What Cha Buildin?
So here we are out side this morning enjoying the weather and the setting which is really only unusual because we don’t actually hold many worship services outside.
I considered what kind of a message that holding church on the side of a busy road and rail road line might say about us as a congregation. That being a pressing question in my mind I did some research and found a list of things that would help us to clearly indentify if we are a country church.
It works like Jeff Foxworthy’s You might be a redneck if…jokes.
You might be in a country church if:
- The Call to Worship is ,"Y’all come on in!"
- The Preacher says, "I’d like to ask Bubba to pray for the
offering" - and five guys stand up.
- Opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an
official church holiday.
- A member requests to be buried in his truck
because, "I ain’t never been in a hole it couldn’t get me out of".
- Never in its entire history has one of its pastors had to buy any meat or vegetables.
- The church directory doesn’t have last names.
- The only time people lock their cars in the parking lot is during the
summer and only so no one leaves them another bag of zucchini!
- There is a special fund-raiser for a new septic tank.
- Finding and returning lost sheep, cows or other farm animals is not just a parable.
- High notes on the organ set dogs in the parking lot to howling.
- The biggest question that people have when Jesus fed the 5,000 is whether the two fish were brim, bass or catfish.
Some of those made me think that we are not totally a country church. However, they did not clearly give me identification to what image being in the park this morning portrays.
However, I did remember that back in June we shared a series of sermons about being a church without walls.
I don’t know if it was a prophecy or just a response that brought us out here this morning. But I believe that we can safely say that we are not a church that is hiding behind the protection of walls.
We are a church that is positioned in the community. We are a church that is purposefully living as joyous and open people.
--- We are visible to a new lever of scrutiny and judgment from everyone that passes by this morning.
That is what being a Christians boils down to. Being visible, and vulnerable to the people that pass by us in this park, in our homes, at work and any place we go.
Today, is a day we are choosing to celebrate the human labor/work that has been freely given to help this church to fulfill its purpose.
-- A little girl went to visit her grandmother for the weekend. Her grandmother went to an old fashioned Church that kept the Sabbath by forbidding all work, fun, laughing and playing.
The little girl woke up Sunday and started right off playing with her toys and giggling at her thoughts, as little girls do.
Her grandmother scolded her for breaking the Sabbath. She quieted down, went to Church where she had to be reminded to act seriously and honor God.
Later in the afternoon she went for a walk out by the barn. She went over to an old mule, a droopy eyed, sad faced, long-eared mule.
She looked at the mule for a while, and then said, “Mr. Mule, you look like you go to my grandmother’s Church.”
All too often we let the work that comes with church membership make us serious and stressed. The things that need to be taken care of seem to be never ending.
-- I see two basic categories; we have church work and work of the church.
Church work is the never ending list of things that we do and sometimes consider chores. Things like the thankless job of grounds maintenance, plumbing and painting to keep the property attractive. Church work also includes things like work days and fundraisers.
Church work can also include working in the church as teachers for Sunday school and Bible study.
Sometimes church work is serving in leadership in the church. The performance of music in worship and the lifting of needs and joys in prayer are an ongoing part of church work. Even the gift of sharing our financial resources which fuel the ministries of the church could be called church work.
Church work is important and involves almost everyone in the congregation in some way. More importantly church work is the underlying foundation to a healthy congregation.
-- However, church work is focused more on building up the congregation and preparing them for the other kind of work which is work of the church.
-- The work of the church is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
To share that we can all can be freed from the heaviness of sin and regret in our lives. It is our job to tell people that they can be free from the guilt and pain of the bad decisions, the angry moments, the hurtful actions and words.
The work of the church is to make disciples, to give hope, to comfort and heal pain.
That sounds like a pretty cool job.
--- Every Christian is called to participate in the work if the church.
We are not just expected to carry on maintenance we are called to make relationships and invite people to celebrate the good news with us.
- I was really tempted to try to make a long list of people to thank for all the different jobs that are done around here, all the work that has been accomplished by the people of our church. And every mention that I might make would be well deserved.
But there are two problems with the list.
First, I am sure that I would leave someone out and I would not what to do that. Second, everyone involved in the projects that we accomplished were actually made possible by one person.
1st Corinthians 15:57-58 says, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
We all must be thankful to God because our labor is not in vain..
We forget that sometimes. When the sweat is burring our eyes or when our hands and voices ache. We tend to want some attention. We sometimes feel unrecognized for our efforts.
Let me just say that while your brothers and sisters in church may not seem to notice or appreciate your work, it is not their praise that you should be seeking.
