“Slave to All” 

Mark 10:35-45

Hebrews 5:1-10 

Today, we are most fortunate.  For a very limited time, we have an opportunity to hear voices from long ago and far away.  We will be able to listen in on conversations in Geneva, Switzerland sometime in the mid 1500's.  The first voice we will hear is that of John Calvin, author of the not so popular Religion Today column in the Geneva Times.  We were unable to get a video connection, so you will have to use your imagination to fill in the sights from some 450 years ago. 

The signal seems to be fading, but, yes, I hear Mr Calvin now.

      Mr Pope, Mr Pope! Your excellency, could you tell me who is head of the church?

      Why, I am!  Saint Peter passed the keys that unlock the kingdom from leader to leader until they were passed on to me.

      I see.  Wouldn't you consider Jesus Christ as the head of the church?

      Jesus is in heaven, the church is on earth.  I am the leader. 

      A catholic bishop!  Mr Bishop sir, could you tell me the qualifications for your job?

      Of course.  My family have been leaders for generations; loyal supporters of the king.  We have always given generously to the church.  When this job became available, we merely gave a little more generously.

      Did you sense that God was calling you?

      God?  Calling?  I'm not sure that I understand the question. 

      There, a man on the street.  Excuse me sir, I understand that you have a new priest.  How would you describe him?

      He seems friendly enough, outside of church.  During mass, he starts talking in this strange language, making all of these funny gestures.  I really don't have a clue what is going on.

      And yet, you still go to mass?

      Yes, it seems like a good idea to go to church.  And I've been warned what will happen to my soul if I don't go! 

We seem to have lost the signal.  Well, a most informative glimpse into what must be the start of the reformation. 

John Calvin fervently believed that all that the church does, all that the church is, must start with Scripture.  If it can not be found in Scripture, then it shouldn't be found in church.  He studied Scripture.  Poured over it, thought about it.  He wrote some of the best commentaries available today describing how Scripture relates to, should guide, our daily lives.

Because of his studies, he wanted to reform the Catholic Church.  He started with Jesus as the head of the church, leading us even today through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit opens our eyes, our minds, to understand Scripture, to understand what it means for us today, here.  Calvin did not want to start a new church, merely to reform the church into conformance with God's Word. 

John Knox was a Scot.  He traveled to Geneva to meet Calvin and get first hand information as to what this whole reformation thing was all about.  He was convinced that Calvin had the right ideas; convinced that there was a better way to organize the church to the glory of God.  Convinced that the only place to start is with Scripture.  From this start, he developed a constitution for the church. 

From Knox and the incredible revival that he helped lead we see the beginning of the Presbyterian church.  Knox also believed that since Christ is the head of the church no human should be given that title.  Rather a group of elders, people known for their faith and discernment, known for their ability to understand what God was saying to the church in these times, would jointly lead the church. 

Knox also believed that no position in the church should be for sale.  Not only that, but no congregation should have to suffer under a minister imposed upon them by the king.  Instead, those who lead the church, deacons, elders and ministers, should all be called by God into the service of the church.  After God has called them and equipped them for service, the local congregation should confirm a particular call by means of a vote to elect and install the church officers. 

Perhaps the most important part of what both Calvin and Knox enacted was that Scripture, and worship, should be in the common language of the people.  Each of us should be able to read the Bible in our native language, go to worship conducted in our native tongue.  Each of us should be challenged to know Scripture and understand what it is saying to us as individuals, to the congregation and to the society in which we live.   

Less than 200 years after Calvin, these ideas had spread to that far off land called the American colonies.  Immigrants brought the reformed tradition with them.  Ministers in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area established the first Presbyterian churches.  During the great colonial revivals, Presbyterian faith and tradition spread throughout the colonies.  While they did not claim to be the one true church, they did strive to be a church that is true to God. 

And for us, today?  We celebrate the Reformation and our Scottish heritage because it has shaped us as a church family even though few of us are Scottish.  We also celebrate because this form of church government which entrusts leadership to the members.  Today, all members are invited to elect our new leaders.  Some of our members are searching for a new pastor, seeking discernment in who God has selected to lead this congregation.  When they find that person, they will present the candidate to you.  By your vote, you will affirm that God has called that person to the ministry, that God has blessed them with the gifts necessary for that ministry, and that this is the place that they should serve.  And then you will agree to follow them. 

To me, the most important part of the celebration is the Word of God, in our own language, readily available to each of us to study.  For it is as we study it, as we hear the Word proclaimed in worship, as we pray over it, that it affects our lives.  We are transformed only by letting this word into our hearts and minds; letting Christ transform us from what we are into what we were meant to be.  

       

Calvin and Knox, reformers and church leaders, served Jesus Christ, the one head of the church.  People throughout the generations have heard the call of Christ and have left behind old ways and thoughts, old beliefs, and have placed their faith in Jesus, have followed Jesus.  Many have become leaders in the church, governing and serving the church; often at great personal cost and sacrifice.   

As we heard in Hebrews, we expect that our leaders do not enter into service by themselves.  Instead, “one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God.”  And when one is called by God to serve, it is not so that they may become powerful, important.  As Mark records, we are not to be like non-believers, with rulers who lord their status over us, becoming tyrants over us.  No, we are to be different.  We are to lead, to expect our leaders to lead, as if they were our servants.  In those days, a servant was a job description, not a condition of life.  Scripture uses the term, translated today as deacon, to describe what those servants of God were expected to do: feed the poor, care for the widow and orphan, visit the sick.  When we do that, we are leading as a servant, as Jesus led. 

But Mark quotes Jesus as going beyond leading as a mere servant, as a deacon: “whoever wishes to be first among you must be a slave to all.”  Jesus keeps repeating this; we should listen.  This is not only a job of service; it is also a fact of life.  Slaves do not have a choice about their jobs; they have lost their freedom and must do what their master directs them to do.  And so it is when we are called to be faithful followers of Jesus.  We lose our freedom, surrendering it to the one who loves us more than anyone else can, the one who took “slave of all” literally; took it to the very cross, and resurrection. 

Tradition has it that the clerical collar originated with St Patrick, or at least is based upon the life of St Patrick.  This tradition claims that it is patterned after the slave collar that St Patrick was forced to wear when a slave in Ireland.  He latter willingly wore such a collar when he had become a slave of the Lord.  He wore it to remind himself that his life was not his own: it belonged to Jesus. 

Regardless of whether Calvin or Knox wore such a collar, they were clearly slaves of the Lord.  They followed Jesus with all of their passion, intellect and energy.  They followed wherever Jesus led them.  So, it may seem odd to celebrate an Irish tradition on Reformation Sunday as we celebrate our Scottish heritage.  It is fitting to remind ourselves that the Reformation gave us Scripture in our own language so that we can be transformed.  The Reformation gave us the opportunity to select our own leaders, leaders called by God and blessed through the Holy Spirit with the gifts that they need.  The Reformation reminded us that Christ is the one head of the church.  We are all called to follow Jesus.  And our leaders, called to office by God, should lead as if they were slaves to all. 
 

October 22, 2006

Rev. Al Hammond

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah