“Members and their Mission”

by Bruce J. Johnson

November 22, 2002

One of my favorite lines from the Book of Psalms is taken from Psalm 133, the opening line:

“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

This morning, in this thanksgiving season and on this New-Member Sunday, there is a special—a good and pleasant feeling--- abiding here as we rejoice in our unity in Christ. In most of Paul’s letters to the churches he founded and supported with this preaching, teaching and prayer, Paul was always giving thanks for them and their lives of faith. So too should be the spirit of this service.--- one and all giving thanks for each other…. for our shared faith and our not so common call to care for one another, and in the spirit of today’s gospel reading— especially those who may be considered, the least among us.

I look back over the years and it truly has been a wonderful journey together-When I first came to First Church in 1973, we had 310 members.

1983--- 440

1993--550

Today, with these 10 new members, we have 643 members.

I am thinking about all the baptisms, weddings and funerals, all the services, suppers and the all fairs, all the mission projects and the special efforts to help here and abroad those who have not.

Sometimes this is not an easy thing to achieve--- this unity in Christ. The toughest thing to understand is that unity in church comes not from everyone agreeing on all matters of faith but from everyone deciding to share a mutual concern for each other. A church is a single but diverse community built on the sound grounds that when all hearts one, nothing else has to be one—not gender or sexual preference, not age, or race or class, not even what we believe.

When I went on line on Friday, up popped the question “Where were you…? November 22, 1963. In terms of President Kennedy, we’re learning new things about him and his presidency all the time--- the most recent cover story in The Atlantic Monthly being a case in point. That time period, of course, was also the time of Pope John and the Second Vatican Council. A time of dramatic change. Perhaps we are there again. There are some wonderful stories told about the Pope’s sense of humor. When asked by a reporter how many people worked in Vatican, Pope John answered, “about half of them!” On another occasion, when he was being interviewed by the media, the pope was asked what he would tell the church to do today if he knew that Christ’s return was to occur tomorrow. He smiled and answered, “Look busy!”

Before he became pope, though, he had served as a cardinal. He had been particularly effective in negotiating with the Communist leaders of Italy who, at the time, dominated the political scene. On one occasion, as he walked out of a particularly intense negotiating session, he had his arm around the leader of the Communist party and was overheard to say,

“You see! I told you! The only thing that really separates us is our convictions!”

Knowing something of what was behind that statement makes it special. Here was a leader of the Church making it clear that love unifies even those whose ideological differences should make them enemies.

Indeed, I’m sure that he quoted Paul and referred to the garments of faith:

“Above all these things, put on love, which binds all things together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3: 14)

A couple of years ago, we as a congregational worked hard at defining what our mission in the world is. It appears each Sunday in our bulletin, each month in our Church Call and is displayed around the church in nicely framed. I suspect, however, that not often enough do we review it and renew our commitment to it. This morning I want to highlight a couple of things and I invite you to read it in the bulletin:

First, “The mission of the First Congregational Church of Coventry is to worship and serve God through word and deed. In the name of Jesus, we welcome and include all people as brothers and sisters.”

It is our mission, as a church, to be a community that welcomes and includes all.

We live in a time when saying or doing anything “In the Name of Jesus” is often considered divisive.

You have probably all read about or followed the new accounts of University of North Carolina including portions of the Koran as required reading for all incoming freshman. I happen to think that it is not a bad idea but I can well imagine what the ACLU, which is remarkably silent on this one—would have said if they included the New Testament. Just last week, a conservative and evangelical/environmental group made the national news when they announced that they had adopted the WWJD slogan--- which means? ….. “What Would Jesus Do?”

Not so! It means “What Would Jesus Drive?” They are going after the SUV’s, which has some people very nervous, if not outraged. (I understand that others have made somewhat of a joke about it, saying that Jesus would have surely driven an SUV—he twelve other guys to transport!)

Interestingly and tragically, what is taking place in Nigeria at the Miss World Beauty Pageant was sparked by the Muslim version. In response to a newspaper article that first asked--- WWMT-- “What would Muhammad think?

And then answered that he would probably have married one of the contestants.

Rioting broke out between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority— at least 105 dead.

