Pasadena Presbyterian Church Sermon Text
July 20, 2003

"How Do We Need the Church?"
Preached by The Rev. Dr. Barbara Anderson

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:11-22;  Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Last week in Louisville, I asked a group of women what topics they would like addressed in sermons.  "I love the TV commercials," said one.  "They pose really important questions.  But I wish you'd answer the questions sometime!  Could that be a sermon?" 

As many of you know, Pasadena Presbyterian Church is fortunate to have studios in the basement under Gamble Lounge.  They were built more than 50 years ago as a radio studio and for many years, PPC broadcast its worship every week on the radio.  Some years ago, these were converted to television studios, and are leased to Charter Communications. In lieu of rent, we utilize some of their equipment and draw upon the expertise of their staff.  In addition, Charter broadcasts our Sunday worship, produced by volunteers in our media ministry.  Charter also runs at least 100 30-second spots for PPC each month, dropping the commercials into time slots they haven't sold to paying customers.  That's why you see our commercials during CNN Headline News, prime time shows and even the NBA playoffs.

God works through those commercials in many ways.  In fact, some of you here this morning first came through the doors of this church because of the invitation those commercials provided.

Some of the ads pose questions of faith and these are the ones to which the woman was referring.  They include questions such as, "I try to be a good person.  Why do bad things still happen to me?"  "Is there life after death?"  "I feel close to God in nature.  Why do I have to go to church?"  

I thought I'd tackle the easiest one first:  Why do I have to go to church?  In the next two weeks, The Reverend Hyun Sung and The Reverend Steve Neuder will bring additional insights to that answer. 

As I begin this series, I am reminded of Elizabeth Barret Browning's sonnet, "How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways."  Today I ask, "How do we need the church?  Let us count the ways."

I have here in the chancel three items that symbolize the church and our relationship to it: charcoal briquettes, a walker, and a mosaic. 

First is the grill, filled with charcoal briquettes.  Ignore the fact that this is a gas grill, and imagine it filled with red-hot briquettes, piled close together.  Now, imagine that I take one of those coals out and set it off by itself.  It will still glow.  But it won't take very long for its heart to cool and its fire to burn out.  The coals over here will still be going strong for a long, long time after this one has burned out in isolation.

Certainly we can read our Bible, study books about the Christian faith and pray on our own.  Certainly we can feel close to God as we work in our gardens, hike in the mountains or sit by the ocean.  And certainly we can work in a homeless shelter, advocate for the environment, tutor children, influence our government, and do a wide range of service in the world without being part of a church. But when we do these without a regular connection to a faith community, such as the church, we become like the isolated coal.  We burn out easily and quickly.

We have been created for relationship and community, not isolation and raw independence.  We have been created to enrich and be enriched by one another, to experience and spread the warmth of God's love, and the light of God's goodness, together. 

When we try to live on our own, or to worship God on our own, or to deepen our spirituality and faithfulness on our own, or to do good works on our own, we miss the miss the prodding, broadening challenge that other Christians provide, we miss the fresh water that keeps our spiritual wells from getting stagnant, we miss the regenerating energy that comes from shared vision, shared commitment, shared encouragement. 

We don't notice it at first, but the power of our faith burns down until it becomes only a remnant of what it once was.  We need the church to keep us from burning out, to poke us and prod us, and to keep the passionate, life-giving flame of our faith brightly burning brightly.

The second image of the church is a walker.  First, when I see someone using a walker, I see someone who moves slowly.  God knows the church moves slowly!   But the connection between a walker and the church goes much farther.  This is what I see when I see someone using a walker.

I see a person of courage who is weak in some way or in pain or has trouble keeping her balance as she moves forward, someone who knows she needs help to stand and knows that she cannot stand alone for very long, but has chosen not to be paralyzed be these needs.  Instead, she relies on something beyond herself to stand and walk and move forward in the world.  So, too, when we are weak or in pain, cannot keep our balance in the world, have trouble moving forward in our life and know we cannot stand alone, we are surrounded by the church, which helps us stand and walk and move forward in the world.

