The Salvation of Humankind

A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman

Abington Presbyterian Church

January 21, 2007

 

Luke 4: 14-21
    14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
    16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
¹⁸‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
      to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’*

 

The questions of purpose are the harder questions of life.  What is the purpose of life?  Why do we do the things that we do? What is ultimately important?  Seldom do we ask ourselves these questions, because they are troubling and go to the heart of our existence.  And yet the questions are raised in our lives.  These questions are also asked of our institutions. Colleges are asking “What is the purpose of a liberal arts education?”  We question the importance and purpose of many organizations from the United Nations to the American Medical Society.  This same scrutiny also falls upon the church.

 

 I was two years into my ministry as an associate pastor in Missouri.  The congregation was a university church that prided itself on having the latest and the best in terms of technology, programs, and ministry.  The office was always quite busy, and the phones seemed to always be ringing and flashing.  My father flew in to spend a few days with me, and I, of course wanted to show him to where I worked.  I was very proud of my job and all the latest things we were doing in ministry.  “Cutting edge” was the term that we used.  He came into the office suite and saw the  buzz of activity.  Phones were ringing and flashing, people were talking on intercoms, copies were being made on copy machines, (this thirty years ago… copy machines were big stuff!)  There was a whirl of activity.  I knew that my father would be impressed with how “busy” we were.  Our office was as busy as any other type of office.

 

That night, over dinner, I asked my father what he thought of where I worked.  He remarked how busy that the office was, and that he never saw so many phones and other contraptions in a church…. And then he asked…. Doesn’t all of that distract you from your calling?” 

 

A few years ago, in a period of intense introspection, I looked at all the things that I was doing and the way that I was using my time, and asked the question: “Is the church distracted from its calling?”   The question is more personal:  “Am I distracted with so much busy work:  meetings, problem solving, making sure that there are towels in the bathroom, that the coffee is hot, and all the other things that my work seems to ask of me?   Am I fulfilling my call or am I just making sure that an organization runs somewhat smoothly and within budget?”   In the midst of that introspection, I made the decision to put a copy of the “Great Ends of the Church”  right above my computer monitor.  The Great ends of the church were crafted by Presbyterians at the turn of the last century, (1905)  They were six simple statements that stated: “This is why the church exists.”   Each day, before I do anything, those statements stare me in the face and remind that these are the reasons I show up for work.  For the next five weeks, I am going to use the Great Ends of the Church as the topics for my Sunday message.  This is not only about what I am supposed to be doing, but what we are about together. 

 

The first Great End of the church (today’s message)  is “The proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of Humankind.”  I shudder when I contemplate this directive, because I worry that we are often cavalier about it.  Salvation implies that humanity is in peril.  Something is the matter with the human race and we are headed off the cliff like lemmings marching to the sea.   Is that true?  We can probably make a case for it.  What does this mean for the church?  What does this mean for this community of faith, located on Old York Road?  How urgent is the situation?  Is it something for which we concentrate on now, or do we wait until everything else is taken care of and all runs smoothly?  Does the world’s need for salvation demand the present moment or can it wait until we take care of some other needs?  What do we mean by salvation?  Is it only about the after-life or does it have something to do with life now as we live it?  Is salvation only a ticket through the pearly gates, or is it about how we live and exist together in this world and this life?   Those are tough questions and I cannot pretend to answer them in a twenty minute message, and so the purpose of this message is to focus your thinking about our life together and what our common purpose is as a community of faith called the church.

 

Why do I shudder when I think of this question?  Because I fear that I probably spend more time worrying about the budget, the condition of the restrooms, whether there is enough parking, whether the service does not exceed an hour, whether every one is happy, whether no one is offended… I fear we spend more time and energy on those things that we do on the salvation of humanity.   This is not new:  Fifty years ago, Time Magazine wrote an article about the growing irrelevancy of the church.  Ironically, this article appeared when churches were thriving, including this one.  People were flocking back to congregations in record number, and yet in the midst of all of this, there was ferment and fear that the church was becoming merely a social institution and irrelevant to the needs of the world. One of the interviewees laid the problem squarely on the feet of clergy and offered this proscription:

“Fling him into his office, tear the office sign from the door and nail on the sign: STUDY.  Take him off the mailing list, lock him up with his books—get him all kinds of books. – and his typewriter and his Bible…. Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God… Rip out his telephone, burn his ecclesiastical success sheets, refuse his glad hand, put water in the gas tank of his community buggy and compel him to be a minister of the Word.”  (Time Magazine, April 7, 1961) 

 

Be a minister of the word:  The Word.. the gospel… does this not get us back to the great end of the church to proclaim the word: to proclaim the gospel for the salvation of humanity?  There is so much that distracts us from this.
 

Ten years ago, I suddenly became very ill.  I spent a month in bed recuperating, and during that time I also spent a great deal of time contemplating how I was spending my time and the life that I was living.  One of the things that I learned about myself and the world during that time is that we spend most of our time and energy with those things that are unimportant, and very little time dealing with those things that are ultimately important.  Humanity has a penchant for the trivial.  I fear the same is true for the church as an organization… the challenge is to focus… focus our time on those things that are important… those things that transform lives, those things that make a difference, those things that save humanity from the hell of sin, be it boredom, illness, anxiety, depression and yes, even abundance.  The first Great end of the church states that it is the good news.. the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves humanity….  That the church is entrusted with a message that people need to hear… and if the church does not proclaim it, who will?

 

Seven years ago, members of this congregation wrestled with the purpose, the chief end of Abington Presbyterian Church.  Why are we here on this corner and what are we called to do?  If we are called, as a community to fulfill the ministry of Christ in our time, we need to take our marching orders from this fourth chapter of Luke:  The church is anointed, set apart to:

 bring good news to the poor.
to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

 

I suspect that in the end I will answer to God for my ministry… I will not be judged on how smoothly the churches I served ran, nor the membership that they had, nor the buildings that they  built, nor the relative periods of happiness that they enjoyed, nor the praise, nor the criticism I have heard, nor the meetings that I have attended, nor the plaques and papers that hang on my wall. Only one thing will count: faithfulness in proclaiming the good news.

 

God and history will also judge Abington Presbyterian Church, not on the beauty of the buildings, nor the size of its membership, nor the busy-ness of its office, nor the total of its budget. nor whether there were enough paper towels in the men’s room, nor the efficiency and smoothness of its operation.It will be judged on its faithfulness to the good news: its willingness to study it, and its desire to share it with others.  Our first great end or purpose is the proclamation of the Gospel so that people may hear the good news of God’s salvation. 

 

I still remember my father’s visit, as though it were yesterday… all the beeping and buzzing the lights flashing, the people scurrying.. busy.. we were busy.

 

Abington Presbyterian Church is busy also, and with the construction pending we are going to be even busier.  It is an exciting time in our life.  It will be accompanied by a sense of renewal and hope.  Our concern, as we go about all the tasks that will busy us during the next year is that we do not lose focus.  Let us not forget what we are all about and why are here.  As we deal with bricks and mortar, dollars and spreadsheets, statistics and blue prints, meetings and committees, let us not be distracted from our primary calling that as a community of faith, we are to proclaim the gospel of the salvation of humanity.  This is the challenge of the good news. Amen.