WE TAKE THIS TO BE OUR CHURCH
April 10, 2005
Texts – Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19
Luke 24: 13-35
“Almighty Father, by whose hand
Amid the wild, long years ago
This church was set, a little band
Thy truth to prove, Thy grace to know;
Prospered and blest, in vigor strong
Now in Thy presence we appear
To own, with glad and thankful song
The mercies of a hundred years.”
I stumbled across this hymn[1] in a small booklet which one of you found on Ebay (of all places). It contains the Orders of Service for all of the special worship services which were held here a century ago – from February 23rd to the 26th, 1905 – to mark the Centennial of our congregation. Pictures of all of our former pastors are included in it, and so are photographs of this room in which all of the services were held. It has hardly changed in the one hundred years which have followed.
“This church was set, a little band,” the hymn says, “God’s truth to prove, God’s grace to know.” It’s an interesting turn of a phrase – “. . . God’s truth to prove.”
I don’t know much about the author. She is identified only as Miss Mary C. Torrey. I’m sure she was an active member of the congregation. That she was involved in the Sunday School, I am also fairly certain. The “Centennial History” of the church which was published back then contains an article by her entitled “A Brief History of the Sunday School.” Beyond those few facts, however, Mary Torrey is no longer known to us. How much we lose in such a relatively brief span of time! What will be known about any of us one hundred years from now? It’s a sobering thought, especially for those of us who covet those fabled “ten minutes of fame.”
Mary Torrey says we exist as a faith community not primarily to “learn” or “know about” God’s truth, but to prove it . . . which means, I think, not just to experience it but to demonstrate it . . . to make God’s truth visible and therefore accessible to all. I like her theology.
Last Friday the world said farewell to a man widely known and deeply loved. Pope John Paul II is mourned today by many of our neighbors as their spiritual leader and teacher. He leaves a remarkable legacy of faith, not the least of which was his global vision and his tireless travel and advocacy for the poor and the dispossessed. John Thomas, our UCC General Minister and President, spoke for many of us when he said “the Pope’s deeply spiritual commitment to peace across the globe has been a remarkable contribution to the welfare of the whole world during this past century . . . We stand in prayer with Catholics around the globe as together we mourn his death.”
What made this man so beloved to so many? I confess I did not read his books or his pronouncements, but I will never forget the images of him I still retain from the very early years of his papacy. Some of you may remember as well the television coverage in those early years of his frequent travels by air to different countries. The first thing he did after his party in all of its pomp and finery had deplaned was to kneel down and kiss the ground upon which they stood. It seemed to me such a human and a humble act, expressing not just gratitude for a safe journey but the loving embrace of God for every earthly place and culture as holy and beloved. With such a simple gesture, he made God’s truth visible and accessible to many. In Mary Torrey’s words, he “proved it.”
That’s what we are called to do as well: “God’s truth to prove, God’s grace to know.” It is what for two hundred years has been going on here. And it is what the financial pledges which many of us will make now for the year to come will enable to continue.
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name,” Jesus said, “there will I be in the midst of them.” That’s a truth “proved” and demonstrated over and over and over again in our life together. It happens so often I am reluctant to reduce it to a single instance or only one particular act. I know I have experienced Christ’s presence in our midst as children are brought for baptism. The same, I must say, often happens for me as I watch those of you who are Deacons quietly moving from person to person with the trays of bread and juice which we use to celebrate Holy Communion. One by one . . . by one by one . . . you move, just as I know that God’s loving Spirit comes to each of us. In so doing, you “prove” . . . you demonstrate . . . God’s truth.
Or again, Jesus said – “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my sisters and brothers, you have done it unto me.” That’s also a truth of God demonstrated in our life together. Some of you have tasted it I know through and in your welcome of and work with the Abedi family, and before them with the Bosnian families which we have helped to begin new lives in our community. This winter’s remarkable outpouring of compassion for the victims of the tsunami in southern Asia was another such moment. Did you know the gifts we have been able to send to India now total $160,000? Amazing. “This church was set, a little band,” Mary Torrey wrote,
“Thy truth to prove, Thy grace to know;
Prospered and blest, in vigor strong
Now in Thy presence we appear
To own, with glad and thankful song
The mercies of a hundred years.”
This morning we add our voices to hers, thanking God for two hundred years.
I am proud to be able to say with you, “We take this to be our church . . .” Proud because what we have together is remarkable. It is worth every penny we invest in it. When you look at the faces of all the children who gather here . . . When the magnificent music our choirs provide lifts you to another realm . . . When your eye takes in the rich diversity of women and men filling this room – young and old, rich and poor, straight and gay, Euro-American and African American and Asian American – aren’t you also proud to say, “We take this to be our church . . .”?
Let that be reflected in your giving this morning, but even more importantly – Let it be reflected in your living day by day. Let us pray.