First Presbyterian — Asheville, NC

May 2010 'Chronicle' Article

Dear FPC Asheville Members & Friends,

     As I have mentioned in my sermons, we are in the season of Eastertide, the Sundays after Easter and before Pentecost Sunday (which this year is on May 23). These Sundays give us time and space to contemplate and absorb the implications of the resurrection of Jesus. In the month of May we have time to follow up on our commission to ‘practice resurrection’ (as the poet Wendell Berry puts it).

The Easter story tells us again that Jesus did not come to establish a cult of personality or a following that depended on his presence. Jesus came to establish a community of people who witness to and proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. It is within the context of this community (what we now call ‘the church’) that this ‘upside-down” kingdom can begin to be comprehended. It is through this community that people are formed and transformed into the likeness of Christ.

The formal, theological word for this is ecclesiology (from the Greek ekklesia, which means “the called-out ones” and “the visible assembly”). The church is the visible, intentional community whose chief function is to ‘practice resurrection’ by calling people to a larger identity and purpose. “Once you were not a people,” we read in 1 Peter 2:10, “but now you are God’s people.”

So what does this post-Easter ecclesiology mean for us? It offers creative ways to think about our life together. Three metaphors for the church rooted in Scripture are: 1) People of God, 2) Body of Christ, and 3) Temple of the Spirit. Each correlates to one of three persons of the Trinity, emphasizing the communal nature of God.

The church as the people of God connects us to our Jewish heritage and to the exodus where the Hebrew people are called and set apart as God’s chosen. Just as Israel was “blessed to be a blessing to all people,” so too is the church called to be a blessing to others. Practicing resurrection means service to God and to the world God loves.

The image of the body of Christ is powerfully articulated by the Paul. The church as a body is a living organism, connected both to the living Christ and to one another. Just as the parts of the body need one another, so individuals who make up the church also are interdependent. Practicing resurrection means that our identity is greater than any one person or group. Together we are the body of Christ.

The early church we find in Acts is a strong example of the temple of the Spirit. After Pentecost, the disciples come out of hiding and boldly proclaim the gospel, performing “signs and wonders” for all to see. The church holds all things in common and no one is needy or neglected—a compelling witness to the Spirit of Christ. Practicing resurrection means being a community of disciples.

Peace and Grace,

Mark

First Sunday

A big thanks to everyone who attended worship yesterday on my first Sunday in the pulpit! It was a wonderful experience for my at both worship services and I'm looking forward to learning the names of everyone who I shook hands with at the reception. (If you have a name tag, I would certainly appreciate you wearing it for next few Sundays.)

I would love to get your feedback and comments about worship, sermons, or anything else that you want to share. These next few months will be a sort of "information gathering" time for me as I get to know the members, staff, and community on a deeper, more personal level.

Below is the quote I shared by Jean Vanier yesterday at the end of the sermon. Click on the links for more information about Jean Vanier and L'Arche.

...we can contemplate the risen body of Jesus,
a body that reveals the wounds inflicted upon him...
These wounds are there for all ages and all time,
to reveal the humble and forgiving love of Jesus
who accepted to go to the utter end of love.
The risen Jesus does not appear as the powerful one,
but as the wounded and forgiving one.
These wounds become his glory.

Jesus invites each one of us, through Thomas,
to touch not only his wounds,
but the wounds in others and in ourselves,
wounds that can make us hate others and ourselves
and can be a sign of separation and division.
These wounds will be transformed into a sign of forgiveness
through the love of Jesus
and will bring people together in love.
These wounds reveal that we need each other.
These wounds become the place of mutual compassion,
of indwelling
and of thanksgiving.

We, too, will show our wounds
when we are with him in the kingdom,
revealing our brokenness
and the healing power of Jesus.

- Jean Vanier, Commentary on the Gospel of John