Cherishing the Church 4.27.2023

    This is the last essay for April. I have been busy, and it does not appear things will slow down for several more weeks. I wanted to focus on the Church during April because Easter faith is the focal point for our collective response to Jesus. He rose, we proclaim His resurrection, and live lives empowered and enriched by it. It is in the Church that Easter faith takes a tangible shape. The community reading of scripture; elaborated and explained by sermons and lessons is what helps us make sense of information that is foreign to our cultural, historical, social, and intellectual contexts. Jesus began this ongoing process of teaching the very day he arose. Luke asserts

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27 ESV)

    Very soon thereafter the Church was born and from its very infancy persistently told and retold the story of Jesus.  Jesus valued the Church enough to claim her as His bride and to whiten her robes with His blood. Through us, she makes the presence of the Risen Christ tangible in our world. He cherished His bride. So must we. I want to encourage you whether you preach or not to love the Church, to cherish it, and to do everything you can to enhance her beauty for her coming Lord. I like to describe the Church as both our heritage and legacy. I want to expand on that idea so that I may encourage you to embrace the local congregation in which you are a part of the worshipping temple, as well as the global, catholic Church to which each faithful congregation bears witness. 

Heritage

    The Church is our heritage. It came to us fully formed through the power of resurrection faith animating the local community. This has been bequeathed to us through the faithful living of others. We inherit this faith from those who do not share our language. We inherit from others whose skin was a different hue. Others came from the other side of the world. And they are our ancestors of faith. They cherished and nurtured our faith for more than a thousand years before North America was “discovered” by Europeans. 

    Humans are always tottering at the edge of eternity. We’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, while we wait, we should continue to live faithfully so that if the end does not break upon us the next generation of believers will have a heritage like ours. 

Legacy

    This brings us to our legacy. The condition in which we leave the Church is that legacy. Sometimes I wonder if we are so eager to “go to heaven” because we have left God’s temple in disarray. We foul our legacy and are embarrassed to gather lest we feel the shame of our own failure. 

    In cherishing the Church, we accept her with all her frailties and issues and reorient her to the Master who can take the unseated Spirit-filled stones and do some tuck-pointing--straightening what has become crooked and strengthening what has become weakened. Don’t abandon the Church, assist her. Jesus died for the Church, cared for the flock, and erected the New Temple constructed with you and me as the inspirited material for His living Body. One of these days we will finish the task appointed and we will have the opportunity to “turn the keys over” to another generation. Cherish the Bride until you gather at the wedding supper of the Lamb. 

Conclusion

    Responsible teaching does not fall from the sky. Sound exegetical practice undergirds proper hermeneutical methods. Proper hermeneutics provides information and content for sermons and lessons. When the teaching office of the Church is considered historically and developmentally, you have the beginnings of theology. What you and I will do this Sunday, when we ascend the sacred desk was not conceived by us. We did not start the practice. How well and conscientiously we do it will be our legacy. Our prayer should be to bear the fruit of ministry through faithfully reading scripture and artfully preaching it. Leaving a legacy of Biblical faithfulness is the best way I know to cherish the Church.