When I see someone using a walker, I see someone who is reminded with every step, of his mortality and his reliance on a power outside himself. I see someone who has acknowledged his limitations and weakness and has the courage to let others see them as well.  It's common for people to think that those who use a walker are flawed, useless or mentally slow just because they need help walking.  That's a little like thinking we have to speak louder to someone who is blind.  Mental capacity and physical capacity are very separate things. 

Likewise, it's common for many people to look down on those who go to church, seeing it as a sign of weakness, mental illness or bizarre behavior for today's rational, enlightened folk. But being part of a church is, instead, a sign of courage, strength and health, for in church we remember our mortality, our limitations, our dependence upon one another and God and are, therefore, set free to be more fully who we are.  We don't need to hide our limitations and mortality from one another and ourselves.  Surrounded by the church community, we are set free from the fears that keep others captive.  We become not less, but more whole.

When I see a walker, I see a source of stability and solidity surrounding the one who uses it.  Rather than holding him back, a walker gives its user strength, assurance and freedom to move out into the world that would not be possible without it.  As I learned watching my mother's physical therapy last week, it can even be part of an exercise regimen that improves strength and balance so the user can move with flexibility and freedom.  That's not a bad description of the church either.

Those uninitiated into the world of the walker often see it as an unfortunate but necessary device used by those who suffer from some type of brokenness, disability or illness, a device to help those who are dependent, weak or dying.  Such people often look with pity on those who rely upon it. 

Like those who know the gift a walker truly is, the baptized know the church is a gift from God for humanity, because every one of us is broken somewhere inside, somewhere inside every one of us needs healing, every one of us is dependent upon love, and every one of us is, from the moment we are born, in the process of dying. 

Much as a walker surrounds its user, the church is a gift from God that surrounds us with love and stability, helps us to stand when we cannot stand alone, and makes it possible to move forward courageously in the world when we thought we could not even take a step without falling.  The church is not a crutch, it's a walker.

And third, as Henri Nouwen writes in Can You Drink the Cup?:

"Community is like a large mosaic.  Each little piece seems so insignificant.  One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold.  Some look precious, others ordinary.  Some look valuable, others worthless.  Some look gaudy, others delicate.  As individual stones, we can do little with them except compare them and judge their beauty and value.  When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them?  If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete.  Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God.  That's community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world."

How do we need the church?  We need the church because it is, even in its imperfection, the face of Christ for the world.  We need the church to make visible God's concern for the poor who struggle to survive each day.  We need the church to make visible God's concern for the planet that groans under our wasteful consumption of energy, water, air and landfills.  We need the church to make visible God's concern for peace in a world that insists on holding grudges and is governed by leaders who gorge themselves on greed. 

We need the church to be a voice of sanity against the craziness of materialism that eats our soul.  We need the church to be a voice for justice in systems that throw away lives that could be redeemed.  We need the church to be a voice of advocacy for victims whose voices have been silenced in the halls of power.  We need the church to be hands of mercy in a world that needs healing.  We need the church to be eyes that hold before us a vision hope. 

We need the church to be willing to sacrifice its life again and again for what is good and right, just and loving and true, so that Christ will be raised again today and tomorrow and tomorrow.   

We need the church to be all of this. But even more, God needs the church to be all of this and needs us to be part of it the church.   

With our common faith upholding us in the church, we encourage and teach one another, so that instead of burning out, our faith and works grow stronger.  Surrounded ourselves by God's love, we have the strength and courage to be church for others:  healing the broken, giving hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak, and caring for those who are like sheep without a shepherd.  Brought together by God from different places and tribes, with different gifts and callings, we are the visible presence of Christ for the world.  That is an awesome gift and an awesome responsibility.   

I'll see you in church. 

(c) Copyright 2003 by Barbara A. Anderson.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution.