08/14/22 - What Now? - Thomas Clark-Jones - Westminster Presbyterian Church Westminster Presbyterian Church | Serving God and others with open mind, hands and heart - 08/14/22 – What Now?

08/14/22 – What Now? – Thomas Clark-Jones

WHAT NOW?

August 14, 2022
10th Sunday after Pentecost
Thomas Clark-Jones

Before starting this talk, I want to assure you it has been checked by the theologian in the family and I have been assured that I am not committing heresy in what I say here. Whether it might be the Word of the Lord or not will be open to your interpretation. Thank you for allowing me to take on this task while my wife is in New York playing grandmother, much to her delight.

The sermon today centers around the Old Testament lesson and particularly these words …

And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. … Micah 6

As a youngster growing up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, we were blessed with a good-sized Jewish community … enough so that there were a couple of ultra-Orthodox synagogues, a very distinguished Conservative synagogue and a massive Reform congregation in the suburb of Kingston. The Reform congregation had a very large building, reflective of its time of construction … the early 1960’s. It was a long building with a façade which was narrower and more shaped something like a book, made of cast concrete. In one corner of the façade was a magnificent contemporary art version of a Menorah and on the other side, in both Hebrew and English …. Simply the words, “act justly … love mercy … walk humbly with your God”. It was a dramatic presentation of a Biblical passage known to all of us, and yet rarely do we seriously consider the answer to the basic question … WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES GOD WANT FROM US? What is our place in the universe and our ultimate purpose.

While I don’t think we can answer that monumental question in a short talk, I do think we can consider the question on a level more down to earth and practical. In this later part of the first quarter of the twenty-first century, what does God want of us here on Moss Avenue in Peoria, Illinois?

The plague … Covid 19 pandemic … has certainly put us in the place of asking this basic question about where to direct our ministry … our time, talent, and energy … in light of this world-changing event, from which we are still recovering … or perhaps more accurately … still seeing through to its ending. What are the implications for ministry in this unique time.

In thinking about this question, I am reminded of the words of my beloved colleague in ministry (and your pastor’s spiritual mentor) the Rev. Richard D. Adams at Pine Street Church in Harrisburg. Dick would constantly remind us: “God asks us to be FAITHFUL, not SUCCESSFUL.” That is a concept that runs counter to the general culture, for sure. Money, position, and rank in life seem so important. My church isn’t as large as it used to be … we’re failing. Our church isn’t as influential as it once was when every executive from Caterpillar seemed to be on the rolls. How did we fail?

But I suggest to you that we do not fail just because of numbers. We fail when we lose sight of God’s will for our ministry, or even worse, don’t bother to ask of the Almighty what that Divine will is. We just blindly do what we’ve always done, and it doesn’t feel right, BUT we don’t know what else to do. It is not an unusual feeling in main-line churches these days. Gone are the times when it was part of a successful person’s life to belong to a prestigious church. It was expected of you. But as that part of the social contract fell away during the 1960’s and 1970’s we whittled the church down a bit … to a group of people who wanted to be there and came, as do we, because it is the very heart of our lives. It centers us … gives life meaning and joy … and helps us understand the incomprehensible in life.

So we’re here because we are the ‘remnant’, if you will, of the once mighty main-line churches of America. But now that we are, as the Scots say, “A Wee Kirk” what can we do? I believe the answer is A LOT. But we can’t do a lot without taking the first steps to bring our fellowship into line with God’s will.

Let’s be honest. Covid tore us apart. For almost a year, we worshipped online. We each sat in our den or kitchen and watched the service on our computer. Thank God we live in a time of computers and the magic they bring to our lives. We were able to keep in touch … hold on to one another through those online services. And we were able to keep our weekly bible study going and having Session meetings … all online. And now that begins to be comfortable. Sitting in our own easy chair worshipping God together. Well … OK, it was good when it was needed … BUT, the church is more than a bunch of people on line together. That sort of defines “Facebook”. We keep in touch … but just barely.

Over the centuries, the church has realized that we are a people … a people that come together in community regularly to worship, but to be human too. To feel the flesh and blood of our neighbor in the pew. To share in person the joys and sorrows of life. To encourage one another in a way a Hallmark greeting can’t. To share our lives in community. AND I would propose to you that the first thing the Lord requires of us is to re-establish that community. The plague has become less severe, and with some precautions, we can worship together without killing each other!

