HOW COMPLEX,
TO BE A LITTLE LOWER THAN GOD!
First Congregational Church of Evanston
October 8, 2006 World Communion Sunday
Psalm 8, 2006; Hebrews 2:5-12
Rev. Dr. James E. Roghair, Interim Minister
Psalm 8
1 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all
the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because
of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the
stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care
for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with
glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put
all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the
paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Hebrews 2:5-12
5Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? 7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
Seeing God in Outer Space
When the American Astronauts began to travel into outer space, they were awed by what they saw. They spoke words like the Psalm: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established ... O Lord ... how majestic is your name in all the earth!” They saw God’s glory.
And when we see pictures they brought back – the planet earth taken from thousands of miles into space, we echo some of that wonder. We see the earth through a new lens – the camera in outer space – a reminder that we live on a precious planet. We are gifted with the care of this earth for ourselves and for the future.
But as I remember it, the Soviet Cosmonauts – representing the officially atheistic state – reported looking out of their spacecraft and saying that they did not see God. Not even any evidence of God!
They were looking at the same spacescape. So, how is it some saw awe-inspiring evidence of God, and some saw none – perhaps even proof that there is not God? Could it be that only the eye of faith can see God’s majesty in the works of creation?
The Psalmist Sees the Hand of God
The ancient psalmist – reflecting the faith of Israel, looked into outer space without the benefit of a great telescope – without even the dream of a spaceship – looked into the heavens and saw the Glory of God. The psalmist looked up and imagined space above the heavens – far beyond the moon and the stars. In that imagination the psalmist saw the glory of God beyond the reach of human eye.
The psalmist looked down to hear the cry of babies and the early speech of toddlers, and in those sounds the psalmist heard the praise to God. The psalmist looked up, and in the stars and the moon, saw the Creator’s glory. The psalmist never saw the competing gods, but the Glory of the One God.
We are privileged to know much about nature and space We are well-informed. We saw the renowned scientists arguing about one of the relatively tiny heavenly bodies. We woke up one morning to find out that Pluto is no longer a planet. Some of us remember when Pluto wasn’t a planet. Then we learned it was. And now it is only a dwarf planet. I wonder if that will stick.
As we follow the scientific politicking, as we become aware of the many, many things that are floating around out there (in what we thought was) empty space, perhaps we are we struck again by wonder as was the psalmist: “Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
What is Our Place?
Galileo was condemned when he proposed that the earth is not a flat object around which all of the rest of the universe revolves. His view of the earth and its relationship to God, downplayed the special centrality of earth, and challenged the earthly power of the church and its relationship to God.
I think that Galileo was condemned for speculation that the Hebrew psalmist would have found very acceptable. The psalmist pondered human smallness in God’s creation. Galileo saw that, but it frightened others.
Although few of us are ‘flat-earthers,’ and hardly anyone today would condemn Galileo. We may have parallels. We like to think of the earth as ours. The riches of the earth’s minerals, and the wealth of its animal and plant life are ours to be bought and sold and used up.
It is a hard sell to convince government or industry, or even us, that the earth is a gift to be honored – that the whole created order is to be cared for because it gives praise to God. And those who say it may be called religious kooks. But isn’t it the same issue that Galileo was dealing with? The issue of who is at the center of the universe? The question of whether the universe revolves around us or not?
Place of Human Beings is Exalted
The Psalmist is in wonder that God has granted central place to human beings. The Psalmist doesn’t take that place for granted. The psalmist wonders why God would do such a thing. Why would God place human beings so high?
The Psalm says that God made human beings just a little lower than God. And in Hebrew it is “Elohim” – a plural word – that gets translated as “God” in English. However, since it is plural, and since there is no such thing as capital letters in ancient Hebrew, “Elohim” could also be translated as “gods.” Thus the Psalm might read either : “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God,” or it might read “... you have made them a little lower than the gods.”
