I was given a great
gift last week—a gift you gave me. Now it’s not unusual to receive a gift
at this time of year, but this gift was special. It was special because
it has helped me and my family experience the real meaning of this season
in a deeply personal way. Last Tuesday evening my family and I went
Christmas shopping—not for ourselves, not for one another, not for family,
not even for friends we know, but for this five year old girl related to
the Henry Fork Center ministry. You see, you gave us the opportunity to
“adopt” an “Advent Angel,” and we took you up on it. And I have to tell
you something—it has been a long time since we had so much joy in our
Christmas shopping. You see, we already have everything we need. When we
make up our Christmas lists every year it seems it gets harder and harder
to think of what to write down because we are already so very blessed.
Now there is joy in our giving to each other even when we already have
enough, but there is something about having a Christmas list from someone
who really is in need and then being able to personally meet that need at
Christmastime that somehow makes Christmas shopping a much more deeply
spiritual experience. This must be what the prophet Malachi had in mind
when he speaks of the coming of the LORD as a refiner’s fire or fuller’s
soap. There was just something purifying and cleansing in that
experience—an experience that will be fulfilled for us when we present our
gifts tonight along with all of yours and dedicate them to God for all the
children whose needs we will address this year in this special way. This
is exactly what John the Baptist wanted us to get ready for when he
proclaimed in the wilderness in the words of the prophet Isaiah
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every
valley
shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made
smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of
God.. Luke 3:4b-6
I had this experience because of South Roanoke Church, and I thank you for
that gift that you have given your Pastor and his family this year.
For me that is just a
glimpse of the vision that South Roanoke Church has of the special,
particular focus of her ministry in this time and in this place.
Last Sunday we talked
about mission and vision. Every United Methodist Church has but one
mission, as it is named in our Book of Discipline:
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus
Christ...
The Book of Discipline of
the United Methodist Church, 2000 ed., Pt. III, Section I, Para. 120
Our worship,
sacraments, Sunday School, music and song, gatherings of children and
youth, fellowship meals, facilities, program, budget, and outreach to
others are the ways in which the community of faith prepares spiritually
to be what the Discipline says the local church is:
…a strategic base from which Christians move out to the
structures of
society…
The Book of Discipline of the United
Methodist Church, 2000 ed., Pt. IV, Chap. 1, Section I, Para. 201
Every United Methodist congregation has the mission to make disciples of
Jesus Christ. That is South Roanoke’s mission.
But there’s a difference, you see, between
the mission we all share as United Methodists and the particular vision
each individual congregation shares as its own unique focus of ministry to
fulfill that mission.
What is South Roanoke’s special
vision? What should be the focus of South Roanoke’s ministry in support
of that one mission? What are we known for in this community? What is
God’s particular, unique vision for the special way that we seek to make
disciples of Jesus Christ because we are uniquely positioned and
especially gifted to do exactly that right now right here?
As I shared with you last week your
leaders who comprise our Council on Ministries considered this question
together over two evenings not long after I became your pastor. After
much discussion, prayer, and editing we tried to state that vision for our
church. Adopted by our Charge Conference just two weeks ago this vision
statement appears on cover page of your bulletin today. The essence of
that statement, as you can see, is “As Christ cares, we care.”
This vision statement reflects for
us your leaders’ best understanding of who we are and where we want to go
together in our common mission. We understand ourselves as a caring
community—a community of persons of faith who care for one another, are
open and friendly to new persons among us, and seek to share the love of
Christ beyond our walls to others in our community and in our world.
I believe your leaders have it
right. I believe that because I trust I listened to all 128 of you very
carefully during our 10 “Neighborhood Gatherings” as we visited together
in homes and got to know one another. Now I heard you express your
concern about some of the struggles that you have found yourselves facing
from time to time, but I have to tell you it never failed. I believe
there was in each and every gathering at least one person or one couple
whose deep desire it was for me and for all those gathered to know how
much this community of faith has meant to them because this community of
faith had seen them through a very, very difficult time. They wanted to
make sure that the pastor knew what this body of Christ did for them.
They were given a great gift by this community of faith. They declared
unequivocally that they knew what this community was really made of—they
knew because they experienced it themselves. They named it then and our
vision statement expresses it this way: “As Christ Cares, We Care.”
Isn’t that what you want to be known
for in this community? When my colleagues ask me, “What’s it like at
South Roanoke Church?”, you know what I tell them (after I finish telling
them how much I enjoy finally living in the mountains!)? I tell them that
I am serving a really interesting congregation. This is the first
congregation I have served that takes so seriously its calling to serve
the needs of others beyond its own. Why do I say that? Well, let me name
a few:
Our apportionments are supported consistently in full. South
Roanoke
Church takes special pride in its fair share of the mission
and ministry of
our United Methodist Church as we do so much more together
than we
can ever do separately.
About 13 years ago when this church installed a new organ, purchased
a new
organ, and acquired our youth house you didn’t stop there. So
concerned were you that we not just take care of ourselves
that you
committed to sharing up to $15,000 each year for 4 years to
help meet
the needy. And you did that. Furthermore, you have kept this
commitment in our annual church budget for each of the last 9
years after
the four-year period concluded. Although this is reduced
considerably in
our 2004 budget due to our current financial situation, can
you imagine
the impact this church has had with almost $200,000 over 13
years on
the needs of the least, the last, and the lost?
Our Preschool which just recently accepted the 18 month old child
of a
mother at Ronald McDonald House (next door here) whose husband
has
been in intensive care for 5 weeks following a shooting. Our
Preschool is
providing this Mother’s Day Out opportunity at no cost to the
family so
Mom could keep vigil at her husband’s bedside.
We commissioned this morning so many of us who will participate
this week
as we host the homeless through the Interfaith Hospitality
Network
Advent Angels
That’s what I tell them. I want you to know that it is my impression that
the Roanoke District looks to our church for leadership in so many ways.
That is a position we ought to humbly claim as our own…. I have heard it
said in our worship that we are uniquely gifted as a community of means
that is thereby uniquely gifted to make a difference.
When you think about it, I believe
we already have glimpses of the vision God has for us in the roots and
history of the ministry we have already shared here for a long time. In
this same way the Apostle Paul prays for the Church at Philippi
…That your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and
full
insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the
day of Christ
you may be pure and blameless… Philippians
1:9-10
I have heard our Bishop, Joe E.
Pennel (who just recently announced that he will retire at the end of this
quadrennium next year), say it more than once. He believes the best way
for local United Methodist congregations to see the vision God has for
them in fulfillment of the mission to which we are called is for each
local congregation to identify the greatest need that exists in the
community in which it is located and organize its ministry to meet that
need.
What do you want to be known for? I
tell everybody I can what I know of the best of this congregation… As you
come to the Lord’s table today and find again your every need met as you
kneel this Advent, offer yourself again to Him. But especially offer up
this community of faith. Ask Jesus to take who and what we are and shape
and mold and guide us that we might make the difference that only we can
make together because we are uniquely gifted and uniquely positioned right
now to do His bidding.
You gave me such a great gift in my
experience with our Advent Angel. Let’s share that gift as God will lead
us because as Christ cares, we care.
