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Good morning, I am David White, the CLS and nancy Gribble, associate professor of christian education and it's my privilege to introduce our first speaker this morning for the curry lectures. Um The thomas White curry

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lectures were first held in 1952 and was sponsored for many years by the tom curry bible class at Highland Park Church in Dallas in 2000 and eight, the curry family established the Tom White curry lectureship in endowed

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uh fund, which will underwrite the lectureship in perpetuity and we're grateful for the generosity of so many over so many years. Our speaker for this year's curry lecture is Tom are the reverend tom are tom are

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, is the senior pastor of the village Presbyterian Church in Prairie village Kansas, one of the largest churches of the PC USA before serving the village Tom served the Westminster Presbyterian Church in charleston. The seven Oaks

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Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina and Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Florida. Tom was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1986. Tom completed his undergraduate education at Presbyterian College in south Carolina,

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where he received his B. A. In history and religion. Tom earned a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He also received a master of Sacred theology from Yale Divinity school. And

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in 2006, Tom received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Presbyterian College. Tom has been active in each of his respective presbyteries, serving as commissioner to the 214th General Assembly, as well as providing leadership to

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the General Assembly Committees. And I understand that for presbyterians this is a sign of considerable trust bestowed by your colleagues a big deal as it were. Tom has served as a member of the board of trustees

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as Presbyterian College in clinton south Carolina, and he also has served on the board of trustees from Montreat uh conference center, placed near and dear to so many of us uh in this room. In addition

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to being our curry lecture, tom is in demand um as teacher and preacher across the church. Uh he has given leadership for the sprint lectures, the mass Aneta bible conference and is currently organising leader for

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the next church conversation. Tom is married to the former Carol. Wells Carol is an RN who has worked in oncology since 1986. Tom and Carol have two Children, Sarah who is 20 and Nathan who

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was 18 and Tom enjoys golf woodworking and is known to be an avid braves, Atlanta braves fan. I've only known tom for a brief couple of years now and mostly in his role as vice chair of

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the Austin Seminary board. But in my brief conversations with Tom, I can tell you that he cares deeply for the church and serves it with faith and intelligence and what craig doxed recalls a pastoral imagination and

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I look very much look forward to receiving the feast . Tom has prepared for us this morning and in the coming days, join me this morning and welcoming Tom are Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, wow,

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it is a privilege to be with you. I entitled this overall conversation. The church ain't what it used to be confessions of a parish pastor. So before I even arrived I'll let you know I had

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some things to confess so I might as well get this one out of the way right away. I am no scholar. This lecture series has a long history of remarkable scholars who have contributed to the holy

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conversation of the church. I'm not one of them . I am a student of the book and of books, but unlike our other lecturers this week, I am the author of none. I am the

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reader of I am a reader of the word and of words, but I am no poet unlike our preacher this week who had providence place rick Spalding in the human story. Three years ago, we would

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have known his writing in the psalter. I'm an ordinary thinker, the kind that God has fashioned in abundance, agreeing to do these lectures, created a flashback for me attending the front lectures that were offered

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at what is now Union Presbyterian Seminary when I was a seminary in there, Dr James Gustafson delivered the lectures that would become his book Ethics from a theus centric perspective, if you're wondering if that is easier

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to digest if he reads it to you? The answer is no. Yeah. Mhm. The last words I understood that weekend were were pleased to introduce to you dr Gustafson, I promise you, no

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one will have that struggle this year. I am humbled by the invitation to share in this experience with you. I thank President Wardlaw for his invitation, which says less about me and more about the commitment

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of this seminary to the future of the church. I'm humbled to participate with these other lecturers and preachers , all of whom I have admired, some up close and some from afar, I'm humbled to be

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talking about the church and her future in this institution . Because I have become convinced that you're doing so much. That is right when it is very hard to know what is right to do for the church

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. I have no credentials to stand before you. It's good to do something. You have no credentials for every now and then. I'm thinking about flying the plane home on the way back. Yeah.

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I have no credentials to stand before you. Save this one which I share with you in this church . I have found my home and my hope, my voice in my place in this fragile and sometimes

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stumbling presbyterian church. I have known grace and witness resurrection. It is because of this church that I have learned to confess that jesus christ is my Lord and Savior, all Grace on grace, so not

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out of credential but out of deep devotion. I join you for these conversations with humility and gratitude, have another confession. I did something last month that would have caused me to flunk the church's worshiping community

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here in Austin Seminary. It was december 11th third advent and we sang angels. We have heard on high at village we have on occasion been known to sing a christmas carol even on second advent. I

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know I'm not ill informed about these matters. I know the circular marks of liturgical seasons. I have listened to church members complained for decades. Pastor don't you know, they've been singing. I'll be home

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for christmas for six weeks in them all now. And you say we can't sing. What child is this for two more weeks. It's not christmas, I would say it's advent in logic that only works

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in a movie. I would say the baby hasn't been born yet. We can't cave to culture. It's the closest I felt to being a prophet, but I've changed, you might say repented. It

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was too high a cost. It was not just the disappointed parishioners, although that is a high cost and not one that I count lightly. The larger truth is my relentless focus on advent came at the

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expense of a genuine celebration of the incarnation. Don't get me wrong, we would single come all ye faithful on christmas Eve and joy to the world, the sunday after christmas and we three kings on epiphany

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. But for the folks in the Pew, Christmas was over. That happens about noon on the 25th . It moved on. Now you could say this is our chance to teach them what time it is

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. That's actually the purpose of the liturgical calendar to teach them what time it is and it is a worthy and holy goal. But I must confess in this holy purpose, I've never been very successful.

