Committing Ourselves to Each Other

Committing Ourselves to Each Other

Acts 2:44-47

 November 23, 2014

 Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            On Pentecost, after the fire and wind of the spirit drove the disciples from hiding out to proclaim the good news of Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem, the apostle Peter preached the first sermon in church history.   He explained how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus was the fulfillment of all the hopes and dreams of the Hebrew people.  He explained how God wanted to offer love and forgiveness to all people.    He invited anyone willing to follow to join a new movement that would transform the world.

            The result of that sermon and the outpouring of the spirit that day was the birth of the church, the Christian community.  They were all together. They shared all they had; food, money, time and talents.  They served the poor.  They worshiped and prayed together.

            Many, many things have changed since that day 2,000 years ago but the essential nature of the Church remains the same.  In their movement to reform the Church of England in the 18^th century, John and Charles Wesley organized the Methodists to be that essential community in their time and place.  When we at Church of the Wayfarer are truly the Church we are a community of people “…Reaching up, Reaching in and Reaching out…”

            Our mission statement echoes Jesus’ teaching of the Greatest Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with heart, soul, mind and strength [Reaching up], and you shall love your neighbor [Reaching out] as your love yourself [Reaching in].” (Matthew 22:34-40).

            Whatever we do as a church or as faithful individuals is to reach up, in and out.  We even structure our Sunday morning worship by that mission.

            We are all in this together.   We can’t, nor have we ever been able to, achieve such goals all on our own.  That’s no different now as it was back 2,000 years ago.

            The music might be different.  The languages spoken would be certainly strange to those first century brothers and sisters.  The context of our history would be alien to them as much as theirs would be to ours.    Yet we would have the essential nature of our community very much in common; worship, prayer, service and sharing our resources with each other.

During the Sunday service on two weeks ago, I asked the congregation to jot down their first thoughts when asked “How has Church of the Wayfarer touched your life?”    These edited responses describe the spirit of our church and the reason that we give financially to keep this place going:

 

-COTW has brought us to so many wonderful people, both through the congregation and even strangers we meet who are “wayfarers” visiting Carmel.

-It’s amazing how much peace, clarity and invigoration just sitting in this beautiful sanctuary can bring.

-Having a nice minister who likes to bake pies!

-A community and closer and deeper communion with God on my spiritual journey.

-It has brought me back to God.

-The instrument for my children and grandchildren learning that God loves them.

-Support during times of personal grief.

-A place to always learn something new.

-A place to focus on gratitude, peace, justice and love.

-The church has guided me to use my intellect and talents to serve other in our community, especially those in need.

-I am not as lost as when I first came.

-I have had the chance to do different things that I never even thought or knew about.

More than an institution, a church like ours is the community from which we “Reach Up, Reach In and Reach Out”.   What a privilege to support it with our time, talent and gifts!

            In a few minutes we will be celebrating an opportunity for generosity.  We will be asking every household here to make an informal, symbolic commitment to support the 2015 Operations of Church of the Wayfarer.  

            We will not be doing this as they did in a church in Kansas years ago.  Before the service began the pastor approached the organist and asked that she play “appropriate music” when it came time to collect the pledges for their annual financial campaign.   The pastor was going to ask everyone willing to give $ 1,000 a year to the church to “stand up and be counted”.  The organist was a little confused and asked the pastor, “What do you mean by appropriate music?”   To which he replied, “Why, the Star Spangled Banner of course!”

Hopefully you brought a commitment card with you, or maybe you have already sent it in, or if you’d like one please just raise your hand and the ushers will be glad to bring you one.  Please jot down your estimate for giving next year, either in a dollar figure or a percentage of annual income.  If you leave us your contact information we will use that information to thank you and keep you up to date with our progress; no salesman will call!   No one will ever suggest that ‘you are behind on your pledge’!   We don’t do that and won’t do that!   Our elected financial decision makers and staff need to know if they can ‘count us in!’ to support next year’s Operations, so even if its only $ 10 a week put something down so you can feel a part of this important next step in the life of our church.

