This has been a great week for Grace Church. We had a very positive meeting with the bishop who asked some good questions, clarified some process issues and gave us a ground breaking date. [pause] Thursday June 10. He wants us to succeed.
The Capital Campaign Team is meeting again and making good progress. The diocese is providing us with assistance that will make our capital campaign successful. In fact we received another major donation this week pushing our funding over the $1M mark.
And the vestry retreat yesterday helped us become effective leaders of this Body of Christ in a direction God wants us to take. It’s no secret: Grace Church needs to grow. How are we going to do that? We will not grow in numbers until all of us grow in spirit. We would not be here if Peter had not been praying in Joppa. Peter’s vision enabled the early church to spread beyond the bounds of the Jews to the Gentiles. Peter’s vision enables us to be here.
I have asked the vestry to adopt two simple spiritual disciplines and I encourage you to do these as well: 1. Read scripture every day. You can read a selection of scripture in the Daily Office. If you need help finding the selection for the day in the prayer book, come see me. You can read it on-line. You can get it on your smart cell phone. Pick some method or book and just keep at it every day. 2. Pray daily. Pray for Grace Church. Pray for Muskogee. Pray for this Diocese of Oklahoma. Pray for your vestry, rector and bishop. Pray that God will send the people here who will find a home in this church. Pray that we develop the ministries and programs newcomers need to feel welcome and keep them here. When we are doing God’s will, God wants us to succeed. God wants Grace Church in Muskogee Oklahoma to succeed.
In a town with a church on every corner Grace Church offers so much more than “Just another church.” We are open and welcoming. One parishioner told me she was in line at the grocery store recently and when she mentioned that she was a member of Grace Church the person behind her said, “Oh, you’re the church that loves everybody.” Grace Church does not talk about other people’s sins. We leave the judgment up to God. In place of that we just love the people who walk through the door like a mother. And just like Peter was told in his vision to “make no distinctions between them and us,” people at Grace Church make no distinctions.
Do you know what an incredible gift that is to people? They walk in here sometimes hurting from the wounds of living in the world. They wonder, “Will this church be nice to me or will it hurt?” We make no distinction. We love ‘em all.
Others walk in here hurting from their previous experiences with a church. It is very difficult to get back on a horse after you have been thrown off. It is also very difficult to try attending a church again after you have been wounded by one. These people wonder “Will this church hurt me too?” We make no distinctions. We love ‘em all.
One hospitality makes all kinds of people feel welcome. Grace Church has that gift. It is one of the core strengths of this parish.
Have you ever considered a green on a golf course? It is what biologists call a “monoculture.” It is one kind of grass and no other kind of green plant is allowed to grow there. It is an artificial, unnatural environment. It requires an enormous amount of energy, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides to make it look so pretty and uniform. But natural systems never look pretty and uniform like a golf green. Look in the woods or in some weedy patch. You’ll find dozens or hundreds of kinds of plants in a small area. The diversity of plants actually serves to support and strengthen the system. A natural collection of plants is a beautiful system.
In the same way a church of hospitality mimics a natural system. The church reflects diversity of every kind and the diverse groups of people actually stabilizes the congregation. You get diversity when you make no distinctions.
When Joan and I visited here last January, we sat in the back and observed. There were 63 people in here that day. That did not deter me. I do not know if I had a vision or if I was just imagining it but I looked at this worship space and I saw it nearly full with people of all kinds. I could sense the laughter, the love, the joy. The same things you have shared with me these first two months. I knew two things at that moment: 1. God wanted us here. 2. This church will be full again.
There are about 40,000 people in Muskogee. Less than 10,000 of them are in church on Sunday. Our mission field consists of 30,000 people who do not attend church. As a community, if we surround ourselves in daily prayer; if we ground ourselves in daily scripture; if we make no distinctions then we will be ready to welcome the people God sends to us.
The harvest IS plenty. Grace Church offers gifts to this community that no other church offers. Are you ready to deepen your relationship with God? Can you take on a new discipline of daily prayer and scripture reading? Can you pray for the leaders of this parish? Can you pray for the people out there to start coming through our door? Are you ready to get involved to make this vision a reality? After all, God wants us to succeed.