Psalm 127
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. 3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
3 And so, brothers and sisters,[a] I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Sixteen years ago today was a bitter cold day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but it was so cold that if you left a bottle of sparkling water outside, as I did at the manse, it was so cold that it literally shattered. In fact, they popped like balloons--one after the other—pop, pop, pop, pop!
Still, you, and many others, gathered together so we could launch the next iteration of the mission and ministry here as the “Diamond on the Hill”. The preacher, a very dear friend and mentor, preached this very text to set us up for a long and happy ministry together. And, as I said in my annual report a few weeks ago, most of the 16 years have been absolutely glorious.
But now we find ourselves with a fallow field and we are being called to prep the soil once again for growth which, as we know is easier said than done, in this time and place. Yet, because we have been so blessed with a mild winter so far— (I literally saw some green things popping their heads up out of one of my neighbor's gardens), I couldn't believe it! It's February! BUT It’s a sign that a spring and hope are on the way!
A few months ago, I went to a friend's installation in his new church. I was happy for him and the church, but there were actually a few disappointments. Number one, his installation was really poorly attended. For a church his size, I was really surprised. Secondly, although the choir was large, let's just say… our choir could have done a much better job! But, then again, I'm biased. The biggest surprise to me, though, was the sermon. Now admittedly I was expecting big things, because this pastor is seasoned. He serves one of the largest churches in the denomination. He's known to be very successful. He's authored books. He's well regarded by most everybody, and he definitely affirmed the congregation's desire to grow Mission, especially to the Latin community. In fact, he even broke into Spanish and started speaking Español. To my knowledge there weren't any Spanish speakers as a primary language in the congregation, and I don't really know what he said, but I think he was trying to show us that he knew how to speak Spanish. Okay, good for him.
But the largest part of his message was naming what everyone has been worried and complaining about in every church for the last few years: Church Decline. There's not a month--sometimes a week--that goes by that someone sends me another article about church decline. I went to this service to get away from church decline; to be lifted up; to celebrate; to be inspired. But that preacher spent so much time on church decline, I started getting frustrated. My heart sank. And, as I think about how to try and inspire this congregation to move on and be more faithful in spite of church decline, I made a note to myself that day, which I’ll share with you in a minute.
The Psalmist speaks to us today and reminds us that human efforts and achievements are in vain unless God is acknowledged as the source. Scholar James May says about this Psalm, “Anxious and excessive striving is a sign of unreadiness to depend on God's presence, God's guidance and God's help. As Paul points out: we are still drinking milk, friends, because we are not ready for solid food.
As you know, we've had three retreats to discern and plan for the next iteration of this church. All three have been fruitful and fun. The Deacons and Elders also met gain last to set some concrete next steps for the three initiatives that you're passionate about. The plans are to:
(1) Increase outreach and connection to the Interfaith Community;
(2) To shore up and add additional opportunities for adult education.
(3) Add new programs to reduce isolation and loneliness within our community of faith and the community at
large.
These are all marks of energy--for the present and the future of this church. And, friends, I'm here to tell you we are well ahead of many churches, who are still dragging their knuckles on the ground, languishing and complaining about “church decline”.
Some of these three initiatives can begin right away. Some will take a little more planning and discernment and patience; but, in my mind, these initiatives are not marks to fight against ‘church decline’, but to take on church “incline”. It will certainly take effort from all of us to ensure these new initiatives come to pass. But the key that Paul is giving us, in a stern warning is how we work together and how we treat one another in the process.
These are not easy times, but we can grow again if we start preparing the soil now--start planting the seeds in faith and hope that growth will come if we treat one another well and fairly and lovingly. There's no time or room for harsh demands or insisting on one's own way which Paul talks about in First Corinthians 13. If we step back and recognize that this is God's field and we are called to till it and care for it, then indeed God will bring the growth. These things may not all flourish or come to full fruit, but as long as our thoughts and our words and our actions are in line with the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ--then we will bear fruit. We will not have labored in vain.
I watched a very interesting interview between Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher this week (two people I don't generally watch too often), but I thought it was a sort of an odd mix and the media did as well. I was curious to hear what they had to say. They started off talking about their new film and how they worked together. But then they both said something that was fascinating. They and their partners are following a well-known pediatrician psychologist, who has a lot of insight about how to raise children. And what they said they're trying to do in raising their own children is: not teach them how to be happy, but how to be resilient. I repeat: Not how to be happy, but how to be resilient. I think that's what our invitation is here.
We've got some hard work ahead of us and it's going to take patience. It's going to take forbearance, because we don't always agree with everything, and with each other all the time. But we do love one another and we all share the love of Jesus Christ. So, this church is God's field and God will give us the gift of resilience, but only when we work together in respect and love and under the sole authority of God, because we fully and only belong to God. We fully and only belong to God. As I was writing this sermon that just kept ringing in my ears, so that's why I changed our next hymn—“Whether we're living or whether we're dying, we belong to God.”
May that be the song that's in our hearts and our heads and our minds and in our meetings as we start our church “incline”.
Thanks be to God. Amen.