HOW TO BE PRESBYTERIAN  

Acts 1:6-14, Matthew 28:16-20

[Since spoken communication differs from written, some of the grammar and syntax of this transcript may seem awkward in written form. To keep integrity with the spirit of the original delivery, the transcript seeks to stay close to the exact words spoken.]

How to be a Presbyterian in five easy steps:
1. Make the grace and sovereignty of God the cornerstone of your life.
2. Know the symbols that tell our story.
3. Be connectional.
4. Be a priest.
5. See the world as your mission field.

Rev. Vamos:
When Sue Anne Steffey Morrow said that she would be called away, because of the death in her family this weekend, Mary Alice and I decided to make a virtue of necessity. I have encountered many in the congregation who've really appreciated the chance to learn more about what it means to be who we are as Christians, but specifically as Presbyterian Christians. The Scripture text that we read today helps us transition from the season of Easter toward the season of Pentecost. The text was about Jesus' ascension--this is Ascension Day--and so the theme really moves to: what does it mean to be the presence of Christ on Earth as the church? And so today weíre going to think about what does is mean to be, specifically, the Presbyterian Church?

A few weeks ago I ran a little column in the Worship Notes section of the bulletin about the fact that we don't have an altar as Presbyterians--we have a communion table. And Mary Alice and I, encountered several people who said, "I didn't know that. That's really interesting." Even people who have been Presbyterians lifelong--we need a refresher--but there are also many among us in this congregation new to the game.

So the topic for today is how to be Presbyterian. And we're going to do that in five easy steps. Now this is not meant to be an exhaustive description of how to be a Presbyterian. It's suggestive of some of the broad themes that bind us together. But I hope it will be helpful to you in your Christian journey. Youíll need to turn to the back page of your bulletin where you'll see each of these (see top of sermon text). And I know you're going to put this on your refrigerator this week, and you'll remember every word spoken to you from this pulpit this morning. But you'll especially need to look at the symbol that you'll find there on the inside cover of the back sheet (see bottom left of sermon text).

So step number one is a theological step. It is this: make the grace and sovereignty of God the cornerstone of your life. And so we begin with a theological affirmation, a way of viewing and understanding the universe, and God, and ourselves. And there are a lot of ways that we can talk about this or understand it, but hereís one way, at least. We begin being Presbyterian when we stop making ourselves the center of the universe. When we stop trying to make the universe do what we want it to do, and start saying and affirming that God is the center of the universe. In a sense, it means letting go of the idea that I'm in charge of my life, in favor of embracing the idea that God is in charge of my life.

So I need to stop trying to make the universe do what I want it to do. We can't make God do what we want God to do through some ritual in the liturgy by sprinkling holy water on something and saying some words and thereby gaining the favor of God. We rejected that in favor of the idea that God has already bent to us in Jesus Christ. See, the center of our theology is the idea that I've been invited to this party--and let me tell you, itís the best party in town. And I didn't get invited because of my goodness or my virtue--in some ways it's surprising that I, humble me with all of my flaws, got invited to this party. Because God came to me in Jesus Christ, who has claimed my life.

So that's the center out of which we live our lives--gratitude that God has come to me, and I'm invited to give my life to Jesus Christ. So being a Presbyterian really ought to be a response to that gracious fact--that gracious affirmation. And so when we encounter a Presbyterian, we ought to encounter a person who lives their life out of deep gratitude. We ought to encounter a person who is joyful, and knows the goodness of God everywhere around us. Because God is in charge--not in some mechanical way that takes away our human freedom, but in a way that bestows upon us goodness.

So here's a way to, sort of, sum all that stuff up. We're going to get a little engaged here. A few years ago I went to a conference where the speaker, a Presbyterian, taught the congregation a cheer that really describes this theological center. And it kind of goes like this...the speaker says, "God is good," and the people respond, "All the time." And then the speaker says, "All the time" and the people respond, "God is good." So we're going to try that. Ready?