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As a result, the incarnation ended up being limited to a magical story of angels and mysterious maje and little lord jesus, no crying, he makes the birth of jesus. Christ was associated less with a

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kingdom drawing near less with the creation altering history, reversing life transforming moment of grace and instead was reduced to some warm experience for the family christmas eve village , we begin our service for citing luke to in

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those days a decree went out from caesar augustus as we do. Young woman walks the christ candle down the center aisle and places it in the center of the advent wreath. She laid him in a manger

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for there was no room for me. It's a holy moment. I'm told that during the procession of the christ candle one year in that region there were shepherds, A gentleman pulled from his pocket two boxes

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with bows and handed one to his bride and one to his daughter. Mom opened hers with hugs and kisses and all you shouldn't have and daughter opened hers and remove earrings that she had worn in and replaced

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them with the one santa had brought. I bring you good news of great joy. They had joy . There's more to the incarnation than that. I believe a deeper embrace of the incarnation is important and

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instructive for the church. Today, I took a trip to Bethlehem. I sat in the church of the nativity. If you've been there, then you remember the spot down in the basement, There's a

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star which marks the traditional site of jesus birth. As inappropriate as it sounds. I looked at that silver star and I had no desire to sing. Oh come! Let us adore him. The truth

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is, I looked at it and it reminded me of a Tv commercial, a little ditty from my childhood. You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the Texaco star. It's

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not a mountain tough experience. I don't know why . I was just thinking to myself, I don't think this is the place. I have no reason . I just know. I'm not going to think

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it's the place and then my knees weakened here or near here. There was a place, there was a particular place where he drew his first breath and smelled the dusty hey. There was some place he

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felt the chill of night air against his soft skin and heard the chewing sounds of animals. There was a place where mary nursed him and wept the kind of tears that only mothers know. It was a

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place. She sang him to sleep. I don't need to know where. But the fact that it happened somewhere specific, some particular context makes all the difference. I don't need to know where historians want

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to know where. I don't care where he was born. But the fact that he was born in a particular place to a people speaking a particular language and serving God in particular fashion, means that life

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here matters to God. The fact that jesus humbles himself and chooses to breathe and bruise and bleed and laugh and sing and pray, even when it seems no one is listening, the fact that jesus knew

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what it was to have tired feet and a broken heart and to cry out to God in the dark of midnight, That means God has decided that all of our circumstances in life matter, that's incarnation,

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Christianity always happens in particular moments in specific context and most importantly, in particular relationships, there's nothing abstract about our faith. It is burdened by and gifted with the scandal of particular charity. So I submit

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a deeper understanding of this incarnation will be a source of life for the church in the present day, a renewed sense of what it means to serve a God who in grace and humility and grace is always

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an act of humility chooses to take on flesh, chooses to be bound by the contingencies of history, chooses to show Holy love within the confines of human culture. Such a theological plane proves instructive for the

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Church. In our time, there will be better times for the Church, there will be worse times for the Church. These are our times. We are not the full narrative of the church, but

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we are the only people who can be christian with our lives. The incarnation calls us to live our faith in the particular moments, places and relationships with which God has gifted us. The incarnation further calls

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the church to pay attention, loving attention, careful attention, gracious attention to the place of our ministry . So here's what I want to do. I want to take some time this morning to survey a

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bit of our context. It's kind of boring, but I think we need to do it. To survey our context of it. This afternoon. I'd like to talk a bit about how this particular context

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shapes, what our God talk ought to be about , how it should function in us and in the world and tomorrow, if you're still here, while talk about how we ought to treat each other.

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So, first, a bit about the context, there's a moment in the ministry of jesus as Mark tells it that I find instructive, I'll say more about it later on. But just this way of

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introduction, Mark begins the jesus story with john, the baptist, jesus. First experience is to be baptized. The spirit comes upon him. The voice says, you are my son! With whom I

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am well pleased whom I love. And then Mark says, that spirit cast jesus out into the wilderness , not lead him, not guide him, not escort him cast him out. The greek word is

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below. It's the same word that describes jesus interaction with demons. He cast them out. In other words, jesus is not singing, there's a sweet , sweet spirit in this place. For, among

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other things, wilderness is the place that leaves us feeling anything but at home when our kids were preschoolers , carol and I, we took them to ghost town in the sky was not my idea. Some

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friends had extra tickets, they said take go, your kids will have a great time. Ghost towns , one of those theme parks. So there we were with two Children, 3.5 and 18 months with

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a whole day of rides that jump and bump and I tried to get Sarah to ride the merry go round. I thought that would be okay. She said the horses looked scary. I'd never you look

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at, they look kind of scary actually. She saw the umbrella ride. It's one of those that goes around like this and then it tilts up and goes around like she said daddy can we ride the

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umbrella ride? I worried about her getting through that , but I said okay, just just hold on tight, hold on tight to daddy. We got on the day we were at ghost town, they

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had called for inclement weather, severe weather. It never materialized, but it kept the crowds away. So when there's not a lot of people in the park, they'll let those rides go. A long

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time. We got on the umbrella ride. The guy who was running the ride was a college student . He turned it on, I went to class . I don't know how many days we were on

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the umbrella ride, but by the time it stopped or ran out of gas, my head was spinning . My eyes were blurry. I was green. And that was when I heard my daughter said,

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daddy, let's do it again. I said, sweetheart, if you'll just take my hand and promise not to let go, help me find your mother , she would love to ride the umbrella ride with

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you. It is true. They wrote it two more times and followed that with the spinning teacups. She and carol had a wonderful time and to tell you the truth, I'm feeling a little queasy.

