John 13:31-35
When [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me and, as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, ‘where I am going you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
If you’ve been around and paying attention, you know we’ve been talking about what it would/could/should/might look like to live on the other side of Easter whenever we fully embrace and engage the good of news that brings us here, still, so many days after the Big Day of Easter’s resurrection celebration. Again, this is the cornerstone of our faith, the joy of which is meant to linger … to last … to perpetually motivate and inspire and move us to live differently because God has done a new thing with Easter’s resurrection to new life.
Last week, we shared the good news about having paid off our mortgage and about what that will mean for our capacity to give differently to ministries outside of ourselves, through what we’re now calling our “Building and Outreach Fund.” For those of you who weren’t here, the short of the long is that, because we no longer have a mortgage to pay, we’ll be able to transform those offerings into mission and outreach efforts to do God’s work out there in the world.
Well, because next week is our annual congregational meeting and because we’ll be making our financial commitments to the General Fund along with our offerings of Time and Talent, I want to talk about the other side of the same coin when it comes to our financial stewardship around here – the money we give and use for our operational budget at Cross of Grace.
Don’t start snoring yet. And, like I said the first week of this sermon series, if you’re a guest, or new around here, please don’t tune out or log off or leave, just yet, either. I realize this may feel very personal and contextual and unique to our particular ministry at Cross of Grace – like I’m “talking shop” in a way that may not concern you, just yet, if ever. But I believe that if what we’re up to in this little corner of God’s Kingdom is faithful in any way, it would/could/should – it might just – speak to all of us about what God is up to in the world around us.
And I want to start by counting our blessings with a sincere sense of gratitude:
I’m grateful for the other side of Easter – and how that feels like we’re also on the other side of the pandemic. I know it still lingers. I know we just reached a milestone of deaths – just in our own country. I know there are still threats of variants and surges and all that that could entail. But I remain grateful for the spirit of patience, understanding, flexibility, willingness to try new things and mostly the love for one another Jesus was talking about in this morning’s Gospel reading that it took to endure the last couple of years around here – all the masks, and social distancing, online worship, and missed ministry opportunities, I mean.
I’m grateful for the Holy Conversations Gayle Beebe and our Council facilitated, giving us the opportunity to share our dreams and desires with one another in honest, open, faithful ways about all of that.
I’m grateful for all we learned along the way, too, about how to do church and worship differently – that we offer online worship, not just on Sunday morning, but for weddings and funerals, too – and I’m grateful that Stephen Jordan helps make that happen so faithfully.
I’m grateful for our midweek “Lenten Lament” worship series that surprised me, honestly, with how deeply meaningful it was for so many of us.
I’m grateful for those “Age-to-Age” interviews between our Grace Quest kids and some of you older Partners in Mission. Those conversations were fun and beautiful and you can still find them on our YouTube page if you haven’t seen them yet.
I’m grateful for the four young women who affirmed their faith here last Sunday – Lilly, Faith, Saydie, and Ginny.
I’m grateful for the eight young people who celebrated their First Communion on Maundy Thursday – Marloe, Nathan, Brogan, Auggie, Jericho, Mathew, Penelope and Elaine.
I’m grateful for the high school seniors, getting ready to graduate, who’ve found a home here – several who’ve been around long enough, now, to have celebrated their baptism, their First Communion, and their Confirmation here, too – Cassie, Abby, Caleb, Maggie, Jackson, Eli, Katie, Ben, Alaina, Grace, Miles, Alyse.
I’m grateful for the 14 Stephen Ministers we commissioned a couple weeks ago and for those who are prayerfully agreeing to engage that ministry with them in the days ahead.
I’m grateful for all the outside groups who call this place home from one week to the next – the softball and baseball teams, the Boy Scout troops, the AA meetings, 4-H groups, the hundreds of voters who were here a couple weeks ago, and more.
I’m grateful for the families who receive food from our pantry month after month – and for the opportunity we give to people in our community to help stock it and serve in that way.
I’m grateful to be part of a denomination that empowers and ordains women and that, as a congregation, we understand the importance of having women preach, teach and lead however and whenever we get the chance.
I’m grateful for a Church Council and a Congregation that compensates their Pastor and staff well and generously, honoring the Biblical notion that “the laborer deserves to be paid.”
I’m grateful to be a Pastor, from a congregation like ours, who gets called to lead discussions on race and diversity and justice and hospitality with leaders and administrators in our schools.
I’m grateful for the conversations I’ve had with people in our neck of the woods lately, surprising them with the good news that they can be LGBTQ – or any other letter of the alphabet or any color of that rainbow – and be loved and welcomed and celebrated by a Pastor and by people in a church like ours.
All of that is to say that all of this is the kind of ministry our General Fund allows us to accomplish at Cross of Grace. Some of what we do can be found in other ways and places out there in the world. But a lot of what we do – and some of the most important stuff we do – and the spirit of grace upon grace upon grace with which we do it – is utterly unique in Hancock County – the wide, welcome I mean; the women in ministry, I mean; the open communion table, I mean.
And all of it is faithful to what we hear over and over and over again, in Scripture. Peter is talking about “grace upon grace” when he’s convincing the others, in that Acts 11 reading we just heard – that there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles – or any of God’s children for that matter. We try really hard to be like Peter, by asking “who are we to hinder the kind of love and grace God is trying to let loose in the world?”
And Jesus is saying the same when he tells the disciples to love one another the way God has already loved them – without limits, without strings, without condition, in spite of their sins, in the face of whatever is to come, for the sake of the whole wide world.
See, I know that talking about our commitments to the General Fund isn’t as sexy or as fun, on its face, as talking about the Building Fund – or even the Building and Outreach Fund, with all of the percentages we’ll give away “here” or the dollar amounts we’ll be able to share “there.” I don’t have charts and graphs to share this week, like I did last Sunday.
And I’m afraid that when there aren’t bricks and mortar to see and feel, or when we can’t attach a dollar amount to the ministry of love shared at a funeral service or to the wide-welcome extended by way of a phone call or counseling session in my office, or to the public witness of being open and affirming and welcoming to all of God’s people, that we forget or just don’t know about the kind of grace that gets shared around here week in and week out. You can’t capture all of that with a pie chart or with an income and expense report.
So please consider all of that in the days ahead – and as you pray about what your General Fund commitment will be next Sunday. And please pray, too, about if and where and how you’re going to fill out that Time and Talent sheet for the coming year. Cleaning the building isn’t sexy, either. But if it makes one guest feel welcome and safe enough to come back – it matters. Working in the nursery is a sacrifice, I get it. But if it takes care of a child and makes room for a parent to worship in peace and quiet for a change – it is a gift of grace. Mowing the lawn… counting the offering… teaching Grace Quest… serving in any way is a chance to have a stake in what we’re up to around here.
It’s all about not hindering what God is up to… It’s all about loving one another the way God has already loved you… It’s about loving our neighbors the way we have been so loved, ourselves… And it’s about sharing grace upon grace upon grace, in the name of Jesus, crucified and risen for you, for me, for the sake of the world that God so loves.
Amen
