CALLED TO BE THE CHURCH
A sermon by Assistant Pastor Micaela Wood

Ephesians 1: 15-23

Last Sunday afternoon, many of us gathered in Fellowship Hall for the “Celebrating Generous Hearts” event hosted by our Stewardship Committee. For those of you that were there, you'll have to bear with me for a moment because I want to share with the rest of the congregation what a wonderful event it was.

The weather was warm enough for 20 or so kids to run around in the newly-remodeled playground with t-shirts on. I couldn't decide who was having more fun – the kids jumping up on the rocks, the adults tending the campfire with hotdogs, or those of us inside feasting on a tray of delicious finger foods and good conversation.

The afternoon was filled with good entertainment. I learned that Kyle Hetrick plays the French horn! John-Paul Etienne was able to sing accompanied by Ed Penhorwood…a relationship that, I understand goes back almost two decades. Ed himself shared with us the three songs he first learned to play on the piano when he was a little boy. And we discovered that one of our newest members, Jason Hendricks, has a lovely baritone voice…and I believe he got recruited for the choir after his performance.

We also had the joy of watching Al and Kathy Ruesink do something they love to do, which is dance together. It was truly a heartwarming experience to watch this couple – married 45 years – grinning at each other like teenagers at Prom while they shared their love of dancing with us. And then there were the teenagers and kids! Anna and Kate Raphael played an excellent duet on their recorders and Hannah Busey was brave enough to share her guitar-playing skills with us. We wrapped up the afternoon with a hilarious story from one of our many members gifted with the talent of storytelling – Nick Foster.

It was truly a wonderful afternoon. And it made me thankful. Thankful to be a part of a church with so many gifts and talents. Thankful for those of you who have been faithful to the vision of this church long enough that us “newer folks” had the chance to reap the benefits of your loving care.

Those of us who had parents who raised us right still hear their voices nagging us to thank people when they do something kind for us.

If someone brings you a casserole when you're sick or watches your kids so you can run errands, you say thank you. But it is less often that we remember to thank people for just being who they are.

When I think about the people of First United Church , I want to say thanks for just being you.

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In today's reading from Ephesians, we see this kind of generalized thanks. Although the letter begins by saying it's a letter from Paul to the church in Ephesus , I would be an irresponsible preacher if I didn't take time to note for you that many scholars do not believe this letter was actually written by Paul.

They doubt its Pauline authorship because the style of the writing is very different – the sentences are long and filled with unusual words. In fact, today's passage, Chapter 1, verses 15 through 23 is just one, long, run-on sentence in the original Greek. I shudder to think how my seminary professors would have to say about this author's writing style.

Also, many scholars doubt that this letter was actually written to the church in Ephesus .

The notation in verse one that says it was sent to the Ephesians was written in at a later date, so we're not really sure what specific community was supposed to receive this letter or who wrote it. The author of Ephesians is writing to a group of Gentiles and expresses his or her thanksgiving for their faith and love.

It is a generalized thanks – thanks for being who you are. Thanks for keeping the faith. Thanks for being the church you have been called to be.

The author, whoever he or she was, is following in Paul's footsteps in terms of the structure of this letter. Like all the other letters that actually were written by Paul, Ephesians starts with a greeting, followed by a blessing, followed by a thanksgiving. All those elements usually come at the beginning of a Pauline letter.

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What is unusual in this particular letter is the amount of intense theology that happens in the early part of the letter. The author gives thanks for the readers and offers a prayer for their wisdom and guidance from God.

Then the author moves into some bold statements about who Christ is. The fancy, ten-dollar word for this is Christology - a study of the nature of Christ. According to the author of Ephesians, Christ is given all power and authority by God. Christ has been raised from the dead through God's power and he now sits at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. Christ's name is above all names. Christ rules not only in the present day but in all ages to come.

It's pretty heavy stuff, huh? And it's no wonder that these bold statements about Christ are traditionally read every Ascension Sunday in churches like ours that follow the lectionary cycle.

Early followers of Jesus were, of course, devastated and confused in the aftermath of his crucifixion. Even though they followed a resurrected Christ, there was some debate about what exactly that meant for them. Did they have to wait for Christ to return with trumpet sound before God's Kingdom would come on earth? Were they left all alone when Christ went away? They were waiting, but what were they supposed to do in the in-between time? Who were they supposed to be now that Christ had gone?

The author of Ephesians answers these questions confidently: Christ is not gone at all. Christ still reigns and was given all power when he ascended to be with God.

