TARTAN SUNDAY : CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE

" Presidents, Movie stars, Astronauts and I"
Readings: Psalm 32: 1-5, Hebrews 12:1-2, Matthew 4:1-11
Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Baldwin, NY, May 15th 2011

A printable PDF copy of this sermon can be found here.

For Tartan Sunday this year our readings focus on the account of the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness. The temptations that came to Jesus were devilish intents designed to make Him forget who He was, abandon His purpose, and declare Himself accountable to only Himself. A temptation for all church communities is to forget their roots, to lose their purpose and forget that they are not individual Kingdoms but part of the larger body of Christ.

In the first temptation, ‘Turn the Stones into Bread’ Jesus is faced with an urgent need; the most basic need of food. How easy it is in the face of pressing needs to want that which provides a quick solution at any cost.

The point that Jesus makes is that we can't live just by bread alone, we need something more. We need the Word, we need to know and hear that God is living and active in our lives and our world. Yes, there needs to be bread, but there also needs to be stones. Stones are for making roadways not feeding stomachs. Foundations can not be made out of bread.

There have always been congregations who prefer to separate from their roots, and cut themselves off from denominational ties. I am glad that this church is not some independent body that feels it has no need of any other part of the body of Christ. I rejoice that we do not put a message out to the world that we and only we have a monopoly on the truth. I celebrate that we are part of something larger than a church building at 717 St Luke’s Place, Baldwin.

I rejoice that there is a Presbytery of Long Island and a Presbyterian Church of the USA and a worldwide community of Presbyterian and Reformed churches. I rejoice that wherever I go in the world there are those who will identify me as their brother in Christ. I rejoice because if that were not so, I would not be here.

Celebrate the Stones. Celebrate the Rock of your Heritage. Celebrate the family God has called you to be part of. Yes we need our daily bread, but we also need the stones, representing something solid that has stood the test of time. We need stones and we need bread. We don't need to turn one into the other.

The second temptation Jesus faced was to ‘Throw Himself from the temple roof’, so as to demonstrate that those words in Scripture about God taking care of His chosen one would come to pass.

It would be quite a gimmick wouldn't it, to put an advert in the newspaper, "Come and see Pastor Adrian fly. Next Sunday he will be climbing the tower. At 10:15 he will launch out into the air, do a double back-flip, and return to the ground unharmed. See the angels descend from heaven and bear him up on their wings - Just as Scripture says - Come witness this amazing miracle - founded on the Word of Almighty God."

That would be the morning that an ambulance arrived and took me away in a straight jacket. I know I do some unusual things on occasions, but there's a difference between crazy and stupid.

"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" counteracts Jesus to the devilish twisting of the Scriptures words. The tempter knew that there was a power in the Scriptures words. He sought to use those words for his own ends, as many do.

Our heritage calls us not to put the Lord to the test by foolish actions that would jeopardize our past. Our heritage reminds us that there is a difference between launching out in faith and jumping off the church roof.

Today we celebrate our Scottish roots. We celebrate those who in Scotland refused to compromise what they held most dear and turned a nation to embrace the Presbyterian faith. We celebrate the message that still comes to us through their confessions. We celebrate those who launched out in faith to bring that faith to a New World.

The Scots Confession insists that the marks of a true church are its faithfulness to scripture, its nurture by the sacraments and discipline in both its private and public life. On the solid rock of such teaching we continue to build.

Losing your heritage can be an expensive mistake. I heard recently of a man who on a trip to Scotland visited a Castle which bore his families name. Near the castle's entrance a woman was taking tickets. The man jokingly told her that he had come from the United States to claim his castle. "Oh, good!" she replied. "You owe us nine hundred years in back taxes."

Heritage matters. It’s something that is priceless, that can’t be replaced. We all need a sense of where we have come from in order to see where we are going. We need to be informed by the past to guide our decisions in the future, that we may be prevented from taking foolhardy actions that would dishonor those who came before us.

Then there’s the third temptation. Satan tempts Jesus by offering all the world to Him. "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." Jesus is not moved. He counteracts the devilish lie with a simple statement, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'”

That too is our heritage. That too is our calling. Our Christian past has been formed by those who took that command with utmost seriousness, those who refused to bow down to the gods of their day but sought to live out their convictions with integrity and action.

In February 1549, Reformer John Knox, the man who would eventually become the great architect of Scottish Presbyterianism, spent 19 months as a slave on a French ship. Along with other prisoners he was chained to a bench and rowed throughout the day while an officer watched over them with a whip in hand. His French overseers also sought to re-convert him to the Catholic faith he had strongly rejected.

He tells of an incident on board when a picture of the virgin Mary was placed in front of a Scotsman on the ship (most probably himself) and was commanded to kiss the image, as a sign of worship. He refused and threw it into the sea, saying, "Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim." Scripture says “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” After that, according to Knox, the Scottish prisoners were no longer forced to perform such devotions.

One could give many other examples of those who struggled to establish the Presbyterian faith in the midst of hostile circumstances. That is not to say they never made mistakes nor demonstrated all the signs of fallen humanity that are common to all of us, but rather to suggest to you that as Presbyterians we are in the company of many who have made their mark on history.

Presidents Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Rutherford B Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harris, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan were Presbyterians. In 1963 Presbyterian Eugene Carson Blake was one of the speakers alongside Martin Luther King that addressed the crowd of 200,000 who marched in Washington. Presbyterian Condoleezza Rice served as Secretary of State from 2005–2009.

Presbyterians Mark Twain and William Faulkner had a huge influence on American literature. Presbyterian author Pearl Buck’s novel ‘The Good Earth’ won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Presbyterian DeWitt Wallace founded the “Readers Digest”. Presbyterian Henry Luce founded “Time” magazine.

One of my favorite movies of all time, “It’s a wonderful life’ starred a Presbyterian actor, Jimmy Stewart. John Wayne, Richard Burton, Greer Garson, Shirley Temple and Debbie Reynolds also claimed Presbyterian roots. Many of you (or at least your children) grew up being heavily influenced by an ordained Presbyterian minister, called Mr. Rogers, whose neighborhood still has a place on P.B.S.

In 1962 Presbyterian John Glenn took his first trip orbiting the earth. In 1983 Presbyterian Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a crew member on Space Shuttle Challenger. Presbyterian Ralph Winter was the movie producer of Science Fiction classics such as Fantastic Four, X-Men, and the Star Trek series of films.

Of course I’m name dropping! But there’s a time and a place to hold your head up high and recognize that you belong to a body of faithful people that continue to shape the world. That alone gives a good reason to celebrate our Heritage on Tartan Sunday. There is, after all, nothing wrong being in the company of astronauts, movie stars and presidents.

Yet the real strength of Presbyterianism, as it is with any other tradition, lies not with how many of the influential or praiseworthy one can name, but how real in our own lives is worship of the Lord our God and service of Jesus Christ. Such devotion transcends any denominational barriers and unites us to faithful people of all places and all traditions.

Whilst history connects us with those who have gone before and helps us sort out what we need to keep and what we need to let go of, we also have to consider what legacy we are leaving to those who will come after us. My prayer is that we will be faithful, as those who came before us were faithful. That our faith will be something living and vibrant that calls others to share in the love of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Adrian J Pratt