Scriptures: Joel
2:21-27, Psalm 84, James 3:13-18, Mark 9:30-37
Happy 157th Birthday, Emanuel Church! We’ve come through another year of service to
our Lord Jesus Christ. Another year of
fellowshipping with one another, of growing together in Christian love. Another
year of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Another year of serving our community.
Today we celebrate another
milestone in our 157 year pilgrimage of faith – together.
Our Scripture readings point to different aspects of what it
means to be a community of faith. Our
Psalm this morning, Psalm 84, gives us the words of a worshipper overcome with
joy just to be in the house of the Lord – and of course, for the Psalmist, this
would have been the Temple at Jerusalem.
The writer is overcome with joy just at being able to be in God’s
presence. He’s so, so incredibly happy
just to be there! And as the writer is
worshipping, he looks up, and sees….”oh, look, birds have built a nest near the
altar”. Now – I can remember a few years
ago a bird got into the sanctuary here at Emanuel. During worship it would fly from one side of
the church to the other, near the front – and, of course, it left its calling
cards wherever it rested. Sometimes
while I was preaching, it would caw…and I’d take it as a sign that at least the
bird was listening to me. Or maybe it
was a sign that my sermons were for the birds. I know Margie and Michael had gone up above
the balcony to see where the bird might have gotten in, and if I remember
correctly, Millie and her broom finally persuaded the bird to leave. But in the Psalm, the writer is feeling
generous: the Temple is a spiritual home
for the Psalmist, and there’s room enough for it to be home to the sparrows and
swallows who nest there. For the writer,
the sparrows’ nest near the altar is a sign that God’s shelter and protection extend
even to the humblest of God’s creatures, even to the birds that nest there –
and we might also remember Jesus’ words about how God provides even for the
birds, that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God’s notice.
The writer of Psalm 84 is just so happy to be able to come
to the Temple to worship, as he writes, “Better is one day here than a thousand
days anywhere else! I’d rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell with the wicked.” I can remember 40+ years ago, in my home church
growing up, when I was Lilly’s and little Eric’s age, being an acolyte,
dressing in a white robe and lighting the candles at the beginning of the
service and snuffing them out at the end, and how privileged I felt to be able
to have that small part in worship. And,
of course, having had some mishaps with wax candles here, we’ve gone over to
electric candles, but I’d still like for our teens to be able to have some part
in worship, to experience that sense of being a small part of something greater
than myself, of being a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. I’m giving a homework assignment to our
elders and deacons…find ways to involve our teens in worship.
Our reading from the Old Testament prophet Joel promises a
time of restoration for God’s people. In
the beginning of the book of Joel, swarms of locusts have overrun the country,
eating all the grain and other plants and leaving hardly anything for God’s people. Joel sees this as a sign from God, and calls
on the people to repent. But then, in
today’s reading, he promises that God will restore their fortunes, that God would
repay them for the years the locust had eaten.
We as a congregation, over our 157 years, have known prosperous years
and lean years. Our church history
tells of how this congregation began with all of nine dollars in the bank. Over the decades, the ladies of the church,
saving their nickels, kept Emanuel church going. We experienced major growth in the late 1800’s
and early 1900’s, particularly under the 30+ year ministry of Rev Forster. But then, over our 157 years, there have been
years that have been eaten by locusts, years where we did little more than keep
the doors open – and even today, we struggle.
But through the words of Joel, God promised God’s people that there
would be a time of restoration, and I believe even today, we at Emanuel can
experience a time of restoration for our congregation – and perhaps this
restoration has begun. Over this past
year, our community ministries have expanded, as we now have a monthly homeless
outreach, and, God willing, may be able to start a ministry to veterans in
months to come. The Emanuel Church of
the future may not look like the Emanuel Church of the past – but I do believe
this congregation has a future. God can
restore the years that the locust has eaten, for this church and in our
individual lives. As we keep faith with
God, God will keep faith with us.
For a community of faith to walk together for 157 years, as
we have, is a testimony to the quality of community that has been here in the
past, and still continues to sustain us.