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Just telling you about it right now. There I was one moment having a wonderful family outing in the next moment. The wilderness wasn't at home. Seems those of us who have come to faith in the

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mainline church turned around to discover we're not at home anymore. What happened just a moment ago, we were basking in the voice of the angels, You are my beloved Children with you, I am well

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pleased. And now we've been cast out into the wilderness by everyone's account, I think I'm not sparing anything new by everyone's account, the church is not what it used to be to some this is liberation

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, indeed, the working of God's spirit. Some seem to relish in it actually, others see the shifting assumptions of what it means to be the church as a cause for lament, and some seem so

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committed to ignoring it, that you wonder if they have on their church sign. Come on in were exactly what we used to be, brian MacLaurin begins this book a new kind of Christianity with his statement

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, the christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. I don't know about all its forms but what I know is the presbyterian church of which I'm a part this portion of christ's body which I have

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been called to love is a shadow of her former self weakened. If not on life support, I will, I will speak a bit of the presbyterian church knowing that we're not all presbyterian here, I'll

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speak of the presbyterian church because it's the story that I know but I also know that the narrative of the main line as a whole shares the same plot line. I remember the days when presbyterians are more

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vivid and vital fashion contributed to the repair of the world. We had leaders. There was a day when pastors at least some pastor stood among us like giants. You remember Anderson Taylor. Start when curry

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to name a few, they challenged us. They charted a strategy for mission. They motivated us. As a result, we built schools, we built hospitals, we planted congregations in Kansas and kenya and

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Korea. We sent doctors and teachers, farmers and theologians around the world to serve in ways that made the church more christian and the world more human. I grew up in the hallways and heart ways of

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congregations that committed themselves to these kinds of missions. I graduated from a college that was dreamed in the life. My presbyterians attended seminary that was sustained by presbyterians. I have visited hospitals and schools in Ghana

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, put there by presbyterians attended worship in a sanctuary filled with Arabs and Africans in Khartoum. They're all presbyterians, we had a particular witness to offer. We were effective. Now my point here is not

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to wax nostalgic about a dreamland church and ignore the harsh realities in particular ways in which sin was manifest in this church for this church was captured by racism . This church, even on its best day,

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was ambivalent about the place of women. There is often too much emphasis on the church potluck supper and not enough emphasis on those who had no dinner at all. My point here is not in any way

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to suggest that if we could return to some glory day, we would thrive again. My point is simply this. In our shared communion. In those days, we had cultural assets that are no longer

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available to us. To lament is not to desire to return, but there's much to lament. The church has changed, but I would suggest not enough . The culture has changed far more. The presbyterian

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ecosystem in which I was raised as today. The stuff of museum display the present day church must learn to respond to the diverse cultural realities that are both ethnic, but I would suggest as much generational,

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there's always been changed generation to generation. I assume . Adam and Eve looked at each other and said , what's with these young people today? But there is something new among us and that is the pace

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of change. The pace of change now is unusual , if not unprecedented. Listen to this statement, the church is not anticipating the facts, it is merely catching up very slowly to the new social facts

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created by economic and other forces. Reinhold, Neighbour said that in 1924, for several decades after neighbors critique the church remained a significant influence on culture, but not so much now. The Presbyterian Church,

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during the 25 years of my ministry has devoted the best of her theological energy, the best of her leadership skill and the best of her pastoral heart to the single issue of the ordination of gay and lesbian

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persons. This is an important conversation because it is a conversation about people. It is a conversation about brothers and sisters in christ. But for the church in the past generation, and only for the past

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generation, it has been a conversation that has mattered ultimately to this issue. Some have attached more central conversations the authority of scripture crist ology, Even so teary ology, this has been the defining conversation for

00:23:18.830 - 00:23:30.650

our church in this generation. And this during a time when, say, for example, the education of Children in this country is in an increasingly fragile system. This during a time when domestic violence is

00:23:30.650 - 00:23:45.730

an epidemic proportions in every community. This during a time when 1.4 billion people live on less than a dollar 25 a day, the Middle East is crumbling every seven seconds, someone dies for issues related to

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lack of access to clean water. This during a time when scientists are warning us that the entire planet is jeopardized by the shifting realities of the climate and this during a time when the culture at large sees

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all of that and looks at us with scripture and hand pummel each other over gay and lesbian persons, they scratch their heads and say if that's the strange new world of the bible, I want nothing to

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do with it. This conversation matters. But we must wonder if given the context, if it should matter. Ultimately, these realities have contributed to the membership, lost much bemoaned. I was ordained in

00:24:33.970 - 00:24:45.610

the summer of 1986. Not that I paid attention , but the newly formed PC usa It was already sleep slipping into weakness. I rehearse some information, you know, but illustrates the painful point that I've

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just made 1965 was the last year our denomination showed membership growth 1965, we have lost 46% of our membership. The seven years of greatest percentage decline, or 2003, 45678 and nine with 2000 and eight

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and nine showing membership decline greater than 3% 1983. The year of reunion, our church baptized 51,000 infants In 2008. That number dropped by 48% to approximately 26,000 infant baptisms. There's a relationship between growth and

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new congregations in Kansas City, where I serve our largest mainline church, which is methodist. Worships over 8000 people a weekend has begun three satellite congregations in the last five years, and collectively, those satellites

00:25:42.700 - 00:26:00.650

now have more Methodists in worship than village Presbyterian has in worship on any given sunday. During that same time, our presbyterian has closed dismissed, lost almost a dozen congregations. There's no plan to begin a

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new presbyterian church in our growing city. That change in the collective church is related to a change in the role of pastor. It would be intrigued with those of you have been serving even longer than I

00:26:14.040 - 00:26:26.520

I'm sixth generation presbyterian pastor. It's almost impossible for us to have a decent dinner conversation in my house . My grandfather was passed for Peace Tree Church in Atlanta from 1930 to 19 sixties. During those three

00:26:26.520 - 00:26:41.620

plus decades of ministry, he never had an office at the church. He had a study, it's different. He was the preacher and teacher and provider of pastoral care, but the laity were very hands

