This Ecotonic Moment at LAC
Psalm 136
Well, I am John Lewis. Some of you may remember that I had the opportunity to give the sermon here at Lake a little over a year ago. Now, that was the first time I ever preached a sermon and you all were very gracious and supportive. But, doing this a second time is perhaps tempting fate a bit. You put up with me last time in part because I was Church Chair and an elected leader in the church. Today I come to you as a "has been." Adam Stiles now capably occupies the Chair position – an upgrade if you ask me. Since I've spoken here once before, I am afraid that I'm in danger of becoming Pastor Brunch. You see, many years ago we had some friends that when they came to church, if they saw that a certain pastor was speaking, they would go to brunch. So, he became known to them as Pastor Brunch. Not that any of you would do that, but if someone you normally see isn't here today... well.
I'm here to speak today about...baggage. That's right baggage. How many of you have said, "They have a lot of baggage." Baggage is the legacy you carry from critical experiences, often from the choices of others that affect your life. We tend to think of baggage in a negative sense, but as I'm using it here it's more neutral. If I say that this bag represents the historical legacy of Lake Avenue you can see that it's large...115 years large. The question that Pastor Greg put before us last week was, in this moment of profound change, what is it that we must hold onto as we enter the future? So, I'm going to check this large bag for our plane trip to the future. But, you know that it's possible that this bag, when I check it will be lost. Or, it may be damaged or delayed. So, I'm going to take out of it a smaller bag that I can carry on the plane with me. That way I can be sure that its contents don't get lost. So, the things that remain in the bag, however much I may care about them, I can live without. But, what I put in the carryon, those are the things I want to be sure I carry with me. So, what from the past of Lake Avenue is in my carryon? That's the question I hope to answer
Or, to put that another way, what does our particular history tell us about God and about how He has chosen to work through this body and how does that affect how we understand our place here? But, before we get down to specifics, I thought it would be helpful to take a further step back and consider how God works in history and how that impacts us. After all, we all know that the Church is both deep and wide. By that we mean that it is wide in the sense that it embraces believers all over the world across nations, languages and cultures. We also mean that it is deep in that it embraces believers across the millennia. Now all people are prone to be egocentric, right? I mean everyone except you of course! One of my favorite examples of this is a map I have on the wall of my study. It's a French map of Australia and Polynesia from 1829. Now, what I love about this map, besides its age, is that at the top of SLIDE 1
the map it has these words – "Longitude du Meridien de Paris" which means that all the longitudinal lines are measured from Paris, rather than from Greenwich England. We are all egocentric, some of us are just better at it than others! We all want to think that we are at the center of the world don't we? But, the truth is that we enter as actors in a play that is well begun before we step on the stage and the drama that unfolds before us has its roots in action that took place long before we showed up. We understand the world as we do because of what has come before and often in ways that we are unconscious of.
I think what fascinates me about history is that what we think of as foregone conclusions, because we know the history, was in fact not known to those who lived through it. These were real people making real choices just as we are. We confront our weaknesses and use our strengths just as they did and we see God at work in our midst, sometimes clearly, sometimes less so, just as they did. So, as we look now at the passage that was read, let's think about the original events and how they appeared to those involved and let's think also about how Israel as a nation was reflecting on those experiences in this Psalm.
Now, as you may know, I have no seminary degree and I've preached all of one sermon before this. So, let's keep the expectations appropriately low! As we turn to the passage I won't be taking us back to the original language or explaining the theological observations of the many scholars on the text. I'm just a guy and I hope to make just a few observations that might be helpful. As we look at Psalm 136, the first thing that occurs to me is this:
All history is God's story. Throughout the Psalm, from creation, to the exodus from Egypt, to the conquering of Canaan, to the expectation of His future provision, we are reminded over and over again that it is God who is at work. There is no part of this recounting that is not seen in the light of His continuing faithful love. One of the writers that I've been most impacted is Francis Schaeffer and the way he puts this is that Christ is the ultimate integration point in all of life. That is, nothing can be fully understood until it understood in light of the identity and work of Christ. Here, before Christ, in this Psalm we might say that the history of creation, of Israel as a people cannot be understood until it is understood in light of the work and person of God. No part of history is separated from God's sovereign hand – not in the big picture of the world, nor in the smaller picture of our individual lives. As Ajith Fernando said, "There is no God forsaken place in the world." So, when we consider our own history as a community or as a family or as an individual, let's remember that we cannot adequately understand that story until we understand that it is first and foremost God's story.
