“Being Church: The Same Mind In Us”     

First Congregational United Church of Christ

April 13, 2008

The Rev. Sharyl B. Peterson

Scripture Readings:   Phil. 2: 1-13; Acts 2: 42-47 

One of Bob’s and my real joys in living in the country this winter was watching the huge flocks of Canadian geese that came and went from the huge corn-fields on either side of us, treating the fields like their own private Bed & Breakfast.  Every evening, just a little before sunset, huge clouds of them would come swirling out of the sky, and the next morning, not long after the sun was fully up, they’d all take off again.

            Late in the winter, after the geese had moved on to new territory, flocks of ducks started coming instead.  But unlike the geese, who seem to have a designated “point-goose” who leads them from place to place, the ducks would come swirling down like a huge single organism – no single duck in the lead, but rather hundreds of them moving and pulsing like a cloud, like a single organism, with a single heart and mind.

            They offered a really graphic illustration of today’s passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi.  This was the first European Christian community that Paul founded, about 20 years after Jesus’ death.  And it was arguably, his favorite of the many churches that he founded.

            In the passage we heard today, he is encouraging his beloved friends in that church to “let the same mind be in you – having the same love – that was in Christ Jesus.”  Or, in more contemporary language, “If you really believe it when you say that Jesus is the head of the church, and that you want to follow Christ, then you – and all of his followers – should act so much like him that you even think – and love – the way he did.”  Between this passage, and the passage we heard from the book of Acts – a passage which follows immediately upon last week’s reading, in which Peter was preaching to a mixed crowd of some 3,000 people about what it means to be Christian, and about how to live a life of faith – we have a great four-step program for “being church.”

            Step One:  being church means we care for each other.  Listen o Paul:  “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy … be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord … Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves… look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”  And from Acts we heard:  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

            At the most basic level, caring for each other means that we treat each other with respect – no matter what.  It doesn’t mean we’re all alike, or that we never disagree – it means that even if we aren’t quite able to embrace our differences (although Christ would call us to that as well) we still treat each other with civility and with honor, recognizing that every one of us is a child of God, and should be treated that way.

            If we look to Jesus – to the one we are called to be like – we know that he treated everyone – absolutely everyone – criminals, prostitutes, thieves, tax-collectors, the poor, the wounded, the outcasts – with care and with respect.  He ate at table with them.  He touched them.  He talked with them – and listened to them.  He managed to be courteous to – even to love – people who disagreed with him, or criticized him, or tried to get him into trouble.  And when he was dying – in agony – on a cross, even at the very end, he was able to compassionately forgive those who were killing him.  In contrast, we – the ones who are called to be like Jesus – sometimes can’t even “forgive” the person who takes what we think of as “our” parking-space or “our pew” – or who comes late for a meeting – or who disagrees with us about how something should be done. 

            And, as part of Christ’s church, we’re also called to take a step beyond simple respect for each other in our caring.  We are also called to pray for each other.  And not just during Sunday morning worship – although that’s a very good thing – but also to take some of those people we prayed for in our church “home” with you, and pray for them during the week.  You can pray for someone who’s celebrating something – like the person who’s just gotten a new job; or the one who’s just gotten good medical news – praying and saying “thank you” to God is wonderful prayer!  Or you can pray for someone who’s struggling – someone who’s ill, or grieving, or has to make a hard decision, or do something difficult – praying for God’s special care for them … and praying that you might know how to help them – perhaps writing them a note … or calling them … or going to visit them.

            The operative theological word in Step One is “grace,” my friends.  Step One is about remembering that all of us are blessed with God’s grace – and that our Christ calls us to extend that grace to – to share that grace with – other people.

            Step Two:  being church means we share what we have with others.  Listen again to Paul:  “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”  And in Acts, we were told:  “(Those who heard Peter and welcomed his message) … devoted themselves to … the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

            Well, that’s fine, we may think – breaking bread with each other is a friendly thing to do – and we really enjoy a good pot-luck now and then.  But that whole idea of sharing all things in common, or of selling our possessions and goods and giving the money to anyone in need, makes most of us crazy.

            We can’t believe that Paul really meant that literally.  Or that Jesus really meant it when he told the rich young man to sell what he had and give the money to the poor.  Because we live in a culture that is almost totally focused on the question, “what about me and my needs?”  We’re much more concerned about putting bread on our own tables, and clothes on our own family’s backs, than doing that for someone else.  And too often, we’re afraid that if we share what we have with others, we won’t have enough for ourselves.

            But notice that nowhere does Jesus, or Paul, or any of the other Biblical writers tell us that we must utterly destitute ourselves in order to care for others – in fact, that wouldn’t make sense because then we’d be the ones in need, and they’d have to take care of us.  But Jesus and all those other people of faith were very serious about the need for us to make others’ needs as important as our own.

