Good News: We Are Called
Good News: We Are Called!
1 Peter 2: 9 - 10
Ephesians 1: 1 - 6
August 18, 2025
School has started. Many of us are shaking off the easier pace of the summer and moving back into the schedules driven by fall, winter, and spring. Here in the church, we are no different. While the summer has had its own unique ministry level, there is no doubt that a number of differing ministries will resume as we kick everything off on September 8.
There is an excitement to the resumption of ministries. There is a sense of anticipation as concepts move from the drawing boards to reality. We are in that wonderful season that is reflected in the preseasons of football, baseball, hockey, and basketball when hope springs eternal; when every team is viewed as a champion contender – at least if things break right.
One could say that every August is like this. Every August is a season when church staffs dream, conceptualize, and program. Every August is a time when the congregation wonders what new programs will be rolled out, what new ministries can be sampled, what new set of themes or campaigns will be offered as the solution to all that ails us.
And therein lies the problem. For far too many of us – the church is viewed every August like the latest version of our favorite car. How will that car – that church – get us from here to there? How will that car – that church – improve the ride, making it safer, more comfortable? What new options will there be for our car – for our church – that will make the ride more enjoyable? If the answers are favorable, if the answer gives us enough optimism for the future, then we will come along for the ride.
In short, far too many of us have become church consumers – ready to insist that the car be constructed as we mandate, or we will simply move on when the ride no longer meets our expectations. How very, very sad.
And let’s be clear, the church – particularly the American church – has played to this expectation. Every church tries to have the best ride, the best options, the cleanest look to continue the car metaphor. Every church tries to position itself as the attractive car to purchase – in comparison to the other cars on the lot - and so we have raised up multiple generations of church folk who think this attractional consumer mindset and approach to the church is actually the norm. Shame on us!
Last week we made some bold proclamations. If you were here, if you were with us via the livestream, you heard me say:
“We will no longer chase the latest fad of the moment. No longer will we trust in marketing campaigns guaranteeing to double your size and triple your income. We will no longer chase after the idol of church “success” as measured by metrics
and bank accounts.”
No, instead we will be a church – first and foremost – not about metrics and bank accounts, but about kingdom work. No longer will we be a church who believes that we are being “successful” if our attendance, buildings, and cash are where we want them to be. We are getting off the hamster wheel of self-promotion and instead going on the wild ride that is kingdom work. Jesus never called us an obsession with right doctrine, an absorption with beautiful buildings, or to the accumulation of worldly riches.
Jesus called us to work in his kingdom. A kingdom where righteousness, justice, worship, and sacrifice lead us to works that proclaim Jesus as an alternative to the self-serving and self-aggrandizing ways of this world.
Last week we talked about LNPC as a church rooted in love for God and for God’s people. As 1st Corinthians 13 reminds us, love is patient and kind. Love is not arrogant or boastful or rude. Love does not insist on its own way but instead always seeks God’s way and God’s best for all people.
In a world that is polarized, confrontational, arrogant, and continually insisting on its own way we have the opportunity to be different - to model a different realty, a different way of engaging one another in the conviction that our call is to simply reflect the mind and work of Christ.
Today we move to another assertion, another way of being, a conviction that is both centuries old and desperately needed as an embraced and reinvigorated faith conviction today. In a world that offered the church as simply the latest car, with all the best options to drive and constructed by the experts in the hopes that we can ride it to the promised land, today I want to lift up the notion of the priesthood of all believers.
The priesthood of all believers was a way of being, a way of life that was rediscovered and reemphasized for us Protestants at the Reformation. The ordained orders of the church – the priesthood - had positioned themselves as an elevated class, as the only vehicle, the only passageway through which regular folks could experience the grace, mercy, and love of God. Those blessings, those faith realities were measured, maintained, and dispensed only by the ordained priesthood. The Protestant response, as reflected in our first lesson from 1 Peter celebrated that, with Jesus, we all have access to God; we all have direct access to the love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God.
Friends, what a blessing! No longer does an institution sit between us and God. No longer do you need someone in a black robe and a green stole to represent you before God. Everyone – everyone! – is a spiritual being, capable of directly accessing God through prayer and reflection, capable and having the responsibility of bearing God’s truth to the world. That work – that kingdom work – is the work of all of us, not just the ministry of a selected and ordained few.
We come to this priesthood, we gain access to this priesthood, we all become priest co-laboring in God’s kingdom not because you went to seminary, not because you passed your professional exams, not because you have jumped through some set of ecclesiastical hurdles but simply because – get this – because, out of God’s wisdom and love for you, he has chosen you for this service.