The second observation to make from this passage is this: Throughout the ongoing story of God's interaction with His creation we see that He is worthy of praise. Don't you love this refrain? In the NASB it reads, "For His loving-kindness is everlasting." In each of the episodes recounted along the way in the passage, this refrain comes back to remind us that He is a God of faithful love. We might look at this as think, well sure, He's a loving God and we see that in the story of creation and in the way He interacts with Israel. But, let's remember that it would not have always seemed so to those who were actively involved in the story. They would have known real pain and sorrow. They would have suffered loss personally and corporately. Their faith was challenged and sometimes it fell short – think of Moses not being allowed to enter into the Promised Land. That was part of this same section of history. And yet, upon reflection Israel can't help but see God at work, see His loving-kindness in their midst and give Him praise. History is God's story and it's also a story that reveals Him to be worthy of our praise and worship.
The final observation I'd like to make about this passage is this: God meets us in the specifics of our place and time. Did you notice that God does not create the world and then set it on its way? The praise for creation, appropriate as it is, is not the whole story. God is not just the cosmic watchmaker who sets things in motion and then sits back. He is engaged in His creation, actively caring about it, and intervening in it. When we were in Israel last summer, we had the chance to walk in the steps of Jesus – in Nazareth, in Galilee, in Capernaum, in Jerusalem. It was a stark reminder that God did not just intervene is some existential way. This was not a spiritual intervention that didn't' intersect with the physical world. Jesus walked on the earth in a specific place at a specific time. The history recorded in Scripture is not just a spiritual fairy tale. It's not a moral fiction meant to stir up good works in us. It is historical reality that occurred in time and space. And, just as God met Israel in time and space in the midst of their slavery in Egypt, just as He led them across the desert, just as He went before them to conquer in the Promised Land, He is just as surely engaged with us in our time and place. So, as we turn to the examination of just what He has done among us, let's remember these three essential truths: All history is God's story; God's story shows that He is worthy, and God meets us in the specifics of our time and place.
Now, as we turn to looking at Lake Avenue Church as a body of believers more than a century in age there is a danger that we fail to see things because they are familiar, because we have known some of the players, because we see all too easily the frailties. But, you can imagine that in Psalm 136 the same danger existed. They would have known of Moses' frailties, of the rebellion of Israel in the desert, of the incomplete obedience in the Promised Land. But still, they could acknowledge and see the transcendent purpose and activity of the God who is there among them. So that will be one of the challenges as we look at our story. The other challenge is this: Can we discern patterns in what God has done among us that help us understand who we are, how we work together as a community and what it is that God is calling us to now and in the future? I will not give you a full history of Lake (yes, I see that sigh of relief!). Instead, I hope to cherry pick a few key observations from each era of our history.
In particular, I hope to identify the key leaders in each era and the key successes during each. Identifying the leaders is important because these are people that God has used along the way. Seeing what the various successes were matters both because they are the outward evidence of God's work among us, but also because those successes have a particular impact on our culture. Why is that? It is because when something fails, we're impacted by it, but we tend to shy away from repeating it. However, when something succeeds we tend to repeat it. That repetition drives those things down as patterns in the culture of our community. It shapes how we see ourselves and how we think of the way we do things together. So, let's start at the beginning of the story of Lake Avenue Church.
Before I start going through 115 years at warp speed, let me start with a little more detail about the very beginnings, partly because I just love this part of the story. In the fall of 1895 a group of teenage girls were talking together (imagine that teenage girls talking) and they hatched the idea of starting a Sunday school in the area. One of them in particular, Haidee Bryan, seized the idea and put it to action.
