Community Church Sermons

Year C

May 2, 2010

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple…

Psalm 148

Revelation 21:1-5a

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

LISTEN IN!

Well, I listened to Pastor Rhonda’s sermon from last week. When I got home from a few days away, all I heard from people was, “You’ve got to listen to Rhonda’s sermon. It was REALLY GREAT!”

So I surfed over to www.tellicochurch.com, clicked on the link “Listen to a Service”, selected the April 25, 2010 service, clicked again, and listened. I heard beautiful hymns sung by you, the congregation; a wonderful handbell piece; Tim’s inspiring prayer; thought provoking readings from Scripture; a choral anthem that began with a majestic harmony of men’s voices.

And then came the sermon.

And it was good, Pastor Rhonda. It was really good.

I loved the telephone call to God. Did you all like that? Did you think that up all by yourself, Rhonda?

Well, I went and told everybody I could to surf over to www.tellicochurch.com, click on the “Listen to a Service” link, and select the service from April 25, 2010. I told them it was a GREAT sermon, well worth listening to and that they’d love the phone call to God. I was really pumped up!

Then, on Friday, we got the telephone bill.

Rhonda, let’s just say, it was not a local call.

But it was a fine sermon – about you and me learning to hear and listen to the voice of God, and then learning to SPEAK to others with the voice of God. And that falls into what I want to preach about today, and that is the meaning of raising a church steeple.

You know, one of the first things I saw when I visited Tellico Village Community Church, was the amazing steeple on this building. For me, it will always be the signature steeple of our church because it truly represents who we are. I noticed right away that it is a cross in every direction. Have you ever noticed that? Every piece connects itself to another piece, and together, they form a cross. When you go outside today, take a look at this steeple that is a cross in every direction. See if you can count how many crosses there are!

We are congregation of people representing nearly every Christian denomination. We represent nearly every state in the nation, and a considerable number of us come from, or have lived, overseas.

We are a people of many cross traditions.

Sometimes, new people come into our church and want us to become like their church back home. But we can’t do that. That’s not us. There are no Methodists here, you see, or Presbyterians or Lutherans or Catholics or…pick your denomination. But we have lots of Methodists AND Presbyterians AND Lutherans AND Catholics AND…pick your denomination…and we are ALL represented by the banner under which we worship – this cross in every direction.

You see, that’s what a steeple really is. It is the flag that represents who we are and what we do and how we live.

So the magnificent steeple that graces this beautiful sanctuary says something very important about WHO we are.

On Wednesday of this week, we will raise a new steeple that declares WHOSE we are. At the very top of that steeple will stand a single ten-foot by six-foot cross.

The cross of Jesus.

WHO we are and WHOSE we are – that’s what our two steeples represent.

The steeple is the flag that represents who we are, whose we are, what we do, how we live, and what we stand for.

In one of the big downtown churches in Atlanta, a scruffy guy showed up one day. He said he wanted to turn his life around. So he came to worship for a while and when the next new members class was announced, he signed up for it. He was completely honest with the pastor and the other people in the class. He had lived a pretty sordid life, caught up in the world of crack cocaine, living on the streets, committing various crimes to support his habit. Somehow, he ended up in a drug rehabilitation center and had gotten clean. He’d just been released from there and now he wanted to change his life around. Needless to say, the people in that class bonded with Nelson and they all became very close friends. They were accepted into membership together. They shared in Bible study. Nelson even became an usher.

But one Sunday, Nelson didn’t show up for church. A second Sunday came and went. No Nelson.

Then they got word that Nelson was in jail. Everyone who had come to love him was so disappointed.

One of the men went to visit Nelson in jail. “What happened?” he asked.

“Well,” said Nelson, “I sat in church Sunday after Sunday hearing the scriptures, listening to the sermons, singing the hymns…and all along I knew I was hiding something. There was an outstanding warrant out for my arrest, for something I did a long time ago. I just knew that I couldn’t come and sit under the cross of Christ each week without taking care of that. So I came down to the police station and turned myself in.”

Then, with great emotion, Nelson said, “They say that with good behavior, I’ll be out next April, just in time for Easter. Won’t that be something – to celebrate Easter with you all as a new man!”

“Beneath the cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand…” sings the old hymn. And that’s what we do, you see, when we raise a steeple and gather under the cross of Christ. We take a stand. We accept a new identification. That’s what Rhonda was getting at last week with her sermon about God speaking through us. We have to put away the gossip, the backbiting, the whining, the disrespectful ways we sometimes speak to each other. That may be how they do it on the news shows. That may be how they do it on talk radio. That may be how they do it in the business world. That may be how they do it in Washington, DC.

But that’s not how we do it under the cross of Jesus Christ.

The cross MEANS something. The cross declares WHO we are and WHOSE we are, what we do, how we live, and what we stand for. So we have to learn to speak in new ways that represent our faith and our Lord. And it’s more than just how we speak. It is about taking up a whole new way of living, thinking, and being.

“Behold, I am making everything new!” God says in Revelation 21:5. What that means is that when we gather under the cross, we put the old away and let God create us anew – as the people who represent God in this world.

Some of you have been here from the very beginning of Tellico Village Community Church. Most of you have joined our church somewhere further along the line of our 22 years of life. Others of you are just joining us now.

But whoever you are today, I want to stress the importance of what we are going to do on Wednesday when the new steeple is raised. We will be raising the flag of our faith. We will be taking a stand for Christ. We will be declaring to all who pass by WHO we are, WHOSE we are, what we do, and how we live.

So this morning, I want to give an altar call.

No, not the kind where you have to get up out of your seat and come forward. We’ve got too many artificial body parts in this group for that sort of thing.

But the kind of altar call where – like Nelson - you make a decision. It is time to decide in your heart that this is IT – that you mean business about being a follower of Christ – that you are ready to be a committed member of this fellowship or whatever church you belong to – that you are prepared to make the sacrifices and do the work that serve God’s purposes – and express God’s love in tangible ways – and that you are ready to accept the changes that you and God know must take place in how you speak, how you relate with others, how you view the world, how you use your gifts, how you participate in the family of God.

So as we prepare to lift high the cross, to raise our new steeple, what a wonderful opportunity is before us to make a new commitment to Jesus Christ. For some, this might be the first time you’ve ever taken a stand for God. I say, “Go for it!” You need the Lord in your life and God needs you on his team!

For others, this may be a renewal of vows you made years ago. Think back to that moment when you gave your life to Jesus. Remember how it felt. Recall how kind God has been to you over the years, and how your life has brought God’s kindness to others. Tell God you want to re-up for another tour of duty!

What we are undertaking these days will impact the life of this community and this world for generations to come. This is serious business we are about because, you see, the first cross ever raised was on a hill far away where Jesus poured out his life for us.

And now Jesus says to us, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

Would you pray with me?