            Bonnie and I did our math in preparation for this day.  We have practiced the spiritual discipline of tithing since we were first married and in seminary; tithing is giving 10% of one’s annual income as described in the Bible.  We tithe my salary each month to Church of the Wayfarer.   We offer a second tithe and then some to a number of church and non-profit efforts that mean a lot to us; the Alzheimer’s Association, the School of Theology at Claremont and a number more.   Now you may dismiss all this as what one would except to come from a preacher.   But the fact is that Bonnie and I love to give and we have a lot to give.  For us giving is a joy and a privilege.

         

            You and I have the opportunity as supporters of Church of the Wayfarer to grow in our faith, love each other and offer the hundreds of sojourners that come to Carmel each and every day, even if only for a moment as they visit our sanctuary or stroll through out garden, to touch on something bigger than themselves.   Together we are making a positive difference in our lives and the world.

            We want everyone to feel a part of it, whatever they are able to give.   Because we are all in this together.  Because when the church is the Church we gather to worship, pray, serve and share, just like the Pentecost folks, just like the first Methodists, so many years ago.

            As we make our offering this morning we are not just committing our money, we are committing ourselves to each other.

Amen.

Living a Life of Gratitude and Contentment

Living a Life of Gratitude and Contentment

Matthew 6:24-29

November 9, 2014

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            Jesus preached about money, wealth and possessions.  A lot.

 

‘No one can serve two masters…. You cannot serve God and wealth….do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear….where your treasure is there your heart will be also (Mt 6:21)….seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be given you (Mt. 6:33)

 

We don’t like to think of money as a spiritual matter but it is.   Managing money in our lives is a spiritual challenge.

 

“We were meant to find our security in God but we find it in amassing wealth.  We were meant to love people, but instead we compete with them.  We were meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of life but we busy ourselves with pursing money and things.  We were meant to be generous and to share with those in need but we selfishly hoard our resources for ourselves.”  (Adam Hamilton, Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity, Abingdon, 2009 p. 21)

 

            The spiritual implications of how we manage money are huge.   The number one cause of marital breakdown and divorce is financial stress (Hamilton, p. 20).  One of the primary indicators of marital success in a cohabitating couple is if they have a joint checking account prior to the marriage.  The ability to talk about and plan a couple’s financial needs indicates a level of communication and trust which is a primary foundation of success in a marriage.

            We’ll choose to stay in jobs we hate to pay the bills.  We’ll take advantage of another person in a business transaction in order to make a buck.   We’ll ruin our emotional and physical health with stress over our financial choices.   We’ll spoil our kid’s maturing into self-reliant, self-sufficient adults by giving them too much and not teaching them the value of “no”.

The spiritual implications of how we manage money are huge because it is all too easy for money to end up managing us.

            Contentment is no easy thing to find in this life full of both capricious disasters and bountiful blessings.   We’ve all encountered people along the way who are absolutely miserable in spite of their wealth, privilege and status.  We’ve all met folk who are at peace in spite of their poverty or suffering: “Contentment makes poor men rich, but discontentment makes rich men poor.” (Benjamin Franklin)

            Webster defines “contentment” as “ease of mind; satisfaction”.  You can’t buy it, you can’t steal it, and you can’t fake contentment.   But why then to we do often try to do just that?

            Americans spend billions of dollars each year on legal and illegal drugs to buy a moment of tranquility or bliss.   We work ourselves into stress related diseases pursuing a multi-tasking lifestyle of conspicuous consumption while pushing our kids to follow the same path.   Jesus says, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ (Luke 12:15)  

            Jesus suggests that contentment lies in our relationship to God.

            When we put God first, we put aside the pride and shame that stops us from asking for help.

            When we put God first, we can stand up to the temptations of a culture designed to equate happiness with acquisition and learn to nurture the patience of deferred gratification.

            When we put God first, loving relationships become the measure of success.          As Jesus says it’s all about where we are investing our hearts. (Matthew 6:21)

 

            That’s especially true when it comes to money and the church.   Are we putting our hearts into it?

            Most preachers dread the annual stewardship campaign.  We can see the glazed look that falls over the people’s faces as soon as money is mentioned in Church.  Folk start staring at their watches wondering how long they have to endure talk in church about money.   There is an unspoken assumption that this is all about getting people to give more money.  I am far more interested in a more difficult challenge.   Are we putting our hearts into our financial support of the church? 