(Repeated two times)
Rev. Vamos: God is good.
Congregation: All the time.
Rev. Vamos: All the time.
Congregation: God is good.

I think they're starting to get it, Mary Alice.

Rev. Lyman
OK, I get the fun part. Look on the seal, the Presbyterian seal, and we're going to talk about some of the symbols in there. And the first one I want you to notice is the dove. And the dove is one of the oldest symbols, and it forms the top of the seal--the top of the cross. You see the dove descending down. And we're familiar in the Old Testament, with the story of Noah waiting for the dove to bring back the branch, to assure the people that there is dry land. And in the New Testament the dove was present at the baptism of Jesus. As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, the Spirit of God came down from heaven like a dove and it landed on Jesus. And so the dove symbolizes the presence of God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. And now, inside that dove, you should see a fish. And it's hard to see, which is appropriate for the fish--it's hidden in the body of the dove. And it's appropriate that it is hard to see, because the fish was the symbol for the early Christians and it was a secret symbol that they used to reveal themselves as Christians--they would draw the fish in the dirt, in the sand. And so we have the dove and the fish as the top of the symbol.

Then right underneath that, the next section, is the pulpit. And you see how it comes down, and there's the Bible, the open book, on the pulpit. And the pulpit is the base of the seal, and it upholds the two other symbols--it upholds the Bible and the cup. And for Presbyterians, preaching is an important part of our tradition, and the reformed tradition. And before the Reformation happened, the central act of worship for the church was communion, and the mass was usually, almost always recited in Latin, which few people understood during the time of the Reformation. And one very important aspect of reformation was that the Bible was beginning to be translated into the language of all the people--especially in central Europe. And thus when that happened, it made the hearing and the reading of the Scripture relevant to the people. And notice the open Bible that is on the pulpit, beneath the descending dove. And for Presbyterians, the open Bible represents our emphasis on the preaching and teaching of the Bible that is guided and informed by the Holy Spirit. Hence the dove coming down.

Now the Bible. Sometimes Protestants, we are called The People of the Book. And for us, the Bible has authority because it teaches us of the saving work of God through Jesus Christ. And in this Presbyterian seal, you see that the Bible is open, and the Bible is open because it is open to all the people of God, and through this open book, all are invited to receive the forgiveness of God. And the Bible, like the pulpit, is central to our faith, and it is central in this seal. And if you see, it looks a lot our pulpit, and our Bible. And our Bible sits as an open Bible in this meetinghouse because it is an open invitation for all of God's children to be part of us.

Now under the Bible, the open Bible, you can see the cup, and I think this is another one thatís hard to find in there. And if you look at the rounded spine of the Bible, that forms the top of the cup, and then the stem goes down in the middle of the pulpit, the symbol, to form the cup. And so it's kind of a long stem with the cup on the top. And the cup in the seal represents both the communion chalice and the baptismal font. And both of these are the symbols of the two sacraments that we have in the Presbyterian Church--baptism and communion. And again, notice the central location of the cup in this seal. It symbolizes the reform emphasis on the relationship between the Word and the sacrament. It's located beneath the dove, and it symbolizes the importance of the Holy Spirit, that is present at the baptism of Jesus, and it also reminds us of the grace that we receive when we partake of the Lord's Supper. We hear the Word read and taught; we live the Word in the sacraments; and the Holy Spirit illumines our minds and opens our hearts through these acts of worship.

And then on the side of the symbol, you see the flames. And there are four flames at the base of the seal. Fire and light are prevalent images throughout the Bible. And in the Old Testament, we know that Moses is confronted with the burning bush, which is a symbol for God, and this is a symbol of God as sovereign, as mystery, and you know, what Jeff said--thank goodness that God is in control and we aren't. So God is sovereign, and there's a wonderful, beautiful mystery in that, because God calls Moses to action through this symbol, the fire in the burning bush. And in the New Testament, we had the story--the fire that is the symbol of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost--which we will celebrate next week. And on Pentecost is when the church is born. The Holy Spirit is in the soil where the seeds of faith grow, in which the community of faith is nurtured.

