4-25-2021 “Reading with Our Hearts and Our Minds” Acts 4:5-12

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

I subscribe to different online and print resources that are all about church growth and evangelism. Recently, one of them mentioned how churches that are growing have a strong social media and internet presence. For better or worse, this is what all institutions need to do in this digital age: be it a business, a school, or a church. Therefore, it pleases me to know that the NACCC is in the process of designing and launching a new website. The one they currently have is good, but it is old. It definitely needs a facelift. If you go to that site you will find the following statement, which is by no means out of date.

“[Congregationalism] is a tradition that has deep convictions based upon the Word of God as each person interprets that Word according to the dictates of conscience, under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.”

I grew up a Congregationalist, so this is part of my spiritual DNA. That may be the case for many of you as well — whether you grew up a Congregationalist or have been a member of a church like this for decades. But there are many for whom this is not the case, and some of them don’t want it to be the case. Many people, and by people I mean Bible-believing Christians, want to be part of a church and a denomination that tell them what to think when it comes to spiritual matters. They want to come to church on Sunday and have the minister tell them what they must believe, usually based on a literal reading of the Bible. There is no room for independent thought; there is no room for questions. Listen. Retain. Do. Repeat. That’s it.

Since its inception, Congregationalism has respected the rights and minds of individual believers. In other words, each one of us as a Christian has an obligation to not only read Scripture but to discern its meaning and to apply it to our lives on our own. Sure, we do this in fellowship with others (i.e., as members of our church), but ultimately it is our job to do it for ourselves. Christian spiritual formation is not a spectator sport. It requires you to get in the game and play to grow into your full potential in Christ.

We are not the first to do this. Our Congregational ancestors stepped out in their faith with bravery and conviction four centuries ago to follow the dictates of their conscience as informed by Scripture. They left homes, jobs, and extended family to come to this strange New World simply so they could follow and practice their faith freely.

Imagine that for a moment. Imagine moving away from your home, your job, and your extended family in order to grow in a more spiritually authentic way — a way that is Christ-centered and biblically-based. Our Congregational forebears were not the first to do this. The earliest Christians faced prosecution and, in today’s reading from the Book of Acts, we see a cadre imprisoned for their faith. When questioned about this, Peter boldly stands before the religious officials of his day to proclaim his faith in Christ and the conviction that lies in his conscience. Like the Pilgrims, like the Puritans, the earliest Christians found strength in Jesus — a strength so solid that they could rest assuredly on that cornerstone.

There is a lesson here for us. As heirs of both the earliest Christians and the Congregationalists who came to these shores 400 years ago, we also have a challenge and an opportunity to allow the Word of God to speak directly to us. Growing in the Christian faith requires the believer (at least in the Congregationalist tradition) to engage Scripture with one’s entire being: the heart and the spirit as well as the mind. We are not automatons. We exist in a relationship with God that does not require us to compromise our minds. I once saw a bumper sticker that put it best: “Jesus died to take away your sins, not your brain.” I love bumper sticker philosophy and theology.

There are some people who fear such interpretive freedom. During the summer of 2019, I delivered the Congregational Lecture at the 65th Annual Meeting and Conference of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. In it, I analyzed what is unique about Congregationalism and the NACCC in particular. I told the following story: a true story about a couple who attended my first parish in New Hampshire. The husband was as theologically conservative as his wife was liberal. He was more of a Fundamentalist and she was a borderline Unitarian. They are a perfect illustration of how opposites attract.

They were great people: very nice, friendly, and easy to talk to — so one day I asked Dave (the husband) why he was a Fundamentalist. He confessed how he (likes the rest of us) is not in control of anything. He could lose his job, he could get sick, his house could burn down, or, heaven forbid, he could lose one of his children. He then said, “I need one thing in my life that is solid, that I don’t have to question.” He decided long ago that this one thing was going to be God: the cornerstone of his faith, as Peter proclaims in today’s reading.

Jesus is the cornerstone of my faith, as well. He is the rock of my salvation. I know deep in my heart that he is Messiah, that he is there for me and always will be no matter what. That does not mean that I cannot ask questions or use my brain to probe the more confusing and difficult contours of the Christian story. Jesus died to take away my sins, not my brain.

Last week I mentioned how I am going on Sabbatical this summer and will focus on spiritual formation and how that relates to evangelism. In terms of the latter (evangelism) we already have one of the key characteristics that I believe seekers and sojourners want: “This is a tradition that has deep convictions based upon the Word of God as each person interprets that Word according to the dictates of conscience, under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.”

Neither our church nor the NACCC is going to attract people like my former parishioner Dave, but that’s okay. There is a reason why we have so many different churches and denominations: because the world is filled with different people. There are some people who are looking for Fundamentalist churches. There are those looking for Unitarian churches. Some people speak in tongues, some like the ritual offered in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Episcopal churches, and some seek a church just like ours.

This sermon is not meant to be judgmental — to say that we are somehow superior to these other bodies. It is to say, however, that one of the features of our Congregational heritage is that we value free thinking. We preach the Word of God and invite people to apply it to their lives. The website of the NACCC makes that clear.

The Book of Hebrews says that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). In the First Letter of John we read, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins; and in him, there is no sin” (3:5). Unlike Jesus, though, we do change and we do sin. Time and life take their toll on us. We do not know everything. This is why we need to return to the Bible again and again and again, and we need to read it with our hearts as well as our minds to unearth all of its treasures and apply them to our lives. This is one of the hallmarks of this faith that is ours. May it be so today and for the next 400 years. Amen.