The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for June 14, 2009

Joshua 24:14-18/Romans 12:11

Title: “Zeal and Ardor”

              This is now the second in a series of sermons in which my focus is concentrated on chapter twelve, verses 9-21, of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. In the first installment last week we treated verses 9 and 10 of the chapter, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” Drawing upon Paul’s own definition of love which he elaborates so beautifully in chapter 13 of his letter to the Christians in Corinth, and selected verses from the gospels where Jesus treats the subject, I attempted to offer a definition of “genuine love” consistent with what Paul, Jesus, and the Bible as a whole offers.

              Though “genuine love” resists the kind of precise definition that we might offer on subject matter less profound, I suggested that genuine love as it is spoken about in Scripture, and was embodied by Jesus, is a love that reaches across barriers to seek common ground with one’s enemy, makes common cause with the poor, and never asks “what’s in it for me?” Genuine love is God’s wholly unmerited gift to us through Jesus, a love that in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead crushed the power of sin and death, assuring all who believe in him that we shall enjoy eternal life.

              The next subject, and my focus for today, is verse 11 where Paul enjoins the Christians in Rome to zealously and ardently serve the Lord by extending the love of God into the world. And so we read at Romans, chapter 12, verse 11, the following: “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

              Now many, many sermons have been preached advocating precisely what Paul advocated. From the very first century people like me have done as Paul did, urging the people they addressed to carry out God’s plan, whatever portion of God’s plan that happened to be, with zeal and ardor.        

              Paul was nothing if not passionate about communicating what God had placed on his heart. But how far would his zeal and ardor carry in the case of that newly formed congregation of Christians in Rome?  Mind you, the Roman congregation was a congregation he had not founded, indeed, had never visited. What kind of authority did Paul wield that his instruction should be heeded? Could the Roman Christians be induced to match his zeal and ardor for the Lord?

              I doubt seriously that Paul ever entertained that particular question. You see Paul’s zeal and ardor to communicate the message Jesus had placed in his keeping were so profound that he didn’t trouble himself to ask if people were listening, or if he was stating his case in the best possible way. He trusted God to open the ears of his audience.  He trusted God to give him the words that best suited the message he was given to convey.

              We do not know what the Romans did with Paul’s message.  Did Paul inspire them to live as the community he envisioned they could potentially become? Did they become zealous in living out their Christian vocation?  These things we shall never know.  One thing, however, we do know. Paul was convinced that he had placed in their hands a message with life altering consequences, a message to be preserved and shared by them with all the zeal and ardor they could muster. 

              No, Paul had no way of knowing how his message would be received by the Romans. He knew though how he wished it to be received.  He had written the Roman Christians to inspire them to faithful living after the example of Jesus. “Do not be conformed to this world [he writes in verses that come somewhat earlier in chapter 12], but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

              Paul’s agenda was clear, the Romans were to discern the will of God that they might do the will of God with zeal and ardor. “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit.” The life to which Paul was commending the Romans was not a life mired in holy drudgery demanding stern and rigid conformity, rather it was a joy-filled life where one cultivated nearness to God and neighbor.

              Zeal and ardor are the gold standard for any objective you or I propose to carry out with excellence. Few great accomplishments have emerged from a mediocre effort. Unfortunately the words zeal, ardor and Presbyterian are likely to turn up only in rather restricted circumstances.  More about that later.

              While the zeal and ardor of pioneers who introduced the Presbyterian faith tradition to America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was deep and abiding---  Paul would have been proud----[even as those pioneering Presbyterians left a rich legacy behind them] the very popularity that saw the church flourish in communities across the land served to blunt the zeal and ardor that so characterized the church’s founders. Perhaps that can best be explained by the fact that over the course of time church membership in America became a social expectation. Entering a new community the same scenario typically played out; enroll the kids in school and then find a church.

