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September 18, 2005
Standing Firm
Philippians 1:21-30
Standing firm. That is like a refrain in scripture. Moses urged that on Israelites tramping through wilderness with an Egyptian army pressing hard. Don't be afraid (Ex. 14:13)! Psalmists trusted that when the Lord spoke, that word is firm; when the Lord makes a promise, it stands firm (Ps. 89:28). The prophet Isaiah believed that if we don't stand firm in faith, we won't be able to stand at all (Is. 7:9).
Paul echoes that refrain. Paul wants to stand firm. He's wrestling with some ambivalence. Should he wrap things up and go be with Christ? That's what he'd like. Hard as that is for me to understand, I believe it bears pondering. Whatever his preferences, he's decided differently. He's going to stay the course. He's not being vain to say that it's better for the Philippians for him to continue for their sakes. Paul's not one to look reality in the face and deny it. He's going to stand firm. He wants them to stand firm.
He's assuming they're able to stand at all, and willing to do it. We all know people who do little more than just sit around on the job, even when their job is mainly sitting. They don't stand for much. We know people who stand all day, but can hardly wait to get off their feet. They'd rather not stand at all if they could help it. I know people who put up with lots of abuse; I don't know how they stand for it.
Remember the scene in the film "Network," when the volatile newscaster screams out: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more." Sometimes we do get fed up and decide we're not going to stand for that kind of stuff a minute longer. It goes hard for any soldier who does not stand when an officer walks into the room.
In the film "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Atticus Finch, the attorney, has finished his defense of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, he gathers up his goods and turns to leave. The balcony is packed with members of the black community; that's where they're supposed to sit—not on the main floor; that's for white people. As Atticus begins to walk out—everyone in the balcony has waited for him to go—they all stand as one person. Atticus' daughter, Scout, is also seated in the balcony. When she does not stand, the pastor says to her words to this effect: Stand up Ms. Scout, your daddy's passing by. They stand firm.
Stand "firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel…." Side-by-side. Lovers face one another. Enemies turn their backs to one another. Friends go side by side. Friends know where they stand with one another. Friends stand firm with one another. Sometimes it's as if friends read one another's mind. They often complete each other's sentences. One spirit. One mind. Stand firm.
Paul's looking to the future. He wants to know they're doing that whether he comes to visit them, or just hears about them. Either way, he wants to know that's the way things are with them. We don't know all they had to face. Paul drops a few clues here and there. Some of them were claiming privilege, lording it over others. Some were wounding one another over theological matters, pouring more acid than oil. Still others were bragging about how religious they were. Stand firm. Things will be different. Better.
Not long ago I wrote an article for our newsletter, News & Views, about First Presbyterians facing the future. Just a footnote before we go on. Part of the plan all along has been that I'll be leaving some time before a new pastor begins. We're nearer that time than we were when I started in January; indeed, we're nearer than early this summer when we got back into the sanctuary. The plan has been all along that I do my best to help out while you're seeking the one the Lord will call to be your installed pastor.
When I leave some will say: Glad you were here. Others will think, if they do not say: Glad that's over. Still others of the congregation will not even know that I've come and gone; they never showed up or kept track. And some may say: I heard others say things went just fine while he was here, but to tell you the truth I couldn't warm up to that guy if we were cremated together.
After I'm gone--whether I come back for a visit, which could happen; or whether I just hear about you which is more likely—I trust at the heart of what comes to me is that you all are "standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel…." That's the future.
Howell you enter the future the Lord has in store for you? I've heard more than one person say they'd like to see the church "grow." One thing they mean is grow in membership. That's not a bad idea. Some of you are going to see more of the future than others. When some say "grow" they also mean get stronger in other ways. Paul sums up that growth when he talks about "standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel…."
As I see it, you've got three approaches to the future. You can keep on doing what you've been doing. You can study what others are doing well, adopting and adapting their best practices in bearing witness to the gospel of Christ. You can be innovators in ministry.
Doing what you've been doing has lots of appeal. It's familiar, you know how to do it pretty well, you've got a fresh new setting to do it in, and there's a lot good about it. You can keep worshiping just as you have. A lot of people will like that. But, maybe not as many younger adults as you might hope.
You can keep up the fine community service programs you've got: the Thrift Shop, the Sunday Evening Meals Program, housing the Food Bank, providing meeting space to the Foster Care Review Board, providing bus tickets and free phone use to those who need them. All these are good. They've been around for a while. Do you think the community may have changed in the meantime? Is it verging on more changes? Are new needs emerging that you should be paying attention to?
