"Life Is Unity"
                                  October 22, 2006
   Dan Wilkie, TEI Graduate, Assistant Minister      

Scripture: Psalms 133, I Corinthians 12: 12-25

            Today is the kickoff of our annual stewardship campaign, and for many people, it is the time when they look at raising funds to pay the bills rather than real stewardship, they become mere bill collectors instead of the managers of God’s gifts. .

            I like to think of stewardship in a different way, as a time to reflect on all the blessings that we receive throughout the year, a time to reflect on what the church means, and how we as God’s children can make the church even more successful.  I like to think about the roles we all play in the larger body of Christ, the universal church.  To me, stewardship in our Christian context means sharing the gifts we all receive of time, talent, and treasure to further God’s world on this earth, and it is through these acts that we show our love for God, strengthening the church and caring for others. 

            In this way the church becomes what the writer of our scripture lesson in 1 Corinthians described, as one body with many parts, parts that depend on each other.  As a hand cannot work without orders from the brain, the brain cannot function without the heart pumping the blood that carries the oxygen from the lungs.  And most of us know what happens when one or all of these parts cease to function properly--the body does not do too well. 

            As you look at the altar this morning you will notice an afghan on a chair.  It is a simple yet beautiful afghan, a special afghan crocheted for me by Mary shortly after we were married.  Each color is lovingly connected to the other colors, each knot and each stitch were painstakingly counted so that it would be balanced and even.  Each part is connected to each other part.  Like the analogy of the human body the scripture uses to represent the church, this afghan represents how we are bound together as people, the unity we share, each of us connected in some way to another.  And just as each color of yarn in the afghan is woven together out of different textures of material to create something so wonderful, so too are each of us intertwined despite the differences in talent, time and resources we have to share.   

            It is this unique creation of our human differences and unity of purpose that has given this church life, and it is from our relationships in this church that we live.  Think for a moment about all the things this church means, the support for those who mourn and grieve, the prayers for the those in the hospital, the joys of new births and baptisms, the spiritual growth we experience through worship and communion, the friends we make as we share coffee or a meal together, the wonderful experiences of our youth, or the beautiful gift in building the labyrinth for the community, . 

            Yet as we reflect on this life, we need to realize that not one of these things would possible without all of us working together.  In the beginning it took people of courage and love who decided that this church was needed in this community, to invest their time and energy and financial support to see that it happened.  It was a lot of people of vision who helped build the first building and later who would move to this building.  It is the same level of commitment of the people who serve on boards and committees today which keeps the  church functioning, like the Board of Trustees who oversee the maintenance of the building and manage the fiscal resources or the Board of Deacons who provide worship resources or the Board of Christian Education which manages the Sunday School programs for all ages, the Fellowship Board which oversees all of our fellowship activities, or the Church Growth Board which is responsible for outreach into the community.  

            It is also more, because in addition to the time we give and talents we share, it takes financial resources, and it is each of us giving that helps pay the bills, keeping the doors open, paying the staff, maintaining our musical resources and so much more.  They are the same resources of everyone who has given for the building fund that has helped pay for the upgrades in the building like the gathering space, the Kids' Corner, and updated restrooms, making the building more user friendly. 

            We do so much and have accomplished so much, and yet there is always work to do.  God calls on us in ever-increasing ways to strengthen the church, to further a loving world and while each of us can do some things individually, we cannot do all that we are called to do without the efforts of all of us.   It is in the times when we combine our efforts and take ownership of the lives we are called to live, we can do more than we thought possible.  So often people feel they have little to offer, maybe because of their health there is not much they can do, perhaps they don’t have enough money, and wonder what talents they have that can be of use, and maybe they wonder if the time they have to give can really be of use. Yet if we work together, opening our hearts and minds to new things and look outside of the confines of what we think is possible, everyone can contribute something.

To help us focus on the power of unity, we will be doing a brief exercise.  As you entered the sanctuary today for worship you were each given a piece of yarn, the same sort of yarn that was used to crochet my afghan.  Take that yarn now and look at it, some are shorter, some are longer, just as we are different, think for a minute about who you are, think about what this church means, think about gifts you possess, or resources you might give, or time that you have.  Now think about the person next to you, think about the gifts, or the time or resources they have to give, how might you work with them to make things happen, how might you be empowered to do or give more?  Now think about everyone in this sanctuary,  reflect on the analogy of the afghan, and the human body, think about how we are connected and depend on each other and the importance of our unity of purpose.

            Now as you consider these things I would ask the people sitting in the pews closest to the center aisle to take your piece of yarn and tie it to the piece of the person next to you, working towards the outside aisle.  I would then ask the person in the end of the pew to stand and take the rope you have made and tie it to the rope of yarn made by the folks in the pew in front of you, work your way to the back with the ushers making the connection of the two sides with their yarn, as we will do up here in front.  Now if we have done this properly we should have one large circle of yarn.  I would now ask those on the outside of the pews holding the yarn circle to stand. . 

            This circle of yarn represents each of us in unity and what happens if everyone gives all they can of their time, talent and treasures.

            Now as I take a pair of scissors and cut out a section of the circle, and lay that part aside and tie the ends of the larger circle back together, we still have the circle, but it is smaller, a representation of what happens when we don’t share as much as we can.   

            Now what happens when I take another piece of the circle out and tie the ends of the circle together?  Or take another piece out and can’t connect the ends together, what happens to us, to our programs, this building, or our mission work? 

            We have the chance with this new campaign, by committing more of our resources to build the larger circle, to replace the missing pieces, to tie up the loose ends.  We have the chance to care for others; strengthen the church; care for ourselves and truly love God Back. 

            So as we begin our stewardship campaign, may the thoughts of all that this church is and what it means to us be in our hearts  May we reflect on the relationships we have here and the sense of community we share,ocally and globally.  May we always seek to do more than we thought possible and give more than we ever imagined.

            May we always seek to remember that it is unity that enhances our lives, and  that it is in the sharing of our lives and all that we have that makes unity possible. 

            Amen.