Different, As Always

Reverend Philip Stringer

John 8:31-36

Romans 3:19-28

Jeremiah 31:31-34

LET US PRAY: We ask, oh Lord, that the words which we hear this morning and the worship which we offer, may bear fruit in our hearts and be acceptable in your sight, our strength and our redeemer. AMEN

I just returned from a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park where I went camping with a friend from college. He was also the best man at my wedding. We lost touch with each other for many years, but about 7 or 8 years ago we reconnected and have stayed in loose contact. This was the first time we had spent any real time together in almost 40 years.

A lot has changed in that time. But my friend is still very much the same person I knew long ago. We have both had successes and failures. Loved ones have died. Children have been born and adopted and have grown into lives of their own.

We are both older, of course. He looks like his dad, except with long, gray hair and a beard. At least he has hair!

A lot has changed. But what I admired about him long ago is still true today. He is kind and good and caring. We are both different. We have grown, changed, matured — and perhaps have become jaded in some ways. And yet he is still the person I knew long, long ago.

Today is Reformation Sunday -- a day when we — as the church — look at our past and remember that we must change if we are going to remain the same. That is what the Holy Spirit calls us to do: Remain faithful by adapting and changing. The church must be willing to change in order to remain faithful to its work. Today is a day of thanksgiving. We give thanks for what God has done for us, and we give thanks to God for God’s reforming Spirit in our lives today.

There is a joke that asks, “How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer is that it takes four; One to change it, and three to tell you how much better the old bulb was!

Is that unfair to say about us? When we look back nearly 500 years ago to the early days of the Reformation, and to our theology, it is most certainly NOT fair.

But when we look at ourselves, and our reluctance for change, perhaps it is not so untrue. Today our minds are set on tradition -- and traditionally, we have had difficulty understanding and being excited about the concept of change in the church. In all areas of our lives, even when we know it is for the best, we resist change. Possibly of all places, the church is where we resist it most ferociously. Perhaps it is because we recognize that our relationship with God should provide a sanctuary in a world of change -- we even call this room of worship “THE SANCTUARY”; the safe haven -- the shelter.

When we are outside, we never know what will happen. The world is full of the unexpected. Will the day bring joy or sorrow? Will it be average, or will something extraordinary happen? Will I get home safely or not?

We can make our homes a sanctuary from such pressures of change to some degree. We can have dinner at 6:00, watch your favorite TV show in the evening. Your favorite chair sits in the same place, with a book or a knitting basket … or your iPad waiting … Bed is at 11:00.

We can build certain rituals into our routine, but as much as we try, our homes are not the perfect sanctuary from change. Children are born, they grow, and they leave -- marrying and creating homes of their own. Our loved ones die, we grow old, our needs change -- and so do our lives. We cannot avoid change

But the church. Perhaps the church is the one place that we can keep the same. It is good to have a place where we know what to expect. The service begins at 11:00. This is MY PEW. An opening hymn, prayer, lessons, sermon, offering, prayers, communion, a hymn and we’re done at noon. Order, Structure. Predictability.

This congregation certainly knows that the church changes, too. -- but it is hard to do. People come and go. Pastors come and go; hymnals are re-written. Church teachings evolve. We cannot stop the change.

Two weeks ago, I attended the professional leaders conference for our synod. When the ELCA was formed in 1987 by the merger of three predecessor church bodies, we were a church of 5.2 million members with 11,000 congregations. Today, we have about 3.8 million members in 8,000 congregations. And it isn’t only us. The number of people in the United States who identify as “Christian” has been declining for decades. The world is changing and how the church operates within it needs to change, too.

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And so, if all of this changes -- the world, our homes, our lives -- even our church -- is there no refuge? Where is our sanctuary from change? It is to be found in the gospel -- the good news -- the truth of God’s love shown to us in Christ crucified. In a world of constant change, this is the only thing that will never change: That God loves you passionately and powerfully.

