Signposts: A Reflection on The Church with Pastor Ryan Braley

Today I was gonna launch that series, but we thought now I wanna give a reflection on the church.

We've been around.

This church has been around for 75 years, so I wanna give a few thoughts on what I think the church is up to and doing and being, and we are calling for the future, which is actually an ancient calling, actually.

But before I do, I wanted to share this hilarious story I saw online the other day.

There were two lads in Dublin and they were digging a hole in the beach in Dublin.

Anybody see this story?

This is hilarious, yeah.

So these two bros are out there digging a hole, just a giant hole.

You know, like guys often do, we just get bored.

We dig holes because why not?

And anyway they leave.

And here's what it looked like when they were all done.

It's a giant hole and they thought it'd be funny to put a big rock in the bottom of the hole just to kind of trick people that might be walking by there or maybe not the brightest bulbs in the drawer, like we'll put a rock in the bottom to trick folks into thinking this is like a meteor, thinking no one's gonna fall for that.

Well, they did fall for it A couple days later some guy comes wandering out and sees this giant hole with a rock in the bottom and thinks, oh my gosh, we've been hit by a meteorite.

So he calls the news and the news shows up and it draws all this attention and they start coming out like this is incredible, a meteor has really landed in Dublin, ireland, and it made this massive hole, this other like otherworldly, like planetary cosmic event.

Bbc shows up, there's a whole article and right up there's a program on the news program that night.

There's a whole story about this meteor that lands in Dublin.

And then this guy shows up, an archaeologist, and here's his analysis.

He says this oh yeah, there's a scorch mark on the side.

Here you can see it.

So that may have been the angle it came down into the atmosphere.

And he's giving you his scientific knowledge.

It's so funny.

We're definitely gonna find out what its composition is.

All the while it was these two dudes that just dug a hole on the sand man.

I laughed so hard.

That is so funny for me for many reasons and it got me thinking about the church, if I can digress, or actually not digress, if I can sort of you know, transition here, because here, I think, is if I can be so bold or brave to offer an indictment of the church.

See, in this story people thought that this was like an other worldly, other planetary occurrence, when all the while it was just an ordinary rock, like every other rock that you've ever seen.

And I think if the church has one maybe issue and there's probably lots of issues because we're human beings so we get that but like one issue, it's that the church and this is my thesis.

So if you hear nothing else, hear this.

The church is supposed to be a signpost that points to another way of being a human.

The church's job is to be a signpost pointing up.

By the way, you like my 75 down here.

That was a total accident, but thank you to the person who gave me those signs.

I can't say who it was because they may have been attained illegally.

I cannot confirm or deny that.

Sometimes I just don't ask.

It's better not to ask.

Either way, this is the church's job to be a signpost of some other worldly realm, a different empire, a different kingdom, and we're gonna be as clear as day.

But too often we look like just any other social organization or club out there, just an ordinary gathering of people.

There's a guy called Jake Meadier who wrote an article in the Atlantic not too long ago.

I don't know if anybody read this article.

It was about why people don't go to church anymore and if you haven't been paying attention, if you live under rock.

People by the millions have stopped going to church for a couple of decades, jake suggests, and actually I think it goes back further Because around the reformation or the Enlightenment, or the scientific revolution there's lots of reasons for this and we can unpack it over coffee or a burrito if you want, but I'm fascinated by this idea.

But around 500 years ago the culture totally shifts and changes.

500 years ago and beyond that, the church was at the center of culture, had a lot of influence.

Everybody, it seemed, went to church.

Everybody believed in God.

It was an anomaly to not believe in God or the transcendent or the spiritual.

Everybody did.

And around the reformation, the Enlightenment and around that time Things began to shift and nowadays you'll meet lots of folks who don't believe in the transcendent, Only believe in the material world all around them, don't go to church and the church itself has seemingly Lost its centrality in the culture, in the community, in the neighborhood.

My daughter the other day was just lamenting the fact we were somewhere after it was and the place closed on Sunday at like 12 o'clock.

It's like it's closed, it's Sunday, why aren't they open?

I go well, you know, babe, back in the day, you know everything closed on Sunday.

Remember those days back in the day, and she goes what?

Nothing was open.

Yeah, she was.

What did everybody?

Do you sit around all day?

Yeah, it was called rest.

We like it was nice.

You know Now things I mean it's unheard of be closed on a Sunday, but those days are long gone and I'm not harkening backs with some sort of nostalgia, just let you know.

