“Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda”

(“The church reformed, always being reformed.”)

I remember the experience of reading the Bible through from cover to cover the very first time that I did that in 1991.  I was amazed at what interesting discoveries I made along the way!  I looked at my pastor differently, for the question running through my mind was, “Does he know about all this stuff?”  I mean, really, did he realize that the book of Leviticus actually tells Aaron what kind of underwear he should wear as High Priest?  Did my pastor know that there were people in the Bible who didn’t act like Christians… I mean, even the big guys?  Did he know, for example, that Abraham had an affair with one of his employees… that Noah got drunk… that one of judges sacrificed his own daughter… and another one cut a woman up into little pieces and sent her body parts to all the tribes of Israel?  What did it mean?  And, if as a new Christian, I wanted to claim this book, what did I do with this stuff?

Then, I got involved in a long-term Bible study with a commitment to meet each week for a year.  I came prepared to discuss this book that I had read… that I thought I knew… and that was when I learned that some of the verses that I thought were the most important ones in the whole Bible didn’t seem that important to other people…and some verses that I barely paid attention to as I skimmed over them in my reading had really changed someone else’s life.  But wasn’t it intuitively obvious how important my verses were?  I mean, even if they just looked at authorship, couldn’t people tell that Luke was much more educated than Mark?  Couldn’t they see that Paul had many more writings than James… and Paul was the one that had the Damascus Road experience, after all!  How could we all read the same book and not reach the same conclusions about the things that were written in it… in plain English?? 

How can this be so confusing?  Now, my beliefs are outlined in this book… our Book of Confessions, which is falling apart now… and maybe some of them come from this book… our Book of Order… or maybe this one… or this one… or these.  But these books are all talking about this one, right… so how can they be wrong… and how can they present different perspectives?  And, if they do, which one is right?  I remain continually amazed that there are so many different ways of conceiving of… and believing in God!  Why is that?  Will there ever be a time when we agree?  Will there ever be a time when we fully understand and speak of God in the same way?  Will there ever be a time when your picture of God and my picture of God match?  Are we doomed to discuss this forever?  And, if so, what is my role… as pastor? 

Well, there is good news and bad news.  The good news is that, no… we are not doomed to discuss it forever, for the time is coming when all will be revealed.  That has been promised to us in God’s word.  The bad news is that we have absolutely no idea when that time will come, and so, until then, we are doomed to discuss and debate our differing points of view.  And my role as pastor is to help you live with that ambiguity… to live in the tension of knowing some… but not knowing all… and not being able to know all… but still being open to learn… to grow… and to slowly understand more. 

So, what do you believe?  In a few minutes, we will recite the “Apostles’ Creed”… one of the core statements of belief in the Presbyterian Church.  It’s pretty short… in fact, we print the whole thing in the bulletin each Sunday.  Now, do you really believe all of it?  Do you really believe every word that you say when you recite it?  Oh, I know.  It’s considered a great heresy to say that you don’t believe it.  But have you ever really struggled with the words and questioned your own faith?  Have you ever tried to write down what it is that you really do believe? If so, how were your beliefs different than the words in the Apostles’ Creed?  What would you add… or change… or remove to adjust it so that it might “fit” you better? 

Fortunately, I am not going to call on all of you to share your personal statements of faith... nor do I plan to share mine with you at this time.  But, I do want to start you thinking about what it is that you believe and how we… as the people of God… come together to talk about God… and to talk about us… and to talk about our relationship with God… and to talk about what it means to be a church… a congregation serving God. 

Let’s just take a quick look at the “Apostles’ Creed.”  Seriously.  Pull out your bulletins and look at it.  It is two or three sentences long… depending on where you put the punctuation … fairly straightforward and concise.  Do you know how long it took the Church to agree on these two or three sentences as an expression of our belief in God?  Do you?  Take a guess.   Ballpark?  How about 800 years?  That’s right.  800 years.  800 years of questioning… of debating… of discussing… each word and every line.

Here’s one example of that debate:  It was not until after the persecution of the Christians in the early centuries of the Church that we raised the debate about whether or not those who denied that they were Christians during the persecution could be restored to the faith and forgiven of their sins when the persecution ended.  It was only after spirited debate, with passionate advocates on both sides, that it was decided that the Christians who lied about being Christian to escape persecution could be forgiven for doing that.  And, it was only then… at that time… that the line “I believe…in the forgiveness of sins” was added to the Creed.  We rattled it off every week without thinking about it… and yet… what an important aspect of God’s mercy and grace is revealed in that one statement. 

