THE STATE OF THE COMMUNION

Hebrew 13:3-8, Luke 4:21-30

In the movie Jerry McGuire, the main character of that movie, of course also named Jerry McGuire--in the middle of the night, in a hotel room--writes a mission statement. That whole movie has to do with the aftermath of his sharing his mission statement with his co-workers. I discovered in doing a little bit of internet research that this fictional character, Jerry McGuire...that you can actually get a hold of his entire mission statement. They only mention a few lines of it in the movie, but all ten pages of it are on the internet, and I have excerpted a paragraph of it in your bulletin. It's actually quite a lot of good thinking, if you want to check it out.

But that indicates, I think, an important aspect of the spiritual journey--something that might be commended to us as well. This process whereby--and perhaps you have come upon this yourself--we're inspired in a moment of life to think about and reflect on, "What is my mission? Why am I here? What's the purpose of my life?" That process...we might call it "inspiration and clarification"...is also exemplified in Jesus' ministry. In this section of Luke's gospel that Susan read this morning, it's actually the very first scene in the adult ministry of Jesus. Last week we dealt with the first scene in John's gospel, and this week, we're dealing with that in Luke. Jesus has been out in the desert, and we might imagine that, instead of in a hotel room, Jesus is out in the desert and then he says, "I need a mission statement! When I get to Nazareth, and I read in the synagogue, this is going to be my mission statement." Are you ready? He might say, "Give me the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And let me read you my mission statement--here it is: 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives; and recovery of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free; to proclaim the year of God's favor.'" Jesus' mission statement.

And, you know, whether you are aware of it or not, as you signed onto being a part of this congregation, part of the body of Christ, that's our mission statement. We are, as the body of Christ, to be the embodiment of Christ--Christ's hands and feet in the world. So that is our task as well, our mission statement--to preach Good News. And so today for my sermon--I thought on this day when we have our annual meeting--it might be good for us to reflect upon how are we doing in that task. How are we doing in reflecting and carrying out that mission, given the unique gifts that God has given us in this congregation?

*****

My sermon today is a little bit longer than normal. You're going to have to give me about 20 minutes today. I'm going to work you hard. There might be a time when I ask you to check your neighbor's pulse. Just elbow people in the ribs. Today we're going to celebrate some of the things that God is doing through us. The sermon title today is, "The State of the Communion." Communion is another name for church, and it's a take-off of course on what's happening this time of year among our secular leaders, as they reflect also on, "Who are we?" and, "What are we doing?" And I also have given you a handout, and an outline of my whole sermon today, and you can have that with you, take it home. It's on the blue sheet--everything's in blue today, apparently.

*****

But I want to begin first with a question as we reflect on, "How is God working through us to accomplish this mission?" Here's the question I want to ask, to ask all of us. The question is: what percentage of the resources you give to this congregation, through your financial commitment and your time, what percentage goes to mission? Do you know? Any idea? 10%, 20%, 30%?

Here's my answer: 100%. 100% of what you give to this congregation goes to mission. We can have this idea that there's sort of overhead and there's the other stuff that's not "mission," and how do you separate all that out? I want to really encourage us to think that everything we do here, every light bulb we screw in, every handshake, every act, is mission.
* Rich Richards, our director of Youth and Young Adult ministry, when he goes to visit the family of a young person whose grandfather died--the money we pay for his salary to do that is mission.
* When we buy strawberries for Strawberry Sunday, and a visitor to our congregation tastes that, and experiences the hospitality of Jesus Christ through our ministry, that's mission.
* When Jeanne Aicher responds to a broken sump pump that is causing flooding of our Cooperative Nursery School and as Jeanne Aicher staffs the Trustees, that's mission.
* My going to the Middle East and spending a portion of my time there, that's mission.
* The cost for Robyn Campbell to buy several rolls of red and blue and grey duct tape for duct tape night at LOGOS which was used to tape our former Youth Director Jeff Binder to the wall...and the young person who will always remember that moment throughout her life--it will remind her of the love of God she received through that LOGOS program. The money for that duct tape is mission.
* Victor Rosado, our custodian, adjusting the thermostats, working with our Green Team, our environmental concerns team, that's mission.

All of it has to do with our effort, God working through us to accomplish that mission, that I just spoke about. It does mean too that we need to be good stewards of our resources.

