Ephesians 1:15-23
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Our Connectional Church
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church on May 24, 2009
Thomas Long tells about one cool September night at Yankee Stadium in New York, when a foul ball was hit into the lower left field stands. It was heading right toward a boy of about nine who had obviously come to the game that night hoping for just such a moment. He had a pair of cheap binoculars around his neck and was wearing an oversized Yankees cap and a small Little League glove which had the hardly-broken-in look of a mitt worn by a kid you let play right field in the late innings of hopeless games.
The foul ball was arching directly toward this boy's outstretched hand, but suddenly, a man of about 35 wearing an expensive knit shirt and horn-rimmed glasses reached over the boy, jostling him aside, and caught the ball. In the jostle, the plastic binoculars were broken, and the boy, despite his mother's comfort, was clearly crushed. Everybody in the left field stands had seen this, and, after a second or two of stunned silence, someone shouted, "Give the kid the ball!" Then another cried, "Give the kid the ball!" A couple of rows joined in unison, "Give the kid the ball!"
Horn Rims shook his head and put the ball in his pocket. That inflamed the whole left field crowd, and with one voice they took up the chant, "Give the kid the ball!" It spread to the center field stands, then to right field, until the whole outfield, including people who did not even know the story, were shouting, "Give the kid the ball!" Players began to glance up from the field to the stands to see what was going on.
Horn Rims remained stubbornly firm. Finally, a man got up out of his seat, walked over to Horn Rims and spoke some words patiently and gently to him. Horn Rims hesitated, then reached into his pocket and handed the ball to the kid. "He gave the kid the ball!" someone exclaimed. Then the whole stands thundered, "He gave the kid the ball!" Applause rippled around the stadium.
Then an even more strange thing began to happen. When another foul ball landed in the left field stands, the man who caught it walked over to Horn Rims and gave it to him. Horn Rims, incredulously, thanked him and took it. The next foul ball was caught by a man in a muscle shirt who was sporting a Fu Manchu mustache. He turned and tossed the ball to the kid, who, to everyone's delight and surprise, caught it. More enthusiastic applause from the crowd, who had come that night to see a baseball game but witnessed instead a city parable about justice and grace.
The city is also a parable of human community. It is in the city that we learn best that everyone is not just like we are. Indeed, it was in the city that the disciples learned that the community of Jesus Christ is broader than we imagined. (Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing)
That sense of connection to the broader world is commended in our sermon scripture this morning. There we read: “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” The love toward all the saints is one of the foundational principles of the Presbyterian Church. It is at the root of the nature of our connectional church.
We are a connectional church in the way we are connected to the Bible. As Presbyterians, we trace our heritage all the way back to Adam and Eve by virtue of our connection to the Bible which is God's word to us. In the stories of the Bible we find our own story. We recognize ourselves in the faith that Abraham and Sarah demonstrated when they left everything they knew to go to a new land God had promised them. Centuries later our spiritual ancestors would leave all they knew in Scotland to travel to a New World called America and establish there the Presbyterian Church.
Gardner Taylor reminds us of how the Bible has a way of connecting to us in every stage of our lives. A young woman reporter has written in a Texas paper of a sudden and serious illness which put her in the hospital for an unforgettable period in her life. She reported that she had always been well groomed, every strand of hair in place, the makeup just right, her body hygiene beyond question, and her nails carefully manicured. And then the hospital: first, there was the indignity of not being on her own. Then her privacy was invaded constantly, and her most intimate bodily functions became semipublic events. The hair could no longer be carefully kept, baths could no be had on whim, and things went sharply downhill. Writing about her experience, this young woman reporter commented on how radically our situation can change, and how our carefully protected beauty, meaning attractiveness, and delightfulness, can be snatched away so quickly.
Along that line, the Bible is not silent. It looks at our human condition in the days of our youthful energy and our early attractiveness. It watches us as we come to the fullness of our vital powers. In the full strength and force of our manhood and womanhood, it smiles at us as we flex our muscles while we carry the loads of life almost casually. The Bible continues to look on us when the first uncertainty as to our permanence and strength brushes up against us ever so slightly. Nothing to be alarmed about, we think, just some quirk, a passing reaction nothing to it.
This old Book does not take its eyes off us and sees us with the early energy reduced, the attractive features marred by lines of care, and the eyes darkened by circles of worry. It pronounces the words upon the departure of our beauty and strength. [Gardner C. Taylor, Edward L. Taylor, compiler, The Words of Gardner Taylor-Sermons From The Middle Years 1970-1980, Vol. 2 (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2000), Pp. 43, 44.]
On this Memorial Day weekend when we remember those who have died in service to our country, we acknowledge the reality of death. Death completes the cycle of our faith that begins with our baptism. Baptism marks our entrance in the church universal. And our baptism is not merely into a particular congregation but into the body of Christ in the church universal. As Christians we are part of the church universal—the church of all times and places. We are part of the church in Palestine in the year 25 A.D. We are part of the church in India in the year 1200 A.D. We are part of the church in Iraq in 2009. This abstract concept of the body of Christ was brought home to me through a story someone told me several years ago.
Former PC(USA) Moderator, Ken Hall, tells a fascinating story about being in a Christian church in Baghdad, Iraq one Sunday. As he looked around the sanctuary there he was startled to see hanging on the wall a Presbyterian Cross. Presbyterian missionaries had played a role in the establishment of that congregation many years ago and today a Presbyterian Cross hangs on the wall in that Christian church in Baghdad as a powerful image of the connectional nature of our church. Presbyterians have a rich history of missionary work and our mission work has born fruit even in Baghdad, Iraq. The missionary work of the PC(USA) has also born fruit in Africa and our congregation is blessed to have some of that fruit in our congregation.
By virtue of our baptism we belong to a connectional church. We are connected to St. John's Presbyterian Church by friends and family. We are connected through our Session to the Presbytery of New Covenant. We are connected through the Presbytery of New Covenant to the Synod of the Sun and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). And we are connected through the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the church universal. All these connections lead to one source, Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church universal. Thanks be to God for our connectional church. May it continue to nurture our faith in Christ, enhance our love for one another, and energize our service of Christ in the world.