We live in a time when there are too many division--- right and left, conservative liberal, Christian, Jew, Muslim.

In the name of Jesus- we pledge ourselves to a welcoming and inclusive spirit!

Second, “We pledge and dedicate our lives and our resources to God, working to transform both church and society into more just and compassionate communities.

We will fulfill this mission by faithfully preaching the Gospel, by educating our adults and children and by living out the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.”

There is a made-up story that describes Jesus returning to heaven after His sojourn here on earth. The angels gathered around the Lord to find out about all the things that happened on earth. Jesus explained to the angels how he lived among the people, shared His teachings, expressed His love, died on the cross to atone for humanity’s sins and was resurrected to declare that the new Kingdom was at hand.

When he finished telling his story, Michael, the archangel asked the Lord, ‘What happens now?”

Jesus answered, “I left behind a handful of faithful men and women. They will tell my story! They will express my love! They will spread the Kingdom!”

“But what if they fail?” asked Michael. “What will then be the plan?”

Jesus answered Michael by saying: “There is no other plan.”

That’s one of the great joys of church life—there is no other plan other than it being in our hands and hearts. Our mission in the world is to tell His story, express His love and spread the Kingdom…through the dedication of our lives and resources. And everything that we will need to get the job done has been given to us.

Tony Campolo tells the wonderful story about what happened to him on Friday morning on our National World Day of Prayer:

“One time I had flown into Philadelphia on a red-eye from the West Coast. When I got off the plane at 8:30 A.M. I was met by my secretary, who broke the news to me that I had a speaking engagement at ten that morning. She said, “I don’t know how we missed this one. Somewhere along the line the notices of this engagement fell between the cracks. I wanted to be here to meet you because you need to be taken directly to the church. It’s one of those World Day of Prayer services, and you are supposed to deliver a ‘missionary’ message.”

When I took my place behind the pulpit I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I was too tired to be any place other than in bed. Consequently, I did not react as I should have when the woman leading the meeting announced to those gathered that she had a prayer request from a missionary in Venezuela. She described a wonderful doctor who had given her life to serving the poor in the barrios of Caracas. This missionary doctor was asking for five thousand dollars to put an addition onto her medical dispensary. The addition was desperately needed because with her present facilities she wasn’t able to handle all the sick and infirm who came her way.

The leader of the group then asked, “Dr. Campolo, would you please lead us in prayer that the Lord might provide the five thousand dollars that is needed by our sister in Venezuela?”

Before I could catch myself I said, “No! But what I will do is take all the money I am carrying on me and put it on the altar. And I’m going to ask everyone else here to do the same. No need to write out checks! We’ll only accept cash! After we’ve all put the cash we’re carrying on the altar, we’ll count it. Then I’ll ask God to write out a check for the difference.”

It was a good day to pull this off, because I was only carrying $2.25. The leader smiled benevolently and said, “We’ve all gotten the point, haven’t we?”

I responded, “No! I don’t think we have! My $2.25 is on the altar. Now it’s your turn!”

She was somewhat taken aback by my aggressive request, but she opened her wallet and pulled out $110 and slapped it down on top of my meager offering. Then I said, “We’re on our way! We’ve got $112.25. Now it’s your turn!”

I pointed to a woman who was sitting in the front pew over to my right. She looked around and smiled a bit. Then she got up and came to the altar and put her cash on top of ours. I got the next woman to do it, then the next, and the next. It took me more than twenty-five minutes to take up the offering as one by one, woman after woman came and place her money on the communion table. When they had finished taking turns laying their money on the altar, we counted it. We had taken in more than eight thousand dollars. Even then, I knew I hadn’t gotten all of the cash. I could see some of the women putting in meager offering, holding back most of what they had and giving me dirty looks.

There wasn’t any time left for me to preach. I don’t think they wanted to hear from me anyway, so I simply said to the congregation, “The audacity of asking God for five thousand dollars, when He has already provided us with more than eight thousand dollars. We should not be asking God to supply our needs. He already has!”

God already has supplied all that we will need to fulfill our mission as members of the body of Christ, His church.

We have: His story

His love

The resources to spread His Kingdom.

Amen