Sermon September 8, 2013 Molded for Mission

Scripture: Jeremiah 18: 1-11
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

LifePoint Church in New Tampa expects to extend its ministries so that no one in the Tampa Bay area will be more than 15 or 20 minutes away from a LifePoint church. With 4 campuses already, they are well on the way. Grace Church in Lutz has a similar vision. These churches spawn new satellites through the use of technology. An article in the Tampa Bay Times about these churches talks about the audience that the churches will reach, not the congregation, but the audience. And there is reference to the pastor performing the sermon. In the olden days we were taught sermon preparation and delivery not performance. But one thing in the article did strike home with me. The pastor of Grace Church talks about investing in the satellite churches: “There is a cost involved to reach others, but what greater value for us than to see a person’s life touched for eternity? I mean, you can’t put a dollar value on that.” Amen! [Tampa Bay Times, 9/6/13, ‘Worshipping on a big screen,” Shelley Rossetter] Yes, the church has the potential to be a community of transformation. It has the power to form and shape people.

Constantine, head of the Roman Empire in the 4th century knew this which is why he made Christianity legal in 313 C. E., and then the primary religion of the Empire. It was a way to mold and shape people and to keep the people in line, under control, and unified. He used religion as a means to mold and shape the people under his domain.

Karl Marx knew the power of religion and this was why he was ostensibly against it. He knew that religion has the power to mold and shape people, their world view, their perspective, and their behavior. He felt that the church used its power not to work for justice and a society of peace but to bolster feudalism, economic injustice, and abuse of labor. The power and authority of religion is often used to endorse and enforce the status quo even when it is immoral or unjust. In our country, we saw this with regard to slavery. Religion was a strong voice endorsing slavery in this country. It was also, it should be said, a voice that decried slavery and eventually triumphed through the abolitionist movement. But Marx saw the power of religion and how it could be used to foster an unjust regime and keep the people down. Religion has the power to shape and mold.

We see this power of religion at work in our world today. Buddhist monks burning themselves. Fundamentalist Muslims engaged in suicide bombings. We see radical extremists purportedly shaped by religious communities which are often a guise for an extreme political agenda.

The faith community has great power to mold and shape. And this is intended. The Jewish faith is centered on a community shaped and molded to carry out God’s purposes in the world. Jesus called a group of followers to be part of a community which would shape them and foster their growth and development according to God’s intentions. Then the faith community was intended to form and shape the wider world. This is the nature and calling of the church. And, as we have noted, it can be used for good or for ill, which is why it is so important to choose a faith community carefully. Pretty much any church you go to, the people are probably going to seem nice. They will probably be welcoming. But it is important to pay attention to the nature of the community; the values, the teachings, the way the people work together, and, maybe most importantly, who has power. These things show you the true character of the community. This is what to consider in seeking a community that will form and shape you.

Through the years, we have had people come here to church one time and tell me, “Oh, I want to join this church.” They only know the people they have just met. They haven’t been involved with any activities save one service. They don’t really know much about the mission and ministry of this congregation. I encourage such people to visit for a while and to make sure it is a good fit for them. Some are taken aback by this approach. But I feel it is important, given the power of the faith community to mold and shape people, to really know what you are getting into when you become part of a church family.

The molding and shaping power of the church can also drive people away from the church. They come, they participate, and then they feel themselves changing. Perhaps incrementally. Perhaps drastically. But they feel something happening and it may seem new and unfamiliar. It may be a departure from what they have known in the past. They may find themselves drawn in new directions: Maybe considering a job change, or a different kind of political involvement, or seeing life and relationships in a new way. The unfamiliar can feel strange and uncomfortable. It may be too scary. Too hard to accept. Time to stop going to church, or find another church that doesn’t seem as threatening and that validates their status quo.

The sense of challenge and change experienced in the faith community may be slight or great depending on our inclinations. If we have attitudes that are consistent with the true gospel then we may find the church inspiring. But if the religion we are familiar with endorses greed, exclusivity, and the myth of redemptive violence, then to hear the true teachings of Jesus can
be jarring and uncomfortable.

The image from the prophet Jeremiah of the potter’s house talks about God molding and shaping the community. God is responsible for the clay and the clay is good. It has potential. But is needs to be shaped properly. When it is misshapen, it needs to be reworked. The people of Judah have strayed from God’s ways but the potential for good is still there. They are in need of being re-formed; the clay itself is still in tact. It is worth noting that the reference in Jeremiah is to the formation of the community as a whole and the individuals therein. The need for reformation is social. It is not simply an image addressing the relationship between an individual and God, but addressing the relationship between the community and God. Judaism always has a communal focus and so did early Christianity.

Like the community originally addressed by the prophet, we, too, are created with the potential for good. We are called as the faith community to be part of fulfilling God’s hopes and dreams. The church has the power to mold and shape fostering God’s realm “on earth as it is in heaven.” This is why we are here: To be shaped and molded according to God’s intentions and to mold and shape the world to reflect God’s desire for justice and peace.

There are many different reasons for coming to church: To see our friends. To enjoy the music. To pray for something important to us. To feel part of a bigger picture. To have our values realigned. To have our souls fed to face the challenges of our days. These and many other reasons bring us to church. What happens here is that we are molded and shaped by our experience. Here God is at work forming and reforming us into a vessel of the Holy Spirit. A vessel that is needed to make a contribution to the community and to the wider world. We should expect to be formed and changed because we are part of this church family.

In the verses we heard from Jeremiah, there is talk of plucking up, breaking down, and destroying. Sometimes the process of re-formation, the reconfiguration that leads to health and wholeness that happens through the church community involves getting rid of things that are not consistent with God’s intentions. We are challenged to make the changes needed: To jettison old attitudes or behaviors that are detrimental to us, to the community, and to God’s mission.

