The Other Side of Easter: Are We There Yet?

(The audio isn’t as polished as usual, since we worshiped outdoors this Sunday in order to make room for the whole congregation to gather for a single service, in celebration of our mortgage-burning ceremony.)

John 14:23-29

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

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I’d like to think some of you remember some of the things I preach around here, though I don’t know what the statute of limitations is on that – even for myself. There are some sermons I remember from years ago, whenever a particular text shows up in the lectionary again. And other times I’ll come across something I wrote or preached or taught about a text or for a special occasion, but have absolutely no recollection of ever thinking, let alone saying aloud and putting out into the universe from the pulpit.

But, I do remember that when we first moved into the first iteration of our building here at Cross of Grace, the theme of my very first sermon was, “Are We There Yet?” I know some of you remember that moment in our life together, even if what I had to say about it all didn’t stick:

It was Christmas Eve, 2003. The building was finished just “enough” for us to gather on a very cold, very snowy, very icy December 24th. There was no paved driveway, yet. We had to light the frozen, muddy pathway back here with something like a hundred candle-lit milk jug luminaries. Inside, there was no tile or carpet. The walls weren’t painted. We heated the place – sort of – with a couple of industrial-grade propane construction heaters, which I have to believe, looking back on it all, violated more than a few safety codes by someone’s standards.

So it was easy to ask and to wonder in that first Christmas Eve sermon, “Are We There Yet?” because, as proud and accomplished and as close to a finish line as we felt, the obvious answer to that rhetorical question was “No.” There was still plenty yet to accomplish as far as this building and our fledgling little ministry were concerned.

And this is how we’re meant to feel still – and always – when it comes to our life together at Cross of Grace and as Christians in the world.

In this bit from John’s Gospel, when Jesus is praying and saying all of this to his disciples, notice that so much of it is about the future. So much of it is about the promise of what’s to come… about hope for tomorrow… about anticipation of all that is not, quite yet.

“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…

“…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you…”

“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

“I am going away, and I am coming to you…”

“And … I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

Again, it’s all about God’s future, God’s promise of what’s on the way, God’s hope for tomorrow, God’s anticipation of what’s to come. Which to me means, as God’s people in the world, we’re always, always, always still on the way. Even with a mortgage to burn – especially with a mortgage to burn – the answer to the question “Are we there, yet?” is still, “No.”

Because as proud and accomplished as we felt on that Christmas Eve in 2003, we knew we were just beginning in so many ways. And it’s so easy to see how much has changed so quickly in the last 18 years – and how much would NOT have changed had we stopped giving and growing and letting God have God’s way with us around here.

Back then, on that first Christmas Eve in the first phase of our building, we were still under the impression you could have a Christmas Eve worship without hearing Steve Beebe sing “O Holy Night.” (We didn’t know any better because the Beebes hadn’t showed up, just yet.)

Back then, Jackson Havel who graduates on Friday, was in utero, helping his mother light those luminaries up and down the driveway in the freezing cold.

Back then Janis Janelsins was still happily bossing people around … Bernie Augenstein was still greeting everyone who walked through the door, memorizing their faces, and remembering their names … Back then, Linda Sevier didn’t even know she wanted to work in a Lutheran church, let along join one!

Back then, there was no Stephen Ministry. Back then, we hadn’t made a single trip to Haiti, let alone helped to build a brand new Women’s Clinic, a school, or 50 houses with Zanmi Fondwa. Back then we didn’t have a worship band. Back then, Cross of Grace didn’t know Amanda Terrell or Jeannie Ellenberger, we hadn’t met Pastor Aaron, we hadn’t called or sent Pastor Teri, so Roots of Life didn’t exist, either. Back then there was no Food Pantry, or Labyrinth, or Columbarium. Back then Scott Nellis, Emily Michaelis and Kaitlyn Ferry weren’t seminary graduates, either. And I’d like to think we had something to do with inspiring them.