            Today, in our own church, we ask everyone who joins as a member to commit to sharing their time, their talents, and their treasures.  That means we commit to give financially as generously as we are able to – giving so that others in this church and outside it might have their needs met.  It also means we commit to be present and participate in the activities of the church – I’m going to talk more about worship in a minute, but right now I’m talking about things like coming in and folding bulletins or newsletters, or baking cakes for the Homeless Shelter, or bringing a gift for the Latimer House Christmas tree, or helping on one of our clean-up Saturdays in the fall or spring, or any of the other 76 possibilities that are listed on our Time & Talent sheets.  It is only if we share what we have with others that the church can even exist.

            The operative theological word in Step Two, my friends, is “providence.”  That’s a big word that means how God blesses us by giving us what we need.  And because God does that, how we are called to share what we have, so that others may have what they need.

            Step Three:  being church means we dare – to learn, to grow, to try new things.  Here’s what Paul says:  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave …And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”  And from the book of Acts:  “(Those three thousand persons who heard Peter and welcomed his message) … devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship…”

            Even those early followers of Jesus – some of whom would have actually known him, actually heard him themselves, or would have had family members or friends who had known him or seen him or heard him personally – knew they still had a lot to learn about their faith.  Over and over, especially in the New Testament, those of us who want to have the “same mind as Christ” are told that we are called to always keep growing in our faith – that we never have it all figured out.

We’re called to keep learning – not to rest on our Sunday School perfect attendance laurels, but to keep reading our Bibles, and to learn about what today’s Biblical scholars and theologians have to teach us about about God – about Christ – about our faith-call.  And we’re called to keep trying new things that resonate with our faith commitments.  We’re called to take classes, or go on a retreat, or go to Adult Contemplative Camp at La Foret.  And to read our national UCC newspaper the United Church News, and learn more about what’s going on in our denomination in other parts of the country and the world, and to read journals like Christian Century, and to read some of the new books in our church library.  As we read, we’re called to notice:  What ideas challenge us?  What ideas stretch us?  What ideas might help us live differently, and more faithfully?  And we’re called to keep getting involved in new activities here – volunteering to help with Vacation Bible School, or singing in the choir, or ringing in the handbells, or serving a meal at the Homeless Shelter, or helping with Respite Night, or joining the Prayer Shawl Ministry.  Every one of those is an opportunity to stretch, and to learn, and to grow in faith.

            The operative theological term in Step Three, my friends, is “humility.”  Because you can’t learn unless you’re willing to admit that you don’t already know it all.  Or that you aren’t already doing it all.  Today’s passage from Philippians reminds us that even Jesus – who was one with God in a very special way – didn’t consider himself to be God’s equal.  He was humble.  He didn’t think he already knew everything.  And he saw his call as humbling himself in order to serve others – to serve us[1].  And that kind of humility and service aren’t confined just to Jesus, and to his life and death, but are a quality of life and faith that should be adopted and lived out by all Christians.

            Finally, Step Four:  being church means we not only care for others, share what we have with others, and dare to grow and stretch and do more than we are doing now, it means we do those things grounded in the worship of our God.  Paul says:  “Therefore God also highly exalted (Jesus) and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.”  And in the book of Acts, we hear:  “Awe came upon (all those who followed), because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles… (and) day by day, they spent much time together in the temple, (and) they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God … And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

            Some of you may remember that last week I talked about some of the differences between “being spiritual” and “being faithful.”  And I said that because we have faith in something, or someone, we therefore try to be faithful to that someone or something.  If we have faith in God, in Jesus Christ, then our call is to be faithful to them in all of our actions, including our intentional worship, done with awe and wonder.

            That means we come to church, instead of sleeping in on Sunday mornings.  It means when we share Communion, we enter fully into the sacrament, with our hearts and minds and spirits, instead of letting it be some kind of “ho hum, who really cares” thing we do just because the people sitting next to us are doing it.

            It means that we also share worship with those who can’t come and worship with us, like our shut-ins.  It can mean taking the week’s church bulletin to them, and telling them about what the service was like, so they can enter into it in their imaginations.  It can mean praying with them – maybe sharing some of the prayer concerns that we’ve lifted up during worship, and praying for their own joys and concerns as well.  And it means deliberately paying attention – looking around … listening … opening up your heart and spirit … to all the ways and places that God – the Holy – the sacred – appears in the world around us.

            The theological concept in Step Four, my friends, is “awe” – and perhaps “gratitude” as well.  We love – and we worship – a God who is truly awesome, and a God who fills us, as Paul tells us, and makes it possible for us to be God’s church.  It’s not easy – ever – to be of the “same mind” with each other, much less to “have the same mind in (us) that is in Christ.”  But it’s possible to get closer to it, little by little, more and more each day. 

            So let me encourage you – this week – try just one new practice that will let you “be church” in a new way.  And let me close with Paul’s beautiful words:  “Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation with (awe) and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.”  May it be so.  Amen.