Exodus 1:8-2:10

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Pentecost 14

August 21, 2005

NUCC

            In July 1995 Chicago was wrapped in a deadly heat wave.  For days the mercury hovered in the three-digit zone, with heat indices reaching 120 degrees.  In that period 739 Chicagoans died of heat-related causes.

            Emergency teams reported finding inadequate or nonexistent ventilation in the residences of the dead.  Persons living with cardiac or pulmonary weaknesses were the most susceptible.  Of course, the elderly were the most susceptible.

            What major media accounts failed to report was another deadly killer ---- the absence of community.  The majority of people who died in the heat wave died alone.  They had no one checking in on their attic apartments or their windowless lives. No family, friend or neighbor showed up to discover the severity of their plight.  Sixty-eight of these individuals died so anonymously that Cook County officials buried them in a mass grave.

            The absence of community does not require a heat wave or a cold spell, much less hundreds of deaths, to make its presence known.  It surrounds us in a daily way --- in our neighborhoods, our work lives and the anguish of our own souls.  In our television and computer dominated lives, face-to-face community is becoming increasingly rare.

            But we still yearn for that community, and not just a “good to meet you,” slap on the back kind of community.  We yearn for a community of the spirit.

            The same was true a long time ago.  People in the time of Moses, people in time of Jesus, people in the time of Paul also felt the draw into a spiritual family grounded in God’s love and guidance.  Paul wrote about it in our lesson from Romans this morning.

“For as one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

            We recognize such a draw this morning as we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism.  Two little boys, boys like Moses in the bull rushes, will have water poured over their heads and then they will be presented to you in this community we call Neillsville United Church of Christ.  We do this in community, not individually or privately because baptism is our initiation into the family of God.  In baptism we recognize that we are “created for community.”

            This community does not always come easily.  Paul recognized this fact as he was planting churches all over the countries we now call Turkey and Greece.  He faced opposition from old church members when he wanted to bring in new people.  He discovered disagreements among church members.  He also had to contend with some church members who thought they were better than other church members.

            That is why he emphasized that each church member is given special gifts by God and that together we use these gifts to glorify God.  He wrote in Romans 12:

“We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us:  prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

But Paul didn’t close the book on gifts.  He had only just begun.   We as his spiritual successors have the opportunity to discover our own gifts and then share them in our community.  This is what we will be doing this fall in our “Unwrapping Our Gifts” series on Thursday evenings.  I hope you are seriously considering this wonderful opportunity to open yourself to God’s spirit and receive the power that comes from gathering in a community of trust and love.  Through this community we can build up one another and support one another in our daily challenges and in the challenge we face as a church.  Through this community we will read the Bible to open an understanding rather than to close an argument.

            God has graced the church and woven its members together with a variety of gifts. These gifts, like their recipients, differ. Yet, we belong to one another because we belong to Christ. The image of the church suggests a patchwork quilt of varying colors and textures rather than a monotone flat sheet.

            I invite you to see our church here in Neillsville as such a quilt.  In this quilt we are not all alike.  We do not have the same talents.  We do not have the same viewpoints ------- about where to put carpets, how to interpret the Bible, who should get married, or when (if ever) it is just to start a war.  But we are still here together. 

Staying together and working together is not always easy.  Many years ago our friend Paul made that discovery as he tried to take the diversity of the church and, through hard work and grace, form a spirited community.

In the middle of the last century Brother Roger Schutz tried to start an ecumenical community in a small village in France called Taize.  At first he was rebuffed in these efforts by the horrible events of World War II, but after the war was finished he returned to found a religious community of men from various denominations.  Today this little village is the gathering point for thousands of young people from throughout the world who come searching for a community of the spirit.  They find it with the brothers of Taize.

            This week Karen and I watched “Million Dollar Baby.”  In this film a grizzled boxing trainer and an aspiring female boxer formed a community ----- not of blood (although some blood was spilled) but of spirit.  They became a family.  It was hard.  He gave advice, but she didn’t always take it.  She wanted to jump in the ring right away, but he made her wait.  Throughout the movie the trainer, portrayed by Clint Eastwood, kept going to church.  Even to the annoyance of the priest he showed up every day with questions, sometimes profound, but often inane.  Sometimes he didn’t really seem to get much out of church, but he kept coming back.  He was as persistent in his church-going as he was in supporting his female fighter, even to the end.

            I see this rocky relationship between the trainer and both his fighter and his church as a sort of model for us here at Neillsville UCC.  Young and old, left and right, confident and questioning, white collar and blue collar, town and country, life-long members and new-comers.  All of us together striving to keep the faith and love our God ------ using the talents God has given us.

            Today we welcome two little boys ---- babes in arms ---- into this community.  We welcome them with open arms as God has received us with open arms.  We know that we are better and stronger and more complete for our participation in this community.  We do better and are better because we are in community -------- because we were created for community.

Amen.