The PC(USA)’s mid council leaders begin their three-day gathering reaching to God in worship
They’re aided by spirited and Spirit-led preaching by the Rev. Carlton Johnson
LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Carlton Johnson got the Mid Council Leaders Gathering off to both a thoughtful and a rousing start Monday with his “Embodying Hope” sermon preached in a packed Chapel at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Johnson, director of Global Ecumenical Partnerships in the PC(USA), leaned on his Baptist training and on his upbringing to bring a little mid-morning fire to the gathered leaders of presbyteries and synods across the United States, including several leaders participating online. “My dear mother would declare, ‘You knew it when the Holy Ghost was there. It didn’t just get on you; it got in you,’” Johnson said.
Johnson employed Luke 4:16-21, Luke’s precursor of Jesus stirring up an angry response among those in Nazareth who knew him best, as his preaching text. In the previous chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus stepped out of his baptismal waters “and immediately into his earthy ministry,” Johnson noted. By Chapter 4, he’s back in his hometown of Nazareth. “We all need a place that holds us accountable, a place that will celebrate you and call out your foolishness,” Johnson said.
Also on the topic of foolishness, our political leaders need to understand at least one thing, Johnson said: “They ain’t coming to save us.”
“We have to save ourselves,” Johnson told mid council leaders, receiving expressions of agreement in return. “We have to lift our brothers and sisters. … We should do all we can to support the churches who will soon be stretched to their limits.”
“People see the cross on your neck,” Johnson told the gathered leaders. “They want to see the Jesus in your heart.”
In his reading from Isaiah 61, Jesus “reads and refers to the same Spirit that brought him to Nazareth: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,’” Johnson said. Jesus’ hearers were familiar not only with Isaiah’s prophecies, but those of Jeremiah as well, including parts that were hard for some to hear, Johnson said: “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
As faith leaders, “we can’t just pray and write beautiful litanies and confessions and statements,” Johnson said. “No, no and double no.”
“Luke says that when the Spirit came upon him, that’s what got Jesus to proclaim good news to the poor. Guess what that means to those who serve as leaders and pastors? It means it is your job and my job to respond. Remember when Jesus got mad and [told his disciples], ‘you feed them!’ It’s literally moving your hands and feet under the power of God’s Spirit.”
Some of our churches “may be small in attendance and don’t feel mighty enough. They’re tired,” Johnson said. “I understand, but I encourage them to move anyway.”
“You and I know it’s time to get to work, and God knows it too,” he said. “It’s time to take our foot off the brake and punch the gas.”
He asked mid council leaders: What kind of hope are you embodying in front of the young people in your community? We can lean on Saint Augustine's advice here, he said: “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”
“We will make it through this,” Johnson said, again to applause. “We will be a great church, and you will be participants in making it so.”
“If I wasn’t ready to pray before, I am now,” said the Rev. Susan McGhee, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Ohio Valley, who led her colleagues in prayers of intercession following Johnson’s sermon.
The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, the PC(USA)’s Associate for Worship, and Phillip Morgan, Associate for Music, Reformed and Constitutional Practice, led worshipers in quality singing throughout the service. The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Unified Agency, presided at the Communion Table. Mid council leaders came forward to take communion by intinction.
“By the work of your Spirit in us,” Oh prayed, “give us the grace to glorify you in the world.”
During his blessing and charge to conclude the service, Johnson reminded mid council leaders, “This is our time. We are called in this moment, and the Spirit of the Lord is upon us.”
“May the Spirit of God be with you. May the God of truth be with you now and until the end of time. Amen? Amen!”
Return to pcusa.org to read additional reporting on the Mid Council Leaders gathering, which concludes Wednesday.
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