Celebrating God!, First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY, 1/29/2012 by Rev Steven R MItchell

Celebrating God!
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 1/29/2012
Based on Psalm 111
(Last sermon as Transitional Pastor)

Worship consists of a wide and varied spectrum, ranging from music, to readings, time for reflection, opportunities for confession and re-assurance of God’s love, space for prayer, for welcoming into the community new life through baptism, a time for social affirmation of old and new friends. Worship is celebrating God in our lives!
The psalmist gives us reasons as to “why” we should come and celebrate God. We celebrate God because of the works that God has done. We celebrate God because God is righteous, gracious, and merciful! God provides for our basic needs and never forgets the covenant made with all of creation. All we have to do is look around us and we see the power of God’s work. In our deepest times of despair, God is with us, walking along side, sometimes in Spirit, other times physically through friends and family.
This is my last Sunday to celebrate God with you as your Transitional Pastor. Some are celebrating my departure I am sure, but for many, this seems like a time in which “celebrating God” is difficult. Difficult because “good-byes” are not generally easy, especially when a deep bond has developed. For twenty-nine months, we have prayed together, sang together, come to Christ’s table together. You have sat week after week listening to my reflections of scripture, and what a great privilege it has been to stand at this pulpit, sharing with you my understanding of God’s word.
When I first met the search committee charged to find the transitional minister, we had some very frank discussions as to the situation that First Congregational had found itself. Upon arriving, the mood of the congregation was one of heaviness, deep concerns, of pain, whispers of wondering if there was a future or would the doors be closing. There was concern that a gay pastor was being hired. “What would the church look like with him? Will people be turned off and not come?” And in truth, there were some people who stopped coming because I offend their perceptions about human sexuality. The mood during worship was one of low morale, possibly the lowest this church has seen in many years.
That was twenty-nine months ago. Today, we are a community of faith who has experienced the transformation that comes when we really do let God work through us! The energy that is in this room on any given Sunday is one of excitement. As an example, one Sunday Mark Kurtz came up to me after worship and confided that he was surprised at how few we had in attendance that morning, because it felt like there were at least another twenty or so. I responded by saying, “it is the energy, the excitement that he was feeling, which makes us seem larger than what the numbers actually were.” You see, our spirits have expanded faster than our physical growth.
If one of the pieces of worship is to “celebrate God”, then what do we have to celebrate this morning? One reason for celebration is for the positive energy that we receive when we are in worship. Not only do we feel good for being here, but this feeling makes it easier to roll out of bed on Sunday mornings and look forward in coming to church. During worship, we are able to forget about the differences that we might have with a fellow member and truly find the opportunity to focus on the act of worshipping. Visitors who come, feel this energy as well and are more prone to return.
I have seen a number of you grow in your spiritual hunger and growth. We have had the opportunities to discuss some very deep personal questions about life, even discuss and learn how others see God, heaven, community, and spirituality and how all of that ties together with a person’s own experience. As a congregation, we have been working on bringing God and the outside world together, realizing that when we enter the doors to this sanctuary, we do not check our problems, our lives at the door, but intergrate the two together. As Thomas Parker, Theology Emeritus of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill., “To live as if there were no God is to live in a space too small for our souls to grow and flourish. It really is all about cultivating a sense of the presence of God.” God is not just in this sanctuary, but is in our living rooms, at our work, even at a Wyoming Cowboys game.
We have seen a solid steady increase in attendance in Worship, from the lower 30’s in the Spring and Summer of 2009, to numbers in the 80’s through most of this last November and December topping out at 99 on December 18. There is a strong commitment to the educational program which didn’t exist two years ago. I hear less and less comments like, “let someone else do it, I’ve done my bit.” There is a solid group who likes to meet on Sunday evenings for Spiritual studies.
Is there room for growth and more things to happen? Of course there is. There should never be a sense that “we have arrived”, for if we have, then there is no future. The greatest joy that I celebrate this morning is the sense that ministry is happening here. We should “thank God” for what has been accomplished in such a short amount of time. Take just a moment and reflect on all the changes that have happened over these past twenty-nine months, with just a Transitional pastor. Now imagine all of the wonderful possibilities that can happen with your next settled pastor. You have the people, you have the momentum, you have the Spirit, and you have God standing ready to guide you into the next level of ministry. A ministry that has yet to be defined, but I am confident that God will reveal it to you as you faithfully work at presenting God’s love to Rock Springs. Remember, your ministry isn’t for this congregation; this congregation is for the ministry to Rock Springs.
Let me close with what I “celebration to God” this morning. I celebrate God for the existence of First Congregational, as a specific faith community. Many of you constantly comment on what you feel I have brought to you, but the truth is, you have given me more than I have given to you. You have not just allowed me to serve you as pastor, but you have allowed me into your lives, a space that is so very sacred. You have let me stand beside you at the hospital. I have buried you, married you, baptized you, confirmed you, and eaten at God’s table with you. You have shared your hopes, your pains, your losses, your fears, and your joys with me. We have prayed together, laughed together, and cried together. Your pain has been my pain, your rejoicing has been my rejoicing.
I celebrate God, because I have watched a group of faithful believers grow in strength, in confidence, in hope, and in spiritual wisdom. You invited me in and allowed me to show you my understanding of God’s love, of God’s forgiveness, and of God’s inclusiveness. You have given me freedom to develop worship experiences that pushed the envelope of traditional styles. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t, but the important thing was, the willingness to explore. “The essential structure of God’s gathered people is to be an unfolding narrative, rather than a rigid institutional system.” Anne H.K. Apple, Feasting on the Word. Pg 300 yr B, vol1
I celebrate God, because I see a congregation that is living out the end of Psalm 111, “The reverence and awe of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Let us all continue to develop in reverence and awe of the Lord. Let us all “celebrate God” each day of our lives! Amen