Jeremiah 23. 23-29
Church is rooted in promise and proclamation, not practice!
If only … If only we were a little more outgoing … If only we were a little more friendly, a little more welcoming … If only we worked harder … or smarter … or better … If only we said more prayers … or read the bible more often … If only we were a little more like “them” and a little less like – well, like us … If only we had a nicer building … a newer building … Or for that matter, if only we had a building, at all!
That’s how I’ve lived my ministry, all these nearly forty years. From the very beginning, right from the start, the church has been getting smaller and smaller, growing grayer and grayer. And what we’ve been saying, all along, is, “If only … If only …” But the trajectory, the track, hasn’t changed. Hasn’t, even, waivered.
Twenty years ago, when I first got to Midland, we had a conference of our own, out here in westTexas. Six congregations. Two in Odessa. Two in sanAngelo. Two in Midland. Six congregations and seven fulltime pastors. Today, there are just two fulltime pastors and four congregations. The largest worshiping thirty-four, any given Sunday. The smallest seven. If only … We should know, by now, all the wishful thinking and all the good intentions have changed nothing.
The E.L.C.A. – our denomination – is currently meeting in Columbus, OH for its every-other-year Churchwide Assembly. And one of the first pieces of business was to adopt a motion to reorder, to reorganize, to reconstitute the church. Apparently, we set up another “Commission for a New Lutheran Church.” Just like we did, thirty-five years ago, when the E.L.C.A. was first organized. If only … I wish I could believe it will make any difference.
Truth is, the church – our church – is broken. It isn’t working. The church as we knew it. The church as we know it. For the past generation, we’ve been grasping at straws. Willing to try anything, everything, that holds out even the slightest hope. If only … Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet. To make it better. To make it go away. The goodNews, though? This isn’t anything new. This isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. Anything we haven’t been through. You see, this is Reformation! This is what it looks like … what it sounds like … feels like …
God’s people – if nothing else – are people. Just people. Ordinary. Plain. We’re not all-powerful or all-knowing. Infallible. Inerrant. We make mistakes. We’re easily distracted. Chasing squirrels. Going down rabbit holes. And when that happens, this is what happens. This is what you get. We lose our reason-for-being and we get smaller. We grow grayer. And sometimes, we, even, die. And all the “if only”s in the world don’t change that.
But it’s god’s way of catching our attention. This uncertainty. This fear. It’s all god’s way of getting us back on track … reshaping, reforming us … And the thing Luther taught us – teaches us – is that it all begins with the word! The problem god’s people have – the problem we’ve always had – isn’t that we lose touch with our hearts and minds. It’s that we lose our voice! When it comes to “thus saith the Lord,” we’re silent. Pastors and people alike. We just don’t know what to say. Sure, we have our dreams. We, just, forget, god’s word.
“I’ve heard the lies,” god says. The assumptions. The misconceptions. “I’ve dreamed,” they say, “I’ve dreamed!” “And because of them, my people forget my name,” says the Lord. And the church gets smaller. And the church grows grayer. Because dreams don’t motivate. Dreams don’t inspire.
But in the silence, the church hears the still, small voice of god, one more time. “Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but – even more – let the one who has my word speak that word faithfully.” Let the one who has my gospel speak my gospel! Let the one who has my goodNews, speak my goodNews. It’s pretty simple, actually. What we preach isn’t something we practice. Not foremost. Not first. It’s something we believe in! It’s something we trust! It’s something we stake our life on! It’s a proclamation! It’s a promise! And we speak it not just once or twice. But again and again! Over and over! And if we don’t, we’re no longer church. No matter how hard we try.
That’s the lesson of the first Reformation. The lesson of the Reformation, half a millennium ago. Church isn’t built. It’s not constructed. It’s spoken! Spoken and heard and believed! That’s not a cerebral, academic thing. It’s being faithful. Let the prophet – the preacher – who has a dream tell the dream. But even more, let the one who has my gospel, my word, speak it! Speak it loudly! Speak it clearly! Speak it faithfully! No apologies! No excuses!
“In the name of the Father, and of the Spirit, and of the Son!” “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, god forgives us all!” “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit is yours!” It’s all proclamation! All promise!
“This is my body given for you! This is my blood shed for you!” “The Lord blesses you and keeps you! The Lord’s face shines on you with mercy and grace! The Lord looks with favor upon you! The Lord gives you peace!” Those are the things that make us us! The things that make us god’s! And without them, we’re unmade.
“Trusting in God’s extraördinary love …” That’s how the prayers will begin in a few moments. But that’s how we do anything, how we do everything, here in the church. We trust in god’s extraordinary love! We believe in god’s amazing grace! It’s not the gimmicks or the stunts or the ploys – it’s not, even, the dreams – that make church. That make and remake church. It’s the gospel! The goodNews of Christ! Promise proclaimed! Promise heard! Promise believed! Without that … without that, we’re just one more dreamer.
Let the prophet – the preacher – who has a dream, tell it! But let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully! Thus, saith the Lord!