Blessed by Our Past, Welcoming Our Future

At 1 p.m. on 27 June 2007, I met with Clairanne Hann and Fran Isaly and asked them to co-chair a Steering Committee to plan a celebration for our centennial year as a congregation. They accepted the challenge and began recruiting team members. More than once, they and those they recruited asked, "Do we have to begin now?" In the next thirty-eight weeks the nearly five years of prayer, reflection, discernment, planning and preparation will yield almost a year of celebration in our congregation.

Our Centennial theme is "Blessed by Our Past, Welcoming Our Future." That points to two of my greatest hopes for our Centennial. I hope that we deepen our appreciation for our heritage. Please read our history and view the displays of facts, photos, and figures of our past. From humble beginnings we have become one of the largest and most influential congregations in our presbytery and a far above average congregation in our denomination. Pastors receive too much credit, so when noting the triumphs and achievements to which God had led us in one hundred years, ponder the hours, energy, and faith people in the pews have devoted to our ministries. For every ministry we find meaningful, we have hundreds of forbearers to thank.

I also hope that during this year we will renew our commitment to the present ministries that lay a foundation for our next one hundred years. Adopting feeding the hungry as our signature outreach ministry has inspired and enlivened us. Who knows what ministries will emerge on that foundation! Our commitment to being a faith community that eschews homogeneity to live into the message often on our sign, "All Are Welcome Here," proclaims that we value what we have in common more than what makes us distinct. Living into that proclamation challenges us and prepares us for the reformation God always works in us.

I have another hope that, at least in my mind, has the potential to deepen our joy and discipleship. I hope that what we do this year will inspire us with awareness of how special this time, these ministries, and these people are. We have reason to look back with gratitude; yet, our heritage also fills today with blessings. We have reason to look to the future with hope; yet, the presence and promises of God fill today as well. We provide our greatest legacy as we faithfully discern God's call and participate in Jesus' ministries here and now. Who knows what worship will look like in 2112? Today's services certainly differ from those of 1912. Vibrancy and integrity now make room for what will become. Who knows how we will communicate in 2112? In 1912 our government licensed radio stations for the time. Yet, the faithful will need to communicate in order to feel connected with God, reach out to those in need with compassion and love, and work for justice for all. No group does that like a congregation, especially a congregation in a connectional church. The relationships we form and ties that bind us today fill our lives with meaning now and yield blessings for future believers to receive with gratitude.

Let's party for thirty-eight weeks. Let's recognize how blessed we are to have this time and each other and let's do all we reasonably can to strengthen our connections with each other, so that in failure and fidelity we receive the embrace of God, "who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine, to whom be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 2:20-21).

Grace and Peace,

LP