Category: News

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
² O give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
³ O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever;   Psalm 136:1-4

Throughout the course of our lives, we have received gifts from family and friends.  Whether at Christmastime or our birthday or a special occasion, we found treasures lying on our desks, under evergreen trees or next to the birthday cake.  But while we as a community love to dote on our associates, we also place an emphasis on the “Thank You” given back.  How many thank you cards have been written by a newly married couple for every wedding gift?  How many thank you hugs were given to those who surprised you during a party at work?  How many appreciative notes were given to loved ones for the flowers or candy on Valentine’s Day?  We give and do things for those we love and we give back gratitude for the gifts given.

The Psalmist also knows the gifts that have been given and chooses to sing the “Thank You,” O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.  To be good in English implies a state of passiveness, being good, but in Hebrew it means to make good.  The Psalmist ever in a state of stress or crisis crying out for rescues or well-being has been met by God and God’s goodness has rescued and restored as a gift from God and the Psalmist sings back gratitude.  Having been given to, the Psalmist chooses to give back a gift of song in gratitude and thanksgiving for what God has done.  Giving to results in giving back.

As I sit here at my desk almost exactly four years from when I started as the Installed Teaching Elder at East Side, I reflect on all that God has done and God has given to me and to us.  From the tentative steps in yoking together and having two services, to the suggestion to try a summer worshiping together bouncing around sanctuaries.  From meshing a couple of committees together to dinners and picnics.  From the decision to merge to the process of discerning which building best suits our needs.  From the revising of the by-laws and Manual of Operations to the closing and opening services.  From our beginning to our time now, God has been very good to us.  God has renewed and restored us giving us a new energy and excitement over these last few years.

Maybe now is the time for us to give back to God our “Thank You.”  We have had the gifts and the mighty wonders of God, now is the time for us to give thanks the LORD.  With gratitude and thanksgiving, we gather to sing God’s praises not just for what God did at the Red Sea or on Calvary, but what God has done here among us.  The very story of God’s love and faithfulness has become incarnate in our time and in our history.  God has and is loving and faithful to us and we have seen and experienced it.  This is and will be our motivation for our worship and work.  We now have something to sing about in gratitude, and we now have a blessing to bless others with.  God has been good to us, now let us come sing the LORD.

My friends, I know we are not yet finished, not that we ever will be finished, we do have some material things to work out.  But while we have reached the end of one stage in our journey together, we cannot let this be the end of our engagement or commitment.  We can pause and reflect but not end our worship and work.  We can rejoice and give thanks but not cease our discernment and forward movement.  We can take a rest and sabbath, (I know I need to), but we know that another stage of our Exodus begins ahead of us.  Let us give thanks for the LORD is good but also realize that goodness presses us forward.  Let us send God our “Thank You” for all that God has done to get us here and let us press forward to what God has next.  Amen. 

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3:12-14

I am sure by now that you have either watched the Olympics or read/heard a report about the Olympics.  But nonetheless the Winter Olympics are in full force and most of our community is drawn to pay attention however that looks like.  I admire the tenacity of the athletes who have spent so much time and energy investing into just qualifying for the games themselves.  How much was spent on diet, exercise and training to become the best they could be at their events?  But making the Olympics is just half the goal, they must then apply themselves more so to competing against the best in the world.  They must commit, excel and strain to achieve a medal.  Attaining the Olympic games is not the goal, but to win gold.

Paul may have never competed in the curling competition, and neither could I, but he did know about the games because in his letter to the Philippians he uses the image of running the race.  He understands himself as the athlete competing in the race and all that it takes to attain and reach the finish line.  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own.  Paul describes how far he has come into the work of his Apostleship, but he has not attained the resurrection of the dead.  He might have made the games, but he has not won the gold medal, he must press on to make it his own.  He must invest more of himself even to the point of being crucified with Christ to achieve the finish line, the gold medal, the resurrection of the dead.

Look at how far we have come in our calling to merge.  We are almost four years in this process and that time has passed quickly.  Think of the decisions we have made, the bonds that we have nurtured, and the lessons we have learned.  We have come far.  But the goal is not just to make the merger complete, the goal lies further on and we must press on.  The goal is not just to make the games, but to win gold, the goal is not just to merge, but the goal lies further on.  We have invested ourselves in the work set before us, but we must continue the work even after the merger is finished.  We must press on to gold.

We would be remiss though if we forget that the only reason we make this our own mission and goal is because Christ has made us his own.  Think of how Christ pressed on to find and rescue us, even at the cost of his life in the worst of possible deaths.  If this is how he acts towards those he loves and cares for, then how far will you go to press on and make it yours?  Think of the sacrifices in spending our time with and for others.  Contemplate the offerings of your resources for those in our community in need.  Ponder the gifts of your abilities and skills that you could share and put to work for those in want.  If Jesus has made this his own mission and purpose, then we can also make this our own.  We can go for gold.

What are you pressing forward and straining towards?  Do your goals align with Christ’s?  The work of this Lenten season may just be that we align our goals increasingly with Christ’s.  To strain ahead instead of resting in the glories of the past, to press forward into the unknown future of what Unity is called to be.  But make no mistake that these forty days are about not just being grateful for how far we come but also realizing that we have not yet reached the finish line.  We must press on; we must strain for the finish line, no matter what the cost to ourselves.  This is how Jesus lives and through the work of His Spirit it can become how we live.  Let us press on, let us reach for gold, let us reach for Christ and make Him our own.  Amen. 

12 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

My Brothers and Sister in Christ,

As I sit in my office on a cold, late January morning with the temperature being 3 degrees with a windchill of -8, I long for warmer days and sunshine.  I noticed in my newsfeed that Spring Training begins in a few weeks, and I am hopeful that soon the Polar Plunge will be over and we can return to heat and humidity.  No play in baseball gives more excitement to the fans and hope to those stuck in frigid temperatures than the squeeze play.  The batter bunts the baseball, sacrificing an out, while the runner on third steals home.  Will the runner score, will the batter connect with the ball and make it to first?  I would much rather worry about these things than will the furnace keep working or what will the gas bill look like!

In baseball, the hitter can sacrifice themselves to move a runner over or even to score a run, but for the Church in Rome divided between Gentile and Jewish Christians, sacrificing themselves for the other group was a tremendous challenge.  Paul writes many words and ideas to this Church in his letter and in the later parts of the letter he writes by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.  For the Jewish Christians keeping the Jewish law, sacrificing their way of life for the Gentile Christians not keeping the Jewish law, this was a tremendous sacrifice they were struggling to make.  Paul encourages them that what is important is not the Sabbaths and the Kosher meals but mutual faith working out in mutual love.

In our upcoming months, we at Unity will have to make many decisions on many things and some have the potential to create conflict and division among us, like the Churches in Rome and Corinth.  But, we also have the Spirit of Jesus Christ which can create mutual faith and mutual love.  But, it requires sacrifices.  Will we sacrifice our preferences for sake of others?  Will we bunt to move someone over or to be a blessing to another part of Christ’s body?  Or will we be concerned only to get what “I” want and in the way and style that I want it?  This is why Paul tells the church in Rome, and us that we need not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  The fallen world selfishly only wants what it feels entitled to have, while the renewed world only wants what is good for others, in other words, the renewed world makes the sacrifice, like Jesus sacrifices. 

My friends, we find ourselves not only longing for physically warmer seasons, but also spiritually warmer seasons when the work of merging is over.  But we can only be a warmer community of mutual faith and mutual love, when we realize that we need each other and others need us.  That can only happen if we sacrifice and yield our wills to Christ, who sacrifices himself and yields to the will of God.  But we all must sacrifice our preferences and desires over the next year to the preference and desire of Christ, which is that we love God and our Neighbor.  That will take you (and me) sacrificing our wants to what God wants.  We must learn to bunt so that others may be blessed and score.  Amen.

In Christ, Rev. Mark