In two weeks we will be asking each of us to dedicate a Commitment Card during our worship services indicating our intentions to support Church of the Wayfarer’s Operations next year.

The card which most have already received in the mail or can get here on Sunday the 23^rd, will ask us to list our intention for financially supporting the Operations of Wayfarer next year, either by listing a dollar amount or a percentage of income goal.

The cards are symbolic of our intentions, simply an informal measurement of our congregation’s excitement for and commitment to the direction of our ministry next year. No salesman will call!   There are no “pledge police”.  No one is going to say you are ‘behind in your pledge’.  We will ask for contact information on the card to send you a ‘thank you’ and keep you informed of our progress as a church.  What the Finance Committee needs to know is if they can count on each one of us.  We’ll know that by the level of response and the actual financial giving between now and the end of the year.

If we seek to reach our ministry goals next year, we are looking at a potential Operating Budget around $ 300,000.  Wayfarer is blessed with a number of sources of income….our Foundation, facility use, wills and bequests….but most of our ministry is resourced by the contributions from you and me. 

 

We may think of that as a lot of money but not when we think of the potential to change lives for the better.

People don’t give to budget line items, they give to people. 

What’s the dollar value of a pastor by the bedside of a dying parishioner or the moment when a grandchild is baptized on a Sunday morning?

What does it cost to have an entire congregation praying for you to get better after a surgery or stand by you to support you as you bury a wife or husband?

From this place we send volunteers out into the community to serve the homeless and feed the hungry.  We offer scholarships to High School Seniors as they begin their college careers.  On these hallowed grounds we welcome hundreds of visitors each and every day to tour our sanctuary and the beauty of our gardens where, if even for a moment, they think of something bigger than themselves in the midst of a vacation or a day at the beach.

When we dedicate a portion of the wealth entrusted to our stewardship to the work of God through Church of the Wayfarer we are not just contributing to a budget, we’re contributing to changed and healing lives.

 

            I performed a small renewal of wedding vows ceremony here in our Sanctuary a few months ago.  Only nine people involved, the couple and their kids.  No fancy flowers, no special music.  The couple had been married here 25 years ago.  The husband had survived an operation for cancer.  The couple wanted to mark his progress by celebrating the power of the love they found in their marriage.   It was simple and beautiful.  When they left the sanctuary they rushed to ring our steeple bell, as they had 25 years before and as they had ever since on their occasional visits to Carmel.  They left our church beaming, smiling from ear-to-ear.  

            What is that worth?   Does such a moment of contentment for two strangers deserve our investment?   It sure does for Bonnie and me.

 

            Church of the Wayfarer needs each and every person to step up and be counted for financial support, to be sure.  The more we give the more we will be able to do.   But more importantly regardless of the dollars we plan to give we need to invest our hearts here, because it makes a positive difference in our lives and the transformation of the world.  Because we are all in this together.

There is joy to be found in generosity and contentment.  For in the end that is why God gave us his only son.

 

Amen.

Called to Witness

“Called to Witness”

Revelations 7:9-17

 

November 2, 2014

 

All Saints Day Holy Communion Service

Church of the Wayfarer, Carmel 110^th Anniversary

 

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            Along with the 110^th Anniversary of Church of the Wayfarer, we celebrate All Saints Day today.  Begun as the “Feast of All Saints” and formalized in 835 CE to be held on November first, All Saints Day commemorates those who have died in the faith and now reside in Heaven.  “All Hallows Eve” or Halloween is a cultural creation held on the night before All Saints Day.  Halloween has nothing in common with the Christian understanding of death and afterlife.  For those of us who have survived the death of a loved on, All Saints can be a reminder of the hope, love and faith we can share in this life that can never die.

 

            United Methodists do not have a system whereby individuals are picked out for sainthood above others as the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians do.  We affirm sainthood in the lives of any and all believers, past, present and future.

            We most often think of famous Christians when we think of “saints”.

