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Let us take it one word at a time to see if we can make
sense of it. "The holy, catholic church." HOLY. What do we
mean when we call the church holy? The word "holy" literally
means "separate" or "set apart." It is used to designate
anything or anyone that belongs especially to God and thus is
separated or set apart from the world. In the Bible the priests
of God are holy because they have to do with God. The temple is
holy because it is a place set apart for the worship of God. The
Bible is holy because it contains a revelation of God different
from that which you will find in any other book. The church is
holy because it is a fellowship with God and therefore is
distinct from any other human association.
To modern minds, the word "holy" brings up a picture of
something with a halo over its head - pious, pure, sinless. But
that asks more of the word than is fair. And if we need proof,
all we have to do is say again, "I believe in the holy catholic
church."
Is the church sinless? Of course not. The church is an
association of sinners; in fact that is the entrance requirement.
The first question we ask new members in the Presbyterian Church
is, "Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of
God?" You could just as easily get into Alcoholics Anonymous
without being an alcoholic as you can get into the church without
being a sinner. Yes, AA members are working on their addiction
and church members are working on their sinfulness, but you are
bound to find drunks in AA and you are bound to find sinners in
the church.(1) All of us can tell tales of ignorance and hypocrisy
in the church - ministers who were deceitful, elders who were
unbearable, men who were obstinate, women who were silly and
insufferable. Religion, says one theologian, is what many people
do with their lunacy.(2)
Put all that together under one roof and the results are
almost predictable. Crusades to recapture the Holy Land and free
it from the "infidels;" Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition;
the persecution of the Reformers; the religious arguments in
favor of slavery; the silence of German Christians when Hitler
persecuted the Jews or the Dutch Reformed Church when South
Africa instituted apartheid. "Frankly," wrote Leslie Weatherhead
in The Christian Agnostic, "I often wonder why so many people do
go to church. Christianity must have a marvelous inherent power,
or the churches would have killed it long ago."(3)
In spite of all that though, we continue to make our
affirmation: "I believe in the holy, catholic church." Why?
Precisely because the church is HOLY...set apart. For all its
flaws and failures, the church belongs to God.
What about this word "catholic?" Lots of Protestants choke
on this one because, when we hear the word, our mind jumps
automatically to the church of Rome - Pope, priests, nuns, - the
very church from which our forebears broke away hundreds of years
ago. In fact, some protestant congregations refuse to use the
word "catholic" in their recitation of the creed - they offer
substitutes: "I believe in the holy, Christian church" or "I
believe in the holy, universal church." To be accurate,
"universal" is the better substitute because that is what
"catholic" really means. The earliest use of the word
"catholic," as applied to the Christian church, is found in the
writings of a scholar named Ignatius in the early part of the
second century. It meant "the whole body of believers, as
distinguished from a group of Christians or an individual
congregation."(4)
Some years ago, at a meeting of our Presbyterian General
Assembly, a request was received from a presbytery asking for an
explanatory statement on the word "catholic." The Assembly
answered by simply referring the presbytery to our Westminster
Confession of Faith:
When God's people was simply the Jewish nation, the church
was not catholic. But with the expansion of the gospel, people
of all nations, races, and languages were welcomed into the
family of God. Suddenly, we had a catholic church. And ever
since, our allegiance has been not to a racist church which
accepts only one ethnic group, not to a national church limited
by artificial boundaries, not to a denominational church that
insists on a certain label, not even to a "one, true church" that
denies the name of Christian to any who do not walk the walk and
talk the talk in a certain specific way. Our allegiance has been
to the church of Jesus Christ.
A woman was talking to her Presbyterian minister, taking him
to task for injecting something into a worship service which, she
said, was "not Presbyterian."
"Well," the minister replied, "you don't mean to say that
you believe that the only way you can get to heaven is by being a
Presbyterian, do you!"
She thought a minute and said, "No, not really. But no
genteel person would think of going any other way."(6)
Ha! "I believe in the holy, CATHOLIC church." The word
"catholic" is a good word, and it belongs to Presbyterians as
much as it does to anyone else.
Finally, the word "church." What do we mean when we say
"church?" Strange as it seems, nowhere in scripture do we find a
definition of the word "church." We find a foundation for the
church in our gospel lesson. Jesus asked the Twelve, "Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?" They responded with popular
conjecture: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or some other of
the ancient prophets. Then Jesus asked, "But who do you say that
I am?" Simon Peter answers, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the
living God." This is the foundation of the church, this
universally-held belief that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is Lord,
and this is why Jesus would say, "...on this rock - this solid
confessional foundation - I will build my church..."
A foundation, but still no definition. Instead, we find
descriptive pictures, metaphors, similes - students have found
over 90 different descriptions of the church in the pages of the
New Testament...but no definition.
How would YOU define "church?" Some would refer to a
specific building, some to a denomination. Some might use some
of those New Testament phrases like "Body of Christ" or "Bride of
Christ" or "Servant." Most of you would probably insist on
people being involved in any definition, and I would certainly
agree. For all the flaws that sinful people bring under steepled
roofs and into stained-glass sanctuaries, there is no church
without people.
