The Future Church

"...."For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. "

Look ahead in time with me. It is the year 2025 - it is Sunday morning. You walk through the door of a beautiful building and are immediately greeted by a 42" television screen. A picture appears, along with the message': THE TEMPLE OF TOMORROW. We are glad you have come, and we pray that you will find afl your spiritual needs satisfied today. Shrine number 6 is available for you right now. Please walk right in."

. You enter the next room which resembles a hallway with a number of other rooms going off from it. You see a light flashing gently over the door to a small cubicle, with the number 6 overhead. You walk in and sit down before a seventeen inch computer monitor, while soft religious music plays in the background.

Suddenly a woman's face appears on the screen and she begins talking in a soothing tone: "Thank you for coming to worship today. Please relax and let us attend to your spirit" necessities. In order for us to get to know you better, I'd like to ask you a few brief questions. To begin, please insert a credit card in the slot before the flashing light. Master Card, Visa, Discover, American Express are all acceptable. You can even use your MAC card -just enter your four digit identification number when prompted.

You do what you are instructed, and the woman tells you your card has been accepted and then calls you by name (of course she knows this from your card).

You then answer a few basic questions about your personal background and interests - all of which you provide by simply pressing the appropriate keys on the keyboard in front of you. Finally you are ready to move on to the next phase.

The screen begins showing lists of favorite hymns, from which you may select any three, followed by similar lists of Scripture readings, sermon topics and prayers. Then you are asked to select the offering amount you wish to donate. You type into the computer $1. The machine BEEPS and responds with the word: ERROR. So you try $5 - BEEP - again the word: ERROR. The same response is given when you type $ 1 0 into the computer, but this time it is followed by the words: PLEASE REMEMBER THAT GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER. So you "cheerfully" donate $25 through your credit or ATM card and the service that you programmed commences.

All of your favorite hymns are joyfully sung - just the right words and prayers are spoken. There is nothing to disturb or divert your pleasant religious mood. And then almost too soon, the kindly pastor speaks the final benediction.

As you get ready to leave, the computer discharges your credit card along with a specially typed personal letter, which invites you to consider having your own shrine installed in your very own home for a modest $8,000 down payment and a small monthly donation of $60.

Okay, come on back to 1998. What do you think of the Temple of Tomorrow? Would you return again - or would you have been tempted by that personal shine? Imagine, a church that you can program to give you just what you want!

Please tell me that you see something wrong with that church - if we can even call it a church - ---- It is a church that caters to MY needs -- to me as an individual. But where is every body else??? Where are the other sisters and brothers of the family of Jesus Christ? - How can we worship - how can we experience our faith without others? I can't, can you? - You know, the sad thing is that I don't really think this is such a bizarre fantasy, as it seems to be the direction in which the church is heading.

We can't let Christ's Church become like the Temple of Tomorrow - we can't let the Presbyterian Church become like the Temple of Tomorrow - and we surely can't let the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill become like the Temple of Tomorrow. But that is exactly what is happening more and more in Christian congregations of all denominations. People come to church for worship, hoping that it will be a feel-good experience - and that is all they want from their church. - For too many people, their church is not there for study and education, except when new learnings come from the sermon. - Their church isn't even there for service and ministry, except for the service and ministry that THEY receive. The only way the average Christian participates in their congregation's service and ministry for others is through a portion of the monies that they give to the church, but what is interesting, is that they really don't even know or care what actual service or ministry is done with that donation. The church for many Christians is there for them - for their comfort, for their security. It sounds too much like the Temple of Tomorrow we just visited.

The church described in the second chapter of Acts is surely nothing like the Temple of Tomorrow. The Christian Church in Acts wanted to be together for everything. We are told that they studied together, ate together, worshiped together. They cared about one another - they had fellowship. - These were not individuals seeking to do the will of God on their own - they needed one another to better understand, appreciate and live out their faith. These early Christians surely could not picture the church becoming anything like the Temple of Tomorrow.

Now think about the Presbyterian Church. One of the things that distinguishes our denomination from other Protestant churches is our sense of connectionalism. We do things together -- or at least are supposed to do things together. As church members we are sisters and brothers in faith -- our denominational structure is one that has congregations relating to one another -- and our polity is representative. No ONE person makes decisions for us, but we work together. (Of course that is why we have so many conunittees and committee meetings.) And our Presbyterian church has a history of advocating STUDY - WORSHIP -- and of being TOGETHER, like the early Christian Church described in Acts.

But as. time has gone on in our 200 plus years as a denomination, have we moved further from being like the church described in Acts, to one that might eventually become like the Temple of Tomorrow? We say we want to STUDY - but instead we react and decide, not based upon research, analysis and discussion, but as INDIVIDUALS we tend to reach conclusions upon what sometimes would be easiest, or sometimes upon fear and prejudice, and sometimes upon assumption. --- In too many congregations, WORSHIP has moved from that of the reformed tradition to a contemporary style that is meant to entertain and often dilutes our faith. --- And as far as being together, more and more we seem to want to take sides on issues and be adversaries to one another, rather than loving and supportive sisters and brothers in the faith. --- What is the future of the Presbyterian Church?

Well, last week the 210th General Assembly of our denomination was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Well over 1000 people gathered in Charlotte to discuss the future of our church, and nearly 600 of those persons were voting delegates, elected from the presbyteries all over the country. Some of the decisions and proclamations made there may provide us with a sense of the direction our church is moving.