            John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, was a scholarly Don at Oxford who burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit brought worship, sacraments and the Christian life to thousand of lower-class English who were segregated from the Church of England.  His Methodist Movement revolutionized 18^th century industrial England and was one of the most important elements of the pioneering development of North America.

            Anne Hutchinson, who lived between 1591 and 1643, was the first woman preacher in New England.  A mother of 16, she dared challenge the tyranny of the Puritans.  She suffered expulsion and banishments from Massachusetts to the “Indian” territories where she and many members of her family were murdered.  Her legacy was major influence on those who would write the Bills of Rights and the Constitution.

            Martin Luther King, Jr., could have taught in a university or lead one of the prosperous Baptist congregations in the north but after his graduate education in Boston, chose to return to his home in the south.  There he led the struggle for human rights among African-Americans.  He was killed by hatred and bigotry but his memory and influence are far from dead.

            Certainly we would consider Wesley, Hutchinson and King to be among the saints.  But saints are not just those from the past who are famous because of their deeds.  All saints, known and unknown, are those people whose faith is a way of life, much more than a social convenience.  Saints are those whose vision of the future reflects the promised Reign of God as proclaimed by Jesus.  Saints are those who dare to live in the present as if God’s future were now, as if love, compassion and justice really were the values of the world.  They live as if they know the end of the story.

            We hear it in our lesson from the last book of the Bible, Revelations.  God’s future is full of saints, more than can be counted, of every nation, race and class.  They worship God, they hunger and thirst no more, they are in one fellowship with God and each other, and their tears are wiped away.

            Citizens of God’s kingdom have “seen” what the end of history will be like, they know its spirit in their hearts and find the courage to live accordingly.

            Using this definition, we can rejoice that there are saints among us right now, right here in this very room!  I won’t embarrass them by blowing their covers.  We all know those who give beyond their resources; those who help, even before they are asked; those who have endured pain and brokenness only to become more loving and kind.  The saints among us live in spite of the odds, as if they live in a different world.  They do.  Their allegiance is to the Kingdom of God.

 

            Our “Milestones of History” reminds us that on August 18, 1940, the name “Church of the Wayfarer” was adopted by the membership. Dr. James E. Crowther had suggested the name based on a script and musical arrangement he had written in 1919 for a great religious drama/pageant, "The Wayfarer".  I don’t know if Pastor Crowther was a saint or not but he left a lasting legacy of good here in Carmel.   He recognized that the Carmel congregation in a community of artists, writers and bohemians was made up of sojourners from all parts of the country.   Christians are traditionally “wayfarers” along the way, as John Wesley put it we are all on the way to “perfection”.  The stone cross and bench, at the front of the chapel, is carved with the phrase, “Rest and Be Thankful”. The phrase is borrowed from another rough stone bench, which was located at the summit of a pass between Loch Long and Loch Fyne in Scotland.

            Just think of those who have gone before us leaving our church the wonderful organ, the glorious stained glass, the Wayfarer’s Garden that beckons hundreds every day in their midst of their vacations or travel to consider the beauty of the earth and something greater than themselves.  We are in debt to those no longer with us because their love lives in our hearts and minds still this day.

 

            On All Saints Day we do not celebrate death.  We celebrate that which in life can never die; the love we make and share with each other.  Love is the only thing we take with us into the next life, it is the only thing that gives life eternal meaning.  In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor, there is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted; blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth…” (Matthew 5:1-11).  That is why those who mourn know comfort.  That those who hunger for justice shall be satisfied.  That those who graciously give will know mercy.  And that those who make peace are the blessed among us for they are rich in the only things that really matter.

            It is the promise of our faith that those of us who live life under the rule of love shall one day in the next life be together again.  We hear it in the lyric we just sang; “O blest communion, fellowship divine!  We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.  Alleluia” It will be like a banquet where all our hunger is satisfied and all our pain in gone, and the need for tears will be no more.

            As we take Holy Communion together this morning, we enact what that eternal banquet will be. 

Spiritually we will be one with those who have gone before us.  Of course it is a mystery.  But it is one that can guide and shape the lives of potential saints like you and me as we plan for the next 110 years of this blessed church.                       

            Amen.