Now on those days, the place where we are today was the very Eastern edge of Pasadena. And, Haidee suffered from a hunchback. Walking the three miles to the congregational Church was something she was hard pressed to do. So a Sunday school was started and Haidee found the various initial locations for it. They met with various challenges along the way, but they received real and lasting support from William Waterhouse. He lived in a house that today is the site of the Hat restaurant at Villa and Lake. In 1896, he acquired the property at the corner of Maple and Lake to provide a lasting home for the Sunday school. In November of 1896, a meeting was held to consider forming a full-fledged church. The assembled group agreed that they wanted to form a church, but could not reach agreement on whether it should be a Congregational Church or Presbyterian Church. They gathered later that same month to address the issue again. This time, they turned to Haidee and asked if she had any thoughts about the matter. Haidee, the teenage girl with the vision and drive that had done so much, said she had hoped it would be a Congregational Church. This time the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of a congregational church. I just love that a group of teenage girls has the vision, that adults believe in that vision, provide the needed support and look to the youth for their participation in leadership. The real discipleship of and empowerment of youth was a part of the core of Lake Avenue right from the beginning and throughout the succeeding decades at Lake Avenue.
So now, let's move quickly over the various eras of Lake Avenue Church. Now I've picked just a few key points and people along the way. Others could probably do this better and correct me, and probably will. Don't forget that if you have any concerns or critiques to offer that you should email Albert Tate at . He still owes me.
I'm titling the first era as Community Roots. You've heard the story of founding of the church and so you know the critical role that William Waterhouse played. He and his family would continue to provide significant leadership and support to the church in the decades that came later. Allen Hastings was one of the four pastors to serve during this early era and was the son-in-law of one of the charter members. Isaac Kuykendall was the first missionary supported by Lake Avenue. He was a Princeton student who went to China as a missionary. You can see that the first chapel was built and dedicated free of debt, the membership has grown significantly and out of the youth of the church have come missionaries. The missional impulse of Haidee and her friends is part of the DNA and the sending of missionaries from among the body is just a natural extension of that.
The next section is labeled Conservative Christian Lighthouse and covers roughly the first half of James Henry Hutchins' ministry at Lake. Dr. Hutchins was a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and he maintained a strong tie to the school. Numerous speakers from Moody came to Lake in those years and there was a natural connection then to the Bible Institute of Los Angeles that was formed on those years and would later become Biola University. Throughout, it was clear that the declaration of the truth of the Gospel and reliance on the Word of God was at the core of the Church. You can see that I also have called out Charles Fuller whose evangelism ministry would have great impact and Marshall Wells, who was sent out as a missionary to China during this time. Now, I've singled out Marshall for a couple of reasons.
First, since he only went to be with the Lord last year, many of us had the chance to know him even though he went out so long ago. The second reason is, because we had the chance to know him, we know he was just plain amazing! Lake was already in the habit of raising up and sending it's best and brightest to the mission filed and Marshall exemplified that. You can see the various successes there, the growth of the congregation, the buildings built, but what I really want you to notice is the overseas travel by Dr. Hutchins. He did this specifically to visit and encourage our missionaries. This was not a period when doing this was easy. We are talking about steamer travel covering long distances. This was not a first class flight on a jet. No one went on short-term missions. This represented a huge commitment and it should tell you something about Dr. Hutchins and about the church.
Then next era I'm calling Crossroads of Evangelicalism. Here we saw a remarkable cast of characters come to this place and impact both it and the world. Dr. Hutchins continues as senior pastor for another eighteen years. Now, Dr. Hutchins had his foibles and failings as we all do, but can you imagine having the kind of leadership continuity and growth that covered these thirty eight years?
My father, who only became a Christian later in his life, was part of a community service group here in Pasadena with Dr. Hutchins. Now my father was not one to be effusive. He was a tough westerner and he didn't throw praise around easily. When I first started to come to Lake Avenue reflected on his connection with Dr. Hutchins and said, "He was the finest man I have ever known." Let me tell you, that was high raise indeed.
