University Christian Church

You may have heard it said, age is just a number.

More than a few of you have told me, “Pastor, I may be 60, but I still feel 30 on the inside.”

And I know there are at least a few youngsters in this church who may be 9 or 10 but act like they are 18.

With the advance of new medical treatments or more information about how to live healthy, our life expectancy has grown over the past 60 years. We are able to do more later in life than we might have thought was possible. 60 is not necessarily old anymore.

That’s why today, on this auspicious day, when University Christian Church, the church at the intersection of a loving God and a proud part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a movement for wholeness in a broken world, celebrates the beginning of our 60th year of ministry, we claim - “60 Is the New 20”.

We affirm today that we may have been around a while but we still feel young on the inside.

And we say to God, we are ready for another growth spurt.

Now, that does’t mean we don’t have work to do. That doesn’t mean the challenges we face aren’t real. It doesn’t mean that it is going to come to easy, if we as a community of faith dare to write another 60 years of ministry at this incredible intersection.

The average age of many mainline churches is 67, and it’s easy to see why. We live in a time that is divided, where the evils of racism, sexism, homophobia, inequality, and fear continue to do their best to defeat us and divide us. We live in a time when the church has often failed to protect the vulnerable in our midst, especially children, and chosen to be silent in the face of injustice. We live in a time when the good news of Jesus can seem drowned out by google searches and self help tips and competing voices, including the voice that says a bigger house, a newer car, a bigger salary will solve all of our ills, including the voices that suggest shooting up synagogues and mosques and churches is the right way to shape their world.

I read and shared a powerful article this week from Disciples.org about First Christian Church of Denton, TX that had gone through an intentional time of revisioning their future, and out of that process, they developed a survey to ask people who don’t go to church about their experiences with Christianity and with faith communities. They even advertised it in the local newspaper to get as many responses as possible, and the feedback they got was heartbreaking. Story after story of judgment. Story after story of rejection.

Maybe this is why most churches don’t make it past 60. Because we struggle to live up our call to love God and love neighbors.

In our scripture passage today, the Apostle Paul challenges the church at Ephesus, a church like many in the first century world, that knew hard times. They knew persecution. They knew risk and danger. They lost dear disciples, some of whom got tossed into jail, some of whom passed on into God’s eternal care far too early. No doubt, from time to time, they questioned their own energy and passion. They questioned their future - they questioned whether this good news they dared to proclaim was really making a difference. They struggled to grow, to share the gospel, to live up to their call to love God and love neighbors.

So, Paul, in this letter of encouragement, urges them to live a life worthy of their calling… anyway.

Paul challenges them to get their heads up out of their own discouragement and back into the bigger picture, the grander picture.

As opposed to the divided communities in which the Ephesus church lived, Paul writes, through this Jesus Christ, we become one. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (V4-6)

I have no doubt that the hearers of this letter struggled with this concept just like we might, but Paul recognized that God’s vision is always bigger than our own. And even though the world around us may seek to turn us against each other, to sap our energy through fear and distraction, to separate us into tinier and tinier factions, God gathers us in, and God’s work of reconciliation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus makes us, somehow, miraculously, one. One people. One family. One revolutionary force of good in our neighborhoods.

God’s work of unity - of oneness - speaks of what life looks like in God’s reign.

God doesn’t desire or imagine us to live in a world where racism, sexism, homophobia, or any discrimination divides and breaks us - but in a world where we are our differences and uniqueness are honored as sacred parts of who we are.

God doesn’t desire us to experience exclusion and distance from the abundant compassion of God, but instead, desires all to find their welcome at Christ’s table and then extending that table out to those who feel they aren’t worthy of God’s love.

God doesn’t desire for anyone to be second class citizens - whether women or the young or even the old; no one is discarded but all who are hurting find their place and affirmation in Christ’s embrace.

To live into this vision then, Paul says, “It’s time to grow up.” To no longer be tossed to and fro by the wickedness and brokenness of our world, but to fully embrace that God offers this oneness, this new life, for us each and everyday if we but dare receive it, believe it, and live it boldly.

Carey Nieuwhof, pastor and blogger, says the first thing that separates a growing church with a non-growing church is attitude.

> Growing churches believe they can.
> Declining churches believe they can’t.

Do you believe it is possible? To believe and trust that our lives can be turned around, away from evil and toward grace. To believe that we can learn how to pray and study the Bible and grow in our generosity and love more deeply. To believe our neighborhoods and world can be freed from disease and war and division? To believe, as Paul says, that all of this is God’s own doing.

Growing up means growing out of our small visions for what church and what our lives can be and embrace a vision for life that is larger than what we can imagine. Where the living Christ is our head and guide.

60 years ago, a group of faithful saints dreamed of a “mission church” here in Hyattsville, a congregation with Christ at its head, and they believed they could do it. They did the work - gathering for worship, praying for each other, giving of their time and passion, sweating over architectural plans, and brick by brick raising what was needed to build this space. And often, I wonder what they would think if they saw us today.

Could they have imaged where we would be today - a congregation engaged in the work of bringing dignity to people in need, people struggling to survive homelessness?

Could they have imagined where we would be today - a congregation that is growing in embracing and exploring and affirming our God given diversity?

Could they have imaged where we would be today - a congregation engaged ecumenically with other congregations to make a difference in our community?

Could they have imagined one day we would gather for worship and sing praise songs in many languages and praise God through all manner of instruments?

Could they have imagined that one day our worship services would be streamed around the world for anyone to watch and pray and know their welcome at Christ’s table?

Could they have imagined that one day we might turn 60 and have the audacity to believe that there could be 60 more years of life together and compassion to our neighbors and children baptized and wedding vows proclaimed and glorious anthems sung and the hurting lifted up and the lost welcomed home?

You know, I think… maybe they could have. Maybe they could have believed it, because they imagined a mission church not just for themselves but for those who were yet to come along.

And we are invited to believe in that too. Who is coming next? How will we be the church that invites neighbors and friends to experience the oneness of life with God? Who will be dipped into the baptismal waters? Who will be transformed by God’s abundant love?

So often, this work of church is not about telling people what they are not - it is about telling people who they really are and what they are really capable of. After a long week, friends, I remind you as your pastor, though we may sometimes feel our age, though our feet may drag, though our hearts may break, though our eyes sometimes fill with tears, and though we may wonder if the gospel has a chance in this world of division and injustice, today, I again proclaim, “60 is the new 20.” God is not done with us yet. God may just be getting started.

Let us give generously. Let us renew our vow as a mission church. Let us love God and our neighbors, and grow up into the oneness through one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism, and one God. Thanks be to God.