There’s a particular prayer that our Bishop, Michael Curry, prays whenever he has gathered with people in the Diocese of North Carolina whether at local parishes, or with clergy gatherings or at diocesan convention.  The prayer is this:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

It may sound to you like a modern prayer, one composed in our own century, but in fact it comes from a collection of Catholic prayers dating from the 6th and 7th centuries.  This particular prayer appears in our Book of Common Prayer in liturgies or services where the larger Church is especially called together and gathered: on Good Friday, at The Great Vigil of Easter, and in the ordination services of bishops, priests, and deacons. 

The prayer is fitting anywhere that Christians are gathered, however, because it speaks so eloquently of God’s dream for the church and the world and of our own place in it.  It speaks passionately of the ultimate saving plan of God, and of our own place in God’s plan.  This prayer also fits alongside our Epistle reading today – the passage from Ephesians – which also speaks eloquently about what the Church is called to be in the here and now. 

Now, to do a little reality check, most of us have been going to church on and off throughout our lifetimes.  Some Sundays we come to church and, to be perfectly honest, we’re not much moved by anything – we can’t concentrate, we’re not in the mood, we’re irritated by a whole range of things from the sounds of other people talking when we’re trying to pray to the choice of music to the content of the sermon to the person sitting near us who we happen to be personally very annoyed with. 

We may come to church on these Sundays hoping we’ll get something out of the service, but we tend to leave with the same restlessness and irritableness we felt when we first sat down.  I’m not telling you anything you don’t know or haven’t experienced for yourself.  We’re all human, after all.

But we can take our occasional irritableness and notch it up to the point where it becomes spiritually dangerous, because in our modern day world, we’ve come to develop an unfortunate kind of “consumer mentality” about church.  The consumer mentality says that we’re not only supposed to get something out of church but that we’ve got the right to get something out of it.  And if we feel our needs aren’t being met, then we’ll just try the church down the street, or across town, or maybe we’ll just quit going to church altogether. For some people, sadly, the church isn’t much different than any retail establishment – if we don’t like the “customer service” we’re getting from the clergy and staff or if the “products” of liturgy and pastoral care aren’t satisfying us – than we’ll just take our business and pledge dollars to another church.  That kind of consumer mentality in regard to the church is flat out dangerous, and certainly would have appalled the writer of Ephesians.

The truth is that the church isn’t meant to serve us but rather that we’re meant to serve the church.  The truth is that the church isn’t about us or about what we need or want at all.  We don’t come to church in order to get something out of it; we come to church to give something to it.  And what we are to give is our love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, first, and secondly, our love and loyalty to each other.  Maybe church is the one and only place in our whole lives where we can say with certainty that it’s “not all about us.”  Maybe that comes as a relief to you.  Maybe you’re tired of a world that revolves all around you. 

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is like every other Christian church of any denomination – the head of the church isn’t the rector or the monsignor or the pastor or the senior minister – the head of the church is Jesus Christ.  It is Christ who calls us into this particular church with the understanding that when we join it we become part of something much greater and much more important than ourselves – we become part of the Body of Christ in the world. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

And in a complete reversal of the consumer mentality that looks for individual fulfillment, the church as the Body of Christ asks us all to put all our own needs aside for the sake of others.  We’re here to serve rather than be served.  We’re here to love rather than be loved.

Paul talks about very specific behaviors that characterize Christians – behaviors we have to ask God to help us learn because they are indeed counter-cultural and other-centered rather than self-centered.  We’re called to be here in this place with “all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  That pretty much calls us to re-think some of our attitudes about church, doesn’t it, and perhaps our attitudes toward each other.  How humble, gentle, patient, and loving are you feeling this morning?  And… do you think it will last through coffee hour? 

But Paul isn’t finished, still writing his letter, now making life in Christian community even more complicated.  He says we’re to share the gifts God has given us with each other, not because that’s a nice thing to do, but because it is through sharing those gifts that we grow into the likeness of Christ; the full stature of Christ.  The bottom line is that we come to church not to get something out of it, but to grow in Christ like-ness.  That ought to make us re-think and re-frame our intentions this morning!
And then Paul says that we need to be vigilant about staying centered and focused in Christ and not getting side-tracked by what he defines as non-issues.  “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…”

Think about all the issues in this church or in the wider church that you are personally upset about.  I can think of plenty; I know you can too.  Here’s a sampling: how we view scripture, positions about human sexuality, the war on terrorism, global warming and environmental issues, what the Vestry is up to these days, concerns about what money St. Andrew’s does or doesn’t have, what’s going to happen or not happen with the capital campaign, something a parishioner said or did or didn’t say or do…

Whew!  We can get pretty tied up with issues and concerns that blur our great and higher calling, that get in the way of loving God and neighbor, that keep us trapped with the kind of hardness of heart the gospel writer accuses the disciples of, even in the face of miracle after miracle.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom  all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

I hope that today we might recommit ourselves to our high calling, which is ours through Jesus Christ, which is ours through membership in the Church as the actual Body of Christ.  I pray that we might find our rightful place, our own spot;  our own vocation, in Christ’s ongoing work of love and reconciliation.  And I pray that we might all take a deep breath, letting go of our own issues, our own frustrations, and our own wants and needs and then breathe in the life-changing, life-giving, life-altering Spirit of God.  

And then, in the rest of our worship today, as we offer God our prayers and concerns, and as God offers us forgiveness for all the ways we fall short, and as we receive Christ into our own bodies through bread and wine, I pray that we might - even before the morning is over - to have grown a little more into the full stature of Christ, to have grown a little more Christ-like.  For that is why we are here.  

Amen.