November 28, 2010, "What is Our Vision"

Isaiah 2:1-5
Matthew 24:33-46
What is the vision we wait for, work for, long to make real?

As temperatures become colder, as we sort through the decorations and ornaments of our family's past, as we have gathered and anticipate holiday occasions at the table, we reflect on where we have come from and where we are going. Not simply turning off the alarm, dressing for work, and going through the motions of the day; but wondering what vision could be witnessed, what difference made in life?

There was a time, when our vision was to fix everything that had been broken for so long, both in our building and relationships. The pipe organ was tied together with baling wire and duct tape. Our hope was to have hot water in the bathrooms and cold water in the kitchen. There was a time when our dream was that Nurseries would be bright and attractive and near the Sanctuary. We longed to celebrate weddings and marriage, to hear the voices of children glorifying God. Our vision was to be done with asbestos and waste. The answer to our nightmares, was that we could undertake all these things and not leave a debt for our children's children.

There was a time, not so long ago, when our hopes and dreams were for the Church, this Church, to be a Center of Community Activity, where every portion of every day throughout the week, something would be taking place at the Presbyterian Church. In that vision, that the Church would be a patron of Art and Music, we would host Quilt Shows and Art Exhibits, Concerts and Forums.
We dreamed we would create musical instruments to inspire, like the Great Cathedrals of Europe.

There was a time, when our vision was to provide a home for those who had had theirs taken away. We dared to dream that the Church could through prayer and caring relationship redeem those, whom others saw as lost. We believed in a vision of providing a home and common dinner table for our elders.

There was a time time, when our vision was to build the endowments and reserves from being The Manse Fund, to having over a Million dollars, which could compound and grow for future ministries. We saw that fulfilled, and given the volatility of the market, half disappeared, yet through vigilance and vision the nest-egg again attained the first million, now invested in over 700 diverse stocks and bonds.

There was a time, we dared to dream that we could host those strange to us, seekers of faith in non-traditional ways. We began anew with singing the Psalms and Taize pieces like “Spirit of the Living God”; we created a permanent Labyrinth in the floor for Spiritual journeys, and a place for Tai Chi and Raike and alternative forms of faith for seeking balance.

Throughout each of these visions, we wondered about salvation, about Christian faith. We questioned and pondered. As we rebuilt the Church center and lifted the timbers supporting the place of worship, we asked: what are the foundations of our faith? As we opened walls, we named all the weddings and baptisms, and funerals that had taken place in this place. As we cared for refugees from Africa, we placed babies in the arms of our sons and daughters going off to war and to places of redemption, vowing to pray these children. We studied Scripture both through curriculum guided learning and having on-going conversation with the texts and our teachers.

What is the vision we now wait for, work for, long to make real?

This has been a long and difficult year. There have divorces and deaths, economic fears and tragedies. Throughout this year, our Session have been engaged in a mission study, asking what are our Core Values? We are in our 210th year as a congregation, what are the significant events of recent memory, of these which were transitions and which were cultural changes, shifts to a new normal, and also which were spiritual and why? What do our statistics tell us about ourselves? Can we develop Long-Range plans for routine matters like maintenance and investing? What is unique about this community from the rest of the region, from the rest of the world; and within this community, what is unique about the Presbyterian Church? What we came to realize is that our fellowship is in a unique circumstance. We are more than double the size of any Presbyterian Church in N.New York, Utica, Albany, the Southern Tier, and Cayuga-Syracuse. The vast majority of these churches today have 50 to 100 members, many struggling with 13 to 25 in worship. This is not a time for complacency! Where Vision Fails the People Perish!

In the time of Isaiah, the Priest and Prophet, the Nation was at War on every front. Weapons were their most costly investment. Today, with modern manufacturing of steel, we can mass produce, our most costly investment is in new technology, but in that time, the mining and manufacture of bronze and silver for shields and swords created a National Debt. In a time of war, when there is little hope of winning, of making a difference in the lives of others, when fighting is a mater of National Defense against being taken over, the Prophet saw a vision of the future.
A time in Days to Come, when people would not learn war anymore. When God would be so revered and trusted, that it seemed the mountain of God, the place of God in our universe would be elevated above everything else. All people would be seeking to know and understand and live according to God's precepts, God's Covenant. While God would have won the battle for people's hearts and minds, God would not act as Conquerer and Champion, but instead as Teacher, instructing everyone, including us, what it is to be faithful. In this time to come, those weapons that were so costly to manufacture, in the first place, would be reformed by common blacksmiths into farming implements and tools of cultivation.

This represents a cultural shift in human development. There was a time when people were hunters and gatherers; and those who brought reserves home shared with others in need. All were considered part of the community, one, as family. When people became land owners and developed civilizations, we developed a monetary system, and land value, profit and loss, mortgage, retirement and a class system, as well as desire for power. Isaiah's Vision is of a future Day to come. A new normal, a different reality, where the values we have had, desire to possess more and more, faster and newer, where searching for a new fossil fuel or gas to allow us to continue as we have been, becomes an old idea; abandoned for values of self-worth, integrity, appreciating and enjoying time with one another.

The pulp fiction industry has seized on the Middle Ages idea of “Dispensationalism”. In those Dark Ages, there were created visions that every thing you do equates to gold star or an evil demerit. Eventually there would be a time, when we needed to atone for every demerit, and there were varying levels of Heaven and varying levels of Hell, as well as Purgatory and Limbo. All the dark romance literature about Devils and Vampires and those Left Behind after the Quickening, are based on this vision.

But the vision of Jesus in Matthew is different. There are only two options here, and we cannot know whether our neighbor and co-worker, or even ourselves, are one or the other, so be diligent, try harder. What is intriguing is how Jesus inverts the parable. In the story of Noah, all the people, all the corrupt world were washed away in an instant. What Jesus describes, is that on the day the Son of Man comes, some will be taken and some left. In Matthew's Gospel there are not levels of Heaven or gradations of Hell, or a dispensationalism that you made a grade of C-, but simply that God knows the difference between those who will not receive grace, those so full of themselves and their own desires.

Years ago, our home was broken into. That is an odd thing to say, when you had not bothered to lock the front door. During the night the dog had begun barking, but as we had appeared repeatedly at Village Court for barking, we simply quieted her down and went back to sleep. The back door was broken, an ironing board and iron had been smashed. Nothing that could not be replaced. Actually, in the morning, I had come downstairs, and was surprised to find the robber passed out on our couch, very well dressed, but looking horribly disheveled. At first I thought he was a roofer, as we were having this work done, but realizing it would be presumptuous even for a contractor to come into the house they were working on to sleep on their couch. So I woke the man and gave him a cup of coffee. He asked where he was and I asked what he remembered. He described being at a Rehearsal Dinner the night before and drinking Uzo with the Groomsmen. We sent him on his way and I began calling the other clergy to make certain he got to the wedding that afternoon. We thought nothing more about it for about 18 months, when one of the College kids in Church described being at a Holiday party where word was passed, If you pass out, make certain you go to the Lindsey's they will give you a cup of coffee, make certain you get where you need to go and won't call the police. Which we decided was a pretty good vision to put forward.