Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Easter 5
May 6, 2007
W. Gregory Pope
THE INVITATION
Acts 2:41-47
(Holy Communion)
Back in February I went up to the mountain, Mt. Meinrad, (the monks call it St. Meinrad). It’s a monastery in southern Indiana to which I escape whenever my wife will let me. A few months ago I went to try and glimpse a vision for our life together and what God might be calling us to do. I came back down the mountain, not with ten commandments but with four words. (I won’t comment as to whether I’ve seen you worshiping any golden calves led by Louie, I mean Aaron.)
These four words are verbs, words of doing, that call us to faithful and fruitful mission. The fleshing out of these four words is the work of us all. I have some ideas how we might flesh them out, but we need the wisdom and participation of the whole gathered community.
I want these four words to lead us and give shape to our life together. It’s already begun, really. These four words are found in various ways throughout our mission statement.
Inviting
The first word is: Inviting
It is one of the four verbs in our mission statement. We say that part of our mission includes “INVITING ALL to walk in the way of Jesus.” Extending an invitation for others to join us is crucial to the other aim in our mission statement of “GROWING as a spiritual family,” at least in the numerical sense of that phrase. There’s another meaning we’ll address in a moment.
But for now let’s focus on being intentional about inviting. If we want other people to be part of ministry in the kingdom of God, we have to invite them.
Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God more than anything else. He told parables and stories about what the kingdom of God was like. One kingdom story was about a man who had prepared a feast and invited many of his friends and colleagues to the party, but nobody came.
So he sent his servants out again. But this time he sent them out into the streets of the city: Go get anybody you can find, he said, the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. You may not even know who they are. You may not know what religion or denomination they belong to. It doesn’t matter. Tell them we’re having a party and that they’re invited.
So the people went out in the streets, extended the invitation, and they poured in.
But even then the hall was not filled. And the master didn’t want one scrap of food or one note of music wasted. So he said, Go out again, this time outside the city into the highways and byways, and compel the people to come in that my house may be filled.
That’s what God wants, the house filled!
Well, guess what? We’re going to have a party, a Pentecost party, on Pentecost Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, three weeks from today, and we’re going to worship out on the front lawn. Then with glad and generous hearts we going to break burgers and chips together.
It’s going to be a great party, much more meaningful that any Derby Gala. You don’t even have to put on a black tie or wear an uncomfortable dress. We’re going casual.
And, as with all parties worth anything, there will be invitations. We’re going to invite the Crescent Hill community to join us that day. Taking a cue from the Doobie Brothers, with whom “Jesus is Just Alright,” we’re gonna be “Takin’ It To The Streets.”
Why? Because on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus, they took their message out on the street.
To make this work we’re going to need your help to distribute invitations in the community. I would like for us to invite as many as we can face-to-face. On Wednesday, May 23, the youth are going to help us by distributing invitations from Stiltz to Hite between Grinstead and Frankfort. If you can distribute in other places, let us know. To others we will mail invitations. The Outreach Team is meeting tonight to discover the best ways to do this. Join us at 4:00 if you have any ideas.
I want this Pentecost party to be the beginning of the shaping of an inviting culture of hospitality here at Crescent Hill. A culture of hospitality to all people, especially guests. For it is in the guest, the stranger, that we meet Christ.
Someone in a recent MCC meeting pegged us correctly, I think, saying we are hesitant to invite and welcome people to our church not because we don’t want others here but because we are in many ways a church full of introverts.
I say we begin praying today that with tongues of fire, the wind of God’s Holy Spirit will blow among us, bestowing upon us the courage we need to open our mouths and extend the invitation and welcome of Christ.
But now, what are we inviting people to? Worship? Food? Sunday School? Yes. But why worship, why food, why Sunday school?
Well, the answer to that question lies in words two, three, and four.
Connecting
Word two is: Connecting
We’re inviting people to connect with other people in community. It’s part of what we mean when we say that part of our mission is to be “Growing as A SPIRITUAL FAMILY.”
We must look for ways to be more intentional about connecting with each other and providing a connection for others who enter our doors.
One of the things we are looking to do is to have groups of ten families who have at least one person who makes contact with each family in their group once a month, just to touch base and see how they are doing. If people do not want to be in such a group they will not be forced. But it is one way to remain in contact.
However, our connection needs to go deeper. Rotary and the Lion’s Club provide connection. Book clubs, country clubs, community organizations, and many workplaces provide connection. You can even connect with the regulars at a local bar.
So what’s different about the connection the church seeks to provide?
Well, it has to do with the ultimate purpose of the connection. We find that purpose in words three and four.
Transforming
Word number three is: Transforming.
We are inviting people to connect with other people in order to be transformed, in order to be shaped from the person we are to the person God created us to be. We are inviting people into community in order to become like Jesus. It’s called being and making disciples.
We are, our mission statement says, “Inviting all TO WALK IN THE WAY OF JESUS,” and to be “GROWING as a spiritual family,” growing not only in number but growing spiritually as human beings, growing in faith and love.
