Sunday, October 28, 2007

Sermon: “The Call” (Succeeding in God’s Way)

Scripture: Proverbs 4: 20-27; Acts 2: 1-21

Reverend Larry M. Gerber

There are three things that come to mind when I rethink my call into the ministry:

Pay attention

Listen closely

Do not swerve

In April of 1972 I felt God calling me back into the ministry, a profession I had felt called to in 1964, and then I felt called away for a while. In 1972 I knew that God was calling me into the ministry once again. I had to respond. During the past 35 years God has called, and various Bishop’s have appointed me to eight appointments in the United Methodist Church.

I have been a student Pastor, the only Pastor, Associate Pastor in Charge of Education and Youth Ministry, the Senior Pastor on four occasions, and a time as District Superintendent. I have had the opportunity to be the Sr. Pastor during many special occasions: 20^th anniversaries, 25^th anniversaries, ground breaking for a new education building, and a 100^th Anniversary. I was present at ground breaking ceremonies for new churches on several occasions, as District Superintendent, and Sr. Pastor during the designing and building of a new Chapel and Administrative Building right here in Sun Lakes, and now as a guest preacher I am here to help you celebrate your 20 years in service to this community.

When I came to Sun Lakes in 1999 there was a baseball field across the parking lot to the east. It was called the Field of Dreams. I was saddened when they moved around the corner, but then I was excited when the library became a reality. Changes continue to take place. We all have our so-called field of dreams. Sometimes they become reality, and some times our dreams are nothing more than that.

We need to get on our knees, pour out our hearts, extend our hands and spread our wings to make churches fields of dreams once again. And you are doing just that! The Desert Southwest Annual Conference had a vision, not a dream, in 1987. They saw the need for a United Methodist presence in Sun Lakes, and sent Marshal Lindsay to be the developing pastor of that vision. Marshal had dreams and visions that became realities during his eleven years as your pastor. You developed the land, built Lindsey, and then the Sanctuary. Marshall was the team manager who took you to the field and put you on base twice. In order to score the winning run there were two more bases to reach.

During my seven years of ministry with you, you continued to dream dreams and have visions. We worked together, serving the present and preparing for the future. You did not miss a step when I was invited to take on another loving challenge and the Bishop called Pastor Jim O’Neil to become your third pastor on July 1, 2006.

I understand that you are about to embark on the fourth stage of your building program in a few short weeks. What an exciting time you are in. The initial plan by Reverend Lindsay and the original planning committee will come to fruition, just 20 years in the making. You are to be commended.

I don’t know how the funding will come about, but I do know that it will take some large gifts as well as many small gifts to get the job done. You were debt free in December of 2005. We had plans for the next phase and left the Building Fund in the budget. I understand that that have continued to fund that budget, and you have a good financial base as you take the next step. I guess it is like a baseball game. Reverend Lindsay was your team manager when you first stepped to the plate. With his good management you were able to get people on first and second with no outs.

A new manager came to town in 1999. We were able to load the bases when we put another person on base with plans for the next phase: a Chapel and Administrative Building, with a library. We hit a double in 2003 when we built those two new additions. Are you keeping score. The bases were loaded; we hit a double, driving in two runs. Runners were on 2^nd and 3^rd base. As we accelerated our payments and made plans for the next building we were still at the plate. The pitcher issued a walk in December of 2005. We had paid off the mortgage. Bases loaded once again. Unbeknown to the manager and the team, the Owner of the team (God) decided that it was time for a new manager. Right in the middle of the game!!

Reverend O’Neil was summoned to manage this exciting team. You are now on the verge of hitting a grand slam to finish the game. It will happen when you build and pay for the new education building. What a ride. Pastor Jim is only your third pastor during these 20 years of ministry. The game of life is like the game of baseball. Even when things are going well and you like your manager, the owner feels the need for a change. Perhaps that is best left in the Masters hand. God deals with a much large playing field than any or all of us put together. You are one of many of his teams. Marshall, myself, and Pastor Jim are only three of the multitude of managers whom God uses as the owner, or General Manager.

Somehow baseball has become so much a part of the American Dream that we no longer consider it just another game. Every kid is supposed to play baseball when growing up (sometimes whether they want to or not!). Adults trapped in stuffy offices on hot July afternoons take comfort in imagining that somewhere out in their community a baseball game is underway. In some areas of our country, a baseball cap is the standard uniform for the well-dressed male.

The phrase "field of dreams" has moved beyond its movie roots and has entered our language as a metaphor. There are now calls for a new field of dreams for planet Earth; a new field of dreams for America; a new field of dreams for African-Americans; a new field of dreams for science. Field of dreams has become shorthand for daring, optimism, hope, futuring.

So why not a call for a new field of dreams for the church??
This is your day for remembering where this church came from, how this church came to be, and for asking what on earth this church is for and where in heaven's name this church is headed. This is the day when we should envision what this church is and can be, what its field of dreams will look like -- and to continuing working to bring that dream to reality.
Congregations that refuse to get with it, to look forward to the future instead of wishing for some mythical good old days, will die spiritually, if not physically. But the church itself will not.

To make the church once again into a field of dreams, we must reclaim our Pentecostal heritage. According to the Luke/Acts tradition, there was a period of time between Christ's resurrection appearances to his disciples and the day when the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Surely these must have been days of excitement and high expectation. They waited on tiptoe for the coming Spirit of God.

If we are to emulate these first disciples, we too must stand expectantly on tiptoe. We must be willing to get on our knees: For the church to keep on its toes, it must first get on its knees. The church must learn how to pray together and praise together. The church needs to nurture a vital piety within its midst -- strengthening its members through worship that is God-breathed, Christ-centered and Spirit-driven.

The Spirit must be allowed to circulate through the sanctuary, pushing us to our knees at unexpected moments. Does anything ever bring tears to our eyes in church (besides the annual budget report)? Can the Spirit make us smile, or even laugh out loud in church? Church is not just the place where we come to "think about God" for one hour out of the week. It is a place to feel God with all our emotions and all our being.

we must be willing to pour out our hearts. We need the Spirit of Christ in order to be a Christ body community. To make Christ enfleshed, incarnated, embodied through a Spirit-filled community, the church must pour out a heart filled with self- sacrificing love.

We must spread our wings.The church has let reason and rationalism dictate its course of action for too long. Lacking in faith and trust, we have instead opted for predicting every contingency and answering every imaginable question before daring to step forward. We are terrified of getting caught without a rational plan or thoughtful explanation for every action we take, every experience we encounter. But an old rabbinic saying suggests that "if there is not more than one explanation to an event, then it is not God."

At its heart, this is what building a church that is a "field of dreams" takes -- the willingness to spread our wings and step off the edge, believing that the breath of the Spirit will bear us forward into the future.

You have been stepping off the edge for 20 years. You have dared to be the church in action. You have dreamed dreams and you have had visions. Don’t stop now. Act upon your dreams and visions. Go forth and build. Go forth and celebrate. Go forth and teach, and pray, and break bread together. You are the church! Celebrate!

Congratulations and God Speed