The passage from Jeremiah also talks of building and planting. The church is to encourage growth and maturation. It is a context in which to be nurtured so that we grow into the beautiful, fruitful people God intends for us to be.

Again this image of the potter and the clay comes to mind. The potter throws the clay onto the wheel. Then pushes, forces, squashes and shapes. It may require firm, consistent pushing, or the most delicate touch, the slightest pressure. The molding and shaping that takes place within the congregation may also take many forms.

The image of molding and shaping implies flexibility and malleability. In fact, in Jeremiah there is reference really to the malleability of God for God is referred to as having the capability of changing God’s mind. This is a core characteristic of clay and it is very important. This reminds us that the church needs to flexible and malleable, adapting to new challenges and opportunities as times change and history unfolds. The church is meant to be the living body of Christ not a corpse. It is intended to be like a dynamic organism: Evolving, adapting, and changing with the environment and the context.

This moulding and shaping function of the faith community reflected in the verses from Jeremiah accounts for the many churches that have taken the name, “The Potter’s House.” There are Potter’s House churches in Dallas, TX, Jacksonville, FL, Columbus, OH, Washington, D.C., Battle Creek, MI, Norfolk, VA, Colorado Springs, CO, Reno, NV, Seattle, WA, Valdosta, GA, and Rochester, NY just to name a few. The Potter’s House also seems to be a common name for treatment centers and half way houses. These are all places committed to transformation and change: Communities in which to be re-formed and re-created. In fact, the name The Potter’s House seems to be associated more with human transformation than with the actual creation of pottery vessels.

It is clear that the church takes its molding and shaping role very seriously. The church is entrusted with the power to be an agent of God in shaping and molding the community and the wider world. Now when we say “the church” what are we saying? What is the church? Who is the church? We are the church: Each and every one of us is the church. Thus we are responsible not only for our own growth, but to be part of the forming and shaping of others as well as society as a whole. The molding and forming that is to take place in the faith community happens through each of us and our impact and influence on one another. Relationships form and change us and that is just what should be happening in the church, ideally for good, accordingly to the teachings of Jesus and the visions of God.

In some contexts, the molding and shaping role of the church is primarily vested in church leaders; clergy and those in the church hierarchy. But in the Protestant church, of which we are a part, we subscribe to the “priesthood of all believers.” Thus everyone in the church is responsible for the ministry of the church and that means we are all responsible for molding and shaping one another and bringing out God’s intentions and designs for the faith community. We are to mold and shape one another in whatever ways are needed for the good of the whole so that the gospel of Jesus Christ shines brightly in the world. We are here to speak the truth in love to one another. We are here to draw forth the gifts and goodness from one another. It is our job to build up and encourage. We are to witness to one another the power of the gospel and its impact on our lives. The hand of God forming and shaping us comes to us through our sisters and brothers in Christ, the people in this sacred space, the relationships we have within the community of faith. Here we learn from one another and grow in grace and love. Sometimes we may not feel God at work in our lives. Then maybe we should examine how we are exposing ourselves to God’s influence. Are we availing ourselves of what the church has to offer? Are we receptive to the people God may be sending to influence and shape our lives? Are we open to God touching us through our sisters and brothers in Christ? It may not be God or the church that are letting us down, it may be that we are resisting what God is offering because I know that the people of this church are God’s agents of growth and transformation and inspiration.

Now here I could digress. I could tell you story after story about how people in this church family have moved and molded and shaped me. I could tell you specific instances in which people in this church have inspired me. I could talk about this person and that person and the other person and how they have challenged me and re-formed me and brought me closer to God’s intentions. And, as most of you know, you still have more work to do! Now, if I wanted to avoid seeming favoritism, I could restrict my stories to people from the church family who have died like Jessie Viet, Mary Byrd, Arthur LeSueur, Bob and Beth Frey, Ken Kinzel, and many others. I could easily go on well into the afternoon. But more important to this moment, I am fairly sure that I could tell a story about how each one of you here this morning who is part of this congregation has influenced and shaped me. I could talk about how each of you has been the hand of God molding my life. Again, I could go on well into the afternoon, but instead I challenge you to think about how you have changed me. I invite you to consider how you have been God’s agent molding and shaping others in this congregation. I encourage you to reflect on how you have helped to mold and shape the life of this church family as a community of Christ. What are your stories to tell? And maybe at Fellowship after church this morning, you’ll be willing to share those stories with one another.

When we started this morning, we mentioned Grace Church in Lutz and how the intent of its ministry is to change lives, which should be the intent of every church. Grace Church has expanded its ministry to three settings now and this is made possible by offering the worship service to people in a variety of locations through technology. In one setting, a 25 x 13.5 foot LED video wall makes it seem as if the pastor performing the sermon is actually there. The church has invested $900,000 in the technology at the main campus serving 6,000 worshippers, and $400,000 in technology at satellite campuses to reach a thousand more people. This expenditure and technology is seen as necessary for the ministry of molding and shaping people’s lives.

So, is our ability to mold, shape, and transform hampered by a lack of this kind of funding and technology? Hardly. When we turn to the New Testament, we see Jesus forming a community of followers who mold and shape the world virtually without technology and without investing extensive finances. But they do invest extensive commitment, forgiveness, love and grace in their relationships with one another and with the world.

Everything that we need to be a faithful church of Jesus Christ, to shine Christ’s light, to transform ourselves and the world according to God’s purposes, is right here, right now, in this sanctuary, even if the power goes out. We are not only the clay, we are the potters. Amen.