Easter 3: What is the What?

Intro

            I spent a lot of time last week investigating the history of this congregation and in so doing was lead to consider the early part of my connection.  I remember preaching at Westminster Presbyterian on a Sunday morning in the Spring of 2003 so that the nominating committee might get a sense of my style and theology.  Later that afternoon they invited me over here to this church building to get a sense of my personality.  We had a nice discussion in the parlor and then they asked if I would like a tour of the church.  I remember following the group down the hall as they laid out what they had done and hoped to do with the physical space.  I remember being impressed with some of the little decorative details like balloons in the nursery.  This reflected a passion and a hope that we had something to offer children.  We descended the stairs and entered the area of the food and clothing bank where I was once again impressed by the way space that was once used for Sunday School classes had been re-formed into a space to offer food to the hungry and clothes to the naked.  I saw the spark of a people who were beginning to turn their attention outward, to the community.  I remember that I asked questions about the origin of the food and clothing bank, how many people come and how they get their food and clothes.  When I asked questions of details and dates, the group easily answered my inquiries.  But then I tossed a little tougher one their way. 

I asked, “Why do you have this food and clothing bank?”  There was a pause and then the first response made me laugh.  One of the members boldly chimed, “Because the Presbytery told us we needed a ministry to the community.”  We laughed at this until someone else backed up this honest response with the statement, “That’s where we started but it has become a way for people from the community to enter our church, and we hope that some might even start coming to worship.”  The group nodded in agreement at this intelligent response and perhaps they also hoped that this might allow us to move on with the church tour, but then I had to toss another tough one their way. 

Once again I asked, “Why…why do you want them to come to church?”  I could see the wheels turning in their heads and I began to wonder if I had gone too far in my questioning.  Perhaps they were beginning to question me as a candidate.  What kind of minister is this guy if he asks questions like “Why do we want people to come to church?  Didn’t he go to seminary?”  And so as the silence extended and approached the point of claiming that I was just kidding one of the members, who had been relatively quiet until this point exclaimed, “Well, we want them to have what we have.” 

We want them to have what we have.  Once again, the group nodded in agreement.  She had given words to their feelings.  We want the people who come through these doors to not only get food and clothing but to receive what we have within us.  We want them to come through the doors on Sunday because we want them to have what we have between us.  We want people to have what we have.  This was a good answer and yet…it lead to one more question. 

This beautiful response led to one more question that I wisely restrained myself from asking, for it is this question which has been grist for the mill and fodder for my thoughts since I have been here.  The question I did not ask then but will share with you now was simply, “What is the what?”  When we say we want people to have what we have, it only seems fair that we should explore the question, “What do we have?”  What, brothers and sisters, is the ‘what’ that we have?

‘That’

            We are not alone in this question.  Communities from the beginning of time have been pushed to ask questions about what draws and holds them together.  Churches, Elks Lodges, book clubs, the Jr. League, garden clubs, boy scouts and on and on and on have in some way at various times asked the question, “What is the what that we have?”   If this is true, then it should come as no surprise that our spiritual ancestors struggled with this question almost 2000 years ago. 

            Bear with me for a few moments as I attempt to give you a brief tour of the scenario.  It is the year 90.  You are living in the costal metropolis of Ephesus, where you work and labor under the dominion of the Roman Empire.  Ephesus is a booming city with lots of jobs, social life and influence.  People have been flocking to it for years in hopes of a better life.  In the midst of the day to day struggle you have found a place for your own hope.  Some of the people who came to Ephesus were from Judea where Jerusalem is.  These people arrived decades ago with a strange message.  They arrived with a story about God.  The story was about the God of the Jews whose name was not even spoken, but ironically enough this God became human in the person of a man named Yeshua or in our common tongue, Jesus.  Jesus, they claimed, had come into the world to rescue the world from death.  The evidence of his love was found in story of his journey to the cross and the evidence of his power was found in the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave.  Because, these people claimed, Jesus had been raised from the dead, so shall those who follow him.  These people shared this story with anyone who would listen and before too long they had many little communities who met in houses on the 1^st day of the week to worship this risen Jesus.

