NOTE: I am putting my weekly sermons on the church website. It will be on for two weeks (usually posted on Friday) and then placed in the Archives area by date. You can download in a matter of seconds.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766
Sunday,
February 8, 2004
Sermon: "Anchored in the Past vs. Venture toward the Future"
Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Reverend Larry Gerber
Are we
anchored in the past with a solid future, or are venturing toward the future,
having cut ourselves from the anchor.
Think about us as a country. Who were we as the newly formed nation called The
United States of America? What symbols did our forfathers build as a reminder
as to who they were?
Lets look at Washington D.C. The aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument has
two words written on it: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact ... most
visitors to the monument have no idea they are even there and ... for that matter
they probably couldn't care less!
But there they are at 555 feet, 5.125 inches high ... perched atop the monument
to the father of our nation. Overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise
the District of Columbia. capital of the United States of America. Laus Deo!
Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words ... out of sight and, one might
think, out of mind ... but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over
what is the most powerful city in the world. And what might those two words
... comprised of just four syllables and only seven letters ... mean? Very simply
... "Praise be to God!" Though construction of this giant obelisk
began in 1848 when James Polk was President of the United States, it was not
until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took
twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with the tribute Laus Deo! >From
atop this magnificent granite and marble structure ... a visitor can take in
the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments.
And from that vantage point one can also easily see the original plan of the
designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant ... a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape
... with the White House to the North. the Jefferson Memorial to the South ...
the Capitol to the East ... and the Lincoln Memorial to the West. A cross ...
you say? How interesting! And, no doubt, intended to carry a meaning for those
who bother to notice.
Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the
steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message. On the
12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore; on the 20th is a
memorial presented by some Chinese Christians; on the 24th a presentation made
by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7,
Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument
was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the
Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Such was the discipline, the moral
direction, the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our
unique democracy ... "one nation, under God." I am awed by Washington's
prayer for America. Have you never read it? Well, now is your opportunity ...
read on! "Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep
the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts
of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government;
and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow
citizens of the United States at large." "And finally that Thou wilt
most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and
to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind
which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion,
and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never
hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
We are a nation under God!!! Laus Deo!!! Praise be to God!!!
Well, here we have a brief history lesson of the anchor that our forfathers
built, as a witness to who we are as Americans. I am surprised that someone
hasn't demanded the removing of the words atop The Washington Momument, and
even the moving of the buildings so as to not form a cross. I am sure that someones
religious rights are being violated.
On the other hand, let us look at the churches in America. Sometimes the church
seems institutionally heavy. Have we forgotten our tradition of pilgrimage and
mobility? Not if you're the pastor of an inflatable church!
For $35,000, you can have a luxury sedan. Or a lovely Gothic church. Take your
pick. It's hard to believe, but for the price of a well-equipped Infiniti G35
luxury car, you can now buy yourself a fully loaded, 47-foot-high place of worship.
It's got Gothic arches, an organ, a pulpit, an altar, space for 60 and even
some stained-glass-style windows. All for 35K, which sounds like a deal, or
even a steal. The problem is, this building is a balloon. The world's first
inflatable church made its debut last May in England, and its creator hopes
that it will "breathe new life into Christianity." Featured on CNN
and other media outlets, the church is designed to fit in the back of a truck
so that it can be hauled to village squares or open fields and set up for impromptu
services. Time was when churches were the centers of community life, but "sadly,
that's not the case anymore," laments the innovator behind the inflatable
church. "This is one way to reverse that trend, make the church more accessible
and put it back where it belongs." Walk through the gray Gothic archway,
and you find yourself in a worship space that looks like a cross between a monastery
and a moon-bounce. There are brown polyvinyl pews, an inflatable organ, a pop-up
pulpit and an air-filled altar. Once you get adjusted to the puffy plastic walls,
you can easily imagine taking part in a service of worship there. The stained-glass
windows are really quite attractive, and the inflatable pews seem to be much
more comfortable than seats made from hard, polished wood. Just be sure to leave
your sharp objects at home. Jesus was of the same mind-set when he launched
his ministry beside the lake of Gennesaret. He wasn't interested in stacking
stones to build a Catholic cathedral, or laying brick to erect a Baptist church,
or nailing planks to assemble a Congregational meetinghouse. Instead, he looked
for ways to take his message into the very heart of where people were living
and playing and working, and he spoke from whatever platform he could find.