Those days are long gone and the church no longer holds this place of influence in the culture.

It really doesn't, and there's all kinds of reasons for that.

And Jake suggest or he actually writes about the American church that in the last Three decades, 25 years or so, 40 million people have decided to stop going to church.

And this probably lots of reasons why.

But what he suggests is this and I want to offer you why Reasons why I think it's still compelling to be a part of the church.

But he suggests that the way the American life is structured that there's just no room for the church any longer.

Here's what he writes.

He says this the underlying challenge for many People is that their lives are stretched like a rubber band.

Can I get an amen?

There's a lot going on in our lives today.

They're about to snap and the church attendance feels like an item on a checklist.

It's already too long, but here's the catch.

He suggests if the church offered something different, if indeed the church was a signpost of another realm, a Pointing to a different way of being human, that would be something else.

But he thinks the church has lost that capacity to do that.

Here's what he says, he writes.

The tragedy of the American church this is his take on it is that they have been so caught up in the same world.

Some of our church's friends look a lot like any other social organization.

We look like the world, we're like an ordinary rock that we now find they have nothing to offer.

Some churches, he would argue, have nothing to offer people because they're not in fact signposts, but they've nothing to offer these people who are suffering, and that something that can't be found more easily somewhere else.

So he's in the church really in many ways just offering the same kinds of flat or shallow things that the world has to offer.

Then he says this Too often it's not been a community that, through its preaching and it's living, bears witness to another way to live.

The implication is, if the church becomes a signpost Through its preaching and it's living, its songs, our mission are outwardly focused selves the way we live and be or are If we, if we do that and we bear witness to another way to live.

That is a compelling image and vision of the church, which does raise the question like what is the church, what are we doing and how do we handle this cultural shift right now that we're in, where church is no longer the sort of hub of society or culture, its influence in some ways has waned.

People don't trust institutions in general anymore.

What is the church?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

I've got a couple of things to say about it.

First, is this going back to the New Testament?

In the Greek, the original word for church is this word, the word eklasea Everyone say eklasea.

Beautiful, it's really a combination, that's a compound word, of two other Greek words, and the words are kaleo everyone say kaleo and the word ek awesome, it means to call out the church.

The eklasea is the ones who've been called out and it connoted this idea of assembly.

I think they have that too for me, sarah.

Right, there we go.

It's an assembly of people who've been called out of their homes into the public realm or the public sphere and they've been called out and they gather generally, the eklasea, an assembly.

They gather to discuss or attend to sort of issues or needs of the city in public spaces.

They tend to the city affairs.

Well, which city?

Well, it's easy, whichever city those people thought of themselves as citizens of.

So people in the eklasea and the assembly this is in sort of as we use it as a church, but also like a political sense are folks who gather to tend to the needs of the city of which they're citizens of.

That makes sense.

So which city are they citizens of?

Also note this that this idea of eklasea assembly, gathering that Jesus uses, that the early church uses this idea wasn't something they invented.

It's actually a pointing back to the Hebrew, the Israel story.

In the Hebrew the word used for assembly is the word kahal.

Everyone say kahal.

So, for example, in the book of Numbers there is this when they would gather the people of God for worship.

It was hey to gather the assembly.

That word is kahal, and in the septuagint, which is actually a new test, or it's a Greek translation of the Old Testament they use, they translate kahal into eklasea.

It's the same kind of word, or they're trying to draw a parallel between these words.

So to gather the assembly, the people of God, to come and worship, here's how you do it blow the trumpets.

So the people of God in the New Testament, so the Jesus followers of the early church they weren't inventing some new concept.

They're using this idea, this hebraic understanding of the people of God gathering around the temple, the worship of God, and this is what I think is behind the Jesus movement of the church.

So they're actually tying in this Jesus movement and all the apostles and the early church to this ancient hebraic, jewish understanding of worshiping God, which is beautiful.

So they're connecting themselves to the Israel movement and these ones that would gather.

In the New Testament, after Jesus goes through with the father, they begin to gather, they begin to assemble as the eklasea, and here, at least early on, is what they do.

So here's what they do in Acts, chapter two.

So they devote themselves to the apostles' teachings, which, of course, centered around Jesus and his teachings, his life, his ministry, his death and resurrection, and to the community.

They dedicate themselves to the community, to each other, to those who are outside the villages around themselves.

They devote themselves to that and they break bread.