The grand purpose of our lives, the one great mission of the church, is the grand adventure of transformation: the transformation of our selves, the ongoing transformation of the church, and the ultimate transformation of the world.
This work of transformation is God’s work of grace in each of our lives to shape us like Jesus. It is a journey of growth that can be as joyful as it is painful.
It is here we must recognize why our invitation may be turned down. Most people do not want to change. This is true for many inside the church. It is just as true for those outside the church.
It should say something to us that the first word of Jesus’ public ministry was “Repent.” His first call is to change our lives. Why? Because the kingdom of God is near, and if we want to have a part in it, it’s going to require a life transformation of heart and mind.
We’re not inviting people to the meeting of their needs, to comfort and respectability. We’re inviting people to walk in the way of Jesus: the way of love and compassion, justice and peace, grace and forgiveness, simplicity and generosity, servanthood and the cross.
It is a way that lead Jesus to a cross, which, we must never forget, is the central symbol of our faith. But through the giving of ourselves in sacrifice and service for others we experience the new life of resurrection. We discover what life is all about, living for a purpose greater than ourselves. It is a life that leads to true joy because it makes a difference in our lives.
The invitation to walk in the way of Jesus is an invitation to a party, a party that could change your life in ways you could never imagine.
We are inviting people to a kingdom party where other people who are seeking to walk the Jesus way can connect. And we need to connect because transformation happens best in community.
We all need community. A community of hope and faith and love that will care for us when we are sick, hurting, grieving, that will offer us a shoulder to cry on or just someone to listen. A community that will encourage us as we seek to walk in the way of Jesus. A community that will help us grow in our walk with God.
Everything we do is a part of our spiritual transformation in some way. But we want to be intentional about teaching certain things and helping one another in particular ways as we seek to walk in the way of Jesus.
You will soon be hearing more about a spiritual formation project designed with new Christians in mind, but also to help those who have been Christians a while. We would seek to teach the basics of our faith - core convictions, core spiritual practices, core virtues. We hope to be able to offer this in the Fall. But it’s just one way of being intentional about God’s work of transformation in our lives.
We are inviting people to connect in community as a spiritual family for the purpose of transformation, the purpose of shaping our lives according to the way of Jesus.
Sending
But there’s a fourth and final and necessary word. It is the word: Sending
Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
We connect with others for transformation so that we can then be sent out into the world to be the Body of Christ. We are sent out into the world together to be disciples and to make disciples - to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. In our mission statement we call it “ENGAGING THE WORLD.”
Our mission statement also says we will welcome God’s calling and seek to live that call as we welcome each other’s gifts. We gather to hear God’s call for our lives in the world.
The invitation to connect goes further than the transformation of ourselves. We gather to change the world. Sometimes in large ways, like the church did with the civil rights movement.
And we have huge challenges before us today: eradicating global poverty; stopping, reversing, if we can, global climate change; as well as other challenges.
But most often we are called to make changes in the world through small ways: helping people through loneliness and despair; offering an alternative to a meaningless life by giving yourself for others.
The connections we seek to make involve those outside the church, even those who may never be a part of our church. Because while we want our church to grow, our ultimate goal is to help transform the world.
And we do that as we are sent out into the world to be the Body of Christ.
To be sent is part of our transformation. We are changed not only as we worship and pray and study. We are changed as we are sent into the world. We are changed as we encounter the world and other people. The work of transformation is missing a vital link if we only stay connected to each other.
Remember, Pentecost began in the streets. So we are looking for intentional times of learning how to engage the world, including our own community. The social justice team has been helping us do that. And we want to build on what they are leading us to do.
CONCLUSION
So there you have it. Our mission in four words: Inviting. Connecting. Transforming. Sending.
I want us to nurture such an inviting culture that every person in Crescent Hill knows who we are and knows that they are welcome in this place.
I want the people in this community to know us for more than just this large edifice they pass by while pushing a stroller or walking a dog.
I want them to know that this is a place where the door is open to them, no mater who they are a place where new friends await them, a place where their life can be changed, a place where they can join with others to help change the world.
As we read scripture this morning, did you hear that description of life in the early days of the church? Of what Pentecost looked like? There is invitation, connection, transformation, and sending all over the place throughout the Book of Acts.
The Lord was adding daily to their number.
They were devoted to teaching.
They shared fellowship.
They prayed together.
They worshiped together.
Their neighbors were glad to have them around. Why? Probably because they shared their possessions, selling what they had, doing whatever was necessary to meet the needs of those around them.
They broke bread together. With glad and generous hearts, they ate meals together which included bread and wine made holy by the presence of the Risen Christ in their midst.
Holy Communion
And so we come to the table where we experience the presence of the Risen Christ, his body and blood symbolized in the bread and the cup. And we are reminded that we are now the Body of Christ, blessed and broken to be shared with the world.
This is the Lord’s table where all are welcome. We have been told to go out and invite all who are willing to come. Because God wants the house full.
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CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425
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