“Known and to Be Made Known”
May 23, 2010
Acts 2:1-21
Confirmation is such a joyful time in this congregation. It shows much that is good about our life together as an intergenerational Christian church.
Last Monday evening the confirmands met with the Diaconate to share their statements of faith. They presented thought expressions of the doubt and belief that we call faith. They voiced their appreciation for what it has meant to grow up in this congregation—seeing some of you week after week, year after year for as long as they can remember. They told of their desire to be full members of this congregation that welcomes all people, honors questions, nurtures faith, and call us to action.
Family members came from near and far to support these youth on Monday—as they have to celebrate with us this morning. And on behalf of the whole congregation I want to extend a special welcome to all the friends and family members who are here worshipping with us today. Your presence is a gift and we are glad that you are here.
We celebrate this morning. We’ve confirmed five youth and welcomed them into this congregation. After worship there is cake! And later in our worship we will celebrate at the Lord’s Table, where all are welcome, sharing the bread and cup that nourish us as the body of Christ.
With so much happening, I want to be brief with my own words. But because this is a special day of celebration, I have four points in my sermon rather than the traditional three.
This morning we read our church covenant together. It calls us to “walk together in the ways of Jesus Christ, made known and to be made known to us.” I love those words: “known and to be made known.” They remind us that our knowledge is always incomplete, always developing.
So here are my four points:
Know your faith.
Know the faith of your neighbor.
Know the world.
Know that you belong.
Know your faith.
“Now wait a minute,” the confirmands might say. “We just spent months talking about God, Jesus, the Spirit of God, the Bible, the sacraments, worship, and even the United Church of Christ Statement of Faith. We each wrote our own statement. Don’t we know our faith already?”
Perhaps you do—for today.
But life changes and we change and with those changes our faith changes as well. Faith, after all, is not just a set of propositions with which we can agree or disagree. Faith is a way of life, a way of relating to God and our neighbor. Faith is a way of understanding who we are and who we are becoming. A living faith develops over time. One of our deacons expressed this well on Monday night when he said that the confirmands will find it illuminating to tuck their statements away and look at them again in ten years or so.
Contrary to popular opinion, confirmation is not graduation. We do not send you from here today expecting that you will never return. Confirmation is simply your preparation for full membership and participation in this community. It is a beginning. You will learn what it means to be a person of faith as you are involved with others in this congregation.
Know your faith—it is a process.
Know the faith of your neighbor.
In one sense you will not know your own faith until you encounter people of other faiths. The miracle of Pentecost was a miracle of communication. People could talk with one another about the faith that gave them courage in the face of danger, the faith that affirmed life in the face of death. Pentecost comes with a reversal. It’s not so much that speaking changes as that there is a new gift of hearing—the gift of understanding those who speak in different ways. And with this new possibility of understanding, the people are sent out again—to the ends of the earth.
One of the great advantages that we have here in Iowa City is the proximity of people of many faiths. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus Buddhists, and Sikhs, atheists and agnostics fill our neighborhoods, our streets, and our malls. They are your classmates. You may have already discovered the joy of talking with other people about their faith and yours, discovering what you have in common, respecting honest differences. You are part of a congregation and a denomination that seeks the good in life through cooperation with people of other Christian denominations and of other religions.
The world that you will inherit will be a pluralistic place—filled with the awareness that there are many forms of faith. Everywhere will be Iowa City! To live fully in this world, to meet its challenges, to enjoy its opportunities, and to bring it some measure of peace, you will need to know the faith of your neighbors.
Know the world.
This is to say, faith is not an exercise we do in this building for an hour each week. Faith is how we live our lives beyond these walls.
The South African Anglican Archbishop, Demond Tutu, said: “Without us, God cannot.” God does not feed the hungry or shelter the homeless of love our neighbors. Mickey, Emily, Nat, Elise, Lexine, you are needed out beyond these walls to show and tell the good news of God’s love. You are needed to stand up for what is right when others won’t. You don’t do that alone or without support. You have the backing of this church, your congregation. Maybe you’ll join in doing some of the things we do here already. I hope you will also find your own ways of being faithful and share them with us.
Without you, God cannot.
Know the world—that place where God will work through you and with you.
And know that you belong.
In the Congregational tradition, belonging precedes believing. We don’t have creeds or other tests for membership. We put a lot of stock in our covenant with each other that we read earlier this morning. How we live toward one another is as important as what we believe. In owning the covenant of this church each of us agrees to belong to a believing community and, in that community, to work out our own beliefs.
In joining this congregation you chose belonging. You decided to take your place in that long line of the faithful who have been part of this congregation for over 150 years. And, really, you’re taking your place in the even longer line of the faithful who have chosen to follow the risen Christ for two thousand years. In spite of differences in age and language and culture, in spite of differences in belief, you want to belong. This congregation is now your place as much as it is that of your parents.
You are not the future of the church. You are the church.
Each of us, all of us need a place to be nurtured,
we need a place to grow,
we need a place to discover more of who we are,
we need a place to live out our identity.
That is to say, we need a church—the place where we are nurtured in our faith, the place that sends us out to show the love of God.
When I quoted Desmond Tutu a minute ago, I only repeated half of what he said.
“Without us, God cannot.” And Tutu adds, “Without God, we cannot.”
So when you go out into the world, please come back here as well. Come back to this place where you belong—for your sake and for the sake of the rest of us. Without restoring yourself in the worship of God. Without learning the way of prayer with others you will soon burn out. Without gaining insight into the ways of God through study with others, you cannot do your work that so desperately needs to be done. When we are at our best, this congregation is a place of renewal. Here you will find rest and welcome. And in your returning, you will renew and change us.
We need your exuberance, your searching faith, your new ways of speaking of God, your new ways of speaking to God. Share with us the many gifts that you have. Help us to see what it means to be young in these days—speak to us about the struggles and the joy.
Know your faith.
Know the faith of your neighbors.
Know the world.
Know that you belong.
And my charge to the rest of this congregation today is this: stay with these youth. Talk with them. Get to know them. Learn from them and share yourselves with them. They need the wisdom of age in the difficult times of youth.
I also remind and encourage the rest of us to know our faith, know the faith of our neighbors, know this world, and know that we belong.
Pentecost gives us a picture of the church that is intergenerational: the young will see visions, the old shall dream dreams. The visions and dreams shared with each other will make us able to enter the future.
We celebrate today. We give thanks to God that Mickey, Emily, Nathaniel, Elise, and Lexine have joined us on the journey into God’s unfolding future as together we walk in the ways of Jesus Christ made known and to be made known to us.