I think my search for God began when I was about 7 or 8. Our family often spent our summer vacation at a town called Avalon which was on a narrow island at the southern tip of the New Jersey seashore. We would usually rent a house on 12th street or 13th street. We would walk down our street to get to the beach. Once on the beach, we did the typical things -- build sand castles, body surf in the waves, get sunburnt. But the greatest beach tradition of all was “The Walk.” And that was to walk from the 12th or 13th street beaches up to the tip of the island where there was a rock jetty that jutted out into the ocean. It was the perfect landmark and walking destination. It took an about an hour to walk up to the point and back. We walked as a family; I’d walk with my brother and sister, sometimes my mom, sometimes on my own. Often, my dad and I would make the walk. It was on those walks with my dad, beginning when I was about 7, that I asked him about the things that nagged at my brain.
Has time gone on forever? Will it go on forever? Is space infinite? Is there NO edge to space? What would an edge of space even look like?
It was in the midst of thes questions that we would talk about God. What was God like? How do we know God exists? What would it have been like to meet Jesus? Why did God come among us like that? What does God want me to do with my life?
Over the years, as I participated in church and studied the Bible and learned the stories – my faith formed around this one Jesus who walked among us, teaching and preaching. The fact that Jesus was fully human and fully divine has always been staggering to me. Like endless time and infinite space, how can that be? And yet, as mysterious as that is, I felt as though in Christ, God was more accessible to me. And I believe that’s in part what God had in mind. God reveals God’s self to us in Christ.
We also know that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that those who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” So that in Christ and Christ’s death and resurrection, God is redeeming us and the world.
So I’m a Christian. And that’s my first testimony.
But we can’t speak about being a Christian without the Church. Christ calls the church into being, charges us to make disciples, to baptize and to remember him as we together, in community, share in the Lord’s Supper.
Today, we can’t speak about the church without speaking about denominations. Over the past six weeks, we’ve been studying what it means to be a Presbyterian. We’ve looked at our Reformation roots, our views of the Bible and the Confessions, some of our key beliefs, and our approach to worship. Today, I want to talk about why I’m a Presbyterian.
Being a PK or pastor’s kid, I initially didn’t have much of a choice in terms of my denomination. Growing up, I always attended Presbyterian Churches, and was confirmed in the Presbyterian Church. I loved the churches of my growing up years.
But when I moved away from home to go to college, the choice, for the first time, was mine. For most of my adult life I have continued being a member of the Presbyterian Church – in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Northern Virginia, New York City and Baltimore. As a regular member, I felt filled by the focus on scripture and the emphasis on the preached word. I also liked how regular members shared in the leadership of the church. And I liked the Presbyterian tradition of mission.
There were two times I joined churches in other denominations. I lived in Indianapolis for a few years and lived right downtown. The downtown Presbyterian church had moved out to suburbs so I joined the Methodist church a block away. Later, after Janet and I married, we divided our time between a Presbyterian church in Baltimore and a Disciples of Christ Church in Washington, DC. We attended the Disciples church because of its dynamic pastor and the fact that the congregation was ethnically diverse – about 50% white, 40% black and 10% hispanic. For me, experiences of such diversity make me feel closer to the Kingdom of God.
In 2004 we moved to Topeka and it was at that point that I had chosen to enter seminary. Now I was making a choice of a denomination as a pastor. While I had appreciated my experiences in the Methodist and Disciples churches, I knew I wanted to serve in the Presbyterian Church USA for three reasons:
1. for what we believe
2. for how we practice our faith, and
3. for turtles.
Over the course of this series on what it means to be Presbyterians, we’ve spoken about a number of our beliefs that are distinctly Reformed or Presbyterian. Two are particularly important to me. The first is our belief that our God is first and foremost a God of grace – and we are only saved by this grace. We cannot do anything to earn God’s grace, it is something that God bestows upon us. So if I am ever asked if I am saved, I reply “Sure, 2,000 years ago on the hill of Calvary by the grace of God.” As the passage in Ephesians tells us, this “is a gift of God.”
I also believe in the sovereignty of God -- the idea that God is ultimately in charge and the leader of our lives. God is the one reveals God’s self to us, and God is the one who call us – just as Jesus called those apostles along the lakeshore.
Now there may be times when we question whether or not God is in charge because of what we see in the world. But God doesn’t rule with a brute force, but with the force of love. It’s a vulnerable love that comes in the form of a babe and dies on the cross. But it is through this selfless love that God reconciles the world to God and brings reconciliation among all people.
I also love the motto from our reformed heritage. We are said to be “Reformed, and always reforming.” It wasn’t till I preached this series that I realized that I, like many pastors, didn’t quite have that right. It’s actually “reformed, and always BEING reformed by the Word of God.” This again stresses how God is at the root of our faith.
I also chose the Presbyterian Church USA because of the way we practice our faith and live together as a church. I love that we strive to grow in both our devotion to God while at the same time we work for justice in the world as the prophet Ezekiel call us to. I love that clergy and laity work together. I love how we are connected to other Presbyterian congregations through our Presbyteries, Synods and the General Assembly. I love how we’re connected to the church universal through ecumenical efforts. And I greatly value the importance Presbyterians place on inter-faith relationships.
The last reason I chose the Presbyterian Church is because of turtles. Franklin is a turtle featured in a series of children’s books. In one story, Franklin’s school teacher gives the class the assignment to draw a picture of the thing in their community that means the most to them. Franklin can’t decide between drawing the school, the park, the library, the police station, the blueberry patch or the pond. While all the other students drew one of these neighborhood sites, Franklin instead finally decided to draw a picture of all the people – or animals – who he knew at each site. It was these animal friends that were the most special part of the neighborhood.
So an additional reason why I’m Presbyterian is because of the Edith and Harry Eliot from Faith Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Ginny and Gavin Gray from Mt. Wash Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati; Jim Morris, Todd Jones, and Patty and Wayman Williams, from BRPC B, Tom Farmer from Old Presbyterian Meeting house in Alexandria, VA and Roger Gench from Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church Baltimore – and my parents. These are some of the people who have helped me come to know the love of Christ through the church.
I hope this series has helped you appreciate a bit more fully what it means to be Presbyterian – what we believe, and how we practice what we believe. I hope you remember those people who were your turtles – those people who have guided you in the faith. And I would ask you to never under-estimate the impact you can have in showing another person the love of Christ.