And if none of these names ring a bell … if you weren’t a part of any or all of these memories from back in the day … that’s kind of my point. (In fact, would you please stand if you were NOT a part of our life together at Cross of Grace back in 2003.) Each and every one of you – and the abbreviated litany of things we’ve accomplished over the years – is exactly how I know we weren’t “there yet” when we worshiped in our building on that first Christmas Eve.

So, as we set fire to our mortgage today and celebrate how much more we’ll be able to give away through our Building and Outreach Fund going forward…

As we turn in our General Fund commitments toward the operational budget for the year ahead…

As we return our offerings of Time and Talent, promising to help ministry happen around here in all the ways I hope we will, anyway …

The answer to that question, “Are we there yet?” is still “NO” as far as I’m concerned. There are still too many people who – for any number of reasons – don’t know how much love God has for them. There are still so many houses to build in Haiti and faith communities like Roots of Life to support. There is still room to be made and welcome to be extended and so much grace to share. And there are still so many people – in or coming into our community – who don’t know how much fun and meaning a congregation like ours can bring into their life and for the sake of this world.

So I hope we will do all of what we’re up to today with the same kind of promise, hope and anticipation Jesus was talking about … with the same kind of promise, hope and anticipation with which we’re called to live as God’s people in the world … with the same kind of promise, hope and anticipation that has always inspired and called us forward around here.

Are we there yet? No. We can’t even be sure what “there” looks like these days. But we’ve learned that the way is holy – even when it’s hard sometimes. And we are blessed and better for it when we follow God’s lead. And I’m so grateful to mark this mortgage-burning milestone with each and every one of you, wondering with all kinds of hope about who will join us next, for whatever God has in store, and what the next “there” might look like along the way.

Amen

The Other Side of Easter: Grace On Fire

John 10:22-30

At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking through the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I have told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe me because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will not perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my father has given me is above all else and no one can snatch it out of the father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

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Maybe you remember … maybe you haven’t heard, yet … there’s a good chance you don’t care all that much … but I said last week I wanted these handful of Sundays on “the other side of Easter” to be as practical as they are holy in terms of letting everyone know what we’re up to around here as far as the big picture of our ministry goes at Cross of Grace.

Our Council President, Gayle Beebe, has been keeping you in the loop once a month after each council meeting, we’ll have our “Q and A Sessions” today and next week, to talk more about some of the details before our Annual Meeting on the 22nd, and hopefully you’ve read about some of it all in the newsletter, too.

But we’ve learned over the years that you can’t say the important things too often around here – everyone is never paying attention all at the same time – and that the most convenient time… to get most peoples’… most undivided attention, is during the 15 minutes or so of sermon time during Sunday morning worship so … I hope you’re listening … I hope you’re paying attention … I hope you hear me when I say … we have paid off the mortgage on our building and are effectively debt-free as of this past Wednesday.

Now, we’ve warned you that this was coming. We’ve hinted that it was getting close. We’ve been working very deliberately toward this goal for the last few years and it feels amazing to have made it happen. But what now? What’s next? Where do we go from here?

Before we go there, I’d like to connect all of this to today’s Gospel. I didn’t go fishing for my own Gospel reading today, because it seems meaningful to me that the assigned reading has us meet up with Jesus, in the temple, during the festival of its dedication – that holiday when faithful Jews gathered at the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate its rebuilding, to celebrate their national identity, and to commit to their own re-dedication to God as children of God. There’s a lot for us to wonder about and learn from here.

First of all, we know that the whole idea of a permanent temple in a place they could call home – like Jerusalem was and is for Jewish people – was a powerful sign of God’s presence and God’s provision for the people of Jesus’ day. Before this, back in the days of their Exodus and wilderness wandering, God’s temple was mobile, remember, on the move with the Israelites wherever they went as they made their way (living, moving, breathing, fighting, dying, surviving) on their way to the Promised Land.

