THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CANTON

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

Sunday, September 9, 2018 ~ Pentecost XVI

 Sermon: “Welcome Back!”

© 2018, Dr. Tamilio

Welcome back from the summer.  This has to be one of the hottest ones on record.  In fact, as late as last Thursday the heat index placed us in the triple digits!

Summer is a time of rest and rejuvenation.  Students and teachers are out of school.  Families go on vacation.  Even things in the church seem to slow down.  In a recent online article, John Spencer writes that, “Research has demonstrated that rest is vital for maintaining our passion and reaching our creative potential.”[1]  Even the Psalmist tells us that in order for us to know God, we need to be still.[2]

Yet, as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us, there is a time for everything.  If there is a time for rest, then there is a time for labor, a time for action.  Welcome back to the Congregational Church of Canton!

This month, I begin my seventh year as your pastor.  We have accomplished much over the past six years.  We changed our name and denomination affiliation.  We have launched innovative and much-needed outreach endeavors, such as the Senior Suppers.  We started an ambitious three-year Capital Campaign.  We have expanded CCK and the use of our facilities to outside groups.  And of course, there is more.

I am even more excited about the possibilities that lie before us this program year.  One of the things that I will be doing is making myself (and therefore our church) even more visible in the community.

• I have become a member of the Blue Hills Civic Association, and
• Have delivered the Prayer of Invocation this year at both the Town Meeting and Canton High School’s Graduation — having done both in previous years as well.
• I have written editorials for the Canton Citizen and will continue to do so.
• Roger Pelletier across the street at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Rabbi David Winship of Temple Beth David, Rabbi David Grossman of Temple B’nai Tikvah, Father Tom Rafferty of Saint Gerard’s and Saint John’s Churches, and I are in the process of revitalizing the Canton Clergy Association with the hopes of holding an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.
• I continue to serve on the Board of Directors of the Canton Help Line, along with Lisa Goetz.
• I will help officiate at the 9/11 Memorial Service this coming Tuesday at 9:00 am, and
• Next Thursday I will be part of a panel discussion on Immigration being held at Orchard Cove.

And yet there is more to do.  Much more.

A group of twelve of us — some long term and some newer members — will begin a discussion about how we can market ourselves to the Canton community better so that people know what kind of place this is, what we have to offer.  A recent review of our church on Facebook reads, “Wonderful spirit.  Gentle, loving congregation.”  That review makes me joyous and despondent at the same time.  On the one hand, I am happy to hear someone who is not a member of this church say what I (and I assume most of us) already know and believe about this place.  On the other hand, I am sad because the whole town does not know this — and they need to.  As Jesus warns us, we should not hide our light under a bushel basket, but put it on a stand so that it will shine light on all that are in the house.[3]

A couple questions are worth asking.  First, why might we want to flood the community with words about the Congregational Church of Canton?  There is a practical answer to this question and a more theological answer.  The practical one is that it will help keep the lights on.  The more members we have — the more giving units — the stronger our financial base will be.  The longevity of any organization correlates with its physical stability.  More and more churches are having to dig into the coffers to just keep up with their operational expenses.  More people equals more money equals more of a future.

The theological answer is rooted in the Gospel: it is what Jesus wants us to do.  I have been talking about evangelism a lot over the last couple of years.  My latest article — which appears in the recent edition of our denomination’s journal, The Congregationalist — deals with this exact subject.  We are called to be witnesses for Christ.  It is a fundamental part of being a Christian.  All of us are called to tell the story — the old, old story of Jesus and his love, as that classic hymns proclaims.

 

In his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, particularly on the Great Commission found at the end of it, David L. Turner writes, “The disciples’ central responsibility is to reproduce themselves.”[4]  How awesome is that!  Biblical cloning!  But seriously: our job is to create more of us.  The main reason why is not so that we are more fiscally solvent.  The reason is because this is the way Christ saves as many people as possible.

Or think of it another way: look at the world the way it is.  I am not only talking about wars and rumors of war.  That has always been with us.  “We are in a state of perpetual war,” Pink Floyd front-man Roger Waters lamented in a recent interview.  I am talking about the rise in school shootings. I am talking about the opioid epidemic.  I am talking about bullying and teenage suicide.  Too many people have lost hope: hope in themselves, hope in the future, hope in one another, hope in an alternative to what they see on the news, in the streets, and sometimes in their own homes.

What we have here is an alternative to the gloom and doom that shrouds the lives of so many people.  What we have here is an ethic that is counter cultural, yet it is rooted in the truth.  What we have here is hope!  How can we not shout that from the rooftop!

This is our song.  This is our reason for being.

I often refer to the Church as a house of hope, because that is what it is.  We are not perfect.  (Far from it.)  We get it wrong lots of times.  We do not always practice what we preach and we often lose trust in the hope that we proclaim.

But it’s not about getting the faith perfect.  It’s about returning here again and again to try to get it right — to anchor ourselves in something that is pure, and true, and right, and gives us confidence that no matter what happens, God is present and God’s ways will prevail.  This is our message and it can be a magnet to many, many others if we let it — and we let ourselves be its messengers.

My goal for the coming year is to empower all of us to be evangelists, to be God’s ambassadors in the mission field that is right outside our doors.

Welcome back to another church year.  Fare forwards, disciples of the Living God.  Amen.

[1] John Spencer, “Making Rest a Priority in the Summer,” from spencerauthor.com, “June 8, 2018.

[2] Psalm 46:10

[3] Matthew 5:15

[4] David L. Turner, Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 689.