06/22/2025 ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 7 ~ Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a; Psalm 42 and 43; Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:19-28; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqtgrT0LGE ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1096288542
To Whom Do We Belong?
“Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the constraint of the law until faith would be revealed.” — Galatians 3:23.
I have often thought this and sometimes say it out loud. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to attend seminary and earn a 90 credit Master of Divinity Degree. As a comparison, the American Bar Association recommends a Doctor of Law degree of 83 credits. So why is the law degree is a doctorate and a divinity degree a master’s? Academia is strange.
I do treasure my time at seminary but I maintain the degree only certifies, provides box checking, a completion of prescribe steps. It does not qualify someone. There is a difference.
Qualification is up to the local church. The process of qualification starts when a local church raises up a member of that church and believes that member has the gifts to be a pastor. So it’s the people of a local church who tell someone in their midst they are qualified.
Put differently, it’s not up to an individual to say, “I think I should be a pastor.” It’s up to the congregation to say to the individual, “we think you should be a pastor.”
First Parish in Brunswick spent a year exploring this idea with me and only then decided I might be fit and dispatched me off to seminary. Six years ago when I returned to Maine, First Parish was at it again. They had raised up three members for ministry.
Those folks are all now ordained, all serving churches. And this is the way it should work in Congregational churches: from pew to pulpit.
On the other hand, certification, a fulness of training, is really, really important. And training correctly often takes three or more years of intensive work.
I want to mention one more thing about my certification process, the piece of academic information, certification, I did not have when I entered seminary. It was in the area of sociology and how it interacts with church life. Getting certified, doing the steps, helped me with that.
When it comes to sociology— and I’ve said this here this before— like people worship with like people. That statement is both a reality which needs to be addressed and dealt with by every local church and is also theologically abhorrent.
That leads to this question: what is the current ministry and work of this church and how does that intertwine with the sociology here in Harpswell? (Slight pause.)
You know this. On average the State of Maine has the oldest population of any state. The Harpswell community has the oldest population in the State. That means over the last 20, 30 and 40 years the community this church serves has changed.
Based on that there are some hard questions which need to be assessed. Over the last 20 or 30 or 40 years did this church react to that statistic about this community, change how you do what you do, internally and externally? Or internally and externally is this church still largely doing or at least trying to do what you did 20 or 30 or 40 years ago?
Is it possible that this external change impeded your mission? Is it possible the change was not noticed since things kept rolling along in an adequate way? If that external change has not brought internal change in how the work is done inside these walls, why not? Put a different way, is the work of this church simply to do what you always did? (Slight pause.)
We find this in Galatians: “Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the constraint of the law until faith would be revealed.” (Slight pause.)
It seems to me too often churches fail to turn to Scripture for guidance— especially guidance which might be disruptive. Instead churches tend to rely on whatever feels comfortable. Indeed, if you hang around any church long enough you will eventually hear the Eleventh Commandment: we’ve never done it that way before. (Slight pause.)
Now, in the Third Chapter of Galatians Paul presents a disruptive idea. Following the law, the way things have always been done, and having faith like Jesus are opposite and not compatible. Today’s passage is the climax of that discussion.
Boiled down to essentials this says the law, rules, need to be thought of as both temporal and insufficient. Further, with the advent and presence of Christ, allegiances to the past are futile, useless. In short, when we place rules above our relationships with Christ and one another we fail to rely on the Spirit of God. (Slight pause.)
Congregationalism stands on this principle. We are, each of us, free— free to make choices about a relationship with God.
That insistence on freedom presents a twofold problem in our modern society. The first is the aforementioned sociological gathering of the modern church where like people do gather with like people. This is not just abhorrent but also it threatens freedom.
You see, if we exist only within our culture and don’t move outside of it, we are effectively trapped in and trapped by our culture. Thereby our freedom is, by definition, limited. Considering how our culture operates— like people and all that stuff, not looking outside the box— that lack of freedom is a given. But what are we to do to deal with this? Where does that leave us? (Slight pause.)
In the Galatians reading we heard this (quote:) “…so that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus.” That verse has traditionally been translated “justified by faith in Jesus” not “justified by the faith of Jesus.” It seems like a small difference but it is not.
In every other place in the New Testament where this construction of grammar exists the preposition is translated as of, not in. So this should not be faith in Christ but the faith of Christ.
In fact, for many years study Bibles have had a footnote. The footnote said this phrase should probably be translated not as in but as the faith of Christ. And what did this footnote we find in study Bibles say? If you remove the academic double talk it said, “We’ve never done it that way before.” Like I said, academia— strange.
So what is the difference? It’s wonderful to have faith in Christ, believe Christ is the Messiah. But the Greek clearly says we need to have the faith of Christ, trust God just like Jesus trusted God. Indeed, if we are really justified by faith— that great precept of Protestantism— we need to trust God just as Jesus did. (Slight pause.)
Thomas Merton, the late American Trappist monk, wrote this prayer. “Dear God, / I have no idea where I am going. / I do not see the road ahead of me. / I cannot know for certain where it will end / nor do I really know myself, / and the fact that I think I am following Your will / does not mean that I am actually doing so. / But I believe that the desire to please You / does in fact please You.”
“I hope I have that desire in all I am doing. / I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire. / And I know if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, / though I may know nothing about it. / Therefore, I will trust You always though / I may seem to be lost…. / (But) I will not fear, for You are ever with me, / and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.” [1] — Thomas Merton. (Long pause.)
A constant question with which we struggle is reflected in my sermon title— To Whom Do We Belong? Do we belong to the culture, trust in laws, rules, the strictures of old, all that stuff Paul was so adamantly condemning? Or do we belong to and follow Christ?
And do we, as Merton suggests, never fear even though we might have no idea where we are going? Perhaps what we need to do trust God that we can and will provide ministry at this time, in this place called Harpswell, as those who came before us did.
Perhaps what we need to do is trust God just as Jesus trusted God. We need to have the faith of Christ. Why? Again as Merton said, because God walks with us. And we do know that God walks with us… don’t we? Amen.
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
06/22/2025
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “As I said a couple weeks ago, I went off to seminary at the ripe old age of 44. Did I know how it would turn out? No. But as well as I think I was able to, I tried to trust God on my seminary journey. And believe me there were times I was overwhelmed with horrendous amounts of fear about what might happen. What I am suggesting is that today and moving forward we need to trust God and rely on each other as we, as a community of faith together, trust God.”
BENEDICTION: God keeps faith forever. Go from this place filled with new life, ready to bear the good news of God’s promises. And should you find yourself feeling worried or discouraged, lacking trust, remember the wondrous love of God, the healing power of Christ Jesus, and the bold courage of the Holy Spirit. These go with you today and always. Amen!
[1] Very slightly edited for this context.
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