Christ Church Camp Hill

Christ Presbyterian Church, Camp Hill
Pastor: Tim Roach, D.C.E. Bonnie Kilgore

What is the difference between a circle and a line? Which do you prefer: circles or lines? Circles and lines may be considered symbols or metaphors for very different ways of thinking.
In our culture, controlled as we are by science, almost all of our thinking is linear. Linear thinking is task- oriented. Linear thinking needs to accomplish, succeed, finish and complete. Linear thinking solves problems, makes decisions, and moves us forward from one place to another. Linear thinking is for scientists.
Circular thinking is very different. Circular thinking is reflective. Circular thinking is holistic and relational. Circular thinking does not solve problems but simply enjoys the moment. Circular thinking is conversational and pondering. Circular thinking is for dancers.
The sanctuary of Christ Presbyterian Church in Camp Hill is a circle. The communion table is circular, the pulpit is circular, and the pews are arranged in a circle, and the narthex outside the sanctuary is also a circular. I did not know that when I first arrived at Christ Church, and walking into the sanctuary immediately disoriented me. "Wow! This is different." I needed a moment to change my perspective on space and worship. After settling into the symbol of the circle, I realized that I really enjoyed this worship space. It is soothing and inviting in a circular kind of way.
I was first introduced to the theological difference between circles and lines when I visited the new chapel in our Presbyterian Center in Louisville. There the difference between circles and lines is blatant. Half of the chapel is all architecture done with straight lines. The other half of the chapel is all architecture done with curves. The combination and mixture of the two in the same space is brilliant. The space is comfortable and inviting but creates a kind of spiritual disorientation that moved me into prayer, the proper purpose of all worship space.
For almost all of Christian history, the Church created linear places of worship, often extremely linear with very long center aisles. But there was an American architectural novelty in the late 1960s and 1970s when many worship spaces were created in a circular style. Christ Church is a beautiful example of this unique architecture. Churches should be circular, in my opinion. But church architecture could never overcome our powerful cultural inclination toward linear thinking. Captured as we are by our culture, even the church is often stuck in linear thinking. Thus we are often afraid of the more relationship-building and prayer-inspiring circular reflection. So all linear Presbyterians should pause a moment, visit Christ Presbyterian Church, and ponder the circular words of the one seated on the throne, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 21: 6).
Our Christ Presbyterian Church is a solid congregation that has settled into a competent and effective life together. It is devoutly Presbyterian. It is neither flashy nor audacious. But it has a good theological identity, an inviting spirit, a generous commitment to mission outside of themselves, and a spiritually enriching worship life. Christ Church also understands that in our world today being solid and effective is not the recipe for longevity that it was a generation ago. Boldly, with Tim’s good leadership, they are beginning to dream about, envision and plan for the transformation of their church into the new church that God is creating.
I was most impressed with Tim’s preaching. Tim did something with his sermon that I was typically afraid to do when I was preaching every week. This formula for preaching is often very fruitful, but requires a lot of hard preparation. Working with the lectionary, the text for the day was Matthew 22: 1-14. As one of the parables of Jesus this passage can go many, many different directions in preaching. What Tim did was highlight what seems to be the most inappropriate and difficult little detail of the parable and make that the key to the whole sermon. Verses 11-14 are the end of the parable:
But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.
It would be very easy to skip these last verses of the parable since they are strident and confrontational. But Tim made these verses the heart of his whole sermon. Indeed it is a message about the power of grace in our lives. When we are invited and blessed and called to the banquet as the chosen ones we have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and act like it. And so we should. This is the power of grace. Thanks be to God!