Grace and Glory, June 8, 2008
Genesis 12:1-9
Grace and Peace to You Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I bring you greetings from your sister congregation, Peace.
We rejoice with you as you travel on this journey of faith, which God has set before you.
As our forefather Abraham was commanded to leave everything he knew and all that was comfortable; so you too have heard the call of the Lord to leave what you knew and all that you found comfortable. With the command to Abraham came a promise - a promise to “make of you a great nation” and a promise of blessing. With God’s command to Grace and Glory, He also brings a promise- a promise of love and of His redeeming grace.
Seeding, planting, nurturing and growing a new church brings with it much excitement, as well as concern and doubt. Maybe you are thinking to yourself:
“Look at all of the people coming to worship with us….but will they keep coming?”
“I love the design of our new church…but we will be able to afford it?”
“Look at all of the things we are doing…but look at all the things we have left to do”
“We’ve built the physical building… now what do we do?”
Excitement and doubt. These are emotions which have been with us for a long time. Look at Abraham. Do you think he was excited when God told him that he would “make of you a great nation”? How about later in the story of Abraham and Sarah, when God told them that they were going to be parents in their “advanced age”? Do you think that there was some excitement? Do you think Abraham and Sarah might also have had some doubts? I know I would have had a lot of doubts and a lot of anxiety. How one reacts to doubt and anxiety can lead us on a variety of journeys. Some of these journeys can be very unpleasant. Abraham’s and Sarah’s doubt put them on a journey filled with impatience. Abraham tried to take matters into his own hands, not trusting in the God of promise. His impatience backfired and Abraham learned a valuable lesson. This is a lesson which has withstood the passage of time. This is the lesson of faith. Once faith was accepted and relied upon, Abraham and Sarah were sustained and able to continue on God’s journey, not their own, and to go and to grow in their faith.
Today, our hope is that you continue the faith of Abraham and Sarah. We pray for your congregation to continue to be open to what God has in store for you - for you as individuals and for you as a community of faith. We also pray for you to continue to build upon the mission which God has begun here in Fluvanna.
We come here today as part of your faith community. We join with you at the Lord’s Table, a feast which unites us all. We come here today to offer ourselves as partners in your faith journey and to rejoice with you that God is with us always. We remain your sister congregation and as such we are near – spiritually and physically. We are happy to help you at any time and you remain in our prayers as you continue to grow.
In closing, as Paul writes in Romans 15:5-6:
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
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