FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

March 9, 2008

THE APOSTLES’ CREED:

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

Scripture: Mark 3:13-19; 12:28-34

INTRODUCTION

Having been privileged to serve as a pastor and an associate pastor in three great Presbyterian congregations over the past 36 years – counting both Sunday morning worship and many other seasonal and special services – my best guess is that I have stood up to confess The Apostles’ Creed more than 4,000 times.

Like so many of you, I have committed those ancient words to memory, and I think most of us hope and pray that the words we say hold significant meaning in our hearts and minds every time we repeat them.

It’s a similar process to saying The Lord’s Prayer which we learned as children…even though sometimes the words may get a little confused, as was the case with a four year old boy whose mother was a professor at Yale Divinity School and who thought The Lord’s Prayer began this way: “Our Father, who art in New Haven, how did you know my name?”

So too with The Apostles’ Creed, as we struggle to understand what the words really mean. And that is surely true with the phrase we explore today: “I believe in the holy catholic church.” Because no matter how many times we may have said those words, they continue to require more explanation, and a deeper sense of conviction as we try to live into them – those words we say every Sunday: “I believe in the holy catholic church.”

I

John Calvin, a founder of the Protestant Reformation and one of the fathers of our Presbyterian Tradition, once said “Wherever the word of God is preached and heard and the sacraments are rightly administered, there is the church” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book Four, Section 9)…and that is a good definition.

But the Greek word “ekklesia,” (the Latin version is “ecclesia”) from which our English word “ecclesiastical” comes, takes us to the heart of the biblical concept in the New Testament.

“Ecclesia” refers to “those who are called out by God” to be members of Christ’s body, the church, the Christian community of faith.

In the third chapter of Mark we read that Jesus called to Him those whom He wanted…and He appointed twelve whom He also named apostles, to be with Him and to be sent out to proclaim the message (Mark 3:13-14).

You see, those first apostles, followers, disciples of Jesus were the “ecclesia,” the foundation stones of the early church, and they were called out for a special purpose: to share the gospel and dare to live according to Jesus’ will and way.

So it still is today. The words in our bulletin say: “Ministers – all members of the church,” which means in our Reformed Tradition that pastors and elders and every church member have all been called by God to belong to the church, to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and to serve others in His name. We are, all together, “the ecclesia,” bound to one another through Christ’s life and love, His death and resurrection, and His vision for our ministry and our mission.

The first time I ever heard of that word “ecclesia” describing the church was during my first semester at Princeton Seminary in the fall of 1969. Dr. Hans Kung, probably the best known Roman Catholic theologian in the world at that time, had come to deliver a series of lectures about his book “The Church” which we were reading in class. In fact, I had just finished the chapter entitled “The Eschatological Community of Salvation” in which Dr. Kung referred to the “ecclesia” as those called out by God to be the church (pages 117-124).

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the evening presentation, but was invited to the reception afterward at the home of President James I. McCord. No sooner had I walked through the door when suddenly, there they were – Dr. Kung and Dr. McCord standing together with punch glasses in their hands. As our president introduced me to this world renowned scholar, Dr. McCord said “This is George Wirth, a first year student from Philadelphia. George, what did you think of the lecture tonight?”

Taking a deep breath, I replied “Dr. Kung, I am very interested in your concept of the ecclesia.” He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “That, young man, is in tomorrow’s lecture. I hope you will be there.” I don’t think Dr. McCord ever forgave me for that moment, even after I was invited to join the Board of Trustees. But I had actually told the truth – I was and still am and always will be interested in this concept of the ecclesia, because it means that you and I have been called to be here – not just in the church, but to be the church, the Christian community of faith on earth.

So in our worship and work, in our study and fellowship, in our caring and sharing, in our mission and ministry, we are the church – the “ecclesia,” those who have been called by God to belong to the Body of Christ.

II

Now building on that basic definition, The Apostles’ Creed uses two words to describe what kind of church the Lord intends for us to be, and the first word is “holy.” The Greek word is “hagios” and it means “set apart by and for God.”

That is the same word Peter used to describe the first century church, saying You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy (hagios) nation, God’s own people (I Peter 2:9). The old King James version of the Bible calls us a “peculiar people,” and although I can think, and so can you, of some very peculiar people whom we have known in a number of different churches, the real essence of this word “holy” – “hagios” – means to be “set apart by and for God in a right relationship with Him.”

Now, this is where we as Christians can set ourselves up for a lot of criticism. Because if we think that we are morally superior to others and convey a “holier than thou” kind of attitude, sooner or later, when we fall flat on our faces, that will create a negative point of view from those on the outside of the church looking in.

