“The Spiritual Architecture of the Church”
Romans 13:8-14 & Matthew 18:15-20
Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ Northwood United Church ~ September 10, 2017
Have you ever watched a child construct a tower using building blocks? As you watch the young architect, you can tell that they have a clear plan in mind. She knows which blocks will go where; which will form the foundation; which will be located at the top, in the middle, and so on. It is quite remarkable to see a masterpiece being built. I once had the opportunity to tour the Sagrada Familia Basilica designed by Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain. They first broke ground 135 years ago and anticipate completion in 2028. In some families they say, multiple generations ~ children, parents, grandparents ~ have painstakingly worked to build this church, brick by brick, from the ground up. It is truly remarkable to behold such a testament to a community of faith. Painstakingly building the church.
This morning is a Sunday when we begin to reassemble as a congregation, and as we do this we rebuild what will be Northwood into the future. We will put some more of the building blocks on this church. At Northwood, we don’t mess around, we seem to have ‘jumped right in’ as a congregation with yesterday’s Fall Fair, and what a success that was! Now I should come clean and tell you that while this is not ‘technically’ a church season like Christmas or Easter, I think it should be. Because this is the time and season when, having spent time during the summer doing many things, we now start to get more involved as a church. This is the season when we reconvene to good church routines. The choir is back ~ hallelujah! Bible study, UCW, Prayer shawls and all our various groups reconvene. And some new things will begin! And if you are parents or grandparents, our children must deal with the reality of those three horrible words: BACK TO SCHOOL. The reason, I would argue for “Welcome Back Sunday” to be a legitimate church feast, is that I always fear that, as we gather back together, we will fall back into routine old ways of doing things. I always fear that we will do the ‘same old, same old’. I always fear that we might end up doing things by rote. And so, as we gather on this September Sunday, I think this is a time in the church year that we are called to reassemble and consider what kind of church we want to be. What kind of church we feel called to build. It is a time to consider the spiritual architecture of the church. Today, we put the spiritual building blocks together on what type of a church we will be as we move forward on yet, another church year. Today we ask: how will we build Northwood into this coming year?
As we turn to the texts, I do not normally preach from two different texts. I want to thank Ian for reading both the Romans and the Matthean texts prescribed for this Sunday. As I looked at the various texts and considered the context of our returning to church, I really felt there was much wisdom to be found in both texts, so I opted for our consideration of both. Thank you Ian for doing double duty this morning! So…as we consider HOW we shall assemble as a community / what kind of a church we shall continue to build, I would like to lift up a few of the key verses up for us to consider.
Beginning with Romans 13, Paul calls us to “wake from our sleep”. Now is the time to ‘wake up’ and come together as a Christian community and ‘be the church’. He argues that the moral obligation we have to one another is one of love. The obligation we have is to love. Love is different for Paul, though. For Paul, love is not a beautiful emotion that one feels, but rather love is the behavior that one is instructed to have towards the other. Love is an “obligation”. It is the one and only thing that we owe to others. Paul understands one’s love towards others as being the critical part which informs how we are to behave towards others, and indeed, one’s response of love to neighbor becomes the fulfillment of the Jewish Law. The commandments, he argues, are all about acting in love: teachings about adultery, murder, theft, coveting… Paul writes: “they are all summed up in this word, Love your neighour as yourself”. For Paul, love is an obligation which guides us in terms of how we organize our behavior towards others. It is about showing love to one’s neighbor. It is about acknowledging that each and every person truly is our neighbour. This is an odd way to look at love, don’t you think? As an ‘obligation’. He uses the Greek word ‘ophelio’ which refers to any obligation one is tasked with. We also see it in 1 John 4:11: “dear friends, since God loved us, we also ought to love one another”. We read about the obligation of the Christian to love one another. Have you ever considered how love is not just a wonderful emotion you feel towards a spouse or family member, but also an obligation in your life? Well it is! As a follower of Jesus, we are obliged to love. Certainly, we are not to be doormats, but we are obliged to show others love in the ways we live, and act; indeed in all the ways we behave. Paul says: “owe no one anything, except to love another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law”. Loving one another is a foundational building block that we place on our growth as a church. We must constantly ask ourselves: ‘am I responding in love?’ ‘am I exuding love?’ ‘am I living love?’ It is equally appropriate to call others quietly to task when they are not living out their obligation to love. As we move forward into a new year, Paul’s letter reminds us to ensure our building blocks are building blocks of love.