00:26:41.620 - 00:26:57.110

on and running the church, which was admittedly a much less complex organization in his day. But today there is anything but a one size fits all job description for pastors, context determines much. Pastors are

00:26:57.110 - 00:27:11.340

to preach and teach and administer pastoral care and the sacraments rightly. But in some context, you will need to know how to run a meeting, which is not a given and some, you will need

00:27:11.340 - 00:27:25.470

to know how to work with complex finances and some , you will need to know how to deal with complex and sometimes painful personnel issues and sometimes routine personnel issues become painful and complex. If the pastor does

00:27:25.470 - 00:27:37.060

not know how to deal with them, some will need to know how to lead, not just a committee, but a community. And like my grandfather , you will need to study, but your study

00:27:37.060 - 00:27:49.970

will need to be more than a theological library. You will need some books on economics and blogs on business. You will want to learn a bit about law, history, and education and will the world

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in which you minister incarnation all ministry requires paying careful attention to the world in which we preach and teach and love tired. The stress of the denomination is felt not just at the congregation and not just in

00:28:10.080 - 00:28:22.920

the pastor's office, but the stress of the nominations felt perhaps most acutely at the governing body level. The large programmatic mission of the General Assembly Mission Council is increasingly fragile. Presbyteries have undergone significant stress as

00:28:22.920 - 00:28:38.320

well. History is instructive at this point, you may not know this. There was a change in the role of Presbyterian 1788 replace the 1645 definition it said presbyterian, be cognizant of all things that regard

00:28:38.320 - 00:28:56.420

the welfare of the particular congregations within their bounds, examining and licensing candidates for gospel ministry, ordaining, settling, removing or judging ministers, resolving questions of doctrine or discipline, ordering whatever pertains to the spiritual

00:28:56.420 - 00:29:12.550

concerns of the churches under their care. What is noteworthy is that in 1788, the Presbyterian was not a mission agency. The evolution of the Presbyterians, a mission agency came on the heels of Western expansion

00:29:12.560 - 00:29:30.320

in the nation. The change came to the Presbyterian Church in the 19th century. According to louis Wilkins , the desire to evangelize the West cause presbyteries to organize itself for mission or evangelization. After World War

00:29:30.320 - 00:29:45.810

Two, Wilkins reports, presbyteries shifted their focus from the west to the suburbs. Church extension was the new calling to plant congregations in suburbia. This proved to be the biggest period of growth for the presbyterian

00:29:45.810 - 00:30:02.020

Church, with the Northern Church, the U P C. U. S. A. Growing from two million in 1942 3 million in 1970. And the PC us grew by 79% from 532,000 and 1942

00:30:02.020 - 00:30:19.310

, 950, and 1970. But the frontier shifted in the sixties to the inner city And then in the 70s and 80s, we were all about being inclusive. Presbyteries grew in bureaucracy, with staff for

00:30:19.310 - 00:30:34.120

stewardship, youth ministry, education and more. But by the seventies governing bodies were already feeling financial stress . Both northern and southern churches reorganized, shifted the size of presbyteries, dipped into reserves in some cases

00:30:34.120 - 00:30:49.930

to keep ministry afloat. But the tide was turning Wilkins attributes this stress to a failure to find a mission frontier compelling to draw support. In other words , for Wilkins, the problem was a lack of

00:30:49.930 - 00:31:07.930

vision. In other words, the governing body failed us. Such an analysis, however, implies that we're the presbyterian or the General Assembly Mission Council to discover a compelling vision that presbyterians would fall in line

00:31:07.930 - 00:31:23.340

and robust mission would be reclaimed. This is too convenient to simple and ignores not only the extent of change but where it happened. The change did not happen primarily at the governing body. It happened in

00:31:23.340 - 00:31:41.970

the Pew. There's a cultural change. It's tied to Vietnam and Watergate and a growing distrust of government . It's tied to steroids in baseball and scandal and football. It's tied to greed, no longer being

00:31:41.970 - 00:31:59.130

the human condition that drives capitalism as Adam smith articulated , but greed being a celebrated virtue that is equated with freedom itself. Often even a requirement for America to succeed. It's tied to CNN and the invention

00:31:59.140 - 00:32:12.160

of the 24 hour news channel, which invited the editorial voice that used to be at the end of the half hour to move to the anchor desk so that even when the name is something like the no

00:32:12.160 - 00:32:31.230

spin zone, it's all about spin. What we are witnessing in our culture is the collapse of confidence in the institutions that have sustained and shaped our communal life that includes the church governing bodies are viewed as

00:32:31.230 - 00:32:47.020

institutions and the culture has no confidence in such. But there's more, I'm not through depressing you, there's more the church that once was a shaping voice in american culture. It's no longer the case and

00:32:47.020 - 00:33:06.420

that's not simply because a loss of power or numbers , we must confess that we have in some ways forfeited our credibility for moral suasion. I'll talk more about this tomorrow afternoon, but the church has stumbled

00:33:06.420 - 00:33:20.790

enough to be viewed as one of those institutions that does not have the moral credibility to speak to a culture in my own hometown, the newspaper regularly follows the case of case of the catholic priest who is

00:33:20.790 - 00:33:32.600

accused of child molestation and of the bishop who covered it up In october. The bishop was indicted. The front page of the Kansas City Star This summer , told of the collapse of the first family church

00:33:32.600 - 00:33:47.060

pastored by Reverend Gary Johnson, it was a 4000 member church. The bank foreclosed on their building because it was revealed there were shady financial structures in the church. It collapsed at a recent presbyterian meeting.

