Sermon Title:  A Monday Like None Other

Sermon Text:  Luke 24:33-49

Sermon Date:  April 26, 2009

 

 

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."  40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate it in their presence.  44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."  45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

 

            Some of you might remember a story that I started many years ago now called “A Sunday Like Any Other Sunday.”

            In it the female pastor, the church matriarch, the children’s Sunday school teacher, the church moderator and the church’s only child struggled with the future of the church until, that is, the only child asked if the church was like the dry bones in the Ezekiel 37 passage they had read in Sunday school.  You know the one that goes like this:

 

 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

            After the little boy asked the question, “Is our church full of dry bones?” they decided that death was not the answer for this small band of believers and they changed.  I think I wrote an addition to the story a few years ago but I can’t find it and it doesn’t matter anyway.  Every day brings a new story.

            I wrote that first story as a sermon while serving in Rochester, New York for Sunday, May 18, 1997.  And every once in a while it jumps out at me to remind me how far the churches I’ve served have gone.

            Well, two of the three.  South Avenue Baptist Church was finally taken off of life support on September 28, 2003.   Without financial resources to keep us alive, we sold the church building to a Greek Orthodox congregation in 1998 and moved to Colgate Rochester Divinity School.  I thought we could get really involved in missions and ministries since we didn’t have a building to hold up, but they really wanted a chaplain as a pastor, someone who would look after them.  Finally three part-time pastors later, they closed the doors, gave the money they had made in selling the building to the region and its ministries and folks joined other ABC churches.

            On the other hand, First Baptist of Greater Cleveland has an outstanding pastor and staff and they are alive and well and the contemporary service we started is full to capacity and the traditional service is doing well.  Things are going well for them.

            And then there is us.  I’ve often said that we are smaller and healthier than we were when I came.  It is true.  Attendance is not what it was when I came but then the mental health meter was different then too.  You had been through some difficult times and were still trying to sort through them.  Then together we went through difficult times but today, I can’t speak for you, but I feel good about where we are.

            We are witnesses to all God has done in and through us here at First Baptist Church of Lafayette, Indiana.  We are not dry bones.  There is flesh on our bones and blood pumping through our veins. 

            Think of this message this morning as my state of the church sermon celebrating almost 8 years of ministry here.  Time flies, doesn’t it?  Soon I will have been here 8 years.  And it has been full of ups and downs and a lot of amazing things.

            Let me witness to you!

            Sure, I’ve done approximately 63 funerals in that time but since January 2008 we have welcomed 14 new members and Erica Ferris has asked to be baptized so she will become our 15th in this short time.

            I don’t know how many weddings I’ve done or how many babies I’ve dedicated but this year we dedicated Daniel Garner and on May 10 we will dedicate Cooper Greer. 

            While I was on sabbatical my dad asked me about the Sidewalk Chalk festival we were doing and I said that I had no clue what he was talking about.  Another sign of a healthy church!  The pastor doesn’t have to plan everything and in this case even know about it.  What a great success the Sidewalk Chalk festival was.  We got more publicity from that than any other activity we have done in my time here.  Reporters from the paper and WLFI hung out here waiting for the winners’ names.  We had a wonderful time and I’m really looking forward to this year.

            The Sabbatical Renewal Team did a wonderful job of bringing to you people who inspired you to do more ministry.  You still talk about Brad Berglund’s Sunday here and asking you to open your hands to the Spirit of God.  You talk about Steve Robbins’ message about being open to the Spirit.  You remind me of stories Mike Mather told.

Then upon my return we invited Associate General Secretary Jeff Woods to lead us in determining what we would focus on in the future.  We came up with these ideas:

1.         Develop “marketing” efforts.  How to advertise our strengths (at Purdue             to young generations, the arts community, our neighborhood)

 

2.         Music/reading/arts program for community children

 

3.         Continue small groups with a focus

 

4.         Welcoming our neighborhood through many different ways (Sidewalk             Chalk Festival, Bread Giveaway, Family Promise, etc; provide bread when             needed for bread giveaway).

4.               Missions:  Food, LUM

 

Because of these ideas and our monthly “Focus on the Future” meetings several things have happened.

 

  1. A group has been working on expanding our interfaith dialogue with the Muslim and Jewish community, thinking that no other Baptist church in town is doing these things so we can expand our networks by encouraging this.  You’ve met the young Turkish and Russian Muslims from the Holy Dove Foundation who have brought us Noah’s pudding.  We hosted the first Abrahamic dinner, a gathering of those three religions – Muslim, Jewish and Christian who claim Abraham as our ancestor.  You met Rabbi Audrey Pollack from Temple Israel when 25 of us crowded in the lounge to listen to her tell us about Passover.  I spoke at the temple on Friday night and answered questions about Baptists until 10 p.m.  We babysat for their holy day services and they babysat for our Christmas Eve service.  Interfaith dialogue at its finest.
  2. As You heard from Bill Hoover, we are now a support church for Trinity Lutheran Church as Family Promise gets up and running. 
  3. In order to make sure there is enough baked goods to give away on Fridays we have begun taking an offering as needed to help.  The number of people coming has grown by five each week.  In May or June you will have the chance to contribute to the ministry as you leave church.
  4. The Thursday night small group at the Garners’ home has brought in people who do not attend church here, along with some of the young people who do.  “Sex God” is the topic of this particular study and you are welcome, regardless of age!  Only interest is necessary.
  5. We are working on having shirts made with a new FBC logo so we can wear them at events.  Marcia is working on our new logo and when we know how much the shirts will cost we will let you know.
  6. We need these shirts to wear to events like the Centennial Neighborhood’s Hollyhock Festival in June.  We could also wear them to Worship in the Streets and well, you could actually wear them to the grocery store or the golf course.  Anytime you wear it, you are “marketing” the good things about First Baptist.

 

            I know I must stop now but I can’t help being excited about all I’m witnessing here at First Baptist.  We are growing.  Numerically and spiritually.  You have not stopped commenting on how meaningful the Maundy Thursday service was in your life and wanting me to thank everyone who made it happen.

            We celebrated Easter with joy and now we celebrate that Jesus made one last trip back to earth to walk among the believers before making his last ascension.

            Whether in person or through us, Jesus continues to walk among us and we are witnesses to the good news he brings to us.

            The original story was “A Sunday Like Any Other Sunday” and as our story continues, the Monday through Saturdays have been changed as well.  What we are witnessing isn’t just about what happens on Sunday, but all our days too.

Thank you, First Baptist, for understanding that we must be the church of Jesus Christ in everything we do.  Just as the resurrected Jesus gave new life and hope to the early disciples, he continues to give new life and hope to us today…as a church and as individuals.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!