Sermon - Mark 9:38-50 – You Are The Salt

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon - Mark 9:38-50 – You Are The Salt

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 30, 2012

In the first reading this morning we heard through Mark that Jesus' disciples have a concern. You will remember that last week they we concerned about which one of the disciples would be the greatest, and we found the necessity of prayer for Christian leaders to remain humble servants. Today their concern is about people in other groups who claim to be doing things in Jesus' name. Where do these people fit into the structure Jesus has created with the twelve disciples? The answer to this question will be crucial when the church is establish after Jesus' ascension to heaven. Would this church be controlled by the twelve? Or would it have a more decentralized structure? These questions still face us as we endeavor to do church in a rapidly changing world. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

For many years the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been structured like a multinational corporation. We have a corporate headquarters in Louisville Kentucky. We have a set of rules that governs us through our constitution. We have regional offices called presbyteries. And we have local branch offices called churches. Decisions are made at the top at the biannual meetings of the General Assembly, and we are told what to do. The goal is to make every Presbyterian church as identical as possible to every other Presbyterian church. Just as anyone can go into any McDonald's restaurant in the country and find identical food so too should anyone be able to go into any Presbyterian church and find nearly identical worship. This was the thought for the last hundred years or so.

But we have found that this structure does not work for church. Each community is different. The spiritual needs of people differ. What works for one group does not necessarily work for another. Worship that appeals to aging baby boomers may not be what their children and grandchildren need in a church. Needs differ. Tastes differ. People at different stages of spiritual development need to worship God in different ways. I have seen this right here in Pocomoke. My two churches worship using different styles. One church is more formal with a pipe organ and a choir dressed in robes. The other is forming a bluegrass band with guitars and mandolins. A top down one size fits all structure just doesn't work giving the diversity of Christians in America. We need a flatter, more decentralized structure that can better respond better to the spiritual needs of people.

In Mark 9 the disciples are concerned because someone outside of their group is casting out demons in Jesus' name. They had mistakenly thought that this activity was limited to them, and they expected to control it. But Jesus in not into control. He does not want a corporate structure on earth to dispense spiritual blessings. Rather he wants individuals, who have received the gift of faith and are filled with the Spirit to provide spiritual blessings for the people with no corporate control. Rather Jesus alone is in charge.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is just now realizing that a top down corporate approach does not work. For years we have tried to start new churches using a cookie cutter approach. Every church was started the same way. Find a growing area. Send in a pastor. Bring people together for worship. Develop stewardship. And build a sanctuary, fellowship hall, and Sunday school class rooms. This worked in the 1960s. But it doesn't work today. And now we find ourselves with declining churches and no good idea of what to do.

Last year I heard Darrell Guder, the editor of Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, speak to New Castle Presbytery. Dr. Guder said that the 20 something students at Princeton Theological Seminary are not interested in being a part of the corporate church with its top down mentality. They want to go into the world and make disciples. They want to start something new.

Pittsburgh Presbytery has accepted the challenge and has started several new worshiping communities. Two students at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary have started the Upper Room, a multiethic community in Pittsburgh. The House of Manna is a missional community that walks block to block and door to door bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone they meet. And you never know what will happen at Fountain Park Church. “On a given Sunday, you may hear an interview, view a video clip, participate in a small group discussion, visit a prayer station, or simply sit and worship from your seat.” http://www.pghpresbytery.org/new_churches/developments.htm

Our recent General Assembly, meeting in Pittsburgh, was so impressed with what is happening there they adopted a program to establish 1001 new worshiping communities in the next ten years. One such community is already operating here on the Eastern Shore. My wife's Crossroads International Fellowship is ministering to the spiritual needs of the people in downtown Princess Anne. She serves a full meal every Friday night and Sundays at noon. People come to be fed physically, and they find spiritual food as well. People who can't find work, are on drugs, are just out of prison and cannot support themselves come for a free meal, where they also receive the gospel message. Their lives are being transformed.

What is our reaction to something like that? We could say, “that's not Presbyterian”. “There are no pews.” “There is no session.” “They don't have a Minute Book or Register.” But Jesus would tell us that none of that matters. He is just not concerned with corporate structure. Rather all Jesus wants to know is whether or not this ministry is carried out in his name. And if it is he will bless it richly. Last week Crossroads had 49 people in worship, more than in either of my churches. What do you think Jesus is up to around here?

New Castle Presbytery is also about to try something new. An idea has been floating around. What if we offered newly graduated seminarians the following: We give them around $18,000 per years and health insurance. Then we send them out to form new worshiping communities. Maybe they find a church manse to live in or a host family to live with. They find the space and money they need to do the kind of ministry God is calling them to do. A host church provides them what they can in money, space and spiritual support. A seed is planted and we watch as God makes something grow. A validated ministry might result and we might ordain a new pastor. Maybe God gives birth to a new church.

Grace's Crossroads International Fellowship in Princess Anne is now at it own crossroads. The Manokin Presbyterian Church hosted them in their facility for a year, but then asked them to leave. For the last year they have operated out of a storefront church on Somerset Ave paid for with a grant from the Presbytery. And now they can receive tax exempt contributions as every church in the presbytery does. But their presbytery grant is running out, and contributions from the participants are not nearly enough to pay the rent and utilities of a couple thousand per month. They are writing applications for grants and would gratefully receive any contributions from fellow Presbyterians here on the Eastern Shore. For more information and ways that you can support this ministry please talk with Jimmy Holland, Dan Blair or Kenny Holland who serve on the Crossroads board.

So it is clear that Jesus does not want us to control ministries of his church. Rather he wants us to support those ministries operating in his name in any way we can. He put it this way:

Mark 9:41-50 ⁴¹ I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward... ⁴⁹ Everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

Salt is what makes something taste good. It is also a preservative that makes things last, You are called to be salt. You are to make new ministries taste good by helping them proclaim the good news of Jesus. And you are to help new ministries last long enough to accomplish the mission Christ has established for them. You are the salt of the new ministries Christ is establishing.

Let's pray. Lord in Heaven we pray for the new ministries started by the Presbyterian church and all such ministries established in your son's name. Help them to grow as they proclaim the good news of Christ to those who need to hear it. Help us to support them by being the salt that makes the proclamation taste good and helps the ministry to continue. Bless these new ministries and help us to learn from them how we can follow you here in our own communities. This we pray in your son's strong name. Amen.