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NRSVHebrews 12: 1-7 Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside
every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us,2 looking to Jesus the
pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his
seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who
endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow
weary or lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin you have not
yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have
forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— ‘My child, do not
regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished
by him; 6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and
chastises every child whom he accepts.’ 7 Endure trials for the sake
of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a
parent does not discipline?
Today is the last day of this appointment year, meaning
that today we celebrate that Bonnie and I have been here one full year. So
today I wanted to look back reflectively briefly and then begin to look forward
to a new year and new realities. Paul reminds us in this scripture that we are
surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Can you feel their presence with us
even now? Names we remember and faces we still see in their places in the pews
of this church. We remember their legacies as we sit here and we remember their
Discipleship and Hospitality and Generosity. We also remember the discussions,
some good, some not so good, that are the legacy of this church as it moved
from a group meeting in the grove to the little white church on the hill, to
the sanctuary and fellowship hall of today. Some of you still remember those
days when we were few, some remember when we were many, 400- 450 each weekend,
and all of us experience the current reality. When Bonnie and I arrived we
numbered just slightly above 200. Now we are at 251 and growing, a 21 % growth
in the first year.
But Paul does not want us to stay there, reflecting. He
immediately begins to tell us to lay aside every weight and sin and let us
prepare to run the race that Jesus has set in front of us. We each need to
consider our own relationship with God and remember that Jesus resisted the
temptation of sin even shedding His blood for it. And because of it we are
children of an inheritance of love, mercy and goodness. We must endure trials
for the sake of pruning so that we can be the fruitful vine upon which God
proclaims God’s majesty and grace.
Many years ago now, the Carpenters, a brother and sister
sang a song of love. You may remember it.
We've only just begun,
to live,
White lace and promises,
A kiss for luck and we're on our way
White lace and promises,
A kiss for luck and we're on our way
Before the risin' sun,
we fly,
So many roads to choose
We'll start out walkin' and learn to run
(And yes, we've just begun)
So many roads to choose
We'll start out walkin' and learn to run
(And yes, we've just begun)
It was a song of new beginnings, a song of love and a song
that reminds us of weddings. It is a song that reminds us that the world is in
front of us, not behind us, but in front of us as a path to explore together.
It is a reminder of weddings, a constant reminder that God sees our
relationship with God in the same way. It is why the symbolism of marriage is
so prevalent in the Old and New Testaments. The perfect symbol if you will of love,
nurturing for one another and caring for one another along the way. That is
what God desires of us you know, to love one another leaving nothing between us
that creates anger, hate and division.
Isaiah proclaims God’s message in chapter 43, verse 19, "See,
I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making
a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Can we not see what
God is doing? Can we not grasp what God is striving so hard for us to see? I
often wonder at the church that lived, breathed and marched in unison with one
another in true discipleship. Why can’t we be that church again, claiming the
power and love of God. Discipleship by definition is being a student, a
follower of the one who is teaching and striving to be in perfect imitation of
the leader and teacher. Discipleship must be as important to each of us as
eating. If we don’t eat we die. If we don’t eat of the body and blood of
Christ, we die. I will speak more on that in a future sermon in this series. So
what is the teaching and direction that Jesus is calling us to see. What is the
stream in the wasteland that God proclaims through Isaiah?
We all walk through the wilderness, that place where life
is dark and tragic, difficult and dangerous. We all have periods of our lives
when we find ourselves in the wasteland and wonder where is God, why am I here,
what did I do? Recently a friend who has walked through the wilderness and
wasteland a lot in the last six years paid me a compliment. I appreciated his
words but as I reflected, I appreciate that God put me in his path so that the
glory of God could be shared. We are called to be friends with one another so
that when we find ourselves in the wastelands of life there is support and love
that can bring us through.
We have returned from the 2017 Virginia Annual Conference.
There Bishop Lewis reminded the gathering that her main theme at her
installation in September was to "stir things up." “God sent me
to tell you about a new thing,” she said, “God said, ‘Behold I will do a new
thing.’" "How many would agree that God is up to something in the
Virginia Conference," Bishop Lewis asked. She then admonished us that
"It's time to stop playing church and to start being the church.” We do
that by demonstrating the transformations that have occurred within through our
transformations through Jesus Christ."
In order to do that we need to do three things, change our
focus, clarify our focus and commit to God’s plan. So what is our focus? Glad
you asked she would say. The mission of the United Methodist Church is to
make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. "We
must see our future of possibilities instead of problems," Bishop Lewis
said. We must strive to look forward, not back where we have been, not focusing
on what we have done, but what we can do.
We spend so much time being a devil’s advocate, seeing the
dark side of things, focusing on, “We’ve never done it that way before,” that we
miss out on the vision of God to do a new thing. At Sydenstricker we have a
tendency to spend too much time on technicalities, petty decisions based on
narrow viewed images of God rather than opening ourselves the wide open
possibilities that God is trying to give us. I heard clearly a year ago, we
want our spirit back. We have worked hard to get it back. Let us not lose out
momentum by losing sight of God’s grace, compassion and mercy. Where the leader’s
passion, plus the congregation willingness meets the community needs, shared
vision happens. And we must have vision if we are to not only survive but
thrive in the world we live in. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that where there is no
vision, the people perish. Did you hear that? Where there is no focus on what
the path ahead might look like, we die. I can tell you there are thousands of
churches across this country that are doing that right now. Dying! Dying is
painful, it is hurtful and it causes great grieving. My hope is that you are
with me on a path toward the living, not the dying. I would love to have my
legacy here compared to Reverend Amidon who did not give up on the church at a
time when the church had given up on itself.