There is so much imagery in this symbol: there's purification and cleansing; there's light and truth. And all of these images remind us of the power of God who calls us to be witnesses of love in the world. Now, if you look at the base of the symbol, you see a triangle. And the triangle is implied in the symbol--it forms the base of the cross at the bottom, and the sides of the triangle are the flame and it goes up. And the triangle, even thought it's an implied symbol, it's a very important symbol that's used in Christian art throughout the centuries to symbolize the Trinity. And when this symbol was created, it was specifically incorporated by the artist into the design. And this triangle has equal sides, and it comes to the peak at the center of the cup. And the Trinity is used for describing the nature of God, our God, as one God through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we know this God to be a creating, redeeming, and sustaining God that has power over all of life. And the mystery of three persons, of three ways of knowing God, united in one reality.

And our last symbol is the cross. And if you look at the whole symbol, it is a cross. And it's the center of the seal. And after the conversion of Constantine to Christianity in 312 A.D., the cross became widely used to depict the faith. The cross is the universal symbol of our Christian faith. It is the heart of the gospel; it is the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in this cross we see God's love for us, and we are offered forgiveness for our sins. The cross proves that God loves us--that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rev. Vamos
Who knew that there was all that in one symbol? So step number three: Be connectional. What do we mean by that? We mean that we are a church that shares authority. And that we don't generally vest authority in individuals, and individual offices, like a bishop or a cardinal or a pope. We share authority. Did you know that the system of government that John Calvin formulated in the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century forms the pattern for our American form of government? So the same kind of checks and balances we know about through our own form of government really exist in our church government. And so we believe that the Holy Spirit and the Will of God is most easily discernible through a group of people trying to understand that together.

So how does that look? Here are some examples that might illustrate this. Here's a question--it's maybe a trick question. Do you know who our bishop is? Who is our bishop, as Presbyterians? (murmuring from congregation) The Presbytery. I didn't even plant these people here (referring to people in the congregation who answered the question correctly). It's kind of a trick because it's not an individualÖwe do have a bishop, you might say, and it's called the Presbytery: a motley crew of about 150, 200 people, consisting of ministers of the Word and Sacrament, our clergy, as well as representatives, delegates, from our congregations. And the Presbytery has oversight of every congregation in the Presbytery. We're accountable to the Presbytery.

So here's another striking feature about this system of government. Did you know that you cannot fire me? (laughter) And I use that to my advantage every single day, I want to let you know. You can't fire Mary Alice or me. The only way you can get rid of me is through the concurrence of the Presbytery, because they function as the bishop. We're not a congregational form of government where the congregation can vote us out the first unpopular sermon that we preach. And really, this is truly and advantage because there's authority over congregation and pastor. Sometimes when there is a dispute, the Presbytery helps to work that out, between pastor or pastors and congregation.

Here's the last thing--it's really important, especially today. Who owns this building? We don't own this building--at least not just our individual congregation--the Presbytery owns this building. The Presbytery owns every bit of property in the entire Presbytery together. The trusses that are cracked? We had to work with the Presbytery and let them know that we were on the case, because together we share accountability and authority. And actually this issue is a very hot issue in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today. I don't have time to say more about that, but if youíd like to talk to me or Mary Alice about why that is, weíd be happy to chat with you at the coffee hour.

Rev. Lyman
OK, I have the priesthood of all believers as our next point. And I'm going to talk about it, then I'm going to tell a little story. "The priesthood of all believers" is a phrase associated with Martin Luther and itís from his concern that all Christians can act in a "priestly way" by praying directly to God and not having to go through a Priest, which was a big deal during the Reformation. And Luther felt that all believers may teach the Christian faith to others on the basis of their own reading of the Scriptures. And Luther held the view that we are justified by faith alone. And this thought made the idea of a priesthood of all believers a very liberating feature during the Reformation, since it meant that individual believers have great freedom and that we are not forced to go to God through the priest and that we can read and interpret the Bible for ourselves.

