Exodus 33:12-23

Building...to share our faith.

That's the theme of this year's Trails Through Tellico stewardship campaign. And I like that theme! Our church family has been doing a great deal of building these days. A brand spanking new Christian Life Center...the addition of Steve Nash to our ministry team...welcoming ninety new members already this year...expanding our wonderful group of Stephen Ministers from 27 to 34...developing two new groups to support those who are grieving as well as those who are caring for Alzheimer's patients...offering three new adult life-long learning opportunities involving nearly 100 people so far...caring for a swelling number of young families with children...developing an outstanding music program that blesses us in so many ways...and outpouring Christian compassion through countless acts of loving community involvement and mission.

All around our church, there is building going on.

And that's a sign of great health. I'm so glad we're not like that church up in New England where a member collapsed and died of a heart attack during the service. The rest of the congregation remained in their seats while the paramedics made their way to the man. But it was a full thirty minutes before they could figure out which one it was who'd died.

There's nothing dead about Tellico Village Community Church. We're constantly building...to share our faith.

Now building to share our faith in these exciting but demanding ways may seem a strange thing for a church that sits in the center of a community where many persons have relocated to retire and enjoy the good life. In fact, my greatest concern as Sandy and I were wrestling with the decision to come and serve this church three years ago, was about this very issue. Was this a church that was just one more Village amenity whose purpose was just to make retirement living more pleasant and fulfilling? Or was it a church that was truly serious about actively building great things for God?

Then we learned about the large numbers of people involved as mentors and tutors at Chestnut Ridge Learning Center. We heard that more than a hundred of our members were hammering nails and painting walls with Habitat For Humanity. We discovered that children were valued here and that church members were committed to supporting the parents of these children in providing loving Christian nurture. We heard dreams articulated about developing classes and groups and programs that would help people grow in their faith and their ability to live life more effectively.

No doubt about it - this is a church whose mission is not to just stand still, but to build!

And we are building...to share our faith.

Now, to help us gain a deeper sense of what this means, I want to invite you into the story of Exodus 33. Moses and God are still going at it way up on the mountain. You'll remember that the people had made a golden calf to worship because Moses was delayed in coming back and God was nowhere in sight. And, with this act of terrible unfaithfulness - a complete breach of the commandment to have no other gods - God tells Moses he's going to kill the Hebrew people. But he will preserve his promises to Moses, God says. And Moses tries to talk God out of this judgment. He reminds the Lord of the covenant with Abraham. He insists that the salvation God promised is not intended for the one, but for the many. And Moses tells God that he's not going anywhere unless the people get to go with him. And God changes his mind, and offers forgiveness and reconciliation instead.

And now, in chapter 33, we catch a glimpse of what God has been trying to accomplish in this tumultuous relationship with Moses. The man who once wanted nothing to do with freeing the Hebrews from Egypt now argues with God for their salvation. The leader who constantly complained about the unfaithfulness of these people now advocates for their forgiveness. The man who once would have liked to "just take care of number one" now ties his own future to the future of the Hebrew people.

In a dramatic one-hundred and eighty degree turnaround, Moses asks God not only to forgive the people, but to walk with them. To be present among them. And Moses points out that this is what will make the people distinct from every other nation on earth.

And God smiles and says, "I'll DO IT! For you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

And there's the miracle. Moses has changed!

You see, through all these difficult experiences, God has been quietly building a new kind of person in the life of Moses, the man.

Now, what do we mean when we say that, here at Tellico Village Community Church, we're building...to share our faith?

You see, what we're building here is not really Christian Life Centers, membership lists, musical programs, educational classes and all of the fantastic programs and activities that are filling our church life with wonderful blessings.

Oh no. These are only tools for building something far more important.

What we are trying to build is a distinctive kind of person!

People who are different from the secular world. People so immersed in the love of God that they can't stand the thought that others are lost and hungry and injured and otherwise disenfranchised from their Creator and the life God intends. People so identified with others that they are willing to go anywhere and do anything to build bridges between people, and between people and the Lord, and to give a cup of water to even the least in Jesus' name. People so convinced of God's promises that they can no longer dismiss anyone as a loser, but who become enthusiastic and tireless advocates for even the most faithless people.

We are building people God can use for the building of the kingdom of God! People who - like Moses - are transformed into persons who powerfully touch others with their faith.

Now, we're not talking about mere words here. The faith we are called to share with others is so much more than conversation.

High atop the mountain, Moses asks God a favor. "Let me see your glory!"

God says, "Okay. Come on up onto this rock. Climb into the cleft in the rock. There I'll protect you from seeing my face, for if you did, you'd die. But as I pass by, I'll let you peek out and see my back."