So what if we were not here? What difference would that
make in our community around us? Who might notice that we no longer have
children’s activities, have youth gatherings, have mission hands and feet that
provide meals and clothing and shelter? I love what the Message, the new easy
reading version of the Bible has to say about vison. “If the people can’t see
what God is doing, they stumble over themselves.” Are we stumbling over
ourselves trying to live into a vision of our choosing rather than God’s? Are
we spending time spinning our wheels in meeting after meeting struggling to
understand why we can’t do what we know we are capable of doing? Maybe it’s
because we focus on worldly things, our ideas, our expectations, rather than
Godly ones. I remember one year; it was the end of January. The fiscal year had
barely begun and historically January had always been a difficult time in the
financial life of the church. But the rumblings started. We can’t meet budget.
We need to cut staffing salaries. We need to scale back our missional activities.
Oh, Lord, help us, the chicken coop roof is falling. And it was only February. Isn’t
that the way of the world? If we cannot see what God is doing, then we are
destined to stumble and run around the chicken coop because our heads are no
longer attached to us. You see that church like so many churches trusted in
themselves, trusted in the green rather than the purity of God. Green is the
universal symbol for envy and greed so is it any wonder that churches that
focus on money first find themselves trying to devour one another in meetings
and gatherings. But there is hope, there is promise and there is direction. For
the scripture goes on to say that when they attend to what God reveals, they
are blessed. Are you feeling blessed today?
You should be! We are gathered here in hospitality. Yes, it
can be better and I believe that we together with one another can make it
better. But many visitors have said to me Pastor Don, this congregation is warm
and loving. We are gathered here with beautiful music and shared reflections,
joys and concerns. Can we be better at being neighbors, sure we can but let us
rejoice in where we are and what we have at this moment. We are gathered here
in this place poised to reach out to the world. Dr. Calvert is coming on July 8th
to help us understand our world and how to reach out to it. But her message
falls on deaf ears if the people don’t come to hear the message and if those
who do come hear the message and then act, direct, and focus the same way they
always have. But preacher, “we’ve always done it this way and we can’t change
it now.” Why not?
Vision brings clarity, it provides motivation and
translates purpose so that all God’s children are on the same page, focused on
moving in the same direction. Our vision for the church should be memorized and
every group, every class, every person should focus on Christ’s love in action,
bringing God to people and people to God. We should align every class to it,
every activity to it and every breath to it. What does it mean to bring God to
people? It means that every day we strive to learn more about Jesus, more about
His teaching and then mimic His life in every breath, every action and every
word and deed we do. It means that at Sydenstricker we are not going to say we
are Disciples; we are going to be Disciples. Jesus tells us that we are called
to be the Body of Christ, called to share the love of God and called to witness
to our faith not just to each other but to the world. If that’s too hard
Sydenstricker, then maybe we need to go do something else. Be a social club or
a fitness center or place where recovering procrastinators can gather and do
nothing. I have seen the mountain of God and heard the small whisper of God’s
voice and it is saying that we have work to do. The harvest is plenty and the
laborers are few. We have a great future but only if we strive answer the call
that God is sending us.
Bishop Lewis has set a vision for us. “To be a disciple of
Jesus Christ who is a lifelong learner, who influences others to serve.” Notice
the singleness of that. It is not a vision for the Annual Conference to place
on boards and windows. It is not something that the conference is doing, it
must be something you and I are doing. Individually and collectively. I must be
a disciple of Jesus Christ. When? Glad that you asked. Every single breathable
moment of my life. I need to mimic His love for God and His love for neighbor.
We are not alone and we are not islands, rather we are creations blessing to
our neighbors at work, at home and at play. That means that we become the center of the
community by reaching out in love to support, to nurture, and to care for
compassionately. We are to influence others to do the same things, to serve one
another. That is what we are called to do.
I have been sent here by the Virginia Annual Conference and
by God to shake up the order of things, to stop the bleeding that moved us from
a thriving church of 450 to 200. I have been sent here hearing the message of
God that through discipleship we can accomplish all that God intends for us. A
process of beginning, growing and maturing where we become Christ for the world
around us. My vision for the church is growth through individual relationship
with God and one another. My vision for each group gathering, each Sunday
school and each meeting is that we focus first on being disciples of Jesus
Christ. It’s time to move forward or get out of the way. But I cannot do it
alone. I can lead us there but only if you will follow. Yes, we are going to
find ourselves in unfamiliar territory and yes there will be times when we are
uncomfortable because we’ve never done it this way before. But if Reverend
Amidon had listened to the conference and closed us, as he was told to do, we
would never have gained the joys and legacies we now enjoy, experienced the
community and established a presence for Christ. Yes, I am calling us to a new
reality, a reality of life in Christ. Let us go where we have never been. Let
us become the church God is calling us to be. My friends a new day is dawning.
We’ve only just begun.
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