As much as possible, we want people to come to our church. However, we know that people select the church they want to be part of. Some want to come to church because they had been invited by friends. That is why we had been encouraging members of the church to invite their friends to worship and be part of the various activities of the church.
A recent study of rapidly- growing churches confirms that these churches are growing not primarily because of their programming or preaching, buildings, video screens or cute, 30-something pastors, but because members are actively inviting others to join them in worship.
It is the active verbs — inviting, reaching, gathering — which make all the difference in a growing church.
After a while, Joe Roberts put up his hand and Fred preached. He felt as if he could have preached all day. After the service, he said to Joe Roberts: “That kind of shocked me a little….the singing, I mean. You didn’t tell me you were going to do that.”
To which Joe said: “I didn’t plan to.” “Then why did you do it?” Fred asked. “Well,” said Joe, “when you stood up at the pulpit, one of the associates leaned over and said to me, ‘Looks like that boy’s gonna need some help.’”
Well, we all do need help from time to time. That means me, more than most on Sunday mornings. Maybe that is why the singing of the choir is put before the sermon. (That is a big responsibility for the choir.)
However, I would like to believe that people come to church because they find the treasure that Paul wrote in his letter and enjoy it when we come together to worship.
As the choir sings, as the scriptures is read and interpreted, as we say our prayers together, I would like to believe that the treasure which St. Paul wrote in his letter is being shared.
As you participate in the various activities of the church, you can feel the treasure that we have.
What is this treasure that St. Paul wrote? A veteran senior angel was giving a brand new angel a tour of the heavens. The freshman angel was awe-struck as he saw the vastness and majesty and wonder of God’s incredible universe.
When they came to the Milky Way, the senior angel said to the freshman angel: “I want to show you something special… Look down there! That tiny planet is called Earth. It looks rather insignificant and inconsequential… but something quite remarkable happened there some years ago. The people of earth were missing the whole point of their existence. So God sent his only Son into that world to save them and turn them around and teach them what God wants them to be on Earth.”
“Wow! That’s amazing!” said the freshman angel. “You mean to tell me that God’s Son actually visited that little planet? They must have had a great celebration for Him on Earth.” “No,” said the senior angel quietly. Then with tears in his eyes he said, “No… they killed him! They were so rigidly wrapped up in their old ways of doing things that when He presented some new ideas… they resented Him… and they tried to silence Him!” Blinded by the old, they missed the new… the Lord was in that place… and they did not know it! But then, he rose from the dead to let them know that good triumphs over evil.
This is the treasure that we need for our own selves and for others. This is the treasure that we need to infuse in our lives that others may experience it as we relate with them.
Supremely in Jesus, God shows us that love is the answer.
Unfortunately, many think it will not work. Many rely on power plays, hostile threats, political strategies, and bureaucratic systems. We plot against one another. We flog one another with cruel words and deadly gossip. We crucify one another… trying to get our way. Watch the news on TV or read the newspapers. We don’t quite trust love yet. We don’t think it will work.
Well, he showed us it works, even on the cross! There, he showed us that love, not laws or practices, or systems is the most powerful thing in the world. If we could live totally in the spirit of love for one day, it will change our lives forever.
St. Paul wrote, “Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, in what terms I preached the Gospel, which you received and in which you stand. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day, in accordance to the scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:1)
This is the central message of the Gospel, the treasure we have to proclaim.
And today, just as in the Corinthian church, there is a desperate need for us to be grounded in the faith, to grow together in our spiritual journey, to nurture one another in the life and spirit of the treasure that Jesus showed us.
And our mission is to share that treasure as we gather together for worship and do our programs.
I am sure you are familiar with the amazing story of the migration of the monarch butterfly. I have read that every autumn, millions of monarchs from all over the eastern United States and Canada migrate thousands of miles to a small handful of sites in Mexico where they rest for the winter. Then in the spring, they begin their return trip to the north. The amazing thing is that no individual monarch ever makes the trip to Mexico and back. A butterfly that leaves the Adirondack Mountains in New York will fly all the way to Mexico and spend the winter. In March, it begins the trip northward, but after laying eggs in the milkweed of Texas and Florida, it will die. Those butterflies will continue northward, laying eggs along the way until some of them, maybe three or four generations removed from the original, make it back to the mountains of New York. But when August comes, they will head south, aiming for the exact place their great grandparents visited, a place they have never been.
Sue Haplern says: “The monarchs always migrate in community and depend on each other. Although a single monarch may make it from New York to Mexico, it is the next generation who completes the journey.”
Here is the word for us as part of the Body of Jesus Christ. “No one completes the journey solo. It is only as a community that we discover the fullness of God’s plan for us.”
When we come together to study, listen to each other and work together, we discover what God has in mind for us. So we gather….we welcome, we receive all persons into the inclusive, life-giving, joy-filled Body of Christ bound together with Christ’s love.
Of course, we who have been a part of this church for years know that this is not a perfect Church. St. Paul tells us that “we are pots made of clay.”
In Paul’s world, everybody knew pots of clay were the most flawed containers. That is because when they dried, they cracked. And when they cracked, stuff inside would leak.
What Paul is saying is that this incredible treasure (however defined) has been entrusted to a bunch of cracked pots like you and me.
I know that it is hard to accept this. But we know it is true. When Paul talks about himself as the vessel, he’s talking “fragility” (meaning we have our own failures). But that is okay. God assures us that when God is our partner, God equips us.
My friends, I don’t know how you got here. Nor do I know why you stay here. This is not a perfect church. You and I would not be here if this is a perfect church. We are a cracked pot church with a priceless treasure. So carry what you can of it. And don’t let go of it (flawed and fragile though you may be). With God’s help, we can do great things together.
