 20 bishops in a room, the Spirit would bring them into agreement and unity. 1 The bishops would sit together, take their bishop staffs and pound them on the floor, awaiting instruction from the Holy Spirit. Like many cherished theological beliefs, this one was shaken in the face of real-world challenges. Those bishops just wouldn't agree! They couldn't agree on when to celebrate Easter, or how, exactly, Christ was both human and divine, or whether Mary could be called Mother of God. Sometimes these differences were resolved when the Emperor kicked dissenting bishops out of the council or exiled them from their sees. And the bishops did more than pound their staffs. They talked, they argued, they called each other names. In extreme cases, certain bishops hired monks to beat up other bishops. But despite this messiness, the Church believed - and still believes - that most councils were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

On the face of it, the Presbyterian system is different. Less primitive. More rational. More democratic. Patriotic Presbyterians point out that many of the founding fathers were Presbyterian, and claim that the US system of representational government was modeled on our Church. In Presbyterianism, each congregation elects a governing board called the Session, and people who sit on the session are called Elders. (I know this is review for some of you but I want to make sure everyone gets it). The Session elects an elder to attend Presbytery, the regional governing body. (Our Presbytery includes all the Presbyterian churches of New York City). Then each Presbytery elects commissioners to go to the National General Assembly; this year's GA is being held in Denver as we speak. All meetings are conducted by Roberts Rules of Order, and there's lots of voting.

It looks like representational government, but it's really not. None of the elders or commissioners go "instructed." The Presbytery does not tell its commissioners to GA how to vote. The Session does not tell Renee Lord, our commissioner to Presbytery, how to vote. Even members of Session are not supposed to vote based on what they think the congregation, or a particular constituency of the congregation, would want. Rather, each elder or commissioner is expected to listen for, and follow, the guidance of the Holy Spirit working in their assembly. Now elders and commissioners do not simply go to meetings and wait for the Spirit to fall on them. Folks understand that attending to the Spirit involves prayer and study and listening to each other, and I can assure you that Session members are interested in your opinions. But when the Session elected Renee, it didn't choose her because it thought she'd be a dependable representative of Session opinion. It chose her because it knew her to be a thoughtful, faith-filled Christian who could be trusted to discern the calling of the Spirit, not only on behalf of Rutgers, but on behalf of the whole church.

Now, if you've ever been to a Presbytery meeting it may not look like there's a lot of spiritual discernment going on. Between the packet of papers you get in the mail and the piles of papers you're expected to pick up, you can easily spend half your time looking for the salmon-colored report from the CPM, not to be confused with the salmon-colored report from the COM. And I understand there's even more paper at the General Assembly. (If you're waiting for me to say something about Session meetings, I'm not going to go there.) But like those ancient Bishops, in face of so much evidence to the contrary, we cling to the belief that Christ did not leave the church to the devices of her sin-ful people. God sends the Holy Spirit to guide us, if only we would listen and follow.

Today's scripture is a story of the Holy Spirit working in a church council of sorts, a group of early believers in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church was struggling with an important and divisive issue. Everyone agreed Jesus came to the people of Israel, fulfilling promises made to them through Abraham and David. People agreed that the gospel had to be preached first in the synagogue. Folks also agreed that gentiles who joined the people of Israel through circumcision and obedience to the law were included in the promise. But what about those gentiles who wanted to follow the Way of Jesus Christ without being circumcised, or following the dietary laws? Was the gospel meant for them?

You may have been taught that this was a conflict between tolerant, open-minded Jewish Christians (emphasis on Christian) vs. close-minded, clannish Jewish Christians (emphasis on Jewish). That's wrong. The "circumcision party," so to speak, was defending an important principle. The law was a gift from God to Israel. A sign of God's love and a way for Israel to love God in return. Wasn't it contemptuous of God's gift and disrespectful of God to exempt folks from this law? And if the gentiles didn't follow dietary laws, how could you keep them if you ate together? Furthermore, these gentiles were often Romans, members of the occupying army. An army that often persecuted Jews, an army that answered to an Emperor who demanded to be worshipped. If these soldiers were allowed to join without being circumcised, wasn't it a betrayal of the ancestors and compatriots who had died for the sake of God's law? The circumcision party, actually, was right (I think).