Can I get an amen from all the bread lovers in the room and a prayer?

All the believers were together, so they were together, not in isolation.

They were together and they had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to those in need, so it would help each other.

If you need something, I got you.

You need shoes, I got some extra shoes, I'll help you out.

You've got some extra lettuce?

I need some lettuce help me out.

They would help each other out by sharing their things and every day they continue to meet together.

Every day, in the temple courts, they brought bread in their homes, ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily All those who were being saved.

Now I'm gonna say this, and this isn't rocket science, but clearly the church we think.

What is the church?

The church is quite simply a bunch of people.

That's what it is primarily and first and foremost.

A bunch of people Look around, look around, go ahead, look around.

You're like is this a trick?

I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

This is the church A bunch of folks who are called out from their homes, who gather together in an assembly, who tend to the needs or the ideas of the city.

Which city?

Well, of course, elk River, but also the city that we all see ourselves as citizens of, which I'll come to in just a moment.

But we're a gathering and we have these practices around the apostles' teachings.

We break bread, we share what we have in need or what needs we have with each other to help each other out, and we gather around the teachings of Jesus.

Also, there's this Peter suggests that you're not just an ordinary person.

He actually calls you a priest.

Check it out first.

Peter says this but you're a chosen people, a royal priesthood how about that?

And you thought you were having a bad hair day, but not too bad A holy nation, god's special position, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful life.

You, my friends, are a royal priesthood.

Now, in Israel, only a few selected people were chosen or born into the priesthood.

Not so with Christianity, and Christianity all belong to the priestly order.

The ministry of the priesthood is shared by all.

So, okay, let's see how well you've been paying attention.

Raise your hand.

If you share in the ministry of the priesthood this morning, okay, wonderful, all your hands should be up.

That's a big deal.

You belong in the ministry of the priesthood.

This ministry of the priest belongs to you.

That's what you're doing.

It's who you are, which means this the church and this again, not rocket science is, first and foremost, not a building.

It's not a land, it's not a budget, not an online presence, not a bunch of staff or salaries.

Those things are all maybe part of things that we do or have, but that's not what the church is first and foremost.

We are a bunch of people who gather together and have these certain practices.

Are you with me?

So the great early theologian Hippolytus says it this way.

He says this it's not a place, the church or no, it's not a place.

It's called the church, not a house made of stones and earth, though we get confused sometimes but it's the holy assembly, the ca-hall, the ecclesia of those who live in righteousness, just a bunch of people gathering together, called out of their homes to gather together, which means this friends, we could lose everything.

We could lose our building.

I love this building, don't get me wrong, it's a great building.

I love it and I don't wanna lose it.

We could lose the land it's built on.

Staff might come and go.

We could lose our denominational affiliation.

We're not going to, I'm just saying we could.

We could lose our Lutheran doctrine of theology.

We could lose even further our influence in society, and the church would still be just fine.

Are you with me?

The church would be just fine.

Sometimes we're so afraid of losing all these things, and I'm with you because, look, I'm a part of the institution.

But that isn't what the church fundamentally is.

We're really a gathering of people, the church.

Also in Ephesians and in other places it's called the body of Christ.

How about that?

And it means a lot of things, but one of the things it does means that you are the body of Christ.

Somehow, metaphysically, even this worldly, you're the body of Christ.

So here's what Ephesians says.

Here's how he writes it Paul, he's put all things under his feet and has made him Christ the head over all things for the church.

So Christ is the head of the body.

If you can imagine a body and you, the church, look around again.

Look around, go ahead.

You, the church, you're the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Here's how Teresa of Avila writes it because you are the hands and feet of Jesus.

This is sort of one way to put it.

She writes this Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours and no feet but yours but yours.

You as the church's gathering of people who've been called out of their homes.

You are the hands and the feet of Jesus.

You are to point to another way of being a human that's centered around the life, death, teachings and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You're to be a signpost.

This is your calling Today, tomorrow morning, when you're at work, tomorrow afternoon, when you're at school, when you're at the gym, when you're driving in traffic.

Be careful of this one.

When you're in traffic, you're a signpost.

Careful who you flip the bird to.

Actually, just don't flip the bird to anybody.

You're a signpost not to be a given.

You're a signpost.

If you do flip the bird, just apologize.

Here's how Paul writes it.

I want you to see it again.

Check this out.

Paul writes this.

So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens.

Quickly, you're citizens and your primary citizenship.

