"I am the Church..."

For Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lectionary Reading - Luke 4:1-13 (NRSV)

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

“I am the Church”

My denomination’s worship resource for the above scripture comments that in the devil’s temptations of Jesus, there exists the fundamental division between the world as it is and the world God wants for us. The resource notes that in our present world, we prefer to worship power. It also notes that satisfying our physical needs, comforts, and preferences is often our highest priority. But what Jesus lifts up through each and every temptation is a vision of the world where meaning is more critical than meeting physical needs or comforts or achieving power and control. The vision Christ offers is nothing less than the Peaceable Kingdom of God, where instead of ruling the world, we care for it. Where instead of honoring ourselves, we honor God’s will. Where instead of doing what we want, we respond to who and what we’re called to be.

For me, the above things describe what “church” should be about. But I’ve also had the good fortune this week of being reminded about that in another way. The reminder came in the form of a simple song at an older adults’ spiritual retreat I attended this week in Phoenix, Arizona. The song is considered a children’s song and was written and composed in 1972 by Richard K. Avery and Donald S. March. It goes as follows:

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.

The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.

We’re many kinds of people with many kinds of faces, all colors and all ages too, from all times and places.

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.

Sometimes the church is marching, sometimes it’s bravely burning, sometimes it’s riding, sometimes hiding, always it’s learning.

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.

And when the people gather, there’s singing and there’s praying, there’s laughing and there’s crying sometimes, all of it saying:

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.

So if we’re not to be tempted into making the church a building, a steeple, or resting place but rather a people who march, learn, pray, laugh, cry, and care – what then does the church look like?

I think it looks and feels something like the spiritual experience a close friend shared with me nearly two years ago which involved nothing less than letting the Spirit breathe anew in his life and expand his understanding in fresh and precious ways. What seems to have precipitated this experience was nothing less than a dark night of the soul for Jim while trying to recover in the hospital from a hip replacement surgery that had not gone well.

Word had reached me that Jim’s recovery was going poorly due to complications from his rheumatoid arthritis. As we live thousands of miles apart, I gave Jim a call at the medical center where he was hospitalized. On the phone, he shared how deeply despondent, alone, and spiritually abandoned he had felt. The complications from the surgeries and infections left him in a thick darkness suffocating the very life from his spirit and soul. As a nurse practitioner and lay pastor for our congregation in Anchorage, Alaska, he felt as well that his hopes for the congregation’s future might be slipping away from him, extinguished forever. He knew things were not looking good in terms of returning to the quality of life he’d known previously.

But in that dark night of the soul, the Spirit breathed into Jim’s life and vision opened to him from within that darkness, the resulting light and warmth Jim described as like a beautiful summer day sitting on his front porch and then he said to me, “Brad, I’m going to be a little emotional as I tell you this but God walked by me every single doctor, nurse, medical assistant, janitor, and visitor who had been caring for me directly and indirectly and he said, “All these have I sent to care for you.” Two years later, Jim is largely recovered and moving forward the vision for his congregation – a vision that is nothing less than a church without walls.

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together.