So, for so many generations, God’s presence was evident to God’s people by way of God’s mobility – and willingness to walk with, accompany, travel alongside and set up camp in the form of a tabernacle with the people through the wilderness wherever they landed. So when Jesus shows up, strolling through that permanent, planted, stationary synagogue of synagogues, the symbolism is powerful and packed with meaning for me.

Yes, the temple is home base and a beautiful place to gather, to celebrate, to worship, to recall the mighty acts and kept promises of God. And, as Jesus reminds his disciples, “the Father and I are one.” “God and I are one and the same. And here I am, walking and talking and living and moving and marveling at these here columns in Solomon’s Portico.” And it seems to me, Jesus is letting them know that things have changed, something is different now, things are different with Jesus in the mix – God was on the move again.

On the other side of Easter, as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for all that this place means for us – and that it is paid for! – I want us to remember and give thanks for and celebrate most that God is on the move, again; God is on the move, still, really; and that we’re being invited to keep up and to keep moving, too.

And thanks to some prayerful, faithful planning on the part of our Council and Stewardship Team, this is how we’re proposing we’ll do that.

What has always and only been known as our “Building Fund” – what we’ve always and only used for the sake of building buildings and paying off mortgages – is being transformed into a “Building and Outreach Fund” going forward. We will still make separate commitments/pledges to this fund in the fall of each year. It will still help us plan for building expansion and facility improvement projects, BUT going forward, 50% of it all will be used for mission and outreach efforts beyond our own walls. Until now, because we have been so aggressive about paying down our mortgage, only 10% of Building Fund offerings were leaving our coffers. (10% isn’t nothing and has made a huge difference for our friends in Haiti and for Roots of Life up in Noblesville. But 50% will do even more.)

Here’s what it will look like:

50% of our Building and Outreach Fund will still do work for us, right here at Cross of Grace.

25% will help us save and prepare for our next building expansion project – whether that’s the pavilion we’re hoping to get a grant for or the addition of square feet to our sanctuary by moving this western wall ‘that way’ a few hundred feet.

The other 25% will be an emergency fund – or repair and improvement fund – for projects that come up along the way with any facility, over time. Think new roof, black-topping the parking lot, painting the exterior, replacing HVAC units, stuff like that.

And, again, 50% of it all will be on the move, doing God’s work out there in the world, which is what we’re here for in the first place. And you can see, we’re keeping Zanmi Fondwa and Roots of Life in the mix, but bumping our commitment to them from 5% to 10% each. We’re also going to put 5% of these Building and Outreach offerings into our own Mission Endowment Fund, to help grow that principal, steadily over time, and to keep that long-term investment and opportunity in front of us, too. And we will still have another 25% of these Building and Outreach offerings to give away each year. We will accept applications, we’ll propose grants, and we’ll invite ideas and interest from the community and have a team of Cross of Gracers make those decisions each year as the money is available.

So, if Dawn Becker’s math is correct (and Dawn Becker’s math is always correct), this is what we could accomplish for ourselves and for the kingdom, in just the next year, with Building and Outreach Fund commitments like those we made and continue to honor just this year.

The short of the long is – even if we don’t grow (which we will) and even if we don’t stretch (which we always have) and even if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing – we’ll be able to take care of plenty of things around here AND be able to give away something like $77,000 as a way of sharing grace with the world around us.

Someone suggested not long ago – with equal measures of cynicism and concern, I believe – that once we paid off the mortgage, people weren’t going to feel the need to give as generously as they always have in the past. I hope this kind of news changes that, if it were ever going to be true for any of us.

See, we’ve called this year of our Building Fund giving “Grace On Fire,” with exactly this kind of thing in mind … the idea that our generosity and giving would continue to grow and expand and do God’s work right here among us and in ever-increasing and always faithful ways out there in the world. On the other side of Easter, God is calling us to be on the move with Jesus … and we are … and I hope you’ll join us … and God only knows where we’re headed next.

Amen