As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Great hope in Ages Past, Our hope for years to come, you have provided for us the wonderful Tradition in which we grow, learn, and seek you. As we continue forward throughout history, help us to appreciate our tradition and roots, so that we may pass along what is good and beautiful about it to our children, and to our world. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

The Church, capital C, is undergoing a Metamorphosis.

Marganilization of Mainline Protestanism.

Both of the passages I will be reading are about the tradition. The first, in Proverbs, is about how we need to pass the tradition from one generation to the next. Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Proverbs. Listen. Proverbs 23.10-12. The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

The second passage is from Acts. It is Paul defending himself in front of the Roman guard. The times are such that you can get killed for spreading this Jesus business. He is perpetuating the new tradition, and he gets brought up in front of the Roman authorities for it. They want to let him go, but the Jewish leaders object. Sound familiar? He ends the recap with talking about this call of God as a chain. Listen carefully to the last verse. It speaks for itself. Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Acts. Listen for God’s Word for you today. Acts 28.17-20. The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

There are three major anxieties that humans face today. The first is an anxiety about death. We all know we are going to die, but it doesn’t seem like much fun, and all things considered, if the choice on what to do Tuesday is between death and root canal, which way to the dentist. Right? The second anxiety that we face in today’s world is the anxiety of guilt and condemnation. We are racked with guilt, and it impedes our living, but there seems to be nothing we can do. But the third major anxiety, a newer one perhaps, is the most important today. Humans are experiencing the anxiety about meaninglessness of existence. Does my life matter? Does human life matter?

Edward O. Wilson, considered to be one of the greatest living scientists, has made this statement. If the human species disappeared, the world would flourish. If the Ant species disappeared, we would have world catastrophe. Doesn’t say much for us as a species, does it? Where is our meaning? Our anxiety is seen apparent.

I mentioned a Metamorphosis, and that the Protestant Tradition is now on the margins. That provides us with some freedom. Now we can be prophetic, not worried about being or staying in power. For example, when America began to be involved with the Vietnam War, there was much protest, from within and from without. But no mainline Protestant church dare oppose the war, in no small part because the Protestant churches realized the danger. They could loose power if they objected. And in that position, the mainline Protestant church had done what it feared most, lost power. It had lost the power to be the prophetic voice that it is called to be. To wit, when we recently went into the long drawn out war that we are now involved with in the Gulf, with no visible evidence of weapons of mass destruction, evidence that is still missing, every single mainline Protestant denomination, PCUSA included, sent a letter of protest to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Whatever you feel about the war, and believe me, I understand it is not a simple issue. It is not a simple yes or no question. Whatever you feel, as Christians, our search for peace must be paramount. Certainly the effort in Iraq had that as part of its goal. But our right, and our power, to object, now found again in our marginalization, is a God given task that we MUST take seriously. If the church cannot hold onto its prophetic voice, then the nation suffers.

I was discouraged from eating Nestles candy bars for the better part of my childhood. The Nestles corporation was involved in something that caused malnutrition in children in a third world country. My parents discouraged us, as a part of a Presbyterian call to protest, to boycott Nestles. I didn’t have a Crunch bar for over 12 years. I can have one now, Nestle has changed its policy. Took over a decade, but it worked. Coffee.

2054.

Now. If we are in this Metamorphosis, and perhaps that gives us the opportunity to be the church that God wants us to be, we need to look at the future. It would be a major catastrophe if Christianity went into the future and didn’t take with it the things that came from the Reformation, some of the things that make us Protestant. So, for the next 3 weeks, I’m going preach on 6 things that make us Protestant, that make us Presbyterian. I’ll do two a week. I want you to understand this. I’ve been preaching for a hair over 5 years. I think these are my most important sermons to date. Maybe not the most enjoyable, but by far the most important. We are the keepers of a tradition that has been ongoing since the year 1517. And, if you understand the reformation, we are the keepers of the tradition that was handed to us by Jesus Christ himself, in Matthew 28.18-20, and in John, and in Acts. Our Christian tradition was made world religion by Constantine in the very early 4^th century.

So, our children need to have this tradition, and the important things of it, passed down. Not just for their own good, but for the good of their generation, and the generations to come. If we lose these things, Christianity as it has been known for the past 500 years will be drastically changed. If we lose these 6 things, Christianity as it has been know for the past 2000 years will go on a new and different course. I’m all for new and different courses. But not at the expense of losing the past. Let us pass on the good traditions of the past, to our children, their generation, and our children’s children, and the generations to come. Amen.