A sermon by John Brierly McCall, D. Min.
Mark 1:21-28
You may have heard last week that General Motors is again the biggest auto company in the world, selling about 9 million vehicles in 2011. It held that spot for almost eighty years before being displaced by Toyota in 2008. In 2009 GM emerged from bankruptcy after a $52 billion bailout from US taxpayers. Toyota lost market share in large part because of the tragic earthquake and Tsunami that struck Japan last year.
So what does General Motors have to do with us this morning, and with our question “what will become of our church – First Congregational United Church of Christ in South Portland, Maine?” Just this: after the GM news flash one commentator simply said: “‘Biggest auto company’ doesn’t matter. Sustainable matters.”
Put another way, health is more important than wealth; viability is more important than numbers. Vitality can be experienced in many ways – only one of which is graphs and bottom lines. Which is good.
Because today I say with confidence that we are a healthy, vital, strong church and we’ve got great challenges… which beats the heck out of being a struggling, dysfunctional church with great challenges, doesn’t it?
After 278 years of ministry through boom and bust, under the flags of two nations, two states and three towns, what will become of our church? Are our best days behind us or can we look at the present and future with real hope?
Take a moment and think back to December, 1960, when this holy space was packed with an overflow crowd gathering to dedicate our new sanctuary. Several of you were here and were part of realizing that dream. The Rev. Dr. Cornelius Clark, Minister of the Maine Congregational Christian Conference, said this:
What we say and do here today is rooted in history. There is an ongoing fellowship of which we are simply the contemporary members. This new building and life of the congregation require participation by all its members and serves as a reminder of the personal responsibility of individuals {to the church} and to society. No one’s position is so humble that he can evade that responsibility…. The church has a mission: it must speak to rock-‘n-roll, to the two-car family, to the conformity culture, to the anachronistic father in an urban society, to space travel and to juvenile delinquency – in other words, to you.
{Newspaper clipping, no page or date, 1960}
Maybe those were the Good Old Days. In 1960 church membership was 1,900 with 800 in the Sunday school {1960-61 Annual report}. Average worship attendance was 600 a week. The church budget was about $35,000 with about 20% to mission and 30% to personnel expense. Of course, a nice four bedroom house in South Portland cost $20,000 in 1960.
By such measures we’re not that church any more, but Dr. Clark’s comments are as true as ever: every one of us has a stake, a part, a role in the life of the church and each of us has a ministry that expresses the faith we share in common.
Many of the changes over 50 years have come from the outside: aging communities; changing patterns in families, leisure activities, and spending priorities; changes in the civil values that determine so much in our daily lives. By definition, these are beyond our control. They affect all churches, but we’ve felt the changes less than most. In the next few decades many churches will disappear. At least for now we’re over-churched in Maine.
You and I can’t fix that. But we can do a lot to be sure that our church endures. While other congregations ask the heart-rending question of whether they can keep their doors open, we continue to welcome new guests to worship, new children to the Sunday school, and new members into our busy, engaging ministries.
And frankly I don’t care if we ever again can claim 1900 adult members and 800 in the Sunday school.
- I care about vitality and viability.
- I care about a ministry that resonates with our sense of what God is doing.
- I care that we are open, affirming, and accessible;
- I care that we are United Church of Christ, and still truly congregational;
- I care that we give away a lot of money to others;
- I care that we send kids to church camp and adults on retreats;
- I care that we focus on growing in faith, no matter your age or stage;
- I care that we embrace the gifts of young and old and laity and clergy;
- I care that we begin worship together saying and meaning: “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here…”
- I care that so many of you gave a week of vacation last summer to join in our first mission trip to central Maine;
- I care that you all step forward to serve on Teams and committees, as ushers and greeters and teachers, and singers and ringers and mentors and hosts and so much more.
- I hope you care about these things too.
We’ll be strongest if we keep clear about our purpose: we’re here, together, to be disciples and to make disciples – disciples who live and serve in Jesus’ name. Our worship, study, and fellowship must focus on this. So, too, must our governance, our Teams, committees, and programs. Are we, at every level, asking spiritual questions about our life together?