There is an interesting half-truth in theology. I think is worth examining here. The ‘half-truth’ is that the gospel is one thing and the law is entirely something else. Gospel: Paul talks a lot about the fulfillment of the law in Christ. And this has led many to view the gospel of Jesus as leading to wonderful things like grace, blessings, redemption and encouragement. Law: On the flip side, there can be a tendency to view law as something else ~ something which drives us, harasses us, punishes us, and terrifies us. Yet, this passage incorporates both law and gospel, doesn’t it? Paul calls us to a ‘gospel law’. We are not entirely free, are we? We have an “obligation” to love one another. That is what we owe one another. Yet, in Paul’s letter, we find that the gospel ‘law’ frees us. It is gospel good news. The “obligation” to love one another is the call of the community; the call of the church and it becomes the fulfillment of the law. It is the way of the follower of Jesus. It is the way we become a ‘new people’. It is the way we are known as ‘Jesus’ People’. Laying the building blocks of love is our obligation.
As most know, the mission of Northwood is “embracing the community with the Love of Christ”. Now, if we were to place love as the foundational building block of how we function as a church, then a number of things will necessarily happen. We will see people as ones to love; our actions will be ones of love; our ministry will be focused on love. This, of course, is a challenge as people increasingly view the church as something to be consumed based on their needs, wants and fleeting desires. They say the challenge of the church came since the time of the John Locke and the Enlightenment when the church became viewed as a voluntary association of autonomous individuals. It was a time that gave rise to individualism, independence and self-reliance. And as much as I agree with these principles, this increasingly makes it challenging for us to be a united body of Christ. What makes churches great are the ones who who stay together, not just in the good times, but rather who stay together through the long haul.
Moving into the gospel text, this is only one of two places in the gospels which presupposes the formation of a church. And what is offered is a rule book for dealing with interpersonal relationships in a community of faith. As any group dynamic will inevitably discover, there will be conflict in that gathering. When a group of 12 people gather, there will likely be 13 opinions on any given subject. People will dig their feet in, call one another names, and conflict will ensue. While I am not going to explore the specifics of Matthew’s template for conflict resolution outlined here, I think what it highlights is that what makes us Christian is not IF we fight, disagree, or (sadly) wound one another ~ this is inevitable. What makes us Christian is HOW we go about addressing and resolving these issues. As Jesus concludes “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. The emphasis in the text is about coming together in the challenges, it is about uniting in our difference, it is about holding common space for one another. We are called to add building blocks of unity.
And if we do this, we find that Jesus is there in our midst. “For where two are three are gathered in my name, I am there among them”. Do you know what the most common activity that Jesus is recorded as doing in scripture is? Eating. Jesus is recorded as eating with people many, many times – women, men, sinners, tax collectors – the whole gamut. And the reason, I would suggest, is that he is teaching us the importance of ‘gathering in His name’. The importance of us ‘being with one another’ cannot be overstated. Sharing the joys and pains of living and finding the Spirit of Christ in that gathering. I wonder about the building block of taking time with others – especially those who are different from us, to take the time to experience the gift of their presence, to get to know them and in so doing, to find the presence of Christ in your midst. I am going to make a ‘crazy’ suggestion this morning. I am going to suggest that we institute a new practice at the end of our service. A 5 minute rule, if you will. I am going to suggest that we make a point of speaking to someone we don’t know before we head off to coffee or off to the parking lot and say ‘hi, tell me a little about you’ or…something even crazier ‘hi, tell me a little about your faith’. You, of course, don’t have to do this. We normally sit in the same spot each week and know those who sit in our midst. But how will we grow in our personal faith if we don’t speak people who are different from you? How will they grow if they don’t speak with you? I am going to invite us to place the building blocks of community by speaking with someone new to you…and find the Spirit of Christ in your midst.
Building blocks where love of the neighbour is an obligation; where we are charged to come together in our diversity; where the stranger becomes the friend. Building blocks which allow us to experience Christ in our midst. These are the building blocks that are some key components that form the spiritual architecture of the church. Some day soon, we will be looking at building plans and considering a physical structure. And I will leave that to someone more qualified than I. But in the meantime, let us continue to build and reinforce the spiritual architecture of Northwood with love, in unity, and with hospitality.
Amen.