Also during this period Fuller Seminary is started and it has no physical home of its own from 1947-1953. Instead, it met here, in the Maple street building. With that came the natural synergy with its faculty members providing teaching to the various adult groups and so you had the likes of Carl Henry, Harold Lindsell and Wilbur Smith. Ed Fischer, who would become a legend in Christian music came to be the part-time worship leader at Lake. And, the missionary force continued to grow out of the body here. Now, allow me to make an observation about that. Clearly this was a church that read the Book of Acts and said we must go into all the world. They disciple their own and supported and sent their very best. It's worth noting that their support for missions was not just some theological idea. They cared deeply about this because it was likely to be your son or niece or you close friend's son or daughter who was sent. It wasn't someone who came and spoke once and you wrote them a check. Lake Avenue cared enough to send their own and having sent their own, they cared even more.
The next era I'm calling Deepened Roots, Expanded Branches. Ray Ortlund comes as senior pastor and leads Lake in a dynamic and challenging era. You can see that I've called out Ted Engstrom, President of World Vision and his comrade Ed Dayton who provided key leadership here. Also, Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary who had huge impact on the thinking and approach of Lake and Ralph Winter, a life-long member of Lake one of Lake's missionaries, who started the US Center for World Missions. You can see the various successes I've noted, but I want to especially note the Company of the Committed. By this time Lake has seen many decades of growth and success in ministry, but Ray sees the potential for settling, for a lack of continued all out devotion to the Lord. He calls for a company of those who would make their commitment clear and unequivocal. That brings me to a key observation: Lake Avenue throughout the decades has been the place for true believers. Oh sure, no one and no place is totally consistent, but the culture of this place has consistently been tilted to making a commitment to truth and to whole life discipleship that is authentic. The Company of the Committed is one of those things that reminds us of that.
The next era is titled: New Capacities, New Challenges. Now, I'm getting closer to the present day, so things get more dangerous, but I'm calling out Paul Cedar, Jerry Johnson, Gordon Kirk and Andy bales as pastors in this era that have huge impact. And Art Glasser at Fuller and Dean Hirsch at World Vision continue the engagement with significant para-church bodies in the area and bring meaningful leadership in confronting the challenges of the world around us. During this period the new sanctuary we are in is built and a huge debt is taken on, then gradually paid down. Halleluiah! But what I really want to note is the acquisition of the property at 500 Villa that gives a direct physical presence in the immediate community and the way that Andy Bales so clearly called us and exemplified our outreach in the immediate community. Lake recognized the changes that had occurred in the community around it and focused deliberately on stepping into that field.
Now, my flyover of Lake's history is done because from there, to be quite honest, it's just too close. But allow me to be bold enough to suggest, at this ecotonic moment, some of the things that make us who we are. These are the things that I hope we can carry with us into the future, even if we must think carefully about how they should look in the coming age.
These are the things I'm putting in my carryon bag: First, Lake is a place where we have an unshaken commitment to declared truth. The truth of the Gospel as revealed in God's Word has always been at the core of Lake and it must remain so. Second, this is a place where whole life discipleship of all had been a commitment, but especially in terms of our youth. We have seen God call missionaries, pastors, scholars and leaders from the youth of this church for decades. That doesn't happen without a deliberate commitment – it's part of our DNA. Next, Lake is a place of continued engagement with its community. We are committed to meeting the needs of our community and most especially their need for the Gospel. And finally, as you can see throughout, that Lake has read the Book Acts and has sent its own into the world to bring the Gospel where the name of Christ has not been known. So, allow me to suggest, however bold it may be, that we must carry these things with us into the future. I think an honest assessment of our past ways that this is who we are and how the work of God among us has shaped us. That we must look back and say, "Almighty God, Our Father, You have dome great and mighty things among us. You are worthy of our worship and all of this story, all of our story is yours. Your loving-kindness is without end!"
So, to conclude I've made an attempt to write a brief Psalm, in the spirit of Psalm 136, recalling our past and thanking God for His loving-kindness:
John Lewis • Copyright 2011, Lake Avenue Church