Jesus, speaking to his followers, said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The truth does not change. Here is our hope -- and here also, is why we must change in order to stay the same.

Like a chameleon changing its color to match its surroundings, so the Word of God changes to suit its surroundings. But unlike a chameleon, the Word does not change to become invisible -- the Word changes to stand out as meaningful and relevant in a world of change.

We cannot remain where we are, because both the Spirit and world are on the move. While the message remains Unchanged -- how we proclaim it must change.

A church is placed on a corner in a particular community, not to preserve the Christian heritage and defend it against all aggressors, but to invest itself in the life of that community. Our goal as the church is not to keep up the mortgage payments on the building, protect the liturgy from corruption, and the Bible from misinterpretation, so that we can now hand back, unstained, all that God has given to us. God wants to know that we have used the Gospel by giving it away with our service. For if our objective is merely to preserve the past, we cling to what is dead.

You and I, embattled in a world of unwelcome changes NEED a church that changes to meet those needs, so that it may proclaim the one constant that does not change: That for Christ’s sake, God has mercy on us.

The world, too, needs a changing church. For that is what Christ and the cross teach us -- that the Word of God became flesh and bones just like yours. The Word says, “It’s O.K. to be human. God thought so much of humanity that God became flesh -- met us in our humanity -- loves us in our humanity and justifies us there. The Word of God becomes present in bread and in wine and in water, doing the work of God.

I mentioned earlier that at the time of its formation, the ELCA had 5.2 million members, making it the largest Lutheran tradition in US history.

Ethiopia has a population that is roughly one third that of the United States. In 2020, the Lutheran church in Ethiopia had 5 million members. Today, the Lutheran church in Ethiopia has more than 12 million members! Other Christian traditions are also on the increase in the global south.

Years ago, the churches in Europe and the United States sent missionaries to help the churches in Africa, South America and Asia grow. Soon, that role will be reversed and they will be helping us proclaim the good news of God’s grace. The church will look very different. But it will still be the church.

The work of God is giving grace. So it is that if we stand in the way of this working, giving, life-changing God, we stand in denial of who we are. For the Spirit of God has reformed us into a new creation in Christ. We must be changing every day, from the old self, which was drowned in baptism, to the new self we are in Christ.

Once upon a time there was a little old man who lived his entire life in the Great Plains. When he approached a tunnel for the first time in his life, he stopped his truck, got out, looked for several minutes into the tunnel, then got back into his truck. As he headed back to the way he had come, he muttered to himself, “I could get into this end of the tunnel O.K. But I could never squeeze this truck through that tiny hole at the other end.”

That is tunnel vision. Narrow, short-sightedness. Perhaps all of us despair and lack courage from time to time. And who can blame us? Change is frightening. It is risky, requiring that we trust God’s promise. That we trust the truth. Often, we would rather stay where we are than to trust the Spirit’s calling for us to move forward. But that is certainly what we must be about. For when the people of God stop moving, they begin to die.

That’s what the reformation was about -- it was about a people re-claiming the gospel for themselves -- risking everything on the chance that God can be trusted.

That is still what the reformation is about; the on-going grasping of the truth that sets us free.

Or perhaps it is better to say that it is the on-going letting go of everything else. For it is the gospel that has grasped hold of us and pleads with us to let go of all other plans and ideas.

The gospel is, itself, the POWER TO CHANGE. Fear chains us and holds us fast. We fear earthly changes and cling to what we have because change tells us, “You may not have this tomorrow.”

But the gospel frees us from fear and allows us to change. for the gospel is God’s Word telling us, “You will have me tomorrow. As I loved you yesterday and today, so will I love you tomorrow.” No matter whatever else happens, this one thing we know: in Christ we belong to God, who will preserve us and keep us.

The world will continue to change -- and so will the church -- and so will we as the Spirit stirs within us. May we always have as our chief endeavor, the intention to live the gospel in this changing world. For in this we find our freedom, and we find -- through our changing -- we have remained the same, faithful servants of our God.

AMEN