A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, September 7, 2008
Matthew 18:15-20
Our opening hymn “We Gather Together” used the familiar tune of this harvest-season favorite and new words written by John McCall:
We gather together and pray for your blessing
That we may be open and true to Christ’s call.
Let our congregation bring hope and salvation
To every one who struggles and each who might fall.
O God, make us grateful for each day you give us;
For hope’s light before us and dark left behind.
Let us here assembled, by your love be humbled
Re-mem-bering your justice, O God, make us kind.
We gather together and pray for your leading
From this time of worship to times yet unknown.
We go forth rejoicing, your praises we’ll be voicing.
Call us to your true service; God, make us your own!
THE CONVERSATION BEGINS
John I like projects… sometimes. I used to build things out of wood – furniture and clocks. And sometimes I do carpentry around the house, like putting a window in the middle or a wall, or replacing a floor.
(to kids) Do you like making things with you hands or working on a project for school (invite responses).
Mostly I do things like painting a room or putting up wallpaper. When I start a project I always make a list of what I think I’ll need. (to kids) Why do you think I do that? (invite responses) Right! Because I might get started and then discover I don’t have something I need – so I have to stop, and clean up, and go to the store! So before I get started I have to gather everything together I need.
Elsa Sometimes it’s not as simple as being prepared and getting all of the right tools or even the right ingredients. You know that when you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you are going to need those 3 things, right?
But, maybe this has happened to you. Maybe you thought you were prepared when you picked up a new puzzle at the Rummage Sale. Maybe it was a picture of Portland Head Light. And you get the whole edge done. You get all of the pieces to the lighthouse and the ocean. You even get those trees done. And then, you start to work on the sky. That’s the hardest part, right? It’s all blue. And when you think you’re almost done, you realize that there is one piece missing!!! What do you do then? (invite responses)
That’s the hard part. It’s much harder when you can’t plan for something. But, I wonder: do you know what the word gather means? (invite responses) Why do you think we use that word in church? What does it mean gather here? (invite responses)
John Right. We want to gather everyone together so we can get off to a good start. And we really miss the friends who aren’t here. If there’s a friend who hasn’t come today, or isn’t in Sunday school next week, or doesn’t come to children’s choir rehearsal with you, you can call them up and tell them it’s time to gather, time to come home.
Elsa That sounds like something Jesus would say, doesn’t it? In the Bible, it seems that Jesus is always talking about creating a special place where we can all feel at home.
John That’s what the Bible story for today is about! In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says when two or three gather together, he’s here with us – really truly right here.
When you’re all alone it may be hard to feel God’s love, but when we come together we can share that love with each other…
Elsa Have you ever felt like that here at church? Have you ever felt really sad only to come to church and realize how loved you are? (invite responses and conclude with prayer)
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
John When you’re off by yourself – when you’re alone – you can be a Christian but you can’t be a church. The Church only exists because the people gather. And when we gather as the Church, Jesus taught that we should treat each other in particular ways. Jesus even told his disciples how to handle tough times in the church – times when someone’s sinning, and times when there are disagreements (not that that would ever happen in our church!)
Elsa Whoa. Wait a minute. Let’s talk about that part. We want to skip over that part and not talk about all that sinning and finger pointing, but we all make mistakes. And, we do make them here. We make them a lot. I make them. John makes them. Sometimes we even make them together. Maybe you read my recent article in the Beacon. It was something I wrote after a Pastor Parish Relations Committee meeting. In that meeting, we got to talking about email and how it may be a problem in our church life because we talk at each other without being together. Now, I’m not exactly going to glorify what church used to be – but maybe email and text messages and such are keeping us from really gathering and being the church. If all we’re doing is emailing minutes and agendas, then we are going to miss out on those great conversations that begin with the simple question, “How are you?”
John You can’t really ask that question of yourself, can you? The church is a place where we get to ask each other “how are you?” and listen attentively to the answer.
Elsa Oh. That’s the best. That’s what makes this place that we call home so special. This is a place where we care so much about each other that we even want to listen when one of us has made a mistake. When someone makes a mistake Jesus said we should go to them and tell them.
John I’ve been reading the old records of our church, some dating back 200 years. Many times I read that church members were excommunicated – meaning the church and pastor voted to turn them away, tell them they were no longer welcome to receive communion or even to come to worship. There were all sorts of reasons: being drunk in public, saying bad words, or even for working on Sundays.
Elsa Thank God we don’t do that anymore! Today we don’t tell people they have to leave the church – instead we remind each other again and again “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here!” That’s not just here on Meetinghouse Hill. That’s part of our identity as the United Church of Christ. We believe that all God’s children should be welcomed and loved. We invite everyone – and I mean everyone – to gather in our churches.
John That’s hard in our modern world. Even though Elsa and I know we’ll be here on Sunday, we know that many of you get busy with other things – sports, shopping, or just sleeping late on Sundays.
Elsa I think that was one of my favorite moments this summer! I was in a church member’s kitchen talking to a church friend, who would tell you that she’s here almost every Sunday. I made some joke about not worrying that she wasn’t always here and she replied by remarking how some friends assure her that they find their spirituality out there, alone. She insisted that you just can’t get the same things alone that you get when you gather here at church.
John That reminds me of the old story about a Scottish pastor who noticed that an old man who previously had been attending services regularly, suddenly stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. She found the man at home alone sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed her, led her to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The pastor made herself at home but said nothing. In silence, she looked at the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, she took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, then sat back in her chair, still silent.
The host watched all this without a word. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
The pastor slowly stood, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the pastor reached the door to leave, her host said “Thank you for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I’ll see you in church next Sunday.”
Elsa “I’ll see you next Sunday.” We don’t say that enough to each other.
John Maybe it’s because we’ve forgotten why we gather. It’s not just one more day we have to set an alarm clock and get going. Do you suppose we could do better at encouraging each other to be here, together, even when it’s real tempting to skip it?
Elsa I wish I had the answer to that one. I think that’s part of what we’re trying to figure out together: as a community what it means for us to share our lives together. Maybe it’s like that puzzle with the missing piece…
John Jesus said whenever two or three of us gather together, we’ll feel his presence. And it’s true. And when 200 or 300 come together for worship and praise and fellowship and song, just imagine what God can do with the energy and the joy!
So thank you, every one of you, for being here this morning as we gather to be the church.
Elsa It just wouldn’t be the same without you. Will we see you next Sunday?