Streams in the Desert

A Backward Glance – What We Have Learned

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, May 2, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:27-31; 13:13; selection from The Journal of George Fox

Well, it has been one year and seven weeks since a few of you sat here, and longer than that for most of you.  It has been a long 59 weeks, to say the least.  It has been difficult.  It has been challenging.  It has been interesting.  And in many ways, it has been enlightening. 

I probably should not speak for Matthew and Suzanne, but I think there has been a big learning curve for the three of us.  I never, ever had the desire to have my sermons videotaped, and never had the desire to see myself on television.  But the week after we closed the church last year, we decided that we had to learn how to record services and upload them to YouTube so all of us would at least have a recorded service to watch each week.  So, we became YouTubers overnight.  And having a Smart TV means weand many others have watched ourselves on television.  And we have had to learn how to conduct meetings, classes and study groups via Zoom.  And we have had to find innovative ways to provide non-in-person pastoral care.

I again have to thank Suzanne and Matthew, who have been wonderful throughout this pandemic.  We certainly could not have done what we have done without their talents, time, and dedication.

But as we take a few minutes to look back over these past 59 weeks, what have we learned collectively, as a congregation?

One thing we have learned is the church is the community, the people, and not the building.  As much as all of us love this physical building – this beloved, iconic Chapel on the Hill – we have learned that this physical building is not the United Church. 

There have been several times when speaking about the United Church to individuals or groups outside the church that I have explained that the Chapel on the Hill is the historic building, whereas the United Church is the people that make up this community of faith and who meet in the Chapel on the Hill.  Indeed, we have learned that the United Church consists in the people-connections we have kept alive, in the love we have continued to share, in the many acts of kindness that have been demonstrated, and in the common spirit that has bound us together.

People often use the word “church” to refer to a building – “I’m going to church,” or “Are you going to church today?”  We all do it.  But in the New Testament, the word “church” never refers to a physical structure; rather, the word “church” refers to people who are called out.  Thus, whenever Jesus spoke of “the church” in Matthew, and whenever the Apostle Paul spoke of “the church” in his writings, they were speaking not of a building, but of believers, a community of people.  Thus, we hear Paul writing about the spiritual gifts bestowed upon the church, meaning the gifts of the people given for the common good.  And we hear Paul, in closing his letter to the Corinthians, sending greetings from Aquila and Priscilla and “the church that meets at their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19).   

Thus, we can understand why Quaker George Fox was so adamant about insisting that “the Church is the people,” not the physical structure.  Those words have never rung truer than they do right now, perhaps.  In that spirit, some Christian groups, in addition to the Quakers, such as the Universalists, referred to the building where the church gathered as the “meeting house,” differentiating the “meeting house” from the church, which was the community that gathered there.  Hence, there was the “Quaker Meeting House” and the “Universalist Meeting House.”  It is a matter of semantics, perhaps, but an important point to not be forgotten.

So again, these past 59 weeks it has come home to us that “the church” is the people and the connections that bind us together.

We have learned that our United Church community is strong.  To my knowledge, our community of faith has stayed intact and has not unraveled over these past months.  Members stayed connected through our online services, Zoom meetings, telephone calls, cards in the mail, little acts of kindness such as dropping off baked goods, and so on. 

And our church committees continued to function and be active, even though we were not meeting for services.  We owe thanks to those committee members who continued to carry on the work of the church and take care of our buildings and grounds, even though no one was coming here for services or meetings.

We have learned that financial commitment to this church, and to the principles that guide us, and the message we share, and the programs we support is strong as well.  As we went into this pandemic and stopped having in-person services, we were unsure about how things would work out financially and if we might end the year deep in red ink.  But we actually ended 2020 on solid financial ground.  There are a number of factors that contributed to that – some special gifts, the financial savvy and expertise of our treasurer in monitoring our church investments, and the fact that our dedicated members continued to mail in pledges and offerings each month even though we were not passing the collection plate.  The point being, throughout this pandemic, the financial commitment and dedication of the members of this United Church have been outstanding!  And we thank you.

And we have learned that there is more than one way of doing things.  The old fallback line, “But we’ve always done it this way” proved to be null and void as we had to adapt to a new world order.  

What does the future hold for us?  What does the future hold for the American Church in general?  We are not quite sure.  Some church analysts say the Church can never expect to return to the exact same place it was and the exact same way of doing things prior to COVID-19.   And maybe it shouldn’t return to the exact same institution it was.  The world has changed.  People’s expectations and preferences have changed.  As I preached in one of my early pandemic sermons, a new day calls for new wineskins.  Many of the old ways we will want to return to, but we may also want to leave behind some of the old and adopt some new ways of doing things.  But those are things for the Church Board, along with our committees, to decide as we progress into the future.

But one thing is certain: The church is important; and the church has an important role to fulfill.  As writer Robin Meyers puts it, “too many of us are spiritually homeless.  We do not know where we came from, where we are going or to whom we belong.”  Well, those are functions the church can and should be fulfilling: providing for people a spiritual home, addressing the pressing questions of life, and providing a place of belonging.  And, I believe, those are functions this United Church fulfill.  And drawing on Paul’s iconic words about faith, hope, and love, we have learned that the faith, hope, and love in this United Church remain strong.

Yes, we have learned a lot these past 59 weeks.  But of all the things we have learned, perhaps nothing is more significant than the reminder of just how important this community of faith – this United Church – is to all of us.  So, for this community of faith we say, “Thanks be to God!”  Amen.