"Bless This House" (No Video)

1 Corinthians 3: 9-17

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Sermon Notes: The weight of history was upon us yesterday.

Most of you know that yesterday's worship service was our last at 1000 Cranbrook, at least for the foreseeable future. Many of the elements of yesterday's service, from the opening Litany and Prayer to the hymns and scripture, came from, or were inspired by, the service of dedication for our building, on March 20, 1966.

I did my best to connect our time together in our church with that moment, 58 years ago. I said that I thought they would be proud of us, and the work that we have done, and the faith that we have. That although some of the words we use and positions (both theological and social) that we have might be different from what they had then, that because our foundation remained on Jesus Christ and his values, that they might have felt at home with us. 

I think about this because I end up in a lot of conversations; most of them are perfectly normal conversations with church members and friends. Some of them, however, are with the dead. Rev. Raymond Fenner is often on my mind; his picture is right outside my office. In World War II, he served as a gunner in a bomber, flying 28 missions, a full tour that many did not complete.  After the war, he used the GI Bill to attend Yale Divinity School.  His first church out of school was in Fremont, California, where he helped to build up the Fremont Congregational Church from 8 members to over 200. That church has since merged with a Samoan and Filipino Church to form Fremont UCC, a multiethnic open and affirming church.  After his time here (1959-1970), he migrated eastward, and ended up on Long Island.

I consider the life of Rev. Richard Mapes, who read the scripture on that day.  He had a long and varied career in the UCC, from Ohio to Florida to Connecticut. He also served as the head of his local chapter of the NAACP in a time when that would have been politically controversial in Ohio. I think of him as I consider my own geographically wide range of ministry (Massachusetts to Connecticut to Florida to Michigan).

The truth for us is that as Christians, the dead are never truly and fully gone from us. Yes, there is a finality to death; it does mark an end to our relationships. I do not seek to minimize the grief or pain we feel; however, we also know that there is a communion of the saints, a church triumphant, that worships alongside us. Christians have often taken this literally- some 3,300 people- from kings to peasants, are buried in and under Westminster Abbey. Our own memorial garden lies a stones throw from our sanctuary.

What we are going through now as a church is nothing less than a refining fire; all of us that is chaff and dross, all that is not needed will be burned away. But as long as we keep our faith, our hope, our love as the foundation, we will survive. We will do as Christians have always done, and persist, even- especially- in the face of trouble. 

Amen.