            All seemed well for a while.  The people met in the homes of those who were wealthy enough to have the space.  They sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  They read the words of the Hebrew prophets and the law.  They read accounts of Jesus’ life which they called the gospels.  They prayed together and they shared a meal of wine and bread.  Even though these groups met in different homes throughout the city, they felt connected with one another.  They shared the belief and relationship with the same risen Lord.  They were, as the apostle Paul would say, ‘of one mind.’  Unfortunately, this did not last very long.  Before too long disagreements emerged over what it meant to believe in this risen Lord.  And as disagreements often do, it led to some of the members leaving the community and forming their own communities.  Just what, you may ask, would lead to such a consequence?  It was a disagreement over ‘what the what was.’ 

            This other group we now call the ‘gnostics’ which simply means ‘knowledge.’  This other group believed that life came mostly through a secret knowledge and that once you got that knowledge then your body and even this world didn’t really matter.    For the Gnostics, the answer to the question, “What is the what that we have?” was clearly, knowledge.  The gospel of the Gnostic claimed that if you embrace our community then you will receive a knowledge that allows you to completely transcend this dirty physical existence and enter a pure, enlightened spiritual existence where the physical does not matter.  The Gnostics preached this gospel within the house churches and as the tension mounted some of them decided it was time for them to leave. 

Left in the wake of this break in the union were the orthodox Christians.  They were left confused, bewildered, frustrated and perhaps even doubtful of their belief.  Perhaps they were at a place where they too were wondering, “What is the what that we have?” Far away in some other place there was an old pastor of these house churches who heard about the situation in Ephesus.  He heard that the people were confused, bewildered, frustrated and increasing in doubt.  He knew about the secession of the Gnostics and the confusion they left in their departure and this old pastor felt compelled to sit down and write a little letter to these struggling congregations.  And now I invite you to listen for the Word of Life. 

[1 John 1:1 – 4]

 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

 “What” – The Word of Life

            O h=n avpV avrch/j , O is a pronoun and in our passage it is rightly translated as ‘that.’  But, in other places it may mean ‘who...which...or even WHAT.’  Right from the start we hear John the elder dealing with the ‘what.’  What was from the beginning… what we heard…what we saw…what we looked upon and touched.  I want to stop John and ask, “What is this what?”  And then, without giving the whole answer, he gives an answer, ‘the what is the Word of Life.’

            The word of life, what is this?  What does this mean?  The elder wants to be clear that this ‘what’ was not an imagined spirit.  They heard the what…saw the what…and even like Thomas touched the what and now we proclaim this what to you as life…eternal life.

            What is life?  Yes, it is a board game.  It is also a cereal.  Biologically it is determined by whether one’s heart is beating or not.  But it’s more than that, is it not?  When faced with death in the movie Braveheart William Wallace replies, “Everyman dies, but not every person really lives.”  Life is more than just inhaling and exhaling is it not?  (Deut. 30:19-20)       

            Is life happiness?  Some would say yes, but I think this falls far short.  Have you ever heard of the happiness paradox.  In most instances, when a person sets a goal; to lose weight, to get a driver’s license, to improve their grades, the goal increases the chances of attaining it.  Just the opposite is true in regards to happiness.  People who make happiness their goal are less likely to achieve it.  No, life is more, deeper and richer than this. 

            So what is life?  Life, real life, true life is living as God desires.  The more we share God’s desires, the more we live.  The more we reject God’s desires, the less we live.  I realize this answer is a bit vague, but so in a sense is life.  It is like the senator who was asked to describe pornography he said, “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.”  Is life like this?  We can’t define it, but we know it when we see it.  Lets read what John has to say about that?

