Acts 2: 42,46-47; Ephesians 1:3-5
...the holy catholic Church,
(Preached on February 6th, 2022)
The line in the Apostles Creed that usually gives most people pause and some confusion said in protestant church is the line “We believe….in the holy catholic church…”
The first thing I usually tell people is catholic means universal and we just kept the old word catholic to stick with tradition because as Presbyterians we don’t like change, especially things that date back to a long tradition within our denomination.
As I spent the week preparing for this sermon I found a lot more information about the theological importance of the word catholic and why this word is stronger than just changing the creed to the word universal to fit our modern sensibilities. Also I found that some scholars thought the pause and question would be about the word holy to term the church because what is holy about the church?
We will take time to explore both of these avenues of understanding of this line as well as look at the scripture to see what the church is called to be in the world as we confess the church as an importance in our belief.
In the Ephesians scripture the Apostle was helping the church in Ephesus see themselves as a part of a larger whole. The Apostles were spread throughout the world to make disciples. They planted churches all over, some stayed in a general location and some, like Paul, were called to move place after place and correspond to the churches that he planted and left or send information ahead to others. The beginning of Ephesians is Paul’s prayer to the church. He is hopeful that the church will see themselves in the expanse of the church that the body of Christ, the church, is not just in one place but bigger than themselves. This is a prayer to us today to see ourselves in the story of God that we are part of a larger story across time and place.
I think about how this church alone has a history dating back to the early 20th century and how the body of Christ was working to be faithful then as we look to how we are to be faithful as a church today. God is at work in our lives as individuals but really God has brought us together for such a time to respond to the needs of the world, celebrate the love of God in this place, and share the good news with others.
Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun of the 16th century said, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out on a hurting world. Yours are the feet with which he goes about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now.”
The body of Christ is the church. It is made up of individuals but we are called together as a community to do the work of God as we are not to be solitary.
We better understand our faith, we better serve, we are better as a community. We could try to do it alone but we are called to come together, to inspire and be inspired by one another.
The Acts 2 scripture talks about the work of the church. Praying together and breaking bread together. For the early church the community gathered regularly, probably more than once or twice a week to pray, to lift one another up, and to eat together. The church supported each other in body, mind, and spirit. The early church was made up primarily of house churches, people that met in homes and had the sacred opportunity to know all of each other.
James Howell talked about how, “Faith is something we do together, something that presses us up against people with whom we normally might have no contact at all, only to discover that with regard to what really matters, we are brothers and sisters in God’s quirky family.”
Church brings together people of all backgrounds, personalities, ages, and more. I think fondly of the people I interacted with as a child in my church that raised me and how they were my family. The lady who was a German WWII bride who became another grandmother to me as I spent hours in her company as a young adult and how my parents then visited her every Sunday until her passing. I think about how we have come together from different cultures, states, denominational backgrounds, we have a variety of educational backgrounds, we have a variety of ages. Where else do you go that you are able to meet so many different types of people and be together for one purpose?
The holy catholic church means that we are connected to each other. Even those of us at Stockbridge are connected to churches across the community, the world, and across time. We are connected to the early church of Ephesus, we are connected to the church down the street that looks and praises very differently than we do. We are connected to churches we understand and look similar as well as churches we don’t agree with theologically.
When we state that we believe in the catholic church we are saying not only that we believe that the church is universal but the other meaning, the deeper meaning is “according to the whole,” it means that it is for people to contribute to it and be part of it. This part was added in the 4th century probably as a way to remind the people of the church who used these words as a proclamation of their faith that they are in this together.
Justo Gonzalez put it this way, when we say we believe in the ‘caholic church’ we say, “We believe in the church; we are part of the church, we are believers within the church. We don’t believe in the church the same way we believe in God.” but we believe in the purpose of church in our lives as practitioners of faith.
The church is a place that guides us in our beliefs, we believe that the church is the place that we all called to be a family, a mixed up, messy, wonderful family with all its joys and concerns, failures, and faults, all its successes.
The other part of the phrase that has caught up some people isn’t just the caholic part, and again catholic is not about the Roman Cathollic denomination but the word holy in terms of the church has tripped up people.
How can you call a church holy when it can be wrapped up in so much ungodly and unholy things. We have seen priests, church musicians, church leaders use their power to do heinous things to others. We have seen people in churches use the name of Christ to not lift up the broken-hearted but spew evil words.
The church in spite of its complicity to wrong is holy because of the work of the Spirit of God. We are holy because of the work of the Spirit of God in us in spite of the wrong we have done. All of us, including the church are redeemed and being redeemed in and through Christ as we gather together, as we pray together, as we break bread together, as we sing together, as we cry together. The work of the Spirit of God is happening in the church that we think has it all together but is struggling and with the church that looks rough from the outside but is full of the Spirit on the move.
The church is the people, we might be in a building that is deemed Stockbridge Presbyterian Church but it is made up of legacies, testimonies, people. When I pray for the church I am praying for our leaders, I am praying for those who are suffering, who are struggling, I am praying for the people.
When a church building was torn apart and destroyed by a tornado in Kentucky the church family gathered together and worshiped. When this building and others across the world closed due to pandemic precautions the people still gathered to celebrate God, to worship, fellowship, and pray. When the people of God are persecuted in the 1st century, and in places like Laos, North Korea, and other places the people of God find a way to be the church gathered, not always in a building that has a steeple, not in storefronts, or fancy buildings, the church is the body of Christ who gathers, who prays, who shares in the story of God together.
We are catholic as we are part of the story of God with ancient foremothers and forefathers, we are part of the story of God with the people in scripture. We are part of the story of God with Stockbridge in 1909, in 2022, and part of the story of God for all time that has yet to come.
As a church we are called to welcome others to be a part of the work of Jesus in the world. We are the hands, the feets, the eyes, the ears. When we have the heart of Christ we desire for all types of people, those who are different, look, talk, act different than us and by loving each other and learning from each other we learn more about the Jesus who calls us to gather, time after time for such a time as this.
BONUS
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Here is the church, here is the people.
Not a building but really about people. Next week is the communion of saints and today we are celebrating communion by gathering at the table with everyone across the world and across time. All those who belong to God we are all at one table.
Universal church, one body of Christ.
A few other ways to look at this rhyme
Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and welcome all people
We are the church, we gather in places, the body of Christ, reaching out to all spaces.
(fingers wiggle, hook fingers together, turn and hand out and open)
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