Most of you seem content with the programs for youth and Sunday School. What I mean is that is most of you are content to have others participate in them. Not nearly all the youth who could participate in our youth fellowship programs, even though Lori and several adult volunteers work hard at planning things to attract them. "The Forum" is the centerpiece of adult education here. I'm told it has been for some time. Fine as it may be, the Forum is not nearly up to the job of teaching people the "faith of the gospel." Maybe you all have all the wisdom and understanding of the "faith of the gospel" necessary to "stand firm." Maybe your new pastor will be perfectly happy with things just the way they are. That's not where I'm putting my money. Maybe people new to your congregation will be content to follow your example. Or maybe they'll want to go where people seem more engaged in learning the "faith of the gospel."
You can enter the future the Lord is preparing by keeping on doing what you've gotten used to doing. Or you could look around, see that others have been doing to help them "stand firm," and adapt the best to your own situation. If you're going to grow, and not just numerically in membership, then it's past time to begin looking to see what's going on around you.
You've gotten tiny glimpses in worship. One of our gifted young men led worship in the pattern of Taizé for several months. He's graduated and gone away to school. No one stepped forward to take up his mantle. Late this summer, we had the annual "jazz service." Occasionally, we do some things different from familiar habit. Whether you will have some alternative form of worship is likely to be a topic high on the agenda when your new pastor comes. And for reasons other than trying to engage new people.
Think about it. You're said to be a church of more than 700 members. A Presbyterian Church on average has worship attendance equal to half their membership. That's just average. A church that's doing well will have more than that. You have about 250 in worship on a regular basis. That says one of two things: maybe you're really about a 500 member church, or about 100 of your members just aren't turning out for worship. If you had just half your membership here, say 350 worshipers, things would start feeling a bit snug. Indeed, that's nearing your working capacity for this sanctuary. When worship attendance gets to about 75% of its physical capacity it's "full."
To grow in worship attendance you'll have to make more room. A second service is the easiest way to do that. What sort of service will it be? You've glimpsed some possibilities. You're likely to get better acquainted with still other patterns before you settle on what to do and how to do it. You can learn from others.
A church's programs can draw interest and members. Most of your programs are based on the "field of dreams" formula: if we build it they will come. Whatever neighborhood your church may have been part of at one time has long since past. You've never really been a "neighborhood" church. You've always been a "city-wide" church. The city's run away from you. You have an important witness to make by "standing firm" in the downtown. What if you were to explore ways of reaching out to people where they live, with this marvelous facility as your base?
Our Board of Deacons have been experimenting with a "parish" program. A lot of churches have been doing this sort of parish ministry for quite a while. It's not rocket science. Members of our church have been organized in geographic areas according to where we live. Deacons have started out by calling some of our members on the phone. It's a way of getting in touch with one another. Parishes are good for lots of things: fellowship get-togethers to which members could invite friends to acquaint them with our congregation; studies of the "faith of the gospel" in small groups in one another's homes; following up on visitors to worship by church members who live in the vicinity; youth fellowship activities might be organized on a regular basis in places other than the church building.
You could keep on doing what you've been doing. You could learn from what others are doing. You could be a creative force in proclaiming the "faith of the gospel" in Cedar Rapids. Perhaps the Lord will bless you in keeping on what you've been doing. Perhaps the Lord will bless you with insight and wisdom as you seek to learn from others how better to serve Christ. Charity's fine but it's no substitute for justice. If charity begins at home, justice walks the streets. Tradition is good, but its broader and deeper than our habitual conventional patterns that rely on parts of it. Passing on information and discussing it is part of education, but if people are grounded in "the faith of the gospel" they'll scarcely be able to make sense of it. Education is about not about information; it's about wisdom.
I wonder if the Lord might have in store for you beyond what you can imagine or conceive. God has been known to do new things. Being part of the new thing God is about is not necessarily easy. It stretches us into our very souls. It requires a new brain wrinkle or two.
We live in a scary time. Sometimes it's hard to stand firm. Katrina washed away places to stand. It is only the most recent reminder of just how scary. The reach of that hurricane's effects go far beyond the Gulf Coast. And not all the effects are immediately visible. They'll be long lasting. We're still upset by how things got handled. One of our culture slogans is: don't get mad, get even. Well, disciples who stand firm say, leave vengeance to the Lord. What I'd rather say is this: don't get scared, get friendly. Don't get scared, get smart. Don't get scared, get faithful. Be friends and by the grace of God learn to live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Stand firm for the faith of the gospel.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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