*****

With that said, I want to celebrate what has been really a historic commitment and prime value for our congregation, and that is the kind of mission and social witness that happens outside our walls, as we affect the life of the community and as we invite the community into our walls. That has been an historic commitment that has defined this particular community of faith, and I want to say a few things to celebrate that.
* First of all, Gulfport. That's maybe on the top of our minds because 20 people we sent to the Gulfport-Biloxi, MS area came back this past week, I think transformed by that experience of helping people who were devastated by that hurricane, and are still devastated by it. But the amazing thing is that that's not just about hammering nails, and doing unto others, it's about offering hope, and embodying that together. It's not just helping others, it's a transformative experience in sharing the gospel. Thirty-seven people from this congregation, on seven trips, have been engaged in that work. And I think we need to do more of those kinds of experiences, that bring us out into the community, not just spend our dollars on good causes (which is important too).
* Peacemaking and advocacy. We need not just do works of charity but advocate for justice, and we're doing that through the work that we've begun with the Middle East, in supporting peacemaking there, and of course you'll be hearing a lot more about that. As well as continuing the work with Haiti that we have done historically. We're going to be hosting Pastor Luc who has been our mission partner in Haiti for so many years. He will be coming on February 11. And there's talk of doing another trip to Haiti at some point--we hope we might be able to do that.
* We're encouraging people to engage in service. On the 18^th of February we're going to be having a service fair, which the Mission Committee is putting together, in Fellowship Center. There'll be about ten to twelve organizations from our community encouraging people to get involved, and I hope you might consider bringing a friend to church that day so that you can encourage them to get involved, roll up their sleeves, and work in the community.

There are so many other ways--there's certainly not enough time to mention all the ways this congregation, through its collective and individual work, is getting out in the community in the name of Jesus Christ, trying to embody Christ's love. Through work at Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Route One Meals, people volunteering at Eggerts Crossing Village, Isles, Crisis Ministry of Trenton, to name just a few. Not least of our commitment to do this is the amount of our resources we've directly devoted to those organizations doing mission outside our walls. Now I'll ask you the question--how much goes to that? That kind of mission, that goes to places like Isles? 18% of our budget, which we'll be celebrating in just a moment. And that's more than last year. Last year we devoted 17.5%. This year $10,000 more of our congregation's budget we're giving to mission causes. And I think we need to celebrate that. Especially because two weeks ago, I stood in front of you and I said, "We're $25,000 in the hole. We're $25,000 short of our goal." And some people stepped up, and our investments did a little bit better than we thought, and somehow God was abundant and gracious as always. And we were not only able to respond to the challenge of a new Associate Pastor, which is more money, but also we were able to increase our mission budget, our outreach budget by $10,000, and that is terrific. ***** That leads me to talking a little more about money. We need to be able to do that as a faith community. And so I will direct your attention to the blue sheet, and this is going to be especially interesting to those among us who like numbers. Now is when you want to check your neighbor's pulse. How are we doing, here?

Stewardship. I want to say a big Amen and thank you to those on our Stewardship committee who did a terrific job this year, and got us so close to our very ambitious goal. And we need to, I think, consider whether God is seeking to do more through us--to expand our mission, to increase the number of people who come into our ministry. We need to focus on our stewardship, and consider encouraging one another in our giving.

So here's an interesting thing. There are some interesting statistics that you can take home and mull over. I remember from college statistics that the mean is the average, and so our average pledge from this past year is $2,206. And that's a lot more than it was last year, and so that's terrific. But the median--as I remember it's that number where half are above and half are below--is $1,500. And I've been told that the mark of health for a congregation is when the mean and the median are close together, because it means that we're not as dependent on those large pledges. And don't get me wrong--if you're one of those larger givers, we hope that you will increase your giving, because that really affects our ministry greatly. But this really represents a challenge to those who are below that mean and are able to, if you have the gifts, to be able to do more. It's a challenge for us to think about that, how we can try to make the mean and the median match up a little more closely. And this coming year, we're also going to encourage one another in stewardship, from the understanding that we're not just trying to fund a budget. We're not just doing fundraising. Our giving is part of our discipleship. It's part of our spiritual growth. So my encouragement in the coming year is to think about, "What percentage of our family's income is faithful?" To think about percentage giving, in the way you make your giving decision. What percentage of our budget is faithful in our discipleship in following Jesus Christ?

