I’m preaching next Sunday, September 6, in the middle of our co-pastor’s series on “Rethink Church.” The United Methodist currently has a new campaign going on entitled “RETHINK CHURCH” and we’re playing with that this month at Asbury UMC. Out of all the ways that we definitely need to be rethinking church, I think the sermon is one that could definitely use a lot of work. And I’d like to preach a sermon on “rethinking church” by trying some new things when it comes to the sermon itself, including the preparation.
In the past year, I’ve tried an experiment in collaborative preaching and one open-source sermon, and I’d love to do something similar for this sermon. The lectionary texts for September 6 aren’t really doing anything for me, so although I normally stick with the lectionary, I think I’ll be looking for new texts. So – I’ll be writing the sermon here on this blog post. Be sure and come back, leave your comments and let me know what you think.
But first, here are two ways you can help:
- I need some suggestions for scripture passages. When you think about scripture that might lend itself to the idea of “Rethink Church” – what comes to mind? I suppose there is always the Luke 5:37-38 passage about new wine in old wineskins, but I’d love to know if anyone has any other ideas.
- I would also love some ideas for making this sermon more “outside-the-box” that you might have. I have some ideas but…what do you think?
Let’s Rethink Church together…
Related posts:
- Rethinking Church: If Jesus can be wrong…
- “Centered in Jesus Christ, We Grow in Faith”
- Palm Sunday Sermon: “Lay Down Your Cloaks”
- An Open-Source Sermon: “Joseph: Unwavering Faith?”
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The first passage that comes to mind for me is Jesus clearing the temple, calling into question the temple system and all that has grown up around it. You may have read John Caputo’s book “What Would Jesus Deconstruct?”, but his main point is that Jesus would first of all deconstruct the Church. That might be a helpful resource for you. I love that your church is doing a whole series on this–great idea.
Oh, don’t abandon the lectionary! I love it when folks can re-think church within the traditions and patterns by which we “do” church! The lectionary is difficult at times, and for a reason … it can be too easy to preach on our pet topics, or our favorite passages, or whatever. Take what the tradition has given you, read what millions of Christians will hear in Lutheran, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, (and other) churches … It’s easy to “rethink church” … it’s harder (but more rewarding) to do so within the received traditions and patterns of our church.
Take a new look at Mark 7, particularly the Syrophoenecian woman. She’s helping Jesus “rethink church”–and it is not just the man whose ears are healed whose ears are opened. She changes Jesus. What kind of church would we have if we truly acknowledged that God can learn, and change, and grow?
“The lectionary texts for September 6 aren’t really doing anything for me, so although I normally stick with the lectionary, I think I’ll be looking for new texts.” I don’t come from a lectionary-tradition (I’m a baptist), but this still strikes me as a problem Adam. The fact that the Scriptures aren’t “really doing anything” isn’t a problem of the Scriptures, which are living and active. It may be simply that you haven’t given enough prayerful consideration of these Scriptures, or, it’s possible that you’re not wanting to hear what God is speaking through them. Perhaps the best reason to struggle with these lectionary texts is that, currently, they aren’t doing anything for you, yet.
Wow! One mention of not using the lectionary and the lectionary police come out in full force!
Margaret – I admit that I only skimmed the Gospel reading — and you’re right – those stories could definitely work. I’ll have to think more about that. But thanks for being part of this process everyone – I really would love for this to be a collaborative approach to sermon-writing for this upcoming week.
Adam, I think the issue of what passage you use as your text is a question of whether you want to preach =about= rethinking church, or =do= rethought church. I like Margaret’s reference to the Syrophoenician woman, but the scholarly notion would have to be that Jesus was rethinking temple, had no idea of church, and I think would have been appalled at what has been wrought in his name.
