Gathering in Love to Serve
First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
17th Sunday after Pentecost – Rally Sunday – September 7, 2008
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Romans 13:8-14/Matthew 18:15-20]

“Where two or three are gathered in my names, there I am in the midst of them.”

Those words of Jesus have become the great “proof text” for the Congregational Way of being and doing church. If you look at the little pamphlet “The Biblical Basis of Congregationalism” by the late Reverend Dr. Harry Butman (one of the founders of the NACCC) you will find this verse at the core. (The pamphlet is now available through the internet at naccc.org) What these words of Jesus told our Congregational forebears was that to “be church” is to be a gathered reality and that the essential ingredient is sincere followers who come together in Jesus’ name and for his sake.

I’m sure that this same verse, and what it implied, was very much on the minds of those who gathered at Cambridge in the Massachusetts Bay colony to discuss church government some 360 years ago. They agreed that there was such a thing as the “Catholick Church,” which was comprised of the “whole company of those that are elected, redeemed and in time, effectually called from the state of sin and death unto a state of grace, and salvation in Jesus Christ.” However, this was not a visible church. For these authors of a core document of Congregationalism, the visible church exists only in a “particular” or local church; made up of “visible saints,” believers, gathered around Jesus Christ.

Our Congregational Way of being church, then, realizes, confesses and proudly proclaims that we’re part of a ‘greater church.’ We were into ecumenism before people even realized what it was. Way back in 1865 a group of our greatest minds and leaders gathered on Burial Hill in Plymouth to declare that we would work with any and all who could own the Name and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is when we gather as God’s people, those who know – or those who are seeking to know – Christ, bound by covenant that we are the church. The church becomes visible in the world because there are followers of Christ working, laboring, together to live as he lived and to love as he loved. We are gathered in love to serve.

It is little wonder, then, that the church – and here I mean the ‘great church’ which encompasses Christianity in all its forms – has held the Lord’s Supper up as the supreme sign of unity and presence, indeed as the normative form of worship. Why? Because at this table we remember what God has done for us and offer thanksgiving for those gracious acts. We are made one with the Lord in both his establishing of this supper and his sacrificial action on the cross. What is more, by receiving the bread, broken and shared, and the cup, poured out for our sake, we are made one with every believer who partakes of this communion – this drawing into oneness – past, present and future. What we do here is more than just a bare memorial. It is, as Stephen Charnock said, “no dumb sign” because it makes present that to which it points.

While I’ve told you this before, the words of Augustine bear repeating: “You are what you eat.” We consume this and remind ourselves who we are and what we’re called to be and to do in the everyday world. At the same time we also recall the oneness, the true community of the church with Christ and with one another. R. W. Dale, 19th century British Congregational theologian, said this in The Idea of the Church: "The Idea of the Church, as illustrated by its origin and by the chief Purpose for which it exists, may assist us in determining the limits of its Power. The Church is not an artificial Society or a voluntary club. It is the organic realization of the supernatural oneness of those who have been made 'partakers of the Divine nature,’ and of the kinship of the sons of God." (p. 396)

What Dale is saying echoes what we hear in Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome. He says that we are to “put on the Lord Jesus.” This is a striking image; we’ve all heard the expression “clothes make the person,” that is, that a dress or suit “defines” one in the eyes of others. To “put on” Christ is to be “marked” as Christ to others – those who have done so make him present, in other words, thus continuing the work of the Incarnation, the enfleshment. As we wrap ourselves in Christ he is able to make his love present to the world – it’s a part of our faith that we do not consider, or take seriously, as often as we should, but nonetheless real.

This is where we come back to Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel on how we are to deal with each other. “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” If we’re the Body of Christ, it means that we should deal with each other appropriately – not taking advantage, not gossiping, not behaving as the world around us does. We have a way to do things and it is rooted in the self-giving love and relationship modeled for us by Jesus himself.

This approach to community building is not prevalent in the world around us. It takes courage, it takes accountability, and it takes love that is more than simple sentiment to pull it off. Most of the time when we try to reconcile we’re more concerned with self-justification than we are with self-examination. Jesus’ words here call us to move toward each other with flexibility. As John Shea observes, “If confession and change are part of our self-image, we engage conflictual situations with more flexibility. Our egos bend more easily.” There is wisdom here, if we take the time to listen and, more importantly, take the risk of implementing it. The way we accomplish this is through prayer – not just of petition – but of presence, keeping us in touch with the spiritual center where we find God.

So, there is one push, one reason that we gather in love to serve: because we know that right in the midst of us is the living Christ, who puts us in touch with the living God through the Holy Spirit. That presence keeps us focused, even when we disagree, even when we need to find the reason to reach out in service anew. The community gathering in love to serve knows the pull of God’s presence which keeps it on track and working together. Shea repeats what a married couple told him, “It is like we have a rubber band around us. We can run from each other only so far before the rubber band begins to pull us back.” He goes on to say, “God is this rubber band, this lure of peace. The spiritual skill is to sense its pull and surrender to its pressure.” Gathered here, together, in worship to serve God and then to go forth to serve God’s people is where we develop and perfect the skill and become what God intended, here is where we feel the pull.

Today we begin a new program year and a journey of discovery together as we gather in love to serve. Realize that the Lord is right here, right now and realize anew who you are – a child of God – and who we are – the Church, the Lord’s free and gathered people. We will rejoice and celebrate that reality as we share the Lord’s Supper. We will rejoice and go forth to offer peace to a hurting world, at least to our little corner of it. For you see, two or three are gathering in love to serve and Christ IS HERE! Thank God. Amen.