Would he have preached from the roof of an Infiniti G35? Sure, if there happened
to be a car dealer in Capernaum. As it turned out, Jesus saw two boats at the
shore of the lake, and so he hopped into Simon's and asked him to put out a
little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat
(Luke 5:1- 3). Jesus created a sanctuary at sea. A worship center on the water.
He placed a pulpit in the center of the people so that the word could be heard.
We all have a natural human hunger for stability in our lives, so it makes sense
that our church has a solid foundation and a set of sturdy walls, plus an unchanging
number in the phone book and an address that hasn't shifted since the cornerstone
was first put in place. The church needs to recover its tradition of pilgrimage
and journey. From the tabernacle in the wilderness, to the great Wesleyan revivals
of the 18th century when preachers went into pit and pub with the good news,
and Whitefield thundered in open-air fields, and later Billy Graham set up a
tent in Los Angeles and so on. The church thrives when it is on the move. Should
we be operating out of the trunk of an Infiniti G35? Or off the deck of a fishing
boat? Or from a flatbed truck hauling an inflatable church? Details. The Rev.
Michael Elfred, a minister in the Church of England, reminds us that in the
Old Testament, God's people worshiped in a tent. "God is on the move,"
he insists, "and tells us not to be sidetracked by our buildings."
The Lord is on the move … always on the move. That's the story of Scripture,
from Genesis to Revelation. But here we sit, too often thinking of ministry
as something that happens within these four walls. Are we going to find ourselves
Left Behind? The question is an apostolic, not an apocalyptic one. Our mission
is to go out, not get them to come in. We're to meet people where they live
and work and play. Jesus invites us to "Put out into the deep water and
let down your nets for a catch" (v. 4). Do we have the knowledge to walk
with God into an uncertain future, knowing that God is always ahead of us, and
that God is always on the move. Now we don't actually have to worship each week
in a big balloon in order to pass the inflatability test. After all, polyvinyl
pews can pop, air-filled arches can sag, and space for 60 is not going to fill
the bill for many services of worship. But there is still tremendous value in
thinking about being a church that is apostolic and on the move with God, a
church that refuses to be stuck in one location and sidetracked by worries about
the condition of its bricks and mortar. Our focus should be on inflatability,
not stability. To be inflatable is to be incarnational — it is to be the
living, breathing, walking, talking, fully enfleshed body of Christ in the world
today. To be inflatable is to be filled with the Spirit — after all, in
the Hebrew Bible, there is only one single word for the concepts of wind and
breath and Spirit. To be inflatable is to be easily transportable, and able
to move quickly and efficiently to wherever God wants us to be. When the Lord
is on the move, we don't want to be left behind. Inflatability is seen most
clearly in our actions when we leave this building and go out into the world.
After all, we've come to this place feeling deflated by the frustrations of
the week, and maybe even punctured by sharp words and destructive, damaging
actions. As we worship God together, we find ourselves being repaired and reinflated,
filled once again with the powerful and inspiring wind-breath-Spirit of God.
Like the first apostles, we may toil all night by ourselves and catch nothing,
but when we open our hearts to Jesus we find that our nets are filled so full
that they are in danger of breaking (vv. 4-7). The other piece of this is to
remember the character of our story as the story of a pilgrim, a sojourner,
one who is traveling toward an eternal destination and therefore is careful
not to become entangled in complicated affairs along the way. It's too easy
to think that this life is all there is. To forget that "This world is
not my home, I'm just a-passing through." When Jesus called, the future
disciples "left everything and followed him" (v.11 NIV). They abandoned
their rootedness, and began instead a journey that would lead to their ultimate
eternal destination. So here we go, floating out into the world as a sign of
God's love for all people. "Do not be afraid," said Jesus to his very
first inflatable followers; "from now on you will be catching people"
(v. 10). The best way to attract people to God is to be light and flexible and
full of the Spirit, and the most effective way to draw people to Jesus is to
do your best to love them as profoundly as Jesus loves them. There was a woman
in a mental hospital in Washington who was just sick and tired of hearing her
chaplain tell her how much God loved her. She heard him say this again and again,
and it just didn't ring true; she didn't believe it. Finally, she said to the
chaplain, "Please, stop telling me how much God loves me. First, you love
me. Then I'll know that God loves me." That's the mission of a Christian
who is apostolic, not apocalyptic. That's the approach of a disciple who is
determined to live in the world, meet people where they live and work and play
and show them the irresistible love of God. That's the technique of a Christ-follower
who values inflatability over solidity, and flexibility over stability. ````````````````````````````````
Source: Long, Gideon. "Before faith fills the air, air fills the cathedral."
The Washington Post, May 17, 2003, B9
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Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766