by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
SCRIPTURE READINGS Ephesians 2:17-22, 1 Peter 2:4-5
Transcribed from the sermon preached on MAY 18, 2025
Ephesians 2:17-22
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;
18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
~ Psalm 118 v.19How lovely is your dwelling place, O lord of Hosts! My soul longs, indeed, faints, for the courts of the Lord.
~ Psalm 84
In August 2003, after I was elected by the Pastor Nominating Committee I was invited to preach before the congregation. I came over on Saturday, while nobody was here to get a sense of the space. I remember opening the door and smelling redwood and taking a deep breath as I experienced this communal space lifting my soul. Wow! I said to myself, this is beautiful! Visual design, awesome!
At the time I didn’t know anyone yet. Now I have fallen in love and buried 150 saints. I tried not to name people in this talk because there are too many – we trust will get named in the Lambs book of life. But a shout out to Andy Benson – whose memorial gift paid for the new siding.
Thank you, God, for all those faithful saints who shared their faith and lives to build this house for you. Thank you for this firm foundation. At the time I didn’t know anyone here yet. Now I have fallen in love and buried 150 saints. I tried not to have people in writing this talk because there are too many – we trust they will get named in the lamb’s book of life. But a shout out to Andy Benson – whose memorial gift paid for the new siding. And at the same time, we acknowledge that this 50 year-old building and this 118 year old church, and this roughly 400 year old denomination, and the 2,000 year old Christian Church has lived through a history sharing many of its flaws. Ethnocentrism, colonialism, slavery, patriarchy, it took us too long, and we have a long way to go to before we have arrived at God’s peace and justice. We acknowledge the Ohlone people who lived on these lands before we did. And we thank God for grace and forgiveness, in the help to make difficult decisions as best we can with less than full knowledge. For surely, we today are self-serving and ignorantly mistaken in ways future generations will look back and wonder, how could they not see. And yet we are called by God to stand up and be counted, to take responsibility to continue this great church and ministry. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
A UCB professor Dacher Keltner wrote a book entitled Awe. Awe gives sense of being blown away, living - expansive, connected. There is an element of grace in all experiences of awe. Awe feels like a gift. In the book Keltner notes the eight different ways people experience awe: moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spirituality, birth and death, and Epiphanies. I was a little annoyed that he separated spirituality and religion from all the others, because it is so clear to me that we at St. John’s are about, and our spirituality includes all of them. And all eight have found their expression and been experienced in our sanctuary.
There have been so many expressions of moral beauty here I couldn’t count them. In our worship of the God who creates us unique and beautiful, in God’s image, in our receiving and sharing the grace of Christ and following the Way, I have been blown away over and over: refugees giving testimony of gratitude for our accompaniment and friendship, for new life. People caring for other people regardless of race, class, culture or gender. A refrigerator bought for a single mom, Hondurans advocating for water rights, climate activists protecting God’s Creation, Civil liberties advocates holding the national government accountable, Palestinians and Jews sitting together in dialogue, LGBTQ love and pride, people from all over the world worshipping together, regular everyday folks praying for one another. Awesome!
In a culture heavily weighted toward individualism, St. John’s has been an advocate for both the freedom to be our unique selves, and also the responsibility and opportunity to be a part and find our identity as part of a collective group, a community of the people of God. In our sanctuary people have formed friendships and been connected to a story and tradition and been formed into the Body of Christ. Truly while we celebrate this great sanctuary, the Church is the people.
… like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ~1 Peter2:4-5
Of course we experience the collective effervescence of communal worship, and music. Choirs, handbells, concerts of all kinds: people love our sanctuary as a venue for music. And we love, and organists love to play, to the risk of idolatry, our organ. We can thank God for it, and the gifted musicians who share their gift, even as we recognize an out of tune saint singing in their tent or garage is awesome to God. Over and over, I have been in awe experiencing the beautiful music produced by our musicians, others and all of us together. Handel’s Messiah, Silent Night, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, African drums and Guatemalan Marimba, from Bach to Happy Birthday; from complex to cheesy and traditional, from Joyful, Joyful to weeping moans, magic, mystery, the Holy Spirit, in the time and place of the immediate community, here and now, and resonating deep through time. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we first begun.”
Birth and death. Where? With whom do we celebrate, struggle and grieve? In Baptism we mark a new life with God’s grace and welcome them into the family of God. At death, we hold a memorial service, a gathering, a celebration of life yes, but also the sanctuary offers a safe space for grief, a safe space to cry, to cry out in grieved anger: “How Long O Lord, will you forsake me forever?” We do not hide from those difficult feelings and parts of life because we have faith God is sovereign over all. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This is a place to take an honest look at life and death and lift up hope that surpasses understanding. “Ye though I walk through the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me…Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” In life and in death we belong to God. Come on in, yearning in faith, sitting with doubt, joyful or sad, learning, working, struggling, celebrating new life, in this life or the next. Loved as we are, from wherever we come, all in need of growth, all in need of peace and courage, all in need of forgiveness, working for justice and peace, hoping for heaven, experiencing slices of it now – this sanctuary is for you.
Epiphanies, new ideas, revelations, moments of grace, I, and I am sure if you have been around here for any length of time you have experienced epiphanies in the sanctuary. Through music, powerful moments of moral beauty and collective effervescence, through preaching of the Word, through lectures by countless scholars and activists. Most of all we give thanks for that great epiphany when we face our humanity, and discover God’s grace, the beauty in our humanity, the spirit incarnate.
Ephesians 2:17-22
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;
18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Amen