YOU are a member of the priesthood of Christ – chosen by God – with direct access to God and to his will. In a world that measures success by the accumulation of material goods, titles, and power you have achieved this position not because of who you are or what you have done, but by God’s love and his selection. You have been chosen simply through God’s perfect wisdom and love.
Friends, this is an overwhelming affirmation. We all salute the valedictorians. We all think we are special if we have been accepted into some elite, selective high school, college, or graduate school. Elevated titles give us elevated reputations….. we think. But here, in the church, regardless of our role, regardless of our title, regardless of our positional prestige we are all the same. We are the beloved, chosen, priests of the family of God.
It doesn’t matter what town, neighborhood, or development we live in. It doesn’t matter what our employment status is. Think about this! In a world consumed by these kind of status markers what would we look like if we honestly didn’t care? If we celebrated the priesthood of all believers? How would our self-absorbed world, our status seeking communities, see us if we were faithfully, lovingly serving as antidotes to this kind of elitism and arrogance? What a light we could shine!
But, to quote a Marvel movie, with great power comes great responsibility. The priesthood is not exercised in a vacuum. The priesthood is not just about your access to God. We are priests – not for ourselves – but for others. Chosen by God, motivated by love, committed to seeking his righteousness we serve as priests for others.
That means that for each and every person we meet we have the responsibility of reflecting God’s grace and mercy towards them. For each and every encounter we have the responsibility to love, serve, and point to Jesus through the faithfulness of our actions. To be an active, faithful member of the priesthood of all believers means that we need to reflect a humility, a willingness to serve and sacrifice, a commitment to grace and forgiveness that precludes the maintenance of grudges, the preservation of status, or the insistence on our way or agenda.
To embrace our inclusion in the priesthood of all believers is to understand that every area of our lives – the mundane and the spectacular, the secular and the holy – is an opportunity for us to exercise our callings as priests in God’s kingdom. Loving, serving, proclaiming, bearing witness to the good and powerful affirmation of who we are in God’s creation.
How will LNPC thrive as we move into the new program year? How will LNPC transform hope into a glorious new reality? They will know us by our love. They will experience us as priests serving in God’s kingdom. They will understand that this love and status is available to all God’s people. Welcome to the priesthood! Let’s get to work – together. Amen.
1 Peter 2: 9 - 10
Ephesians 1: 1 - 6
August 18, 2025
School has started. Many of us are shaking off the easier pace of the summer and moving back into the schedules driven by fall, winter, and spring. Here in the church, we are no different. While the summer has had its own unique ministry level, there is no doubt that a number of differing ministries will resume as we kick everything off on September 8.
There is an excitement to the resumption of ministries. There is a sense of anticipation as concepts move from the drawing boards to reality. We are in that wonderful season that is reflected in the preseasons of football, baseball, hockey, and basketball when hope springs eternal; when every team is viewed as a champion contender – at least if things break right.
One could say that every August is like this. Every August is a season when church staffs dream, conceptualize, and program. Every August is a time when the congregation wonders what new programs will be rolled out, what new ministries can be sampled, what new set of themes or campaigns will be offered as the solution to all that ails us.
And therein lies the problem. For far too many of us – the church is viewed every August like the latest version of our favorite car. How will that car – that church – get us from here to there? How will that car – that church – improve the ride, making it safer, more comfortable? What new options will there be for our car – for our church – that will make the ride more enjoyable? If the answers are favorable, if the answer gives us enough optimism for the future, then we will come along for the ride.
In short, far too many of us have become church consumers – ready to insist that the car be constructed as we mandate, or we will simply move on when the ride no longer meets our expectations. How very, very sad.
And let’s be clear, the church – particularly the American church – has played to this expectation. Every church tries to have the best ride, the best options, the cleanest look to continue the car metaphor. Every church tries to position itself as the attractive car to purchase – in comparison to the other cars on the lot - and so we have raised up multiple generations of church folk who think this attractional consumer mindset and approach to the church is actually the norm. Shame on us!
Last week we made some bold proclamations. If you were here, if you were with us via the livestream, you heard me say:
“We will no longer chase the latest fad of the moment. No longer will we trust in marketing campaigns guaranteeing to double your size and triple your income. We will no longer chase after the idol of church “success” as measured by metrics
and bank accounts.”
No, instead we will be a church – first and foremost – not about metrics and bank accounts, but about kingdom work. No longer will we be a church who believes that we are being “successful” if our attendance, buildings, and cash are where we want them to be. We are getting off the hamster wheel of self-promotion and instead going on the wild ride that is kingdom work. Jesus never called us an obsession with right doctrine, an absorption with beautiful buildings, or to the accumulation of worldly riches.