So, when we gather together in the assembly and we tend to the ideas and the needs of the city, which city?

The city which we're citizens of and that, for Christians, primarily, is the kingdom of God, now, yes, you're a citizen of Elk River or surrounding area, one of those Rogers, zimmerman, Princeton, wherever you come from awesome, that's great.

Praise God, be from there and be proud of it.

I love Elk River.

It's great.

I live here, I work here, I shop here.

Hopefully, I see all of you around here.

It's wonderful.

We live in Minnesota great, awesome.

I love Minnesota.

The winters are the best.

I do love them.

They're really a lot of fun.

And we live in the US great America, wonderful.

There's so many blessings about living in this place and we're a part of this global community and a global citizenship wonderful.

But, friends, our primary citizenship is not of any of these places.

First and foremost, we are citizens of the kingdom of God, do you understand me?

And there's an upside down way of living as a citizen of the kingdom of God and it centers around Jesus.

So the politics that we should concern ourselves with hold on now primarily should be that of the kingdom of God.

So, as we argue about other things, and that's fine too, be involved politically, that's great because we're part of these places, but primarily, friends, we are citizens of the kingdom of God.

Secondarily, you're from all other kinds of cities and places and so on, but we're citizens.

In fact, in 1 Peter, peter says that we are resident aliens, that we live here, but we're like, we're sort of from somewhere else and our values, our instructions, our ways are from somewhere else.

In fact, in the early part of the first century or, excuse me, second century, third century, there was a letter like an apologetics letter that went out to a guy called Diogenetus.

That sort of explains the practices of the early Christians.

And here's what he writes about these early Christians.

He says this hey, these Christians, they live in their own countries, but only as aliens.

They have a share in everything as citizens and also endure everything as foreigners.

Every foreign land is their fatherland and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land.

They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I don't mean like somewhere else and some ethereal or ephemeral or like you know place that's out in the clouds with angels playing harp.

I don't mean that.

I mean there's another order, the rule and reign of God.

That looks nothing like this world in many ways, and we don't want to just escape here and go there.

That's sort of escapist theology and not really what the Bible says.

Rather, jesus said may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

May your kingdom, your rule and your reign, your way of doing things, be done here on earth as in heaven.

Our job then, literally, is to bring the kingdom of God and live in tune with it, here and now, in this place and in this time, not to escape, to go somewhere else, but to be here and live in this other, because our citizenship is from heaven, where God reigns and God rules.

The people of God, then us, are to live as though we belong to another empire.

We function and live differently.

We live by different code of ethics, different rules.

It centers around Jesus, who is the cornerstone or signposts.

So then, oh, pull up Ephesians two again for me, would you please, sarah.

So okay, citizens, that's what we are, and then around Jesus himself, who's the cornerstone.

And then he calls the people look at this, the whole other join together and grows into a holy temple of the Lord.

What Paul is doing here is quite radical.

He's calling the people of God, those who gather around Jesus, bunch of followers, bunch of people.

He calls them the temple.

Now, for you and me, we're like, oh no big deal.

But imagine, this is the first second century where the temple was a building, a structure.

It was the hub of all things religious.

It was the hub for social life, cultural life, for the Jewish people.

And now Paul's saying oh, that's no longer the temple.

You guys who have centered your lives around Jesus, you're the temple.

What Paul made a lot of people angry or confused or excited, because the temple was the place where God dwelt.

The presence of God lived in the temple I just spit all over the place, excuse me and the temple was also the place where heaven and earth met.

So guess what that's you now?

You are the embodiment of the spirit of God and in you, somehow, even though you only got four hours of sleep last night, you are the place where heaven and earth collide and meet.

God makes his home takes up residence in you and in the hearts and the lives of the people who gather together in the assembly, the ecclesiae, that call the church, dedicating themselves to Jesus.

This is Paul's breathtaking new vision of the community of God, and this is what the church is and what we do and how we live and function in Christ.

The temple has been replaced by the community of God's people.

That's dramatic and wonderful.

That's us, and our job is to be signposts of another world or to point to another way of being human.

So NT Wright says it this way.

He says God's people are called to be people who live in a different way, exhibiting the curious and often confusing way of Jesus.

By the way, if you don't know what the way of Jesus is, I got you, I get it.

Open your Bible to Matthew, mark, luke and John.

He called these, of course, the Gospels.

Read them and watch how Jesus behaves, how he treats people in power, those with no power, those on the margins, those who are in the middle.

