Text: Matt 16:13-20
13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Sermon: Passing On the Keys
How do we get people to join the church? This has been the question asked for years in this congregation. We remember the days when church growth was easy – almost automatic and certainly required very little on each member’s part to grow membership. We ask how do we gain members, how do we increase giving? Vital questions, yes, and questions many congregations are asking now days.
This week I was asking myself these same questions and I went to the pew research forum website to look at church attendance trends, to look at what is important to younger generations in regards to religion – yes, even younger than me, and the results I found were interesting. There seems to be an almost opposite approach to being religious in people ages 18-29 then in people 70 and older. And, when I say opposite, I mean opposite. We can think that having a low importance on actually attending worship weekly is just wrong, but the reality is that this is what people in the younger age groups think. But, the importance in being religious falls in other places. It falls in prayer and not being what they would consider hypocritical because in their minds when Jesus says love your neighbor that really means love everyone. Homosexuality, legal status, age, gender, color of skin, occupation, being addicted to drugs… it doesn’t matter because we are called to love everyone and there is frustration in the fact that the church is spending so much time arguing about who we should include in this love and who we should keep away from it or “fix” so they are proper enough to deserve it. The younger generation places more emphasis on social justice and mission trips than they do on social clubs and formal bible study. (Allison Pond, Gregory Smith, & and Scott Clement, 2010) This does not mean that people don’t want to come to church any more – it means that the church we are offering them is not the church they can see themselves attending.
This means for us, we need to change our focus. In today gospel text Jesus is asking his disciples to help others do that. When he ask, “who do people say the messiah is” the answers are all pointing to the religion of the past. Elisha, such and such prophet, John the Baptist, they say. People are use to thinking this way – it’s normal for them, of course these people are on the list of who the messiah truly is. But, then Jesus pushes and asks, “well, who do YOU say I am?” Jesus is asking the next generation how they view things – he is asking the next group that will spread the word of God and they declare that he, Jesus, is Christ, Jesus is the chosen one. Jesus is looking toward a time he would no longer be with his disciples; he is getting them ready for ministry without him. He trust they will be ready and he trust they will continue the ministry. After Jesus ask them who do you say I am and he hears the response he knows that he does not need to worry that other things will replace what is vital to sharing the Good News, and that is “Jesus is Lord!”
When Jesus heard this, you are Christ, you are the one – Jesus, you are Lord – he knows he has to move them forward. He informs them that he will build the church through them – in fact, Peter is the Rock and he tells them that he is handing the keys over to them. Two pretty powerful images and images that speak to us today. When we talk about the church we are most often referring to this building and the people that come to worship in this building. I’m going to church, this is my church, what hymn’s are we singing in church today? This was not the reality for Jesus, church was not associated with a building and I find it interesting that he use building images to talk about what the future ministry was going to look like. He used rocks and keys to talk about handing the ministry over.
I am not going to beat around the bush this week. For the last two weeks my sermons have been preparing us as a congregation for some serious conversations and right after worship we will have our first opportunity to hear more about what the Turnaround Team and the Council have been talking about and praying about. Two weeks ago my sermon gave the image of a sinking boat. I talked about how we have to weather the storm that is ahead and we have to reach the shore of change because our current boat is no longer there. Then, last week, the sermon focused on the ease of being church in the 1950s and early 1960s because church was expected and people fit into nice little boxes. I said that is no longer the case and if we as a congregation are going to be successful in turn around we have to think outside of the box. And, over the last 4 weeks a group of people have met to talk about a book that helps with grief and some of us are realizing that we are grieving the church of the Post WWII ear. The problem is that while the church grieves the death of this post-war culture, Gen X and Millennial Culture are quickly passing us by. In our grief for a culture we knew and loved, we are missing the ones that are right before us. Worse, the way we express our grief makes it sound to these folks as if their cultures — their passions, concerns, ways of relating and communicating — are just tattered remnants of what used to be this once great and glorious culture. Not so. Yes, each culture carries the remnants of previous ones, but they take those remnants and make them into something new. Each generation, each culture has its own authentic culture and expressions of faith. And we wonder why youth don't stay, and we can't attract young adults to our churches.