00:33:47.640 - 00:34:06.400

One sexual misconduct panel reported in embarrassing detail violations of ordination vows and then immediately called for another investigative panel to be appointed for similar incidents. It is incidents like these and we must be honest, a generation

00:34:06.400 - 00:34:22.860

long battle over homosexuality that has caused many in our culture to view the church as lacking the moral credibility to be a leader. This is evidence in David Kimmons book Unchristian. It provides very unsettling poll data

00:34:23.540 - 00:34:38.730

revealing 38% of 16 to 29 year olds in this country are hostile to evangelical Christianity. To say it more clearly. They don't mind jesus, they don't like us. I got a call from very bright

00:34:38.730 - 00:34:49.640

young man who was doing an article for the high school newspaper in my neighborhood. He said I'd like to ask you a few questions about fred Phelps and they may not mean anything to you, but you

00:34:49.640 - 00:35:00.080

know him, he is the pastor of the Westboro baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, not far from where I live and serve his congregation is the one that protests memorial services of those who have died serving

00:35:00.080 - 00:35:14.270

in Afghanistan and Iraq. They protest as a witness against the immorality in America Phelps cases before the Supreme Court and the student from Shawnee Mission East wanted to talk to me about it. Do you think he's

00:35:14.270 - 00:35:24.970

doing the right thing? He asked, He says the bible tells him who to hate. Tell me do you think he's hating the right people? Do you think he hates the same people that God hates

00:35:27.940 - 00:35:40.200

? It took me a while to figure it out . What he was asking is, Phelps says he's a christian and raised the bible. You at village , your christians and read the bible. You are

00:35:40.200 - 00:35:55.280

the same right from outside the church. They see Phelps Pat Robertson in a different fashion, Joel Olstein , I have no lenses of discretion. Now we can argue with that right? We can argue with

00:35:55.280 - 00:36:08.920

that, but the reality is it's the perception and we have to take that seriously. According to ken Inman, they think we hate gays were judgmental. Hypocritical, ignorant of the spiritual questions they are asking

00:36:08.930 - 00:36:24.020

. And we are only interested in belief and that we denigrate experience with more and more standing outside the church and viewing the church through lenses like these, we have lost and in some cases forfeited, I

00:36:24.020 - 00:36:40.040

would say our credibility as a moral voice in the culture. Our neighborhoods have changed as well. No small contributor to the exile of the main line into the wilderness. Our shifts in our communities that have

00:36:40.040 - 00:36:57.320

nothing to do with the church. two of these shifts or the increase in religious diversity in the second is what I'll call a redefinition of community religious diversity . Diana dr Diana Eck of Harvard calls it the

00:36:57.320 - 00:37:09.360

new religious America. The nation is more religiously complex . You dare not assume that the folks you meet at the grocery store or church, your new neighbor . The first question you ask is not anymore.

00:37:09.360 - 00:37:17.640

Where do you go to church? And if you do, if they are church, you may be disappointed if you assume that they will know the 10 Commandments or can tell you the story of the prodigal

00:37:17.640 - 00:37:31.960

son, it is very possible that they are muslim or native american spirituality or some other faith tradition. And increasingly, there is no faith tradition at all . At this point, the large, third largest

00:37:31.960 - 00:37:50.350

religious group in the United States is actually defined by an absence of religious affiliation, the nuns, they constitute 17% Mainline Protestants, 14%. When I was in college, I took a class called world religions

00:37:50.730 - 00:38:00.520

. The assumption behind the title of the classes that when you studied islam or Judaism, you were studying the exotic thoughts of people who lived a long way away. The world has come to us, it's

00:38:00.520 - 00:38:14.510

not just in the big city, it's across the Heartland. The religious world has come to us. Not only this, but our means of establishing community is in a shift that I would suggest as significant

00:38:14.520 - 00:38:34.030

as we experience. When the population mood from a rural to suburban reality little girl community was largely defined by family rights. Who your people were. We moved to the suburbs, friendships became a primarily definer

00:38:34.520 - 00:38:47.250

of community. Today, we're experiencing an even more dramatic shift. We live in a time of social networks in which technology is not simply a means of information or communication, but it means to create community

00:38:49.820 - 00:39:02.520

. It is not only the fact of change but the speed of change in this regard that is significant . Consider this. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. It took TV 13 years

00:39:02.520 - 00:39:21.630

to reach 50 million viewers. Facebook, which began in a college dorm room, reached 100 million participants in nine months. Or this ACC began broadcasting in 1948 and from 1948 to 2008, logged 60 years

00:39:21.640 - 00:39:38.350

of viewing hours. The total number of viewing hours on ACC over those 60 years was surpassed by the viewing hours of YouTube in the last six months of 2008. All of this has implications for community to

00:39:38.350 - 00:39:55.230

be community at this point is not only impacted by our new neighbors and by technology, but is further complicated by the social impact of the way capitalism is presently practiced, john mcknight and Peter block, fascinating

00:39:55.230 - 00:40:14.330

important book. The abundant community, they make the case that in the past century we ourselves have transformed from citizens to consumers. This is illustrated by the reality of gated communities and automatic garage door openers.

00:40:15.310 - 00:40:27.840

Citizens, they defined this way. Citizens are part of a community for which they claim responsibility and in which they find satisfaction. Consumers, on the other hand, are those who seek to purchase not simply

00:40:27.850 - 00:40:44.060

goods but a meaningful life. The citizen according to block and mcknight first looks not to that which can be purchased, but the citizen looks for relationship. The citizen says we are responsible for each other.