Doug Oldenburg will be the moderator of our church for this next year. This is a non- paid position to which he was elected, that will give him the task of traveling all over the world, and particularly throughout our denomination, interpreting to folks the ministry and mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Mr. Oldenburg was a church pastor for many years and for the last twelve years has served as the President of Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. He decided to run for the moderatorial position so that he could be an advocate for education and for children. Sounds like our new moderator will be emphasizing one of those characteristics of the church described in Acts -- the importance of STUDY -- and "devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching." He also supports the idea of bringing the church together. The night of his election a reporter asked Mr. Oldenburg, "What would you like to say to the whole church tonight?" His reply was, "If I can bring respect for each other, that would be a gift I would like to give the church."

The General Assembly also elected a new executive director of the General Assembly Council - one of the top two elected staff positions in our denomination. The other being the Stated Clerk. Our new executive director is an elder from Philadelphia Presbytery! John Detterick is currently the President of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church, and is an elder at the Wayne church. Mr. Detterick reports that he has three goals that will be driving him in his new position: "Supporting and enabling mission through congregations and presbyteries," "supporting a cohesive and service-oriented staff," "and supporting the General Assembly Council" "in a pro-active and constructive definition of its future role."

"Underneath those three goals," he told a news conference, "are three very important words: people, relationships, and trust. Those are the real key elements to what I hope we can focus on. It's people that we need to focus on serving, people coming together in their congregations and coming together in presbyteries. It's people doing, serving, working together in teams.

"It's relationships. People have relationships with each other. When we have relationships, we know each other. We know each other for our beauties and our flaws and love each other in Christ for that and in spite of our differences.

"Out of being people and being in relationship and understanding each other comes trust, trust in each other. And if we can begin to build those relationships, if we can focus on people, trust will come. When trust comes, we really will come together as a community of the church, a rich and diverse church with great diversity, diversity of people and diversity of theology, but coming together. That's where I hope we will be as we enter the 21th century, serving each other."

Not only is our new executive director speaking in terms that the members of the early Christian Church would support, but he is talking about the connectionalism that once made our denomination a powerful and meaningful witness to Jesus Christ. Maybe I'm a polyanna, but I truly hope that the Presbyterian Church can move back in that direction.

Our passage this morning from Corinthians is about connectionalism and about how we all need one another ... how we need to be in relationship. The author, Paul, pictures the church as a body with many parts -- like a human body, he says - like Christ's body - ------ In simple terms, the church is to show the world what it means to live together in unity. The church is to be so close, says Paul, that "if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. " That is connectionalism at its best. That is the community of faith that the church should.show as an example to the world.

It surely beats the Temple of Tomorrow's philosophy of a very personal/individual faith. - Oh yea, it would be nice to be able to choose the hymns of the day - you could choose all the old familiar chestnuts. And it would be great to hear sermons that just give you comfort, rather than challenge you and your way of thinking and living. - But I don't believe that would really create the experience that God intends for us as we worship. God wants for us to grow - spiritually and relationally. We need to be challenged and we even need to learn new hymns. Afterall, at some point the ones that are now our favorites were unknown to us and we had to learn them. And we need to do all of this with one another.

We don't live isolated lives - and we shouldn't worship in isolated ways that are designed to cater to our desires. And we also need to remember that we are a diverse group of people - we children of God. We are a diverse group of people - we Presbyterians. And we are a diverse group of people - we members of the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. We need to respect our diversity - rejoice in our diversity and remember those three important words of John Detterick: People - Relationships - Trust. The Temple of Tomorrow is described as a place of renewal, yes - but one that caters to me, as an individual. The Church that Christ intended - that was the early church - that hopefully the current church resembles - and that needs to be the church of the future -- is a community - a community based on faith in Jesus Christ, where people care for one another, and where we can learn together and then go forth together being Christ's witnesses in the world. This is what unifies us - and our unity relies on the Spirit. Although our diversity sometimes divides us by doctrine, by age, by sex or whatever - we can be together in worship and witness. It is our faith expressed through our worship together that then gives us new life and vitality as the body of Christ- and keeps us together. This can not happen in a church like the Temple of Tomorrow. It can not happen in a denomination that has forgotten People - Relationships and Trust.

So what! So what does this mean to me - and to you - here at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill? First, we need to remember that we are part of the Presbyterian Church - the national church. That meeting that happened last week involves us! We are'being called to remember our connectionalism - to care about one another - to look around you and see faces of people who's names you may not know, but realizing that they too are part of this church family. We are here, not just for renewal of our own individual self, like in the Temple of Tomorrow, but we are here for one another as well. To be with one another - to learn from one another - to give to and receive from one another - even if it is just a smile or a simple HELLO.

But more than that ... for we are not only called by Christ to support and love one another, but to go out into the world and care about all God's children. -- We need to remember that we are related to those men and women we see on our television screens each day caught up in battles in places throughout the world. -- We need to hear the stories on the radio about people fleeing from their homes across our country because of fires, floods, or storms and realize that we are related to them. -- We need to read the newspaper and understand that we are related to those struggling souls in Philadelphia who need food, clothing and, for some, simply a chance to make a life for themselves.

But what are we to do? The best thing you can do is to PRAY! Hold these people up to God in your prayers. Sounds easy enough, but do we do it? ----- We can also get involved in some way - we can give our time and even give of our money.

As Christians -- as members in Christ's church -- as members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) -- as members of the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill ---- We must do SOMETHING! -- It's just too easy to do nothing! And I believe that is what the Temple of Tomorrow would ask of us ... nothing! We would leave that cubicle, probably with smiles on our faces, feeling good - but not feeling challenged - not motivated to be with other Christians for STUDY - for WORSHIP - or for SERVICE.

My friends, pray for Christ's Church that it never become a place that caters to the individual, but that it strives to be the place where ALL people can come together and be welcome and may rejoice as they worship God together ... that in spite of their diversity they find unity through the power of God's Holy Spirit. For that to become reality, it depends upon each of us! Amen.

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