Isaiah 43:1-7
I John 3:1-3
What a week!
Slowly the river waters started to rise. Slowly we began to realize that this would be worse than 15 years ago. Sometime in the middle of the morning on Thursday, Phil Jameison said that he would be leaving and that to get home he would have to drive to the Quad Cities and then back on Route 30 because flooding had forced the closing of Route 1 between Iowa City and Mt. Vernon.
After the violent—and very much unneeded storms yesterday, we’ve come to Confirmation Sunday, which is always a time of great joy. It is a cause for celebration that four young people are joining the Congregational United Church of Christ this morning. They have been studying and talking about their faith, the Bible, and what it means to be a member of this congregation.
Last Wednesday the confirmands met with the Diaconate and shared their statements of faith. That’s always an inspiring and challenging occasion—hearing that mixture of faith and doubt, belief and questions expressed in new ways. We had a lengthy and spirited discussion with all five youth from the confirmation class.
Of course, all of this took place in the context of larger concerns in our city.
Along with thousands of others this past week, I spent some of my time filling sandbags, joining with many from this congregation in doing a small thing in the face of great destruction. I fielded calls from members asking, “What can I do?” “Where am I needed?”
Flood waters began once more to pour over the spillway. Homes were threatened and evacuated. And still people came from all over to do everything that could be done.
This worst of times also shows our city at its best. College students, long time residents, newcomers have been working together to protect houses and university buildings and businesses. The Salvation Army left water, sandwiches, and cookies near the pile of sand I was working on, leading one student to shout: “The Salvation Army rocks!”—which to my knowledge is the first time that sentence has ever been spoken.
We cared for each other, supported each other, hoped with each other. The rain came. The floodwaters came. There was a sense, however, that there was something greater than storms and floods; that we would get through this together.
There was a sense of belonging, of community—if only for the immediate time and purpose.
With this sense of belonging, we’ve come to this Confirmation Sunday.
In the Congregational tradition, belonging precedes believing.
Our tradition recognizes the right of individual conscience. We don’t have creeds or other tests of faith for membership. We put a lot of stock in our covenant with each other that we read earlier this morning. How we live toward one another is as important as what we believe.
That’s how it is at Congregational UCC. Our emphasis is on covenant, not creed. Each person is responsible for his or her own beliefs. In owning the covenant of this church each of us agrees to belong to a believing community and, in that community, to work out our own beliefs.
Those who joined our church today have chosen belonging. Magill, Scott, Sophie, and Taylor, you have decided to take your place in that long line of the faithful who have been part of this congregation for over 150 years. And, really, you’re taking your place in the even longer line of the faithful who have chosen to follow the risen Christ for two thousand years. In spite of differences in age and language and culture, in spite of differences in belief, you want to belong. This congregation is now your place as much as it is that of your parents.
You are not the future of the church. You are the church.
Listen again to the First Letter of John.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Christ, for we shall see Christ as Christ is.” These are words about transformation—about becoming something—or someone—new.
Before we join a church, we are children of God by the love God has given us.
We are children of God with all of our imperfections, all of our anger and fear and doubt, all of our sin.
What we will be is not yet known, but we have faith that somehow we are becoming more like Christ. This is reflected in the short prayer: “Creation’s Lord, we give you thanks that your work is incomplete; that we are in the making still.” Or, as one poster put it: “Please be patient. God is not finished working with me yet.”
We need a place to be nurtured,
we need a place to grow,
we need a place to discover more of who we are,
we need a place to live out our identity.
So we are drawn to the church—the place where we are nurtured in our faith, the place that sends us out to show the love of God.
The South African Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, said, “Without us, God cannot.”
God does not feed the hungry or fill the sandbags, or make decisions that protect at city.
Magill, Scott, Sophie, and Taylor, you are needed out beyond our walls to show and tell the good news of God’s love. You are needed to stand up for what is right when others won’t. Maybe you’ll do some of the things we already do: feeding the hungry, siding with the poor. I hope you will find your own ways of being faithful and tell us about them.
Without you, God cannot.
That is only half of the message, however. The complete quotation from Desmond Tutu says: “With us, God cannot. Without God, we cannot.”
Without restoring yourself in worship you cannot do your work that so desperately needs to be done. Without the nurture and support of this community, without the strength that comes from prayer, the insight that comes from study, you will soon burn out. When we are at our best, this congregation is a place of renewal. Here you will find rest and welcome. And in your returning, you will renew and change us.
We need your exuberance, your searching faith, your new ways of speaking of God, your new ways of speaking to God. Share with us the many gifts that you have. Help us to see what it means to be young in these days—speak to us about the struggles and the joy.
And my charge to the rest of this congregation is this: stay with these youth. Talk with them. Get to know them. Learn from them and share yourselves with them. They need the wisdom of age in the difficult times of youth.
We pause in these uncertain days to celebrate and to give thanks to God. Four youth have joined us in a very memorable time.
There is work to be done—not only the immediate tasks at hand this week as the river crests and we start looking toward recovery, but the work that we have in this place, this world in the years ahead. Doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly with our God.
Sophie, Magill, Scott, and Taylor: No longer do you need to look for the helpers—for they are you.