00:40:44.100 - 00:41:00.720

We take seriously the idealistic notion that our future is dependent on each of us and not one of us is free unless all of us are free or valued or participating in a full life. Therefore the way

00:41:00.720 - 00:41:15.120

to the good life is not through consumption. It is instead a path that we make by walking it with those around us. That's the citizen. The consumer, on the other hand, they say has

00:41:15.120 - 00:41:32.740

surrendered the capacity for providing meaningful life to the providers of social services, goods materials. Well, you would identify these changes in different ways, no doubt , but significantly in the midst of such revolutionary change

00:41:32.740 - 00:41:51.200

in technology, religious diversity, our understanding of human community itself, many of the presbyterian congress, many of the leaders of presbyterian congregations were born and nurtured in a presbyterian ecosystem of the previous day and it

00:41:51.200 - 00:42:10.320

was a glorious day and it still works well enough in pockets that our incentive to embrace needed change can be difficult and are certainly of how to address the change even more difficult. So I've listed largely an

00:42:10.320 - 00:42:23.500

anecdotal fashion illustrations of changes in the culture in which we are to engage in ministry. There are those who are trying to think about how we understand these changes, I want to share briefly with you three

00:42:23.500 - 00:42:40.920

from different disciplines, just for your own um engagement robert Putnam in his book, american Grace sees the changes we are experiencing today is being rooted in the Social revolution of the 19 sixties, Which was then

00:42:40.920 - 00:42:58.320

followed by two reactions. He calls aftershocks That we experienced primarily today. He says in the 1950s the fraternal order of Eagles teamed up with the movie director Cecil B de mille for a unique promotion of the

00:42:58.320 - 00:43:10.410

epic movie The 10 Commandments. You know, they donated monuments of the 10 Commandments that were scattered in prominent public locations, public parks in front of courthouses , in the taste, in the case of texas

00:43:10.420 - 00:43:27.760

on the capitol grounds, State capital. These monuments reflected the zeitgeist of the 1950s which brought public even government sanctioned expression of religion, mostly protestantism to the fore. This was also the decade in which we

00:43:27.760 - 00:43:43.050

added in God we trust to our currency and to the pledge of allegiance. The words under God. 50 years ago, these displays were so noncontroversial they could advertise a blockbuster movie today, they are the

00:43:43.050 - 00:43:57.050

subject of litigation all the way to the Supreme Court . How'd this happen? The change, according to Putnam began in the Social Revolution of the 60s, which tried to unhinge everything. Putnam's analysis is that

00:43:57.060 - 00:44:15.910

the 1960s brought a significant critique of the values and the place of institutions in the country and this cultural revolution created two reactions or he says, Aftershocks the first of these was primarily religious, a view that

00:44:15.920 - 00:44:30.500

values and tradition and significance was being uprooted, toyed with casual and and the response was to sort of nail things down a bit. This this was the birth of what we now know as the religious right

00:44:31.190 - 00:44:46.470

. It deeply troubled many americans and they responded with trying to bring moral clarity and certainly about particular issues . This was the first aftershock, The Putnam says for many Americans raised in the 80s and 90s,

00:44:46.480 - 00:45:01.730

religion as they saw it around them seemed to be mostly about conservative politics, about traditional positions on sexual morality. In effect, many of these americans said , if that's what religion is about, it's not

00:45:01.730 - 00:45:15.980

for me. Thus the second Aftershock in the 90s and 2000s was not just a move to the left among some of the young. It was a move away from institutional faith because of the view they had

00:45:15.980 - 00:45:30.450

of the religious right. It's Putnam's explanation of what's going on, Phyllis tickle in her book, great emergence. She offers a longer view. Tickle says in the long March of the church, there has

00:45:30.450 - 00:45:45.560

been every 500 years what she calls a rummage sale , we sort of shake things loose and get things started. There were every 500 years, there was a revolution of sorts, Pentecost, and then Then

00:45:45.560 - 00:45:58.510

there was Pope Gregory the great that gave life to the monastic movement. And then then in 1054 there was the split between Rome and Constantinople that she calls the Great Schism, thankfully that one's already been taken

00:45:58.990 - 00:46:10.070

. And then there was, of course, the great reformation, which you know, and she says today, we're experiencing the great emergence, the time of transformation, she says, as great and as

00:46:10.070 - 00:46:22.980

significant for the church as the reformation itself. When I find it difficult to make that assessment where when we're in the middle of it, she is right that we are in a significant transition And I find

00:46:22.980 - 00:46:38.260

the scheme a bit too tidy almost implying that there is within the divine of 500 year itch. But what I do find helpful is a recognition that the church goes through transitions. There are things that are

00:46:38.260 - 00:46:53.500

cast aside, there's new life that emerges. In addition, tickle finds the question that is always an issue in these times of transition to be a question of authority. Where's the authority of the faith lodged

00:46:54.180 - 00:47:12.600

and the reformation we said it is lodged in scripture today. The authority of scripture is a complex communal reality. You see, what we know is that the division in the peace usa has not been healed

00:47:12.980 - 00:47:29.640

but exacerbated by divergent approaches to scripture. Our pews are filled with disciples of walter, Brueggemann and his testimony and disciples of Marcus borg and his discovering jesus for the first time, and disciples of john Shelby

00:47:29.640 - 00:47:43.810

spong, who finds out who figures out his ethics and builds his case and disciples of Beth moore, who's a selective literalist and the fellowship of presbyterians who are now the Evangelical covenant Order of Presbyterians. Some

00:47:43.810 - 00:48:04.700

among them are urging a return to reading scripture without the aids of historical or literary critical tools are very fidelity to the witness of scripture has oddly contributed to our division. So what is the authority harvey cox

00:48:05.870 - 00:48:19.360

says? Not only is the question of religious authority in transition, but what it means to be religious at all is in transition, shifting significantly. Cox like tickle makes the case cox like Tickle takes,

00:48:19.360 - 00:48:30.490

I'm sorry, takes a long view of church history or coxes three periods of history. It's his book , The Future of Faith. He says the early Church was the age of faith and there was this

00:48:30.490 - 00:48:43.560

long season of what he calls the age of belief , and we are now emerging into the age of the spirit. The age of faith is to be simplistic about. It is defined in the early church

00:48:43.570 - 00:49:00.200

as what Christianity was understood more as a way of life, less a way of thought. It was more how we engaged one another and treated stranger unless what we well. It was less about doctrine.

