Scripture: Psalm 42 and Galatians 3:23-29

Perhaps you have noticed the scaffolding on the side of our building. Repairs are being made to our beautiful pilasters, which have been worn down by our sometimes severe Maine weather. Many of us have come to know this building well. We drive by, we take our eyes off the road for just a minute to check and see if the steeple lights are on, if the garden needs weeding, if there are any signs of life. The sign outside tells the world who we are:
First Parish Congregational Church
United Church of Christ

The time before Annual Meeting is always a little frenetic. We’ve marched through the usual Spring flurry of activity, Senior Recognition Sunday, Confirmation Sunday, Youth Sunday. We say thank you to our teachers. The Nominating Committee, the Trustees, and the Stewardship Committee all work furiously to prepare for Annual Meeting. Nominating fills the slots for leadership for the coming year. Stewardship seeks pledges to support our church work, and the Trustees are responsible for being good stewards and leading us forward financially. Barbara works overtime to prepare the Annual Report, which you will have a chance to peruse later today. I think you will agree with me that the document is impressive. It tells the story of what we have done, of all that we have accomplished. Quite frankly, it is a little overwhelming.

The Pastors’ Reports are there, too, we who are charged to be your pastoral leadership. I think I can speak for Martha, and say that we have felt blessed to be entrusted with this office.

I still marvel at our renovated building. I love the sound of the elevator, knowing that anyone can not come up to the second floor easily. I love the light in the classrooms, and the restored windows that add such beauty. I love the activity here, the countless hours that people spend preparing for Clam Festival, for the Church Fair, for the music on Sunday morning, and for all the various events that happen here at First Parish.

For several years, when I was in Massachusetts, the Annual Meeting of the Conference selected someone to become the Theological Reflector at the meeting. Valerie Russell, a lay woman who was the Director of the City Missionary Society and later one of the Officers in our National Church, filled the role powerfully. Periodically during the meeting, she would speak. Her reflections were not focused on the decisions she made specifically, or on our accomplishments, but rather they were reflections on how we had been open to God’s spirit in our midst, and how that spirit had been visible. Sometimes her words were harsh. She reminded us of our call to be servant people, our charge to look beyond ourselves, the challenge to be beacons of love.
It is important how we present ourselves to the world. It is an honorable thing to have a place in this community. It is phenomenal all that we get done. But if Valerie were here, how might she reflect on where God has been visible and present? How would we reflect on that question? How are we at being Christ’s hands and feet in the world? At the end of the day, that is our call.

Sometimes it happens when we share joys and concerns. The joy expressed through tears of someone coming home from the hospital, a baby born, a child home from college. Sometimes with the announcement of an illness, or a huge loss in someone’s life, there are times when you can actually feel the prayer as it makes its way through the congregation. Sometimes we can feel God right here in the music, in the Choir or in Peter and Nancy’s duets, through the oboe or the bassoon or the clarinet or the bells. And yes, we have felt it often through John, who we thank and send forth with our blessing. It happens when we watch families come forward and lay hands on their confirmed sons and daughters, or the greeting witnessed when someone returns from illness or travel. It happens when Sue Rowe brings her passion in her speaking of the Food Pantry, when the Christmas candles are aglow on Christmas Eve, when Pam Dietz bangs the pot after the readings at the Maundy Thursday service. And the list is probably different for each of us.

In our worship, we testify to the presence of the Spirit. Sometimes we coax it along, and sometimes it completely takes us by surprise. But the openness to that Spirit is what keeps us alive. It is what continues to be passed along.

It is tempting sometimes, especially when things are going smoothly, to be less reflective than perhaps we ought to be. But the theological reflector would push us, I think, to ponder. So are we making a difference? Is this beautiful busy place helping the world to be better? Are we speaking God’s love to those around us? This is a tricky question, because it is tempting for us to think in this context about what we DO. The problem with rushing there is that the question only gets addressed partially. The whole question begs us to look deeper at who we ARE.

Think back to your favorite Sunday School teachers. Did you like them because of what they taught? because of their well designed lessons? Probably that was part of it. But favorite teachers often earned that place in our hearts because of who they were, how they treated us. We make a difference in the world, one person at a time, one encounter to another.

It is in worship that we encounter the Spirit and when we seek to make a difference in the world. But there is at least one other opening for us. The lectionary passage for today comes to us from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The church there is challenged because a diverse group of people has gathered. They are not all Jewish. They don’t all have the same cultural background. Some are slaves, some are women, some have come into the church seeking forgiveness and acceptance. Arguing has become common. Paul is annoyed. In fact, he begins the chapter by calling them foolish, and he summons them to be united in Christ. He says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female. For all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” How we treat those who are different than we are speaks as loudly about who we are, as how we treat those who are more like us.

The Food Pantry is a great place to visit. It has an atmosphere of welcome. Sometimes I can smell fresh cookies baked for our clients. A bookcase of childrens’ books invites people to help themselves. Care is taken to be welcoming.

The Open and Affirming Committee strove to give opportunity for all to have a chance to speak and to be heard, so that no one here would feel like an outsider. The discussions within the Committee sometimes got heated, but there was respect and care for one another.

Our Search Committee, listening carefully to one another, sought to discern God’s spirit. There was care given so that everyone could be heard. The process and the care taken for one another are often just as important, if not more so, than the outcomes.

Our differences, whether they be economic, political, theological; whether they are racial, ethnic, or around sexual orientation, do not prohibit us from being united in Christ. When we are open to God’s spirit, even when we dare to tackle hard matters, we can be united in Christ.

A prayer is spoken, and afterward others gather around that person offering care and support. Shoes are collected for Haitians, and in the upstairs hall there is quite a commotion as World Service members work on saving only the best shoes for the recipients - delighted to be sharing with those in need. Mary Estelle isn’t in her pew, so several people check at her home, to make sure she is alright. There are so many examples out there. That is what makes the difference - moments when we allow the spirit of Christ in.

But sometimes we forget. We get so anxious and excited to see those in our community, those who we love. That welcome, that embrace, the difference that makes, needs to apply to all who enter here. Every week we are called to consider those who are here for the first time, or those who aren’t yet included, and reach out.

Are we making a difference in the world?

We feel God’s spirit in worship, we sense it when we are making a difference. We feel it when we are united in our faith - one in Christ.

So we begin a new year. May we measure ourselves not merely according to this beautiful place with all its busy-ness, but on how we are at allowing the Spirit among us, a spirit that nudges us to make a difference. A spirit that unites us as one.
Amen.