“Growing in Every Way into Christ” March 25, 2007

“Hallelujah Sunday” Ephesians 4: 7-8, 13-16; Mark 4: 26-32

Along Route 9, (or to use the historic name, “Albany Post Road”) there are some old stone markers, milestones that were set up long ago to give travelers an indication of how they were doing on their journey – how far they had traveled and how much further it might be to their destination. In front of the FDR home there’s a stone that says 86 miles to New York, and I can just imagine how significant such milestones might have been to travelers on horseback, or in stagecoaches, as they made a long and tiring journey. In and of itself a milestone provides no comfort – it’s not an oasis, it’s not an inn, it’s not a stable for a weary horse - but there is great comfort and inspiration in being able to say with assurance, “Look at this! We’ve made progress; we’ve come a long way; the destination is nearer; we’ve accomplished something……”

This is a milestone day for our church. It’s not a stopping point, or the end of the journey, but it does mark the end of one leg of the journey. Three years ago, on March 28, 2004, we had a day called “Celebration Sunday,” the culmination of a capital funds campaign that asked us to make financial pledges for our church expansion, pledges to be paid over the course of three years. The three years have zoomed by – we’re at a milestone – and as we look back, what a journey we have made!

The theme for our campaign was “A Time to Grow”, and for a scriptural verse to give us focus we chose these words from Ephesians: “We must grow in every way into Christ…….” We must grow in every way into Christ – in every way, not just growing a larger building, not just growing a larger budget, but in every way. If our faith is real, as individuals we must grow. We must grow as s a church family….. In our faith and loyalty to God…… As disciples who put into practice what Jesus taught….. In our understanding of life lived with and for God, we must grow….. And we must grow in a particular direction – not just in a random spreading out, but into Christ. That’s what we said in the months before our Celebration Sunday three years ago, and now that we’ve reached this milestone, I want to bear witness that I have seen growing. We may not have grown in every possible way, and we’re not done with growing, but we’ve had growth. We have a lot to celebrate as we pass this milestone.

Growth, of course, is a spiritual mystery. Growth is God’s doing, as Jesus reminds us in that short parable about the seeds growing in secret. A farmer plants his seeds, and then while he is sleeping, while he’s busy with other things, when there’s nothing useful for him to do, God is at work. Down beneath the ground those seeds are sprouting and growing, and that’s the way it is with God’s Kingdom. We can’t make it grow, any more than we can make a seed grow – but we do have our parts to play. The farmer had to plant the seeds. He had to till the soil, cultivate and pull weeds, perhaps irrigate…… all ways of participating and sharing in God’s miracle, and without these human actions perhaps God’s wouldn’t occur. We can’t make growth happen, but we can do the human share, and many of you have planted seeds and acted in faith over these last years, doing something to join God’s growing process.

What kinds of growth have I seen?

Perhaps the most significant growth I’ve seen can’t really be seen with the eyes, but I’ve seen the growth of faith. I think I’ve seen many people who have grown in their ability to trust God, and to live as if they believe that God provides. Three years ago the challenge of making a financial commitment was a struggle for many people and couples in our church, for many of us were already giving at what we considered “the most we can possibly afford.” Holly and I had some times of serious concern about this – we already were tithing, with most of our tithe going to this congregation - but after much prayer and discussion, we felt led to make a pledge that was a real stretch. I feel awkward saying just how much, but I’ll say this – we could have bought a new car for this amount. And then, part of the way along our three year journey, we acquired an additional financial responsibility – a very happy development but with a price tag we hadn’t anticipated: our daughter is getting married, and for many reasons it is necessary and right for her to have a fairly elaborate and costly celebration. Another new car! But somehow – and I’m not really sure how - we’ve made it. We paid our pledge and we’ve set aside the money for Rebecca’s wedding. And in the process, we’ve grown in our faith and our willingness to trust God. We’ve had an experience of grace, and a demonstration that the words we say so glibly: “God will provide,” can indeed be so – and the next challenge will be less daunting.

I don’t know what any individual or family pledged to this effort, but I’m sure there were many of you who stretched beyond what you had ever given before, because of love for our church and commitment to God. Most of you have been able to pay those pledges, though I know a few people have had changes in circumstances – and some have told me that they’ll keep working on the pledge, little by little, as things improve. That’s good. But to those who finished their pledge – are you going to the poorhouse because of it? Are you doing without food, clothing and the necessities of life? Are you suffering because of giving too much to God? I doubt it. I’ve heard lots of stories of people who went broke because of too much money spent on gambling, booze, drugs, fancy cars, etc. but I’ve never heard of anybody who became impoverished because they gave too much to God.

