Today during our in-person worship service, Lima United Methodist Church is celebrating its 190th anniversary!  Yup, that’s right—only ten more years to go until Lima has its bicentennial.  It’s been almost two hundred years of people meeting on North Middletown Road to pray, worship God, study scripture, support each other, and reach out to their community and beyond with God’s love.  That’s a long time!

One of the things we will be doing during our in-person worship service is recognizing those who have been members of Lima for forty years or more.  In other words, who among our current members was on hand for Lima’s 150th anniversary?  It’s a pretty long list, over forty names.  Lima is blessed to have many people who have decades of wisdom and spiritual maturity to help strengthen and guide the church.  We are also blessed to have many new members!  And, something we have never done at any of our anniversary celebrations before is to celebrate the people who participate in worship either online or by reading the sermons and liturgy at home.  Thank you for being here!

We are continually finding new ways to witness to our faith in Jesus.  In 1833, when Lima Church was founded, our first members attended worship by walking here, riding a horse, or riding in a horse-drawn carriage.  Decades would pass before anyone drove to church.  Now most of our worshippers arrive by car. A handful walk or ride a bike, but I have never seen anyone come on a horse. And these days, many of our worshippers “arrive” at worship by turning on their computer or opening their mail!

Even though so much has changed, the charge Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy almost 2,000 years ago remains as relevant today as ever:  flee from unholy living, and instead, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (There’s that word gentleness again.  I never noticed before this year how often it appears in the New Testament!)  Keep working for good, but never use more force than necessary to get the job done.  Stay the course of faith until the day the Lord appears again.  Keep witnessing for Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Let your life bring glory to him.

These ancient instructions from Paul are good words for every generation.  The particulars of worship have changed—how people arrive, what they wear, what kind of music they like, whether the sanctuary is heated or not, air conditioned or not, or even a separate building from your home or not—all of these issues have had lots of different looks over the years.  But the WHO of worship?  That has not changed!  For almost two hundred years, Jesus has been worshiped at Lima.  The triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has been the object of our adoration, praise and service.  That will never change!

And the WHY of worship?  That hasn’t changed, either.  We worship God because God is worthy of our praise.  We worship God to be reminded of who we really are—God’s beloved and gifted children.  We worship God to strengthen our spirits for better living, so we and the world can be transformed.

The how, when, and where of worship seen lots of iterations over the years.  But the Who and the Why are our bedrock.  What a joy to celebrate 190 years of that witness today!

We are also celebrating that this month marks three years since we took our vote to become a Reconciling Congregation.  Reconciling Congregations are local United Methodist churches who are working for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of our church.  Before the pandemic, the leaders of Lima Church embarked on almost two-year journey of learning, prayer, and discernment.  They had a hunch that God was leading Lima to formally articulate what has been true here for many years:  that all people, regardless of sexual orientation, are welcome to worship, serve, and grow at Lima.  This may seem like an obvious statement, but our United Methodist denomination has had a lot of division over human sexuality in the last thirty years, ramping up especially in the last eight or ten.  Over the course of many months of Bible study, learning from outside speakers, and praying togethers, Lima’s leaders drafted a statement of inclusion.  That was shared with the congregation, and a straw vote showed the congregation was 95% in favor of adopting it.  Based on that positive response, we scheduled our official vote for March 2020.

But we all remember what happened in March 2020!  The pandemic!  So Lima put its process of becoming a Reconciling Congregation on hold for several months.  When it became clear we wouldn’t be getting “back to normal” anytime soon in terms of meeting for public worship, our Lima leaders decided to conduct the vote by mail.  Our statement of inclusion was passed by an overwhelming majority, and we did our best to publicize that.  But we didn’t have a party, because it was hard to plan for big gatherings.  Earlier this year we decided, it’s time.  So today at Lima, after worship there will be a luncheon to celebrate not only Lima’s 190 years of faithfully following Jesus on North Middletown Road in Lima, but also three years of faithfully following Jesus as a Reconciling Congregation.

To help us celebrate, will you join me in a prayer litany?  I will say a sentence or two of prayer, and then you are invited to respond by praying aloud or silently, “We give you thanks, O God.”  We give you thanks O God.  Let’s pray.

Eternal and loving God, today we give thanks to you for your goodness through all the years of worship and witness at and through Lima United Methodist Church.  For your grace in calling us to be your people, for your love revealed to us in Christ your Son, for your gift of the Spirit and the joy of salvation,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

For those who established this congregation, for their faith and vision, for their gifts and abilities,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

For all who have been members of this congregation, for those who have given freely of their time and money, for those whose wisdom guided our congregation,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

For all who have preached and taught here, for all who have confessed here that Jesus is Lord, for all who today lead in worship, witness and service,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

For all who courageously follow you, step by step, forsaking their own comfort so others might experience the abundant life you offer,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

For the assurance that we too are part of the great cloud of witnesses, that our faithful living is forming a legacy for future generations,

(all respond) We give you thanks, O God.

 

Thank you for joining me in that prayer!  What a blessing to be part of an affirming, diverse, and vibrant church family.  Recently I attended a clergy workshop where all the participants were told to bring an object that represents why we got into ministry in the first place.  I brought in this rainbow, because to me it represents inclusion.  Growing up, I didn’t always feel like I fit in.  But at church, there were people who took a special interest in me.  People who wanted to get to know me. Who wanted me to participate and make a contribution and were happy I was there.  What a difference that made in my life!

I got into ministry hoping to help lead local congregations in their efforts to be as affirming and welcoming as my local church was.  When I started in ministry, I didn’t have any thoughts about this in terms of human sexuality.  But I am so thankful my ministry has evolved to include embracing these kinds of differences, too.

The how, when, and where of worship has changed a lot over the years.  But the WHO we worship—Jesus as our Lord and Savior—that will never change!  The triune God who created us, redeems us, and sustains us—this God is love.  And that love is WHY we worship God.  We worship so we can express our love for God, and grow in our love for all that God loves.  And there is no one ever made that God does not love.  Amen?

Thank you for joining in worship today.  We are celebrating Lima’s proud past and her colorful future.  I’m so glad you are part of Lima’s present!  Blessings for our journey together, as we seek meaningful ways to worship, serve, and fellowship even though we cannot always be together in person.  May God richly bless you.  Amen.