Washington, D.C.’s first Seventh-day Adventists organized in 1886 — members of a small Christian sect that emerged out of the nation’s religious revivals of the 1840s. Their beliefs lay rooted in the Bible, and in imminent expectation of Christ’s second coming. Today, Adventism boasts more than 16 million people worldwide, and thousands in the D.C. area. Pastor Mark McCleary, 59, carries on their work as pastor of the city’s First Church of Seventh-day Adventists. The 1,300-member Petworth congregation recently celebrated its 120th anniversary. McCleary sat down with The Washington Examiner to share his faith, and the blessings of its unique practices.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, a Christian. What I appreciate most about Adventism, as delivered to me from my grandparents and my mother, is a healthy respect for the Bible as the rule for faith and for practice. One of the church’s key texts is 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that all Scripture is inspired by God. With that grounding you can discuss anything in the Seventh-day Adventist church, as long as you support it with the Bible. I like that.
Adventism puts great value on health and diet — including encouraging members to be vegetarians. How does an emphasis on diet promote right faith and worship?
We believe that man is a holistic being — mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. And we shouldn’t decompartmentalize those things — they’re integrated. If I feel good, I think better. If I think better, I’m better able better to receive communion, and to understand truth and teachings. The pioneers of our church [established in 1863] set the foundation for strong temperance and health practices, and the church has carried that on. When you look to the Bible, the original plan was not for meat, but according to Genesis it was fruit and herbs, which are more compatible with the body’s digestive processes. Diet is not a test of fellowship, but it is highly promoted.
Worship is more than coming to this church. It’s taking the gift that God gave me — my being — and giving it back to God in service to other people. God can use a sharp ax, but he can use a sharper ax better. If I’m in good condition physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, I can be a better servant to myself, my family and my community.
Why worship on Saturday, instead of Sunday? And how does the practice affect your church community?
Our understanding of the Bible is that the Sabbath is on the seventh day of the week — Saturday — and that God has never given an explicit injunction to change that. And if I love God, I do what he asks me — and I do what the person of Jesus Christ practiced himself. We don’t do it to be different, but because our conviction is to be faithful to God.
Ritual always helps people to bond, and in this instance the ritual is around a 24-hour period that we understand by biblical description to be holy time. It is lawful to do good, so doing good for others is a good Sabbath practice. Jesus said the Sabbath is for man, so it should be a benefit. It should be a day different from the other six.
Did anyone or any event especially influence your decision to become a pastor?
I felt a conscious call — just like we’re talking now — I felt I had a conversation with God about going into the ministry, between my second and third year in college. My pastor at the time — Elder Jones — gave me the human confidence. He called me to my first sermon serendipitously. And an elder who had been a youth mentor of mine asked me, in another serendipitous moment, to lead a crusade — an evangelical crusade — that turned out to be quite successful. Those moments sealed for me what I felt internally.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that God loves me for who I am. And who I am is a lifelong process of discovery. But as I discover it — as I discover who I am — I give who I am back to God and to others.
– Leah Fabel
