During my sermon, I tried to be fancy with technology and it didn't work. I wanted to read something from a blog and when I opened my wireless, smart device, it wasn't where I left it...and I couldn't find it...and so my congregation got to stare at me while I silently looked at my small screen (thankfully no one broke out in the Jeopardy theme!). I concluded my sermon in my own words and finished the sermon. I vaguely remember promising to get the good people present (and suffering through my stumbles!) the rest of the sermon. And because I think that what I was going to quote in worship is really, really good...this is an attempt to tell the rest of my sermon.
In case you weren't in attendance at Community Presbyterian Church on Saturday night, August 18th, here is the main idea of my sermon. It's based on Ephesians 5:15-20.
I asked folks to come up with three people. One person who, for whatever reason, causes you to behave differently than you normally would. Maybe you are trying to impress them or intimidated by them - but you have a hard time being yourself - your true self in the midst of this person. The second person was someone who gives you permission to be exactly who you are. This person is that good friend who has seen you at your best and worst and loves you because of it all. The third person was someone who inspires you to be better.
In Ephesians, Paul urges the gathered community to sing Psalms and spiritual songs together as part of the communal act of being the body of Christ in the world. And I think that the church is called to sing songs together that shape who we are - and tell the story about who we are becoming to the world.
In Greek Mythology, the god of music Orpheus is aboard the ship with Jason (in his quest for the Golden Fleece). When the ship approaches the island of the Sirens, the Sirens begin to sing their song. The Siren's song is so powerful that no one is able to resist and they lure ships to sail into their rocky shore and perish. But when Orpheus hears the song of the Sirens, he pulls out is lute and offers to the Sirens a better song, a more beautiful song, and Jason doesn't fall under the spell and continues on his journey.
I think that when the church gathers to sing songs together, at the heart of what we are doing is offering the world a better song. We've all heard the calls of the world's "sirens," haven't we. But these songs offer promises of false abundance. The songs that we sing as a faithful community and followers of Jesus Christ is a song of hope and promise. It is a song that allows us to be who God created us to be.
And that brings me to the part of the sermon that I wasn't able to tell on Saturday night because my technology failed me. I wanted to read from the blog of Jon Acuff. I had recently seen on Facebook his blog about what one church put in writing as their welcoming statement. Most church welcome statements that I have seen (or even been a part of) are very noble - yet very nondescript. I think most churches desire to welcome everyone...but this church came up with a wonderful list.
Before you read it, please note that this is not the welcoming statement of Community Presbyterian Church. You may not agree with everything in here. But I think it is certainly a model worthy of us...all of us...to think about how we can be this bold in our welcoming. And I think it is somehow related to the songs that we offer the world as a counter-cultural way of being the church. If you'd like to read the blog in it's entirety, you can find it here: How-to-welcome-people-to-your-church/
Here is the text I would've read. It's the welcoming statement of the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community:
We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.
We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.
We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.
If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.
We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!