Jesus called us to work in his kingdom. A kingdom where righteousness, justice, worship, and sacrifice lead us to works that proclaim Jesus as an alternative to the self-serving and self-aggrandizing ways of this world.
Last week we talked about LNPC as a church rooted in love for God and for God’s people. As 1st Corinthians 13 reminds us, love is patient and kind. Love is not arrogant or boastful or rude. Love does not insist on its own way but instead always seeks God’s way and God’s best for all people.
In a world that is polarized, confrontational, arrogant, and continually insisting on its own way we have the opportunity to be different - to model a different realty, a different way of engaging one another in the conviction that our call is to simply reflect the mind and work of Christ.
Today we move to another assertion, another way of being, a conviction that is both centuries old and desperately needed as an embraced and reinvigorated faith conviction today. In a world that offered the church as simply the latest car, with all the best options to drive and constructed by the experts in the hopes that we can ride it to the promised land, today I want to lift up the notion of the priesthood of all believers.
The priesthood of all believers was a way of being, a way of life that was rediscovered and reemphasized for us Protestants at the Reformation. The ordained orders of the church – the priesthood - had positioned themselves as an elevated class, as the only vehicle, the only passageway through which regular folks could experience the grace, mercy, and love of God. Those blessings, those faith realities were measured, maintained, and dispensed only by the ordained priesthood. The Protestant response, as reflected in our first lesson from 1 Peter celebrated that, with Jesus, we all have access to God; we all have direct access to the love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God.
Friends, what a blessing! No longer does an institution sit between us and God. No longer do you need someone in a black robe and a green stole to represent you before God. Everyone – everyone! – is a spiritual being, capable of directly accessing God through prayer and reflection, capable and having the responsibility of bearing God’s truth to the world. That work – that kingdom work – is the work of all of us, not just the ministry of a selected and ordained few.
We come to this priesthood, we gain access to this priesthood, we all become priest co-laboring in God’s kingdom not because you went to seminary, not because you passed your professional exams, not because you have jumped through some set of ecclesiastical hurdles but simply because – get this – because, out of God’s wisdom and love for you, he has chosen you for this service.
YOU are a member of the priesthood of Christ – chosen by God – with direct access to God and to his will. In a world that measures success by the accumulation of material goods, titles, and power you have achieved this position not because of who you are or what you have done, but by God’s love and his selection. You have been chosen simply through God’s perfect wisdom and love.
Friends, this is an overwhelming affirmation. We all salute the valedictorians. We all think we are special if we have been accepted into some elite, selective high school, college, or graduate school. Elevated titles give us elevated reputations….. we think. But here, in the church, regardless of our role, regardless of our title, regardless of our positional prestige we are all the same. We are the beloved, chosen, priests of the family of God.
It doesn’t matter what town, neighborhood, or development we live in. It doesn’t matter what our employment status is. Think about this! In a world consumed by these kind of status markers what would we look like if we honestly didn’t care? If we celebrated the priesthood of all believers? How would our self-absorbed world, our status seeking communities, see us if we were faithfully, lovingly serving as antidotes to this kind of elitism and arrogance? What a light we could shine!
But, to quote a Marvel movie, with great power comes great responsibility. The priesthood is not exercised in a vacuum. The priesthood is not just about your access to God. We are priests – not for ourselves – but for others. Chosen by God, motivated by love, committed to seeking his righteousness we serve as priests for others.
That means that for each and every person we meet we have the responsibility of reflecting God’s grace and mercy towards them. For each and every encounter we have the responsibility to love, serve, and point to Jesus through the faithfulness of our actions. To be an active, faithful member of the priesthood of all believers means that we need to reflect a humility, a willingness to serve and sacrifice, a commitment to grace and forgiveness that precludes the maintenance of grudges, the preservation of status, or the insistence on our way or agenda.
To embrace our inclusion in the priesthood of all believers is to understand that every area of our lives – the mundane and the spectacular, the secular and the holy – is an opportunity for us to exercise our callings as priests in God’s kingdom. Loving, serving, proclaiming, bearing witness to the good and powerful affirmation of who we are in God’s creation.
How will LNPC thrive as we move into the new program year? How will LNPC transform hope into a glorious new reality? They will know us by our love. They will experience us as priests serving in God’s kingdom. They will understand that this love and status is available to all God’s people. Welcome to the priesthood! Let’s get to work – together. Amen.
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