Culture isn't killing us. Right now, our grief is. Despite our grief, we must engage culture on its own terms. If we don't, we'll grieve our way to more empty pews and closed churches. If we do, it may not save us, but I believe we'll find an invitation and opportunity for something new to happen — both in us and in our churches. I know many of us are grieving, but we have work to do — good, hopeful, challenging, and exciting work. (Anderson, 2011)
So, this week, I am adding to this series of conversation and sermons and I am telling you that Jesus gave the keys of the church to Peter and he expects those keys to be passed on. Peter did amazing things when he had the keys. He built the church. He spread the Good News to unknown places – but even Peter didn’t live forever and he had to pass the keys on at some point. Paul receives the keys; Cornelius received the keys to share the good news with the Gentiles. Over a century later Martin Luther received the keys as he struggled to pass the keys on by translating the Bible and putting the word of God into the hands of the people. Missionaries passed the keys to locals because they will know what key is going to fit into the lock. Our parents handed the keys down to us and it is our job to pass the keys onto the next generation and trust that they will hand the keys on to the people that follow them.
Now, it’s our turn. We are holding onto the keys of ministry for the Albany Park and Mayfair Neighborhoods. Well, more particularly we are holding the keys of having a Lutheran presence in these two neighborhoods. We have held the keys for 80 years – many of you remember when the rock that this church was built on was laid but the reality is that we can’t continue to clutch the keys and hold on to them for much longer.
After the service we are going to talk about these keys and what our duty is with them – but we can’t keep them anymore. Or numbers are low, our funds are dwindling, there is no outreach, participation is nearly non-existent in activities that promote ways to build up disciples. It hurts to think about it, it’s scary to talk about this – but it is time to hand over the keys. However, we do get to decide how that will be done. We get to decide how we will be the best stewards of everything you all worked so hard to maintain and build here in the name of Christ, we will talk about how this is the best way to be mission focused.
There is a press release on the ELCA website that states: “In the United States the Lutheran Church is often considered an immigrant church. Of the 41 new congregations the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is starting in 2010, more than half are among immigrant populations.
Of the 41 new starts, 15 are among the working poor, 23 are middle class and 3 are upper-middle class. Thirty-nine percent are located in suburban locations, 37 percent in urban and 24 percent in small-town rural areas.
The large number of new starts for 2010 among immigrant people "reflect a biblical image of the church, not so much as a welcoming church but rather a church in the world in search of welcome," said the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, executive director, EOCM.
"Jesus showed up mostly as a guest, as someone who was vulnerable," said Bouman.
"In the Gospel of Luke he sent his disciples and the 70 out into the world. They traveled light (and) didn't even take bread with them, because Jesus wanted them to be welcomed at the kitchen tables of those he loved," he said.
"I see our outreach to immigrants this way. It is not so much opening the doors and windows of our shut-down churches afraid of their neighborhoods. Rather it is a venturing out, a seeking and, by God's grace, receiving a welcome at the tables of our new neighbors," said Bouman.” (ELCA)
The large number of new starts for 2010 among immigrant people "reflect a biblical image of the church, not so much as a welcoming church but rather a church in the world in search of welcome," said the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, executive director, EOCM.
"Jesus showed up mostly as a guest, as someone who was vulnerable," said Bouman.
"In the Gospel of Luke he sent his disciples and the 70 out into the world. They traveled light (and) didn't even take bread with them, because Jesus wanted them to be welcomed at the kitchen tables of those he loved," he said.
"I see our outreach to immigrants this way. It is not so much opening the doors and windows of our shut-down churches afraid of their neighborhoods. Rather it is a venturing out, a seeking and, by God's grace, receiving a welcome at the tables of our new neighbors," said Bouman.” (ELCA)
This is where the future of the church is – this is where the keys need to be handed to. And, just take a walk in this neighborhood to know that we are living in one of the most diverse areas in the United States. The keys must be handed over to the next generation and to the next group of people and if we are unable to do it though our own ministry then we have to hand the keys over though other means – our assets and this building, this rock. We have done amazing ministry with the keys that were handed to us – and we can continue to do amazing ministry, but allowing the next group to take hold of the keys and continue the ministry. That ministry might not look exactly like ours, that ministry will probably have its own bumps along the way, that ministry might not be what we expected the future ministry of this congregation to look like, the new ministry might have different values they use to share the Good News, but it is our ministry to pass on the keys and trust that one value of the future ministry will remain the same and that value is that Jesus is Lord. That they will declare that Christ is savior, Christ is the messiah. Just like Peter did and just like the people he handed the keys to did. Just like Martin Luther did and just like the people he passed the keys down to did. And, just like you all did and I know that whoever receives these keys will shout from the roof tops that Jesus is Lord.
Links to articles mentioned in sermon:
Pew Forum, Religion among the Millennials -
"The Culture Isn't Killing the Church. Our Grief Is." by Keith Anderson
Links to articles mentioned in sermon:
Pew Forum, Religion among the Millennials -
"The Culture Isn't Killing the Church. Our Grief Is." by Keith Anderson
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