“Memories to Build On” was the theme we chose for our 30th Anniversary celebration last year. We celebrated the vision, the courage, and the generosity of the people who provided the facilities we worship in today. As we looked back we celebrated the ongoing faithfulness of God both in the past and present. But there was more… We looked to the future. As we looked to the future we wanted to build on, not rest on, those memories.
We are a new generation. God’s call to make disciples and “develop whole people in a broken world” remains. He calls us to move forward, not be satisfied with past accomplishments.
During the past year, many people have worked hard to bring us to our Ground Breaking Service today. Two things needed to happen. Money was required to go ahead with the project. The leadership wanted to build but they did not want to plunge the congregation into a heavy debt load and compromise our ability to do ministry. Secondly we needed to put in place all the necessary details that building projects require in order to be ready to build this spring. This involved working with the Hawkey Church Management team and with the city of Kingston planning department. Through the capital fund teams (which involved over half of our congregation) and the building team composed of Tony Corcoran and Gary Neff, the two have almost perfectly come together. (On Friday the city faxed Tony a conditional permit which allows us to begin excavation right away.)
Today we received the First Fruits offering which is so important in providing up-front money as we begin construction. As a result, the Ground Breaking Ceremony represents many stands all coming together, enabling us to move forward in faith.
We thank God for his faithfulness! We thank you for recognizing the priority of God in the giving – of your time, your energy, and your financial resources. Amen! Our movement forward has been based on the request that you and I listen to God. As we have listened and as we have responded together, God has done amazing things in our congregation. I am so thankful.
Our slogan “Together We Build” was not just a slogan. Your response gave reality to the words. We knew from the outset that this project required God and togetherness. God is present and togetherness has happened. Amen again!
The fact this has all come together so beautifully has created a crisis in Cyndi and my life—maybe more in my life than Cyndi’s. My good friend Tony is whispering nasty words in my ears. “Peter, pick up your office and walk… It needs to happen before we start excavating.”
Pick up my office and walk? I have 26 plus years of treasures in there. Unfortunately many of the treasures need to be discarded – but that is painful.
I have started. I went through one box of old files. Files that took me back to seminary days – 1973 and up. I found my first set of sermons that I used at district Wesleyan Youth Retreat in May of 1976. It was my first and last time as a speaker at a youth retreat. I threw those messages away.
I found something else stashed away in that box of old files. It was a message from which I want to share some ideas. The message broadens my understanding of the “together” in “Together We Build.” Alan Moore of Holy Trinity United Methodist Church, in Danvers, Mass., preached this message. I was doing my seminary field education at that church. On the day the message was preached, Cyndi and I were celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary. We were living across the street from Holy Trinity. Come to think of it, we have lived most of our married lives beside church buildings.
The sermon was entitled “The Vote of the Dead” and it was preached on Memorial Day, May 26, 1974. The people of Kingston Standard, some who are still part of this congregation, were preparing to build these facilities under the leadership of my father. In exactly 25 days from that date, on June 20, the congregation would have their Ground Breaking Ceremony on this site, then a vacant lot.
Alan’s message came from Luke 20. Some Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection had asked Jesus a trick question about the resurrection. They were attempting to make Jesus and anyone else who believed in the resurrection look stupid. Jesus’ reply blew them away. They had no response to what he said. The crowd around him, who watched the interaction, were impressed.
The closing part of Jesus’ response pointed the Sadducees to Exodus 3: 6. It is the story of Moses and the burning bush from which he hears the voice of God. Luke 20: 37 and 38 reads, “But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
From this text, which affirms the truth of the resurrection, Alan Moore made three points. The first the dead vote or they influence the present biologically. Their blood flows through our veins. As we prepare to build, ome of us here represent second and third generations. It was our father or mother or grandmother our grandfather who stood among the people who were part of that ground breaking ceremony 32 years ago. Today we who have their blood flowing through our veins are part of this event. We will even use the same shovel. We continue the work they began on the corner of Sydenham and Sunnyside Roads. So when we say “Together We Build,” we join hands with those who travelled before us.
Secondly the dead “vote” or influence us by what they left behind. The blood of the generation before us does not have to flow through our veins for us to enjoy, do ministry and receive blessings from God. They did not build for themselves, they did not build only for their children or grandchildren, they built for each of you because they believed God wanted them to establish a physical lighthouse for Him on this particular corner of the community. Their willingness to put these facilities here means that for many of you this church building is part of the reason you are here today. It became a lighthouse that God used in your life. So whether related or not when we say “Together We Build,” we join hands with those who travelled before us.
Thirdly the dead vote or influence us not just because their blood flows through our veins and because they have left behind the works of their hands. The dead vote because in Jesus Christ they are alive. Alan Moore pointed out that, as people who are alive in Christ, they are different from when they died. They are not the same. If we were to encounter one of them, we might not even believe that we are talking to the same person. They have continued to grow, to develop, and to understand more perfectly the will of God. Why? In Christ, they are alive. People who are alive grow and develop. The internal conflicts or misunderstandings are gone. They now see clearly for according to 1 John 3:2, “Jesus has been revealed to them fully and because they have seen him they are like him.”
So whenever we take a step towards Jesus ourselves, whenever we help another person discover life in Jesus, whenever we choose to set aside our own agenda and our priorities for Jesus, whenever we indicate by our choices that we are ready to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, whenever we take a step of faith and courage—like this extension project—they cheer! They rejoice! They say, “Way to go. You are beginning to understand. You are starting to get things right.”
In the words of Alan Moore, “The vote of all who have gone before, the vote of all who have died in Christ is cast every time on the side of love, of courage, of hope, of justice, of integrity, and faith.”
The author of Hebrews (12:2) describes them as part of a great cloud of witnesses who encourage us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
This morning when we put the shovel in the ground, we join hands with those who went before. We take the next step forward with the goal of developing a facility that provides accessible, welcoming space.
The God we serve is not the God of the dead but the living. What those who went before us did, they did to make an eternal difference in the lives of people. What we are doing, we do to make an eternal difference in the lives of people. May our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be praised! Amen.