For those translating this passage into the Greek a little before the Christian era, the psalmist’s insistence that human beings are just a little lower that Elohim was just too much of a shock! So the Greek translators wrote: “you have made human beings a little lower than the angels.” It was this Greek version of the Hebrew Bible that Paul quotes in the Letter to the Hebrews.
Whatever the translation decisions might be, the psalmist is exclaiming in wonder about the exalted position of human beings. Even though God is so great, and we are so small, still God has called us to a position of greatness and responsibility. But it is not a position to be taken for granted. It is always a wonderful gift.
The Dominion that the psalmist mentions is the beneficent care of animals, birds, fish – the riches of the earth. Dominion is care, not exploitation. And when we seen Al Gore’s movie we are reminded in purely secular terms what human dominion is to be. We are challenged to ask: How do we care for the earth Does our race have the will to reverse it the trends?
The exalted place of human beings in the scheme of the creation goes both ways – beyond privilege, it is responsibility – beyond use, it is stewardship.
Transition or Transformation
This past week I was sitting with the national council of an Interim Ministry Specialist’s Association. We discussed issues that we professionals deal with. We promote our work, support our colleagues in ministry, and to work for the best practices in our specialty. It is a stimulating group to be a part of.
During our discussion I was reminded that there are several ways that interim ministry can be viewed – several ways that a church can use the interim time. One way is maintenance – simply marking time and moving on into the next pastorate. A church which is only expecting maintenance would not have gone to the trouble of searching for six months for an intentional interim minister. However, there may still be some in the congregation who really think that maintenance is all that needs to be done in the interim time.
Another approach to interim time is transition. The transitional mode involves deliberately moving from one period to another – going through appropriate steps and jumping through appropriate hoops. ‘Transition’ is one of the words I’ve been using as I encouraged the Council to form the ‘Transition Team’ which I have been working with.
But another word that may describe what is done in the interim period is transformation. As I have begun to work with you, to listen to you, about what you feel your congregation’s needs are, what your joys and frustrations are in your church, I hope our ministry together will be transformational. If it is, it will not be I who transforms you. I may work with you and encourage you to have transformational experiences. But if any transformation really happens, it will be the work of the Spirit within you.
One of the things that may be transformational is for people to engage in deep discussion with one another. Several have said that you are not used to engaging one another to discuss your faith, or to discuss the things that matter to the church. You can talk about lots of other things – you are a very intelligent group. But some of the church’s deepest issues are not discussed. If that is true, is there a way to change the norm?
Congregational Size Theory
I was particularly pleased at the Council/Transition Team retreat that the group seemed to light up when we started talking about the theory of congregational size. The Transition Team asked me to discuss this theory with people during the dinner hour last Wednesday evening. I did, and I felt there was more receptivity. There is something valuable about looking at who we are in our context.
The Transition Team also asked me if I could talk to you about this theory in a sermon, and so I am going to do that today. I believe that Psalm 8 sets the stage. Regardless of what you think about the size of your congregation, or about the way it works, what you have and who you are is a gift of God. You as a Congregation are gifted by God, as are all human being is, to be just a little below God. I invite you in the name of Jesus Christ to claim that place!
Congregational Size Theory in a Nutshell
Briefly, the theory of congregational size says that there are 4 (or possibly 5) basic ways that congregations work. The models are primarily based on size of the Sunday morning worshiping community. The smallest is the Family size church which is up to 50 people on a Sunday morning. They typically have a patriarch and/or a matriarch who are the family leaders. Nothing will be done in the church without the support and consent of these persons.
In the church where I grew up, it was my grandfather and grandmother who were these figures. My grandfather was the dominant figure. In this size church pastors come and go, and are largely irrelevant to the decisions and traditions of the church. They do not stay long enough to challenge the authority of the patriarch or matriarch. Since you are not a family size church, we won’t dwell on that.
A Pastoral size church is one which is typically from 50 to 150 in worship on a Sunday morning. Typically the pastoral size church is built around the pastor. The pastor teaches the Bible study, the pastor goes to all the committee meetings. Little happens in this size of church without the pastor’s involvement. New members join usually because of the relationship with the pastor. Activities and plans revolve around the pastor, and there is little other staff. In size of attendance you are typical of a pastoral size church.
