Sermon,
I would like to start today by telling you
all a little about myself.
·
I grew up in
·
The worst event of my young faith life
would be the loss of our church to a devastating fire caused by incense not
extinguished properly. I remember
watching the fire and smoke pour out of the church that day and was extremely
saddened. It tested the entire church
community. The experience was good for
everyone because we learned the church was not just the building but the people
who attended.
·
I hold and Associates Degree in Business
Management from
·
I was married in the fall of 1995 a few
months after the loss of my brother who committed suicide. My son Jake came in the world in November of
1997. After Jake came along my
questioning of my faith was constant and I left the Catholic Church in
1999. I chose not to practice formally
for a number of years and then decided as Jake was going into first grade to
find a church.
·
I found my way here to the First
Congregational where the Sr. Deacon at the time, Helen Carroll, welcomed me. As the motto goes “I was a stranger and you
welcomed me” for me that has made all the difference. I feel hospitality is important.
How do we value the experiences that we
have in this Church? Do we value
joining in Worship or Fellowship? We
heard last week from Penny Hurley and the week before from JP Durand that the
fellowship of others in the church community is important to them. That serving and being with others in worship
and in fun was important to them and their families.
I would like to share with you something I
found in Dietrich Bonheoffer’s Book A Life Together. Christians are privileged to live in visible
fellowship with other Christians. It is
by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this
world to share God’s Word. Not all
Christians receive this blessing.
Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus
Christ. No Christian community is more
or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years. We belong to one another only through and in
Jesus Christ.
There are many ways in which one can be in
fellowship with others in this church.
You can serve on a committee, you can sign up to help at one of the many
community meals, you and join in on a progressive supper, teach Sunday school
or sign up to make coffee one Sunday or you can simply come and worship.
Have any of you use
the phrase, this is my church family? I
am proud to call you my church family. I
look forward to coming each week and seeing Barbara Reinecker, Dawn Sheehan,
Donna Ricarte, Phyllis Jennings, and Bob Miner with his colorful stories.
Think about family. How do we support our families? Do we support our families financially by
holding jobs; we have a home in which to live, etc. If this church is our church family should
we not support it?
How many of us can look back on a time in
our lives and say God provided for me? A few years ago when my husband was laid off
from his job and having a loss of income when I was not working but attending
school full-time for BSBA and being a full-time mother was extremely
challenging. The church was helpful to
us during that time. The pastor made
himself available for my husband and that helped him a great deal and he was
able to find employment faster because of it.
It meant a lot to me that the pastor would speak with us before the
services we attended and check in to see how we were doing.
In Nehemiah we read, “once a year we will
each donate a small amount to the temple of our God. This will be used for the Sacred bread and
for all expenses connected with the worship of God. In Verse 39, we read, we will not neglect the
temple of our God. We must not neglect
our responsibility to our Church. As members of this Church we have taken an
oath to serve and support the Church.
I know that these are stressful and
difficult times. The drastic changes in
the economy have many of us stressed and wondering what will happen next. I have read several books from financial advisors
over the last few years and they will all tell you to continue to give to your
favorite charities. It’s important to
feel as though you have some control.
It’s important in the way giving makes you feel.
We will also have change in the White House
and we will soon have a new settled pastor.
Please don’t let all this change wear you down.
None of us like change but must accept and
be open to change because without change we cannot grow, individually or as one
body. We must remember that as we grow
older traditions must also change much like when your children, nieces or nephews grew up and left home to start families of
their own. Let us not be fearful but
hopeful. Please don’t let the fear keep
you from supporting the ministries of your church.
I would like all of you now to pull out the
bulletin insert in today’s bulletin and recite with me the original Serenity
Prayer. This beautiful
Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr has inspired countless people seeking peace
and strength in times struggle, despair, and uncertainty.
by
Reinhold Niebuhr.
God,
give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living
one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.