Enter the Holy Spirit. Enter the Holy Spirit who told Peter - in so many words - to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius. Enter the Holy Spirit who fell upon all who heard the Word. Enter the Holy Spirit who showed that God gave the same gift to the Gentiles as he gave to the Jews when they believed in Jesus Christ. Enter the Holy Spirit who astounded the believers from Joppa and who silenced those in the Jerusalem church who questioned Peter's judgment. Enter the Holy Spirit who did not silence those believers by telling them to shut up. Enter the Holy Spirit that did such awesome and wonderful work that even the skeptics praised God. Enter the Holy Spirit who converted both Jews and Gentiles.

You may be thinking that the Spirit doesn't show itself so dramatically, so irrefutably today. Truth be told, perhaps it wasn't so obvious in Luke's time either. He may have embroidered a little, or left out the part about those members of the Jerusalem church who remained unconvinced and started their own congregation. There's no denying the work of the Spirit is often opaque, and we're not sure how to listen. At this year's General Assembly, among groups that support the ordination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, there's a family disagreement about how to best let the Holy Spirit do its work. The Des Moines, Iowa, Presbytery has introduced an overture to get rid of G-60106B. That's the law in the Presbyterian constitution that says only people who practice fidelity in a marriage between a man or a woman or chastity in singleness should be ordained. One group, the Covenant Network, says: look. A year ago the GA passed an overture to delete G-60106B and it was soundly defeated by the Presbyteries. It would be a waste of our time and resources to try again so soon. Time would be better spent "to inform, build bridges, organize and plan, to open our hearts and minds to one another, to await God's movement among us and to create a climate in which change can and will occur." They recommend that the assembly refer the Des Moines overture to a committee for study, and will not work for its passage. Other groups - More Light Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve - claim it is "the call of the Spirit in our time to work without ceasing for the immediate removal of Amendment B," and that the "Time is always ripe to do right," in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Witherspoon Society argues that at the very least supporters of the amendment must be allowed to make their case for change, "allowing the Spirit to work through this Assembly as has so frequently happened in the past."

All sides have strong arguments, and everyone is working in good faith. But after spending time with the Book of Acts this week, I say: let's be bold. Those apostles never stopped. They spoke the truth as they knew it without ceasing: on streets and in jail, in the synagogue and in the Roman Courts. They argued with each other. They were always bold; actually, they were often obnoxious, but the Spirit managed to have its say. In fact, the Spirit seemed to work more vividly the more passionately people spoke. Peter pulled no punches when he returned to Jerusalem. He laid it out for his colleagues, step by step, unafraid to tell them all that had happened and all he now believed... Now, It may be that if we try and delete Amendment B this year, people will just get cranky and dig in their heels. But let's not underestimate the power of the Spirit. Let's not hinder its work in the General Assembly, where it may yet turn everyone's heart towards justice. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, and we're not even AT the General Assembly. But let's not hinder its work in our lives, either. Let's speak boldly with each other, and to the world, and trust that the Spirit will work among us. It may convert us in ways we don't expect.

One more story. A few years ago I went to a conference on the Whole People of God Curriculum, the curriculum we used in our Sunday School for many years. It was led by a wonderful pastor whose name I don't remember, and I know I won't be quoting him precisely. In this curriculum, there was a routine that we still follow: At the beginning of Sunday School we light a candle, sing a song, say a prayer and blow out the candle. A member of the workshop wondered if it wasn't a bit hazardous to have a candle lit in the Sunday School. Now, I've always had an unnatural fear of fire - I had a traumatic experience with a fire engine when I was little - and I, too, have wondered about the wisdom of open flame in the Sunday School. We never let the children touch the matches, we blow the candle out before we leave, we have a short fat candle in a deep bowl, but still ... I wondered. So I waited eagerly for some safety tips, or a reassuring statistic. And the pastor said, "Hazardous? Of course it's hazardous!! This is the church of Jesus Christ!! Proclaiming the gospel is hazardous! Working for justice is hazardous! The Holy Spirit came to us in tongues of flame! What better lesson to teach our children?"

It is a hazardous business: speaking out, coming out, proclaiming the gospel when we all can't agree. So let us pray for the courage, and the comfort, and the discernment that are gifts of the Holy Spirit, gifts that Christ gives to Christ's church, now and always. Amen.