Acts 6:1-7
June 3, 2012
Now during those days, when the
disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the
Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of
food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and
said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait
on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good
standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,
while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the
word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these
men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The
word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly
in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
As many of you know, because of my background I tend to
keep my feet in two different areas at the same time. I read and study a lot in
the areas of spirituality, theology, and religion, but I also spend a lot of
time reading in the areas of psychology and the social sciences. The reason is
that I remain constantly fascinated by people and why we are the way we are. I
don’t believe in focusing only on one area of human life, and so I try to be
well-integrated in my understanding of what it means to be human and how we can
live better lives. It’s not easy having feet in both camps because many in the
scientific/rational camp are hostile to religion, and many in the religious camp
are hostile to science. But I try to be a bridge between the two.
On of my favorite magazines in the science camp is Scientific American Mind. It’s a
magazine that explores human psychology from a mostly neurological and physical
perspective. In their May 2012 issue, they had an interesting article titled, “Are
Believers Really Happier Than Atheists?” by Sandra Upson. Like many articles of
the kind, it cites a growing body of research that says that, in fact,
religious people are happier than non-religious people.
This body of research has basically demonstrated that
just by your being in church this morning you are healthier and happier than
those who aren’t. Much of the research done in the past 20 years points to
higher levels of health and happiness, even if you control for unhealthy
factors. For instance, if you are a smoker and you are part of a church, you are
healthier than a smoker who isn’t. If you are diabetic and part of the church,
you are healthier than someone who isn’t.
The article admitted, more or less, the validity of these
studies. But then it went on to take a next step. The author adopts the
perspective that what makes religious people healthier is that they spend time
with others in a community of support (a conclusion which, by the way, isn’t
really supported by research). She believes that there is nothing inherently special
about religion other than being a community of support, and she goes on to
speculate that atheists could be just as healthy as religious people if they
could form similar communities of support. She then offers her ideas on how
atheists could form similar communities.
As I read the article, I kept thinking that the author
was really missing the point of the research. She never delved into the reason
atheists don’t have these kinds of communities. The reason is that atheists don’t
is that they aren’t driven by the same impulses as religious people. What
drives a religious community is that it is filled with people looking to love
God and love others. Love is the glue of the Christian community. We may love
very imperfectly, and we may fall short in the details, but we try. As flawed
as we are, we are driven by a desire follow God’s command to love God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love others as ourselves.
This is not to say that atheists can’t love or don’t
love. It is to say that love isn’t necessarily a driving force of atheism. What
drives atheists? Obviously what drives
each atheist is individual motives, but as a group they are driven as much by
what they are against as they are by what they are for. Being against God and religion,
they block the possibility for the kind of community religion brings. You can’t
create a community of love by starting out being against religious communities
of love.
Christian communities actually become unglued when love
is diminished and taken out of the church. The churches that fall apart
generally are ones in which the members forget about love. They become so
focused on individual agendas and power struggles that they become divided. And
you see this same forgetfulness in churches that give Christianity a bad name.
For instance, you heard about the pastor of Providence Road Baptist Church in
North Carolina, who recently preached in sermon that went viral on YouTube. He
said that we should gather all the homosexuals and “queers,” put them behind a
compound behind a high fence, and send airplanes over to drop food in. His
vision is that eventually they would all die out because they won’t reproduce.
The following week a pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas
took the issue a step further by saying that all homosexuals should be rounded
up by the government and put to death. These are pastors and churches that have
forgotten the primacy of love. You see the same loss of love in the members of
the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas who stage ugly protests at the funerals
of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. And their lack of love sparks
non-Christians and atheists to paint all of us as unloving.
Still, what this article really brought out for me is
something that makes what we do in this church, and all churches, special. We
are a community rooted in a drive for love. I want you to reflect on how
special that is. How many communities are you a part of, or are you aware of,
that can say that they are primarily rooted in love? Your school? Work?
Your neighborhood? Your favorite sports teams? The clubs you belong to?
The reason a religious kind of community is missing among atheists, and among those
who’ve rejected church because they are spiritual but not religious, is that
there really aren’t other kinds of communities rooted in love. If you can think
of one, it is a rare one.
