THE KIRK OF KILDAIRE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

CARY, NC

www.kirkofkildaire.org

A sermon preached by Joseph Welker, Jr.

Believing and Belonging to the Ourchestra

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

January 21, 2007

"You are called to belong, not just believe. Even in the perfect, sinless environment of Eden, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God's purposes by ourselves." [1]

Paul would agree with Rick Warren. "You are called to belong, not just believe." It is clear, in Chapter 12-14- as Paul writes his letter to the church at Corinth about spiritual gifts, about being members of one body-writing that chapter on the greatest of all gifts being love… It is clear that Paul cannot imagine-even imagine being a Christian without being a part of the Body of Christ… the family of faith… the church. While your relationship with God in Christ is personal, God never designed it to be private. Following Christ involves belonging, not just believing.

This can be work of course. Those who belonged to the Corinthian church consisted of more conservative Christians and more liberal Christians who knew the ways of the world. There were those who were free people and enslaved people. There were those who emphasized speaking in tongues as the surest sign that you were close to God… and others who had many other gifts. There were tensions between those who had their favorite preachers and leaders. Some followed Paul… others loved Apollos… and others looked to Peter-the disciple closest to Jesus for guidance. Belonging to one church was never easy.

I'm sure on some days they wished God had just called them to believe… but not to belong.

This had to be especially hard in days when the church was not divided into denominations. Today people have lot's of options. I hear there are now 33,000 denominations across the world. Back then, they didn't have the option of joining another church around the corner in Corinth where there were more like minded people-who saw things their way. I often wonder what Paul would make of the way we manage our diversity. We may be called to believe… but we want to belong to a group of people who are like ourselves.
The Corinthians didn't have that choice. But they did have Paul to help them deal with their differences. He does this in several ways.

First he will help them understand how spiritual gifts work. He will help them see that when you belong, everyone has something to offer that is important for the family of faith. Thank God not everyone spoke in tongues or only preached or taught. We need every gift… given for the common good. Paul envisioned a church full of members who learned about their gifts and then used them for the common good. Belonging meant everyone using a gift God had given them for ministry. All were important.

That is true for us at the Kirk. We need every gift… I mean every gift for us to be the church.

Some we see every week-teachers in Sunday school, someone preaching, people playing instruments or singing… And if you are not careful, you may think those are the only gifts or the most important ones.

Read the letters of Paul and those are just a few. And I thank God that we have a diversity of gifts here. We need those with gifts of caring to work with Caregivers or Stephen Ministers in order to show the love of Jesus Christ. We need people with a gift and passion for mission and justice to help us keep from only caring about ourselves and helping the world know how God cares about all of his children in need. We need people - leaders who are wise and knowledgeable helping us work through our issues and helping us with a new Long Range Plan. We need administrative gifts to help keep the church running. We need those with financial gifts to help us be good stewards-who collect the offerings and pay the bills. We need gifts of those who care for the property as it ages.

Sometimes we take these gifts for granted until they are gone. When Allen Johnson moved to Asheville- we missed his gift that helped us with the sound system. Now we are trying to find others with that gift.

I used to take one of my gifts for granted until I went on one of my first mission trips to Zambia. At the end of the trip, we were sharing with our secret pals the gifts we are grateful for. My friend John, 75 years old and hard of hearing said to me, "Jody, I thank God for your loud, booming voice." The group laughed. I don't know why? Do you?

In writing this sermon I thought of Henry. Henry was a mentally challenged adult in my home church. Sometimes we picked Henry up on Sunday from his group home when we saw him at the bus stop or took him home. Do you know what Henry did? Henry's job at Riverside was to put the pew racks back together and keep the sanctuary neat- so that every Sunday when we worshipped, the sanctuary was ready. There have been times in the life of the church that I wish Henry were around. We could use that gift.
Truth is, we need all gifts to be the church God has intended us to be. For the Kirk to be what God calls us to be, we need members to discover gifts and to use them. Belonging means using whatever gift God has given you. Don't worry about the gifts you don't have or we don't have. Just use the gifts God has given us. We need them.

I think of a poem, from Shel Silverstein I love that says it well, called Ourchestra,
So you haven't got a drum, just beat your belly.
So I haven't got a horn-I'll play my nose.
So we haven't any cymbals-
We'll just slap our hands together,
And though there may be orchestras
That sound a little better
With their fancy shiny instruments
That cost an awful lot-
Hey, we're making music twice as good
By playing what we've got! [2]

The trick it seems to me is finding a way to keep the ourchestra together when one member thinks that their instrument is the most important one in the group. Especially when the members of the ourchestra come from all theological, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Especially when members of the ourchestra have passions and interests that come in conflict with other.

