August 8, 1999

Douglas S. Long

North Raleigh United Church

It's one of those St. Peter greets you at the gates of heaven stories. There must be thousands of them. (Someone ought to collect them all and market a book of them.)

Two ministers died in a car accident and found themselves at the pearly gates…

A lawyer and doctor and the Pope were standing in line at the Pearly gates…

Four fellows playing golf were struck by lightening, and the next thing they know they are all in a conversation with St. Peter at the gates of heaven…

You've heard these stories, right?

Anyway, in this particular one, which I suspect half of you have heard… a fellow, who has no particular denominational background, but who has led an exemplary life, is escorted into heaven by St. Peter and given the choice of which room he wants to spend eternity in. Seems each denomination has their own room in this version. And so Peter takes the guy around and lets him peek through the windows to see what's going on in each one…

They look in one room and see a lot of singing… "That's the Methodists" says Peter.

They look in other rooms… The Pentecostals are dancing, the Episcopalians are in a perpetual wine tasting, (bad stereotypes I know… but where would jokes be without stereotypes?)

And at the next room St. Peter puts his fingers over his lips, and ducks down low so he can't be seen. He motions for his guest to do the same.

"Why the secrecy", says the man. "Who's in there?"

"Oh," Peter replies, "that's the Southern Baptists. They think they're the only ones up here."

Now I grew up a Southern Baptist, as did many of you, so I can tell a story like that with no malicious intent. The point I want to make is this… some of us come from traditions, and certainly we are surrounded by them, in which one way is the only way…. And that's certainly one end of the 'creedal' spectrum. "Our creed is the right creed; our belief is the only acceptable belief, and any thing else (read it 'less') is wrong." (…and it's particularly ironic and painful that Southern Baptists, who historically are 'non-creedal', have moved toward a choking creedalism.)

So that's one end of the spectrum… "This is what you believe, nothing else can suffice"….

On the other end, I belonged to a church a few years ago that had the reputation of believing everything, and therefore nothing. It was said of this church, by outsiders, "you can believe anything and belong to that church."

What defines us? What statements do we adhere to? What is at our center?

Now, this is a particularly important issue for us, this young community we are calling North Raleigh United Church, a crucial issue to struggle with, because we are in the process of putting on paper, of wrestling with and articulating, a statement of identity that will serve as a central covenant for our community. We are inviting everyone to be a part of this, all of you, and I'm devoting the worship themes for the next four or five weeks to help facilitate the process.

We need to struggle with some thorny issues and I want to at least get the ball rolling.

The list of these themes/sermon topics is in the bulletin, but let me share them with you now too, because they are important to me… and though we are pledging ourselves to a non-hierarchical polity, I do get to have this one-way conversation called a sermon. (I hope that's not how it comes across. I couldn't begin to explain how much I struggle with what it is I should say during this time each Sunday morning )

…Anyway, in an attempt to help us squarely meet crucial issues of our day, over the course of the next four Sundays I will deal with:

-The Bible as a guide but not as a god…

-The importance of diversity…. Male, female, black, white, gay, straight, and even the most divisive aspect of our times, Republican and Democrat…. Diversity is strength.

-The Economics of Jesus. How do we, as wealthy persons, live the Gospel authentically? There is no need to run from this issue. It is there. How we will position this community, who claims the spirit of Jesus as its center, …how will we position this community to deal with its wealth?

And, finally, a question that we all face, more these days than ever, …

-Is Christianity the only way to God?

…and understand that on the heels of those four Sundays comes our covenant writing retreat, everyone invited, to be held Saturday September 11^th. Exact times and place are to be worked out by the Steering Committee.

What do we believe? What are the boundaries? Who are we? What is our purpose?

Simple questions?…. No.

No, these are the foundations upon which we will pledge (I hope some of you will pledge) to build a community in which we will raise children, minister to each other, marry and grieve and celebrate together.

Make no mistake about it, we are venturing into what has the potential to be one of the most important collaborations of our lives.

First steps are defining. Foundations are crucial.

I remember a few years ago a friend of mine had decided he would build a freestanding garage behind his house. Though he had never done anything quite like this before he was quite mechanically minded and precise in all that he did. He had cleared the spot, leveled it by hand, dug and poured the footings extra wide to give him some leeway in the placement of the cinder block foundation…and was finally prepared to begin laying the block.

He announced to his wife that the block laying would begin. "It's about time'" she said in exasperation. "you've been messing around back there forever." To say that she did not have a real appreciation for the preparation process was putting in mildly.

First steps are just as important in the formation of a community of faith. We need to carefully choose and place the foundations and defining stones of who we are so that we can indeed grow into the kind of community of faith that we long to be.

…and when you stop to think about it, we all must have some fairly strong opinions about what it is we are looking for, what it is we want, hope for, long to be, because we are here.

There are literally hundreds of churches within easy driving distance of us, …churches that are further along in their particular journey, with a longer history, larger crowds… but we are here. Each of us has chosen to come to something very new this morning. What is it that is drawing us together?

How we articulate our center, what we say, and what we don't say… will largely define the community we grow into.

The ancient Hebrews got it into their head from very early on that they could actually enter into covenant with the God of all creation. (Think about it!) The account of Noah and the great flood was one of the earliest accounts of such pledge from God. The rainbow that followed was a sign of that covenant for them. All creation participated.

Later, when Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt another great covenant was established, a Book of covenants, of laws, beginning with the well known 10 commandments, was established. True, the laws were intricate and evolved into a complex code that split the thinnest of hairs in obscure matters, but it was a basis of order that defined the relationship of the community to each other and God.

From Noah to Moses to Jeremiah and Jesus, the eventual covenants are bonds of the relationship between a community of followers and a God who would enter into relationship with them.

Throughout its 2000 year history, the Church has continued to establish covenants and creeds, (mostly creeds) and more times than not as a response to a particular controversy.

The questions we raise are not new, and have been struggled with for centuries… Is Jesus more human or divine? What exactly is the relationship between God the Creator and the one we call Jesus of Nazareth? What is the nature and role of the Church?

There have been a slew of recent books that have popularized these questions, and don't misunderstand me, they are incredibly important issues for us to wrestle with.. but understand that other generations have wrestled also with the knowledge they had, and with all the faith they could muster to answer these and other questions as well.

There is a quote I enjoy from Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century Roman…He is a bit tired of the theological debate going on at the time.

Says Gregory… "If you ask anyone in Constantinople for change, he will start discussing with you whether the Son is begotten or unbegotten. If you ask about the quality of bread, you will get the answer: "The Father is greater, the Son is less." If you suggest taking a bath you will be told: "There was nothing before the Son was created.""

We shouldn't glibly accept their answers but there is also much to explore in the ancient creeds of the church.