Adieu

by Dan McCoig

24 Sept 2023 | Dan McCoig

[Note: This was my final sermon from the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church. I am retired effective September 30, 2023.]

Romans 12:9-18 | Common English Bible

9 Love should be shown without pretending. Hate evil, and hold on to what is good. 10 Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other. 11 Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! 12 Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home. 14 Bless people who harass you—bless and don’t curse them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. 16 Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people who have no status. Don’t think that you’re so smart. 17 Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good.

18 If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people.

1.

If memory serves, my first sermon was in the fall of 1983 in a small church in the tobacco fields of southern Virginia.  I was a nervous wreck.  I can’t recall a thing I said.  I do recall recording it so that I could evaluate myself.  That recording is lost to time and was on micro-cassette anyway, a technology that no longer exists.

I’ve thought long and hard about today’s sermon.  I couldn’t decide if it should be a retrospective or a valedictory.  I decided to go with a little of both.  And, of course, since it is a sermon it should be good news!  

For the sake of perspective, I am the 18th pastor the congregation has said goodbye to in its 235 year history.  Pastors come and go but this congregation continues to carry the ministry of Christ forward.

The thing I will treasure most about my time as an associate pastor and pastor of this congregation is the relationships.  Here, I got to know you and you got to know me.  In some instances, the relationship went beyond pastor and parishioner.  It became one of friendship. 

I am not the only person who experienced this.  Jesus began his ministry with disciples and ended it with friends.

The pandemic was hard on relationships.  We learned to interact remotely and are commended for doing so.  I am deeply appreciative of our congregation’s elders, staff, and members for their flexibility and resilience during a tough season.  Flexibility and resilience will serve the congregation well as you enter this season of hopeful transition. 

Something else I will treasure is having had a front row seat to the unfolding of many of your lives over the course of many years — nearly 30.  I married persons from youth groups’ past.  I baptized their children.  I buried their grandparents and parents.  I elebrated milestone wedding anniversaries.  I witnessed wonderful youth become even more wonderful adults, some of whom are currently elders on our Session.  

Clergy are privileged to be invited into people’s lives when they are joyful and when they are sorrowful.  The joy filled my heart.  The sorrow broke my heart.  This is a not only a privilege.  It is also a holy honor.

2.

Church life has changed a lot in the course of my generation of ministry.  Fifty years ago, Christians made up 90% of the US population.  That number today is around 60%.  Demographers predict that the number of Christians will dip below 50% by the year 2070.  Presently, the fastest growing segment of the population who express a religious affiliation are the “nones”, that’s n-o-n-e-s.

Some folks will lament this trend because it is lamentable.  I lament it.  But some folks will see challenge and opportunity.  The Christian faith and the Christian Church have never been static.  They have always been dynamic.  They have always evolved. All of those nones are like us in that they need to be loved and to love in community.

Recall the apostolic church.  They were a profoundly small minority in the ancient Mediterranean world, tucked away in a remote corner of the Roman empire.  So small they hardly registered in the annals of history when early historians documented their era.

The mission field for the apostolic church was the streets in front of their homes, the village square, the local marketplace.  And their message was words about Jesus and the saving grace of God to transform life.  But their message was also their love for one another, their love for neighbors, and their care and support for others whom their culture overlooked and disregarded.  Loving everyone, not surprisingly, gets people’s attention.  I’m reminded of the question posed to an Amish man.  He was asked, “Are you a Christian?”  The man replied, “I don’t know.  You’ll have to ask my neighbor.”

The history of the church, as I see it, is one of losing its way and then finding another way, a new way.  Because life changes, the world changes, and so must we.

You get the picture.  Today’s church does not look like the church of a generation ago.  And tomorrow’s church will not look like today’s church.  Thank God.

Amidst all this change and evolution, there has been and continue to be some constants.  The presence and movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  And the faithfulness of God’s people to the presence and movement of God’s Holy Spirit.

The leading of God’s Spirit and our faithfulness has not and will not be without birth pains.  Sometimes the journey will involve two steps forward and one step back.  It will involve twists and turns we didn’t or couldn’t foresee.  But none of it is wasted.  God has a way of putting it all in the service of blessing.  We may not always sense it in the moment.  We may even fret whether it’s true.  But God is always present.  Of this, I am sure.  Over the years I have become a panentheist [I got that word from theologian Marcus Borg], that is everyone and everything is in God.  I’m not exactly sure how, but it is.

