wfn.org | Sunday Morning Opening Worship Service

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

16-June-1997 
GA97029 
 
                    Sunday Morning Worship Service; 
                    Commissioning of Missionaries; 
                  Buchanan's Last Sermon as Moderator 
 
                          by Bill Lancaster 
 
SYRACUSE--With bagpipes, a brass ensemble, massed choirs, missionaries, 
moderators and a great dove of peace with angelic wings, the 209th General 
Assembly entourage plus people from six presbyteries--about 6,000 
strong--sang, prayed and sought God's word  at the opening worship service 
Sunday morning. 
 
This was the first hurrah for the 209th General Assembly, the swan song 
for 208th G.A. moderator John Buchanan, the first worship for new moderator 
Pat Brown, and the send-off for 443 missionaries going all over the 
world--including the U.S. 
 
    It was a grand two-and-a-half hour musical fest and mass gathering in a 
full sports arena meant more for hockey matches than holy communion.  It 
was a strong appeal for peace and unity in the bonds of the Spirit.  It was 
not worship as Presbyterians ordinarily know it, but it was worship as they 
have come to know it on a grand scale at General Assemblies. 
 
    Buchanan drove his last sermon home and set the tone for the beginning 
of the 209th G.A.  Using two scripture passages--Matthew 16:13-20 ("Who do 
you say that I am?") and Ephesians 4:1-7 and 11-16 ("...maintain the unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace"), Buchanan appealed for all to put the 
unity of the church ahead of their own agendas. 
 
    Citing Paul, he asked, "Is there a more passionate plea than this?" and 
quoted Ephesians:  "`I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a 
life worthy of the calling to which you are called, with all humility and 
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every 
effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'" 
 
    "Paul's thought has lately taken wing," he said.  " Now he believes 
that in Jesus Christ God has started a new creation, a new humanity.  In 
Christ, God--with a plan before the ages--intends to heal divisions, break 
down walls of hostility, unite all things.  Paul soars as he sits in that 
miserable jail cell." 
 
    He told the congregation the church is supposed to show the world what 
God's new creation looks like.  "It is--I propose--a lot more difficult to 
maintain the unity than to walk away, to destroy it." 
 
    "Now wait a minute," he said, "are you proposing that belief in the 
church is of equal weight or comparable weight with belief in Jesus Christ 
and furthermore, that the church's unity is as important as my individual 
conclusions about this or that?  About COCU or mission budgets, or 
Amendment B?"  And he answered, "That's exactly what I'm suggesting and I 
am convinced that's exactly what the Bible says." 
 
    He said, "I love this church of ours and the Reformed tradition that 
lies behind it.  But I do believe it is time for us to repent and confess 
that we have not heard God's summons to unity and reconciliation as clearly 
as we should." 
 
    And he read a favorite poem by Phyllis McGinty, "How to Start a War." 
                        "`Said Zwingli to Muntzer 
                        I'll have to be blunt, sir 
                        I don't like your version 
                        of Total Immersion. 
 
                        And since God is on my side 
                        and I'm on the dry side, 
                        you'd better swing ovah 
                        To me and Jehovah.' 
 
                        Cried Muntzer, `It's schism, 
                        Is infant Baptism! 
                        Since I've had a sign, sir, 
                        That God's will is mine, sir, 
                        Let all men agree 
                        With Jehovah and me, 
                        Or go to Hell, singly,' 
                        Said Muntzer to Zwingli, 
 
                        As each drew his sword 
                        On the side of the Lord.'" 
 
"Times Three", Phyllis McGinley, Viking Press, 1960, p.  28 
 
    He said a reporter for a major weekly news magazine finally told him in 
an interview, "Look, I've talked to both sides.  I know what they're saying 
about each other.  You're already two churches.  So why don't you just call 
a meeting, hire a good lawyer, get a divorce, split up the property and 
move on?" 
 
    And he quoted Bruce Bawer in a New York Times column April 5: 
"`American Protestantism is in the midst of a major shift.  It is being 
split into two nearly antithetical religions, both calling themselves 
Christianity'." 
 
    "The battle in the Presbyterian Church, he [Bawer] said, "shows that we 
are already two churches: a `church of law and a church of love.'" 
 
    And Buchanan asked, "Does it matter?  Does unity of the church matter 
as much as my conscience, my convictions, my opinions which I increasingly 
believe are God's opinions as well?  Yes, it matters.  It matters because 
Paul was right--whether we like it or not--the church shows the world what 
God's new creation looks like.  And if what we show the world is a 
fractured, broken fragmented mess, that, I believe is a major failure, a 
very serious sin." 
 
    "Unity is for mission," he said. 
    And he concluded by citing John Calvin's great hymn: "I Greet Thee Who 
My Sure Redeemer Art," 
 
                    "Thou has the true and perfect gentleness 
                    No harshness has thou and no bitterness 
                    O grant to us the grace we find in thee 
                    That we may dwell in perfect unity."  

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