The Reverend Mike Riggins 4/23/23

Cut to the Heart

Psalm 116:12-19
Acts 2:36-42

Bill Watterson drew the brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbs. He stopped doing

so in 1995, but I get one of his old strips every morning on Twitter. I think it might be

the only post I always open. In the world Watterson created Calvin is a six year-old

boy. He is precocious and cynical, the child whom parents, teachers and other six

year-olds struggle to understand and tolerate. Hobbes is his stuffed tiger. But Hobbes

becomes a real tiger whenever he is alone with Calvin. He is Calvin's best friend and

at the same time his antagonist. In a strip that appeared in my feed this past Monday,

Calvin and Hobbes are riding down a hill in Calvin's wagon. He says, “I love change.”

Hobbes says, “You? Change? Yesterday you got all wound up when your mother

didn't put the same amount of grape jelly on your peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

Calvin replies, “I thrive on making other people change.”

Most of us can relate. When things do not go exactly as we hope, we prefer the

solution to require that other people change. Today we continue with a series of

sermons that address changes pressed upon churches like ours. By “churches like

ours” I mean old-line, traditional congregations that belong to denominations like the

Lutherans, Methodists and us Presbyterians. While our culture and society once

supported and even promoted our brands, for years now we have had to fight against
the tide. We can point our fingers at everybody else and demand that they change.

They will not. If we want to continue having a vital ministry we will have to change with

the times. What, therefore are we willing to do about it?

We just read the conclusion of a speech the Apostle Peter made. Our first verse

tells us Peter believed Jesus was Lord and Christ. And he accused the Jewish

leaders of causing Jesus' death. The crucial part comes next. Acts 2:37: “Now when

they heard this they were cut to the heart...” When these temple priests and

Pharisees heard this testimony about Jesus as the Messiah they got the wind knocked

out of them. They instantly saw they had no excuse. They knew they were guilty as

charged. In dismay they asked, “What must we do?” And before we proceed to

Peter's answer let us apply this to our church's situation. I accuse no one of being

guilty of pushing our congregation into a precarious place. Our situation is complex

and has developed over the course of decades. In fact, Central Presbyterian has

made a number of wise decisions over the course of that time. We have benefited

from excellent leadership from our elders and previous pastors. If you have not

experienced life in another congregation recently you may not know this already, but I

will say it one more time: this is a healthy, rewarding church to serve.

In fact, it is precisely because I have such regard for this church that I

emphasize change and leadership. This church has the potential to do great things for

the kingdom of God as it exists in Terre Haute, Indiana. While Peter called for the

Jewish leaders to repent of their evil in getting Jesus crucified, and while we all have
done things for which we must repent, as a church our response to Peter's testimony

need not be self-flagellation. Instead, let us rededicate ourselves to the proposition

that Jesus is Lord. Let us worship and serve him in the new context our culture has

created. We need not change how we worship, but we must renew our determination

to worship with the highest quality. We need not try a dozen new programs, hoping

one or two of them will stick. But we must honestly evaluate what we do. Does

everything we do fit our core mission values? Do we do it as well as possible?

Should we drop one or two in order to free time, energy and money for others?

This congregation discontinued the Presbyterian Women's Organization about

twenty-five years ago. According to two sources, the move was the result of a sharp

drop in participation. Small groups, called circles, had met on weekdays for decades.

But with more and more women working outside their homes, daytime meetings

became problematic. Apparently they tried evening circles, but they did not work,

either. So they celebrated many good years of good work and called an end to it.

Since coming here in 2018 I have heard only a couple of wistful comments wishing we

had women's groups. The work had its time, that time ended and we moved on to

other things. Ministries, like virtually all efforts, have life cycles. It is important to

accept that. It is also important not to drop all activities. Many things we currently do

play important roles in our overall program. The trick is for the elders, working

together, to discern what to keep, what to improve and what to drop.

And we need to undertake this evaluation with an honest understanding of our

strengths, our weaknesses and the post-modern world in which we live. Post-

modernism disputes the importance of reason and logic. Instead of universally

accepted truths on which we could build our common ministry, post-modernism posits

personal truths. My truth may differ from your truth. We see how this causes

confusion and conflict in current issues like whether transgendered, biological males

should be permitted to participate in women's sports. People fall along a spectrum of

ideas about this, but many tend to answer it with a resounding NO, while many others

answer with an equally resounding YES! This next part is key to understanding post-

modernism and ministry. Each side literally cannot believe the other thinks as it does.

This tension is part of the reason I have so often emphasized forgiveness in the

church. Here at Central we have recently had issues of our own—one gender-related

and the other having to do with pandemic policies. In a world that lacks broad

consensus on core truths, we as followers of Jesus must clearly identify those core

beliefs we do share. There are a few, such as faith in the death and resurrection of

Jesus. On other things we must be able to disagree in grace. When pressed for what

the Jewish leaders must do, Peter did not give them a long list of teachings with which

they must agree. Instead, he told them to repent of their sin and then he baptized

them. We perform a baptism this morning. The waters of baptism have a range of

symbolic meanings. Among the most important are two which apply nicely to our

message today: getting washed clean from our sin, and receiving new life by the

power of the Holy Spirit.

 At Central Presbyterian we have the capability to grow our ministry even in this

post-modern age of confusion and conflict. We can maintain our traditional form of

worship with the highest possible quality in music and preaching. We can discern

which programs will best minister to people already in our circle, and to people whom

we would love to draw into it. It will take allowing our own hearts to get cut, allowing

the Holy Spirit to teach us our own weakness—but also our strengths. One elder,

having heard last week's sermon that touched on some of these same themes, said he

thought we might be poised to respond better to post-modernism than other churches,

ones we thought might have been better positioned. I agree with him. And I intend to

work with the session (currently serving elders) to identify and implement what we

believe God calls us to do. May God prosper our work.