May 18, 2014

Last month marked the 118th running of the Boston Marathon.   Serious competitors in events as grueling as these, as well as many other physically demanding sports, often use a discipline known as cross-training in preparation for the big event.  Body-builders also use cross-training to develop a specific part of their body.  Each day in cross-training, a different part of the race strategy or a specific part of the body is worked on.  For instance, runners will alternate long grueling workouts, with shorter, less demanding ones, in an effort to strengthen their bodies and increase their stamina.  Body-builders who use cross-training work to improve their arms one day, their legs another.  Over the years, cross-training has proven itself to be a very effective way to reach and maintain peak fitness. 

In its own, much less physically demanding way, as Christians, we experience cross-training as we move through the church year.  Each season of the church year has a specific spiritual focus. And if we devote ourselves to building up a different part of our spiritual lives during those seasons, over the course of one year, we will have a more complete sense of spirituality in our lives.

During the season of Advent, we look again at life in a world apart from Christ, exploring the prophecies that told of his coming and at the world into which Jesus first came.  The suggested Bible lessons for that season highlight both prophecy and the apocalyptic Scriptures, which tell of the end of time, of the day when we trust Christ will come again in glory. 

During Lent, we explore the spiritual journey, using the rich metaphor of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, to examine the wilderness of our life, the places which Christ is present and where we fail to recognize him.  This time of self-examination prepares us for the emotional roller coaster of Holy Week, which ends with the triumph of the resurrection, through which we learn of the power of God’s love and of the wonder of hope.

Which brings us to today.  We are now in the fourth Sunday in the season of Easter, a time in which our Scriptures refer us to the days following the resurrection and the impact that Christ’s rising from the dead made upon both the disciples and all those who have followed and believed since then.

And for us today, as we begin today’s workout in our spiritual cross-training, the question facing us is this—“How does Easter make a difference in the way we live our daily lives?”

It is a good question for us to ask on this special day in our congregation’s life.  Our Annual Congregational Meeting is our time to mark the end of one year in our shared life.  Today, the committees and boards of our church gratefully acknowledge the gifts and blessings of those members whose term of service is concluding.  And we look ahead with hope to a new year, with new persons serving on boards and in leadership posts within our congregation.  And with special prayers and blessing for those who have accepted a call to serve on the next Senior Pastor Search Committee.

For many this day, who are responding to the call to serve by being involved in our church structure, their decision to serve was made long ago, in part from the promises made, on the day they joined our church.

The ritual for joining a church is a tried and tested one—a public confession of faith.  Everyone who has ever joined a church has done so by publicly proclaiming their belief in Jesus Christ, usually in response to a question about this.  It is a central part of our ritual of confirmation, which we celebrate in just three more weeks, as well as our ritual for receiving new members into our congregation.  By the answers made in response to the questions about church membership, new members proclaim their faith and acknowledge their interest and desire to journey with us and further our shared mission. 

In other times and places in the long history of the church, and even in parts of the world today, declarations of faith are made in secret, or under threat of persecution.  Indeed for some in our history, members of the cloud of witnesses who continue to inspire us, their declarations of faith were made on the floor of the Coliseum in Rome, with lions growling or a gladiator poised to slaughter, if allegiance was made to anyone but the Emperor.  Imagine for a moment asking someone whose life is at stake, today’s question—“How does Easter make a difference in the way you live your daily life?”

By the act of making a public proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ, a person goes from being a tourist in life to becoming a pilgrim.  They pass from being one who looks around and remains curious about what life is about to being one committed to living life as Jesus did and as he calls us to, exploring the wonders and grace of life as a Christian. 

We become one with the great cloud of witnesses we hear of today, who have been freed of every weight and sin by God’s grace, and who look to the future, eager to run with perseverance the race that is set before us and whose pace is set by Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  That image from Hebrews always reminds me of our place today in church history.  Looking back at the cloud of witnesses whose legacy we glory in and learn from today and of course, looking ahead with those who have heard the call to serve on our church’s boards and committees.  Every racer knows you need to look ahead if you are to stay the course.

Since this is indeed a place where many of the faithful have vowed to commit their lives to Christ, this is a sacred place, a holy place.  In Biblical times, people marked sacred places by setting stones in place.  A large stone would be rolled into a sacred plot of land, or a series of stones piled up high, so that when people asked “Why?” others could tell them how God intervened in the lives of the faithful then and there. 

And in our other Epistle lesson today comes the reminder that Christ is the cornerstone of the church.  Whether we think of a physical building or a spiritual community, the indispensable rock on which all is built is Jesus Christ.  Foundation, bedrock, cornerstone, the stone upon which all rests.