We say we believe that God will provide, but this campaign gave many of us the chance to find out if that is really so. It challenged us to grow in real faith – stepping out, making a commitment, and then seeing that God is worthy of trust.

And what was true of individuals and families was also true for our congregation. Prior to the campaign our consultant asked me if we had any wealthy individuals who could give “large gifts” – over $100,000 – and I said I didn’t believe so. But God touched some individuals’ hearts and minds and we received several very large gifts. We hoped to have pledges of $800,000, with an outlandish “hallelujah goal” of $1,100,000 – and we received pledges of over $1.3 million……. And then the bids went out, and came in far higher than we dreamed and we realized that we had started this project with an inaccurately low idea of what it would cost. So we did what seemed prudent. We made plans to defer a significant part of the project, so as to save some $250,000, but God wasn’t through with us yet. A member of our church called the chair of the building committee, saying “I think we should do this whole project and do it now, and if you will promise me anonymity I’ll give you the $250,000.”

Who could have planned this? We plant our seeds and try to be responsible with the human responsibilities, but if we are faithful God is at work, beneath the surface, in seeds that are buried in secret, and God causes the Kingdom to grow. Have we grown in our faith? Have we grown in our awareness of how amazing our providential God can be? If we haven’t, what have we been watching? We’ve had signs of God at work, and when the next challenge comes – for families, for individuals, for our congregation – we have a growing list of reasons to say “We’ll face it in faith, trusting that God will be at work for good.” God has seen us through these financial challenges – how can we doubt that God will be at work in a time of llness….. in a marital crisis…… in an employment difficulty…. in interpersonal conflicts…… etc……etc…… etc….?” We’ve seen God at work. We’ve had the opportunity to grow in faith, and growth there has been.

What other kinds of growth have I seen? Obviously the building has grown; our numbers have grown – about a 10% increase in attendance this year over last year; we’ve welcomed some new people who weren’t here three years ago when we started this campaign…….. That growth is welcome, but God has been helping us grow in other ways as well – ways that we didn’t necessarily plan, but which opened up because we had stepped out in faith.

Every school day we are in mission to a small group of students who have Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, as the Ridge School makes use of three of our classrooms. The school needed a place to call home and was willing to pay a reasonable price, and when our trustees considered the idea of hosting this school it was as if God was orchestrating everything. Three of the nine trustees then in office had a close relative with Aspergers, so of course they wanted to help these students. And now each day some small but miraculous blessings are taking place for these kids in the northeast corner of our building. We didn’t know we were going to have the chance to grow in this way in our service to God’s people. We didn’t build the rooms with that in mind – but God has used our faithfulness to bring blessing to others.

Another example: Every Monday night our church is alive with family love – as more than 100 people gather to break bread, and then to study, sing, do crafts, discuss, and learn as a part of the church family. We didn’t have Monday Night Lights in mind when we planned our expansion, but God has used our faithfulness to bring us growth in community, growth in friendship, growth in learning…..

So we’ve grown some in ways that are directly related to this building – in activities, projects and service. But one other kind of growth makes me especially thankful, as I think about our recent journey. By logical standards you would think that building an expensive new building would make a congregation pre-occupied with itself – devoting every dollar to building payments, and all its energy to activities that happen within it’s beautiful new space – but the last two years have seen an unprecedented surge of mission to others. Some thirty of our members have gone, or will so, go as Volunteers in Mission to do hurricane relief in Biloxi, and many thousands of dollars from our church budget have gone to support their work. Steady teams of Volunteers went all last summer to Walton, NY to aid the flood victims there. Three of our folks have been in mission to Haiti. Our largest teams ever for Camp Hope have been sent to do home repairs in Appalachia – all of this when the “sensible” congregation could say “Let’s take of ourselves for a while. We need every penny for building payments.”

Somehow, having decided to “grow in every way into Christ,” our congregation has been motivated, challenged, and inspired. We have been caught up in Kingdom growth, in God’s kind of growth.

So - Some of our people have grown in faith….. As a congregation we’ve seen that the mustard seed can sprout and produce a tree……. Our opportunities to care for others are expanding…. Our sense of mission is increasing…… Have we grown in every way? No, not yet, but having caught the joy and the exhilaration of sharing in God’s growth, and having passed some milestones in our journey of faith, we’re on the way. And if we continue to grow in every way into Christ, we can anticipate that some day there will be a fulfillment of another great phrase from St. Paul: “He that began a good work in you will bring it to completion.”