So Moses scrambles up onto the rock, and hunkers down in the cleft of the rock. And then an amazing thing happens. The God who created the heavens and the earth - the God about whom we sing in the great hymns of our faith - the God who's got the whole world in his hands - parades past the cleft from which Moses watches. And the book of Exodus reports that all of God's goodness passes before the eyes of Moses.

Last Saturday, thanks to the generosity of some friends, Sandy and I got to attend our first Vols football game at Neyland Stadium. I don't think I've ever seen so much orange in my life! It was a great experience, but one my favorite parts had nothing to do with the game. It was standing along the street as the Pride of the Southland Marching Band paraded down to the stadium playing Rocky Top. Over and over and over and over again. And as they passed by, I could hear the unique parts played by each section of the band - first, the trombones and euphoniums, then the coronets and trumpets, then came the really low brass, and the drums, and then the saxophones, clarinets, and finally the flutes and piccolos! And as each section passed by, I could hear their individual part which was special and beautiful by itself, but when added to all the others, made for a rousing rendition of the song.

And in the same way, God paraded past Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock. And all of the wonderful individual elements of God's goodness passed by, section after section. There was God's mercy. And there was God's steadfast love! There was God's healing power that makes broken things whole! There was the gift of prayer by which God listens to people! There was God's justice and concern for the poor. There was God's friendship, and God's amazing grace. There was the beauty of the sunset, and the roar of the ocean, and the joyful whistle of songbirds in the early calm of the morning! It was ALL there! Every individual dimension of God's goodness paraded by Moses as he peeked out of the cleft to see the glory of God.

So what is this faith we are trying to share? Why it is faith in a God of unlimited goodness!

Sister Mary Rose, the president of Covenant House in New York City, writes about an encounter with a little girl back in 1992. The girl came to the front door of Covenant House on a Tuesday morning. She wore ragged and dirty clothes, and clutched a little aluminum paint can in her hand.

From the second she stepped inside, she made it clear to Sister Mary Rose that she and the paint can were a "package deal." Whatever she did, wherever she went, the little paint can never left her side. When she sat in the Crisis shelter, the can sat in her arms. She took the can with her to the cafeteria in the morning, and to bed with her at night. Whenever the counselors tried to separate her and the paint can, the little girl said, "I'm sorry. It's mine. It BELONGS to me."

Then, one day, Sister Mary Rose sat with the little girl at lunch. "I can see that your can is very important to you. It must be very special. Would you tell me what's inside?"

The little girl paused for a moment, and then she whispered, "It's my mother."

Sister Mary Rose asked, "What do you mean, its your mother?"

"Its my mother's ashes," the little girl whispered.

And then, over the next several minutes, the girl told Sister Mary Rose about how her mother had died of AIDS in the hospital, and how she had gone to the funeral home afterwards, and talked them into letting her have the ashes. There was no one else, after all, and no place to inter the cremains. So the funeral director had placed the ashes in the aluminum can, and put a sticker on it with the woman's name, her birth date, and date of death. And he'd given the can to Kathy.

"My mother loved me," the little girl cried.

Sister Mary Rose says she reached out and hugged Kathy and the girl cried in her arms for a long, long time. But it was tough getting her arms around the little girl, because she just wouldn't put the paint can down.

Friends, all around us in life are people who, for one reason or another, are left holding cans full of ashes. People whose lives will never be whole - will never be well - until they are touched by the goodness of God. Some are victims of unfortunate circumstances. Some have been abused and injured by other people. Some have never found a place in the systems of society. Some have hurt themselves by poor choices and irresponsible actions.

But, though abandoned by life and often given-up-on by others, there is a God who loves these people! There is a God who can bring them life. There is a God whose goodness is so unlimited and so powerful that he can literally transform their ashes into joy!

And one day, a man named Jesus stood up in a synagogue in Nazareth and read the words of the 61st chapter of the prophet Isaiah,

And then Jesus put down the scroll, and went out and shared that faith through the living of his life and the giving of his life on the cross. And all along the way, Jesus looked out at people like you and me and said, "Come and follow me!"

And here we are. Living in a world in which God is still building this new kind of person to share this new kind of faith. People who commit the rest of their lives to learning new and creative ways of putting their arms around little girls - and others - holding cans of ashes. People who go out every day to live and share their faith in a God whose goodness is so unlimited and powerful that he can turn ashes into joy!

As the Trails Through Tellico books come through your neighborhood in these next few weeks, you will see in word and picture the exciting story of all the building going on in and through our church these days.

But, underneath it all is a challenge to each and every one. Come and join this enterprise of people under construction for the glory of God. Generously give your resources of time, talent and treasure. Step forward and commit yourself to a process of life-long learning about how to give your faith away. Come and discover the unlimited goodness of God! And then go out every day and hug little girls, and care for old men, and advocate for women, and feed hungry boys... and share your faith in the God whose goodness is on parade through people just like you!