Summer
Sermon Series: Say It Like You Mean It – Confessing Our Faith
Isaiah
49:13-16 and 2nd Corinthians 13:11-13
I am happy to be back in the pulpit
this morning and I am sure you are looking forward to continuing our summer
sermon series “Say It Like You Mean It” on our Book of Confessions. Throughout the Sundays in June and July we
had been busy reviewing the history of our church and getting familiar with all
of the confessions in our Book of Confessions.
We have talked about the ancient creeds, the Reformation confessions,
the Theological Declaration of Barmen, and the Confession of 1967. This week we actually touch a confession that
came about in my lifetime, the Brief Statement of Faith.
We will pick up this week right where
we left off before my vacation, the Confession of 1967. Those that were here will remember that that
confession was a forward leaning document addressing issues of social
justice. It was at that point that the
Presbyterian Church took a stance as a social justice denomination, preaching
peace and the equality of all people, and encouraging churches to directly
address such issues as poverty and racism.
Although we were united in forming
that confession, it didn’t take long for the church to begin to fracture
again. Theologically the world was
changing fast and it was a time of great upheaval in the discussions of meaning
and faith. From liberation theology out
of South America to the rise of Feminist Theology, searching for the “right
answer” and for a center of meaning in the church became increasingly more
difficult. The Presbyterian Church began
to have a greater ecumenical focus, and resources were being used to connect
with people of other denominations and religions, and not necessarily for studying
or even teaching Presbyterian heritage.
Meanwhile, the religious climate of
the nation began to shift to the right. In
a country that was founded by many great Reformed believers and that was
organized in a Presbyterian form of government, the denomination began to loose
popularity. The 1970s saw the rise of
the evangelical and charismatic movements across the nation. By the 1980s, the “Religious Right” rose to
power and the conservative Christian became the mainstream Christian in
America. By the end of the 1980s the
only time the Presbyterian denomination appeared in the news was to discuss
what appeared to be our rapid decline.
It was into this environment that the
Brief Statement of Faith was born. In
1983 the denomination of which we are today; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was
formed by the reunion of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of
America and the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Prior to the reunion, these were the two
largest Presbyterian denominations in the United States and so that makes us
PCUSA, after the reunion, the largest Presbyterian denomination. The reunion committee wanted a new creedal
statement to mark the reunion but they were unable to come up with it in a
short period of time. In true
Presbyterian fashion, a committee was formed and given the task of creating a
new unifying creedal statement for the church.
The task was a difficult one as the
explicit goal was unity in diversity. A
committee was formed with diversity in mind including women, men, elders,
laypeople, pastors, old, young, and folks of differing races and various
theological opinions. The group met and
studied for over six years and finally after eight years of review and
revision, the Brief Statement of Faith was accepted by the denomination in
1991.
One of the biggest motivating factors
for the document was the realization that the Presbyterian Church had no
identity. We had spent so many years
working with lots of different people and churches, that we forgot who we were
and what made Presbyterians unique.
Years of pluralism had resulted in a loss of historical and theological
memory. People needed to be
re-introduced to their own Reformed family heritage.
As an aside, that has been the goal of
this sermon series as well. Some of us
are here because we strongly identify with Presbyterian beliefs and
theology. And some of us are here simply
because we like this particular church, First Presbyterian of Warrensburg. Regardless of what has brought us in the door,
it is important for us to be reminded of the history of this denomination which
God has called us to be a part.
The goal of the writers of the Brief
Statement was to come up with a creed that was short enough to be said in
worship and that covered all significant areas of our identity. The Benediction from 2nd Corinthians
was used as a guide as the committee sought to craft a statement on the nature
of God in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Written in poetic language, the document discusses
the major points of our identity without being overly wordy or too “heady”. The goal was to produce a statement that was
accessible to all people and that connected with the heart.
All points of our unique identity are
found within the statement. First, we
are Christian, and our universally shared beliefs are present, found in the
lines about the Triune God as well as the nature and person of Jesus Christ;
fully human, fully divine. Our
Protestant identity is there in language about justification by grace through
faith and the authority of scripture.
Our Reformed identity is present in sentences about the sovereignty of
God, our election for service, our tendency to sin, and our call as believers
to work for justice in the world.
One thing that is unique about this
statement is its stand on women’s ordination.
As I mentioned in the last sermon in the series, the church had been
slow to embrace the idea of women’s ordination and nowhere was it explicitly
supported in the Book of Confessions. In
fact, it’s only mention was in the older historical documents which made clear
that women should not have a leadership role in the church.
In the 1970s women were allowed to be
ordained but continued to struggle for recognition. In the famous Kenyon case within our church
courts an applicant for ordination, Walter Wynn Kenyon declared that he wanted
to be a Presbyterian but would not participate in the ordination of women
because that was a nonessential point of Presbyterianism. He lost the case, and the decision was made
that the belief in the equality of all people was an essential point of being
Presbyterian.
Still, women struggled and women on
the committee that prepared the Statement felt that it was imperative that the
statement uphold women’s ordination.
Even in the 1980s, women at seminaries were often told that they did not
have a valid call to ministry since it was not supported by the Book of
Confessions. Hence the very important
line in the Statement: “The Spirit . . . calls women and men to all ministries
of the Church” which became the first official declaration of women’s equality
within the denomination.
Also unique to the Statement is the
feminine imagery used for God. For many
years we have talked about the nature of God; that God is neither male nor
female, without gender; and yet many Christians continue to use exclusively
male language for God. The writers of
the Brief Statement of Faith wanted to counter that and make clear that God is
mystery and that many images are present for God in scripture. Drawing from the language of the parable of
the Prodigal Son, as well as the language used by the prophet Isaiah, God is
described both as “a mother who will not forsake her nursing child” and as a
“father who runs to welcome the prodigal home.”
The question we always ask in these
sermons is “why do I care?” Obviously I
personally care a lot about this confession, as a woman who feels herself
called to ordination in the Presbyterian Church. That might be something you care about too,
as a person who goes to a church with one of those “woman pastors”.
Putting that particular issue aside, I
think we all should care because this is who we are. After the sermon on the Confession of 1967,
someone told me that they felt that document really lacked a depth of faith. It told us what we were called to do, but it
didn’t tell us why. This document tells
us why. This Brief Statement tells us
what we believe, who we are as Presbyterians, and how God is calling us to
ministry in the world. This is our
denomination in a nutshell.
Today we gather again at the communion
table. We come here with the church
universal, and I believe we are invited here with the whole of humanity. We believe in Jesus Christ, who came to
demonstrate the love of God for us. It
is through his life, death, and resurrection that we come to know God, to know
ourselves, and thus to be saved. We come
to this table to experience the love and justice of God, a God who loves us
like a father and like a mother. We come
to this table through the power of the Holy Spirit, which binds us together as
the church and which calls us to work with others for justice, freedom, and
peace. This table is the center of our faith,
and we come here today with believers from every time and place to celebrate
our risen Lord.
While the Brief Statement of Faith is
the last document in this (or any) Book of Confessions, this is not the end of
our sermon series. Just this summer, our
church had its final vote on a new confession to add to our book. Next week we will look at the Confession of
Belhar, a brand new addition to our long heritage of faith.
But now, let us stand together and
recite the Brief Statement of Faith. I
want to say the whole thing today, and I know it doesn’t seem “brief”, but I
promise I won’t make you do it again anytime soon. But today, just this once, let us stand
together, and “say it like you mean it!”
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