Interestingly, the translation that Christ is seated at God's right hand in the heavenly places isn't quite right. The English translators added in the word “places” but the actual Greek doesn't contain a word denoting a place. Instead, Christ is seated in the heavenly. It's more of a quality of being than a physical location. Christ isn't ruling from some clouds floating overhead – Christ is enthroned in all places that have a heavenly quality about them.

The other ten-dollar word that we can use in our discussion of this long run-on sentence is ecclesiology – the study of what it means to be the Church. The final part of this passage says that Christ is made the head of the church and that we, the church, are Christ's body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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So the question I'm left with is: what does it mean to be the church?

We have been called and ordained to be the body of Christ. We often think about our clergy being called and ordained for a specific task, but our scripture and tradition are clear, we are all called. And we are all called to be the church. What does that mean for us?

Let me ask you to close your eyes for a moment and see what comes to mind when you imagine “church.” Hold it there in your mind's eye….now call out what you see.

One of the images that comes to many when they think of the church is a building – remember the rhyme you learned as a child? “Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the door and see all the people.”

The United Church of Christ, which we are a part of, recently put ads on four national TV channels using this rhyme. The ad shows images of people from many backgrounds saying that the United Church of Christ welcomes “all the people.”

One of the ways we are church together is through our ties with larger groups.

Our local church is blessed to be a part of two denominations and we are tied to a lot of people through those affiliations.

When the floods came last summer, we were able to mobilize our bodies and our dollars quickly to provide relief through our denominational ties. Over the past few months, we have received several letters, e-mails, and other well-wishes from churches in the ABC and UCC that are happy to hear about our recent decision to become open, welcoming, and affirming. And Sam Troxal had the opportunity to meet lots of wonderful people when he traveled to Rochester, New York in September for the annual meeting of our region of the American Baptist Church .

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So the church is a people. No doubt about that. A people that comes together in community. But the harder question is this: what do we do when we come together?

If we are the church and Christ is our head, what does that mean for our lives?

It's that small detail – what does the church DO – that has been the reason people have found their home in the church. It's the reason people come to church, join a church, give to a church. It's also, of course, the reason so many people are disillusioned with the church – because the people of the church have hurt them, have not taken their call to follow Christ seriously.

Fred Craddock, arguably one of the best preachers alive today and a man gifted with the art of storytelling, tells a story about what it means to be the church:

My mother took us to church and Sunday school; my father didn't go. He complained about Sunday dinner being late when she came home.

Sometimes the preacher would call, and my father would say, “I know what the church wants. Church doesn't care about me. Church wants another name, another pledge, another name, another pledge, right? Isn't that the name of it? Another name, another pledge.” That's what he always said.

I guess I heard it a thousand times. One time he didn't say it. He was in the veteran's hospital, and he was down to seventy-three pounds. They'd taken out his throat, and said, “It's too late.” They put in a metal tube, and X rays burned him to pieces.

I flew in to see him. He couldn't speak, couldn't eat.

I looked around the room, potted plants and cut flowers on all the windowsills, a stack of cards twenty inches deep beside his bed. And even that tray where they put food, if you can eat, on that was a flower.

And all the flowers beside the bed, every card, every blossom, were from persons or groups from the church.

He saw me read a card. He could not speak, so he took a Kleenex box and wrote on the side of it a line from Shakespeare. If he had not written this line, I would not tell you this story.

He wrote: “in this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story.” I said, “What is your story, Daddy?” And he wrote, “I was wrong.”

An appropriate story for a group of people pondering what it means to be the church, don't you think? Who among us hasn't been in a hospital room filled with cards and well-wishes from church friends? Who hasn't wondered – either aloud or silently – whether the church just wants another member and another pledge?

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We are gathered here today on pledge Sunday. It is a Sunday to make commitments to our church. We give our financial pledges and we give ourselves in service to this particular community, First United Church . And as we do so, we are called to ponder the question of who we – as a community of faith – are called to be.

Last month, our Church Council met for its annual retreat and came up with ten areas where they believe we might focus our energies as we try to follow Christ in the next ten years. If you haven't had a chance to look at those and make comments, I encourage you to do so – they are posted by Fellowship Hall.

The task of deciding who we are called to be a as people is one that belongs to all of us those of us that have been at First United since it was downtown and those of us that have been here only a few months; those of us that have spent decades serving on church committees and those of us that have never been to an event outside of worship; men and women, adults and children, gay and straight, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, people of all races… one is our master, the Christ, and we are all called to be the church together.

What does it mean to be the church?

What does it mean to take seriously our call and our ordination to follow our head, Jesus Christ?

I'm afraid I'm not here to answer that question today. We all are.