I've found this to be true in most discussions around the church in my ministry. At worship committee we have been discussing how to evaluate the trial period for the 9:00 a.m. service. It is not an easy discussion. It has been a great blessing for many who have started attending-our attendance at the early service has grown from an average of about 120 to 180. It has attracted visitors who tell me that this is why they have started attending this church. On the other hand, it has made it difficult for Sunday School-especially Adult Education. Time is tight and there is a loss of teaching time and fellowship time for some classes. We have been surprised how the service has been good for children's choirs but it has been more difficult for Adult Choir members to attend Sunday School and rehearsals.

Do you see why this is a hard discussion? It's not a debate between good and evil? It is a discussion among those who have a heart for reaching new people in our community, managing a growing worship attendance, those who love Sunday school… those who love Adult Choir… those who love children's choirs…

Do you know what makes the discussion so hard? It is because all are right. And because we are all interconnected to one another. One decision affects so many. It's kind of like… well… a body… don't you think?

Paul thought so:
"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. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many… Now we are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

I am reminded of the story of a church that was deeply divided. Over the years they had had, three pastors-one a woman-with different styles and ways of leading. … and now, in a time of transition -as often happens… the diversity and the division in the church began to reveal itself. Stress fractures appeared. Most of the divisions were around the styles and personalities of the previous pastors-some more traditional than others. Some more conservative than others. Some thought the church should study the Bible more… some thought they should share the gospel more with the unchurched… some thought we should be more involved in mission and justice ministries. The more and more they talked, the worse it seem to become. So, they called together a congregational meeting… some said they would go to "tell it like it is!"

It was a tough meeting. It was a sad meeting too because one thing they actually all held in common was a love for Christ, a passion for the gospel, and even a desire to see the church prosper. But they didn't know each other very well. And so as things got worse, someone suggested they write a letter to the founding pastor-Pastor Paul-son. I'd like to read what he wrote them:

There is one Spirit, but a variety of gifts.
There is one Lord, but a variety of ways that people serve.
There is one God and Father, but a variety of ways that people work for the kingdom.

God gives different gifts to different people.
Some, a passion for peace;
Others, a passion for mission.
Some, a passion for life and its sacredness,
Others, a passion for forgiveness and mercy.
Some, a passion for a more closed interpretation of the Bible,
Others, a passion for a more open interpretation of the Bible.
Some, a passion for evangelism,
Others, a passion for justice.
Some a passion for spirituality,
Others, a passion for Christian education
Some a passion for nurturing relationships in small groups
Others a passion for good stewardship of the earth

All of the people who spoke to you this morning are working for the common good. Each and every one of these people this morning are inspired by the one and same spirit, the Spirit who gives to each person their unique and different gifts, roles and perspectives.For just as the human body is a unified whole, composed of millions of different parts, so is Christ and his body.

The human body is miraculously complex,
With 60 million cells,
With 36 million heart beats every year,
With 300 billion red cells produced every day.
With 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each body.

Just as the human mind cannot begin to fathom the complexity of its own body, so it is with us, with the body of Christ. Our minds cannot comprehend the complexity of the Body of Christ. Christ is a living body, composed of billions of parts, miraculously complex, with billions of members, located in millions of different settings, with thousands of different languages, with thousands of unique cultures and billions of expressions of the true faith…throughout all the centuries of recorded time. The human mind cannot begin to fathom the complexity of the body of Christ, anymore than the human mind can imagine the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in one's own physical body." [3]

Christ is a wonderful body… a beautiful body… and every one of you belong… and every gift, every passion, every role is needed in order for it to work as God designed it to work. And while no individual possesses every gift, there is one gift that God gives everyone to use. That gift is love. Use that, and the rest of the body will work just fine."

Rick Warren, was right. It's not enough to believe, you are called to belong. But may I add, that from Paul's perspective, it is not enough to belong. It's the way you belong that matters. You have to use the gifts and passions God gave you. And it's not enough simply to share your gifts, if you don't offer them in the spirit of love. Amen.

[1] Page 130, The Purpose Drive Life
[2] Page 23 Where the Sidewalk Ends
[3] From Sermon by Ed Markquart, Sermons from Seattle