“Authority and Rummage Sales,” by the Very Rev. Bill Roberts

+ In the Love of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In this morning's Gospel, Jesus enters the synagogue and begins to teach, and the people are "astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." And then again, at the end of the Gospel, St. Mark tells us that "they were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, 'What is this? A new teaching― with authority!'"

This morning I want to talk about authority, and specifically about authority in the church. So let me begin with a brief overview:

For Roman Catholics, the source of authority is the Pope; for Protestants, the source of authority is the Bible; and for Episcopalians, the source of authority is . . . the last Rector! Of course, I've been here over 20 years now, so the first thing I want to say is that I'm glad I won't be succeeding myself! The second thing I want to say is that even if my brief overview used to be true, it isn't any longer. Roman Catholics, Protestants, Episcopalians, and every other denomination and church body, are all struggling with the question of authority today. And the reason we are struggling with the question of authority is because our culture and our church are emerging― emerging from one set of assumptions to a new set of assumptions, from one way of doing things to another way of doing things.

In her latest book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, Phyllis Tickle, the founding editor of the Religion Department at Publishers Weekly, writes this:

"The Right Reverend Mark Dyer, an Anglican bishop known for his wit as well as his wisdom, famously observes . . . that about every five hundred years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. . . . That is, . . . about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity . . . must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur" [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008, page 16].

So, let's see if you can help me go back in history at 500 year increments and identify these great church rummage sales. What happened about 500 years ago? {{Congregational Response}} [The (Great) Reformation] about 500 years earlier? {{Congregational Response}} [The Great Schism] about 500 years before then? {{Congregational Response}} [The Dark Ages, and guess what? it was St. Gregory the Great, our patron saint, who helped the Church survive in those days!] and 500 years before then takes us to Jesus and this morning's Gospel.

And the one thing that all of these church rummage sales have had in common is this: they each had to answer this question: "Where now is the authority?" [page 45]

And that's why this morning's Gospel caught my attention: it clearly shows a seismic shift in authority, because "Jesus taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." The first job of the scribes was to interpret the Torah, the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, and their interpretations were authoritative and binding. The second job of the scribes was to teach, and as teachers they were called "rabbi," which means "my great one." But the scribes would never speak on their own authority. Instead, they would cite the previous interpretations of other scribes and rabbis. But Jesus doesn't rely on anyone else's interpretations or precedents. The source of Jesus' authority was his living relationship with the living God. To put it another way, the authority of the scribes is based on what they know; the authority of Jesus is based on who he knows.

Although the word "authority" doesn't appear in our first reading from 1^st Corinthians, that's what was at stake. There is a battle between authority based on what is known and authority based on who is known. Here's the situation: Meat was very expensive in 1^st century Greece. As a result, meat was used not only for eating, but for sacrifice as well, as an offering to the "gods" who were represented by statues or figurines, or, idols. When the Corinthian church gathered for a potluck, its wealthier members brought meat. This created two problems for the poorer members of the church. First, they were scandalized that some of their fellow Christians were eating meat which had been sacrificed to other gods. Second, some of them would try to look sophisticated and eat the meat, but afterward they would feel terribly guilty and afraid about what they had done. That's why Paul writes words that are as timely today as they were then: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Authority based on knowledge puffs up the know-it-all, but authority based on love builds up each member of the church, and the church itself.

For its first 500 years, the authority of the church was centered in the local congregation, alive both to its living relationship to a living God and to its lively fellowship with each other. After all, for most of its first 500 years there wasn't a New Testament, just visits and letters from the apostles and their successors. With the coming of the Dark Ages, when the church declined along with the culture, Christianity was preserved primarily in the monasteries, so monastic authority emerged, with its Abbots and Abbesses. And with the rise of the Abbots and Abbesses, hierarchy begins to displace the community as the focus of authority. After the Great Schism, Papal authority emerged and grew, and with it the hierarchy of priests. And then came the Great Reformation, when Protestants declared that the Bible was the source of authority, and with it the hierarchy of preachers.

So 500 years after the Great Reformation, what's happening today? What's happening in this current Rummage Sale of the Church, which some are calling "The Great Emergence?" First, there's the phenomenon of "cafeteria Christianity," as Christians "buy" the things that appeal to them, and leave aside the things that don't. For example, many if not most Roman Catholics consider themselves to be faithful members of their church even when they reject some of the Pope's teaching; and many if not most Protestants don't know the Bible well enough for the Bible to really be their source of authority; and many if not most Episcopalians and their Rectors grow weary of each other after about five to seven years! (We really are a rare congregation!)

Second, with the decline of the Pope, the Bible, and the last Rector as the sources of authority, what seems to be emerging is something much closer to 1^st century Christianity than 20^th century Christianity: a Christianity in which the local congregation is once again the focus of authority, a local congregation in which who one knows is more important than what one knows, a local congregation that wants to experience again a living relationship with the living God, and a lively fellowship with its brothers and sisters in Christ.

And that's why I am so excited about what we as a parish are doing together with our Master Plan and Sabbatical work. Something is emerging in us, and we have the opportunity to discover it and shape it!

Thanks be to God!