Bob Girard

Paul wrote to the people in Corinth on many occasions. He wrote to them because travel was a hard time. It wasn't as easy as jumping in a car and driving down the expressway getting from one place to another. They walked or they took donkeys. Paul knew that the people in Corinth were having some problems. So he wrote them words of encouragement. He wrote to them to give them strength to carry on. And the many letters that Paul wrote have an impact on us today right here in Bridgetown. Many of those letters that Paul wrote could be directed at us today.

There is an old story and I'm sure that you have heard it before. But I will share it with you once again. Three blind men were placed around an elephant and asked to describe the elephant. The first man who was touching the elephant's leg said, “An elephant is like a tree trunk.” The second who was holding the tail said, “An elephant is like a snake. It is much smaller around than a tree and it doesn't come to the ground.” The third man reached out and touched the trunk. He said the other two were wrong. The elephant was like a giant vacuum. The descriptions of the church are much like this story. If I called upon several of you to describe the church, you would each describe it in a different way. And no way would be wrong. For we each feel, we each experience the church in different ways, in the ways that touch our lives personally. Sometimes the church is like a tree, the trunk being strong. Sometimes, yes, we feel the church is a snake. And I hope that we feel that the church is like the vacuum cleaner that can suck us in and pull us together, give us encouragement.

When we are asked to talk about Pilgrim Church, what is our most common response? I know what mine is. It is in Bridgetown. It's on Bridgetown Road. It is that red building with the shake roof. Well, we've only described by that where we are, where we meet, nothing being said about what we really are as a congregation. Isn't the church more than a location or a building? The church in Corinth had no building. Those folks gathered in homes. Does it sound familiar here about 140 years ago when Pilgrim broke off from Salem? The church members met in Dr. Musekamp's home until they got enough funds together and enough strength to move out here and to build the first building. The location and the building may change but does that change the church? Not at all. For we are the church. Each of us. We are the bricks. We are the mortar. We are God's hands and voices. Paul points out in his letters to the people in Corinth that we are brought together by the calling of Jesus. We are always to keep God's mission in front of us. Often in the church at Corinth, they got wrapped up in what they thought should be done or how to do it. And they forgot that God was leading them. I confess that today, we and other churches fall into that same rut. I think that's why each of us reading Bible passages throughout the week is so important. As we learn more about what the scriptures are saying, we will be able to stay focused more fully on what God wants us to be about. No, we are not just one congregation but we are a part of that which is so large, that which reaches around the world. God's love is everywhere and it's us holding hands with each other and holding hands with people that we don't know, symbolically those that we never met or will meet. It is so important that we work together to keep God's word alive.

I said just a couple of weeks ago as we thought about the new year that as we go forward into the new year, we reach out and touch people around us. Because of us, they will know we are Christians and because of our actions, they will be re-enlivened. They've not been a part of the church. Perhaps they will. Just like Daryl said this morning to the children, there are many things that we do that touch other people's lives. We show kindness and compassion in much of what we do. The simplest of things can mean so much to other people like some of the children said, to carry groceries, to clean up after themselves, send a note or a card to other people, taking someone where they need to be, running errands, being active in our family's activities and their lives, being active in our friend's lives. All of these and many more things and in many more ways we share God's love in the world.

God has given us gifts to share. We talk about them as talents. We talk about them as abilities, to be able to work with our hands and our minds, to cook or to bake, to build, to teach, to use our voices spoken and in song. All of these things help us to be the church alive in the world. We are the church.

If we read the letters that Paul has written to the Corinthians, that will come alive for us once again. Those letters remind us that we are not a place. We are not a building. But we are people of God called to be about His work, connected with others around the world. Everything we do no matter how small or how large is because God is a part of our lives. Let's celebrate. We are called by Jesus to be the church, to be at work, to be alive - not only in Bridgetown but throughout the world.