The Church of Christ, in Every Age

It's Pentecost today - a remembrance and celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the church that was to come. I went to church this morning after missing last week...it was my first time back at Advent Lutheran since early April and felt like a true homecoming. I feel so fortunate to have found such a warm and open congregation with whom to worship. The theme of today's sermon was "God is love" - a very basic message but one that we often seem to lose sight of. As Christians we are called above all else to love each other, whether friends, acquaintances or strangers and regardless of class, creed, background, etc. What does it mean to be "church" today or rather, how is the Spirit calling the Church to be/show God's love on this earth? An important and necessary question to ask ourselves on this day of Pentecost. God has sent her Spirit to be among us, to guide us and lead us in love. The church has a responsibility to model this radical love to all the world, particularly when it comes to honouring, embracing and standing in solidarity with our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual and queer neighbours.

I wanted to share the lyrics of one of the hymns we sang this morning. This is a familiar one but the words had never struck me the way they did this morning. A very 'social gospel' themed hymn, I think we should sing this every Sunday to remind us of what it means to be a church in any age:

The church of Christ in every age,
beset by change but Spirit-led,
must claim and test its heritage
and keep on rising from the dead.

Across the world, across the street,
the victims of injustice cry
for shelter and for bread to eat,
and never live until they die.

Then let the servant church arise,
a caring church that longs to be
a partner in Christ's sacrifice,
and clothed in Christ's humanity.

For he alone, whose blood was shed,
can cure the fever in our blood,
and teach us how to share our bread
and feed the starving multitude.

We have no mission but to serve
in full obedience to our Lord:
to care for all, without reserve,
and spread his liberating word.

Words: Fred Pratt Green
Words © 1971 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
For permission to reproduce this hymn, contact:
In US & Canada: Hope Publishing Company, www.hopepublishing.com
Rest of the World: Stainer & Bell Ltd., www.stainer.co.uk