The Church: Called and Gathered
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
2nd Sunday after Epiphany – January 18, 2009
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: 1 Samuel 3:1-10/Psalm 139/John: 1:43-51]

What is the Church? Why does it exist? What good does it do? These are among the perennial questions – the list and the evaluation implied goes on and on – asked as we think about who we are when we come together as “Church.” Our Congregational forebears offered some answers in two important documents: The Savoy Declaration of Faith and The Cambridge Platform; written in 1658 and 1648 respectively. In the first we read: “The Catholique or Universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the Elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one under Christ, the Head thereof, and is the Spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The whole body of men throughout the world, professing the faith of the Gospel and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it , , ,” In the second, which acknowledges the existence of a universal Church and then gets more specific, “A Congregational-church, is by the institution of Christ as part of the Militant-visible-church, consisting of a company of Saints by calling, united into one body, by a holy covenant, for the publick worship of God and the mutuall edification one of another, in the Fellowship of the Lord Iesus.”

Note the language in there, “elect,” “calling,” “gathered.” A Church isn’t an accidental coming together of persons. It isn’t a “voluntary society,” like a service club (e.g. Rotary, Kiwanis) or a social club (e.g. Wauwatosa Women’s Club or a country club). A Church, this Church, exists because people, like Philip and the other disciples, have heard the call of God in Christ, “Follow me,” and answered that call. It’s “voluntary” only because the will (Latin voluntas) has been acted upon by the will and call of God. Like so many things in our Christian faith, it’s that simple and it’s that complex.

In calling and gathering us, the Lord continues, through us, what began with the call of Abraham and the gathering of Israel. And here I will remind you of a concept that I’ve talked about before, the “thin place.” This is an ancient Celtic concept that there are places where, as one old man said, “There is very little between it and God.” Thin places are often tied to specific places of pilgrimage, but I have long been a believer that where God’s people are gathered – as Jesus promised – God is. So, to me the Church, the gathered people and not just the building housing it, is a thin place. God is here – and God won’t leave just because we go from talking about the Scripture to talking about budgets and doing the work God has called us to do in being God’s people in this place and at this time.

I want us to understand this, because I am convinced that the Lord wants to continue the conversation with us. We, however, have to clear our minds of all the competing noise to hear God’s voice – as did Samuel. We have to understand that God knows us inside and out, and is in relentless pursuit of us because God loves us – as did the Psalmist. We have to understand that the Lord continues to call and gather us because there is something for us to do through worship and service – as did those first Disciples. When we are gathered to worship, to learn and to serve, to build one another and our community up, we’re in a thin place. There is very little between it and God.

Let me share something from the great twentieth century spiritual writer, Thomas Merton. This is what he wrote in 1966 in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak his name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as [sons and daughters of God]. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely . . . I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere. [p. 142]

Later in the book, he talks about “the person that each one is in God’s eyes.” It’s a powerful thought and I believe it to be true.

When we’re gathered. When we’re here. When we’re engaged in worship and service those “points of light” Merton talked about are together. There is an inkle, a hint, a touch of what we could be and do – it’s a thin place. Has the Church always lived up to this, always realized its potential, and functioned as it is called? No. For that, we must be sorry. However, God, who “makes all things new,” continues to pursue, to call, to love us and so we pick ourselves up and answer.

Realize, then, dear ones, where you are and who you are. Do – no, BE – the business of this people called and gathered. Realize that this is, and that you are, a thin place, a place where there is very little between it and God. That will answer all of the questions.

Let us renew our covenant to be the Church in this place.