Sermons

"The Congregational Way"

Delivered from the Pulpit of First Congregational Church

of Anchorage by The Reverend Mark E. Long

on November 8, 2009

We are Congregationalists - people of faith - people of the covenant.  Faithfulness is one of the angles of perception by which we know that the "fruit of the Spirit" is working in our lives.  Our faithfulness is reflected in the Church Covenant that leads us in the Congregational Way as it does thousands of others.  It is essentially the same one that leads other faithful Congregationalists all the way back to 1629, the date of the Salem Covenant.

It is my purpose this morning to preach an apologetic sermon or defense of our faithfulness to this Church Covenant.  Don't misunderstand; I am not apologizing for God, for belief in God, the way we understand God, or practice our faith.  I am not even defending our covenant in response to aggressive critics.  The "apologia" is an ancient form of address that explains or justifies an opinion, belief, or practice.  So my sermon is not to say "I am sorry" or it was all a big mistake but to move others from outsiders to insiders, to help them to get to know us in the hope that they will join the journey of our community.

The logical place for the people of the covenant to begin to explain the Way of their faith is the Church Covenant.  I will break down the Church Covenant into 5 phrases to help me answer three questions which may be of interest to others who may not know anything about us:  Who are we, what do we believe, and how do we go about it? 

Before I get too far along here I need to clarify a couple of historical points.  Who we are, what we believe, and how we go about it have not stayed the same since 1629.

We have evolved, thank God; in some respects more so than in others.  In the beginning of American Congregationalism, only landowners could be church members and only church members could vote on the affairs of the colony.  This circumstance changed, fortunately, in a relatively short time because of the mix of people coming over from Europe.  The original Salem Covenant was even expanded in 1636 in recognition of its reduced role in society and the necessity to "get along" with the increasing numbers outside the Church.

Other things have been slower to change, e.g. the anachronistic (out of its time) and anthropomorphic (human-like) words many modern day Congregationalists find uncomfortable either because of gender favor or "out of favor" literalism.  God is a "he" and "pleased."  Should we change them, probably, but any other words are equally wrongheaded ("she," "he/she") or cringingly impersonal ("it").  Just try reading the Covenant replacing the male pronoun with "God;" - better?  So my suggestion is, if you must, mentally read or speak whichever troubles you in a manner that works for you but better just think of them as old songs that we love to sing even though the words, i.e. "nothing but the blood of Jesus" are far from our modern minds.

I have one more important preliminary note before turning to our Church Covenant.  As with many other things, e.g. the forms of H20, there are forms of Congregationalism.  I will make no attempt to explain the "Congregational Way" in any other form than practiced by our association.

That's right; there may be the first surprise.  We are not part of a denomination - as so many other religious groups - but an association of churches.  Our association is the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (quite a mouthful) so we just call it the NA.  As I will from this point on.

So who are we, what do we believe, and how do we go about it?  Let's take a look at our Church Covenant.

"We covenant with God and with one another."  A 'covenant' is simply an agreement between two or more parties to something or other.  In the Bible, God makes agreements with one person or a community of people.  The agreements may be mutual - a promise for a promise - or a one-way promise.

On the definition of a 'covenant' most Congregationalists in the NA probably agree.  After that, it gets a good deal less unified.

No one has seen God but that doesn't keep us from our concepts.  A young boy was drawing and his dad asked him, "What are you drawing son?"  The boy said, "God."  His dad amused said, "But son, we don't know what God looks like."  The boy still drawing said, "you will now."

We all imagine God; some are more certain what God looks like than others.  Congregationalists not only are not of one mind about God; but they have a wide opinion about themselves as well.  Some of us believe ourselves to be a part of God made visible; others believe God is wholly something else and they are children of God, either by their nature or 'adoption', the idea that Jesus' death on a cross makes it possible for them.  I understand there is more to say on this "adoption" idea but it is beyond the scope of my intent to say more here.  Suffice it to say, Congregational ideas of God and self are all over the place.

Now the second surprise of the morning; this is O.K.  We don't expect to have the same opinion about "who we are."  We are a diverse bunch!

Our diversity as to "who we are" is a clue to something else about us which has roots that reach all the way back into the story of our Old Testament lesson this morning.

