Read the Lectionary Texts

I am proud to be a fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers!

Go Vols!

Go LADY Vols!

You may be from Michigan – or California – or like me, from Massachusetts – but sooner or later that big orange color reaches out and grabs hold of you, and the next thing you know, you’re at a Tennessee game chanting, “It’s GREAT – to be – a Tennessee – VOLUNTEER!

Do you know where the Volunteer nickname comes from? Well, since the time of the Revolutionary War, Tennesseans have been quick to volunteer for service to our nation. And the nickname really took off during the Mexican War when Governor Aaron Brown called for 2,800 volunteers to go and help the cause. More than THIRTY THOUSAND Tennesseans responded!

So we ARE indeed the Tennessee VOLUNTEERS! And we should be proud of it!

The whole notion of volunteerism arises from the belief that each of us has something to contribute to the common good, and that the larger community is only as strong as its individual members.

This is an idea that goes back to biblical times, and it is the very foundation of the Christian Church. I love reading through the Book of Acts which tells the story of the Early Church during the first decades of its life. On page after page, we read about PEOPLE and the impact they had on the world. Their names are mentioned – Matthias who became an apostle; Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas who volunteered to bring food to the poor widows; Ananias who took Saul into his home; and many, many more including my favorite – a woman named Dorcas – who, we are told, was always doing good and helping the poor, and when she died, the widows all gathered around to show the apostles the beautiful robes and other articles of clothing she had sewn for them!

The Christian Church is a PEOPLE’S church – a church of VOLUNTEERS! Each one has gifts to share, and as the gifts are offered, the church comes alive with the life of Jesus Christ. We become the living body of Christ.

So St. Paul reminds the Roman church – and our church, too – that each member of the body belongs to all the other members, and that God has blessed each of us with some gifts to use for making the body healthy and strong – teaching the Word of God, serving meals, encouraging others, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, dispensing God’s mercy…and on and on.

Each Christian has been given a gift to use in the life of the church, and as those gifts are volunteered, the church becomes alive with the grace of Jesus Christ.

This very service of worship, for instance, is only made possible through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers! Some made time time on Friday afternoon to come and stuff inserts into the bulletins; a big crew of people arrive very early on Sunday morning to unlock the doors, and turn on the lights, and set the heat or the air conditioning. Dozens of choir members and handbell ringers have been preparing music for months now, just to be played or sung at this service. Others have arranged for greeters and ushers and are always here early to see if any loose ends need to be tightened up. Our dozens of Scripture readers have been practicing those hard Bible words for days now to be able to read the lectionary text for the day. A crew of bus drivers and helpers crank up our beautiful “Amazing Grace” bus and set out to pick up those who need a ride to worship. Graduates of our fun “Coffee University” have already started brewing the coffee that will be served when the service is over. It takes hundreds of people – each one offering their small gift – to offer a beautiful worship service like this.

And that’s not the half of it. During the week, many hundreds more are hard at work making Friendship Kitchen meals for the elderly in our county, delivering those meals and visiting with those who receive them, and cleaning up the place after themselves. Peek into the church kitchen at any time and see people hard at work with others who we call our Kitchen Angels. Or, you might see a bunch of guys in their cooking group preparing a delicious meal for the Lunch Bunch.

There’s a whole team of people spreading mulch and making our property attractive; and our librarians cataloguing a new book; or a team of people counting the offering on Monday morning; or the special people organizing a reception for a family after a Memorial Service.

I can’t possibly mention all the things that people do in and through our church! More than two-hundred of us are helping to build the Habitat for Humanity house, and hundreds of others help carry out the ministries of the Good Samaritan Center, the Good Neighbor Shoppe, and all the other ministry agencies we are partnered with. Suffice it to say that it takes over a thousand people volunteering their gifts to make our church able to be Christ’s presence in the world!

So today, we want to thank all of our volunteers who have helped make our church a living and active expression of God’s love. And we want to call upon the whole congregation to renew and rededicate our commitment to volunteering our gifts.

I’m so proud to be a member of a people’s church like ours!

And I’m glad I don’t belong to Mr. Bill’s church.

It’s a nice church, Mr. Bill’s church, is. I mean, the people are fine folks and the preacher is a good preacher and on the outside, Mr. Bill’s church looks like any other church. But it’s not, really – because it’s Mr. Bill’s church.

When the sanctuary needed new windows, the people got together to figure out how they could accomplish such an expensive project, but in the middle of the meeting Mr. Bill stood up and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’d love to take care of that!” And so on Monday morning, some workmen showed up and in a few hours had all the windows replaced – all at Mr. Bill’s expense! When the pastor thanked the workmen for their efforts they said, “Oh no, don’t thank us…thank Mr. Bill!”

Same thing happened with the Women’s Guild who wanted to get a new commercial-sized oven for the church kitchen. They planned a number of special fundraising events to come up with the money to buy the stove, but one day – before the first bake sale was even held – a brand spanking new commercial-sized oven showed up! When the women asked the delivery people where the stove came from, they said, “It’s from Mr. Bill!”

That Mr. Bill was really something! Whenever there was a need, he stepped up to the plate and met it! What a beautiful Christian man! And pretty soon, whenever there was something the church needed, the people stopped figuring out how they could get it done. They simply said, “I’ll bet Mr. Bill will do that!” And he did!

Well, one day, there was a meeting of all the churches in that little town. To get better acquainted, the people went around in a circle to say what church they belonged to. One said, “The First Methodist Church!” Another said, “Grace Assemblies of God!” Still others said, “Second Baptist!” “Covenant Presbyterian!” “Bethany Congregational Church!” Around the circle they went until only one person was left.

“What church do you belong to?” they asked.

“Mr. Bill’s Church,” he said.

And somehow, it just didn’t sound right.

Oh, I’m glad I belong to a church like ours where every member is needed. I’m so glad I don’t belong to Mr. Bill’s church!

Whose church do YOU belong to?