A Program size church is one which typically has between 150 and 350 in worship on a Sunday. It has at least two programs, with their own staff. The work of the pastor is often as much to coordinate the various programs as it is to work with individuals. The various programs are the points of entry for people who come for membership, and the centers around which the church is organized. Although your attendance is not at the program size, the way you are organized is definitely a program church.
The step above the program size is the Corporate size church. It has more than 350 in membership, has a number of ordained pastoral staff and several worship services. The people are organized like a number of smaller congregations within the whole. I believe that First Congregational’s building structure was created for a church of this size.
Beyond that is the Mega church which is something else. It may have its own spiritual and commercial organization. We don’t need to spend too much time at this end today.
First Congregational Church in the Theory
It is on the border between the pastoral size and the program size that First Congregational Church finds itself. I believe this is important to understand, because some of your efforts to be a program church are stymied by being too small to actually always carry it off effectively all of the time. And for some of you who prefer the intimacy of a pastoral size church, you are frustrated with the attempts to actually operate as a program size church.
Because of this borderline existence, you find people getting burned out, and people being cynical and frustrated. You may feel like you are supposed to be highly organized like a program size church, and yet you are really small enough to operate like a pastoral size church. Your frustrations naturally get directed toward one another.
It is not a great fault to be corrected. It is not a sin to be forgiven. The size church you are, is what has been given to you by God. Like all human beings, this church is put – ‘just a little lower than God.’ But being placed there is not something to take for granted, or to boast about. Rather it is for wondering about!
It is an opportunity for practicing dominion – the faithful care of the things put into your charge. Not just animals and plants as the psalmist suggests, or the world as Al Gore suggests, but the church itself! And being a congregational church – you have no one to turn to for guidance except of course God. There is absolutely no other power figure above you nor any committee beyond you, who will say, “Do this and do that.”
So in your Congregational practice of dominion, I encourage you to be in dialogue. Talk to one another – especially those with whom you feel you have disagreements. Talk to those who are stuck on the programs and the image of being a large and successful church (whatever that means). Help them see you aren’t so large after all. Perhaps you can compromise on who you are and what you do.
But also talk to those who are thinking of this church as a little pastor centered church. Help them remember the opportunity for First Congregational to assume its position of leadership and prominence in the Evanston area. You have a staff, a program, an endowment and the facilities that no small church could ever dream of. The questions are: How will you use these gifts? What will your stewardship be?
Are you willing to use up resources from the past in order to do what you like today? Or will you take those resources and leverage them for something significant in the life of Evanston for the future?
These are the kinds of discussions I hope we will be having in the coming months. They are your discussions – I am simply your facilitator – maybe at times a prophet to remind you of the gifts and the promises of God.
Conclusion
This morning I want to close with a re-write of Psalm 8 – purely my own invention – thinking of the church rather than the universe. So here goes.
Revised Psalm 8
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory far above all of us.
You have sent babes and infants to teach us how to truly worship you,
to silence those who think of themselves as wise and dignified,
to be welcomed, baptized and taught.
When we look above us and around us,
we see the wonder of this place of worship.
Its simple beauty bespeaks your honor and your glory.
When we hear the music of the great pipe organ
and of the human voice, we wonder.
Who are we that you give us such opportunity?
How are we worthy of your mindfulness?
Yet you have given us a place.
You have made us in the image of God.
You have placed us in a position of honor,
and crowned us with your own glory.
You have given First Congregational Church
into our hands to care for it , to nurture it,
for mission in our world and the world of the future:
Its programs, staff and buildings,
its endowment and the gifts of its members,
its history and its present,
its glories and its problems, are in our care,
its past history ,its present, and its future,
its glories and its problems,
All are in our care for today and into the future.
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the
earth!
Amen.
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 6, 2008