THE CENTER AND CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE FAITH

            Jesus had come and lived among us, but there was no church. Jesus had died and been raised again from the dead, still there was no church. Jesus had appeared in risen power to many of his own, still there was no church. A small company of those who loved Jesus waited together in Jerusalem in prayer and fellowship for seven weeks, still there was no church.

            There was no church, in the NT meaning of that term until the day of Pentecost had come. The church is not an achievement of devout people, it is a gift of God. It is not at bottom a secular phenomenon, but a divinely ordained entity. It is not in its essence meetings and minutes and memos and e-mails and managerial techniques. It is uncontrollable winds! Inextinguishable fire! Irrepressible tongues! When the day of Pentecost was come, there was a church.

            The tendency is to see Pentecost as the occasion that got those earliest believers off their cushions and out into the world of their day. When the Spirit came, he exerted a centrifugal force. Those earliest believers understood then that they were not a Jewish sect, that they had a story to tell to the nations.

            They understood when the Spirit came that their faith was portable, that it was meant to travel, that it was ticked for the world, not marked for storage in Jerusalem.

            On this day when we welcome home our Mexico Mission trip young people and advisors, and what a joy it is to see them and hear part of their story, we celebrate with them that they are in reality continuing the story which is the Book of Acts. Acts is really a story of high adventure, involving the crossing of one boundary after another.

            Notice just a few of the highlights of this expansionist period. On the day of Pentecost Peter gets up to preach the Gospel and discovers that even though multitudes come from different places they all perceive the truth that he is speaking. He understands that the Gospel is for all the world. How amazing, that when you are on a mission trip in the Spirit of Jesus, language doesn’t get in the way, and there is an understanding beyond words. A little later on Simon, a magician of Samaria, is converted. Then Philip, on the road to Gaza, opens the spiritual eyes of a minister of the queen of Ethiopia.

            In Lydda, a man eight years an invalid is made to walk again. In Joppa, Tabith is converted. In that same town Peter has a vision that compels him to include the Gentiles within the orbit of the Gospel. He sees a large sheet, on which were all manner of animals, reptiles, and wild birds. A voice comes to him and says, “Rise, kill, and eat.” But Peter cannot do this, for these creatures are unclean and common in his sight. But God comes back and says, “Do not call common that which God has cleansed.” So Peter consumes that which is before him, and his eyes are opened to understand that the Gentiles have a place in Christian faith.

            Acts give us a vivid view of the ever widening CIRCUMFERENCE of the church. As time went on, the Christian church understood that this same spirit who had come at Pentecost was busy in all the world. This is suggested in that list of “whatevers” that Paul gives us in the latter part of Philippians: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is gracious, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise, think about these things (or make them your concern). The church understood its mission to include more than plucking brands from the fire, more than reaching out to people so they would not be “left behind,” more than rescuing individuals from some terrible day of judgment. They saw themselves as agents of God’s spirit for the betterment of God’s good creation, for the conservation of the earth. Values in society, institutions in society, social laws, politics, and culture- the whole of life was within the purview of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was a dominant force in the church and active in the world. The Book of Acts suggests the widening circumference of the faith.

            What needs to be remembered is that the Holy Spirit is reported in that same book as working also to build up the center of the faith. The centrifugal force of which we have been speaking was countered by a centripetal. Logically, without a center there can be no circumference, only chaos.

            There are many places in the Book of Acts where we learn that God sought to deepen and intensify the life of those earliest Christians. For example, “And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.” Or once again, “And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” 

            The letters of the New Testament show how zealous the Apostles were to build up the saints in their most holy faith. To affirm the center is not to deny the validity of the circumference.

            A healthy tension has always existed in the church between advocates of the center and advocates of the circumference. The center people are strong on caring for each other, inreach, Stephen Ministry, worship, music, sacraments, theological discussion groups, education, training, the uniqueness of Jesus. On the other hand, the circumference people like to explore relationships on the outer boundaries of the faith. They love living with the locals in a distant land. They love supporting groups at home like Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Durham Congregations in Mission, Yo-Durham (for at risk youth), Habitat for Humanity, food banks, places that provide shelter and food for homeless folk, and so on.

            My point is that here at Westminster, we have a most healthy balance between the center people and the circumference, and many in the congregation celebrate being both in the center and on the circumference. At the center, I, with you, celebrate the rich experience of worship at this church, with the great music of the church, a first class choir, great organ, piano, handbells, brass, violin, and instruments of all kinds. We resonate to Psalm 150, “Praise the Lord with trumpet sound, with lute and harp, with tambourine and dance, with strings and pipe!” Our center people relish a good Bible study, a good theological discussion, rediscovering our roots in the creeds and confessions of the church, and making sure that those confined to a home have what they need. At the circumference, some of these same folk are concerned that the needs of those on the extremes of life just now are not forgotten and are the recipients of our generosity.

            To sum it up, there are twin pressures always bearing down upon any congregation. There is the pressure of the centripetal, which would pull us in, and the pressure of the centrifugal, which would drive us out. And here is one last observation. Each of us can be either at any time. Some of us go to the outer edges, become spent, and desire to come back to the center. Some of us were raised in such a sheltered center that we are looking for a church that will go out. But even better than such alternatives, many of us in this congregation love life at the center which enables and empowers us to go to the fringes. The bottom line is, the Holy Spirit sends us out and the Holy Spirit calls us back.

            When the Spirit came at Pentecost, he came to extend the branches of the church, and also to deepen its roots. I celebrate with you that that same Spirit does that same work here!

Prayer

Spirit of the living God, do your mighty work within this fellowship, and Christ real to us. Lay upon our hearts the vision of a caring church in the service of a needy world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.