Created for Community: Faith vs. Belief
Matthew 16:13-20; Romans 12:1-8
Rev. Patricia D. Barth
August 21, 2005
In the old days, beginning during the Reformation and right up to a few years ago, faith was equal to belief; it was all intellectual; in the head. If you were a believer and a Protestant, then you signed on to a creed or a set of principles, and everyone was expected to believe the same. I grew up reciting the Nicene creed in every worship service-I know many of you did, too.
This is not to say that there's anything wrong with creeds-there is a lot of good testimony in them. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has a whole book of them, called the Book of Confessions. See http://www.pcusa.org/101/101-faith.htm to read the Brief Statement of Faith of the PC(USA). My own denomination, the United Church of Christ, also says creeds in worship occasionallyboth the Nicene and the Apostles Creed, and our own UCC Statement of Faith. But we also have a saying, Creeds are testimonies, not tests of faith. In other words, there is no requirement to believe one thing or another to worship at a UCC church. We celebrate the testimonies of faith contained in creeds, but are not bound by them. In fact, we believe that the church in every generation must re-state the faith for its own times.
The unfortunate result of the way some churches use creeds and a more intellectual faith is the exclusion of others who don't believe exactly the same. Some churches get to believe that only WE have the TRUTH. Only WE are the one true church.
A newer way of being church, the EMERGING CHURCH, actually picks up on an old, old idea going back to the very early church, that faith equals how we live in God, and in community. When we have faith, so the emerging church theology goes, we don't claim we have all the answers; instead, we live the questions. Faith means putting our trust in God. It means we rely on God.
In the emerging church, the Bible is believed to be deeply true but not necessarily factually true, and certainly not infallible.
In the emerging church, faith is a matter of heart, not of head. We answer the question, "What do you believe?" with feelings and stirrings of the heart, not with our intellect only.
We live our beliefs with our bodies, too-as St. Paul says, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." This does not self-flagellation, or other abuses of the body as practiced in the medieval church and sometimes today as well. We might think we are making a living sacrifice of our bodies when we worship in an un-airconditioned sanctuary, but St. Paul was talking about more than that!
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice means worshiping God in our walking and dancing and playing music. It means house cleaning and gardening are holy. It means we touch others with healing, not hurting; and we embrace others with companionship and acceptance, instead of pushing them away. It means we celebrate God's good gift of sexuality in committed relationships, instead of promiscuity.
Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am? Peter says, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."
Jesus asks us all, "Who do you say that I am?" In other words, what do you believe?
Our answer to this question is very important. Our theology shapes our life together in community. How we believe affects how we worship, how we proclaim the gospel, and how we go about our business of being church. In emerging churches, so long as we trust in God, and constantly seek God's will through prayer and scripture, it is perfectly OK to arrive at different beliefs, different interpretations of God's will. Do you see where I'm going here? Takoma Park Presbyterian is widely diverse, not just in race and ethnic background, but in politics, opinions, vocations, avocations; just about every possible way. And that's OK, if we can agree to place our trust and our affections in Jesus. If we don't have that common foundation in Christ, then diversity can become chaotic and hurtful.
I invite you to ponder this question in small groups-who is Jesus to you?
Here is one answer, from Rev. Tim Haut, a member of Midrash, an online Bible study and preaching group that I participate in: "You are life to me, Lord. My heart sings when I am with you. You are my waking and my rest, my beginning and my end. I am crazy about you, because without you I am nothing. When I walk under the sky in the morning, I see you in the sunlight and the waving grass. When I read the newspaper, you are hiding in every article I read, and my heart calls out to you when it hurts so bad I don't know what else to say except your name. When I hold my wife in my arms, I secretly whisper a thank-you to you. You are Christ, the Son of the Living God!" (See below for another one from Midrash, a poem written by the Rev. Thom Shuman, a Presbyterian minister.)
St. Paul says: "We who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually, we are members, one of another."
How can we best live our faith together, in community?
I'll leave you with that question, and another to ponder on your own-"What do we at Takoma Park PC know about Jesus that our neighbors need to know?" There are many hurting people out there who have never heard what life in Jesus is like, and it's our job to tell them.
Let us pray together:
Holy one, help us to live our faith, experiencing you, walking with you, and presenting our bodies to you as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you. May our life together in community also be holy and acceptable to you. Teach us through your mercy to communicate respectfully with each other; to seek your will and not our own; to love one another; and to offer hospitality to the stranger. May we remember that each of us, and all we meet, are your children and worthy in your sight.
We pray that we may not be conformed to the world, nor to our own cramped thoughts nor exalted opinions of ourselves. Instead, transform us! Renew our minds and hearts, so that we may learn what is good and acceptable and perfect. Amen.
on Monday,
i proclaimed you
a pest,
for constantly poking me in the soul
and saying:
'why aren't you . . .'
'did you see . . .'
'how come you didn't . . . ?'
on Tuesday,
i said you were a
'fool'
to imagine anyone
would take up a cross
and follow you;
on Wednesday,
i called you a name
(i won't repeat here)
for letting a gentle saint
be murdered in his church;
on Thursday,
i lament you as
BrokenHeart,
as your weeping brothers
cradle your sobbing sisters,
carrying them gently
into a shalom
not yet envisioned.
now
allow me to start over,
and simply say
you are
my Hope
my Comfort
my Guide
my Joy
my Savior
today,
yesterday,
and forever
.
Amen.
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(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman
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