Watch how he treats everybody and how he lives and what he's doing.

Read Matthew five and then, when you get to the end of all of that, all four Gospels, read them again and then read Matthew five again, and then read the Gospels again and read it over and over again.

This is the way of Jesus we've been invited into.

So we often exhibit the curious and confusing way of Jesus in the midst of the world, which does kingdom in a different way.

The world does kingdom with arrogance and pride and power and abuse, retribution and, most distinctively, without regard for the other.

And Jesus says let it not be so among you.

The church should be different, we should look different and smell different and offer a different way of life, and that my friends will always be compelling, and if we do that, that people will come, or if not, we'll go to them.

This is the vision of the church that I always, to this day, and even if I wasn't a pastor, even if I wasn't being paid, I would come and say I want to be a part of that.

This is what the church is.

And, by the way, this church Central has been doing these kinds of things for a long time.

For example, in 1951, the ladies aid was launched with nine members and their mission was to do the will of the Lord, promoting his work of his kingdom.

And they did various fundraisers to furnish the church but also to support local ministries that were doing outreach in the area.

I love that.

In 1953, young six-year-old Diana K or Diane K Olson was hit and killed by a car and the church rallied around her family in the community, held a service for her and her VBS classmates sang two songs in her honor.

Why?

Because that's what the church does we rally around each other in times of suffering and pain.

In 1979, central, along with 12 other churches, helped found care, community aid, elk River to help be a food shop and to provide food for those who need food in the area.

Why?

Because that's what the church does and the kingdom of God, nobody should be without food.

So Central started, along with other 12 other churches, care.

Also, in the fall of 1979, members participated in a 20 kilometer 20K for hunger in the Appalachia and the Employment Assistance and Support Program Ministry began in 1983.

Also in the 70s, central began to support a couple called Mark and Peggy Jones and their family who moved to Ghana to transit the Bible with Wycliffe.

In 1986, pat Basinger organized what they called the Natruvou Well Project to build wells in Ghana.

Why?

Because fresh and clean water can transform a community.

So let's go build a well.

Cool, that's what the church does.

In 1994, the it Takes a Village to Raise a Child was adopted as Central's main theme and reminded folks of the prominence of children.

I think we've done well in honoring that legacy.

I told these girls up here a minute ago I go, I love that you're up here dancing during worship, it's great.

It's great Because Jesus, I let the little kids come.

So kids will always be welcome at Central and our job is to mentor, love, coach, teach and bless all the kids in this area and in the surrounding areas, even when they're not very nice, okay.

Also, central has tirelessly and endlessly worked with our brothers and sisters in Tanzania to build wells, an elder care home, to sponsor young people as they go to school, to help them get an education, and many other projects in Tanzania.

We've raised money for the 9-11 victims back in September 11th, back in 2001.

We have had long-standing mission to Mazatlum, mexico.

We're Jim and Linda here.

They were here earlier I think, but we're Jim and Linda are going back down there.

We're doing missions in Mazatlum.

We've had befriended ministries, grieve, shared divorce care.

Young 13-year-old Andy Hawkins died.

It was my first funeral I ever did.

She had a brain tumor when I was the youth pastor here and she died and I had no idea what was happening and why this happened.

We prayed over her and she died anyway.

But I saw the church gather around her mom, patty, and her sister and her brother and love on them, bring them casseroles, take care of them, provide food and care and prayer, and I was so proud of what the church did for them.

Apartment fire there was an apartment fire next door.

I don't remember.

Back in the early aughts, this apartment fire, this apartment complex caught fire and Central reached out.

Actually, a number of folks in the community didn't why?

Because that's what the church does and there are endless ways in which this church and the church has blessed the world orphanages, universities, hospitals, lots of ways and that is a compelling vision of the church that I will never let go of.

So here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna respond in prayers and singing and as we do, we're gonna ask yourself and ask God what do you want us to do next?

What should these next 75 years look like, individually and collectively?

What are we doing?

Where are we going?

How can we be the hands and the feet of Jesus in real time and real place, offering a compelling vision of another way to be human.

So, central, may you know that you are a real priesthood, you've been called out and you embody the spirit of God, you're the new temple and you are a proclamation of the gospel wherever you go.

And so go and love, and love deeply, and when you get it wrong, which we will make it right, and ask for forgiveness and ask for what you saw Ben do like the cleansing work of the spirit in your life.

And may you go and be the church, amen.