Moses leads his large extended family out of slavery in Egypt to life of freedom in a wilderness.  Only problem is the family is so unhappy they want to go back to Egypt.  They do nothing but complain; "things weren't so bad in Egypt, if you didn't rock the boat", "we had good tasting food in Egypt, nothing like this tasteless stuff that shows up in the morning."  How are we supposed to live on so little water?  Then the inevitable comes, "Moses, this is your fault; you have led us to our deaths out here in the middle of nowhere."  Never mind the list of wrongdoings by the family which put God in a bad frame of mind, "It is Moses' fault."

So Moses complains to God.  "What have you done to me?  I listened to you and look at this, everyone hates me."  God hears Moses and tells him that he will pass a share of the burden of leadership to 70 of the older, wiser men of the family.  "Moses, gather 70 men in a tent and I will take some of my Spirit off of you and put it on them.  The men gather but two of them don't make it.  Someone comes running to tattle on the two men who are supposed to be there but remain in the camp apparently with the Spirit falling on them as well.  Now it might make sense that Moses doesn't say "stop them," or "make them come here and join the others," but he says something stranger.  "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them."

I give you the first Congregationalists.  Congregationalism as practiced by our Church and the NA is different from the religious groups that have a single authority, i.e. the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, or a small group that serves as the authority for the larger group, e.g. the episcopate of the Anglicans, synod of the Lutherans, or presbytery of the Presbyterians.  Every person in Congregationalism has direct access to whatever divine wisdom they believe exists, most call it God but not all; and that wisdom is their sole authority.

So what do we believe, in what "ways of God" do we commit to walk together?  We are a diverse bunch!  Your beliefs are your business; you are free to believe whatever helps you spiritually and, honestly, even if it doesn't help you.  There is no creed or other "litmus test" to belong to the Church.  This doesn't mean that the community doesn't care and tries to encourage good habits and beliefs that have served others for a long time.  But ultimately we are free to believe and follow the course our "direct access" takes us.

Obviously in such a "free-wheeling" atmosphere of ultimate freedom, something has to "bind [us] in the presence of God to walk together."

In Congregationalism, it is no more but also no less than our promise to "walk together" side by side just as we are and think.  This promise is sufficiently strong to hold us together securely to each other under a mutual voluntary obligation.  It is how we get down the road or how we go about our community life.

But what gives our promise the strength to hold such a "diverse bunch" together as we walk down life's road in a commitment to each other, not just in our intentions but in our actions, that honors our differences but also our similarities of common heritage, equal access and standing before God and each other?  (We are all "walking" together; no one is being carried by others or riding a horse above them.)

The covenant tells us - we have to walk not only in the ways of our "direct access" but also in "His (God's) ways."  It is God's ways that bind our diverse selves to each other.  At some point our diversity gives way to recognition that there is a unifying, universal principle behind it all.

For Moses and his extended family, the unifying, universal principles are the Ten Commandments.  Keep my commandments said the Lord and all will be well.  They didn't, of course, and made it much more complicated and so for much of the time things went far from well for them.

Jesus says something remarkable about these commandments that at the same time make complete sense.  It is a revelation; a new "take" on an old standard.  "All the commandments hang on two."  The first is to love God wholly and completely, without reservation of any part of yourself; and the second is to love others as yourself.  If you do these, then all will be well.  As Ephesians 4 explains, our individual diversity is molded into Christian unity when we imitate God's ways and "speak the truth in love" to each other.

Congregationalists believe that God continues to "reveal Godself to us" beyond the days of Moses, or even Jesus.  John Robinson, the elderly pastor-leader sends off his congregation for the New World in 1620 with the encouraging words:  "I'm verily persuaded that there is more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word."  Modern Congregationalists say "amen."  We read, mark, and digest more words from Robinson:  "If God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of His, be ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by His ministry."

If we are alert for a further "blessed word of truth" to break forth to reveal God to the world, we will not be disappointed.  But we should be prepared to listen for wisdom in unexpected places.  Wisdom in interpretations of Scriptures may challenge what we think we know; wisdom in other religious traditions may help us better understand and appreciate our own; and wisdom reflected in art, nature, and human endeavors may call us deeper into God's business. 

Our diversity will lead us in all our ways - who we are and what we believe - except the way in which we go about our business - God's business.  As many bound together in love as we walk, we are free to go about our business in whatever way so long as it is with love for God and each other, the true measure of our faithfulness to covenant.

This is how I see our Church Covenant, nothing promised except to faithfully walk as we are and as we think together in love.  Amen.