What makes any church special, and this church
specifically, is how we try to make love visible. I never want to suggest that
we are perfect at it, but we try. I want you to think about everything that
goes on here at Calvin Presbyterian Church, and how it impacts others by focusing
on others. A focus on others is the essence of love. Love is about putting
aside what is right for us so that we can do what is right for another. In that
sense, Calvin Presbyterian Church is a church for others.
Take a walk with me though the ministry of Calvin Church
and I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s start with worship. The focus of worship,
at its core, is to enhance our focus on God. It is meant to help us grow in our
love of God. Think about everyone who participates in the worship service on
Sundays. What’s the focus of those who serve as greeters? They don’t greet you
and hand out bulletins because of how wonderful it feels. The skeptic will say,
“well, they’re doing it so they can get into heaven.” We Presbyterians don’t
believe that our deeds get us into heaven, only God’s love and grace do. So I’d
be hard pressed to agree that any of our greeters are saying “good morning” and
handing out bulletins in order to get into heaven. If that’s the case, then the
bar for entry into heaven is awfully low. They greet as a simple act of love,
focusing on others.
You can apply the same focus on all the other things
people do in worship. The folks who play music or sing, serve communion, serve
on the soundboard, offer coffee after worship, serve in the nursery, or even
those of you who sing hymns in worship, don’t do so because of you. You do it
for others. Worship is a manifestation of being other focused—either focusing
on God or on others. It is hard to do worship when we are the only focus. It is
easy to do worship when the focus is on love.
Think about our education program. We have over 40 people
teaching Sunday School on Sunday mornings. These are people who often are
cutting out little paper hands at 10 p.m. on Saturday night, reading curriculum
on Saturday night, preparing classes from scratch, or are spending time being
trained to teach. They could easily be doing other things, but they do this
because they love children. And the parents who endure their kids’ whining and
complaining on Sunday mornings to take then to class do so because they love
their children and know how important it is for their children to learn about
God and love.
Our youth program is similar. Whether we are talking
about Bruce Smith, our youth director, the adult leaders, the youth leaders, or
the parents, they all lead and support the youth involved because of their love
for the youth. They want the youth to grow up with a sense of God’s love in
their lives, and with a desire to love others. No one is there because it is so
self-serving. They are they because it is other-serving.
Look at other areas of ministry at Calvin Presbyterian
Church. We have a great pre-school, taught by loving teachers, with loving
parents and church members serving on the board, the session committee, taking
part in fundraisers, and more because of love of children. All of our
committees are served by people who do so because of a desire to make Calvin
Church a place of love. Whether it is a committee devoted to caring for the
building, overseeing our finances, tending to worship, coordinating our
mission, developing a great education program, and more, they are served by people
primarily driven by a love for God and others. If it wasn’t so, who would
serve?
Our drama program is rooted in love. We don’t just put on
plays to please ourselves. We put on plays to teach a religious and moral
message to others, both inside and outside our church. And the people who
commit to night after night of rehearsals and performances certainly like to
act, but if that was the primary motive Calvin Church would not be their venue.
The folks who take part in our plays like to act, but they also like to be a
part of something that shares God’s love with each other and with us.
Giving is another act of love. When we give to the
church, we are acting out of love. We are recognizing our own limitations by
saying, in effect, “I may not be able to spread God’s love by acting, teaching,
singing, counseling, visiting, playing an instrument, or the like, but I can
devote part of my day, each day, to support others who can do these things. So
I give money to the church to support others’ acts of love.”
As Paul says in his letters, we are the body of Christ,
and every part of this body works together to be a body of love. In a body
there is no dominant part. All work together or not at all. We are a body of
love who come together, coordinate together, work together, and serve together
to love not only those within the church, but those outside the church. We are
all ministers. The word “minister” literally means “a servant.” In the
Protestant faith we believe that people like me are pastors, called and trained
to care for those in ministry, but all of us are ministers. All of us are
servants serving in ministries of love. This is what makes churches both
distinct and special.
What the article got wrong is that we aren’t happier and
healthier because we’re involved in something that gives us a sense of
community or even meaning. We’re happier and healthier because we are trying to
live out the source of happiness and health: God, God’s love, and God’s
grace. It’s not what we do that makes us happier and healthier.
It’s who we become as a result. As we
serve in ministry, we become people of love who love God, love others, and love
ourselves.
We are all sent by the Spirit to be involved in ministry with
each other. The thing I’d ask you to reflect on is how open you are to the
Spirit’s calling to become involved in the ministry of this church?
Amen.
