The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9) - July 5

The Church
Mark 6:1-13

I’ve been thinking about two church events that have just taken place. They are very different, but they are both put on by the church. Yesterday, we did our annual Fourth of July Ice Cream Social. And on Friday General Convention came to a close after ten days of work. That’s the every-three-years legislative meeting of the national Episcopal Church.

Thinking about these two different events prompted me to think, again, about what the church really is. How do we describe or define the church?

First, the phrase that we often use, “Go to church” is really sort of strange. Where do you “go to church,” someone will ask. But the church is not a place, of course. “A” church building is not “the” church. Nor is the church really something that we “belong to.”

The church is who we are and what we do.

The church is described in several ways in the Book of Common Prayer. In the catechism it is described as the “Community of the New Covenant.” A community, people, a group of people, united and identified by baptism into the new covenant of Jesus Christ. One of the prayers in the Prayer Book calls the church that “wonderful and sacred mystery.” (Bishop Lee often adds… that wonderful, sacred and maddening mystery!) Us, full of wonder and sacredness.

I want to offer another way to think about who we are as the church. We are people who see and recognize God in our lives and in the world around us. We see and recognize God and then live in response to that awareness.

One of things I learned in seminary is that virtually any way we talk about the Trinity is heresy. And certainly so if we split the Trinity up into three distinct persons with different functions. Nevertheless….

As the church we are people who see and recognize God. We see and recognize Jesus, the Son of God, present in other people.

As the church we are people who see and recognize God, the Holy Spirit within ourselves.

As the church we are people who see and recognize God, the Father, Creator, present throughout creation.

And seeing and recognized God makes a difference! It has a huge impact on what we say and do, the choices we make, in virtually every circumstance of our lives.

The presence of God should lead us to words and actions of reverence and praise. We act and react with reverence and praise before the presence of God in others, in ourselves, and in creation.

Putting on the ice cream social is a lot of work. A lot of people help out, but it’s a lot of work if you think about it just to offer a couple of hours of ice cream and hot dogs. Why do we do it? We talk about offering it as a gift to the community, as an act of hospitality. And it is. But, a little deeper, I think it’s about seeing and recognizing the presence of Christ in our neighbors. The living presence of Christ in the young children enjoying the balloon twisters. Seeing and recognizing the presence of Christ in some of the older folks from the neighborhood for whom this was probably their only social event of the month or even the summer. Christ is present in our neighbors. We respond with reverence and praise.

Then there’s General Convention. As you might imagine, so not my idea of fun! Although there are plenty of folks who love it. A ten day legislative meeting with 1700 delegates (8,000 – 10,000 participants). In past years I’ve heard it described as the largest legislative meeting in the United States. Just think of the logistical minutiae and legislative haggling. With human foibles and sin (pride, fear) on full display. But we do General Convention or Diocesan Convention or even vestry meetings because we recognize the presence of God in the world and God’s presence matters to us. A lot. Seeing and recognizing the presence of God around us compels us to discern and take seriously how we treat one another, how we spend our money, the particular words we use to pray.

We see and recognize Jesus in others. And so treat them with reverence and praise. Sometimes it seems it is hardest to see Jesus living and present in those closest to us. Even Jesus encountered that in today’s Gospel story. His family and the people of his village could not see God’s power in him, in Jesus! It’s hard to see Jesus in the people closest to us, but he is there. It can also be hard to see Jesus in those people who are most different or most distant from us. We do better with the middle ground. But Jesus is present even in people who are very different from us. And worthy of reverence and praise.

We see and recognize the divine presence of the Holy Spirit within us. There is a prayer in the Prayer Book where we say that God has made our bodies the temple of his presence. So our bodies are worthy of reverence. We may not like to hear it, but that means we should be good stewards of our bodies. Not just because it’s good for us, but because God is there! God is within us. We are showing reverence to God. We should also be mindful that our voices, our hands, our feet may be the vehicles by which others become aware of God’s presence.

Finally, and probably often the easiest for many of us, we see and recognize God the creator present and filling creation. And our actions are those of praise and wonder and joy at the holiness of growing plants, the awesomeness of the night sky, the wondrous diversity of life. And we are called to stewardship of creation. Because God’s very presence is within creation.

We are the church, and what we do is what the church does. We are people who recognize and take very seriously the presence of God in the world. Everywhere. Everyone. In every thing. That awareness should lead us to reverence and praise in everything we say and do.