              Deciding what church was not an issue.  If you were a Presbyterian you joined the Presbyterian Church, a Methodist, the Methodist Church, and so on. Many of you know this to be the case. Over time the spiritual motivations that prompted folks to seek out the church came less and less into play. Church simply became the thing to do, mainly because everyone else did it. It was expected. The church received into its membership many people, some of whom would become dedicated pillars of the church, who would not otherwise have been there save for the fact that it was the expected thing to do.   

               As church became more and more the thing to do, the zeal and ardor that sent the pilgrim Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans out to establish faith communities across the land, became less and less a factor. Membership requirements and expectations were softened over time, the church acknowledging that the lives of those in its membership were invested in many, many other things beyond the church. Pastors and other church leaders learned not to make the kind of excessive demands that might make people unhappy or drive them away

             Because the church was flourishing, numbers were good and rising, money was steadily accumulating to build the new facility, add the new wing, or increase the size of the church staff [because the church was flourishing] church leaders saw no reason to tinker with a formula that was working. Though the faith commitments of the members of the church might not be deep and broad, membership numbers remained high and budgets were being met.

              Somewhere in the middle sixties and early seventies things began to change.  Churches found it more and more difficult to attract new members as old members passed on, or as families in an increasingly mobile society, began to move away.  Like a snowball quickly picking up speed as it rolls down hill, new realities began to confront congregations.  Youth groups were being terminated. Organizations like the women of the church were losing membership.  It became increasingly difficult to fill out a roster of leaders. Giving was steadily declining.

                Closer to home. Membership numbers, having hit their heights, began to decline. Lakeview crested at around 600 members.  Oak Park counted eight hundred on its rolls, Carrollton a similar number.  Gentilly Presbyterian, Covenant Presbyterian, Claiborne Presbyterian were all strong congregations. While Lakeview, with the assistance of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, is stable for now, the other congregations I named are either gone or will soon be.

                The roots of the current decline we are seeing in the major U.S. denominations are certainly not wholly traceable to want of zeal or ardor in our faith commitments, but the lessons of history strongly suggest that compliancy and false assumptions about what a faith commitment requires have placed congregations like ours in a precarious position.

              Now the Presbyterian Church, can still muster zeal and ardor.  There is great zeal and ardor committed to the controversy surrounding the ordination of gay and lesbians to ministry, great zeal and ardor committed to debating this or that social policy statement made by the General Assembly. There is great zeal and ardor committed to deciding who maintains ownership rights to church property. 

              As the denominations zealously fight these battles, the struggle for churches like ours to hold on becomes more acute, so too the urgency to attract and recruit new members.  Can’t get enough new members.  Membership numbers, valid or not, after all, have been the way we have traditionally measured congregational health. Yet there are few motivated, unaffiliated Presbyterians, Methodists, or Lutherans from which to draw, and in most instances persons with no faith background find us boring and out of touch. 

              Yes, indeed, these are challenging times for the church, but to some degree all of you know that already. Fact of the matter is I was trained to serve a church that no longer exists, and most of you were baptized, confirmed, married, and nurtured in a church that no longer exists. But perhaps, just perhaps, that church has lived out its natural life. There will be many deaths to mourn as church’s close their doors, but the near death experience for churches that are able to survive, may in fact issue in new and vital life.

              In the fifth chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus spotted a man who was ill, he may have been an invalid. In his state he had no access to a pool thought to have curative powers.  The Lord approached the man with a question, “Do you want to be made well?” In response the man identified the barriers to be made well.  “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

              Make no mistake, churches like ours are dying everyday, and our own survival is not assured. “Do you want to be made well?” When asked if he wanted to be healed, the man could only respond by identifying the barriers that stood in his way. 

              Do you want to be made well? “Well, of course, we want to be made well, but we aren’t attracting new members. We are facing huge financial challenges.  We would like to be made well, but our leadership is incapable of doing the job. Sure, we would like to be made well, but we need more people to pitch in.