*****

There are some other things I want to celebrate before I finish today, in our life as a church. And I apologize in advance, that I won't be able to mention everything and everyone, because there's so much that's going on here. But let's celebrate these things. Some highlights:
* First of all our children and our youth. That is another priority in the life of this congregation. And we should celebrate that there's a lot of vitality in those ministries, as evidenced by the number of kids up here. Robyn Campbell, our Director of Children's Ministries, tells me that this is one of the greatest number of kids, in LOGOS and Sunday School, that we have ever had in this church. LOGOS is so big we had to move the 6th graders into the lounge where they have their own meal on Wednesday nights, because there's not enough room in the Fellowship Center. Did you know, also, that our LOGOS program is a way we reach out into the community? Not all the people in that Wednesday intergenerational program are church members. And so it's a way we invite people to come be part of us, and to learn about faith in Jesus Christ.
* We celebrate our youth program, and how it is growing through the leadership of Rich Richards. And how, not only are the kids having a lot of fun, but thereÕs a renewed emphasis on service and mission. One of the service trips planned for the summer is a trip for the youth to go to Mississippi and Gulfport. And so we rejoice in the vitality of our youth ministry.
* Our music program. There are 30 people in our choir, and that's four more people than last year, and we rejoice in the excellent leadership of Bryce Hayes, our music director and our organist Martha Davidson. It's so wonderful to have such, not only skilled people, but loving people teaching us about music. There are 50 kids in our LOGOS choirs, our children's choirs on Wednesday night. And we rejoice especially that there are more youth involved in doing music this past year. I hope that trend will continue.
* We celebrate the ministry of compassionate care that happens here. And I especially want to thank my colleagues, Nolan and Jill, for how they have done so well during this interim year, in providing pastoral care. We want to also celebrate the way the deacons provide that. I lift up that they are beginning a new initiative in this coming year, called Hands and Hearts, which is an extension of our Friends and Visitors program. It will enable us to reach out to those people in our community who are homebound or find it difficult to get to church--and enable them not only to get to church, but assist them in their lives.
* We celebrate our adult education program, and you'll see in your bulletin today there's a brochure, that I think gives evidence of what's going on in that part of our church life. We have four courses that will be happening in the winter and spring.
* We want to also celebrate our facilities. And sometimes, again, we can think of our facilities as something apart from our ministry. But we celebrate that this congregation has paid attention to maintaining our buildings well. These buildings not only house our ministry, but they allow so many organizations from the community to come in here. I'm looking at Dale Haller and just this morning I saw some of the Boy Scouts who came back from a camping trip. That's part of our ministry that's enabled through our buildings and we give thanks for that.
* There are many things to celebrate, not the least of which has to do with the fact that we're growing as a congregation. We took in thirteen new members this past fall and we want to see that trend continue.

Thanks be to God, for all these blessings that are happening among us.

There are two other things that I want to mention now, before I close. And these have to do with where we're going in the future. Where are we going? Where is God calling us?
* The first thing has to do with worship. My colleague in Palo Alto used to refer to worship as the "taproot" of the Christian community. It is the means through which we are fed and nourished as a Christian community. And it's the way that we reach people--it's the way that we reach new people. In this worship service we want to make sure that we maintain the vitality that is signified by the presence of Christ. But also I think that we need to be aware that we can do more, and we can expand our worship life to reach those who may not be here among us through our worship. One of the things that we're considering in the next couple of years is another worship service, which won't make this service different, but will occur at a different time. That worship service would be what's often called an "alternative" worship service--offering a different worship form and different music--and that service would be targeted especially to youth, and young adults, and their families in our community. And that may be for people who are already part of our community. But it will also be for people who are not here, who are out there, and need to be reached by us. And so, I hope that you'll pay attention to what we're doing as we develop that.
* The last thing I want to mention, in terms of what lies ahead, is our Capital Campaign. We haven't decided to do a Capital Campaign yet, but we're in the midst of planning for one. There are about 24 people now, involved in planning for a Capital Campaign and I think there's a great deal of excitement about it. There are some things that we're thinking about--I'm just going to mention a few possible things; they may not make it to the final list. But there are some no-brainer things, like the Fellowship Center roof, or some other upgrades on the manse, and other parts of our facility. There are some hoped-for items, like more parking. And then there are some dreams, that are a little bit wild and crazy, like adding a second floor to our classrooms, and moving our office space there and perhaps creating a spiritual direction center out of our Chapel. Maybe that's where we'll also put the pastoral hot tub. We're dreaming and that's, I think, what we need to do. And I think that's what Christ is calling us to do.

*****

Finally, I just want to say that if we are to embody this mission, I think it's important for us to focus on what God is doing here, through us. And to say also that it may be that we need to be willing to take risks. We are so nourished by the past, in this congregation, and we revere the past. But also we need to avoid in any way living in the past. We should keep in mind that nothing we do as a church is for the sake of institutional preservation and maintenance. And that everything we do ought to be directed to that mission to which we've been called by Jesus Christ. And again, that may mean risking something. You know Jerry McGuire, he shared that mission statement with his colleagues, and at first they thought it was terrific. But if you remember the movie, it got him fired. Jesus said these words in front of his hometown congregation. They thought they were great; they thought he was so impressive--"the carpenter's son!" But when they understood what he meant, as we'll find out next week, they chased him out of town.

And so we're called to risk ourselves for the sake of this mission: "To preach Good News to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaim the year of God's favor." Are we up for it? Amen.

 

January 21, 2007

Jeff Vamos

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