And so Presbyterians--we added a little bit to that theology of Luther. We see that the church is the covenant community of God. And we see the church as the "chosen race, as a royal priesthood." And that we are priests--we are made priests through Jesus Christ, who is the only true priest and who calls us into our ministries through this new covenant that has been established. This means that the church has a calling to be "priests," and that we have a corporate responsibility and a privilege to be a believing, covenant people of God. Our priesthood is to offer Christ to the world, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and to pray to God on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the whole world. Individual congregations act as a microcosm of the whole church and how we carry out our ministry and our mission on behalf of the church.

The story I want to tell is that we read this, the text for Matthew, about going out to the world as disciples. And in the lectio class this morning, we read the Scripture, then we go around the table and we each pick out a word or phrase that has meaning for us. And so this was a wonderful, rich one. And so I heard in there that even though all were called, some doubted. And that was OK, that you could doubt, you were still called to go out into the world. So we shared a few more things. And people picked up on all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me and then one person picked up on the fact that, well, Jesus was saying, "OK, I'm going up to heaven now, you guys have the job to do." I got a big kick out of that. Because we are the priesthood of believers, that all of us have the ability to interpret Scripture and teach Scripture to one another. And what a rich, wonderful history that is, and what a privilege it is, to be able to sit down and read Scripture, and knowing that we are the ones who interpret that. That we look to Scripture as our guide, as our inspiration, and that whether we doubt, whether we feel we have the authority to go out and spread the good news, or if we feel we have been abandoned by God at times, or separated from God, that we have each other to rely on, and that this wonderful priesthood of believers, this wonderful cloud of witnesses that has been going on for centuries and will go on for centuries. That we're part of that, and thanks be to God for what we're able to do through that.

Rev. Vamos
The final step in this business of being Presbyterian is this: see the world as your mission field. One of the primary marks of our communion is mission. And it's often said that if we as Presbyterians may not agree on theology--and of course we very often disagree--it is mission that binds us together. When I served a church in Palo Alto, we used to duke it out: various churches with various understandings of how to interpret Scripture. But when we came together to build a women's shelter, all that dropped away, and we became Christians together. People trying to exhibit the gospel and the love embrace of Jesus Christ to the World. That's who we are. Francis of Assisi once said, "Preach the gospel everywhere and use words only when you have to." We Presbyterians probably would do well to keep hearing that, because we use a lot of words. But primarily our job is to use words to prepare us to go out from this place to display the grace and gospel of our Lord to the world.

Did you know that the fastest growing Presbyterian church in the world is a church in Korea? Because Presbyterians heard the great commission--to go and make disciples of all nations--and brought the gospel to folks in Korea several hundred years ago. And so our tendency as Presbyterians has been to see the gospel--the Word of God--not just as something we revel in and sit on our duffs and talk about, but go out and do. And so we do that as an individual congregation though our work in Haiti, in Mississippi, in Trenton, and other places.

But hereís the last idea I want to leave you with. A new trend in the theology of church--"ecclesiology" it's called. The theology of what it means to be "church" in this time. Itís been the case that mainline denominations have existed thinking that people will come into our doors, and we'll simply serve people's religious needs if they show up. Nowadays, we can no longer have that understanding of ourselves. People are not necessarily coming into our doors. And so the theology of mission that people are talking about more prevalently today is the idea that the mission field is not out in Africa. It may still be in Africa, but the mission field, for us, lies right outside our doors. The people in this neighborhood are the people who need the mission and ministry and Good News of Jesus Christ.

And so today, my suggestion, my urging, is to go out from these doors, and see what lies outside on these streets as our mission field. As we try not just to speak about the Word of God, but to act it out; to preach the Gospel through our actions.

And so as you go forth today, try to make the grace and sovereignty of God the cornerstone of your life; know the symbols that tell our story; be connectional; be a priest; and make the world and your community your mission field.

Amen.

May 4, 2008
Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Reverend Jeffrey A. Vamos
The Reverend Mary Alice Lyman

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