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Sermon: "Our History"
"Our History” Since I plan to cover nearly 2000 years of Church history this day and have only about 20 minutes to preach, I suppose I’d better just get going... * * * * * The Church of Jesus Christ formed 50 days after Jesus’ Disciples were first confronted with resurrection. Now, believing in resurrection did not trouble them. After all, they had seen Jesus do many mighty works and he had told them time and time again that no matter what evil or wrong might do Him in, God’s grace and truth would triumph wonderfully. No, the historicity of resurrection didn’t trouble them nearly as much as did the simple challenge for them to continue the preaching and doing of Jesus’ Good News. For while the Divinity present in Jesus had been so naturally self-evident to the disciples, the practice and proclamation of truth and grace and hope and wonder of Gospel – did not come so naturally to them. So they struggled and right away there were problems. The same religious authorities who had so consistently opposed Jesus, soon began to oppose them who called themselves Christ’s Church. The same followers of Jesus who had so often squabbled amongst themselves before resurrection, squabbled amongst themselves afterwards. So Stephen was soon martyred (Acts 6) and early Church leaders quickly became embroiled in a silly fight over circumcision (Acts 15). But people in need were still noticed and cared for, babies were still celebrated and baptized, widows and widowers were still comforted with support and hope, and those who’d been done in by the ‘bad news’ and wrongs of life were still challenged with the Divinity of Jesus Way. Or the simple goodness of righteousness tempered by grace was so divinely powerful – that even though the Church was sorely tested by persecution and stupidly troubled by schism, still the Church grew and did good. By 323 AD, under Emperor Constantine of Rome, Christ’s Church became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Internal squabbles over religious correctness continued, of course, but to that foolishness was now added struggles for political power and authority. But still, the ministry of Christ’s Church to those in need, for those ‘stung by death’ and toward those whose lives needed repentance continued. So the Church still grew and did good. And after the fall of Rome in the 5th century – followed by literally centuries of Dark Ages – the Church continued to hope and comfort and challenge. And even though the squabbling and intrigues were downright revolting, at times, during these dark times, the Church also became the primary source and center of most all scholastic and intellectual thought. And so it is that we arrive at the year 1517 when, on October 31st of that same year, a young Roman Catholic Priest – disgusted by the power struggles, wrong-headed theology and financial abuses of his Church – posted his 95 theses (or protests) upon the door of his local Church in Wittenberg, Germany. His name was Martin Luther and his criticisms shortly exploded into what we today call ‘The Protestant Reformation.’ Luther protested against belief in the teaching of the Church and the mere doing of’ correct religion. “Salvation by faith in God alone!” and “Sanctification by the doing of Christ’s Gospel!” proclaimed Luther. And many others, who’d been troubled by the shallowness of belief in the teaching of the Church (so obviously imperfect) and who’d yearned for some form of personal relationship with the God of Jesus Christ (so obviously Divine), soon flocked to join Luther in the gathering protest! And one of these protestors was a young man of great sincerity and personal faith named John Calvin. Calvin was French, but when the Roman Church did not take well to all the protesting and the King of France decided to remain Catholic, it soon became necessary for Calvin to flee his homeland for his life. He went to Geneva, Switzerland – where his differences with Luther (who’d protested Catholic theology, but maintained it’s style and structure) soon attracted a following. Calvin believed Church leaders should be elected by the people of the Church. No Bishops for him! Calvin also brought a strong emphasis on intellectual theology to his understanding of personal faith. It was Calvin who thought-up the Doctrine of Predestination – please don’t ask me to try and explain it to you! And then, worship, to Calvin, was to be, in a word, plain. No liturgy or symbols or ritual must ever get in the way of the preached word. Calvin’s ‘Presbyterianism’– democratically elected Presbyters (or‘Elders) to lead worship that was plain and expound a theology that had to be explained – soon found it’s way to Scotland where it was reformed and refined by the hardy and fierce Scots until it became, to again use a word, stern. And Presbyterianism came to America with Scottish immigrants who fled their land when the British brought Scotland (somewhat) under British control. There was religious freedom in America (unless your were Catholic and therefore had to live in Maryland!), and the Presbyterians flourished as their hardy and plain personal faith helped them face the harsh life in colonial America. Silly schisms continued and factions struggled for control through independence, Civil War and the Industrial Age, but despite this human-ness, the Presbyterian Church still preached Good News, it still celebrated and baptized children, it still cared for and comforted and it still believed that – ultimately and surely – God’s grace and truth would prevail. So Divinity still was present and working in the Presbyterian Church. Riverdale Presbyterian Church was founded over in what today is called Riverdale Park – on February 2nd, 1896. There were but 22 members, at first, but as the ‘trolley-stop town’ of Riverdale grew, so did the membership of the new Church. A building – on East-West Highway just before the rail-road overpass – was built and added onto and 6 different pastors led the Church to a membership of 172 by the close of 1927. Then a recent graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary named Keith Custis came to pastor Riverdale Presbyterian and, in a way, he never left. For ‘Mr. Custis’ – as everyone called him – stayed as the pastor of Riverdale Presbyterian Church until he retired 41 years later in 1969. Indeed, given the size of today’s membership and the scope of today’s ministry, it is hard to imagine what happened to Riverdale Presbyterian Church while Mr. Custis was it’s pastor. He came to a small church in 1927, but 36 years later (in 1964) that same Church had 1379 members and more full-time staff than I have fingers on my right hand! The little building in Riverdale had been replaced with THIS – which quickly proved to be too small. For attendance of Easter Sundays was regularly over 1200 (at three services) and somehow they managed to fit an average attendance of over 500 into our Christian Education wing! Riverdale Presbyterian Church had quite literally become a ‘mega-church’ and was one of the largest churches in National Capital Presbytery. But 1964 was the ‘high water mark’ for the Church. American writer, David Halberstam, in his popular history entitled America from 1920 to 1980, entitled his chapter on the 1960s: “America’s Nervous Breakdown” and as the turmoil of the 1960s swept across our nation, so did turmoil sweep across the Presbyterian Church nationwide. The simmering struggle between the theological conservatives (who when it came to Christ’s Church looked to the past and tried to only maintain) and the theological liberals (who tended to act as if the Church had no past and wanted to change everything yesterday) – erupted into ugly and revolting open warfare. The battles of ‘Angela Davis’ and ‘The Confession of 1967' were struggles to the death that ended in a stalemate that exhausted the denomination. And as the Presbyterian Church across the nation put so much energy into fighting and therefore had little energy left for ministry, membership began to decline on the national level. And membership also declined here at Riverdale Presbyterian Church, too. By the time Mr. Custis retired in 1969, membership had dropped by over 300. When ‘Mr. Mellin’ became pastor here in 1970 the turmoil and decline of the 1960s and the shock that followed Mr. Custis’ long-term pastorate were real problems that needed to be faced. But these problems were not resolved. Indeed, soon things became unmanageable. Some present for worship today remember the 1970s and the 1980s at Riverdale Presbyterian Church as difficult, painful and ‘Dave’ arrived in 1988 and I’m still here and quite happy, but to be honest – the first five years here were hard. There was some significant shouting that went on at meetings from time to time. Some of it was at me (oftentimes deserved), but most of the time I listened, learned, comforted, refereed and preached. By 1994, the struggles of the 1970s and 1980s finally began to become the past. The shouting stopped entirely and most of the Churches’ energy returned to ministry and worship, so we began to grow again. Average attendance reached nearly 200 per week and youth ministry numbers reflected the growth of the elementary school, as many new families moved into town. Indeed, I recently looked over the list of our regular worship attenders and found that nearly 70% of us who come here now – were not here for the 1970s and 1980s. Those times are past – and as a current mid-sized Presbyterian Church with potential for more growth and ministry – we look not just to our past, but working from our history and our heritage, we look to our future. I have now been preaching for about 17 minutes – which leaves me 3 minutes to conclude. So I’d better keep moving! There’s an ‘Old Preacher’s Story’ about a great conference of Christian Churches that met in a large city within a huge hall. The conference was not going well; the churches were arguing amongst themselves over which of them was the greatest – when a lad from the street outside burst into the hall and cried out: “The roof of the hall is on fire! The roof is on fire!!” At once, all the gathered churches sprang into action!
Meanwhile...
And finally...
And then, a sudden great wind swept down from the heavens above and – incredibly and wonderfully – it blew out the fire that was of such great threat to the Churches who were so humanly struggling below. They beheld the wonder and said, as one: “Praise God!” and then they departed the great hall, and as the unique and divine and human Churches they each were, they returned to their towns and villages to preach, comfort and challenge, again. And so it is that nearly 2000 years of Church history is: presented, interpreted and summarized – in less than 20 minutes! It’s Let us pray: O Lord our God, as people of faith, as we look to the Church, may we notice more than just the human folly – so Your glorious Divinity, we might know and then share. Amen.
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