1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Let me begin by saying, just as did the Apostle Paul, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – ….”
(Now) I am not the oldest one here, and I may not have been as deeply involved in the church and for as long a time as some of you here, but I’ve been around long enough, (long enough) to have seen a lot of church members react and overreact to problems and become obsessed with the negative possibilities. If you will take the time to read my pastor’s report, you will see, that I too can obsess about the negative, at least for a time. Things like worship attendance, budgets and finances, program changes, questions of commitment and how do we solve the next problem to come down the pike, can become, for me, a source of obsession; maybe also you. There is nothing wrong with our taking seriously the issues before us and looking for ways to make improvements, but when we let ourselves obsess over these problems, we are leaving someone out of the equation. That someone is God, Jesus and the Holy spirit and we are setting aside our faith in God for a different kind of faith. We begin to believe that we alone are responsible for making things better and the only ones capable of making things right. We forget that God is with us, that Jesus has a plan for us and our church, and that the Holy Spirit has not left us lacking in any of the needed resources and will provide us with any additional resources that we may need to solve our church’s issues, great and small and help us to minister to our communities.
As a pastor I’ve been blessed to see the power of God working in congregations faced with tremendous issues, and in seeing congregations pull their memberships together and with faith and prayer take one step at a time to solve their issues. And I’ve also seen the futility of great human ingenuity in situations where God was left out of their efforts, when with all confidence the congregation set out to solve the church’s problems all on their own. We are not in this alone in ministry. Concerned members of St. Peter’s occasionally ask me about the issues mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, you know, worship attendance and budgets and finances and membership commitment, and they often present their questions with an almost defeatist look about them. The Apostle Paul in his greeting to the church in Corinth, and likely in response to their previously stated concerns, reminded them how that they have been enriched in Jesus, in speech and knowledge of every kind, so that the testimony of Christ has grown among them. And Paul reminded them that the church in Corinth was not lacking in any of the needed spiritual gifts. And again, he reminded them that Jesus will by his Spirit strengthen them to the end. (The words “the end” had two meanings as understood by the members of the Corinthian church, one, that the time of Christ would soon come to bring an end to the world as they knew it and two, that they may each of them soon come to an end by Rome’s efforts to cleanse the empire of the Jewish/Christian blight. Persecution was for them a daily concern; they lived with a real risk of arrest and crucifixion, of torture and becoming the entertainment in one of Rome’s colosseums as the prey of a lion or a gladiator. They had good reason to be afraid.) But God, Paul additionally reminded them, is faithful. All these reminders are also for us. Here at St. Peter’s, we’ve done fairly well, as compared to many congregations. Our membership dropped by just one member in 2019, that, because we continue to receive new members by baptism, transfer and other ways. Our budget remains a struggle, as we have lost some strong and committed members, but we continue to exceed our budget’s expectations and cover our deficit with our investment dividends and earnings (funds handed down to us by members who first supported St. Peter’s while they lived). The Lord gave to each of us the gifts that are needed to sustain St. Peter’s. But not just to sustain St. Peter’s, to also give St. Peter’s the heart and ability to minister with great love to the community, to each other and to minister to worthy causes worldwide.
As good as we are, that doesn’t mean that we as a congregation are doing all that God has called us to do, all for which we have been given the gifts to accomplish. We still have much to do; we need to become financially independent of our church’s investments so that we may use them more for ministry and less for church expenses, and while there will certainly be struggles ahead, that in no way means that we have reason to fear for the future of our church or the ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not finished with us; Jesus is not finished with St. Peter’s; Jesus is not finished with all the peoples of the world. There is much more to be done! We have a purpose, and while I do not know exactly what Jesus has in mind for us, I know that it will require of us a greater commitment to ministry than we have yet to make. Our faith and the ministry of Jesus Christ will need to become more than a once a week thing for us; it will need to become a real priority in our lives. I appreciate all that everyone is already doing, but you know better than I, that you could do more; I know better than you that I too could do more. Our faith in the living Lord has given us talents we have never fully used. Today’s meeting of the congregation and the reports given can help us to see where our God given talents have been used to the glory of God and how we may grow the ministry of St. Peter’s, and this meeting and its reports can help to point us in new directions where we can more fully use the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us.
I will close as I begin: Thank you Lord for the gift of this ministry and for the joy of working with the family of St. Peter’s. Amen.