In our scripture, Paul speaks of planting seeds and watering as a description of working in the kingdom. He was addressing people that were looking at specific servants of God and finding more value in one person or job over another one.
However, Paul points out that one plants and one waters but it is God that makes things happen.
While Paul speaks of the work of the church in farming terms, I think of it being more like working in a factory with a conveyor belt.
The production line needs constant attention. The work just seems to keep on coming. Our efforts don’t seem to be making any difference.
The idea that I hope that you glimpse this morning is that we have a lot to be thankful for. The fact that the conveyor belt that needs attention is a sign that God is working in us.
Today, I am suggesting that we all need to look past the seasonal work, and basic maintenance. We need to step back from our view of our weekly attendance of worship because it can also become a bit automatic and repetitive.
It is not that we intended to let it get that way; it is simply easier to offer a consistent minimum quality. We tend to focus on the things that we like and that make us feel good.
This year we have been led to take a few baby steps in our ministry work.
Some of our efforts have been intended to plant seeds of faith or to address questions about God. Other ministries have been for watering and nurture.
But, a minimum response is not necessarily joyful; because, we lose our creativity and lose openness to new things.
We get comfortable with certain patterns and styles. Certain songs and events and efforts become enough and the conveyor just keeps moving.
We lose an openness that would allow more people to enter into the relationship because we expect then to like what we like and to do what we do.
Ultimately, we work very hard to maintain what we have and forget to follow God’s leading to expect and to do new things.
Today we are celebrating that this year we left the comfort zone by taking some basic steps outside of doing our regular jobs and did some NEW things that God has called and empowered us to do this year.
We are celebrating some things that made us uncomfortable. Things that without God’s help would have failed.
The events I am talking about required us to pray and ultimately decide to trust in things we felt that God was leading us to do.
-- There is an old story about a traveler in the middle ages that came into a village and was intrigued by a massive building project that he could hear long before the could see the workers..
He approached the nearest laborer and asked, “Excuse me, I’m not from this village. May I ask what’s going on here?” The first stonecutter he met replied, "I'm cutting stone. It's dull work, but it pays the bills."
A second stonecutter responded, "I'm the best stone cutter in the land. Look at the smoothness of this stone, how perfect the edges are."
A third with a broad smile one his face pointed to a foundation several yards away, and said, "Can’t you see, I'm building a cathedral."
- Author unknown: adapted from "The Cathedral Within" by Bill Shore
Folks the only way to celebrate church work and work of the church is to quit focusing on the conveyor belt of problems and to start to see the big picture.
To take a few moments to notice a park that was over grown and full to trash is now reclaimed for God and for the community.
To see the joyful tears of a home bound member as we sing the hymns of our faith and help them to worship even when separated from the physical church.
To see the potential for seeds to take root because of the normal maintenance and special projects like Jesus jam and our consistent giving of out time and resources that help our church to be inviting to the community.
Once we glimpse the God sized perspective of church work, home work, house work , yard work and realize that it all of our earthly work is glorifying to God. We can better understand that the work of the church is for a life time.
The Question I have for you is “Whatcha building?” What is your work accomplishing?
Are you focused on the relentless nature of life and work or can you see the bigger picture?
I hope your answer has to do with building the kingdom of God.
I hope that you have a view that is free from limits. A view that is open to the continued progress and success as we move forward as a little church that is big on Jesus.
I believe that a church with a vision is a church that is ready for something big. Let me suggest that we have tested the waters proven that we can wade with God’s help.
The day is approaching when we will need to be ready to trust God a bit more and start to swim.
Folks I get the feeling that we as a church are on the edge of something. While we are celebrating our labors in the world and as a church this weekend the conveyor built is ready to go back into service.
The success and differences we have made this year are encouragement from god to keep investing our labor in the kingdom. To give our lives working on God’s cathedral, God’s kingdom by shaping ourselves and other people to celebrate the joys of this life and the next.
All Glory be to God.
Communion
This morning we started our service with an empty platform. As the praise team sang different people came forward to set up the alter and platform as representation of how we all come together brings pieces and parts and forming something unique as a simple giving of ourselves to God. While we can worship separately, the Bible places strong emphasis on the coming together of a community for worship.
Most of us here come because of a need to make a connection to our God. We want to feel the presence, the find the assurance of forgiveness. But I wonder how often we feel limited because we only have a small picture. A knowledge of a jealous / judgmental God.
This morning we are approaching a mystery. Not a secret, it is not explainable. All we can be sure about is that Jesus called his followers to a meal and instructed his disciples to use the meal a s a remembrance of His teaching about he love and grace of God.