Today’s Gospel lesson tells of an exorcism – Jesus’ casting out a dark and unclean spirit. Such sickness can infect churches – especially where there’s a vacuum of meaning. We might be reluctant to speak of “demons” or “evil spirits” but it’s a fitting metaphor for all those times when we let complacency or laziness, or even pettiness pull us away from the essentials and distract us. Then and now, Jesus speaks as one with authority. He knew what happens when we get out of balance. When we get side-tracked or our energies get misdirected, we need to shine the light on them lovingly, and then get back on track.
Looking ahead, then what will become of our congregation? Well, like General Motors, we need to “right size.” We need earnest conversation about how we will balance our income with our expenses. We must either increase income significantly or reduce expenses. There are only two ways to accomplish this – more members or cuts in our discretionary spending.
We have sufficient staff, program and building to accommodate 50% more in worship.
So the first way to accomplish this is for you (notice I almost always say “we” when I’m preaching but today I say “you”!) to step up to the plate and be more attentive to ways you can help us grow. We’re growing in our spirit of hospitality; I often hear from newcomers that they’ve been warmly welcomed. What a delight to hear! But there should be many more people finding their way here.
I challenge you to look around every Sunday and notice who’s here (and who’s missing). Go out of your way to welcome new guests at least during the passing of the peace. Further, I challenge you to invite others to worship. Every day you have contact with family, neighbors, other parents, colleagues at work… You talk about all sorts of things some of which might make the rest of us blush. But do you talk about your faith, your church, our life together? No amount of advertising can match your power in inviting others to join you, join us, in our life of faithfulness. You are essential to keeping us vital.
The other way to “right size” is to boost our giving. I’m going to be blunt because I love our church and I love you. Subtle and polite aren’t enough in times like these. Specifically, the budget our Church Council brings to us today represents their best effort at striking the balance. They’re working with fewer dollars from pledges and upward pressure on expenses – just like most of us in our household budgets.
They have wrestled, prayed, debated and reached consensus to maintain the status quo for 2012. This proposed budget is straight-forward. It:
- sustains our mission outreach budget,
- extends a 3% increase to the salaries of all the staff which have been frozen at 2009 levels.
- covers the salary for our outreach coordinator (who directs Community Crisis Ministries) by drawing on a portion of a bequest from several years ago that the Council had previously set aside for such an eventuality.
- closes the gap of some $28,000 between the income and expense with the last remaining cash in a reserve account we’ve retained from the occasional surplus budgets several years ago.
With these measures we can make the 2012 budget work. If we stay on this same track we’ll face a significant shortfall in 2013. So the Council also calls all of us to commit to conversations over the next several months that will tell them what we all, together, want them to do.
- Do we want them to reduce expenses – knowing the only feasible places to cut are staff and mission budget? Or,
- Do we believe that we, the members, can inspire and motivate each other to give more generously, week to week, year to year, to keep our church vital and vibrant?
Looking at our 2012 budget and the additional outreach we support through Community Crisis Ministries, we will spend about $12,000 every single week of the year, and 30% of that we’ll give away for others. That’s a higher percentage than at least two of the presidential candidates pay in taxes!
We could easily balance the budget by eliminating our mission outreach. But doing that dims the soul and begins a downward spiral. And how could we turn to you, members and friends who gather here, and ask you to prayerfully consider greater generosity to your church if your church is no longer generous? While each of us is doing something for our church, honestly many (though certainly not all) can do more. The light that’s brightest at the center shines the farthest.
We know that as Christians our need to give is even more important than the Church’s need to receive. Everything we have comes from God, and everything we give for God’s work is our way of saying “thank you.”
+++++++++++
What will become of our church? Unlike GM we won’t get a government bail out, and we won’t declare bankruptcy. Our future, of course, is in God’s hands. But surely it depends on us as well. Will we reach out and invite in? Will we sincerely welcome new guests and help them find what we have found here? Will we prayerfully consider what we’re giving and what we really can give for the sake of our present and future? Will we remain clear just who we are as a Christian congregation while recognizing we can’t be all things to all people?
I believe we’ll continue on the road we’re following: honoring tradition without worshiping the past; faithfulness without fundamentalism; claiming wisdom but not certainty.
Together today and always, we count our blessings; and they are many indeed.