Sermons at Burke Presbyterian Church

SHARE THE WORD A Ministry of Burke Presbyterian Church Burke, Virginia World Communion Sunday October 1, 2017 Jeremiah 29:1-2, 4-11 Home: Beyond Window-Shopping The Rev. Jarrett McLaughlin

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Sermon:

Jarrett:

When people walk in to this meeting house for the first time they usually have one of two reactions. Some people step in, and I can see it on their face – subtly their brow furrows, the lips purse a bit – they don’t have to say it out loud but I know what they’re thinking – “Cinder Blocks…really?” What I want to say to those people is that Yes, it is fairly austere – the style of architecture is actually called Brutalism, but my hope and prayer is that Burke Presbyterian will win them over with the kindness and warmth of the community…I have a feeling that’s been the story for some of you. This room may not have been what hooked you, but the people sure did. Other people step into this meeting house and say “Oh wow – I absolutely love this…it looks so different from what I expected. It doesn’t look like a church at all.” I take it that for those folks, the churches they have known have been of the very formal variety – either massive cathedrals with vaulted ceilings and stain glass windows or perhaps the long aisle in deep red carpet (which does hide juice spills quite well) and the white wooden pews and the brass communion set up on a high altar. For some, this space is refreshingly ordinary.

Whether it’s the architecture that brought you here or not, the space is always communicating something about God and about us. Winston Churchill said “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” Whether we intend it or not, the space where worship happens cannot help but shape who we become – far more powerfully than the words of any one sermon.

In the early days of this church’s history – way, way, way back around the summer of 1983…when Return of the Jedi was hitting the theaters for the first time and Michael Jackson’s Thriller was well on its way to becoming the best selling album to date – not too long after this congregation had moved in to this space, the founding pastor Rev. Roxana Atwood delivered a sermon series that came to be known as “The Architectural Sermons.” While I can’t say they are certified platinum, we do keep printed, bound copies of these five sermons should you like to read them and get a deeper dive into the intentionality of this worship space.

The first of her sermons is entitled “The House of God” and in it she writes: “Today I want you all to see God’s house. It is not within these four walls. To see God’s house you must look out the windows, out to the trees, to the skies and seas, to the marketplace, to the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, to 14th Street, to the Fairfax jail…There is God’s house.”

She goes on to reflect on the history of church architecture, suggesting that those more grandiose worship structures from other eras were built with the express intention of drawing the worshipper into the ineffable presence of God.

The massive doors, the cavernous ceilings echoing with sublime music, “culminating at the high, holy altar – a re-enactment of their religious life journey to the throne of heaven.” Rev Atwood wisely notes that, “As great as was this religious expression, it was a worship experience which too often cordoned off the worshiper from the world.”

While having a place of sanctuary and retreat is all and well, that’s not how God lives. Nice.

Our reading from Revelation 21 gives us a glimpse of where God lives; and this is the very last picture we have of God in Holy Scripture: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth…I saw the holy city coming down out of heaven. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying ‘See, the home of God is among mortals.’”

In the end, God doesn't live in a gated heaven – God lives with us and among us.

Next week we will begin a series to commemorate the Protestant Reformation. Halloween this year marks 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the cathedral door in Wittenberg – and without the Internet he still managed to create one of the most viral social media posts ever. From there, a new theological tradition was born - and one of the major theological shifts from the Protestant Reformation is that the sacred cannot be separated from the rest of the world – and this conviction began to show up in Protestant architecture.

Gone were the stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings – churches became simple structures with a plain Table and a place to put the Bible in the very center of the community. And those stained glass windows were replaced with large, crystal clear windows looking right out on the places where we spend our every day lives – and the vast expanse of God’s good creation.

And those same convictions have shown up here in this building with these large windows looking out on the same majesty of God’s creation…..looking out on Chick-fil-a!

I know that sounds ridiculous – like I’m only trying to be funny – but work with me a moment. It was not that long ago that the view took in little other than trees – now we have a fast food chain. While the trees may have been more aesthetically pleasing, we are still looking out on the great expanse of God’s creation. It is all God’s home. And it all falls within the realm of our concern.

So when we see Chick-fil-a out there it’s not just some fast food joint slinging chicken. It’s also the families that come there for the food – but who are perhaps more hungry for a community that goes deeper than what can happen at the indoor play space inside. We need to see them and consider inviting them to discover that kind of community here.

