Common Aspirations

I want to begin my sermon this morning with something that’s been on my mind and heart of late, and on the minds and hearts of all peoples of faith – and that is the disturbing “surge of hatred and fear directed at Muslims” that we have seen in recent days. From the controversy over a proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan to a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, threatening to burn Qur’ans, there has been a stoking of fear and suspicion, and a demonizing of Muslims.

I would be completely remiss, and we together would be remiss, if we did not say on this day that this is wrong – and harmful to individuals, families, communities, and, indeed our country.  We must stand with our Muslim friends and neighbors against hate directed at people of any faith, and most especially against hate that is stoked in the name of faith.  The ELCA, our synod, interfaith leaders of Massachusetts, and many, many others have condemned this anti-muslim rhetoric.  Today, we join our voices with theirs.  This week I called the Islamic Center in Burlington on our behalf to voice our congregation’s concern and support.

It is much easier to stir up fear when there is such little knowledge about Islam (and other religions as well).  Islam is complex, just like Christianity.  But briefly: Islam was founded in Arabia in the 7th century and is based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed as laid down in the Qur’an, Islam’s sacred scripture.  Islam, along with Christianity and Judaism, is one of world’s three great monotheistic religions.  And all three trace their ancestry back to Abraham, who is considered the father of these three faiths.  Islam is founded on five pillars: monotheism (one God), prayer, charitable giving, fasting, and pilgrimage – all of which have a high place in our tradition as well.  In Islam, Jesus is considered a great prophet, and stories from the Bible also appear in the Qur’an.  Since people have never even seen a Qur’an, after the service today, we will have on display a Qur’an that Ron Thiemann received as a gift when he traveled to Iran.  It is, like so much of Islam, quite beautiful.

At blush first, all of this may seem to have very little to do with the celebration today of the 40th anniversary of our church building – that it is an intrusion of the world into our joyous observance.  However, I believe, if we look closer, they are very much connected.

For, today we recognize and celebrate that this building, could not have been built without the freedom of religion we enjoy in this country, which Thomas Jefferson said is “among the most inestimable of our blessings.”  Without the freedom of religion, this building would not be possible.  And it is a freedom all people of faith should enjoy.  But it is more than that.  And it is deeper than all the politics and rhetoric.  For, it is about the human heart.  It is about one of the things in faith that unites us across religions.  For, I believe what we see here is the aspiration of people of faith to create a sacred space – a sanctuary – to hear their sacred Scriptures read, to worship and pray to their God, to pass on their faith, to offer services to their wider community.  And this is an aspiration we share with all people of faith – with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.  To seek God, to find meaning, to gain inspiration, to make the world a better place, to have a place and time set apart for the things that we believe matter most.

As we look at “Park 51” the proposed Islamic Center in Manhattan – and the dozen other proposed Islamic centers and mosques across the country, which have been met with such “vitriol and resistance,” – what we see is a people’s aspiration to worship God, to live a life worthy of that God and their faith in it.  When we look around this sanctuary today, we see the very same thing.  What I see in the windows and pews, the font and altar, skylight and cross, are the aspirations of all the people we recognized at the beginning of our service, and those who have passed into eternal life.  I see the aspirations of their parents and grandparents.  I see the aspirations of Swedish immigrants, scratching and sacrificing to create a church, a place to share faith and community, to hear of the love of God, to receive forgiveness, healing, and hope.  They are, as St. Peter says, “living stones…chosen and precious in God’s sight…built into a spiritual house.”  Once they were not a people, but now we are God’s people.  Once they were strangers and aliens, but now we are members of this household of God.”  Their aspirations live on in this building.  They live on in us this very day.

And so, once again, and, as always, we find that our stories are not separate from, but intertwined with those who may seem so different or portrayed as so dangerous.  The aspirations and stories of our Muslim neighbors today shed light on our own.

And what aspirations, what work, what effort, what sacrifice went into this place.  And what a great story to tell.  Although this building was finished and dedicated in 1970, the effort began 15 years earlier with conversations about the future of the church, when it was still named the (Swedish) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Woburn.  The building of Route 128, which we can hear now just outside, opened up new opportunities for growth.  The congregation decided to look for a new location – a decision thatpassed by just one vote.  Five years later in 1960 Paul Haggerty helped secure the land.  In 1963 the parsonage was built by Stanley Sandgren.  Four years later, in 1967 the building plan, coordinated by Bill Scouler, then head of the steering committee, was approved, and three years later, April 1970, the building is dedicated.  15 years. A momentous undertaking, which we will hear more about at our reception in the fellowship hall following the service.

Lately, I have come to a newfound appreciation for all the work involved in building this church.  For the last three years, Jenny and I have been living through a building project with Community Nursery School in Lexington, our children’s preschool.  It is a shorter and small project to be sure.  But, oh the meetings, emails, calls, casting a vision, raising funds, pouring over architectal drawings, contracts, communications, how much space do we need?, classrooms, furnishings.  All for the sake of generations to come.  It is a vast amount of work.

But also, what a thrill to be part of something larger than yourself, something that will reach and last beyond your lifetime.  What an adventure to step out in great faith into the future. We honor those aspirations, that work, that vision, and their accomplishment today.

The move to Forest Park Road forty years ago has allowed Redeemer to thrive, become a regional church, with over twelve different towns represented here this morning.  This is a place where strangers have been welcomed, lives changed, faith sparked, shared and deepened; food collected for neighbors in need, where people have been fed and nourished in ways physical and spiritual, where scripture is read and the Gospel is proclaimed, where hope is made real.

It is such great inspiration for today, tomorrow, and for the next forty years.

The Next Forty

To be sure, next forty years will look quite different from the last.

As we have seen so clearly in recent weeks, we are moving into an increasingly diverse, multi-faith, and multi-cultural society.  We live in a not small, but tiny, world, where people are interconnected by technology in ways previously unimaginable.  We are only at the beginning of our understanding of how that technology is shaping us.  Today, we have no choice but to be fully engaged with our neighbors around the block, and all over the world.

In August, our Presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson, who is just amazing by the way – learned, inspiring, and real, said it well.  He said that “we are in the midst of a sea-change in the kind of presence we want to have as a church in the current landscape.”  We need to be clear about what we believe and in conversations with those who believe differently, or not at all.  We are called to be a public church that insists on justice, and clearly lives and proclaims the Gospel.  And so, while we are not physically moving, we are moving – forward and into the future.  And while we are not literally building, but we are building – a ministry, a community, a future.  It is one that we all have a stake it, gifts to share, roles to play.  It will take each and every one of us.

But our hope and confidence in the future lie not in our own ability, but in God’s faithfulness, the promise that, as Paul wrote to the Philippians “the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion.” God, who started this good thing in us when our church started in 1893, when this building was dedicated in 1970, will bring it to fruition.

For, as our Gospel says, Jesus is the strong foundation of the church.  As it says in Ephesians, which was the text appointed for the building dedication 40 years ago, in Jesus “the whole structure is joined.”  Jesus is the one “in whom we are built together spiritually into a dwelling place of God.”

Today, we give great thanks to God for the blessings of these last 40 years, and we look forward to the next 40 – with confidence, with hope, with faith that God does and God will build us up.  Amen.