As we say, scripture does not give us a definition of
"church" but a little word study offers us a clue. Our word
"church" comes from a Greek word "ekklesia" which itself is made
by combining two other words - "ek," meaning "out," and "kaleo,"
meaning "call." (And this is where our word "ecclesiastical"
[meaning anything to do with church] comes from.) That would
lead us to conclude that the church is those persons whom God in
Christ has CALLED OUT.
"Called out?" For what? I will give it to you in one
simple sentence found in our new Presbyterian Study Catechism:
"The mission of the church is to bear witness to God's love for
the world in Jesus Christ."(7) Simple sentence. Considerable
challenge.
And for all its flaws, the church has done a mighty work.
This called out church has given the world ideals...ideals like
religious and political liberty...ideals like racial unity,
social justice, and human brotherhood. Through the work of the
church and the convictions which have come from her, the most
sinful of the world's economic and social and political evils
have been driven to defeat or shamed into hiding. Who led the
battle against human slavery in this nation in the last century?
Who has been in the forefront of America's quest for racial
equality? Who has been most vocal in its concern for peace among
nations? The church and her people have been the conscience of
the world.
The called out church has provided bold messengers...the
first pioneers and adventurers into the dark and neglected areas
of the earth - the William Careys, the David Brainards, the
Hudson Taylors, the David Livingstons - not simply for the sake
of pushing beyond frontiers but that the people who live there
might come to know the fullness of God's blessing in Jesus
Christ. The messengers of the church - not the militarists, not
the magistrates, not the merchants - have always taken the lead
in the civilizing and enlightening work of the world.
The messengers of the called out church, not medical people
as such, have been the first to go into all parts of the earth
with the science of sanitation, nutrition, and physical healing.
How many hospitals are named "Baptist" or "Methodist" or
"Presbyterian?"
Not professional educators but the messengers of the called
out church have reduced languages to writing, established
schools, and set up printing presses for the distribution of the
Word of God. The first Sunday Schools were established, not
simply to teach Bible stories to youngsters, but to offer what
was then the only opportunity for them to learn to read and
write. Public education in America grew out of the selfless work
of the church.
Not social reformers but the messengers of the called out
church have taken the lead in the fight against poverty, famine,
and plague. The church has elevated the status of women, created
new conditions for childhood, established orphanages, day care
centers, asylums, homes for the aged and others who need help.
History offers no parallel to the unselfish and uplifting
work of the called out church. There is no question that what
goes on in parliaments and congresses, in council halls and
chambers of commerce, and in the highest courts of the nations is
always of importance to humanity. But when the world is out of
joint, when people's minds are disordered and their hearts are
failing them for fear, then the thing of supreme importance is
the living church, with all of her sanctuaries of worship and her
avenues of service, where men and women come to have their faith
strengthened, their thoughts clarified, their ideas uplifted,
their convictions born, and their characters created. The called
out church, for all her faults, is the institution of supreme
significance and value in the world through the ages.
But remember the words of the catechism: "The mission of the
church is to bear witness to God's love for the world in Jesus
Christ." Simple sentence. Considerable challenge. For all the
good works the church has offered, those pale by comparison to
the one thing that the church uniquely did and continues to do -
it has introduced the world to Jesus Christ. It was the called
out church that preserved those magnificent words, "For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." It was the
called out church that taught us, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved." We know Christ because the
called out church brought us to him. The called out church gave
us a right start, and the called out church TRIES to keep us on
the right road.
I read somewhere that near a church in Kansas there can be
seen in a cement sidewalk the prints of two baby feet pointing
toward the building. It was said that some years ago, when the
sidewalk was being laid, a mother secured permission to stand her
baby boy on the wet cement. The mother had wanted to start her
son in the right direction. She pointed him to the church.
"I believe in the holy, catholic church." Jack Redhead
tells of a Chinese proverb to the effect that there are five
points to the compass: north, east, south, west, and the point
where you are. The holy, catholic church is scattered to the
four points of the compass, but we come back eventually to the
point where WE are because our attitude toward the universal
church is revealed in our attitude toward the local church.(8) Remember, as we believe, so we behave. Where are you today? In a society for which church is optional
and there are wonderful excuses to ignore it, the choice is
yours. As for me, "I believe in the holy, catholic church."
Amen!
1. Albert Curry Winn, A Christian Primer: The Prayer, The Creed, The Commandments,
(Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), p. 160 2. H. A. Williams quoted by John Killinger, You are What You Believe: The Apostles'
Creed for Today, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990), pp. 89 3. Quoted by Killinger, p. 90 4. John A. Redhead, Jr., Uncommon Common Sense, Volume III: The Apostles' Creed,
(Greensboro, NC: Worth Family Foundation, 1997), p 168 5. Book of Confessions, "Westminster Confession of Faith," Chapter XXVII/Chapter XXV,
"Of the Church," (Louisville: KY, Presbyterian Church [USA]), 6.140-141 6. B. Clayton Bell, Moorings in a World Adrift: Answers for Christians Who Dare to Ask
Why, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) p. 87 7. Q. 63, Presbyterian Study Catechism, approved by the 210th General Assembly (1998) 8. Redhead, p. 172
The catholic or universal church, which is invisible,
consists of the whole number of the elect, that have
been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ
the head thereof...The visible Church, which is also
catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to
one nation as before under the law), consists of all
those throughout the world that profess the true
religion, together with their children; and is the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ; the house and family
of God...(5)
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