We are roughly 10 months away from the year 2000 and the dawn of a new day for the church catholic, and our own little arm of that church known as the Anglican Communion. Articles, and increasingly books and videos, abound on how the church should step into the new millennium. Much of the new material points to the need to be a church conformed to current cultural methods and trends and thus tempting us to stay on the cutting edge of science, theology, administration, management, communication and even morality.

This shift to modernity is, of course, not all bad. The church must in some sense be relevant if it is to be clear and accomplish its mission. But we must be wary of building and growing a church upon contemporary thinking and methods, rather than a relationship rooted in the Trinitarian God and the wider community of Christians. One of the consistent methods Christ used to respond to both his critics and his followers to convince them of the necessity of embracing the gospel was to look back, to make use of the scriptures of the Old Testament and to give fuller meaning to a faith that was already in existence. Perhaps, then, one way of stepping into the future as a church is to use the past as our foundation, not our wastebasket. In order to do so, we must start with scripture.

There are, of course, many places one could turn in scripture for a description of "the church" (among them certainly the Beatitudes, as well as 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 come to mind), but is there a precise passage that sums up what Jesus' hope is for those who follow him? It seems clear that at least one possibility rests in the prayers of Christ from Gethsemane on the night before the crucifixion. Here, in John 17, we are offered one of the most intimate snapshots of the Messiah and his heavenly Father. What kind of "church" does Jesus model and describe in these 26 verses?

The modern church, particularly in America, has rightly been accused for its lack of humility in recent years. Nowhere was this more obvious than on the heels of last year's Lambeth Conference. In my nearly 40 years in the church, I know of few other gatherings of Christians that were more soaked in prayer than Lambeth. Millions of Anglicans around the world were praying that God would speak through the gathering of our elected leaders, particularly on the matters of human sexuality. No sooner had it appeared that God had indeed spoken, than a small minority of our leaders expressed their personal disappointment that things did not go their way. Since that time, disappointment has in some circles turned to arrogance as many church leaders have clearly stated that we do not necessarily have to listen or abide by the Lambeth resolutions.

1. A Humble Church. The mere act of Jesus, Lord of lords and King of kings, kneeling in humble submission before the Creator sets the stage for those of us who wish to follow Christ. We must, if we are to be faithful to our commitment to Christ and baptismal vows, acknowledge the absolute necessity of our humility before God and one another. Not only did Jesus teach humility as the path to God (Matt. 18:4, 23:12), but "he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:8). Those who are arrogant and proud, on the other hand, are repeatedly condemned throughout scripture, primarily for trying to play God, rather than submitting to him.

The modern church, particularly in America, has rightly been accused for its lack of humility in recent years. Nowhere was this more obvious than on the heels of last year's Lambeth Conference. In my nearly 40 years in the church, I know of few other gatherings of Christians that were more soaked in prayer than Lambeth. Millions of Anglicans around the world were praying that God would speak through the gathering of our elected leaders, particularly on the matters of human sexuality. No sooner had it appeared that God had indeed spoken, than a small minority of our leaders expressed their personal disappointment that things did not go their way. Since that time, disappointment has in some circles turned to arrogance as many church leaders have clearly stated that we do not necessarily have to listen or abide by the Lambeth resolutions.

2. A Praying Church. Teresa of Avila once wrote, "... souls who do not practice prayer are like people with paralyzed or crippled bodies; even though they have hands and feet they cannot give orders to these hands and feet." In John 17, Jesus models for us the utter importance of prayer - the act of earnest and personal communication with God.

"Pray without ceasing," Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:17). I, quite frankly, am amazed at the number of Christians I encounter (lay and ordained alike) who do not incorporate a time of prayer as part of their daily lives.

3. A Christ-Centered Church. Being humble does not necessarily preclude one from being bold, courageous and clear about purpose. Though Jesus was humble, he was clear. The core of the gospel could only be found in Christ Jesus.

Jesus' message, life, death and Resurrection were unique among all world religions up to his day, and since his Ascension. In virtually every other world religion, one's salvation depends upon one's own personal merit, the tenuous hope that somehow the goods will outweigh the bads and spring us into the hands of God. Not so, says Christianity. For we who trust in the unique, salvific power of Christ, his cross and his Resurrection are handed to God through the pierced hands and shed blood of a loving Savior. While we may recognize that there may indeed be strains of truth in other religions without Christ at the center, the Christian Church must lay claim to Christ as the beating heart of its existence.

4. An Evangelizing Church. All jokes and disappointments about the Decade of Evangelism aside, a church for the 21st century must be faithful to the great commission, or it might as well nail its doors shut and find a new trade. Part of Jesus' prayer for his church was that others would know the gospel. Jesus was clear, "...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). That was not an optional charge to the church, it was a command, and indeed Christ's last command.

Many would argue that our Decade of Evangelism was a flop, but on the contrary, many took the charge seriously, while others spent years determining the definitions of evangelism. No sooner had the decade begun than articles began running on a wide variety of definitions of evangelism - from warm coffee and friendly ushers to clean potties and red doors. These expressions of hospitality are not evangelism, nor is outreach to the poor, fighting for social justice, or working to balance economic inequalities. Clearly, the church is to serve the world and seek to be a healing balm to the physical as well as the spiritual wounds of society, but the central mission of the church is first and foremost making disciples of Christ.

5. A Holy Church. "... protect them from the evil one ... Sanctify them by the truth ..." (John 17:15,17). Jesus desires a church pure from the power of sin and its many manifestations. The Episcopal Church is often characterized as being "soft on sin" or "guilt light." And yet, if we are to be the church of Jesus' prayers, we must fight against evil and sin in the world, wherever it is found. To refuse to deal with sin either by blame, evasion, ignorance or simply laziness, denies the very thing from which Jesus came to set us free.

We are indeed a church (something of which I am glad) that welcomes everyone into our midst. But the gospel goes beyond welcoming to the work of conversion, which requires confession and repentance from anything which may stand in the way of our relationship with the living Lord.

6. A United Church. Perhaps no greater wound has broken the hopes of Jesus' prayer in John 17 than the divisiveness which has plagued the church since its beginning. In recent years, no doubt, all of us have drawn lines over one issue or another. Most of us remember the words of a newly elected progressive bishop a few years ago who openly welcomed the departure of traditionalists from the Episcopal Church. And yet, only a few months ago, a conservative priest openly said of some in the liberal wing of our church, to the cheers of many clergy and lay folk, "They out of here ... They gone!" Does either stance really answer our Lord's desire that "We all may be one?"

7. A Loving Church. Just prior to his arrest, Jesus prayed, "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." The chief distinguishing mark of the Christian of any age was not a creed, a form of liturgical expression, a moral code, or an expression of orthodoxy, but love.

While the present trends and the thrills of a new era may offer the church some new ways to get its message across, the basic character and nature of the church can best thrive in the 21st century by living into the model and prayers of Christ. o

The Rev. Russell J. Levenson is the rector of the Church of the Ascension, Lafayette, La.