But the opposite is also true. For if we who belong to the church do not seek to live and to lead a holy life, then when others do come in, they are going to be greatly disappointed. That’s what C.S. Lewis was trying to tell us in his classic book “The Screwtape Letters,” where the devil is advising Wormwood, one of his tempters on earth, regarding a new Christian who is just coming into the church:

“When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with a rather oily expression on his face, bustling up to offer him a shiny little book containing a liturgy that neither of them understands…When he gets to his pew and looks round him, he sees just that selection of his neighbors whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors…At his present stage, he has an idea of ‘Christians’ in his mind which he supposes to be spiritual but which is, in fact, largely pictorial…

If the new Christian knows that the woman with the absurd hat is a fanatical bridge player, or the man with squeaky boots is a miser and an extortioner – then your task is much easier.” (“The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis, pages 11-14)

So, how are we to be holy Christians without hypocrisy, but instead with integrity and authenticity? Let me suggest that the key to holiness is humility, undergirded by daily prayer and Bible study, mixed together with the spiritual gift of joy. And if you want to know what that looks like in a person and in the church, her name was Margaret Fancher.

I was the new preacher from Pittsburgh in the early 1990’s, and Margaret was a Southern lady in her late eighties who welcomed me with open arms. Her beloved husband Jim had died some years before, and Margaret had decided to go on instead of giving up. She was highly intelligent, well-educated and knew many of the movers and shakers in this congregation and across the city.

But what set Margaret Fancher apart was her humility. She was the living example of what a person can accomplish when they don’t care about who gets all the credit. That humility was forged by her study of the scriptures and prayer, and those of us who spent time with Margaret were aware that the Spirit of Christ was alive in her heart, radiating from her eyes and reflected in her smile. Margaret Fancher was full of joy, and it was contagious to everyone around her.

I remember one of our last conversations, when she invited me to a mission conference at Montreat, suggesting that I could stay at her place. I said “Margaret, people might talk about that,” and without hesitation she replied, “Wouldn’t that be nice!”

The word is holy – “hagios” – and it means to be “set apart by and for God in a right relationship with Him.” That was true of Margaret Fancher, and so it can be for you and for me and for the church when the Spirit of Jesus is alive and at work in us, filling our hearts with joy and setting us apart to live according to the Lord’s will and way.

III

Now before we close, there is one other word in The Apostles’ Creed which describes the church and it is “catholic” with a small “c.” When we say every Sunday, “I believe in the holy catholic church,” some people are confused. They wonder: if we are Presbyterians connected to all the other protestant denominations, then why do we “pledge our allegiance to the catholic church?”

The answer is easy enough, because the Greek word “katholikos” simply means “universal.” So as we affirm our faith, we are saying that we belong to a world-wide community of Christians which numbers more than two billion believers on earth.

Today, there are three branches of the Holy Catholic Church: Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox. And shooting off from those branches are more denominations and smaller sect groups than anyone can number – more than 600 here in America alone. Each branch and every offshoot has developed their own doctrines and dogmas, their own liturgies and forms of government – all of that to undergird and strengthen their individual points of view.

I think we can understand how this has happened. Christians, living in different parts of the world and coming from different cultures, have established their own traditions. God did not make us all to think alike, to look alike or to be exactly alike. Diversity is actually part of God’s plan for the church.

But what is difficult to understand is how the branches and denominations of the holy catholic church have lost sight of our unity as the Body of Christ and allowed walls to divide us, schisms to separate us, and theological battles to break apart the chain that once linked us all together.

There is a legend which says that Jesus entered a room where an ecumenical meeting of church leaders was being held. He looked at the clergy sitting around the table and said “A new commandment I give to you, that you should love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Methodist asked “Is it moral?”

The Roman Catholic inquired “Is it sacramental?”

The Episcopalian wondered “Is it liturgical?”

The Baptist wanted to know “Is it Biblical?”

The Lutheran said “Is it Reformed?”

The Pentecostalist spoke up “Is it ecstatic?” and

The Presbyterian queried “Is it decent and in order?”

And the legend says that Jesus shook His head as He left the room and said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

I hope and pray that all of us will be forgiven someday for the divisions that have come between us as members of the holy catholic church. It may not happen this side of heaven. But as long as we are still here on earth, there is work to do and a witness to make to the world. The holy catholic church, with all of its imperfection, is still the greatest force for good on this planet. And Jesus’ great commandment, that we should love God and love our neighbors as ourselves continues to be the watchword for all who call Him Lord and Savior. He said it was the greatest commandment of all.

CONCLUSION

I’ve told you before about a photograph that I carry in my sermon folder every Sunday. One of you brought it to from North Georgia – a picture you took of a roadside church with a sign out front that says: “The Independent Solid Rock Baptist Church Associated With Jesus Christ.” I love this picture because it says something that is true. I don’t know who these people are, I don’t know how they worship, I don’t know their form of government, I don’t even know the name of their preacher, but I am linked to them and so are you as the Body of Christ on earth. We belong together.

So whether we worship in great cathedrals or roadside chapels, whatever race we come from or region we live in, regardless of our theological persuasion or the color of our skin, as Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, we are bound to one another by the love and grace, the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the Church, and the Hear and Soul and Center of our life together.

There is one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and in all and working through all of us – the Body of Christ on earth. That is who we are, and that is what it means to say “I believe in the holy catholic church.”

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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