00:49:00.770 - 00:49:15.690

But then soon beginning part with the cattle political process and taking full stride with the constant Iranian era. The second period of christian christian history can be called the age of belief. According to cox, he

00:49:15.690 - 00:49:37.410

said, the emphasis on belief began to grow and replaced faith in jesus With 10ants about Jesus during the Constantine in error Christianity at least in its official version , this is cox froze into a system of mandatory

00:49:37.410 - 00:49:53.130

precepts that were codified into creeds and strictly monitored by a powerful hierarchy and imperial decrees. Heresy became treason , treason became heresy. Cox is in the present day and eroding of this age of faith and an

00:49:53.130 - 00:50:07.840

emergence of what he calls the Age of the Spirit . Again, cox, the time is ripe to retrieve the term way for Christianity and followers of the way for christians. It is at once more accurate

00:50:07.850 - 00:50:24.840

, more original and more contemporary than believers, well , seemingly oblivious to the life giving faith that is tied to cradle affirmation or theological conversation through the ages . Cox. Nevertheless, it seems to me,

00:50:24.850 - 00:50:43.550

makes an important observation. Christian faith will less and less be associated with what people think about jesus and more and more by how christians seek to follow jesus and I will suggest particularly tomorrow, how we treat

00:50:43.550 - 00:51:01.560

each other. The truth is where Christianity simply something we think it'd be a lot easier. Perhaps you find Putnam and his read of the 50 years instructive . Perhaps you resonate with tickling her 500 year revolutions

00:51:01.560 - 00:51:14.750

or Cox may make sense. Or none of these . But what is clear is that people are of faith are trying to understand exactly what's going on in the church and recognizing we are not what we used

00:51:14.750 - 00:51:31.390

to be in. The landscape has shifted. We're no longer at home. So to conclude, let me return to the biblical image that I suggested at the beginning. There's been a question of what biblical

00:51:31.390 - 00:51:49.730

moment describes our situation. The best. What moment has authenticity from an incarnation als perspective, exile has been a very popular metaphor in recent years. But I personally am drawn to the wilderness moment, particularly

00:51:49.730 - 00:52:01.030

as it's narrated in Mark's Gospel. When we read that jesus is in the wilderness. We're supposed to remember, aren't we? That wilderness is an important place. A lot happens in the wilderness and to

00:52:01.030 - 00:52:15.920

say he's in the wilderness is not to give us a GPS description location. It is a spiritual condition . Wilderness can be anywhere. The Gospel expects us to remember that in the wilderness it is a testing

00:52:15.920 - 00:52:31.750

place with pharaoh in the rear view mirror. The people want slaves now liberated, began to dance and sing and praise God for a little while. And then they began to complain. And we say,

00:52:31.750 - 00:52:42.610

why do they complain? He just brought him through the Red Sea. Why do they complain? They didn't have any food? All right. They didn't have any water. We would complain to. We

00:52:42.610 - 00:53:00.220

would complain if we didn't have condiments. Mhm. The truth is, life in the wilderness was hard and even more hard. It is confusing. They began to look back over their shoulder. Life was

00:53:00.220 - 00:53:13.240

uncomfortable in Egypt, but we had food. Has God brought us out here, that we might die ? We even have some today saying we could die right, The Church, we could die and God

00:53:13.240 - 00:53:34.310

wouldn't care the wilderness. The wilderness is the place where you can't survive unless God cares so Again, Wilderness is not about Geography is the language of theology . Wildernesses. Anyplace where evil is comfortable Wildernesses,

00:53:34.320 - 00:53:52.770

any place where the Gospel seems fragile. Wilderness is the place where God's voice seems weak and other voices strong. Wilderness is the place where the beliefs and lifestyle convictions we hold seem silly or trivial, irrelevant

00:53:52.250 - 00:54:09.260

. In short wildernesses. Anyplace the Children of God must choose. Can we trust God with our lives or not? Just a season ago, this church felt the power of baptismal waters, and we were

00:54:09.260 - 00:54:25.240

confident in God's blessing. You are my Children, with whom I am well pleased today. We have choices to make. Can we still trust this God or not? Jesus is cast out into the wilderness

00:54:25.240 - 00:54:37.320

. He has no choice. He is. It is where he is sent. Mark is making the point. This is this is where God wants jesus to be. You see, Jesus is not driven

00:54:37.320 - 00:54:45.550

in the wilderness just to see if he can get through it, not in Mark, just to see if he can get through it. The wilderness is not some kind of spiritual boot camp. To test

00:54:45.550 - 00:55:01.030

his commitment, Jesus enters wilderness because it's where he's supposed to be. Hes in the he is not one who seeks sanctuary from evil or the Brokenness or the fractures of the world. The wilderness is where

00:55:01.030 - 00:55:21.620

you're supposed to be. The wilders is not only the place where evil is comfortable, it is also the place where ministry happens. We're healing happens where redemption comes to life. Mark is the only one

00:55:21.740 - 00:55:31.040

to speak in the wilderness of the wild Beast. He was with the Wild Beast. Scholars struggle over this part of the market text. Some claim that its signs of the evil in the wilderness. One

00:55:31.040 - 00:55:45.980

commentator says it shows the loneliness of jesus and temptation . It certainly paints a picture of the danger of the wilderness. But Mark doesn't say Jesus was surrounded by the beast or the beast, where after jesus

00:55:45.980 - 00:56:00.780

, Mark says he was with the wild Beast. I don't think the beast point to the dangers of the wilderness. I think they speak to transformation in the wilderness. I think Mark is writing these verses

00:56:00.780 - 00:56:15.230

with Isaiah in the back of his mind and the wolf shall lie down with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. It's Isaiah's picture of redemption. It's Isaiah's picture of the holy Realm

00:56:15.230 - 00:56:25.660

of God. It's not a literal picture. It's the way we speak of how life is completely transformed by the love of God, Jesus is driven into the wilderness and there in that place where evil is

00:56:25.660 - 00:56:43.050

comfortable, where the way of God seems silly or unreliable, we're ignoring the neighbor seems reasonable where the presence of the stranger is cause for fear. There in that place, jesus brings redemption, transformation.