BTW, this is one of my favorite topics, and favorite processes. I’m the product of several years in which my (PCUSA) pastor held Wednesday sermon-prep Bible Study, usually using the lectionary, and really listened to us. I hope some of your parishioners subscribe to your blog, or can be drawn into the process. A little more than a year ago (I’m afraid after that pastor was forced out), I got to do a service patterned after my rethought concept of 1st-c women’s worship, preparing themselves to prepare the agape meal for the community. Though my full concept is based on a lot of spontaneous participation (selecting psalms, etc.), which isn’t something you can count on among aging suburban-NJ Presbyterians, I’m still hearing how it affected folks. I did preach from the lectionary, the Akeda as Sarah’s story, told 1st person. And not ‘how Sarah felt about Abraham sacrificing Isaac,’ but, cit. Trible, Sarah as the one to be tested (and, of course, the only parent to whom Isaac was an only son).
A week isn’t much time to rethink 20 centuries. But I hope the copastors who got you into this really mean for you to break things open.
It’s not Biblical but Shane Claiborne’s the Irresistible Revolution hasreally challenged me to rethink church. it might be worth thumbing through.
I’m not from a tradition that uses the lectionary either, but come now: James 2:1-17 is one of the texts, and you can’t find something about rethinking the church in that? I’d either focus on 2:2-4, or 2:15-16:
“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”
I’m immediately reminded of the platitudes and pithy greetings we learn to speak to one another every Sunday morning: “Peace be with you.” “I’ll pray for you.” “Hope you have a good week.” Blah. Blah. Yet, how often does being the church really involve more than cheap words and actually turn into caring for one another’s needs. We’ve become a church of Hallmark greetings — most of our interactions at church sound like something out of a sappy Hallmark card — and we do about as much for each other as a Hallmark card does, which is not much. Seems to me that one of the ways we rethink church is to modify the way we care for one another’s well being beyond vain greetings.
3 suggestions:
pull a charlie kaufman & go Adaptation – write a narrative where Adam Cleaveland & the church are part of the narrative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3
love
No thoughts quite yet, but I like the idea and want to subscribe to the comments. Maybe more later.
@Adam,
I am hardly the lectionary police. And, unlike @benw, I’m okay with a biblical text not doing anything for one. “Slaves obey…” never really does anything for me, regardless of how I exegete it. I get that.
I am just surprised, given what this week’s readings are, that you can’t find something there to preach about rethinking church. The Syrophoenecian is the paramount example of Jesus rethinking his mission and, @Barbara Kellam-Scott, by extension Mark rethinking church (as he does starting at the beginning of chapter 7). Indeed all of chapter 7 through the feeding of the 4K is a rethinking of church, radically expanding the boundaries beyond the land (thus the people) of Roman Palestine. The implications of this are radical. What are the boundaries over which we feel we cannot cross? With whom can we not do ministry because they constitute “the dogs”?
@Barbara Kellam-Scott, whereas Jesus may have been rethinking his mission, I don’t think you can argue for any presence of Temple in this passage. Jesus never mentions the Temple or the Jerusalem cultus in this passage, as he does in the Johannine narrative of the Samaritan woman. He is in Gentile territory and the Temple is irrelevant. Further, Temple would not necessarily be a concern of the Markan community. The Markan gospel is written post-fall of Jerusalem, Mark’s community can only have been rethinking church, and using this story (in which Jesus LOSES the argument) as the basis for their radical community that did NOT keep kosher (see chapter 7 earlier), and did not follow “the traditions of the elders” that the exilic Jerusalem community would have preferred.
@Adam, I wouldn’t have brought up the lections for this week at all, except that you mentioned they weren’t doing anything for you.
Peace,
Margaret
Eph 4:1-16 (but especially vv. 15-16) have helped me rethink church of late. Despite the fact that I’ve heard these preached and have studied them myself many times, looking at them with new eyes, I saw the interactions of members as the penultimate source of church maturation (Jesus, the Head, being the ultimate source). Coming from a programs-intensive tradition (Baptist), this opened up the world of ordinary life being the place of discipleship and sanctification.
Looking forward to see what you decide.
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