Sermon: Jesus Shaped Community

John 17:20-26

Jesus Shaped Community

James Sledge                                                                                       June 2, 2019

As a pastor, I’m fascinated by how congregations work, what makes them tick. Fortunately for me, there are all sorts of research and books about this. One particular area of research focuses on how congregations have predictable behavior patterns based on their size, patterns that cut across denominational and theological lines

This research identifies four types of congregations labeled, from small to large, family, pastoral, program, and corporate,. Corporate church are very large and staff driven in the extreme. Nearly every program area is directed by paid staff with the pastor as CEO.

Program churches have similarities with the corporate, with a number of thriving program areas. But being smaller, lay leaders provide some of the program leadership, and pastors can’t be CEOs because they are often leading volunteers. In both program and corporate churches, people tend to join because of one of more of the many program offerings.

The pastoral church may have some strong programs, but its identity is focused very much on the pastor. Most have only one pastor, but if there is an associate, and that person visits a member in the hospital, the person may not think they been visited by the church.  And people tend to join or leave such churches because they like of dislike the pastor.

The final category is the family church. A lot of churches use the term “family” to describe themselves, but this category applies to only the smallest congregations. These churches literally function like families, often with a matriarch or patriarch who is the real power regardless of governing structure. The pastor, if there is one, is a kind of paid chaplain.

A lot of people assume that a small, family church would be the warmest and friendliest. In truth, they are the hardest to enter. Like real families, becoming part of one requires being born into it, marrying into it, or somehow getting adopted. You can get your name on the roll in the same way as in any church, but ten years later you will likely still be “the new guy” and not quite part of the family.

Now if you’re not fascinated with how congregations work, your eyes may be starting to glaze over. But want us all to think for a bit about what it is that creates a faith community, what it is that binds you to this congregation or to some other. What drew you to the church and what holds you there? What is it that makes you feel a part of it? How strong are the bonds that connect you? Would it be easy to leave if you were unhappy or would wild horses be unable to drag you away?

In the hours before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus prays for the community of faith. He prays for us. Our reading this morning is a small part of what is sometimes called Jesus’ high priestly prayer. Jesus prays for his disoriented and confused disciples, but he also prays for us. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.”

Jesus prays that we may all be bound together in community so that all are one, and goodness knows, churches try to build community. One of the things we heard from our home Renew groups was a desire for community. That’s why the very first Renew decision was to have an Escape Weekend this fall, and the overwhelming response confirms that many of us long for community. But what is it that creates community, that binds us together?

Very often, churches are not so different from others sorts of groups. We tend to seek unity by gathering with others who are like us. And so churches tend to be fairly homogenous, mostly white, mostly black, mostly Asian, mostly Hispanic. They also tend to reflect the divisions of our culture: liberal or conservative, rich or poor, working class or middle class, and so on. It even extends to cultural tastes. Some churches are all about white, Western, classical style music. Others prefer music rooted more in pop culture.

I suppose it’s only human that we would choose churches where the others there are like us. But what about the oneness, the unity Jesus prays for us? “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

I get that humans find comfort in being with others who are like them in some way, and so I suppose it inevitable that church congregations will often have a preferred music style, similar education levels, and similar cultural tastes. But if those things are the foundation of our unity, our sense of community, where is the unity Jesus prays for us?

I think the Apostle Paul experienced what Jesus prays for, and in his letter to the church in Galatia, he writes these famous lines. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Paul says that the big cultural divisions of his day don’t count anymore; they are wiped away. Now if Paul were writing in our time, the terms would likely be different. “There is no longer American or immigrant, there is no longer Republican or Democrat, there is no longer black and white, there is no longer classical and pop. All those things that divide us have been washed away, and you are one in Christ Jesus”

Perhaps it is inevitable that we humans will tend to cluster with others who are like us, but Jesus prays that the thing that most makes us alike is his indwelling presence, an intimate relationship with Jesus that mirrors the one Jesus has with the Father, something Jesus insists is possible through the Holy Spirit.

When people look at Falls Church Presbyterian, what do they see that defines us, that identifies us, that makes us a distinct community? Is it our music or some other program? Is it our building? Is it me or Diane? Is it our stance on certain issues?

Or is it Jesus, God’s love made flesh present here in us? That is what Jesus prays for. He prays that people will see God’s love, God’s presence here. And if Jesus prays for it, surely it could happen.