Not that we don’t have our disagreements – we’ve had plenty of squabbles
over the years, and don’t always see eye to eye today. But for our congregation to endure, the faith
that brings us together has to be greater than the disagreements that would
drive us apart. Our brief reading from
the letter of James tells us what our life together is to be like. True godly wisdom is demonstrated in deeds
that come from a place of humility. By
contrast, according to James, bitter envy and selfish ambition literally come
from the pit of hell. James writes, “the wisdom that
comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate,
submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” James promises that “Peacemakers who sow in
peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
And so how we treat one another matters, not only to us, but to God.
We see selfish ambition causing trouble among the disciples in
our Gospel reading. Jesus and his disciples are on their way to
Jerusalem. Jesus was trying to prepare
his disciples for what will happen there – far from being on the road to glory,
for Jesus, at the end of the journey was a cross. And this was the second time Jesus told his
disciples that death on a cross awaited him in Jerusalem. But the disciples weren’t hearing Jesus – on
one hand, they just couldn’t wrap their minds around what Jesus was saying
about his impending death – in their minds, Jesus’ words just did not compute -
and on the other hand they were afraid to ask him what he meant. The writer of Mark’s gospel gives his readers
a sense that Jesus sometimes lost patience with his disciples – remember, in
last Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus had referred to Peter as Satan - and
perhaps the disciples were afraid that if they asked Jesus a question, he’d
just jump down their throats again.
So instead of asking Jesus what he meant, they talked
amongst themselves – and their discussion shows how absolutely oblivious they
were to what Jesus was trying to get through their heads. At a time when Jesus was telling them that
his days among them were numbered, the disciples were jockeying for power,
arguing over who among them was the greatest, probably arguing over who would
be in charge when Jesus was gone. If I
had been Jesus, I’d have been sorely tempted to tie the lot of them up in a big
sack and drown them, and start over with some new disciples. But instead, Jesus recognizes a learning
moment, and gives them a teaching with a visual aid. He tells them, “Whoever wants to be first of
all must be last of all and servant of all.”
And then the visual aid, to help them remember this teaching – he put a
child in the center of the group and said, “Whoever welcomes a child like this
welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not just me, but welcomes God who
sent me.”
“Whoever wants to be first of all must be last of all and
servant of all.” As we mark our 157th
anniversary and look to the future, serving all who come our way, serving this
neighborhood of Bridesburg in which God has planted us, is the way forward for Emanuel
Church. Absent a miracle, we will never
have the biggest building or the most modern facilities, and while I think our
worship here glorifies God and feeds the spirits of those who come here, we’ll
never, absent a miracle, be mistaken for a megachurch. But we can stand out in the quality of our
community and our caring for others. And
word can spread: if you’re hungry, if
you’re hurting, if you’re lonely, if you’re in need of a hopeful word, check
out Emanuel Church on Fillmore Street. They may not look like much from the outside,
but they love God, and they really care about people. You’ll find friends there, and maybe God will
find you there. More than one of our
members has told me that Sundays at Emanuel Church are the high point of the
week, indeed the main thing that helps you get through the week. And so as small as we are, it’s important
that we’re here. What we do here changes
lives, even saves lives. It’s important
that we’re here.
And then there’s Jesus’ visual aid – placing a child in the
center of the group. In Jesus’ time,
children were not highly valued – in case of a disaster, it most certainly was
not “women and children first”. In the
society of Jesus’ day, life was cheap and the lives of children were considered
particularly expendable – it’s hard for us in our day to get our minds around,
but that’s the historical record. Indeed, I think one of the successes of the
Christian church is that among religious and secular people alike, we place a
high value on caring for our children.
It’s often been said that a church without children is a
church without a future. I’d also say
that a church without children is a church with a diminished, spiritually
impoverished present. I’m grateful for
the children who are able to be with us.
They are not only the future of our church, but the present. I pray that more families with children will
come our way, and that we will be a safe and nurturing community, that our
children will grow up strong in the faith, that the faith of our fathers and mothers
will become their faith, and that of their children.
So – Happy 157th anniversary Emanuel Church! God who has been our help in ages past will,
I pray, be our hope for years to come.
And this church, which has been a spiritual home in this community for
the past 157 years will, I pray, continue to provide care and nurture for all
who come our way. Amen.
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