I John 4:16
September 28
David A. Davis
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All the people. Since 1836, in this building. In this space. In this sanctuary. All the people. Praising. Praying. Listening. Singing. Laughing. Weeping. Rejoicing. Lamenting. All the people. Sitting out there on a sabbath morning. Packing the pews on an Easter morning. Singing “Joy to the World” on Christmas Eve. Leaving in silence on Good Friday. Meeting new students in September. All the people. Standing up here in the chancel with a child to be baptized, or to be ordained as an elder or deacon or Minister of Word and Sacrament, or to be confirmed, or to be married, or to serve communion. All the people. Sitting in the same pew, week after week, year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation. Sitting on the floor for Time with the Children. Sitting in the choir loft to lift a voice in praise. Sitting in the first pew to mourn and offer a loved one forever into the heart of God. All the people. A full sanctuary on the Wednesday after 9/11. A full sanctuary on The Rev. Martin Luther King Day, hosting the entire Princeton Community. A full sanctuary on a Sunday evening after the Tree of Life Synagogue murders in Pittsburgh. A full sanctuary of Princeton Theological Seminary Baccalaureate services back in the day. A full sanctuary for lectures, community events, funerals. All the people.
“Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple.
Open the doors and there are all the people.”
It is a bit ironic that one of the strong learnings we all had was from our summer worship in the Princeton Seminary Chapel. Ironic because we were over there because of all the renovations being done here. Singing over there with a different acoustic, meeting new people over there because you couldn’t sit in the same place, lingering longer on the front plaza over there after worship, confirmation, baptisms, communion, and memorial services all over there. We learned, remembered, and experienced that the church isn’t about the building!
“Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple.
Open the doors and there are all the people.”
I can’t tell you when I first learned this. I am guessing most of you can’t either. A Sunday School class, perhaps, when we are all but knee high. One of those lessons from the beginning. Really early on in life. Like learning to sing “Jesus Loves Me”. Almost as ingrained as learning how to say please and thank you. Cover your mouth when you cough. Wash your hands in warm water longer to say the alphabet or sing “Happy Birthday” twice. Beginners’ lessons. Like when you pass by a youth baseball or softball game. You will still hear things like “keep your eye on the ball” or “keep your head down,” or keep those gloves on the ground,” or “who’s ready out there,” or “David, the games are in here, not out there!” Beginners’ lessons. The fundamentals. The basics. The same things….from the beginning.
If you wandered into a Latin I class on campus behind at the beginning of the term, I bet they are still translating, “All of Gaul is divided into three parts”. If you stopped by a preschool some morning, especially around the birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss, you would still hear “Mr. Brown can moo, can you,” “One Fish, Two Fish,” and “I do not like green eggs and ham.” Beginning lessons. They go with you forever. Years ago, I did a wedding over at the university chapel. The bride and groom selected Psalm 23 as the reading. I think it is the only time I have read Psalm 23 at a wedding. It was the first scripture the bride ever learned. The first she could remember. It was from the beginning.
When our children were very young, my playlist of songs to sing when they were in my arms, trying to fall asleep or stop cryin,g was an odd mix of church songs and college fight songs. Abide with me. On Wisconsin. The Church’s One Foundation. Ray Bucknell. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Fight on, State. Just I am. 10,000 Men of Harvard. An odd mix of beginning songs. Cathy’s bedtime song for the kids was “When He Cometh, when He cometh, to make up his jewels. Cathy’s mother sang it to her. Last week, we received a video of our almost two-year-old granddaughter Maddy singing “When He Cometh” at the breakfast table. Beginnings. Fundamentals. The earliest lessons pass from generation to generation.
Beginning. It’s a favorite word of the writer of I John. The epistle is full of “beginning”. We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life…. Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning…Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father….for this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
This morning, however, it is not the writer’s use of the word “beginning” that is striking for our celebration. It is I John, and the earliest lesson, the fundamental, the basic, the beginning affirmation for discipleship and Christian faith, the earliest lesson passed from generation to generation among the followers of Jesus, the children of God, the people you see when you open the door. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” God is love. Love. Love. Love. Love.
It is as rock solid for a Christian as please and thank you. Cover your mouth. Wash your hands. Keep your eye on the ball. God is love. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. God is love. Love Yahweh with all your heart and with all of your heart and with all of your strength. God is love. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. God is love. Love your enemies…Love your neighbor as yourself…..The greatest of these is love. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” God is love.
Get back to the basics. After a long, stressful day at work. When the news of the day is beyond the pale. When your kid is in crisis, or your father doesn’t know you anymore or your sister just received a diagnosis. Remember the beginning lessons. When your college freshman is struggling. When you’re feeling lonely. When you find yourself in a conversation with a close friend that’s uncomfortable. When you see a hateful sign held in a public place. When you read of people demonizing the nameless, faceless other. When you see masked law enforcement needlessly strong-arming people in the halls of justice. When you worry about families being afraid just to send their children to school. When you don’t know what to say to a neighbor whose spouse is so sick. It’s the fundamentals. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” God is love.
A few weeks ago, I preached at the installation for the new senior pastor in Philadelphia at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. Ellen was a former student of mine and an intern here with us. She was ordained to a position out of seminary as an associate pastor in Austin, TX. She began her ministry right before the pandemic in 2020. She was called to Chestnut Hill and began her ministry just before the last presidential election. In a phone call to chat about how on earth to preach to a new congregation she hardly knows these days, Ellen said to me, “I just want to be a pastor in precedented times.” We talked about sticking to the basics of the gospel. I told her congregation that for any pastor beginning a new ministry in the last ten years, the word honeymoon doesn’t exist anymore. Even as I said it, right in the moment, I found myself thinking how grateful I am for you. For the congregation at Nassau Presbyterian Church. For the peace and unity of this congregation, I am privileged to serve. See all the people. And as you have heard me say many times, when the complexities and challenges of day to day are ever on the rise, the simplest parts of the teaching of Jesus become all the more important. The basics. The fundamentals. The earliest lessons. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” God is love.
I was sitting here in the sanctuary by myself one morning last week. I didn’t turn the lights on, but the morning sun illuminated the chancel texts. I noticed the space below the I John text. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” And I thought of something we maybe could have added. Because when it comes to the earliest lessons, the basics, the fundamentals, it is never as easy as it sounds, right? If hitting a baseball was just about keeping your head down, we would all be in the Hall of Fame. If loving your neighbor and going to do likewise were that easy, this blasted world would be a different place. So in my mind, I added a bit of a verse here in the blank space below “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.” It is also from I John. It’s only half a verse. And the next time I am asked to give my favorite verse for the children receiving their Bibles on a Sunday morning I will offer this one. I John 3:20b: “For God is greater than our hearts.”
“Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple.
Open the doors and there’s all the people.”
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.”
“For God is greater than our hearts.”