So, why do we allow these changes to the creeds of the Church?  Why is it important for the Church to continually re-examine its beliefs?  Because we, as Presbyterians, believe that God continues to reveal Godself to Christians… even today.  And that’s why we believe that we must remain open… as a Church… to new insights that God chooses to reveal in history through the members of God’s church. 

Let me give you another example… a more current one… one in fact, that many of you can remember.  The fact that I stand before you as a minister of Word and Sacrament is a testament to God’s continuing revelatory work.  A hundred years ago, this would have been a scandal… and, indeed, it was.  The Presbyterian Church first tried to ordain a woman as a minister of Word and Sacrament in 1911… almost one hundred years ago.  But, it was another 56 years of prayerful… and often contentious… discussion and debate before the equality of men and women before God came to be written into the creeds of the Church… and that was in the “Confession of 1967.” 

Now, I know that some of you are saying, “Well, how many confessions or creeds do we have in this church… and which ones are really important?”  Well, at last count… as our Senior Highs and our new members can tell you from studying with me… there are eleven … and they are all important.  We usually only recite only one in church on Sunday… the “Apostles Creed”… because it is short enough for all of us to recite it from memory.  If you hang around me very long, you will get to know the “Brief Statement of Faith,” which is the church’s most recent confession.  But it would take a few minutes to say that one in its entirety, because it is two pages long.  On the other hand, the “Confession of 1967” is nine pages long and the grand old “Westminster Confession” is a whopping 43 pages. 

So, why do we have all these confessions?  Why don’t we have just one?  Aren’t they based on the Bible… the written Word of God that reveals to us the true Word of God, Jesus Christ?  Isn’t God always the same?  Well, then why does the church change?  And why do we have to change? 

We have all these confessions, because we, as humans, have a finite understanding of God… and, as God continues to reveal Godself to us, we learn more about this God we worship.  And, as God leads us into new times… new situations… and new contexts… and new circumstances… God demands new things of God’s church.  Thus, in each age, we seek to discern an understanding of how God wants us to be… and what God wants us to do as the Church of Jesus Christ in this world… today… in Stephenville.  For that reason, we are “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda”… the church reformed and always being reformed. 

Do I ever get tired of the constant discussion and debate?  Yes.  Would I ever want us to “lock in” our beliefs in an unchanging formula for all future generations?  No.  I will live with the ambiguity before I believe that we have defined the totality of who God is and what God is calling us to do.  We have no way of knowing what issues may confront the Church in the future or how the Church may be called by God to respond to the challenges that life presents.  And, when I say the Church, I mean the larger Church… the universal Church… not just the Presbyterian Church.  We don’t know how God will use us or what God will ask of us.  For example, did the Church in Germany know that the rise of Hitler would eventually lead to the need for the Church to come together to publicly state its loyalty to God above the state?  And yet that is the basis for the Barmen Declaration of 1934, which is another one of the great confessions of the Church.

I treasure the discussion and debate that is an integral part of how we as Presbyterians discern the will of God.  I treasure the mystery of how God works in and through the members of the Church to shape our beliefs.  I have learned so much from other Christians as I have grown in my faith… much of it through interesting… and sometimes very lively… discussions and debates.  I may occasionally get tired and discouraged by the words that fly back and forth in our discussions.  But, I hope that I will always have the opportunity to enter that discussion… and be challenged by the thoughts and perceptions of other Christians.

I have just returned from a meeting of Grace Presbytery and I can tell you that the debate over the interpretation of scripture is still alive and well in the Presbyterian Church.  Those of you who want easy answers had better start looking for another church… for I truly believe that God wants us to wrestle with what it means to be a Christian… and to claim that identity for ourselves… not just take whatever is spoon fed to us.  In the months ahead, as the Steering Committee for our Long Range Plan… and our Session… and all of you struggle to discern the vision that God has for this church… and begin to move through the process of becoming the church that we believe God wants us to be… the answers will not all come easily… our discussions will not always end in agreement… and the debate may occasionally be passionate… perhaps, even heated.  But, as our passage from Corinthians told us this, we are not competent in ourselves… our competence comes from God.  And, it is through our hearts… and our minds… in prayerful discernment of God’s will… that God’s Spirit speaks to the church today.  And, as we come together to discern God’s will… God’s vision for this church… as we wrestle with who God is and what God is calling us to do… we must keep in mind the commandment that Jesus gave us… to love one another… even has he has loved us.  It is our focus on God… and our commitment to love each other… that will release the power of the vision for this church.  May God bless us as we begin this journey together.  Amen.

John 15:12-19; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6