The birth pains will involve letting go of things we once thought sacrosanct.  The birth pains will involve embracing the new things the Spirit is doing.  Both of these involve discernment which comes through prayer, study, holy conversation, and experimentation.

3.

Our community would be diminished without the ministry of our congregation.  Over our long history — we have been around since the 1700s — we have expressed our love for neighbors in countless ways.  Mission partnerships in Ethiopia and Guatemala.  Helping to found, launch, and support the Sinclair Medical Clinic, Congregation Community Action Program [CCAP], Winchester Area Transitional Thermal Shelter [WATTS], the Helper Fund, and Jubilee Kitchen.  The Weekday School, which celebrated its 75th anniversary.  We provide meeting space weekly for people to gather to find support to battle their addictions and maintain their sobriety.  All of these things put a smile on God’s face.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is fond of saying that it’s a good thing the church saves so many people by pulling them out of the river.  But at some point, we need to go upstream and find out why they are falling into the river in the first place and do something about it.

The church is good at relief work.  There is an immediate need.  We step forward and meet it.  You need a meal.  Here it is.  You need shelter.  Here it is.  People are in the river.  We pull them out.

But at some point we are going to have to go upstream and learn some things and then, in Christ’s name, take action.  In my humble opinion, there are a couple of issues at this point in time that should be in the forefront of every Christian’s heart and mind as well as the heart and mind of every Christian community.

One issue is our planet’s climate.  It is changing and doing so more rapidly than initially predicted.  Climate change has been both a political and a theological football.  People have staked out their positions and convinced themselves that they are right and others are wrong.  Personally, I believe climate change is a political issue and a theological issue, but most importantly it is human issue.  This is the home God has given to us.  With God’s help, we are going to have to learn to live on it in more sustainable ways.  

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am an unashamed tree hugger.  Conservationist John Muir wrote:  “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”  He also wrote regarding a forest in Northern California: “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, and avalanches, but God cannot save them from fools . . .”

Our challenge is this — what as a Christian community can we say and do to contribute to the sustainability of our planet and avoid being the fools Muir lamented.  Our congregation is making strides in this direction with our Matthew 25 commitment and the work of our Creation Care Team.

Another issue is extremism and the divisiveness and violence it breeds.  Somewhere along the line we got the notion that some people simply don’t matter.  That they are unnecessary.  That they can be dismissed.  Why?  Because they see the world differently. Because they conduct their lives differently.  Because they value things we may not fully understand.

Somewhere along the line, we circled our wagons to include some and exclude others.  Somewhere along the line we concluded that we are isolated individuals rather than an interrelated community.  Somewhere along the line, we listened to the lie that our lives aren’t connected and we really don’t need each other.  I believe that we should stop listening to lies.

Latasha Morrison, the founder and CEO of Be the Bridge, was recently a featured presenter at Calvin University’s Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.  Her presentation was entitled “Discipling to Oneness Rather Than Sameness.”  I believe we can learn a thing or two from Ms. Morrison.  Her presentation lives on YouTube.  I commend it to you.

The Christian community should be a bridge — a bridge to God, to community, to love, to a table where there is a seat for everyone without exception.  It certainly should not be a wall or a fence or a barrier of any sorts that divides humans from one another.

4.

I want to conclude with gratitude.  The 13th century German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote that if he could utter only one prayer, it would be “thank you.”  I agree.  That’s my prayer this day.  Thank you, God.  Thank you for the holy opportunity to serve you, especially in the life of this congregation as well as in Strasburg, Virginia and Sharps, Virginia over many decades.

God is good.  It has been a joy to work side by side with a Session and staff and congregation who exude energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.  And, above all else are faithful to God.

And lastly, as First Presbyterian Church enters this time of hopeful transition, remember your congregation needs you.  Pray for and work with Michael, your interim pastor, and Amanda, your associate pastor a well as the rest of the staff and our elders.  Lead, engage, participate, say yes, give, pull together, connect for your congregation’s sake.  For your sake.  For the sake of the gospel.  For Christ’s sake.  Remember, if you are in the boat, you have to paddle.  In God’s realm, there are no idle passengers.  Amen.