On this day, as we look ahead with hope to another year in Christ’s service together, central to all is our individual decision to follow Jesus in faith.   There is no future together without that choice, that determination to witness to all the world that Easter makes a difference to me; that I choose to live my life inspired by a conviction that the tomb was empty that first Easter morning and that Christ reigns in the world today.

On this day, as we explore the difference Easter makes in how we live our lives, and as we honor the legacies of those who have passed through this place and who glorify God with a variety of gifts, let us also look to the race we still are to run.  Let us look again at how we live our lives as pilgrims, whether we have journeyed here for decades or for the first time today.

The Rev. Bill Hybels, senior pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois tells of three couples who head out one summer weekend to go “sailing.”  The first couple boards their board with plenty of provisions.  Once on board, they lather on the sunscreen, turn on the sound system and alternate between reading and resting, and doing some piece of the never-ending maintenance--sanding, scraping, or painting--that owning a boat requires.  Late in the afternoon, the happy hour flag is hoisted and they enjoy a leisurely dinner and evening watching the sunset from the deck of their boat which has never left its mooring.  After a wonderful night’s sleep, the next day is pretty much a repeat of the first, ending with their loading the car in the early afternoon and heading home early to beat the traffic.

The second couple also starts the weekend loading their boat with provisions.  After securing everything, they start up the motor, and ease away from the dock and spend part of the day trolling around the harbor, looking at other boats.  Mid-afternoon, they head out into the Sound and cruise two towns to the west, where they tie up at a wonderful restaurant on the water and have dinner.  They sail back near to their harbor at sunset, and set anchor close to shore that night, enjoying a peaceful evening on their boat.  On Sunday, they spend part of the day, sailing a few miles up and down the Sound, never out of range of either the local radio station or the cell phone towers, as is evidenced by the nonstop music and occasional phone call.  They head in to the dock at midafternoon Sunday, load up the car and try to beat the traffic home.

The third couple also starts early Saturday, emptying their car of the provisions they need for the weekend.  Once onboard, they ease out of the harbor and race out of the Sound into the ocean.  As soon as possible, they hoist the sails, cut the motor, and let the wind lead them far and fast.  The boat leans and sways, they cut through the waves and test themselves and their boat.  The sails are full as they eventually lose sight of the land, and come to rely on maps, compasses and positioning systems to know where they are and where they are headed.  They come back to the safe breakwater of the Sound for the evening, but early Sunday, it is out to sea again, with full sails and the excitement of a day on the ocean.  They keep track of the time and eventually head into the harbor late Sunday afternoon, racing the setting of the sun.  Beating the traffic home is never a concern.

Mid-day Monday morning, three co-workers meet at the coffee station, refueling themselves for the day.  “What did you do this weekend?” someone asks.  “I went sailing,” says one.  “Me too” says another.  “Yes, me too.  What a great weekend to be on the water,” the third co-worker declares.  (Hybels, The God You’re Looking For, pp.131-132)

The day is coming for each one of us, when our lives will be marked and documented in fine print on the obituary page of the New Haven Register.  And somewhere in that fine print, God willing, will be a line noting that we are and have been “a member of the Spring Glen Church.”

Each one of us has the ability to decide what kind of member, or sailor, we want to be.  There will always be some who are glad they have a church home and who use it with some regularity, but who never really “untie the boat” so to speak.  Others will be the kind who show up every week, who volunteer “when asked,” and who in their own way cruise around the harbor, but who never really head into the open water to see what they and their faith are made of.

And then there are those who know the “full and abundant life” that Jesus came to proclaim.  Who set their compasses by faith, and let the Spirit fill their sails, and who seek in living lives of faith to know the wonder, power and mystery of God and to share that in the missions and ministries we take on here. 

“How does Easter make a difference in the way you live your daily life?”   It’s not a question to be answered quickly on a Sunday morning.   It’s a question that takes a lifetime to respond to.   Maybe the easier question to ask yourself this day is, “what kind of sailor do you see yourself as today?”

And today, we begin to ask and answer the question, “what kind of sailor do we see Spring Glen Church being in the year to come?”  The kind who stays moored up at the dock all the time, whose boat is a shrine to proper maintenance and safe living.   The kind who ventures out into the safe water to enjoy things, who takes measured risks, but who never dares to enter the wilderness.   Or the kind who hears Christ’s call and follows in faith, venturing into these places, into the mission field, which test and push and challenge and God willing, lead us to know “life full and abundant.”

I know our legacy, the example set by the cloud of witnesses who founded this church and have blessed us up to this day.   Now it’s our time.   May the days ahead be ones in which we hear Christ’s call and follow in faith, showing in our life and witness the difference that Easter makes, both in our individual pilgrimage and our shared life as a community.   Thanks be to God.   Amen.