00:56:43.190 - 00:57:00.760

New life is cast in the wilderness not to endure it, but to be an exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world. He goes where life is broken and wild beasts break out all around New

00:57:00.760 - 00:57:15.930

life is born one last textual observation. I bet that means I'm through but I'm not probably want me to be one last textual observation. Both Luke and Matthew have to fix this story a bit. The

00:57:15.930 - 00:57:27.020

most obvious is they insert the material from Q. So we know what the temptations are, right? But there's another matter that I find intriguing. Both Matthew and luke, they have to bring a sense

00:57:27.020 - 00:57:43.780

of closure to this wilderness. Matthew adds, then the devil left him and suddenly angels came and waited on it, luke more ominous. When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until

00:57:43.780 - 00:58:00.180

an opportune time. Mark just says he goes to galilee. That sounds like geography, but geography is not geography in the Gospel. Right? We know from the resurrection narrative where the angel sends them back

00:58:00.180 - 00:58:14.260

to galilee, that galilee is where ministry happens. You go back to galilee and there's where you find the resurrected one. So here's what I would suggest . I sympathize with the synoptic writers that feel that

00:58:14.260 - 00:58:30.550

Mark leaves the conclusion of the wilderness a bit ambiguous , but I suggest it's intentional. As I read . Mark's Gospel, jesus never escapes wilderness because that's where the spirit cast him and he continues to battle

00:58:30.550 - 00:58:42.160

demons, right? He continues to battle unclean spirits . He will battle diseases. He will seek to open the eyes of the blind in the eyes of his followers. He will face down the powers of

00:58:42.170 - 00:58:58.200

evil at every turn and time and time again grant us glimpses of the kingdom. The entire Gospel of Mark. It seems to me, is to be read as a wilderness narrative and a resurrection narrative,

00:58:58.210 - 00:59:14.310

both at the same time because that's where the church lives. I went to one of those session meetings this and I'm through with those session meetings. It was in the between church school and worship. We

00:59:14.310 - 00:59:21.110

were welcoming new members. We did that in the parlor in this church. I don't know if you have a parlor in your church. It was a junior high sunday school room and the presbyterian women got

00:59:21.110 - 00:59:30.670

hold of it and had ivy wallpaper and wingback chairs and you know plush carpet and had sconces on the wall. I said, love the lights. He said they're not lights or sconces. Okay. I

00:59:30.670 - 00:59:43.240

love this concert and they got it all set and then we're afraid somebody was going to use it. So so we use it to welcome new members, which made a good first impression and then we can

00:59:43.240 - 00:59:51.740

let them know, you know, they were never allowed to come back in there again. So by the time I got to the meeting and it sort of already started. There was there was a group

00:59:51.740 - 00:00:00.000

of new members. There was a young couple down there and a woman who's a school teacher at the elementary school. And and there was a man, a gentleman with, with his teenage daughter. We

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

assumed it was his daughter and she was the one who pretty much had the full attention of the room . Um, she had more jewelry in her left ear than the session collectively had in their jewelry box

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

. And she had gotten a haircut that looked like you, you got it on the installment plan, you know, she got half of it done and the other half on this side, it was skinned

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

down like your Brenner. I mean it was nothing . And then On this side it was about 8" long, spooked, spiked up moose, you know , painted green, which I took to be a

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

safety precaution. You can poke somebody's eye out when one of those spikes, you know. Well, they've never been there before and they're joining the church . I mean, he might have been, we

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

were pretty sure she had not ever been there before . We thought we would remember. Isn't it strange how these differences undo us? Our ability to connect , to relate to welcome? It comes easily with

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

those who or like us change a bit and it plays hide and seek. So here we are. We're having this meeting. The session approved. I everybody looking at the shoes, like the shoes are

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

really into. I well, it's a meeting close . Doug. He was chair of building and grounds . He was chair building and grounds because we didn't want him contacting people doug, made a beeline for

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

this guy in the spike queen. And I said , jesus, if you're coming back anytime soon before doug reached, that girl would be a great time as far as I can see. He went up

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

, he said, I don't believe I've ever seen you here before. And man said, well it's been a long time. You've been to worship here . Not, not not that I remember. You've

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

never even heard our preacher. You don't want to give him a test drive, You might not like him. A lot of us don't thank you. Doug. He said well we just need a church

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

right now. I'm thinking jesus, you are delayed . And then doug elected the little this young woman . And he said, you know everybody in there has a seat, You go in and take a

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

seat, you might take somebody's seat, you don't wanna do that. And then he said, you know our daughter is off at college, We miss her more than you can imagine. But mostly we

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

miss her at church. If you'd sit with my wife and I it would mean the world to us . You know what that was that was wild beast showing up in the middle of ivy wallpaper and wingback

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

chairs. Even in the wilderness. God is at work. There is new life we will find in the wilderness. I think it will affect how we talk to one another into the world. And I'd

00:00:00.000 - 00:00:00.000

like to talk about that this afternoon if you choose to come back and tomorrow, I think it has something to do with how we treat each other.