And a lot of us have done this. We have come back to our sanctuary and ever so hesitantly started to re-establish our community. If you counted all the folk who have been here in the past year or so, it would be a goodly part of our fellowship … but it is time to step out in faith … take the chance that God will be faithful and bless us with good health in spite of the challenges … and come back to fill this room. Oh, I know, we never quite fill the place. Maybe on Easter or Christmas, but we do need to pull ourselves out of our comfortable easy chairs in our den or living room and make ourselves comfortable in these pews once again … in the Choir Loft once again … in the Parlor for coffee and fellowship after church. This is a first step, but an important one. Re-establishing our sense of community is the first piece of the journey. When we can fully share our fellowship, we become more open to God’s will for us. We will start to search for new ways to push forward and make our presence known in this community and in the world.

We don’t have to be successful in the ways of the world, but we do need to be involved so God can speak with us. We have ministries that need tending. Until the situation was mentioned in a sermon a while ago, the West-Mark Food Pantry was becoming the ‘mark pantry’. Thankfully several of our members have taken on this challenge and deserve our gratitude for helping to keep this ministry vital to our congregation. We have also had some members who have been ill and needed special care, and again a number of our folks have committed themselves to this task. But we do have some able people who can give the time. This is very promising.

We also need to re-establish some of our fellowship in breaking bread together. Those wonderful lunches after church helped keep us in community. Some new folk need to step forward and help with that ministry. No longer are we cooking meals in house, all this one requires is an ability to help put to catered food on the tables.

And we need to start inviting our friends and relatives and whomever we can think of that might become part of our fellowship. We are fairly successful in bringing a new member in if that person gets through the door the first time. But that’s always the problem, and we need to take it seriously.

So, the question becomes, ‘well then, how do I discern what God requires of me?’ The answer is simple, and yet another biblical text …seek and ye shall find. I can give you an example of this. Actually, I could give you several examples of our church members stepping up to the plate and making a difference which I have mentioned a moment ago. But I will pick one special example because of the dynamic difference it has made for us during this time. That example would be Elder Larry Hicks. The Sunday after Covid shut us down, Larry was in the Sanctuary with Denise and me to broadcast our service … over his phone. In the intervening months, he has built for us a first-class system with which we can broadcast our service live every Sunday morning and also post it to YouTube. I don’t believe he’s missed more than one or two services since this all began. His faithful dedication to our webcast has put us in a position where we reach more people with our worship than we have in a long time. We have a steady group of people who tune in every week to participate with us here. Without Larry, this would not have been possible, or at least, it would not have been as flawless, and done with such dedication by someone who just did it for the money. It may not have been a conscious action, but in a time of need, Larry asked what the Lord required … and he stepped up to the plate and did it. While our answers may not be as clear to discern, they are there if we ask the right questions and are willing to respond. We may not be able to do something physical, but become partners in prayer for our congregation, others may be able to help through donations of funds to help replenish some of the endowment funds spent during this time.

Westminster is the closest Presbyterian church to the central city as it gets. Others who used to consider us ‘suburban’ out here on Moss Avenue are now out in the current suburbs, abandoning old ministries downtown for easier ones closer to the affluent suburban folk. BUT when Westminster burned back in 1986, the church CHOSE to be here … to take on the job of witness of the main-line church to the center city and less fortunate areas of the city that abut our own property. We are in a place of real opportunity for ministry … but will we take it? Will we find a way to continue to bring people into our fellowship who also care about ministry. We need to find out. We need to pray and argue and discuss and come to agreements on what we might do to make this a powerhouse of a Wee Kirk. Westminster stands as a progressive bastion of the faith in an area in which churches are more likely to wish us back into the 1950’s, or give us some religious entertainment rather than witnessing to the power of the living God in worship that reminds us that we are in the world but not of the world. The positive witness of this church to the Love of God and his journey with us since the days of Abraham is an important one in this city. We need to remember that! The opportunity is here. We are in the right place to do what churches are called to do. Will we do that? We can hope so. No, we’re not all too old. There are things for each of us to do to make these visions of the future come to pass, but we must give of ourselves, and rededicate this ministry to doing what it can where it can and be a force to be reckoned with in speaking out for the Love of God in this city.

What does the Lord require of us? Let’s try to find out … and then MAKE IT SO.!

… Thomas Clark-Jones,
Organist-Choirmaster

My Story

“Why am I a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church? Two words keep floating up in a rather persistent way – “home” and “family” – and I realized that it is an inescapable fact that is what this church means to me. During my 40 years here, so many life events have happened and Westminster has been there for me through all those times – good and bad. It has been my home and family. They say “home is where the heart is” and I’ve found the heart of Westminster to be as open and warm as a family’s!”