Proclaim, FPC!

Text: 1 Peter 2:9-10
Theme: “Proclaim, FPC!”
5th Sunday of Easter
May 22, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

In the Name of Jesus

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Contrary to the prediction of Harold Camping and the quote-unquote “ministry” called Family Radio, the end of the world did not come early last evening at 6:00 PM. Some of you may be disappointed; some of you may be thrilled. I don’t know. What I do know is that predictions about when the world will end or when Christ will come in glory for a second time have, in the history of Christianity, been consistent, amusing, and silly. This latest prediction will do little more in our culture than provide fresh satirical material for the Jay Lenos, David Lettermans, Conan O’Briens, Jon Stewarts, and Stephen Colberts of the world. I was watching the Mavs game last night, so I forgot to see what Saturday Night Live was going to do with the end of the world. But I’m sure they had a field day. Despite these predictive distractions which the modern media – mildly hostile to Christianity – will milk for all their worth, the mission of Jesus Christ and His Gospel marches on. And here we are, on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, smack-dab in the middle of that march and, hopefully, glad to be a part of it.

This morning I’d like to share some thoughts with you on the missio dei; that’s Latin for the “mission of God”. It has been said that the church of God – and we, as Presbyterians, claim to be a part of it – has a mission. Well, that’s true. But on a deeper, fuller level of truth, the best way to state it is like this: the mission of God has a church. Closer to home, First Presbyterian Church has a Mission Statement (printed for all to see on our Sunday bulletin) and a Mission, Growth, and Outreach committee; the members of the group are dedicated Christians. This is good. But it’s not good if it means that mission is only one part of who we are and what we do. The fact is, every committee is – and ought to be! – a mission committee!

Without mission informing, shaping, and animating everything that the church does, congregations like ours become little more than social clubs for the like-minded with membership dues expected to be paid in a reasonable amount of time. Without mission as the beating heart of the church’s existence, the congregation becomes something of an extended family. This is not all bad. But if that’s all there is, it is disaster waiting to happen. As Edwin Friedman has pointed out in his monumental work, Generation to Generation, that local arm of the mission of God – which we call the congregation – often behaves like a family. If you took a helicopter ride over certain Denton neighborhoods at sunset, you’d look down to see houses set up like little pieces on a Monopoly game board. There are people in those houses. Some are awake; others are asleep. Some are cooking dinner; others are cooking meth amphetamine and crack cocaine. Some watch TV; others play video games. In one home, they family may be bowing their heads for a table prayer. But next door, one family member may be screaming at another and kicking in a door. In one home, a mother serves lemonade. But three doors down, a father becomes belligerent and abusive, yet again, on account of so much bourbon. As with all families in those homes, there are good behaviors and not-so-good behaviors.

In many congregations (particularly smaller ones like ours), something along the same lines is happening. Behaviors have been entrenched for years. “It’s just the way we are; it’s the way we do things,” people might say. There are “elephants” in our collective “living room” that we best not disturb. Eventually, something dramatic might happen – say, a new minister comes on the scene (sound familiar?) – and there is a rush of enthusiasm. But, sooner or later, the novelty wears off, and the old behaviors reassert themselves. Only when one person or a group of people has the nerve to say “Stop it,” “enough”, and “no more” will the mission of God, the missio dei, reassert itself. But that’s a very risky thing to do when you have an extended family type of church with mission more along the lines of institutional self-preservation. If the mission of the church consists of hoping to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on, something has gone horribly wrong.

For my own part, I do not understand my call from God, mediated through you, to involve preserving the institution of First Presbyterian Church. In addition, my call is not to do a job for a few hours a week and hold on tight until I feel secure enough to retire. Likewise, I do not view my call as involving a charge to be a “Yes Man” for Grace Presbytery or the PCUSA. My call, rather, is to serve you with the Word of God (specifically, the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and administer the Sacraments – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – according to Christ’s institution.

A couple of Sundays ago, our friend Robert Jones spoke to us from this pulpit about the upcoming mission/work trip that our young people are going to take in the first few weeks of June. Wherever they go, they are going to be a part of the missio dei; they will be in mission. Meanwhile, back here in Denton, we’ll commission them in solemn assembly, wish them the best, pray for them, cheer them on, take pride in their activities, look forward to their report when they get back, and so forth.

But what if something else happened? How long will they be gone, a week? What if, when they got back, we were the ones that gave them a report? What if, while they are away, each of us did something each day – purposefully and intentionally – to, in the language of our congregation’s mission statement, “share the good news of the Gospel” and “serve others”? What if each of us back home wrote down what we did with and for the mission of God? In other words, you’d submit a journal entry each day. On the Sunday when our youth return, we’d have an offering of our mission activities. We’d bring forward a basket of our journal entries. Instead of a sermon, we’d pull a few of the journal entries out of the basket and read them. But here’s the thing: you don’t sign your name to it. There’s an old saying that goes like this: “There’s no telling how far a person can go in life if he/she doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

This leads to a comment on the two word title of today’s sermon: “Proclaim, FPC!” The most important thing about those two words is not the two words. Rather, it’s the punctuation. I’m talking about the comma. Take out that comma and what would we be proclaiming? Ourselves! First Presbyterian Church! Proclaim FPC!

There are three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Someone once said that the fourth branch of government is the media, and this is so on account of their influence. I would submit that there’s even a fifth branch of government. There’s something else that governs our lives, and that is marketing and advertising. A popular word for marketers and advertisers is “branding.” Some would assert, not without merit, that good “branding” is essential to the mission and success of any business, institution, or even church. That being said, what’s the “brand” of the Presbyterian Church (USA)? What’s the “brand” of First Presbyterian Church of Denton?

If we take the comma out, if all we do is Proclaim FPC, then we’re doing little more than marketing, advertising, and trumpeting our brand. The Presbyterian Church has tried that for years, and the results are abysmal. The sad truth, the elephant in the living room, is that the Presbyterian Church – as a denomination -- is losing members hand over fist. At some denominational meetings I’ve attended, there’s this vague feeling I get that we are arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

I pledge to you that I will do my best to fight that trend. But I won’t do it with marshaling whatever powers of creativity I have to come up with a better “brand.” Instead, I will work with you to put the comma back in.

When we put the comma back in, the question involves what are we here to proclaim. Our reading from God’s Word provides the answer. My friends, you are not a statistic; you are not a demographic; you are not part of a polling group. Listen to what the Word of God says. You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light!”

Yes, the mission of God marches on, and we are a part of it! It’s not that our church has a mission. It’s that God’s mission has our church!

Amen.