              Since the hurricane we had numerous offers of support from churches and individuals, in addition to extremely generous support from our denomination. All told, beyond the hundreds of prayers offered for the congregation, gifts in the form of books, furniture, and other supplies, and volunteer labor expended, this church has received well over one million dollars, church and day school, in support of our ministry.

              The denomination, individuals and churches gave generously because they wanted to see us be made well again. Most of those who supported us didn’t know us, but without knowing us they felt a kinship with us, and with our ministry, sufficient to mobilize them to action. Such displays of zeal and ardor are not uncommon in the church of Jesus Christ, and we have been privileged to witness more than our share.

              “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.”  The church as we knew it is fast disappearing.  With each generation our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren have become further and further removed from the traditions, the music, and the meaning of church.  Old assumptions, and old ways of doing things, are fast becoming obsolete.

It is clear that God is doing a new thing in the midst of the church that is frankly outpacing the ability of churches like this one to keep up. But zeal and ardor, such as that demonstrated by the hundreds of people who helped us get on our feet after the storm, can do things the imagination cannot now conceive.

As we move deeper into the church transformation process with our consultant Tom Bandy many us have witnessed zeal and ardor come alive here with new projects in place and others in the offing. I am convinced that God is doing a new thing here. Pray for his leadership, but pray also that God will reveal to you how you personally can become more involved in helping us become the church God is equipping us to be. AMEN.    

PRAYER         

              Lord of life, may your Spirit enfold us today as we bring our prayers to you.  Quiet us and make us patient in spirit that we may receive the blessings you are so ready to grant. Where spots and stains have soiled our minds, and unfulfilled ambitions have embittered us and made us cynical, there be to cleanse and restore us. Where prayer is foreign and its purpose unclear may a word or sign from you bring renewal. Where life, O God, appears empty, and our days are unfilled, stir our imaginations to take a new approach. Where fear and anxiety prey upon our hearts, O Lord, there be to reassure us that you are ever near.

              Abide, O God, with those who are most vulnerable, those across the land who experience the force of the economic recession most directly. We pray that the economic tide may soon turn, and that employers will gain confidence and hire more workers. We pray that consumers may feel more confidence and put money into the economy.  We pray that our global partners will work with us to adjust trade imbalances.  We pray that our domestic car companies, whose success or failure will impact thousands, may retool and build products consumers will buy.

              We pray for the nations of Pakistan and Afghanistan as the Taliban threaten to destabilize the governments of those two nations. Under constant threat of random bombings, shootings or military assaults, the citizens of those countries live in a state of siege. In your mercy, O God, grant the governments of those two nations and their foreign allies the resources and the will to face down their adversaries. Brace and sustain those upon whom the hopes and future of the two nations rest. Protect them as they strive bring stability to their nations.

              We pray for our legislators as they shape health care legislation.  May the necessary accommodations and concessions be made by persons on both sides of the political fence that a health care bill be passed in the very near future.

              O Christ, who throughout your earthly ministry made common cause with the poor and the marginalized, we pray that world leaders will mobilize to address the needs of those who live with ample food, clothing or shelter. We give thanks for all those who labor as advocates for the marginalized, and those who labor side by side with the impoverished that they may help create conditions where a quality life is sustainable.

              O God, we pray for those who advocate for the environment, and lead the way in educating us about our increasingly fragile ecological system. Endowed with so rich a bounty of animals, birds, fish, and plants, we lift up those whose passion is to preserve and protect our common treasure. Called to be stewards of your vast creation, O God, may we all conservation of our resources becomes a universal priority.

              Abide, O God, with all who bring special concerns to this place.  Grant comfort and peace of mind to those who are fighting illness.  Calm the anxiety of those who harbor fear.  May those who are struggling with important decisions find direction.  May the tempted find strength to withstand the test.

              We are the church, O God, the body of Christ, may our zeal and ardor take shape around a vision that will bring his will to reality.

              May your special mercies and support attend those we now name...