21st Sunday after Pentecost
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Creator your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that God has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake.
And, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for God’s Son from heaven, whom was raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
What We Will Do
Two weeks ago, we talked about the history of this congregation, what we did, and the importance of those events leading up to now. Last week, we talked about the work that we are currently doing, as well as the state of the world and the inequalities and the hardships that we face, as a nation. Today, we’re looking forward: Where are we going and how will we get there. What we did, what we do, what we will do.
A number of Helena faith leaders are trying to get a local green team going, grounded in faith, to face the oncoming climate crisis. We’ve only met twice, so far, but joining us in this effort are representatives from the Catholic church, the Methodists, Big Sky UU, a Buddhist sanga, and the Jewish community. We haven’t settled on a name yet, or really figured out what we’re doing, but we have to start somewhere, and the fact that so many different groups have shown an interest gives me hope.
On a less global scale, we have to think about where we’re going as a congregation. Within a few months of my arrival here, we helped to raise money for the Montana Jewish Project to buy back their temple, and now we have this wonderful relationship with the Jewish community here in Helena. We do events together and we support each other. Last year we brought in a huge crowd for a ping-pong tournament, and raised thousands of dollars to help our new Afghan neighbors, refugees trying to start a new life here. More recently, as you know, we have found incredible success in partnering with other local organizations to educate the community about our unsheltered neighbors. Plymouth Congregational Church excels at building relationships and in being a leader in our community. I can’t remember who told me this, but I’ve been saying it a lot recently, and I will keep on saying: this is a congregation that punches above its weight class.
So, how do we keep this momentum going? I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but collectively we have the knowledge, the experience, and intelligence right here in this sanctuary to guide this congregation where it needs to go. Where do you see it going? How will we get there? It is only by working together that we can find the path forward.
So, I want us to do some brainstorming. I’m going to ask you to form small groups of 3 to 4 people, if you can sit with people that you are less familiar with, that’s even better. I want us to try to talk about these questions:
What do you envision for the future of Plymouth Congregational Church?
What will you do to see that vision become a reality?
(Discussion)
In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he’s thanking them for the work that they’ve done, saying, “brothers and sisters beloved by God, … God has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.”
The Holy Spirit is with us. We have full conviction. By holding fast to the teachings of Jesus Christ as the foundation of what we do, by remembering the golden rule, and remembering our own mission statement, which guides us “to nurture our congregation and the wider community with acts of love and a vision of God’s image in all things,” we will continue to be the leaders that God wants us to be, the salt of the earth, bringing the good news of God’s love to the world. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