We also have to see those who walk by Chick-fil-a – who are as enticed by the cooking smells that sometimes carry clear up in to our parking lot, but who do not have the money to go in and order – we have to see them, too and wonder about poverty and food insecurity right here in our back yard and what we might do about that. That’s why we collected food and will continue to do so for the ECHO Food Bank.

When we see Chick-fil-a out there we have to see the chickens too – not the cows obviously – but the chickens and ask, “What is the impact on the environment beyond the few trees we lost?” And what is this church’s impact on the environment? This planet isn’t just our home – it’s God’s home too. That’s why we are in the process of replacing all of the lights with energy-efficient LED lighting

And it’s why we met on Thursday night to talk about the design for our new kitchen and how we can continue to share meals together but create less paper and plastic waste.

And when we see Chick-fil-a out there we have to consider the employees – we have to ask if they are being treated kindly, are they being paid fairly, can they afford to live anywhere near where they work, do they have insurance?

That’s why I would like to gather a group of at least 25 people to attend a gathering of more than 1500 in two weeks time to stand before our Gubernatorial candidates and our Attorney General candidates and ask them for some concrete action on matters of affordable housing, investment in our schools and criminal justice reform. If you would like to be one of those 25 please come find me after service.

So when you look out these windows and see Chick-fil-a, you’re not just seeing Chick-fil-a. You’re seeing everything around it and within it, too.

In all of this, I want to be clear and say that I am not picking on Chick-fil-a here. I’m not insinuating that they have poor employee practices nor suggesting they are wrecking the environment. I have no idea. I’m actually not talking about Chick-fil-a at all – I’m talking about these windows we have that look out onto God’s home which is the wider world.

What I’m trying to say is that the world we see through these window deserves a closer look.

And I’m talking about how these windows shape us, not to see ourselves as set apart from God’s world, but rather how they invite us to be more and more intimately a part of God’s world – to concern ourselves with what is happening out there. We have to see it all – the good and the beautiful, the ugly and the uncomfortable, the parts that bring us hope and the parts that stoke our anger. We have to see it all because that is precisely where we will find God.

“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them”

Most often these words are read at a funeral service, and doubtlessly these promises that mourning and death will be no more have brought countless Christians comfort, but in a different context, I believe this vision contains a deep challenge for us.

I know that there are many who feel that religion and politics should not mix – that it is inappropriate to discuss political matters in the pulpit and the community of faith needs to be a haven from those kinds of conversations. Now, if that means, “Don’t tell people how to vote,” then I whole-heartedly agree. Frankly, I don’t want the responsibility of telling you how to vote – the pressure! Partisan politics has no place in the Church. But to say that the community of faith should not concern itself with our political life…I’m not so sure God is going to let us off the hook so easily.

Politics is literally about the life of the Polis – the life of the city. It may just be me, but when I read about the city of God coming down to earth – when I hear God say that, “The home of God is among mortals,” when all of this suggests that God is concerned with the life of the city, it is really hard for me to reconcile this with the idea that the Church is no place for this kind of conversation and action.

Revelation 21 offers us a window in to God’s character – and the Lord is the kind of God that makes his home with us and among us – all of us.

And these windows - that were carefully designed from the very outset of this Church’s life – these windows bid us to take a good long look into the vast expanse of God’s creation – to see everything and everyone and know that it is all worthy of our care and concern; our conversation and our action.

That means seeing the DACA students tossing and turning late at night, anxiously wondering if our legislature will give them a lane of opportunity in the only place they’ve ever called home.

It also means seeing the disenfranchised whites in the hollowed out towns of America who have watched their once-prosperous home wither to practically nothing.

It means seeing the Muslim girl who wants to wear a scarf as a sign of her devotion, but who goes to school anxious that it will make her a target.

It means seeing the 17 year-old kid who stole a cell phone and now has a felony charge on his record that will follow him the rest of his life.

It means seeing the teacher who commutes nearly an hour to her Fairfax County school because she simply cannot afford to live here.

These windows looking out on the world – on God’s home – they ask so much of us. They push us well beyond window-shopping for God’s promises. They bid us to roll up our sleeves and get into the fray.

Rev. Roxana Atwood said it best – the home of God is out there. God makes his home in every corner of the world – God sets a Table there where all are welcome and where all may find food and friendship. And that’s how the world out there becomes our home too.