The Fellowship and Joy

            According to John, life comes through more than just a word heard, it takes much more than that.   “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ…”  Fellowship… Koinonia is the Greek word and it simply means sharing with one another.  It is used in various places throughout scripture and carries a variety of meanings.  In Romans, Paul speaks of sharing resources.  In Corinthians, Paul speaks of sharing in the body and blood of Jesus.  And in Acts, Luke talks about sharing relationships with each other.  Koinonia is about sharing relationships, sharing pain and joy, and sharing resources.  In Koinonia we give and receive from one another.  In Koinonia, we give and receive from God. 

I recently heard Earl Palmer talk about Howard Munger, the man who wrote “My heart, Christ’s home.”  In this book Rev. Munger encourages us to consider that life comes through personal relationship with Jesus.  You have likely heard this.  I heard throughout my youth and early adulthood.  And in fact, I agree with it.  No relationship has meant more to me than the one I have with Jesus.  However, the words of John make me think that we should add one word to Rev. Munger’s invitation.  Life comes through a personal and communal relationship with Jesus

            What we find here from the start is that this old distant pastor claims that life, the word of life has something, perhaps everything to do with how we share with one another and how we share with God.  Unlike the Gnostics who claim that life comes through secret knowledge, the elder reminds the readers, that life comes through God and through one another.

            Does any of this sound familiar?  I hope so.  A couple of years ago we formulated our ‘what’ (otherwise known as a mission statement) in the following way.  MPPC exists to glorify God by being a community (fellowship/koinonia) of Jesus so rich, deep and faithful that it is worth sharing with others.  I really like this mission statement as it seems to echo the words of this old pastor who claimed that he proclaimed the word of life to the people ‘so that they might have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.”  The old pastor had community with God and others, it was life giving community, it was community worth sharing.             .    

A return to the what

            I can’t help but hear these words and think of the response one of you gave to my question, “Why do we want others to come to church?”  The answer wasn’t ‘because we need more people to keep the doors open.’  It wasn’t ‘because I’m tired of doing the work and want others to do it.’  And the answer wasn’t ‘so that they can help us meet the budget.’  No, this person said what the old pastor said to these early Christians.  She said, “We want them to have what we have.” 

            Do we still want that?  Do we want others to have what we have?  I invite you to ponder that question for a moment.  (Pause)  Now, I’m not a mind reader, but my guess is that you have two answers to that question.  Knowing you all, I am guessing that your first answer is ‘yes, I do want others to have what we have.’  The joy expressed last Sunday is clear evidence of your desire of sharing what we have with others.

            But then, after getting past that question, I would guess the next thought that entered your mind was something like, “Now, what is it we have again?”  Am I right?  I could take this as the sign of a poor sermon, but just the opposite.  I’ve spent 9 years and hundreds of ways trying to remind us ‘what the what is.’  We never fully ‘get it.’

To whom shall we go?

Some people have and others will grow frustrated with that and they will leave and search for life in other places.  This reminds me of an episode in the gospel of John.  After feeding the 5,000, many people began to follow Jesus.  But then, Jesus stopped to explain how he was the bread of life.  Being the ‘bread of life’ didn’t mean they’d get free bread for the rest of their lives most of the people quit following Jesus.  For them, bread meant life and if Jesus wasn’t going to provide that bread, then they’d look somewhere else.  When the crowds had gone away, there were a few who remained.  Jesus looked at them and asked, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”  And Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  (John 6:68)   

The way out

Everyone is looking for life.  Like children looking for Easter eggs we search under bushes and inside trees.  We look in malls, in television tubes, in bottles, in banks and in jobs.  We look all over for life.  Where are you looking for life? 

We are flawed.  We are fallible.  We are a funny sort of people.  However, we are a fellowship.  Not just a fellowship of any sort.  No, we are a fellowship of Jesus seeking to hear and see and embrace and embody the word of life that he offers.  Not alone, but as John writes, together as a fellowship a community.  If you’ve been here before I ask, “Will you continue this journey?”  And if this is new to you then I ask, “Will you join us in this journey?”  I ask this, as John did, ‘to make my joy complete.’