Homecoming & Presbyterian Heritage Sunday

Sermon Psalm 84; John 15:5-17  May 19, 2019 Homecoming & Presbyterian Heritage Sunday

Faith Stories Part I &II

Part I Psalm 84 at Francis Makemie Presbyterian Church at 9:15 am

Today is a big day in the life of the church. We made the decision to come and gather together, to ‘walk up’ to the house of God. It’s a moment each week that is an incredible experience to intentionally make the trip, the pilgrimage to the house of God.

This psalm means so much in light of this homecoming in that the pilgrims who are headed to the Temple of Jerusalem rejoice as they approach the city and see the Temple rise up above the ramparts and they experience something transformative, they express the sense of coming home. We, too, are pilgrims coming home rejoicing to see our church as we approach our town.

There is something special about this building. There is something that continues to draw people to come and sit in the quiet and the peace that this sanctuary offers. I’ve heard many of you express the power of the Sacred in this place. It’s as if this sacred space holds the thin space between heaven and earth. We have found this to be our safe, sacred space.

I’m not sure if the people three generations ago that set to the task of restoring this building to its original state realized they power of the gift they were offering to the generations that followed. Yet, their vision has brought an immense impact for our congregation today.

Perhaps, that’s what’s important to know today, important to realize today, that the decisions we make today impact those who follow.

Today as we hear the psalmist’s words, 

we can recognize the pilgrimage that we have been on. 

Perhaps, it’s a pilgrimage that started only today. 

Or perhaps, it’s a journey we’ve been on for a lifetime.

The physical act of our approach to God, to the house of God is in itself a means of grace, it is a manner of encountering in the very act of moving forward to God, to God’s people. An in the approach discovering that we are all God’s people. And when we make our way toward the house of God, we find we are making our way home. 

Welcome home.

But, that’s not the last of the power of God’s strength to transform us. The amazing wonder of God in these moments is the gift of the pilgrim, the faith journeyman (Journeywoman). We have the promise that where we pilgrim, where we wander, the pilgrim of God brings blessings with them.

You have brought blessings to us through your presence and when you go from here you carry blessings to your next encounter. 

And in these encounters we meet the Sacred, we meet and share God. 

Let us rejoice in this day of pilgrims, homecomings! 

O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you. Amen.

Faith Stories Part II

Part II John 15:5-17 at Naomi Makemie Presbyterian Church 11:00 am

Jesus tells his disciples to remember his root command: to love one another.

Looking out at all of you in this sanctuary today it is a reminder of the strength of love of the community of faith! It is also a strength of love for those who have gone before us! They made it possible for us to be here! Their love for God and for one another maintained things like light bulbs, and electric bills, heat, and paint, mowing grass, and making coffee. What me may have thought as mundane, made being present for worship and other activities pleasant and joyful.

Their strength of faith allowed risks to be taken, allowed decisions for ministry to happen; sometimes very difficult decisions. Perhaps, it is in the power of community, the collective joy of the presence of one another that encourages, and even excites the church to choose to do things they wouldn’t dare do by themselves.

As we reflect on the years of our time here what are some of those memorable moments?

In this gospel lesson, Jesus, speaks to his disciples as friends. He reminds them of all they have had together. He embraces them with words that will echo back to them in times of trial, challenge, and times when all hope seems lost.

Today, these words of Jesus let this faithful community know how it has been blessed through the years:

One gift at a time.

One member at a time.

One visitor at a time.

One minister at a time.

One elder at a time.

One child at a time.

There has been joy.

The work of God through Christ instills in us who we are and how we are called to be disciples in this place.

And then, when we are called to go beyond this place, the fruit of the vine goes with us.

The strength of the community in which we have been nurtured binds us together forever.

It makes coming home possible.

Because when we come home, we know we are reunited in the joy and the love of faith.

If any of us have ever had a vine in our yard we know how invasive they can be. So, if we look to our ministry and the work of God in us as a vine with really long branches, we can say we are far reaching with the ministry of Christ. We can say we’ve been the vine spreading beyond our garden and going wild everywhere. This is the Good News of the gospel, Jesus said, ‘ I say these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’

No greater joy is there than to be among friends. Be filled with joy. Amen.